The touch lamp; a neat idea, and older than you'd think!
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2020
- I think we really oughta make this fashionable again, don't you?
Links and stuff down below!
First, the patents!
Aladdin's Fantastical Lamp;
patents.google.com/patent/US2...
Scott M Kunen's not-original patent;
patents.google.com/patent/US4...
Sylvania's Pushless Pushbutton;
patents.google.com/patent/US2...
And in case you want to peruse the datasheet of the modern chip, here's one place to do it;
www.digchip.com/datasheets/pa...
Here are the other links I usually put here;
Technology Connextras (the second channel that stuff goes on sometimes):
/ @technologyconnextras
Technology Connections on Twitter:
/ techconnectify
The TC Subreddit
/ technologyconnections
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/ technologyconnections
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Hey there! I did a quick follow-up video on Connextras to look at the power draw of the modern module. Mishaps occurred!
ua-cam.com/video/FuSsFdzF8tE/v-deo.html
We won't call it a mishap. We'll call it a happy learning opportunity.
Next time,please explain how the clapper worked.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for being so great at creating comprehensible, educational, and overall well written and presented youtube channel. You have easily become one of my favorite content creators on UA-cam., keep up the great work!
Also, dry humor is my favorite, keep that up too!
Dude throwing shade at Apple from the start. If they made a Mac with a touchscreen they wouldn’t have a market for the iPad, duh
Oh but you came back around for Google okay all is fair
The Matrix: "Humans are batteries..."
Technology Connections: "Humans are capacitors..."
Fun fact: Google has now corrected this error and now gives the correct answer of 1954 when searching "When was the touch lamp invented?"
As of today, it says "the 1950's"...
Funny, for me, it still says 1984 just like in the video. Additionally, the second link in the search is about a person complaining that Google's answer is wrong.
@@apenasmedeixausar I can confirm that Google is now saying 1984 again.
Gotta love AI search engines.
To me it just gives no answer except various links.
Because it seems to know that I don't trust it.
@@antontaylor4530 Ha it gave up. It doesn't give any answer anymore, just gives the wikipedia page on them.
"I'm not one to toot my own horn" says a guy with a seven and a half minute video consisting of himself tooting several of his own horns :)
Ah-oooo-gah
Doot doot
@@guspolly That's a klaxon dammit
I watched that entire video, laughing my ass off all along the way. The absurdity of it all was delicious.
I almost feel bad for liking this because it was at 666 likes and that made me giggle (childish, I know) but this was just too perfect a reply to that line.
Touch lamps were not only for human convenience, but also for pets. My mother-in-law had a couple cats who learned that repeatedly tapping the bedside lamp could activate the bipedal food delivery unit.
that's annoying but cute
We need a video of all the times Alec says "Well, through the magic of buying two of them..."
Gustavo Almadovar
It would probably be like an hour long ordeal
@@shawnmulberry774 Omg, I love this ref 😂
Sometimes he says "by the magic of buying three of them" or "buying four"
what about you align them all up like ua-cam.com/video/36IV-FoFLlg/v-deo.html
Otis elevators had touch sensitive call buttons that relied on capacitive coupling through humans to ground to trigger a neon filled tube that acted as sensor, latch, switch and indicator.. Way ahead of its time, and quite complex as a result.
That’s actually quite elegant
Cool to see you over here!
The more you know!
Since people didn't know about gloves and capacitive touch screens in those days, I imagine people would come in with gloves on and decide that the elevator must be broken after angrily jabbing at the button a few dozen times.
i came here when i heard the name drop at 5:09
It's weird how touching a lamp anywhere to turn it on is more magical to me than a smartphone.
I think thats a pretty normal feeling. Humans are pretty much made to adjust to things, so when you're around something or hear about something all the time it starts to feel very "average" and i think that's a huge reason why as a human-race we have this huge fascination with the past and the future. Its something new to experience (even if its already happened before, or hasn't happened yet)
In addition to what Brotien said, I think it’s also partly the fact that we’re used to touch controls having a certain “look”, either in the form of a screen or in a touchpad, so the touch-sensitivity is localized, so to speak. Being able to touch almost _any_ part of the lamp-which, on its face, appears no different from any other lamp aside from the lack of a visible switch-is unlike what we’re used to from existing touch controls.
There’s also the historical context to consider. We think of touch controls being fairly recent (starting around the mid-2000s, give or take), and where they were used, most touch sensors used a resistive touch screen or pad until even more recently (when we started getting iPhones and such, which use capacitance), and those have an even more distinctive appearance and “feel” to them. The idea that devices with working capacitive touch sensors were available commercially as long ago as the 80s (and, technically, had existed since the 50s) makes them seem anachronistic. This is made even more apparent from the appearance of the lamps themselves, which very much appear like antiques (which they basically are), and having that sort of technology in something so old seems bizarre to us.
