Might the mechanical telephone will make a comeback? Probably not since all communication seems to be going wireless these days. But who knows...
Pulsion Telephone Company certificate and ad from 1889 http://scripophily.net/imputesecoma.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_can_telephone <<For a short period of time acoustic telephones were marketed commercially as a niche competitor to the electrical telephone, as they preceded the latter's invention and didn't fall within the scope of its patent protection. When Alexander Graham Bell's telephone patent expired and dozens of new phone companies flooded the marketplace, acoustic telephone manufacturers could not compete commercially and quickly went out of business. Their maximum range was very limited, but hundreds of technical innovations (resulting in about 300 patents) increased their range to approximately a half mile (800 m) or more under ideal conditions.[5] An example of one such company was Lemuel Mellett's 'Pulsion Telephone Supply Company' of Massachusetts, which designed its version in 1888 and deployed it on railroad right-of-ways, purportedly with a range of 3 miles (4.8 km).>> Harry . On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 5:54 PM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > ChemE Stewart <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> Right, we also used to have the Stanley Steamer and vacuum tube >> technology and they were REPLACED with better technology >> > > Better? Are you sure? > > Vacuum tube computer memory replaced CRT-based memory. Vacuum tubes were > then replaced by magnetic core memory, which was replaced by semiconductor > memory. But wait, magnetic core may be staging a comeback. It might replace > semiconductor RAM again. As I said, the old is often made new again. > > Charles Spindt of SRI told me that ideas proposed by Ken Shoulders and Don > Geppert's on integrated micron-sized "vacuum tubes" (Vacuum > Microelectronics) had been pursued, maybe we would be using vacuum tube RAM > today. > > People are now working on DNA based data storage systems. It does not seem > likely to me these will ever be used for RAM memory, but you never know. If > they are, all the world's data would fit in 8 mL of fluid costing a > fraction of a penny. DNA is old technology. Very old. 3.5 billion years > old. The DNA data transfer speed occurring in your body at this moment far > exceeds the speed of all computers on earth. > > Electric cars were made obsolete in 1908 by the introduction of the Model > T Ford. Today, gasoline cars are being may obsolete by the introduction of > . . . electric cars, hybrid and pure. > > It may be that solar thermal lost its chance. It may never compete with PV > or wind. Then again, maybe it will. I hope that all of them are soon > replaced by cold fusion. > > - Jed > >
