Artifacts
 

As I go through my stuff while in the process of downsizing, I keep coming across things that fit the dictionary definition of an artifact, "An object produced or shaped by human craft, especially a tool, weapon, or ornament of archaeological or historical interest." The stuff is interesting, but of no practical use in the 21st Century. I'm at the point in life of needing to get rid of this stuff somehow.
I'll bet a lot of Pelicans have interesting artifacts lying around, and you're probably going to face getting rid of them someday.

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I think this was my mother's. We lived near Springfield, Ohio and I think Mom worked in the city at some point. She apparently rode the bus. I can't think of any other reason she would have this fare dispenser. You push down on one of the dimes and slide it until it pops out of the end.

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Apparently the bus company provided them for free.

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This is a lap robe was my grandmothers. It was used on horse-drawn buggies and early motorcars. It is about 5' by 4' and it's coarse wool, very thick, and HEAVY. I guess it was made heavy so it would not blow away as you sped down the road at 10 MPH.

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OK, I have cars that are older than this 70's era punch card card, but I think it can qualify as an artifact, even though it's something actually used in my lifetime. I have fond memories (seriously!) of writing FORTRAN programs with these things. I thought it was fun.

I had a computer class in college where we used punch cards. (1972)
The computer itself took up most of the room.

There's a second artifact that compliments the punch card; the little jabber that was used to remove the occasional hanging chad.

The bus fair thing is cool. As a kid, I thought the similar thing that was used by guys at gas stations for dispensing change was the most amazing thing ever.

But that lap robe is the coolest thing that I've seen in a while. THAT'S a piece of super interesting history. I'm going to show it to my wife. I'm sure she'll think the same.

I missed the punch-card era. I had to take Fortran in college and hated it, but in the 80s, we weren't using punch-cards.

Thanks for sharing.

I like old things. but it has to work. like I would still use it.
for example: my kitchen cooking timer is DOPE!! perfect example. it works, I use it and it touches on my old love of photography. something I failed at, since I would have starved trying to eek out a living. hahah.

I have an old Vintage Theodolite that speaks to my successful career as a Civil E. but I dont know if I am going to display it in my living room. I should pawn it. hahaha.

Pics. Plus I love to cook and I’m fairly good at it.

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I have my first mouse. A Microsoft mouse with a steel ball. It would be interesting to figure the serial adapters, to get it down to a USB connector, to see it a modern computer would work with it. I am never going to try, and I will keep it in the box with my 3.5 inch external floppy drive, and my copy of Windows 386, (Windows 2) and my DOS 1.1 5.25 inch floppies.

I keep these around as artifacts instead of just sorting through the individual objects. I do still occasionally use these tools, but I always return 'em to these boxes.

Toolboxes from my days in commercial printing; pre and post computer age. The box on the right contains everything I needed to strip loose 4/C film onto large sheets of mylar and then eventually burned onto printing plates. The box on the left was all I needed for the occasional film inspection or odd job after the whole shebang went digital.

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It was still that way in 1990 as PCs couldn't handle big analyses yet.

And in the same vein; V2.5:

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I'm pretty sure that I've got the 3.5" floppies for Win 95 kicking around somewhere.

I don't have any discs for Win 3.1 or 2.1 or older. I probably have some dos 3.2, 3.3 or 4.[01] discs in storage.

Cassette tapes...but hey, I still play mine.

I have a Savoy brief case style cassette case full of them in storage. I don't think I even have anything to play them on. (aspects of downsizing kind of suck).

I've got some mix tapes that were given to me by friends. I've got what I think is a bootleg Madonna tape that was given to me as a thank you gift for "practicing his English" in Tokyo in 1984.

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Back in the 70’s I had a buddy who worked for IBM. When he got married, his IBM coworker buddies filled up the entire back seat of his GTO with the chads from punch cards. I think it took him a month before he got them all out of his car.

Wasn't EBDIC (extended digital binary interchange code) the format and FORTRAN was the program?

Going back a bit further, when the excavation was dug for our basement, the backhoe operator mentioned he had unearthed the remnants of a previous foundation. That one 2as stones and ash, which turned out to be of an Acadian home from 1648 to 1755. As we moved earth around, we came across a sickle, a copper frying pan handle and a French pattern door latch.

