He Fixed 300,000+ Machines - America's Oldest Typewriter Repairman Dies At 96

Technophobia by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-11 21:53 · Score: 3, Insightful

What is better, to fear what you don't know or to completely embrace it and know its weaknesses inside out? I'll opt for the latter anytime.

I use computers extensively and they don't own me.

Re:Technophobia by d33tah · 2013-09-11 21:55 · Score: 5, Funny

Or so it lets you think.
Re:Technophobia by rolfwind · 2013-09-11 22:03 · Score: 4, Insightful

To be fair, I know people in their 40s and 50s that don't even know how to email. Computers and their connections can be a daunting things, especially if you just didn't grow up with it or have a kid around to teach you and fix things. If tech competence were common, all those overpriced computer repair shops wouldn't be around.
Plus if the guy was running a business sucessfully, there probably wasn't all that much personal incentive for him to learn although Computers benefit the elderly greatly.
Re:Technophobia by idji · 2013-09-11 22:23 · Score: 4, Insightful

This guy was a specialist, who specialised on his expertise and lived a happy life. I will live a happy life having nothing to do with sport nor fashion.
Re:Technophobia by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-09-11 22:42 · Score: 3, Insightful

To "completely embrace" something is to let it own you.
And any single human who thinks they understand the "weaknesses inside out" of anything sufficiently complex is merely a dullard with an unwarranted sense of intelligence.
Life was much easier for the average Western worker before computers came along. And the signal-to-noise ratio he was presented with in daily life might have been occasionally irksome, but today it's so small that we spend most of our time busy doing absolutely nothing.
Re:Technophobia by Spudley · 2013-09-11 23:01 · Score: 3, Funny

This guy was a specialist, who specialised on his expertise and lived a happy life.

This guy was a specialist, who capitalized on his expertise and lived a happy life.
There, fixed that for you

Are you implying people can't enjoy doing their job? (most don't, but doesn't mean it can't happen...)
No, I think he's just making a typography pun.
A weakly-typed one, if you ask me though.

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(Spudley Strikes Again!)
Re:Technophobia by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2013-09-11 23:15 · Score: 3, Interesting

What is better, to fear what you don't know or to completely embrace it and know its weaknesses inside out? I'll opt for the latter anytime.
I use computers extensively and they don't own me.
Depending on the magnitude of 'what you don't know', and how optional it is, fear is a perfectly reasonable strategy(especially if you are already expert elsewhere and judge that you'll die before all your legacy customers do).
Re:Technophobia by tlambert · 2013-09-11 23:24 · Score: 5, Insightful

Sergey Brin: 40
Linus Torvalds: 43
Kirk McKusick: 59
Vint Cerf: 70
It's not an age thing.
Re:Technophobia by gmack · 2013-09-11 23:38 · Score: 2

And my grandmother started learning how to use a computer in her 60s and that was twenty years ago and I still get facebook birthday messages from her. Also during a slow period work wise, I made extra pocket money teaching retirees how to use the Internet.
It's really not an age thing.
Re:Technophobia by rolfwind · 2013-09-11 23:48 · Score: 4, Interesting

It's not an age thing.
I never said it was. Hence, saying that even some 40-50s year old (vs this 96 yo) don't use computers.
But there is definitely several generational gaps or cutoffs at play, from where computers were a luxury/novelty to something optional to something necessary.
I don't count the average American person today being able to use a manual transmission for much the same reason.
Re:Technophobia by Joining+Yet+Again · 2013-09-12 00:04 · Score: 1, Flamebait

...would be an adequate summary of the Internet.
But please, carry on thinking you're better than you are. Whole religions have been based in convincing people of it, so it clearly gives many people a kick.
Re:Technophobia by 0100010001010011 · 2013-09-12 00:10 · Score: 4, Insightful

