mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
|
Post by mickeyobe on Mar 13, 2014 2:38:02 GMT -5
It's interesting that many early cameras were focused on a screen rather than using a viewfinder: the idea isn't that modern. To the tune of Davy Crockett: Mickey, Mickey Obe, King on the dumb idea, And while he was handlin' this risky chore
Made hisself a legend for evermore.
Actually some of the ideas are very good! Wait till you see my ultra high tech, state of the art, penny aunty (sic) stuck battery compartment cap remover. It is just awaiting FDA approval and a short, catchy name. Mickey |
|
daveh
Lifetime Member
Posts: 4,696
|
Post by daveh on Mar 13, 2014 22:18:02 GMT -5
"Actually some of the ideas are very good!"
Very good? Some are excellent!
|
|
mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
|
Post by mickeyobe on Mar 16, 2014 10:33:18 GMT -5
Time for another of those amazing high tech inventions. For a number of years Canon, Pentax, Minolta and other camera manufacturers delighted in torturing their customers by making the caps for battery compartments of soft metals that deformed after a few uses and became impossible to unscrew. A scientific genius (me) devised a technically superior tool that fit most of those ravaged caps. It is fittingly called The Stuck Battery Compartment Cap Unstucker.
Herewith the tool.  It is made of a 4" long x 1/2" hardwood dowel. A two part epoxy putty from UK called Lilliputty. And, after extensive research, the coin that fit the greatest number of cap slots. A Canadian one cent piece. A slot 1/8" deep and thick enough to allow the penny to tightly fit therein was sawn into one end of the dowel' The coin was inserted and secured with Crazy Glue. The putty was used to further secure the coin and give the tool its sleek, modern profile. Total cost about a nickel. Patent pending. Caution: The Canadian mint stopped producing 1 cent coins this January. A serious shortage may result. Mickey |
|
|
|
Post by philbirch on Mar 16, 2014 14:04:09 GMT -5
Caution: The Canadian mint stopped producing 1 cent coins this January. A serious shortage may result. Mickey An excellent idea, I would flatten it a little to get more purchase and drill a small hole in the handle so it will fit a keyring. I shall call my invention the Patent Universal Battery Extractor or PUBE for short. I have a number of the extremely rare Canadian cents available for just one dollar each plus postage, packing and handling.  |
|
mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
|
Post by mickeyobe on Mar 16, 2014 14:49:56 GMT -5
Caution: The Canadian mint stopped producing 1 cent coins this January. A serious shortage may result. Mickey An excellent idea, I would flatten it a little to get more purchase and drill a small hole in the handle so it will fit a keyring. I shall call my invention the Patent Universal Battery Extractor or PUBE for short. I have a number of the extremely rare Canadian cents available for just one dollar each plus postage, packing and handling. Whoa! You are way ahead of me. I was never any good at marketing or selling. A very catchy name indeed. And as one becomes familiar and friendly with PUBER one might append a nickname like BERTY. I think there may be a prison sentence for defacing Her Majesty's currency. Check with your legal advisors. Your penny ante charge for the penny is very reasonable. You might offer a bargain of three for the price of two thus upping the steaks (sic) considerably. Mickey |
|
daveh
Lifetime Member
Posts: 4,696
|
Post by daveh on Mar 16, 2014 17:03:02 GMT -5
A brass clock winder works well. Just remove the actual winder part (which is on some just held in place with a pin) to leave the flat winged section. It already has a hole to fit on a key ring. Alternatively, make one from scratch out of a piece of brass.
p.s. if you're really flash, make it out of cast gold. Do a wax pattern and cast the gold using the lost-wax process.
|
|
mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
|
Post by mickeyobe on Mar 16, 2014 17:29:42 GMT -5
A brass clock winder works well. Just remove the actual winder part (which is on some just held in place with a pin) to leave the flat winged section. It already has a hole to fit on a key ring. Alternatively, make one from scratch out of a piece of brass. p.s. if you're really flash, make it out of cast gold. Do a wax pattern and cast the gold using the lost-wax process. I am afraid Dave, you would have to charge a little more than $1 for your suggestion. Perhaps even as much as $1.25. Perhaps the Rockerfellas would go for a couple? Mickey |
|
|
|
Post by philbirch on Mar 16, 2014 18:39:56 GMT -5
Mickey I just realised what you meant about defacing the coins. I meant flatten the profile of the dowel in your original design. i.e. plane the sides flat.
