Letting Go...

[SCCutler]

It is funny how we decide to hang on to things, and why.

In my earlier life, before I was a lawyer, I worked first in the field, carrying a toolbag and fixing microfilm equipment for the Bell & Howell Company (which essentially no longer exists). Ultimately, I was lured out to California, at a division HQ for what we called "COM" systems (Computer Output on Microfilm). Somehow, in the process, I became the company expert on what were at the time the best microfilm processors money could buy (again, opinion, but I worked with enough to know that was true).

In the course of all that, I got to be good fiends with the old coot who designed the processors, which were manufactured in Los Angeles, and he convinced me that I should have a cottage business buying, refurbing and selling these processors, so with the assistance of my boss, I did just that. We made some good money at it, too.

Bell & Howell sold us to TRW, and at some point, I decided that I needed to go to law school, so I moved off to Dallas and the processor business moved from my garage in Fullerton to Larry's garage in Westminster. Then Larry (the boss, some of you might recall he and his wife showed up at Gaston's) moved out east, and convinced me to let the moving truck stop by and drop the processor inventory at my house. Oops. That was 1991.

Today, I rolled those beasts out to the curb for pickup by a recycling service- no one wants these anymore, and if I do not get rid of them, my wife will maim me.

Hard to realize that these machines, which sold for $20,000.00+ in the 80's have no value at all, any more. Harder to "let go" of that phase of my life. Good, though, to get the garage space back.

BTW, Harley Reich may be the only one who knows what these things are- 105mm full-reversal processors, although Dr. Bruce probably saw some beingused to process heart cath films back in the day.

 

[Richard]

Have you called NASA? Mebbe they want them, after all, they're going to the moon, you know. On '60s technology.......

 

[Carol]

Ya know, there are artists out there who specialize in "found art." Might make an interesting tribute display.

"Honey, that's not garbage, it's *art*."

 

[John J]

Spike;

A real nice note and you hit the nail on the head for many of us.

I find it very hard to throw stuff out as well. I have an old Speed Graphic Camera complete with flash. and yes a full 16mm bench editing equipment. I do remember the Bell and HowelL wind up 16mm cameras. They worked when nothing else did.

Yes the art route is looking pretty interesting. Carol thank you.

John J

 

[Dave Siciliano]

Spike! We could have an entire board dedicated to what to do with 'stuff'. It's nice to hear your story. Don't think I have any 60s era computer stuff in my garage, but there's probably something else out there I don't need to be reminded of!! This was really funny!

Best,

Dave

 

[mikea]

I'm in the same boat. I have a lot of old "cutting edge" computer equipment stacked up here that isn't as powerful as what you can get for $299 at Best Buy today. I have to keep telling myself to stop thinking about what it cost and think about what it's worth. I have misguided thoughts that there's antique or nostalgic value. I should see what it the stuff goes for on the market.

I just had thoughts that I if ever fail to fight the urge for motivation I can document putting my 1982 CP/M "PCs" on the Internet. I'm fairly sure I can get them to browse the web with a few hours work. There are bunch of blogs where my fellow geeks share step by pictures of doing stuff like that.

At at my airport there's a semi trailer parked at the entrance. I was told that inside is a bunch of "priceless" WWII-surplus photo analysis equipment - some precision work tables and optical equipment used to analyze aerial photos. The airport owner is in the same bag.

Oh, and I still have equipment from my business from over 20 years ago - Alarm and electrical supplies.

My name is Mike and I'm a pack rat.

 

[Lawreston]

Oh, my! And I thought my garage was full of "junk" after, since 1977, having moved my camera store four times(all within Brunswick) and closing it(2004); and having closed one out-of-town satellite store. "Stuff" sure does gather, but since I semi-retired I've had time to clean out a lot of the stuff.

Yup; I remember when Bell and Howell was the spoken word in numerous categories of photography. And guess who introduced and distributed Canon products to the U.S. But don't anyone be fooled by some Bell + Howell(note the "+" sign) products on the market, today. Extreme junk! by some crappy company who plays with the similarity of a proud old name.

HR

 

[SCCutler]

Oh, my! And I thought my garage was full of "junk" after, since 1977, having moved my camera store four times(all within Brunswick) and closing it(2004); and having closed one out-of-town satellite store. "Stuff" sure does gather, but since I semi-retired I've had time to clean out a lot of the stuff.