To be fair, I know people in their 20s and 30s that don't even know how to email.
20 years ago how many people could fix everything in their car? How about everything in their house? Technology is no different. There will always be polymaths but aside from that most people specialize to be good at something.
Farming, Beekeeping, plumbing, etc.
I'd be willing to bet there are almost as many tech saavy people over 50 than there are under (ratio wise). I know plenty of 20-30 year olds that have the same toolbar problem. They get viruses constantly. They never copy their photos from their camera and when the SD card eats itself they ask me to recover it.
The guy that invented C would have been 72 this year. The SR71 Blackbird made its first flight 49 years ago. Presumably the guys who designed it were in their late 20s-40s. So the oldest of them would be near 90 now. Fortran, Ethernet, GPS, GSM were all designed by people well over 50 by now and without them your tech savvy life would be pretty boring.
There are plenty of old people that know nothing about computers but could fix your car blindfolded. And there are plenty of young people that know nothing about computers but are the same way with cars.
There are plenty of people who run successful car repair shops because people don't want to learn cars. There are plumbers, electricians, welders, etc because people don't want to learn each of those skills. And there are people that run businesses that serve the tech illiterate.
How many 20 year olds could fix their registry if it ate itself? How about creating a boot USB with GRUB2 installed on it and mounting an Ubuntu ISO in loopback so they could copy off all their files? I'm in my 30s, people I looked up to technology wise are in their 40s-50s. If anything I'd say it's the 20 year olds that know less than nothing about their computers. If their phone doesn't boot they just replace it. Look at clients at the Genius bar or Geek Squad counter sometime. It's not always a bunch of 50 year olds
Re:Technophobia by BitZtream · 2013-09-12 00:27 · Score: 1

Uhm, less than 6 months ago ... he was still doing it.
Adjusting the hammers doesn't stop forensic teams from figuring it out, it doesn't change the impression at the low level, just the visibility to the human eye.

--
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Re:Technophobia by Jason+Levine · 2013-09-12 00:51 · Score: 2

There are plenty of people who run successful car repair shops because people don't want to learn cars. There are plumbers, electricians, welders, etc because people don't want to learn each of those skills. And there are people that run businesses that serve the tech illiterate.
I agree with almost everything you wrote. My one quibble would be with "don't want to learn." For most people, it's a matter of time. After working all day and spending time with my wife and kids, I have precious little free time left. Even if I wanted to learn how to fix my own car, run my own electrical wiring, fix my own plumbing, etc, there's no time to learn it all. I might be able to learn the basics (i.e. how to use it), but not the in-depth stuff (how to repair it). In computer terms, it's the difference between being able to use a computer to read e-mail/play games/write documents/etc and being able to open a computer up to replace a damaged power supply. Most people can be taught the former but the latter takes a greater time commitment that many people just can't meet.

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My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Re:Technophobia by dywolf · 2013-09-12 01:16 · Score: 1

who said he feared it? you're projecting an awful lot onto a man who built a successful career and shop around one area of technology and was happy as he was.
why do you feel the need for him to use computers just for the purpose of using computers? that's hardly a rational reason to do something. if there is no need, why bother? you'll be luckily to be half so successful and happy with your life.

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The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Re:Technophobia by gl4ss · 2013-09-12 01:58 · Score: 1

well if the first thing about it that he says includes the notion that it's a machine that can "own" a human being then.. eh. yeah, fear comes to mind from that. he didn't see computers as tools, but as something that controls _you_. of course in some way that is true but only in the same way that the mail you receive controls you and the newspapers you read control you..
which is sort of funny since he was obsessed with typewriters enough to work fixing them till he dropped.
the real story is that he liked strong tobacco and cheap scotch.

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world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Re:Technophobia by N!k0N · 2013-09-12 02:13 · Score: 1

I don't count the average American person today being able to use a manual transmission for much the same reason.
Meh, I learned it a few years ago (note - am a "damn kid" still). Bit disappointed that "sunroof" on a new car generally means "automatic transmission". I really wish $MFG would listen when I say I want standard transmission AND the sunroof...
Re: Technophobia by UnknownSoldier · 2013-09-12 02:18 · Score: 1

Bullshit.
Not everyone likes sports. We have enough other hobbies to "waste" our time with.
Re:Technophobia by operagost · 2013-09-12 02:22 · Score: 1

He was just the typewriter equivalent of the Onion "man always telling everyone he doesn't own a TV". If you don't know what computers are because you chose to live among apes for the last 50 years, that's a different story. I don't know why some people are stubbornly proud of things that aren't worth being proud of, but they are. But hey, no one could say he wasn't a hard worker, at least.

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Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Re:Technophobia by operagost · 2013-09-12 02:25 · Score: 1

Mercedes Benz has manumatic transmissions and sunroofs, as long as you aren't in love with a clutch pedal.