Best
Les

I am moving my 81 yr old MIL currently. Her house has collected her former husband, a sister, her mother and other's stuff. There is a LOT.

Coolest thing we found was a blouse from her Mom from when she graduated HS in 1942 (Hepner, Oregon anybody???). It was embroidered with all the girls names who graduated. The ambitious ones put first and last name. Pretty cool.

Another fun relic was a circular gizmo that was labeled with various grocery items. You flick a switch to indicate what items you need to remember to purchase at the store. It was plastic, so not particularly old.

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I came across Dad's old folding pipe. I don't know when he started smoking a pipe, but he got this one on a fishing trip to Canada when he was in his teens. He was 19 and in the Army in 1945. He took the pipe with him when he was stationed in The Philippines.

^^^ Does that stem swivel?

My father started smoking in the Army...he was in the infantry in WWII Europe.
When he returned home, he took up a pipe and I still remember him using a zippered leather tobacco pouch. He also bought all his tobacco in a round tin can with a lever on the top to open it.

Do people still smoke pipes?

Came across this. I bought it because I once had a go-kart with a REO motor on it, and a small engine that had never been operated was an oddity. I knew I had it, but haven't looked at it in years. Time for someone else to store it.

Ad copy:

"Brand new 70 year old REO boat motor for sale. This is part of a kit REO sold in the early 1950s to turn a rowboat into a power boat. Motor only. This motor has never been run, never had gasoline in it. The muffler still has the original paint."

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^^^That is cool!

EBCDIC ... Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code...

C1 = A
C2 = B
...

Late 70s I started with cards... our college IBM mainframes were at Research Triangle Park ... CRTs appeared around 80.

Our Burroughs filled a room too...

You do NOT want to drop a box of cards with a program of 370 Assembler instructions :D!

It wasn't me :)

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OK, so really OLD artifacts. My coin I have as G is the one in the article. It is the only ancient coin I that I have that I can identify. It is 2,335 years old or so.

I always figured the coin I labeled as A and F was ones of the most interesting. Very hand made looking, and both have been clipped over the millennia, where someone cut a little of the edge of the coin off, to cheat the next person, and keep some of the metal.

I have one identical to the above (without the inscription on the back) with a NYC subway token in it. My dad used it to carry tokens when he rode the subway every day back in the 60's.

Artifacts in diagnostic images are unwanted flaws in the image acquisition. The type of artifact usually tells a story of what caused it.
They can be super ready to solve, or it can take days to diagnose.

The arrow shows that vertical line, ignore the tiny red dot, my phone added for some reason. This is from a CT scanner caused by a faulty xray Detector module. There are many different versions, this system has 57 modules that make up the entire assembly.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1748171114.jpg

I'll need to get them out for pictures, but I have a trime and a no-cents nickel in my small collection of coins. They're over 100 years old - not old for coins, I know, and they aren't very valuable. I just got them because I found them interesting.

Patrick ... why don't you have a Porsche tractor? You need one!

Methinks you probably know R. Yow (356, etc)... amongst his "collection" was a beaut ....

I didn't "need" one :D

They smoke bowls now ;)

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Yes, it is a tuning peg from a violin. Why do I consider it an artifact? It was carved about 125 years ago by my great uncle.

Cool. Was he a violin maker or just doing a homemade repair?

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Uncle had a side gig selling promotional items, had samples with his name and number. Keychain pocket knife, 50 years old

Newton Mfg, Newton, IA

He played, I am told. He died before I was born. His daughter never married and gave me his desk, which I still have. My sister, who I visited in November was given the violin. Last year, she got in contact with a great grandson of my great uncle's (2nd cousin) and found there was another violin player in that family. She had a luthier bring the instrument to playable condition and sent it to him. She thought I might like the tuning peg, as I share a name with the old fellow.

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Memory boards from an old 1980's mainframe computer. I don't remember the manufacturer but when we were tearing it out I pulled a couple of the boards. The pictures show both sides of them. They measure about 12" square and probably weigh at least a pound each. They hang in my bar now.

I do need one! I would have the Jr model - the smallest one. Miserable excuse for a tractor. Single cylinder, air cooled diesel. When it’s idling it jumps up and down and sounds like someone beating on a washtub with a hammer.

Porsche never built tractors.

These days, a galvanized washtub would be an artifact!