Its not illegal to deface Her Majesty's coinage in Britain indeed they have machines at popular tourist destinations that stretch pennies into ovals and stamp an image on them.
I'm busy speaking to a Chinese factory owner and he is optimistic that all photographers will have one of my PUBEs in their bag by this time next decade.
|
|
daveh
Lifetime Member
Posts: 4,696
|
Post by daveh on Mar 16, 2014 19:27:15 GMT -5
I have just been looking to see if I could find any information on the old one penny stamping machines that used to be on every pier in Britain in the 1950s. As yet I've had no luck.
|
|
mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
|
Post by mickeyobe on Mar 17, 2014 11:19:30 GMT -5
Mickey I just realised what you meant about defacing the coins. I meant flatten the profile of the dowel in your original design. i.e. plane the sides flat. WHO COULD I GET TO HOLD THE DOWEL WHILE I PLANED IT? IT WOULD PROBABLY HAVE TO BE A BLOOD SPORT FAN - A CUTTHROAT USER, PERHAPS.
Its not illegal to deface Her Majesty's coinage in Britain indeed they have machines at popular tourist destinations that stretch pennies into ovals and stamp an image on them. COPPER HAS BECOME VERY EXPENSIVE HERE. I THINK SUCH A HOBBY WOULD BE FROWNED UPON IN CANADA. WE NEED IT FOR OUR WATER PIPES.
I'm busy speaking to a Chinese factory owner and he is optimistic that all photographers will have one of my PUBEs in their bag by this time next decade.
MICKEY
|
|
|
|
Post by philbirch on Mar 17, 2014 18:22:21 GMT -5
I have just been looking to see if I could find any information on the old one penny stamping machines that used to be on every pier in Britain in the 1950s. As yet I've had no luck. There is one at Blackpool Tower and one at Alton Towers too. I remember one recently in Manchester but can't remember where - probably the Science and Industry Museum. They flatten the new pennies though. |
|
daveh
Lifetime Member
Posts: 4,696
|
Post by daveh on Mar 17, 2014 18:34:23 GMT -5
The Science and Industry museum is a good bet. While I occasionally wander, that way I have yet to go there. I'm heading down to London in a few weeks. Maybe I'll look in the Science Museum down there. It's not that I expect them to have one, but I went years ago, spent half a day there and never even completed half of one floor.
Llandudno pier used to have a good selection of those old machines. I'm not sure what there is there now - certainly not "What the butler saw". I did have a 6d one-arm bandit. My daughter took it over and had it restored. It's strange what we collect (given half a chance).
|
|
|
|
Post by philbirch on Mar 17, 2014 18:35:42 GMT -5
I have put a PK adaptor ring removing key on my keyring so I always know where it is. Today I used it twice, once to try a lens on my Pentax and again to open a battery compartment on an Olympus 35ED. The rounded handle is the perfect size ! Attachment Deleted |
|
|
|
Post by philbirch on Mar 17, 2014 18:40:58 GMT -5
The Science and Industry museum is a good bet. While I occasionally wander, that way I have yet to go there. I'm heading down to London in a few weeks. Maybe I'll look in the Science Museum down there. It's not that I expect them to have one, but I went years ago, spent half a day there and never even completed half of one floor. Llandudno pier used to have a good selection of those old machines. I'm not sure what there is there now - certainly not "What the butler saw". I did have a 6d one-arm bandit. My daughter took it over and had it restored. It's strange what we collect (given half a chance). I had a Ninja Turtles Wrestling video machine from the pub. I rescued it from the skip and brought it home in an ASDA shopping trolley - well not in it exactly but balanced precariously on it with the kids excitedly stopping it falling off and helping me steer the trolley. My wife wasn't impressed and it went about 3 hours after installation. I got a £100 for it. Never saw the money though... |
|
mickeyobe
Lifetime Member
Resident President
Posts: 7,280
|
Post by mickeyobe on Mar 17, 2014 21:03:36 GMT -5
Our coin flattening machines differed slightly from yours.
We would go out to a main thoroughfare and look carefully about to make sure there was no policeman nearby.
Then quickly dash to the middle of the road and place a coin on the streetcar tracks.
Then race back to stand nonchalantly by until a streetcar came along and squashed the coin.
Run out. Pick it up and back to the sidewalk to examine our treasure. An unattractive blob of copper.
We knew we were doing wrong but I never heard of any kid going to jail over the misdemeanor.
Please keep this a secret.
Mickey
|
|