Yup; I remember when Bell and Howell was the spoken word in numerous categories of photography. And guess who introduced and distributed Canon products to the U.S. But don't anyone be fooled by some Bell + Howell(note the "+" sign) products on the market, today. Extreme junk! by some crappy company who plays with the similarity of a proud old name.

HR

Harley, when I was with B&H (hired on in '82), they were the kind of company you wanted to work for for a lifetime. Great folks everywhere I went, good training, respect, the whole nine yards. My side of the business (microfilm), we made the best of most of the stuff we sold in the marketplace; our high-speed rotary cameras (checks, documents, etc.) flat blew away the competition from Kodak and 3M, and the Japanese products were simply unable to compete- wholly indequate engineering (really). Problem was, B&H engineered the stuff to last forever, and to be repairable forever, which made for very happy customers, but meant margins weren't massive. Of course, B&H was soundly profitable and paid dividends consistently, and always funded the profit-sharing plan nicely: result? Leveraged buyout, spin off divisions for cash, and the company is essentially gone.

As you have observed, all of the various consumer products sold under the B&H name now (floor lamps? cheap-ass digital cameras?) are just brand licensing plays.

You mention the movie cameras: the basic model 70 was in continuous manufacture from (IIRC) the 20s to the late 60s, and was always sold witha lifetime guarantee; when I hired on with the company, and traveled to the mother ship in Licolnwood (Chicago), we were shown the repair depot where all the cameras with warranty claims were repaired, and (in those days) even though B&H no longer made or sold movie cameras, it was an article of faith that they would continue to repair them because the company promised to do so.

COM Products Division was the same idea- we made the best COM recorders, and our support was targeted at the IBM standard- there instantly, fixed now, 99%+ uptime, amazing for heavy-use electro-mechanical-early computer equipment. But we were well-traned, well-supported and had fun at our work. Then, when they sold us out, and the purchaser "flipped" our group to TRW, the fun ended, and the inevitable (and remarkably speedy) decline came.

Funny thing, though: some of those people are still good friends; and wherever life has taken them since, they all seem to be doing well.

===

P.S.- Got any Kodak Retina IIa cameras (Schneider-Kreuznach lens) hanging around?

/s/ Spike

 

[mgkdrgn]

Datagraphix?

It is funny how we decide to hang on to things, and why.

In my earlier life, before I was a lawyer, I worked first in the field, carrying a toolbag and fixing microfilm equipment for the Bell & Howell Company (which essentially no longer exists). Ultimately, I was lured out to California, at a division HQ for what we called "COM" systems (Computer Output on Microfilm). Somehow, in the process, I became the company expert on what were at the time the best microfilm processors money could buy (again, opinion, but I worked with enough to know that was true).

In the course of all that, I got to be good fiends with the old coot who designed the processors, which were manufactured in Los Angeles, and he convinced me that I should have a cottage business buying, refurbing and selling these processors, so with the assistance of my boss, I did just that. We made some good money at it, too.

Bell & Howell sold us to TRW, and at some point, I decided that I needed to go to law school, so I moved off to Dallas and the processor business moved from my garage in Fullerton to Larry's garage in Westminster. Then Larry (the boss, some of you might recall he and his wife showed up at Gaston's) moved out east, and convinced me to let the moving truck stop by and drop the processor inventory at my house. Oops. That was 1991.

Today, I rolled those beasts out to the curb for pickup by a recycling service- no one wants these anymore, and if I do not get rid of them, my wife will maim me.

Hard to realize that these machines, which sold for $20,000.00+ in the 80's have no value at all, any more. Harder to "let go" of that phase of my life. Good, though, to get the garage space back.

BTW, Harley Reich may be the only one who knows what these things are- 105mm full-reversal processors, although Dr. Bruce probably saw some beingused to process heart cath films back in the day.

 

[bbchien]

Yeah, our cath labs are all digital today....

 

[mikea]

Yup; I remember when Bell and Howell was the spoken word in numerous categories of photography. And guess who introduced and distributed Canon products to the U.S. But don't anyone be fooled by some Bell + Howell(note the "+" sign) products on the market, today. Extreme junk! by some crappy company who plays with the similarity of a proud old name.

Harley, I lived in the same town as Bell + Howell HQ. They were used the "+" on the sign out front when they faded away, or whatever.

The B+H HQ became the Lincolnwood Town Center mall in this sequence, 1) "We GOTTA approve the developer buying the place and building the mall. Think of all of the retail sales tax revenue it'll bring the village!" "The mall was approved. Of course we had to agree to give the sales tax revenue to the developer or he wouldn't build it."