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Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Re:Technophobia by Origimist · 2013-09-12 02:50 · Score: 1

To be fair, I know people in their 20s and 30s that don't even know how to email.
To be fair, many people in their 20s see email as you see faxes and memos, obsolete and clunky. They communicate in texts, instant messages, Facebook and Twitter.
Re:Technophobia by hb253 · 2013-09-12 06:45 · Score: 1

No clutch = not a manual transmisison

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Self awareness - try it!
Re:Technophobia by PingPongBoy · 2013-09-12 08:10 · Score: 1

> It's not an age thing.
Definitely not. The fact that someone actually needs their typewriter fixed in 2013 means there are many younger than Whitlock still decades behind. But their printer will work when the power is out, and their system will never download a trojan.

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Know your pads. One time pad: good for cryptography. Two timing pad: where to take your mistress.
Re:Technophobia by DerekLyons · 2013-09-12 11:51 · Score: 1

I know people in their 40s and 50s that don't even know how to email. Computers and their connections can be a daunting things, especially if you just didn't grow up with it or have a kid around to teach you and fix things.
The mind boggles that you can actually believe that bullcrap. I was in my early twenties when the IBM PC came out (so I didn't grow up with computers) and have no kids (never have). I'm right in the middle of that range (turning 50 in just six weeks), and I have absolutely no problem with technology. (After all, I've had thirty years to learn.)

It's time to kill this idiot myth with fire - if someone in their 40's or 50's doesn't know how to email, it's all on them. Maybe they can't be bothered, maybe they're like the people who can never learn to cook, maybe... well, many reasons. But not growing up with it or having kids around means precisely fuck all.
Re:Technophobia by netsentry · 2013-09-13 05:03 · Score: 1

pun p = "This guy was a specialist, who capitalized on his expertise and lived a happy life.";
return p;
No longer weakly-typed.
Re:Technophobia by volmtech · 2013-09-13 09:04 · Score: 1

Polymath, that's me. Things I do for myself or have been paid to do. Navy training to help run engine room and perform damage control on steam powered destroyer. Operated farm performing bookkeeping, payroll, operated heavy equipment, welding. diesel mechanic, repair hydraulic and pneumatic systems, maintain and program automated packaging machines, install and service commercial refrigeration and AC systems. Install commercial and residential electrical and lighting wiring. Repair and install automobile engines and ac systems. Install cable and satellite TV systems. Home building, carpentry, woodworking. Computer repair and programing. Safely collect, store, and prepare for transport hazardous waste.
I'm on disability now, I wore myself out.
Re: Technophobia by gzuckier · 2013-09-13 16:51 · Score: 1

Gas mileage/emissions issues sometimes make for some strange option mixes. EPA doesn't use actual weight of car, but brackets them, so the weight of the sunroof might be enough to bump that particular car into the next weight bracket thereby significantly affecting test results, and to hold the line on emissions or mileage the might need to spec a slushbox they can program to meet the tests. Also explains some odd option no-nos, like you can't get the sunroof and a subwoofer, because the combo would bump the car into the next weight bracket, etc.

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Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
Re: Technophobia by gzuckier · 2013-09-13 16:53 · Score: 1

In my day the average driver didn't know how to drive an automatic.

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Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
Re: Technophobia by gzuckier · 2013-09-13 16:57 · Score: 1

Civic si has the slickest manual I've ever used ( 6 speed). You'd swear the shift lever is directly mounted to the trans like a rwd.

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Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
Re: Technophobia by gzuckier · 2013-09-13 17:08 · Score: 1

Luckily I wear a sport jacket in my sports car so I am healthy.

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Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
Re: Technophobia by gzuckier · 2013-09-13 17:11 · Score: 1

Kids these days communicate by twerking.

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Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
Re: Technophobia by gzuckier · 2013-09-13 17:12 · Score: 1

I'm more of a polyester blend myself.

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Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
Re:Technophobia by Jitu+Kali · 2013-09-14 00:17 · Score: 1

Yes I agree with you on this.. there are people out there no matter how much you try to teach them and educate them how to prevent or resolve a few simple fixes on their day to day life.. but simply some how they still can't figure out anything.

... and I don't want one to own me by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-11 22:14 · Score: 5, Insightful

"I've heard about them a lot, but I don't own one, and I don't want one to own me."

He claims that he does not know what a computer is but he appears to understand very well what it does.
Humanity needs more of him and less FB-Fanboys. /RIP

Re:... and I don't want one to own me by dcw3 · 2013-09-11 22:31 · Score: 2

Bravo! First insightful AC post I've seen in months.

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Just another day in Paradise
Re:... and I don't want one to own me by drinkypoo · 2013-09-12 00:00 · Score: 2

"I've heard about them a lot, but I don't own one, and I don't want one to own me."
He claims that he does not know what a computer is but he appears to understand very well what it does.
Humanity needs more of him and less FB-Fanboys. /RIP
The man spent his whole life serving machines, repairing them when they broke. And then he was concerned about machines controlling his life. Tell me again how this makes sense.

