The Dead Media Notebook (15 page)

My favorite toy of this kind is a 1940s piggy bank designed for war-bond savings, bright yellow and painted with Hitler’s face. Whenever a coin was deposited, der Fuhrer squealed.

Source Mechanical Toys by Athelstan and Kathleen Spilhaus, Random House, 1989, $7.99 ISBN 0-517-0560-4

From Trevor Blake

The Talking Note Pad is around three inches high, one deep and eight long. It is constructed of white plastic, with a small clear plastic hinged compartment, one large red Message Waiting button, one small gray on/off button, one L-shaped Record slider, a volume knob, a microphone and a speaker. It was powered by four AA batteries.

The Record slider causes the Message Waiting button to pop out. The Talking Note Pad is labeled as follows:

PATENTS PENDING
MAVERICK IND. INC.
UNION NJ 07083
USA TN-100 SERIES
MADE IN TAIWAN.

Magnets were apparently mounted on the back so the Talking Note Pad could be affixed to refrigerator doors. The most significant feature of the Talking Note Pad is the 20 Second Tape beneath the clear plastic Delorian- like hinged door. The tape is approximately one inch by one inch by ¼ inch.

The ribbon inside is very close to if not identical in width to a standard cassette ribbon, and is wound in a central-feed loop like an 8-Track or radio station cart.

The Tape is removable, and labeled as follows:

20 SECOND TAPE
#88020 Made in Taiwan
MAVERICK INDUSTRIES INC.
UNION NJ 07083 USA

It seems unlikely that this 20 Second Tape component was used in many other recording/playback devices, if any at all.

From Larry Schroeder

[Following excerpts outline the article. I give the terminal summary in full, and move it to the beginning in lieu of an abstract. Breaks not indicated.]

Summary A communication device - the Experiential Typewriter - is described, consisting of a twenty-key manual keyboard linked to a moving pen-recorder. Subjects are pretrained in a code of experiential categories. The recording paper then gives a moment-to-moment record of the flow of experience.

The uses of such a device are outlined in

1) recording the flow of experience
2) session programming
3) ESP research
4) correlation of experiential with physiological recordings,
5) developing languages of consciousness.

Different codes should be developed for different kinds of experiential research. A code based on “The Psychedelic Experience” and an illustrative experiment using a single subject are presented.

The communicating device known as the Experiential Typewriter was designed by Dr. Ogden Lindsey of the Harvard Medical School and William Getzinger, electronic engineer with MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory.

Certain requirements had to be met: the device should allow for touch tying of messages by subjects lying or sitting in darkened rooms. The keyboards had to be separate and the keys had to be engineered to fit the structure of the hand and fingers. The recording had to be set up so that a separate finger- movement had to be made to register an experience.

It was anticipated that during high points of sessions subjects would lose contact with the instruments and might hold down a key for long periods.

To avoid this eventuality, each time a key is depressed a mark is made on the polygraph, but if the key is held down no further impression is recorded until the key is released.

Mr. Getzinger’s description of the four major parts of the typewriter is as follows:

1. Twenty-pen Recorder a. The registration of reactions is accomplished by an Esterline-Angus Operation Recorder with internal wiring modified so that operation with pulsed D.C. is possible.
2. The Console d. The phone recept connects with a similar recept on the left-hand keyboard to allow spoken communication between keyboard location and console location. e. The round button on the sloping panel energizes a lamp in a similar button on the left-hand keyboard, and vice versa, thus allowing simple visual signaling between keyboard and console.
3. Connecting Cables
4. The Keyboards

The Keyboard of the Experiential Typewriter

The usefulness of the Experiential Typewriter depends on the meaningfulness of the experiential language to be coded.

At this point, ad hoc languages should be set up for each session: for each raid into the uncharted.

We divided the two ten-unit boards of the typewriter into:

Game-concepts from conventional language: left-hand keys.
Hallucinatory, revelatory, and transcendental experiences: right-hand keys.