Though, for me, it feels less like that, but that’s only because I grew up in the 90s (not that long after the time these were popular) and often spent time with a grandmother who actually still used one of these lamps. I still have it, actually. As such, I was exposed to a touch lamp when I was a kid and long before touchscreens and touchpads became commercially viable, so it doesn’t feel anachronistic or unusual to me. I hadn’t even thought of how surprising it would be to most people until a year or so ago because, to me, it was just normal.
Yeah ,it's weird
Don’t you touch your smartphone to turn it on?
I think there's also a factor of "doing more with less" (for lack of a more concise+accurate way to put it) to account for, here.
Like for instance, objectively speaking an OLED television is much more advanced technically than a CRT overall and it took us a long while for the technology to get there for making OLED TVs possible, but I imagine a significant portion of the viewership for a channel like this finds modern televisions downright _boring_ and CRTs much more interesting to examine and research how they work. I know I've seen a similar sentiment expressed by a friend or a few on the subject of vinyl records versus CDs and later media for music, and by a UA-camr I watch who expressed that an older computer hooked up to a modern 4K display just isn't very interesting unless the video output was somehow flawed by the process.
To try to summarize, as much as you or I may respect how much advancement goes into modern technology, the mechanical and electric engineering that went into older technologies like video tape or this here touch lamp just tend to be more interesting to talk about than "a computer does it" of equivalent modern tech.
Fun fact! Capacitive Sensing was developed in the 1920s by Leon Theremin, who was working on developing proximity sensors. He then used it to create the Theremin instrument, which uses capacitive sensing to control the pitch of a note based on the position of the performer’s hands to an antennae.
Damn, the Theremin is that old? And yeah it is kinda magical you don't even touch it. Always wanted one, they are very cheap these days.
So a precursor to the Otamatone..?
.... sort of. I think it used RF interference as much as anything, particularly generating the pitch. Not the same as capacitive sensing. Though still amazing of course. His real name was Lev Termen, he latinised it when he moved to the USA to sound less Soviet / Jewish.
He also created a completely passive listening device for the Soviet Union so they could spy on conversations in the US embassy in Moscow.
@@rukirgaming no, not really, you actually have to touch an Otomatone to play it
“And that means you’re useful.”
*puts this on my resume*
"beige, new age raves, and Nicolas Cage's coming of age" - that.... was amazing.
I wonder how many takes it took him to get the line correct 😂
Wordy rampage earns this sage his wage!
Well, I don't remember them being called raves, until the 90s though.
The only rapper Eminem was afraid to diss
Reminds me of Princess Caroline from Bojack Horseman and her frequent wordplay...
"Capacitater"
*DEEP INHALE*
A "true groaner" for sure. LOL!
I laughed the loudest i have in a while because of that joke
What did you expect from a you TUBER?
It took me about 5 seconds to get that and then I had to pause the video because I was laughing so hard 😂
"Capacitato", i think. I admire how he managed to remain serious.
EDIT: Ok, i saw the bloopers...
I used to use a plasma ball lamp to "touch" a touch lamp from nearly a room away. It was one of the coolest things to discover as an inquisitive teen.
How does that work?
@@feiaur I had to stop using my touch lamp because turning on a different lamp on the same circuit would sometimes make it trigger. I guess there's some transient in the power line that screws up the capacitance measurement somehow. I would guess the power supply in the plasma ball was feeding some noise back into the outlet and touching it changed that behavior in a way that affected the touch lamp. Sorry I can't do better than speculate here.
Clearly that inquisitive behavior never left ❤❤❤
@@phtown I was about to point this out though when I played with my plasma lamp I would activate every single touch lamp in the house my mom use to get so irritated with me since all she bought were touch lamps.
I love these lamps. I have disabilities and a tremor in my body so honestly some lamps can be really hard to switch so apart from these lamps being plain cool - it's also really practical for someone like me to just touch the lamp with the back of a hand.
_"Bright!"_
_"BRIGHTER!"_
*_"BRIGHTEST!!!"_*
_"Off."_
Exactly.
Just like me at the start and end of high school.
On
On-er
On-est
Off-est
Lol
On't
I was reading this comment EXACTLY when he said that in the credits lol
"They were all the rage in the age of beige, new age raves, and Nicholas Cage's coming of age." is the best line I've ever heard in a UA-cam video.
What about the TanTalizing TerriTorry of Toaster Technology?