--
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:... and I don't want one to own me by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 00:29 · Score: 1

My typewriter is broken. Please come fix it and I'll pay you.
VS
Ding IM/You've got mail/Twitter post I'll be right back, gotta check gotta respond, gotta forward.
Yeah, he is ruled by the machine.
Re:... and I don't want one to own me by drinkypoo · 2013-09-12 00:44 · Score: 2

My typewriter is broken. Please come fix it and I'll pay you. VS Ding IM/You've got mail/Twitter post I'll be right back, gotta check gotta respond, gotta forward.
It sounds like you're suffering from OCD. I sympathize with you, I have many compulsive tendencies myself. Checking to see what just came in isn't one of them. My phone makes nice soft little noises when stuff happens, and I just ignore it most of the time. If I'm feeling like engaging, then I pick it up. I may not even bother to pick it up if it actually rings, I've got service.
On the other hand, this compulsion to post to Slashdot is a superbitch.

--
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:... and I don't want one to own me by QilessQi · 2013-09-12 01:36 · Score: 1

It makes sense to me: he did not need to devote constant mental energy into keeping up with technology, so he was free to think about other things.
He wasn't serving machines, he was serving customers. They paid him to fix their machines, which he probably could do in his sleep.
Sounds pretty relaxing to me.

--
Koans and fables for the software engineer
Re: ... and I don't want one to own me by UnknownSoldier · 2013-09-12 02:23 · Score: 1

Yeah tossing the baby out with the bath water is a "real" sign of maturity.
EVERY tool can be used or abused.
Sticking ones luddite head in the sand doesn't change that fact.
The only thing that makes him different is that he knew himself - his limits - but he also sacrificed learning and interacting with others in a different capacity (Internet / text / video / audio )
Re:... and I don't want one to own me by tlhIngan · 2013-09-12 03:56 · Score: 1

It sounds like you're suffering from OCD. I sympathize with you, I have many compulsive tendencies myself. Checking to see what just came in isn't one of them. My phone makes nice soft little noises when stuff happens, and I just ignore it most of the time. If I'm feeling like engaging, then I pick it up. I may not even bother to pick it up if it actually rings, I've got service.
Take a look at people sometime and you'll find their devices control them. It's so bad that you can find people who believe the meaning of "get together" is sitting at a table together with everyone tapping away at their own phone.
Or why you have articles like "When is it OK to answer your phone" and such. Nevermind all the drivers you see on the road where they're barely looking at the road (and thus weaving about or going much slower than the flow and creating a hazard). Or pedestrians who seem to have overcome their childhood training of "look both ways before crossing" and blindly step out into the street to get run over (and not usually when the light's in their favor - they just forget the edge of the road is there and cross it without looking)
Gadget-itis is everywhere. You don't need to train your child on technology - they'll really pick it up themselves (the shiny glowing tablet is a way more "interesting" toy than a pile of lego or wooden blocks.
And yes, stepping back and realizing when you do something for enjoyment versus doing it because some device compels you to do it is quite liberating. Taking a step back, realizing that you don't NEED to answer that tweet right this moment or answer that email leaves so much time for other stuff.

With apologies to Monty Python by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-11 22:15 · Score: 4, Funny

Voiceover: This man is no ordinary man. This is Mr. M W Superman. To all appearances, he looks like any other law-abiding citizen. But Mr M W Superman has a secret identity. When trouble strikes at any time, at any place, he is ready to become... TYPEWRITER REPAIR MAN!

Boy: Hey, there's a typewriter broken, up the office.

Typewriter Repair Man: Hmmmmm. This sounds like a job for... Typewriter Repair Man. But how to change without revealig my secret identity?

Superman 1: If only Typewriter Repair Man were here!

Typewriter Repair Man: Yes, wait, I think I know where I can find him. Look over there!

Caption: FLASH!

Supermen 1-3: Typewriter Repair Man, but how?

Superman 1: Oh look... is it a stockbroker?

Superman 2: Is it a quantity Surveyor?

Superman 3: Is it a church warden?

Supermen 1-3: NO! It's Typewriter Repair Man!

Superman In Need: MY! Typewriter Repair Man! Thank goodness you've come! Look!

Caption:

Clink!

Screw!

Bend!

Inflate!

Alter roller!

Superman 2: Why, he's mending it with his own hands!

