No toddlers on the workbench!

[Phil Nelson]

This Radio Electronics cover kills me. Is Junior poking around in a live chassis while Pop adjusts the oscilloscope?



Wish I had that TV test pattern poster on the wall. I think the bottom says International Television Corporation.

This Popular Electronics cover looks like a safety lesson by comparison.



Phil

[wa2ise]

1st picture: "Daddy, shouldn't we replace all these wax paper caps? They'll go bad before I have grandchildren..."

I suppose a sine wave on the scope looked impressive to someone back then...

2nd pix: "Junior, just be careful of the solder drips on the carpet, and I sure hope the soldering iron don't fall out of the holder and Mom will be unhappy with a burn mark on the carpet..."

[Eric H]

Next Christmas I'll get you a Work Bench Son!

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by Phil Nelson

This Radio Electronics cover kills me. Is Junior poking around in a live chassis while Pop adjusts the oscilloscope?

Phil

400 volts of B+, a 250 watt soldering iron nearby, a 3 foot fall to hard concrete when Jr zaps himself on that chassis.

[Sandy G]

I dunno...Maybe the floor is hardwood, & a solder drop wouldn't hurt it. The 1st kid might have been soldering since he could talk...I know a kid who soloed a Cessna 172 on his 14th birthday..He got his pilots license before he could drive.

[zenithfan1]

Yeah, seems even with all the dangerous stuff they had then, people had a LOT more common sense (or the dangerous things helped weed out the idiots from the gene pool). Maybe he was able to help without causing a nuclear melt down. I can't say that about my kids, I love 'em but sometimes I think they're related to lemmings with the dumb stuff they do. Myself on the other hand, was fixing lawn mowers at age 6, still got all my fingers and my old Craftsman that I got running in the 4th grade. I wish I had kept that '70 Coast to Coast with a 3Hp Briggs that got it all started. I must have painted that thing 20 different colors and took it apart about a hundred times.

[Sandy G]

Gettin' yr fair share of minor burns, cuts, & scrapes when a tyke was sorta EXPECTED, as it taught you to be careful, & not be a sissy...I know it did in my case, anyhow.

[peverett]

I am not sure about the claim of more common sense years ago. In my rural high school of 120 students, at least one student a year was killed in an automobile accident(mainly due to speeding and DUI). This was 40 years ago.

I suspect this would be the same now, but is probably less due to safer cars.

[Eric H]

Originally Posted by peverett

I am not sure about the claim of more common sense years ago. In my rural high school of 120 students, at least one student a year was killed in an automobile accident(mainly due to speeding and DUI). This was 40 years ago.

Ahh yes, "Teenacide"

There's a movie about that:

http://www.archive.org/details/last_date

Stars Dick York no less.

[zenithfan1]

Originally Posted by peverett

I am not sure about the claim of more common sense years ago. In my rural high school of 120 students, at least one student a year was killed in an automobile accident(mainly due to speeding and DUI). This was 40 years ago.

I suspect this would be the same now, but is probably less due to safer cars.

This backs my point about the dangerous stuff weeding the idiots out of the gene pool. Too bad things are safer now.......

[old_tv_nut]

"My dad is too old to understand this stuff - I have to show him everything."

[old_tv_nut]

By the way, I've got the same toolbox on the bottom of my bench.

[dieseljeep]

The second picture. Who could even work that way? It's just an artists rendition.

[Sandy G]

Speaking of "Teenicide", I remember reading a review of a '39 Mercury from a vantage point of 25 or so yrs later-"I thought my old '39 was a real handler...Now, I'm lucky I survived it..." No chit, Sherlock...Solid axles, skinny tires, laughable brakes, non-existent safety equipment, primitive roads...Its a wonder ANYBODY did...

[Phil Nelson]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

The second picture. Who could even work that way? It's just an artists rendition.

Sure, magazine covers (then and now) are carefully staged and they're created primarily by marketing & art folks. When you were a kid, did your Mom get a new hairdo at the beauty parlor, put on makeup and pearls and a cocktail dress, and then sit on the floor in front of the radio to listen to it? That's what makes the covers fun. Who would buy magazines that showed real life?

Phil Nelson