Capaci-tator
When you first uploaded this it was the first time I saw those DIY touch modules. They were the absolute perfect thing for my grandma, her arthritis is getting pretty bad so I installed these in 5 lamps around her house and she absolutely loves them! No more fumbling with the pull chains or switches. It’s also ideal for a couple lamps she has on a tall table, she’s quite short and can’t lift her arm up to the switches. Now all she does is touch the base of the lamps, it was such an awesome solution!
🚀👍
How fantastic! What an excellent application for those! I too, had never seen the DIY modules!
How many watts do they use on standby? If the old lamp was 0.5 W if I remember from the video. Is the newer tech better?
@@adriancrow9952 Never tested, but I would assume it’s pretty negligible. For my grandmother at least, whatever it is it’s worth the extra.
Had 2 of these as a kid. My sister and friends would always mess with it. Like u touch and hold it and it comes on then someone else touches your skin and it changes again. Remember making “human chains” across the house to see how far away we could get and still cycle the modes. Ahh being a kid in the 80’s was fun.
I can't speak for everyone, but in my house, these lamps disappeared shortly after we bought them (back in the '80s) because the cats absolutely *loved* turning them on at 3AM, waking everyone up. ;-)
This. They quickly vanished from my parents' bedroom as a kid shortly after we adopted a cat that just absolutely had to rub up against anything remotely stationary when around hoomans. We'd know she was in a room harassing someone just from the disco-strobe effects that would be visible from the hallway.
Cat-acitators
HAHAHA gave me a much needed laugh
My roommate had one up until my cat learned how it worked.
Not quite the same, but this is what made us get new Xbox One's. The cats constantly activated (and worse, DEACTIVATED) our original VCR XBone when they'd brush against the touch sensor. Upgrading to the One S with the physical button was such a godsend.
Thousands of years ago, my siblings had one of these lamps each. I, on the otherhand, had a cheap switch-operated lamp, because our parents loved me the least. The only consolation was that whenever I switched my lamp on, my siblings' lamps would be triggered, which would cause them to complain endlessly, which warmed my dead heart.
Fast forward to my sister's fourteenth birthday. She had invited a couple dozen of her friends to a slumber party. After a whole day of running around, giggling, talking about teenage girl stuff and general mucking about, she gathered all her friends in her room for a seance. She had a costume somewhere between a gypsy fortune teller and Miss Cleo. She'd also done some research, to make the experience as authentic as possible. They all sat in a circle, hands held, around a bunch of candles, as she started her mystical chants. As she went through her speech, her voice got louder and more intense, until she was almost shouting by the end of it, chanting something along the lines of "Spirits, we call upon you, we beseech you. Spirits, if you can hear us, give us a sign!".
Upon hearing the signal, I rapidly flicked my lamp on and off several times. The result was an ear-splitting scream, followed by what sounded like an avalanche of elephants, as a roomful of teenage girls trampled over each other to escape.
Was your sister in on it?
That... Was beautiful!
Excellent!
Teenage girls are always doing some weird stuff (while the guys are almost killing themselves)
@@samuelthecamel You said it.
Girls in High School: "Let's do make-overs and talk about boys."
Me in high school: "Let's hook a tow chain to this old car hood and surf on it while it is being dragged behind a jeep in this sand wash!"
Oh 70s, how I miss you.
My childhood home in New Jersey USA had a “touch button” that triggered the overhead “chandelier” light in my dining room. The house was built in the 1960s but the system must have been wired up in the 80s.
It was just a plastic framed metallic brass pad mounted in the wall where a normal light switch would be. But it had no moving parts, and no buttons. You just touched it lightly and the ceiling lamp instantly turned on. Blew my mind as a kid.
We had a television with touch switches around the beginning of the 80's.
Flies would regularly switch channels for us.
"After all, they were all the rage in the age of beige, new age raves, and Nicholas' Cage's coming of age." Wow. I love it.
man got bars
**snif** I miss the 90s.....
"Let me state that I am no Big Clive" is probably more of a crossover than I would ever hoped for
He's even here in the comments. What a time to be alive
@@MrRancidity beat me to it.
Awesome shoutout to Clive!
I was going to say, Send one of these over to Big Clive, he'll tell us exactly how the whole capacitive coupling thing works.
I think a large number of the BC Fan Club are here, mate! That first controller (with the 18 pin socketed DIL chip) is so very "legacy" it's amazing - and I'll bet it is electrically as noisy as hell! The more modern iteration (8 pin DIL) seems a far better design, with decent isolation slots in the board, and a nice pair of Class x caps. For those that are interested - TT6061a datasheet - datasheetspdf.com/pdf-file/301704/TontekDesignTechnology/TT6061A/1, and for the (VERY common) BT136 Triac - www.datasheetarchive.com/pdf/download.php?id=fc296f1315bfda8bd660e6d4bcfa941be803ae&type=P&term=Triac%2520bt136%2520600d.