 

[Lawreston]

As you have observed, all of the various consumer products sold under the B&H name now (floor lamps? cheap-ass digital cameras?) are just brand licensing plays.

That's the tricky part. The current products aren't logoed as B&H; rather as B+H. Corp. assumption is that the consumer(if he/she is old enough to remember) will automatically assume that it's from the fine old company. And it probably works, to the consumer's eventual disdain of product.

P.S.- Got any Kodak Retina IIa cameras (Schneider-Kreuznach lens) hanging around?

No; but if you find a Retina III C somewhere, I know a Connecticut collector who'll pay big bucks for it. Be careful: it has to be with a big C because there's also a Retina III c (note the small c) which isn't as "collectible."

HR (Can't figure out these

sequences)

 

[SCCutler]

Datagraphix?

Funny thing, that. We (B&H) nearly always won in the really high-volume production bureau accounts (mine in Houston was Exxon, 3 6700 recorders, 2 Photomatrix diazo duplicators with sorters and one HFC full-reversal processor (like the ones in the picture). 24/7 and I never, ever fell below 99% in any month.

But then, our biggest single user, Anacomp, with their network of high-volume service bureaus across the country, up and bought Datagraphix (who were, for those who don't know, our biggest competitor and the biggest player in the market).

Funniest thing, though, is that when TRW's Customer Service Division imploded in a scandal of inefficiency and overvalued inventory, the only group which survived was our old COM service & support group, and they were sold intact to .... Anacomp... where some of my old chums still work (even after a bankruptcy).

Faint vestiges, living on...

 

[silver-eagle]

Spike;
The place I was working at in the 80's bought a B&H 600 (preported to be the first in this configuration) driven by a PDP11 channel attached to an IBM mainframe. It produced some fine microfiche in it's time. The best damned machine on the market when we got it.
The machine it replaced was a datagraphics. A major POS which, when the CE was around, managed to take out the mainframe each and every time. I think all it had to do is 'KNOW' the CE was there and the next thing we knew, the lights and sirens were going off.
Ahhhh.... the good old days.
By the way, anyone know the resale value of an Altair?

 

[mgkdrgn]

Always wondered what ever became of Datagraphix. I worked for them for just under a year in spares logistics in Bethesda, MD.

Funny thing, that. We (B&H) nearly always won in the really high-volume production bureau accounts (mine in Houston was Exxon, 3 6700 recorders, 2 Photomatrix diazo duplicators with sorters and one HFC full-reversal processor (like the ones in the picture). 24/7 and I never, ever fell below 99% in any month.

But then, our biggest single user, Anacomp, with their network of high-volume service bureaus across the country, up and bought Datagraphix (who were, for those who don't know, our biggest competitor and the biggest player in the market).

Funniest thing, though, is that when TRW's Customer Service Division imploded in a scandal of inefficiency and overvalued inventory, the only group which survived was our old COM service & support group, and they were sold intact to .... Anacomp... where some of my old chums still work (even after a bankruptcy).

Faint vestiges, living on...

 

[SCCutler]

Always wondered what ever became of Datagraphix. I worked for them for just under a year in spares logistics in Bethesda, MD.

For DX, look at www.anacomp.com ; that is the successor, and they are based (now) in the San Diego area. Although they were always our bitter competitors back in the day, so many of my old friends still work there that I can only wish them the best.

One other funny thing: when I moved to Irvine in 1986 with B&H, there was this programmer guy working there; really good programmer, but pull out all your tired, old stereotypes about compugeeks, and he's it. He lived at his mom's house, the house in which he had grown up, in the same room he'd always lived in (he was around 30 when I moved there). His job lived on through the verious sales, etc.

After Anacomp took over, the work moved to San Diego, and when I spoke with one of the old crew, I observed that old Victor finally had to move out of his Mom's house (too far to commute every day). And it was true, he moved to San Diego.

And moved in with his dad.

Where he still lives today.

 

[Toby]

So......did recycling pick them up, these funny metal beasts with a little of the old Spike soul in them?

 

[gismo]

By the way, anyone know the resale value of an Altair?

'bout a dollar buck sixty. I don't think I have an Altair around anymore, but I believe that somewhere in my basement is a collection of several early microprocessor based "personal computers" ala TI, Sinclair, Commodore, and a bunch I can't even remember. Maybe someday I can donate them to a museum if my wife didn't throw them out already.