Superman 1: Se how he uses a spanner to tighten that nut!

Superman In Need: Oh, Oh Typewriter Repair Man, how can I ever repay you?

Typewriter Repair Man: Oh, you don't need to guv. It's all in a days work for... Typewriter Repair Man!

Supermen 1-3: Our Hero!

Voiceover: Yes! whenever typewriters are broken, or menaced by Al Qaida Typewriter Repair Man is ready!

Re:With apologies to Monty Python by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · 2013-09-12 03:49 · Score: 1

Superman In Need: Oh, Oh Typewriter Repair Man, how can I ever repay you?
Typewriter Repair Man: With cash or check. I don't own a credit card machine, and I don't want one to own me.

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Your ad here. Ask me how!

Guess he won't have to learn Russian by quantumghost · 2013-09-11 22:25 · Score: 1

I heard tell that the Russians were in talks with him.....

ffft by MarginalWatcher · 2013-09-11 22:31 · Score: 1

ffft: Fast Fucking Fourier Transform :-)

Typewriter chic by cold+fjord · 2013-09-11 22:44 · Score: 1

300,000 repairs? The man was a machine himself. RIP.

I wonder if he liked this?

The Typewriter for Orchestra, by Leroy Anderson

There may be growing interest in typewriters. Maybe they will be the office equipment analog to the return of vinyl records or vacuum tubes for music.

The Typewriter Movie trailer (In the 21st Century)

They could certainly still be handy to have around.

--
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell

Re:Typewriter chic by NJRoadfan · 2013-09-11 23:18 · Score: 1

Typewriters still linger around the office here, next to the pile of floppy disks.
Re:Typewriter chic by war4peace · 2013-09-12 01:18 · Score: 1

I find the "300,000" amount to be exaggerated.
Let's say the man repaired 10 typewriters a day, every day. No breaks, No vacations, no Christmas. That's 3650 typewriters a year. In order to achieve 300,000 during his lifespan he should have done that for 82 years, non-stop. he died at 96 so he should have started work at 14, keeping the pace for 82 years. ...Well, I guess it's theoretically possible, but still...

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...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Re:Typewriter chic by operagost · 2013-09-12 02:29 · Score: 1

He did use to have up to 6 other employees, so maybe the 300K figure includes the entire shop.

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Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Re:Typewriter chic by war4peace · 2013-09-12 04:16 · Score: 1

Then, unsurprisingly, the title, summary AND TFA are all misleading.

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...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
Re:Typewriter chic by WheezyJoe · 2013-09-12 06:01 · Score: 1

I find the "300,000" amount to be exaggerated.
Lots of them weren't actually broken. The ribbon was empty. The margin was set weird. The Shift-Lock was down, etc.
You know, user-error.

--
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...

Populaire by dargaud · 2013-09-11 22:47 · Score: 2

On topic, I can recommend the movie Populaire which I saw a few days ago, about a fast typist.

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Non-Linux Penguins ?

Last repairman? by taleman · 2013-09-11 22:48 · Score: 5, Insightful

Are there repair persons anymore? Seems stuff is so shoddy nowadays it is not expected to last more than one or two years. Even if I want to have my machines repaired, they are either impossible to repair or it is cheaper to purchase a new one.

Re:Last repairman? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-11 23:03 · Score: 1

Bike mechanics!
Re:Last repairman? by SirGarlon · 2013-09-11 23:17 · Score: 5, Interesting

I think the dwindling number of repairmen is due to increase factory automation. Today, the amount of human labor that goes into making a device is very low (still decreasing) and unskilled. Repair is labor-intensive and requires skill. Therefore, for an increasing range of products, it's cheaper to make a new one than to repair it. The exceptions are when the items are very costly, like cars and houses, and/or difficult to replace, like HVAC systems.

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[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Re:Last repairman? by Thanshin · 2013-09-11 23:37 · Score: 1

Eventually, building and recycling things should become easy enough for the concept of repairs to stop existing. So what you describe is a sign of a better future.
Re:Last repairman? by Kjella · 2013-09-12 00:11 · Score: 1