Experiential Modes Based on Self Games

1. Bodily sensations (e.g., pain, itch, tickle)
2. Moods and emotional states
3. Interpersonal felings towards others
4. Cognitive modes of perception Experiential Modes Based on Cultural Games
5. Awareness in terms of body-maintenance games, including sex
6. Awareness in terms of social-cultural games, including family
7. Awareness in terms of aesthetic-recreational games
8. Awareness in terms of intellectual-scientific games
9. Awareness in terms of religious-philosophic games
The Negative Experience Key The right thumb key (of the left hand) is a master key which can modify any other key to indicate a negative experience.
10. Negative modification or interpretation of experience

[The right-hand keys are reserved for the, uh, far-out stuff.] Transcendental and Transitional-Experiential Modes [Discussion includes “DPIs,” direct process images, “LFIs,” learned form images, and “trans-language” based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.]

The Two Basic Transcendental States 20. Awareness of physical energy processes, phenomenologically labeled “void,” “white light,” “pure energy,” “vibratons,” etc.

19. Biological processes. Phenomenologically the subject experiences the life energy directly and without the imposition of any conceptual LFI. The Four Basic Transitional States
12. Immediate sensory awareness (without cognitive contact)
13. Revelation
17. Ecstacy-unity-liberation
18. Hallucinations
11. Internal modifier of awareness [used to signify an internal (eyes-closed) awareness].

Example of Experiment Using the Experiential Typewriter

[This used a simplified 10-key typewriter, a lad of 24, and 250 gamma of LSD. Results are summarized and comments follow.]

The subject reported drifting off into areas of reduced awareness during [the last part of the test]. He was apparently no longer aware of the room, the E.T. and the task.

Source: Timothy Leary. HIGH PRIEST. College Notes and Texts, Inc., New American Library, NYC, 1968. Library of Congress 68-9031.

Timothy Leary. The Experiential Typewriter. Psychedelic Review #7, pp 70-85. University Books, New Hyde Park, NY, 1966.

From Charlie Crouch

Auto-Magic Picture Gun Manufactured by Stephens Products Co., New York City,
©
1937, patent pending.

This device is a hand-held, miniature filmstrip projector made to resemble a small automatic pistol.

It was used to project still pictures from an internal 16mm film loop onto a screen. Each film loop contained 28 frames, and was advanced using a ratchet film advance mechanism, operated by the trigger.

The Picture Gun used a small bulb and two AA batteries to provide the projection light. The company’s literature promotes the Picture Gun for general entertainment and education, but it was also used for business purposes.

The one film loop I have was produced for Shell Oil Company. Titled “The Return of Jimmy Whitaker,” it concerned a gas station attendant who gives instructions on pump-side selling and merchandising. [My uncle ran a GMC truck dealership.]

An accompanying flyer pictures a line of accessories including:

1. Auto-Magic Film Rolls in sets of 3 (25c per set). Ten sets, or thirty films, are listed in the flyer with subjects ranging from nursery rhymes, to ships of the world, to Cortez in Mexico. Some of the films are available in Spanish. All films are promoted as made from non-inflammable safety film.
2. An Auto-Magic Theater to show pictures in realistic stage surroundings. (25c)
3. A Flash Light Attachment to connect the gun to larger external batteries, either 2-cell or 3-cell models. (25c)
4. Spare lamps available for either 2.5 or 3.8 volts (10c)

From Bruce Sterling

[Mr Coe’s lovingly detailed, too-brief work is soaked with heartfelt nostalgia for the world of dead telegraphy.]

“It was not until 1886 that inventors became interested in the idea of transmitting handwriting by wire. The first machine, the ‘writing telegraph,’ actually saw some limited commercial use. The writing was received on a moving paper tape, and since there was no pen-lifting mechanism on the receiver, all of the individual letters were joined by a continuous line on the tape.

“Telegraphic writing soon attracted the attention of Elisha Gray, the man who lost the telephone patent to Bell. Gray developed a practical machine, which he patented and christened the “telautograph.” Gray’s machine had a pen-lifting mechanism, and the received message was written in conventional format on a wide sheet of paper.

