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Information On Philips' "Coffee" Machine?
RogueWarrior65 writes "In the early 1970s, I was fortunate to discover the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. For the Gen Y'ers out there who never knew a world without computers, to Gen X'ers, this place was the future. Computer technology was just beginning to be exposed to the world and this museum had the coolest exhibits around, most of which were interactive. One of the exhibits was a machine reminiscent of an old vending machine. On its face was a large circuit board with lights that spelled out the word 'coffee.' There were several dials and a button, which, when pressed, would cause the machine to speak the word. The knobs adjusted various inflections and tonal qualities of the speech. Feeling nostalgic, I inquired of the museum about this exhibit. Was it still there? If not, was it in storage somewhere and could I purchase it. I was told that the machine was developed by Philips Electronics but the exhibit was no longer in their collection. Then I asked Philips about it and was told that no, they have nothing in the archives, no schematics or parts list. A Google search is came up empty as well. Does anyone have any more information on this gadget?"
Sure you aren't thinking about a Tim Horton's drive thru?
rewriting history since 2109
DOES NOT COMPUTE
This machine used to be on permanent display in the Evoluon, a museum dedicated to technology and modern art in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. See here. This site is run by a man named Kees who may be able to answer your questions.
You would make a great NPC.
This video was amazing, thanks for the link! A must-see for any fans of 1960s Venture Brothers type super-science.
It belongs in a museum!
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Why not ponder it over a cup of COFFEE.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Herbert.
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.
How about a good game of chess?
Around 1977 we took a family camping trip to Toronto. You should have seen us as we went sightseeing. Adam was walking, Jenn was in a stroller and April was in a backpack. One of my favorite memories was Jenn playing with this machine. It would simply say the word "coffee" and there was a dial on it that would make it sound differently. Jenn loved this machine and I remember we had to drag her away from it. When I sent this article to Jenn (who is now 36) she responded, "Aww, it's a shame it's gone. I wonder what could have happened to it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go, um, make some coffee. In the closet."
I remember being somewhere in the mid-west in the 80's in a really crowded room when I heard someone someone ask for a coffee. In a different part of the room, another voice suddenly said "CoFFee!" in the unmistakable tone of the machine. Then another voice from somewhere else echoes "coffEE?". Within a second, a third voice replies "COFFee" in yet another tone.
I added my own, and then the four of us started to track each other down through the crowd with cries of
"CoFFeE?"
"COFFEE!"
Needless to say, the rest of the room thought we were insane or members of some bizarre cult.
I turned out there were three Ontarians and someone who had visited the Science Centre recently.
A lot of fun.
Here in Toronto, I still hear people of a certain age suddenly repeat "CofffEE!" for no apparent reason.
Freaks out the youngsters.
Don't panic everyone, I speak jive..
This is the post that gets modded up for denouncing the factually incorrect parent post and "corrects" the misinformation with horribly erroneous information of its own, further degrading the signal to noise ratio.