Are there repair persons anymore? Seems stuff is so shoddy nowadays it is not expected to last more than one or two years. Even if I want to have my machines repaired, they are either impossible to repair or it is cheaper to purchase a new one.
Well you can always take the "get off my lawn" approach and complain about the low quality of everything, but most of it is simply refined mass production. Once you have a production line set up it just churns out thousands or millions of units cheaper than one repairman fixing one device. Never mind that this person must have parts, tools, storefront and skills as well as dealing with all sorts of potentially abused, damaged and flaky used goods. This of course leads to a causality loop, because there's no point in repairing there's no point in making them repair-friendly which again means there's less point in repairing. In many cases you wouldn't even want to repair them at the factory even if they magically got teleported there because fixing it is so hard, a cracked motherboard is just to throw away period. That is, please recycle.
Take a look at all the techniques for mending clothes for example, why are they disappearing? Is it because clothes are much weaker now or harder to repair than in the past? No, mostly it's because when they're so worn and torn they start needing it we'd rather throw them away and buy new ones because a pack of socks is cheap and spending hours darning is so extremely poor value for our time. Plus that nobody wants to be caught dead in patched clothes anymore, it's not that they don't function it's that you look like a hobo. Same with shoes, they still last years but now when they're almost worn out it doesn't pay off to try eeking out the last shreds of life anymore. Economics of scale killed the repair business, production scaled and repair didn't.

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Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Re:Last repairman? by ledow · 2013-09-12 00:25 · Score: 2

Everything is going the same way.
My father was a mechanic for lorry fleets for decades. He's moved onto delivery driver because there's just not enough "mechanic" work for lorry fleets any more and what there is is centrally managed. Most things are modular and just swapping out kit for a new one.
I work in IT, it's pretty much the same. I was shocked the other day to find a laptop keyboard of a particular model for only Â£10 on Amazon to repair someone's laptop for them. Every other time I've checked, it's cheaper to buy either an entire second-hand laptop of the same model or a new laptop than to faff about with components. And the other components that are modular (drives, RAM, etc.) are just rip-them-out-and-try-another. Mostly the things that break are plastics that are unique to each model and things like that. By the time you find the right part, or could even 3D print a replacement, and find someone to fit it, it's cheaper to throw it in the bin.
Phones are the same. I wouldn't even bother to take my phone apart, or my sat-nav, or just about anything electrical any more. Throw it away, buy a new one. If I was REALLY desperate for money, I'd pop it open and bodge something temporarily but still be on the lookout for a new one rather than trying to formalise the repair.
Repairs are going the way of the dodo. In a way, it's a loss of the craftsmenship in many industries, but additionally it's the logical choice. It's often cheaper to buy another example of a mass-produced item than to try to apply anything beyond the most simple of repairs to a broken one. I doubt even those companies that take back broken laptops on warranty etc. even bother to recondition them any more. There was a time when that would be profitable but it's a long while since I've seen reconditioned machines as prevalent as they used to be.
Go walk through your house. If your window glass breaks, yeah, you might call a glazier to JUST change the glass. But with double-glazing, anything specialist, films, leading, anything out-of-the-ordinary, you're probably better off just buying a new one. Your car. Your kitchen appliances (ever tried to repair a fridge?). Just about everything.
Back when this stuff was new technology and ridiculously expensive, you *would* get amateurs crack open a TV set and have a go because it was so god-damn expensive and the technology quite understandable that you stood a good chance of making things right. Nowadays, the tech is cheap, the warranties are long, the repairs are hard and the parts are impossible to come by. Even the companies that sell the machines and are called out on warranty repairs don't try to fix them half the time. It's just too wasteful.
I'm an IT Manager. I can't remember the last time I had to actually open a machine and play with expansion cards. Upgrading RAM is a once-in-a-PC's-lifetime event, if at all (with a 2-year replacement cycle, I haven't done it in nearly 8 years, I think). Drives and other components are modular and there's rarely a need to change them (the average "gamer" probably does 10 times more tinkering in the inside of a machine than myself with dozens of machines running a business).
It's all cheap commodity hardware now and is far beyond expansion or tinkering. Hell, I have at least five devices that have ARM chipsets at 800MHz+ running Linux on them, just in the pile of junk that I don't use any more (satnavs, old phones, old handheld consoles, old ebook readers etc.).
The time to cable a telephone isn't even worth it anymore. Stick some Cat6 in and get a VOIP phone.
It's an emotional loss, yes, but it's a completely, utterly, logical one. Nobody NEEDS to know how to repair this stuff. We just need to know how to make it, and make it cheap enough that it doesn't matter.
Re:Last repairman? by drinkypoo · 2013-09-12 00:26 · Score: 3, Insightful

Well you can always take the "get off my lawn" approach and complain about the low quality of everything, but most of it is simply refined mass production.
You have got this completely wrong. It's not about mass production, it's about cost reduction. It's about using cheap plastic cases that snap together and have to be spudged apart because it's cheaper than a nice metal case that's screwed together. It's about using a rivet when you could use a screw or bolt. It's about producing a product which will last just long enough to outlive the warranty.