“A company called the Gray National Telautograph Co. was chartered in 1888 and purchased the patent rights to the machine from Elisha Gray. The telegraphic writing created a sensation at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. An improved machine in 1895 staged an impressive demonstration in transmitting handwriting 431 miles from Cleveland to Chicago.

“In 1900, Foster Ritchie, a former Gray assistant, perfected a new design that represented a great improvement over the original. This was the machine that was marketed for the next 30 years. At this time, telautographs were normally short-range instruments. They had technical limitations that prevented reliable performance at distances much over five miles.

“Even with its limitations, the telautograph managed to find a sphere of useful applications and held its share of the market in competition with the rapidly expanding telegraph and telephone industry. It remained a device that was little known to the general public since the applications were mostly in large metropolitan areas. A typical application was in the old Dearborn Street railroad station in Chicago where a telautograph in the main concourse kept baggage and mail handlers informed of train movements.

“Perhaps the ultimate triumph of the telautograph came in the late 1890s when it was selected by the U.S. Army for fire-control communication in the coastal defense system.

“First tested at Fort Wadsworth, New York, the system was eventually installed in the most important coastal forts of both Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The nineteenth-century equivalent of Star Wars, the coastal defense guns were the wonder of the age. Before the days of air power and submarines, the only defenses needed against enemy attack were the coastal artillery batteries placed to protect important seaports. As typified by the guns at Sandy Hook and Fort Hancock, New Jersey, that protected New York harbor, the installations utilized the highest technology then known and were shrouded in extreme secrecy. In an 1898 article, the Scientific American lamented that no one from the media had been permitted to inspect the Sandy Hook installations since 1895.

“The guns were aimed on the basis of data received from observers stationed some distance away, and a reliable method was needed to transmit the data. Telephone or telegraph was not practical due to the deafening noise in the gun pits when the battery was firing. Special military models of the telautograph were designed to enhance ruggedness and reliability. The receiver units at the guns were enclosed in heavy brass, waterproof cases suspended on shockproof mounts. A plate- glass window enabled the message to be read without opening the case, and a small electric bulb illuminated the paper for night reading. None of the coastal guns was ever fired at an enemy, although there were active concerns when tension mounted with Spain in 1898.

“Redesign of the telautograph instrument that took place between 1940 and 1960 incorporated the latest developments in electronics. The modern versions are not limited in range and will operate on any channels normally used for telecommunication, including microwave and satellite facilities. Large numbers of the telewriters, or telescribers, as they are now called, are still in use throughout the world. Hospitals, hotels and factories find them ideal for quick, errorless interchange of written information. The current machines are a far cry from the first models, yet they still do the same thing—transmitting a written message by wire. Officials of the Telautograph Corp. say that facsimile machines have now taken over most of the needs for communication that were first filled by the ‘writing telegraph’ of 1888.”

Source The Telegraph: A History of Morse’s Invention and its Predecessors in the United States by Lewis Coe TK 5115 C54 1993 McFarland and Company, Publishers ISBN 0-89950-736-0

From Bruce Sterling

“One of the most successful and widely used visual signalling systems, the heliograph, did not appear until 1865, long after most visual systems were considered obsolete. The factor that established the heliograph was the existence of the Morse alphabet of dots and dashes, widely used for land telegraph and submarine cable operations. The ancients understood the principles of reflected sunlight, but no one ever got around to devising a code for the letters of the alphabet. Signal codes of some type had existed long before Morse, but none of them ever reached a level of universal acceptance, and they were mostly forgotten by the time Morse published his code.

“Early in the nineteenth century, Gauss, a German mathematician, had discovered the tremendous potential of the sun’s rays reflected from a plane mirror. Through experiments he was able to demonstrate that even a small mirror one inch square could send flashes that could be seen over a distance of seven miles. The silvered glass mirror, invented in 1840 by Justin Liebeg, paved the way for the heliograph.