After decades of constant decline, the cost of electricity in the U.S. began to rise beginning in the 1960s. The change occurred for many reasons, one of which was continually growing demand for electric power. During the 1980s electric utilities that had traditionally concerned themselves with managing the supply of power began adopting so-called Demand Side Management programs (DSM). The idea centered on encouraging the use of special pricing and greater energy efficiency to slow the need for new power plants and transmission lines.
While many DSM programs focused on commercial and industrial power users, some targeted residential consumers. One popular program involved utilities' swapping regular incandescent lamps for new, energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). The participating utility purchased a large quantity of CFLs from a lamp maker at a discount and then provided the lamps to consumers at a reduced price, or sometimes for free. Some governments provided subsidies to help cover the costs.
Bulb-swaps introduced many people to energy-efficient CFLs. They also provided a market demand during the early years of CFL production when lamp makers were still paying for the new production lines needed to make the new lamps. As more lamps were produced, prices began to decline. This "Super Q'Lite" modular lamp from Lights Of America was offered by Washington, DC utility PEPCO in 1994 as part of a DSM program. Using only 27 watts, it replaced a regular lamp that used 100 watts.
Lamp characteristics: A modular compact fluorescent lamp with two parts—a tube assembly and a base-unit. The original package and coupon book were collected with this lamp. The tube assembly consists of a four-tube glass structure with two electrodes, mercury and an internal phosphor coating. Plug-in style base. The base-unit has a medium-screw shell and houses the ballast and starter equipment. A receptacle on top accepts the plug-in base of the tube assembly.
In 1945 William Lear purchased a license from the Armour Research Foundation and made wire recorders like this “Dynaport” unit. The Dynaport combined a wire recorder with a disk record player. The user could play records and make a wire recording of the contents. Users could also connect the Dynaport with a radio and record programs off the air.
The Dynaport did not sell well and Lear turned his attention to other products like small business jets. Years later he redesigned a tape cartridge system and became a driving force in the introduction of 8-track tape players for automobiles.
This unit includes the recorder, a power amplifier, five spools of recording wire, an empty container for a spool of wire (mounted on the machine), two recording heads, a recording arm, a recording microphone with stand, and a bag of loose parts and tools. Box reads "WR105A".Also included are the owner's manual, wiring schematics for both the recorder and the amplifier, technical information for the recording arm and head, and advertising sheets.
Intel 1103 1K Bit pMOS Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chip. Marked on top: "i / D1103 / I3261100", on bottom: "i Philippines / B / 7928". Refreshing all 1024 bits is accomplished in 32 read cycles and is required every two milliseconds - a one-transistor DRAM. This is the chip that replaced hand-wound ferrite core memories. The first commercially available computer using the 1103 was the HP 9800 series.
Intel 8088. This 16-bit Microprocessor was used in desktops. Standard CPU for all IBM PCs and PC clones. Contained 29,000 transistors with clock speeds of 8 MHz and 4.77 MHz and 64K Memory. Marked: "i / D8088 / I2500007 / Intel '78"; on bottom: "Malaysia / 8238 EP E".
Marked on top: “i / D4004 / W1082718 / S1310 BI”; on bottom: “E BJ / Philippines”. The Intel 4004 microprocessor was released on November 15, 1971. Packaged in a 16-pin ceramic dual in-line package is a 4-bit central processing unit (CPU). The 4004 is the first complete CPU on one chip, the first commercially available microprocessor, a feat made possible by the use of the new (1970) silicon gate technology allowing the integration of a higher number of transistors (2,300) and a faster speed than was possible before. The 4004 employed a 10 um silicon-gate enhancement load pMOS technology and could execute approximately 92,000 instructions per second (a single instruction cycle was 11 microseconds).
Semi-automatic keys (commonly called "bugs") like this "American Vibroplex" automatically produced rapid Morse code dots by using a weighted pendulum to quickly make and break contact in the electrical circuit. The operator would make the dashes manually but could send much faster than with an ordinary key.
There are two labels on this key. Label 1 is stamped: "The Original American Vibroplex Sold & Guaranteed by King & Co.,Cincinnati,O." Label 2 is molded: "This machine is licensed but NOT guaranteed NOR manufactured by J. E. Albright 253 Broadway, New York No. 223 W.U.T.Co."
King & Company produced this key under license from a company that worked with Horace Martin, inventor of the "Vibroplex" semi-automatic key. Albright acted as licensor for Martin and collected a $2 fee from the Western Union operator to permit use of this key. #223 is the license number, not the key serial number. The donor identified this and key 1985.0885.02 as "two 'bugs' my father used as a telegrapher for Western Union and various railroads. ... he was working at that profession in the 1920s".
Intel's 8008 8 bit microprocessor was the first 8 bit microprocessor. AKA 1201. Marked on top: "i / D8008-1 / I33370057", on back: "Barbados / G / 8330 CG". The 8008 has 3,500 transistors, 200 KHz clock speed, introduced in April 1972. Designers were Ted Hoff, Federico Faggin, Stan Mazor and Hal Feeney. Typical uses: Dumb terminals, general calculators, bottling machines, data/character manipulation.
Consumers could buy solar powered products within ten years of the invention of solar cells. Hoffman Electronics manufactured cells for satellites but company president H. Leslie Hoffman believed the sun could power other products. Hoffman already manufactured radios based on vacuum tube technology and decided that solar cells would work well with a radio that used transistors instead of tubes. His company introduced their first Trans-Solar portable radio in 1957 and sold several models in the next few years. Like the others, this model KP-706 could run on sunlight or batteries.
Characteristics: The solar panel is 12cm long X 3cm wide. A paper label inside the back reads: "Made in USA by Hoffman Electronics Corporation Consumer Products Division. Chassis 1123." It also lists the operating characteristics of the radio and solar panel. Label also has "THIS APPARATUS USES INVENTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES PATENTS LICENSED BY RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA. PATENT NUMBERS SUPPLIED UPON REQUEST." The radio has a black plastic case with a metal handle. "Hoffman Electronics Corp of Los Angeles, Calif." Label in battery bay: "Model KP 706 / Battery / type / 4 volt mercury / Hoffman H930003 / Mallory TR233R / or Equiv. / EIA code 207" and "Ser. No. X032637".
This is an experimental device made by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Aircraft in late 1959 or early 1960 as part of the series of experiments leading up to the demonstration of the first laser in May 1960. This object features a cube-shaped ruby crystal mounted at one end of a microwave wave-guide. Maiman sought to test the response of the synthetic ruby crystal to microwave stimulation. Other researchers claimed that ruby would be a poor material to use in a laser. Maiman thought otherwise.
After Charles Townes invented the microwave-emitting maser in 1954, researchers began trying to move to the higher energy levels of infrared and visible light. They referred to such devices as "optical masers," and only later did people adopt Gordon Gould's term, "laser." This experimental piece clearly shows the influence of microwave technology. The metal tube is not a stand but rather a hollow guide that channels microwaves to the ruby crystal. The results of this and other experiments led Maiman to ultimately choose a cylinder of ruby rather than a cube for his laser.