All the hours I've spent watching your videos were rewarded by learning in this video about the capaci-tater. Pure gold.
I have a capacitive touch faucet. Its less of a gimmick than it sounds, since you can easily turn it on/off with a bump of the wrist. This means it stays cleaner because you don't need to touch the lever/knobs with your wet or potentially dirty hands. It'll also automatically turn off after a few minutes. Honestly pretty neat and convenient.
this video is actually a subtle tutorial on how to use Google effectively
Maybe we can get into search modifiers next! Quote marks, plus signs, minus signs, site:example, etc.
Yes I recommend not being dumb and ignoring the answer Google gives you
The best way to use Google is by not doing it
Most effective use of google is not using them as they'll alter your access to information because of politics.
Revoke any digital privileges you gave them, and use duckduckgo. Block them out as much as you can.
@@_Not_Retarded no, that's you not understanding how browsers work. Learn google dorks, and you can use it as an actual internet browser
It was fun seeing you on Tom Scott's trivia show
wait what?
I've got to see that. Link please.
@Sebastian Elytron not nearly as embarrassing as that comment...
Sebastian Elytron said "lost to two women , how embarrassing..." incase he deletes his comment
@@TechnologyConnections ZING!
I have on of these as a bedside lamp.
I always thought that they'd be little more than gimmicks, but the touch sensing is actually very useful, and something I'll definitely look for in any future small lamps I get.
Not having to frantically search for a switch in the middle of the night is great.
I remember being in elementary school and bragging to all of my friends that "I have a touch lamp!", and they'd all be sitting there like "ooh, ahh!". This was in the mid-2000s. Somehow, we were still mind-blown that this was a thing at the time.
Your use of puns is masterful. Well done!
And also amazing alliteration!
I like your channel, you just got a sub
@mmseng2 I agree, I also appreciate that figure of speech. However, it could lead to absolutely astounding amounts of annoying alliteration
I always like it when my favorite youtubers just randomly show up in each others comments sections.
I Was in the Dark about How these lamps worked But , alas no more !
5:05 “And that means, you’re useful.”
Me: cries in happiness.
Nothing to brighten your day than knowing your value in pF
In three brightness steps.
wanna work for me?
my aunt had a, presumably, defective touch lamp that when you touched it it would cycle through all the settings twice before landing on a random one. it was kind of fun to mess with but i was always curious what kind of defect could have possible caused that
It's possible that a wire was frayed, some gunk got in a connection, or (if it was never moved) something may have been touching it which confused the sensor when it had just been activated. A loose wire connecting the metal to the circuitry is probably the most likely cause. Perhaps it could be fixed by simply opening it up and tightening everything down.
awesome
@@generalcodsworth4417 I'd bet money that's what it was. Touching the lamp causes _something_ to vibrate, itself causing the lamp to activate multiple times, then when the vibration stops it keeps that state.
i remember being fascinated by my grandparents touch lamps when i was a kid
Capaci-tater. That's it, TechnoConn; you've won UA-cam for today.
Agreed. One of the best puns ever.
the best
@@tom4ivo If you don't love it, your money back, you Capaci-hater!
I laughed so hard.... like 10 seconds later
@@davidwostrel surely you mean 10 seconds tater!
Can't. Handle. So. Many. Quips. 🤣
between an oblique Simpsons reference, a "these answers and more" trope, a Big Band jingle leading into a reference to a city that goes to 11, and a potato pun... all packaged into a delightful debunking and enginerding explanation, this was exactly what i needed this morning!
Oh no, I somehow missed the Simpsons reference. What was it?
@@haku8645 clearly you're not a fan of Thrillhouse 😂
ua-cam.com/video/GPN_X8O2jlk/v-deo.html
@@DeviantOllam Oh man, now I have to become that guy who goes "I haven't really seen much of anything past season 12"
I hope you also caught the How it's made reference in the beginning of the video
Can we get a crossover episode?
I enjoyed his consistency in saying “bright, Brighter, BRIGHTEST, off”
I had forgotten all about this -- Thank you for the "reminder"!!
In my high school dormitory "a little while ago" (in 1963), the school policy was to attempt to separate students from the habit of constant radio music, so the rule was that no radios were allowed to be played for the first six weeks of the school year. My dorm neighbor brought in a capacitance switch. He ran a fine wire to his door knob, so if anyone touched that knob, his radio would cut off. Several times our dorm parent would hear music from "somewhere" and would burst into the room, but was never able to catch him playing the radio.
Fun stuff....
