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

[Johnnycomelately]

Something old, made new again, supposedly.

The age-old craft of sailing gets an upgrade. Hopefully it don’t go off like Dr. Evil’s chair in that movie, talking unshielded electtronics.


Meet the MODX, an electric 70ft cat with fully automated inflatable wingsails!

Yachting World
189K subscribers

Jun 8, 2025

Dual Aeroforce inflatable wingsails combine with hydro and solar generation for automated, zero emissions cruising on this revolutionary MODX. Toby Hodges gives you the tour.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LR9X1CtuR_E

[Johnnycomelately]

TIL, a craftsmans’ technique for making a full scale pattern of irregular geometries/shapes. Pattern would then be traced onto whatever material was intended to fill the space.

This presentation shows a planar mapping, flat, but maybe the technique has been or could be adapted to map in 3D.


Tick Stick: The Carpentry Tool That Does the Impossible

Essential Craftsman
1.88M subscribers

Feb 21, 2026

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=p1eiruU6v5I

[Johnnycomelately]

Knapping is a very old craft. IMO, it may have pre-dated fire making, maybe even fire use (conserving, even transporting, natural lightning-caused fire).

This vid describes percussive and pressure flaking, and demonstrates the former.

The presenter focuses on one particular form of knapped object, he calls a bi-face. This was a standard thing made at quarries, small and light enough for carrying back home or for trade. Basically a “blank”, rather than bulk chunks of stone.

At home, it was further knapped into end products like arrow heads, spear points, cutting and scraping tools. In trade with more distant people/tribes, those folks would fashion it into their tools, and the traders would carry home something of value.

Factoid from the comments, point is bolded:

@GizmoaGames
1 day ago (edited)

Carefully and with leather gloves and pants 😂. But nice to see a demo on the web. (I learned in intro to archiology class, no I don't always use gloves, but first timers, yeah lot of blood if you aren't aware of the level of sharp that happens. The fresh edge is not like a knife edge, if you touch that edge it cuts you because it's a molecule thick. You cannot touch the edge, at all&#128514

I'm pretty good at making the long insanely sharp surgical style blades. Very handy for fine leather working.

I recently tried it on a chunk of shale full of fossils (non fossil piece) and instantly cut through my jeans😅. So uh yeah, technique causes the edge even in non optimal rock. I found this especially interesting because it really shows that there would have been utility to the technique even without the proper ideal Rock deposits even if you could only get one or two cuts out of the lower grade material.

Great demo. Thanks for the video!

A few years ago, I saw a vid about knapping, which warned that suitable stones for knapping (roundish whole big “pebbles”) are not screened in airports. Said that a poop-length duration in the jetliner lavatory could enable a blade to be made. Oof.

Maybe this craft is something preppers might learn, in light of the anticipated 2040s-2050s micronova tumult/wasteland. Think positive! 😎


How To Flintknap

Hutchings Museum
13.3K subscribers

Sep 30, 2026

In this episode I demonstrate how to flint knap a biface out of obsidian. The first part of the video I teach the basics of flintknapping, the difference between percussion flaking and pressure flaking, and the use of a biface. In the second half, I actually demonstrate how this is done.

Visit the museum in person:
55 N Center St, Lehi, UT 84043

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=aSs8NOBP6fY