Michael Booth 7,364 Posted December 18, 2013 Report Share Posted December 18, 2013 Nowadays it’s pretty easy to record your favourite TV shows, but the technology is less than 50 years old. The first VCR was invented in Nottingham and was called the Telcan or ‘television in a can’, cost £60 and could record 20 minutes in black and white. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mattsdigs 104 Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 I never knew that. Impressive. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bubblewrap 3,815 Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 £60 in 1960 was a lot of pennies when the average wage was around £15 a week. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
poohbear 1,360 Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 ....yeah...and me and my mates earned nowhere near it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
littlebro 234 Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 £60 in 1960 was a lot of pennies when the average wage was around £15 a week. £60 from 1960 is £1,172 in today's money. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob.L 1,090 Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 When I bought my first VCR in the early 1980s, it cost me over £400, which equates to about £1450 in today's money. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
poohbear 1,360 Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 My very first blank 180 VCR tape from Eddies Alfreton Road in '84 is still in a cupboard with The Blues Brothers on it .Price sticker on the box £7.50. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Didn't a film on video originally cost around £30 - £40? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Booth 7,364 Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 TARMAC. Hardly the most fascinating thing but perhaps the most widely used. Notts county surveyor Edgar Hooley was passing a tarworks in 1901 when he noticed a barrel of tar had been spilled and, to reduce the mess, someone had dumped gravel on it. A year later he patented the process and the first road to be tarmacked was in West Bridgford, Nottingham. Our Nottstalgian friend, Compo, may be interested to know that the Wick Airport at Wick in Caithness, Scotland, is one of the few airports that still has a tarmac runway. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
notty ash 372 Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/sense_of_place/facts/inventors.shtml has a list of Nottinghamshire inventions and this follows the same theme http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/spotlight/2002/05/fun_facts_inventors.shtml Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LizzieM 9,514 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 I was tuned into Radio Nottingham this morning, there was discussion about Nottingham inventors/inventions. It was mentioned that Cats Eyes were invented by Percy Shaw of Nottingham. INCORRECT. Percy Shaw did invent them but he was born and grew up in Halifax. According to my husband he invented cats eyes during WW2. In the early 80's my husband and his mate considered buying the company, but realising just how much it was worth they quickly decided against it. They didn't meet Percy, he'd probably died by them, but they had meetings with his son-in-law. Apparently Percy had 4 televisions in his sitting room, each one tuned into a different channel ...... (Before video recorders then).... I get fed up with ONE television blaring! Now Tarmac. It wasn't invented by a Nottingham man, sorry Michael! A Scottish fellow called McAdam invented it. Also, sorry again Michael, most runways in the World are asphalt, (Tarmac with a graded stone mix). Sometimes the ends are concrete but generally it is just the areas where aircraft stand that are concrete because any fuel spillage would eat into the asphalt. 6 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Pianoman 1,535 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 Can't remember what I have learnt years ago now but I think you will find that there is more to the Tarmac story. I think you will find that McAdam invented a substance for road surfacing but tar was added to what he invented later by someone else. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Paulus 541 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 #11, Lizzie, re' the invention of cat's eyes, apparently the reflection from a real cat's eyes were seen by the inventor in his car headlights whilst travelling to a friends...........................luckily the cat also turned & walked away (disdainfully) with his tail in the air (as cat's do) so the inventor also got the idea for his pencil sharpener invention................... 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ayupmeducks 1,730 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 Using silver as the base for calculations, 1 pound was $4 back when the "base" was originated, then using a $1 silver coin valued at $26 today, I calculate 60 pounds as $6240, or approx 1560 pounds in today's worthless bits of paper. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ayupmeducks 1,730 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 Didn't Sir Richard Arkwright invent a carding machine when he lived in Nottingham? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 #11. Wow! Techno Liz. Do you mend boilers? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rob.L 1,090 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 #11 Anyone would think you knew something about airport runways! 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mercurydancer 1,104 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 Sydney Smith invented a pressure valve which prevented steam engines from over pressurising and blowing up. Very handy in the age of steam. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NewBasfordlad 3,599 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 Quite right Michael Hooley did invent Tarmac right here in Nottingham. Sorry Lizzie and yes Chulla I do mend boilers as do the two guys who work for me. John Louden McAdam born 1756. He built roads road raised above the surrounding area constructed from layered rocks and gravel of specific sizes. This improved drainage and gave a smoother surface. The process became known as Macadamisation. Edgar Purnell Hooley born 1860 in Bristol. He was appointed county surveyor to NCC in 1889. Passing a tar works in 1901 he noticed a large spillage of tar where someone had dumped gravel on top to help the clean up. He also noticed it was a lot less dusty than the surrounding area. He developed and patented Tarmac in 1902 and founded a company 'Tarmac In Britain', he was not a very good businessman and was bought out by a chap from Birmingham in 1905. As to asphalt also known as bitumen and pitch, this is the black substance you see roofers melting in their pots. It can come from natural sources or be fined from thick petroleum products. Its main use some 70% is as a glue or binder mixed with aggregate particles to make asphalt concrete also known as Tarmac a widely used surfacing material. Asphalt on its own could not be used as a surfacing material it is just to soft and with a melting point of about 50'C large lorries, planes would just sink into it. Even when mixed with aggregate and laid properly we see roads being closed when the surface starts to melt. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LizzieM 9,514 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 Ok thanks for that info NewBasfordlad ....... and here's me thinking I was married to an expert in such civil engineering topics! Actually I've been waiting all day for someone to google it and prove me wrong ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NewBasfordlad 3,599 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 Not just google Lizzie I have had this discussion before though I did check my facts before posting I get used to egg on my face LOL And you were spot on about cats eyes, they did a program on the guy last year very very interesting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LizzieM 9,514 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 I know I was spot on about cats eyes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 Corner flags in football? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Engineer 614 Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 In regard of asphalt, it might be down to naming convention. The European Asphalt Pavement Society says it is aggregate bound with bitumen. As Abraham Lincoln once said: "You can't believe everything you read on Wikipedia." Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tompa 285 Posted May 8, 2016 Report Share Posted May 8, 2016 All very interesting, but all I can say is, they should invent some more and repair all the bloody potholes. 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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