A policeman once told me I would never amount to anything. I said, "at least I'm a capacitor", and he charged me.
Did you resist?
@@sirarandor i cant tell if you didnt get the joke
@@arcadecarpet631 Of course I would have the capacitance to understand such a shockingly good pun, if I didn't get such comments I would remain at ohm.
I presume your lawyer dad grounded you as he cleared you of all charges
@@pablorepetto2759 Yeah, but then he had to talk to a doctor about an embarrassing discharge...
"...you are actually a capacitor; you are useful."
I'm not sure, but at this point in 2020 I may actually be a capacitator.
AI of now ... "Ah humans as capacitors as power source, let us do some R n D on this" ........... FFwd Future .... The Matrix.
That's capaci-TATER to you
@@MediocreHexPeddler I slump corrected.
@@marley7145 two wing dingers, love it
Maybe you need to do some more touching and dump your whole charge.
I appreciate you taking the time to expand our knowledge on everyday things you don't normally think about. Love the vids.
I'm years late discovering this channel, but I both really appreciate the clear education, and clarifying the absurdity by which modern patents can distort who really invented something.
"...then you've made a capacitater!" *stifles laughter*
audience: *groans*
4:47 "capacitater" needs to be used way more in this video!
I thought it was brilliant. Made me chuckle on the train.
@@arjovenzia Help me, I don't get it. Capacitato would make sense, but capacitater?!
@@georgf9279 potatoes are called "taters" too.
What a stupid joke, love it
5:01 "you are actually a capacitor. you are useful"
Finally, my life goal has been reached
The capacitater joke got me (because I call them that).
These lamps were pretty cool. I hope they do come back. Remember seeing them in the 90's when growing up. Honestly i had forgotten they existed until watching this video. Thanks for the dose of nostalgia
"This lamp is from 1986 or 1987"
The chip in the lamp says 8718
That means the chip was produced in the 18th week 1987, and the lamp probably shortly after that.
Neat.
The lamp is allegedly from 1986 or 1987 but the chip says it's from 8718 and it seems pretty futuristic to me.
Could have been as much as 2-3 months fairly easily depending on where the semiconductor fab, PCB assembly, final assembly and retail location were relative to each other. It's not that hard to accrue a couple of months shipping time between component production to final retail sale. It's fairly common to see components that have made a full circumnavigation or more via ship complete with the additional customs and logistical delays as it is landed for each step along the supply line. Also since that would come close to Q3 this is around the time of year when there tends to be the most buffering at the retail end of the supply chain as manufacturers tend to output products at fairly steady rates but retailers in Western markets have a large demand surge in Q4.
@@SolRC This has been pretty common for a long time certainly in the 20th century having goods and their parts produced all over the world has been pretty normal. Whether it will stay that way is another matter some of the disparities in manufacturing that really forced this seem to be narrowing over time. In particular gaps in technological capabilities are narrowing in the 80's it was probably still worse than today these days places like China are less behind in their ability to replicate the latest IC designs locally as they have narrowed the gap in terms of the capital assets and infrastructure needed to do that. Also, there has been an ongoing squeeze from the other direction as the fiddly process of PCB assembly has become less labour intensive with improved robotics also so there is less of a stark divide in competitive advantage between countries when it comes to semiconductor fabrication and assembly which is the driving force for shipping stuff back and forth so much the cost savings must be larger than the costs of shipping and logistics after all.
@RDE Lutherie That's because he's correct. This is a really standard DIP IC date code of that era, I have many thousands of 1980s DIP chips to maintain arcade games (Plus, I started EE degree in the late-1980s) and the vast majority of manufacturers mark them like that. TI is a pain because sometimes a pain because they don't. But almost everyone else does, and they all look like that, year then week in a 4-digit code YYWW. From TI and Sanyo to custom LSI shops like AMI. Signetics, National, Intel. Most of the plants used them.
Some use a 3-digit code, like 050 for the 50th week of 1980.
The Triac in the lamp was made in the 13th week of 1987.
I just grabbed a bin of Atari 800 memory boards (some made by Atari, some third-party manufacturers or basement jobs) of my workbench and I can see ICs by National, Signetics, TI and Raytheon all of which use the 4-digit standard of the era. (RAYT8208, B8216, etc).
I found four National parts (74LS10, 74LS00, 74LS86 and 8 5290's (4116)) and one TI part (74LS138) that used the three-digit code with the YWW format. But others of those same parts by the same manufacturers that used the 4-digit code, some from the same year.
"We take the touchscreen for granted these days... unless you've got a Macbook"
Ooo... shots fired.
