Old Inventions and Technology

[Johnnycomelately]

A famous momma once said (probably a scriptwriter’s mom),
“Old is, as old did.”
Whereas, by deduction, new is as new does.

Now, if something old still does it’s thing,
it must be new, by that definition.
Sounds like magic, kind of spooky.

Moms are great, their advice is always new!
I love my mom. Dunno where she soul is, since a decade or so.
She gave me lots, mostly through showing good ways.
I think her best spoken advice, was “BE NICE!”. Am still working on that.

So, I’m hearing the thread say


Will start with this. It’s like a Big Boffins’ analogy of something The Talking Heads made big money on. ”Zip it doodoodoodoodoodoo zip it goood.” 🎶 😎🤪😊

Making A Giant Zipper To Explain How It Works

Veritasium
20.4M subscribers

Mar 19, 2026

A huge thank you to Prof. Robert Friedel for his invaluable expertise and contributions to this video.

Check out Friedel’s book here - ve42.co/FriedelZipper

Massive thanks to IPFL for fabricating our giant zipper - ve42.co/IPFL

The giant zipper was adapted from an original design by LoboCNC - ve42.co/LoboZipper3D

We’d also like to thank everyone at YKK who helped organise our call, especially Sophia Seco, Engin Ertugrul, Christelle Malot and Matthew Rawstron.

Finally, a big thank you to Christopher Anderson, Anna Oros and Pressley Stevens of the Allegheny College Library for sending us footage of Whitcomb Judson’s original fastener in action.

▀▀▀
0:00 The First Zipper
2:51 Who invented the zipper?
4:20 How does a zipper work?
5:51 The Zipper Maker Machine
7:46 Why is it called a zipper?
9:32 The Novelty Of A Zipper
12:57 The Most Popular Zipper Doesn’t Have Teeth
14:08 Zippers Have A Lock
15:31 Why do zippers have YKK on them?
18:39 How To Fix A Zipper

▀▀▀
References and Visuals can be found here - ve42.co/ZippersRefs

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=9szhjhO9epA

[Johnnycomelately]

Sails for sailing boats, a craft thousands of years old. Probably near as old as the wind. Or at least since wind got noticed.

Maybe sailing, itself, deserves a post here. It’s been such an important tool for exploration, trade, transportation, warfare. We still do it, mostly for sport, and we’re better at it than ever before.

Here at Phuket in Thailand, James gets his sails updated. Iirc he said 16k miles (nautical miles, longer by 15%) so far, from California, in his 30 ft Triteia.

The owner and CEO is a German chap, was part of it before his succession.

Company was started in 1947. Now they have a vacuum cutting table, with a robot travelling laser cutter machine, which also marks the perimeters for matching to neighbouring panels and IDs each panel.

Panels are defined by colour pattern choices by the customer, besides shaping to form a sail-shaped shape. Not flat. Panels are manually joined by some adhesive, maybe a double sided tape, using eyeballs on those matching-marks. Then, as many people as it takes hold the sail up above the floor, and if that 3D shape looks proper, it gets sewn up.

Now imagine the sail maker on any of the old warships, repairing battle damaged sails in a teeny sail loft.

THE LARGEST SAIL LOFT IN THE WORLD! Touring Rolly Tasker Sails in Phuket Thailand

Sailing Triteia
165K subscribers

Apr 5, 2026

Episode 473 : A Tour of the Rolly Tasker Sail Loft

Hello Friends,
On this episode I pull my sails off and head over to the world famous Rolly Tasker Sails loft here in Phuket. I see up with Sven to get an extensive tour of this remarkable sail loft and factory. From designing and making sails to plastic part making to manufacturing lines to building entire masts. Rolly Tasker really do it all!!!

Head over to https://www.rollytasker.com to get a quote for some new sails for your boat!

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ef8dwbmgvro

Edit, sailmaking coverage ends at 26:10 of L = 49:59. Am still watching, now they’re into another area of the factory.

[Johnnycomelately]

Airplanes have been used since the 1930s to drop water onto wildfires, and since the 80’s to drop chemical fire retardants.

Transport and military aircraft, converted to dedicated “air tankers”, have made up the majority of the fleets, tho since the 70’s planes have been designed solely for this mission.

This vid looks at modern conversions of two smaller “regional-transport” aircraft, using a new approach that makes it not so dedicated, allows for easier (and cheaper) return to the airplanes’ original use. Also toured is a purpose-designed water bomber.

Vid is a collab between Zeke Lunder of YT chan The Lookout, and Juan Browne* of chan Blancolirio. Third, so far, in a series. Tours of the 3 aircraft take place at a Canadian equipment & systems developer located in Zeke’s hometown of Chico in Northern California.

* Juan and his family are friends of PA‘s Denise (/Dizi).


How Firefighting Airplanes Are Made

The Lookout and blancolirio

Apr 15, 2026

In this collaboration between The Lookout and Blancolirio channels, Zeke Lunder and Juan Browne tour aerial firefighting planes at the Aeroflite hanger in Chico, California, learning about creative designs Aeroflite and their partners are using to bring new aircraft into the aerial firefighting business.

Planes we toured included the Avro RJ-85, Bombardier Q400, and Bombardier CL-415 Super Scooper.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=tTfHsCMehIk