Take a look at all the techniques for mending clothes for example, why are they disappearing? Is it because clothes are much weaker now or harder to repair than in the past? No, mostly it's because when they're so worn and torn they start needing it we'd rather throw them away and buy new ones because a pack of socks is cheap and spending hours darning is so extremely poor value for our time.
Clothes ARE weaker and harder to repair than in the past. This trend is exemplified by shoes; even most leather shoes are effectively unrepairable because they don't have enough leather to actually stitch together, and they were only glued to begin with. Army issue combat boots can be resoled maybe once now before disposal and the fabric tore out of the side of my Belleville desert boots on the second wearing. (This is the kind of gear they're selling our GIs? Traitors.) Natural fabrics have been waning due, believe it or not, to climate change. Cotton did poorly last year and failed horribly this year.

Same with shoes, they still last years but now when they're almost worn out it doesn't pay off to try eeking out the last shreds of life anymore.
I'm hard on shoes. I'm lucky if they last me a year. They used to last me two, when I was even harder on shoes. Shoes have gone straight to fucking hell.

--
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:Last repairman? by dywolf · 2013-09-12 01:27 · Score: 3, Interesting

yup. this mentality of throwing money at a problem til it goes away, while bad for society as a whole, is great if you know how to profit from it.
for ex: friend gave me his mower free bcause it was broken and he went out and bought a 56" riding mower to replace it (granted he has a bit of acrage now, so its not a total waste on his part), and didnt want to bother trying to fix it.
what was broken on the mower i got for free?
recoil spring on the starter (cut off the bent/deformed end, abotu 8" worth, bent a new hook into it, reattached, pulls like a champ)
dirty carberator (dunked in a bucket of carb cleaner for half an hour, cleaned off and reattached)
Now it starts like a brand new mower, like a horny teenager in a whorehouse, even with a half hearted lazy pull.
So for the cost $10 of cleaner, and a couple hours repair, I got me a $350 mower.

--
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Re:Last repairman? by dywolf · 2013-09-12 01:28 · Score: 1

also, most stuff can be repaired. just hop on a fixer forum, or even just google around.

--
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Re:Last repairman? by dywolf · 2013-09-12 01:33 · Score: 2

Nope. Not even close. That isnt a better future, its a nightmare future.
building and recycling takes energy and time, and always requires some amount of new material. Recycling is never 100% recovery, and many things cannot be recycled at allonce created. Why spend 3x the amount of production energy (building it first time, recycling it, building it again) when you can jsut repair it, and only spend the production energy once? your concept of the future is fundamentally inefficient. there will always be a need for repair, and in fact becoming a fixit society again will be fundamental in getting a handle on everything, from the envirnment, to using resources efficiently, even to the economy.

--
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Re:Last repairman? by jdschulteis · 2013-09-12 02:40 · Score: 1

Why spend 3x the amount of production energy (building it first time, recycling it, building it again) when you can jsut repair it, and only spend the production energy once? your concept of the future is fundamentally inefficient. there will always be a need for repair, and in fact becoming a fixit society again will be fundamental in getting a handle on everything, from the envirnment, to using resources efficiently, even to the economy.
Energy is cheap, and skilled labor (repair) is expensive.
In design, minimizing materials and manufacturing cost or keeping the product compact tends to far outweigh repairability concerns.
Keep in mind that the new product may be more featureful, performant, or energy-efficient than the repaired one.
Re:Last repairman? by tlhIngan · 2013-09-12 03:46 · Score: 1