The touchpad more than makes up for the touch screen you have to use on Windows laptops because the Windows touchpads are terrible.
edit: I know "Windows touchpads" depends on the actual OEM, but I have yet to use one that rivals the one on found on Macbooks.
I actually have an Asus, and I looked specifically for a NON-touch-screen.
@@pariscloud2907 Windows doesn't make touchpads, its just an operating system. There are quite a few touchpads on the PC market, from generic to proprietary, from cheap to high quality. You can compare Apple hardware to Asus or Lenovo hardware, but "Windows touchpads" is a nonsense statement.
@@pariscloud2907 Touchpads are terrible no matter what device they're on. Besides, windows is an operating system, not a manufacturer of any kind of hardware.
SeñorSpice although Microsoft does have a spec for the “Precision Touchpad” drivers that offer an experience like apple’s touch pads, and they get pretty close.
Absolutely love the blooper segment. I love seeing you go to rewind the teleprompter because I help people make videos all the time and I know what that’s like 😂😂. The writing is just too good as well. Excellent work
Man, I like your channel, all those things you've presented here with your sense of humor makes it fun and entertaining to watch, all while learning the insides of whatever is that you show us.
Thank you!
I'll keep watching.
Good Lord, the number of gags per minute in the first minute is astounding.
The number of gags per minute in the first minute is also very nearly the number of gags. How on earth did he pull that little trick off?!?
From now on it shall be known as the golden minute.
Comedy gold, that is.
1:14 "...they were all the rage in the age of beige, new age raves and Nicolas Cage's coming-of-age..."
That is one of the most clever written rhymes I've ever heard! Very impressive.
Guess you have never listened to MF DOOM then lol
But it rhymes age with age! Twice!
@@christianterrill3503 No I have not. The only thing I know about him is that he collaborated with Ghostface Killah from Wu-Tang Clan. Any song recommendations?
This guy is great! Clear and concise information is a rare commodity nowadays. Thank you!
My grandma had one of these when I was growing up, I always loved it and was able to get my own years later. It's such a simple thing but it always brings me such joy.
"Capaci-tater", I needed that laugh.
"Don't take everything on the internet as gospel". That's exactly what Elvis Presley told me when I saw him at Walmart last week.
Bonjour. I'm a french model. LOL. ua-cam.com/video/34CHqptjj9E/v-deo.html
Was this in the eleventh Nashville?
Obviously fake, no one shops at Walmart
@@xmlthegreat Obviously fake, Walmart is bigger than the biggest oil company.
@@user2C47 Learn to read the room buddy. It's called a joke.
My nana used to have something similar; a china cabinet that would light up the display shelves when you touched the hinges.
I'm so glad I'm getting your videos on my recommendations again. This channel is a treasure.
Wasn't ready for "Capaci-tator", nearly spit out my drink...
Same here.
Except I was listening while driving. Yes. Just listening. No looking.
I literally shouted "goddammit!"
Yeah he got us again Haha
Same! Well, luckily I had swallowed my sip of coffee right before he said it
I was thinking, wouldn't it be a Capaci-tato though?
"Pushless Push" is the silliest version of the word 'Touch' I've heard so far.
I am a 23 year old rapper. I recently made a track in support of the BLM Movement. Please click on my channel, give it a listen and let me know what you think!!!!!!!
@@DOVraps no, I don't think I will.
The push for pushless push
A very German phrasing :)
"Dispozo is quite the interesting clown" :) That gave me quite the belly laugh. Thank you for the endorphins.
"... prevents your fingers from furiously fighting fictitious fantasy foes." EXCELLENT alliteration!
"You are actually a capacitor of about a 100 picofarads. And that means you are useful."
😁😁
Like my Grandad use to say, "Everyone has *potential*."
that praise right after the capaci-tater... killed me.
It would be cool if people had different levels, or there was a way to increase your picofarad count.
This is why under the right circumstances(such as when the humidity is extremely low), you can make some rather impressive static discharge bolts. I highly recommend using something metal in your hand if you try to build up enough charge to make long bolts. It will really smart if you don't.
someone needs to put that on a T shirt.
*"Capaci`tater"*
You made me spit my coffee out of my nose... again...
It's almost on par with the sprinkler video!
This got me too
Had to pause and collect myself first.
I watch these videos from start to finish only to create the dramatic build up to the fantastic bloopers and credits at the end. Marry Poppins would be so proud and I quite like your work. Bravo! Bravo! Please, take a bow you’ve earned it, indubitably!
My Grandpa had one of these lamps. He used to like showing it to us as kids. Thanks for the nice nostalgia blast haha.
The subtle comedy on this channel is second to none. I love it.
It's the soul of the channel. We get to learn about all sorts of Era of tech with just a pinch of snark and dry humor. Infotainment at perfect balance.
