We blogged a while back about how cassette tapes have found a niche in prisons, where the retro tech is considered a safe alternative to CD’s. Where else is old technology hanging on? In New York City police stations, where typewriters are still regularly used to fill out paperwork. The N.Y.P.D. spent nearly $1 million on typewriters in 2007. Just because a technology has been superseded doesn’t make it completely irrelevant. [%comments]
Crime, Punishment, and Typewriter Tape
TAGS: Technology
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Old technology hanging on?
As noted above, typewriters are used because they fill out forms specifically designed to be filled out with typewriters. The superseded technology is the form.
I usually handwrite the addresses on envelopes, but keeping a typewriter around to do it would be a silly luxury.
When tools are made to do a specific job, and the job stays the same, the tools don’t need to change much. An example is basic surgical tools. The basic 4000 year-old Egyptian surgical tools are usable today.
@Coby -typewriters are better for filling out old forms. But the NYPD could hire college interns over the summer to key in old forms into adobe or word documents that could be downloaded as needed and the boxes filled in on a computer. They probably could lay off enough staff due to automation to recover capital costs in a couple of years.
You can really date yourself when you call the “enter” button “return.” It really freaks out my kids.
up until very recently the Film and Television business still used Polaroids to snap shots for continuity purposes while filming.
The wardrobe person and the script person would use their Polaroid camera to snap a shot of the most recent wardrobe change or the set “As-Is” so they would have a very recent reference that could be pinned on a bulletin board and referred to.
I don’t know what they are using now that Polaroid film has stopped being produced.
They were very very slow to adapt to digital still cameras for this use.
Another niche market in Film Production is flashbulbs.
When you are filming a period piece and need a photographer in the frame “taking photos”, they need flashbulbs in those olde cameras!
Also- off-camera flashes tended to work “better” with flashbulbs rather than electronic strobes as the flashbulbs “burned” longer and you would be sure the flash would show up on motion picture film. The strobe was bright, but short in duration and did not always show up when filming at 24 frames per second.
I made a good chunk of change for a while tracking down old flashbulbs, buying them in bulk and re-selling them on film shoots. You could not just go out and “buy” more of them.
Interesting note. I have a friend whose father is a typewriter repairman. One would think his job would be obsolete, but the reality is far different. He is busier than ever. A lot of offices still use typewriters for multi-part forms. Usually small businesses or government offices (school districts particularly). I guess it is too expensive or time consuming for these groups to make these forms electronic.
When the typewriter breaks it is easier and cheaper to have it fixed. And since there are no new people going into typewriter repair, his competition is shrinking (dying?). He can basically charge what he wants. Last I heard he charged around $50 an hour plus materials and travel time.
I guess the NYPD has never heard of fillable PDF files.
I dont understand why republicans wouldnt want to pass have crime legislation.
Some water pipes in Philadelphia are made out of wooden staves. I believe Telex’s still exist. And France still runs their cruddy Minitel system. And at that, the space shuttle remains the pinnacle of 1976 technology: there’s more raw computer power in an iPhone than a space shuttle.