@@minacapella8319 his delivery and mannerisms remind me of Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes :)
"capacitater" is the best pun in the first 5 minutes.
i been watching your vids but never comment, so here i am commenting. i appreciate you and your content. takes me back to like watching how its made as a kid only so much more specific & in depth. thank you i love you
I absolutely love all your videos. You are humorous, intelligent, and can turn the topic of any old "boring" thing into an interesting educational and entertaining episode.
Whenever you think you're useless, remember that at least you're a capacitor.
“Capaci-tater” that was genius.
I blinked so hard at that pun it hurt.
I had to go back cause I wasn't sure if he actually said that or not
I had to put my phone down. Currently paused on the moment.
I am coming to appreciate much more my mom’s collection of family heirlooms, which includes touch lamps like these, kerosine lamps with a chimney (and an old whale oil lamp, but that’s beside the point) and bubble lights from the 1970’s, which we always had on the tree when I was growing up. Thanks for making these videos!
My God!
You! with a very limited budget, from a room, making videos for almost 20 minutes, boring videos, you sir manage to keep me interested all the tine with some of the best information on the internet!
Thank you for making youtube a better place and thank you for all your time and research and sharing!
Great content.
About Aladdin Lamp Company: "Their Genie-ous idea" - I didn't miss that joke, well done
likewise!
You didn't miss a joke? I'm very proud of you for having basic cognitive ability.
I'm still laughing at "capasi tatta" 😂😂😂😂
notquiteordinary thanks bud, you seem like a blast to be around!
@@notquiteordinary I bet you're a blast at parties
"The Aladdin lamp company. Their Genie-ous idea...."
I love this guy.
That company probably had the same idea when choosing its name
@@thoubias ua-cam.com/video/3kDeWLC_Zx4/v-deo.html🤣
@@poppaganja3793 You missed a great chance to rickroll me
My gramma had a full standing/reading lamp with that function. With a reading light and a nice big metal hood to focus the light, I can see why she got it, so handy!
This is my favorite channel to watch with closed captions turned on.
"Capacitater" tickled the hell out of me.
My grandma gave me one of these when I was a kid so I grew up with it as my bedside lamp! Two interesting things happened with it, 1: my cat learned how to turn it on with his nose and liked doing it at 3am, and 2: it turned itself on during thunderstorms
I was just thinking, “wow it would be nice to get one of those conversion kits for my bedside lamp” and then I remembered that I have two cats who will definitely learn to turn it on at ungodly hours. 😂
my aunt had one that would cycle through all the settings at least twice then land on a random one, no idea what caused it, most likely a defect im assuming, but it was pretty amusing to mess with when we were bored during thanksgiving
The. One I have has 3/4 modes if you're including off. I'd always know if the power had gone out or a surge since the light would be on
"I'm not one to toot my own horn..." Missed opportunity to fire up the klaxon again
as someone who's been using a lot of subtitles in videos, I appreciate that you took the time to caption your vids.
My uncle built a touch plate door bell using vacuum tubes back in early 60’s. He worked for Bendix in Kansas City for many years prior and was also an Amateur Radio operator like myself. He loved building lots of things and his job at Bendix was hush hush military tech. He always impressed me with his tech and tube Ham gear giving my the electronics bug at an early age
"All those questions and more will be answered after THIS sentence" I'm ROLLING. I love your sense of humor.
I'm physically disabled, and when I moved into my own house back in 1996, I had one of these by my bed because I I couldn't actually reach up and turn the switch to turn the light on and off from my bed. At Christmas time, I also had the tree's light strings plugged into an adapter (which you mentioned). The problem was that, although the lamps worked great in the beginning, after a while they got fussier and fussier, and eventually stopped working altogether. But yeah. A great adaptive aid for those with low dexterity or hand strength.
If it's just hands that are the issue, foot pedals are great too!
@@Orynae Yes, for people who can use them. ...But foot pedals are not much use for a bedside lamp, when your feet are deeply snuggled under the covers.
@@CapriUni haha, true
you know it does seem like the people i know that had them back in the 80s didnt keep them. who tosses out good lamps? i bet most of the ones that were plugged in for years all went bad eventually
I wonder, since it calibrates when plugged in, if unplugging and re-plugging would help "reset" the sensitivity?
Thank you! I was just a kid in the 1970s when I first encountered touch sensitive floor buttons in the New York Hilton elevators, but I had no idea how they worked. You've answered a question for me that I had almost forgotten was lingering on my mental stack of unanswered questions. (Reading down I see bigclive's comment on Otis elevators as well.)
I've had a lamp like this beside my bed for over 15 years and now I know how I works. Thank you, science friend.
So this is how that lamp we have works.
*Confusion*
yeah this is that kind of lamp everyone's parents just has
@@proffesionalweredog7426 *grandparents
@@stapuft right, right. my mistake
@@proffesionalweredog7426 well you know, either that or the clapper......or both....and then they need your help to fix it and make it work......
"All these questions and more will be answered, after THIS sentence" will now be used on a daily basis. Thank you for this.
Hear, hear!
Growing up, my friend's family had one of these lamps. They lived near the train tracks and every time a train would go by, the lamp would turn on
I have an old Ramsey Electrics kits to build one of these…. Although I haven’t yet built my “touch switch” - although… once again…. You may have just inspired me to turn on my soldering iron, Sir! Thanks! - Judson & Buddy! - THE Golden Hound Dog of Ohio! - God Bless You ALL!!!
Did you say: "The were all the rage in the age of beige, new age raves and Nicolas Cage's coming of age" in one take?
I was sure I was going to see it in the bloopers.
Same here!
Yeah, I immediately stopped the video and repeated that sentence.
What is this, a crossover episode?
That phrase should be the hook in the first top-10 single released by the post-punk band called Fleshy Digits.
“Google is not the library of the internet.....it’s the index.” - Adam Savage
Google is getting less and less usefull since a few years due to their AI-algorithm BS that not returns me the result for whatever I put into the search bar but what they think you might be looking for based on some AI prediction. It's just annoying nowdays to tell google more and more specifically with " " and - wich words must be included in the results and wich mustn't be included in the results. Google used to be miles ahead of the competition but nowdays switching to bing or other bing based search engines (Yahoo, Ecosia etc.) or even DuckDuckGo doesn't even feel that bad anymore. And not because the other search engines became that much better but because Google became worse. Just look at how much of the search results for every search get replaced with "Other people also searched for:" . Google doesn't care anymore if you find what you're looking for, they care more that you do more and more searches so they can display more ads and make more money. Same with YT btw. If you search something on YT you first get like 7-10 videos for your search result and than 2-3 videos from your recommendations or subscriptions that have NOTHING to do with what you were looking for.
End of rant.
Google is a shop
Maybe you should try advanced google search. Google assumes you don’t know how to properly search and so assumes what you meant when you searched.
@@SebastianHaban I have been using Start Page. www.startpage.com
@@SebastianHaban Yes I agree, also DuckDuckGo was low key superior to Google even before Google started getting bad
I really hate when youtubers promise sources in the description and fail to deliver. God bless you for breaking that trend. 🙏
My grandma has the EXACT same lamp shown here. I loved playing with it as a kid. I hope to take it with me some day.
I laughed way too hard at the capaci-tater joke
Electronics puns are the best. By the way, in the way of unique electronic components, if you put 1000 Volts AC across an electrolytic capacitor, you get an electronic confetti generator.
There was a pause in my brain for 1/10 of a second.. and then laughter erupted from me, in an episode so packed full of quips and puns. this one was the best
it flew over my head until the credits outtakes. Somehow I did not connect potato and capacitor together correctly. I just thought he said the word incorrectly and somehow left it in. HAHA :D
"The Bee's meow". I did a genuine, and unexpected LOL.
I grew up with these in the home and I still think they are amazing. It might be cool to have that switch on something other than a light.
Thank you for not butchering the electrical discussion.. as most UA-camrs do. As an electrical engineer, I did not cringe at all 🤣 Very good delivery.
Every time I come across a touch lamp in someone's house, it's like a little treat. My favorite are the ones with the stained glass shade with conductive metal integrated into the shade.
Conductive glass? That's an interesting idea. Maybe that could be done with a conductive clear coating, or just plasma sputtering. Though metal plated glass won't be as transparent. Or maybe a metal pattern that isn't conductive but makes a big capacitor network.
@@PunakiviAddikti stained glass Shades have metallic bonds between the pieces of glass.
I had a wood cabinet in which the hinges were the conductive element turning on the lights
@@PunakiviAddikti Solder is in between the glass to hold the pieces together
every light in my grandmothers house was one of these and I remember running around the house touching all the lamps. Thank you for reminding me these exist and answering a question I've had since before the internet.
I still have a couple of these in the bedroom of my house. I also was wondering how they worked recently, but I didn't know what they were called. Well, I guess this was (or wasn't) a coincidence lol
I remember as a kid touching all kinds of lamps at people's houses that remotely looked like one of these lamps in hope of it turning on. This style of metal lamp was really popular in the late 80s and early 90s, however most all of them had the rolling switch on the cord. So much disappointment.
One of your best scripts! I just rewatched it, very fun and informative.