Are there repair persons anymore? Seems stuff is so shoddy nowadays it is not expected to last more than one or two years. Even if I want to have my machines repaired, they are either impossible to repair or it is cheaper to purchase a new one.
Stuff isn't shoddy these days. You may think they are, but they aren't. It's just you've got survivor bias going on - "old stuff" looks more reliable because for the most part, what old stuff you see today is merely the survivor - you don't see the crap that's broken and discarded decades earlier.
Want an example? Take cars - how many "classic" cars are there versus how many were built? A lot of "classics" they had 50,000+ made, and not a lot are running on the roads today. What you saw are the survivors - the few that people cared enough to keep going - everything else was scrapped when they got in an accident or just could not be sold and was taken to the wrecker.
And stuff's a lot cheaper nowadays because modern technology has made modern stuff less overengineered - is there any possible reason to manufacture a computer that'll keep working for 10 years, when most PCs will be discarded or recycled within 5?
And you mentioned the problem for repairs yourself - it's uneconomical. Because the truth is these days, human labor is expensive. Given it'll take at least a couple of hours to diagnose and fix a problem, if not more, and the people who can do so require specialized training and thus charge out at skilled labor rates, spending $500 to repair something you can buy new for $500 makes little sense.
The only places where repairing is still economical are countries where human labor is cheap, which also tend to be places where buying new is very expensive to them.
Outside of that, the only cheap replacements are where parts can be diagnosed and swapped in and out quickly. If your computer's RAM is faulty, or hard drive is dead, it's a really easy fix that costs a few minutes. Likewise, if your monitor's screen is cracked.
The expensive fixes are ones that aren't so easy - instead of your screen being cracked, let's say it doesn't work. Well now it can be a dozen different things and fixing goes from "replace obviously broken part" with "find broken part".
Of course, people do that - as a hobby. As a techie, you probably get tons of broken cast offs that you may fix a few to get a free-to-you piece of hardware. Because your hobby time is "free" and you're not invested in the broken equipment (if it's broken, it doesn't matter). Though, if your main PC breaks, you probably have a spare ready to go because it's important to you, but if you got a broken monitor donated from a friend, well, fix it or not...
Re:Last repairman? by Areyoukiddingme · 2013-09-12 04:04 · Score: 1

My central air conditioning system was low on coolant. The "repair" technician spent the majority of his time in my house trying to convince me to replace the entire system. When I refused, he tried to convince me to replace the coil. He spent less than a minute waving his little electronic sniffer over the coil and listening to it beep, folded it up, and said yup, the coil is leaking. Did he actually find the leak? (A service for which he billed me over $300.) Hell no. The coil leaks, somewhere. He did not locate where. He had no intention of bothering. His company told him not to. His company told him to sell me a new system for $4000, not repair what I have.
At this rate, in a few years the plumber is going to tell me to buy a new house when my sink leaks...
Re:Last repairman? by SirGarlon · 2013-09-12 04:30 · Score: 1

Drifting off-topic here, but your story is why I use Angie's List. Businesses like the one you describe rely on ignorant customers to function -- I say, deny them the opportunity.

--
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Re:Last repairman? by pjbgravely · 2013-09-12 04:44 · Score: 1

It is sad that almost no one fixes stuff any more. I can fix almost anything but even I bought a new dehumidifier because finding a freeze stat for my old one was going to be hard and I needed one soon.

I will never find a job fixing things because no one wants that done. I still can fix my own vehicles and anything that breaks down. My lawn tractor is as old as I am (46). I fixed a free DSLR camera and used it for years. Everything is still fixable and some things are worth it if is was gotten free.

--
Star Trek, there maybe hope.
Re:Last repairman? by dj245 · 2013-09-12 05:12 · Score: 2

Well you can always take the "get off my lawn" approach and complain about the low quality of everything, but most of it is simply refined mass production.
You have got this completely wrong. It's not about mass production, it's about cost reduction. It's about using cheap plastic cases that snap together and have to be spudged apart because it's cheaper than a nice metal case that's screwed together. It's about using a rivet when you could use a screw or bolt. It's about producing a product which will last just long enough to outlive the warranty.

Take a look at all the techniques for mending clothes for example, why are they disappearing? Is it because clothes are much weaker now or harder to repair than in the past? No, mostly it's because when they're so worn and torn they start needing it we'd rather throw them away and buy new ones because a pack of socks is cheap and spending hours darning is so extremely poor value for our time.
Clothes ARE weaker and harder to repair than in the past. This trend is exemplified by shoes; even most leather shoes are effectively unrepairable because they don't have enough leather to actually stitch together, and they were only glued to begin with. Army issue combat boots can be resoled maybe once now before disposal and the fabric tore out of the side of my Belleville desert boots on the second wearing. (This is the kind of gear they're selling our GIs? Traitors.) Natural fabrics have been waning due, believe it or not, to climate change. Cotton did poorly last year and failed horribly this year.

Same with shoes, they still last years but now when they're almost worn out it doesn't pay off to try eeking out the last shreds of life anymore.
I'm hard on shoes. I'm lucky if they last me a year. They used to last me two, when I was even harder on shoes. Shoes have gone straight to fucking hell.
I don't disagree with you, but a significant portion of this could be attributed to weight reduction and size reduction. Each traditional fastener (screw, bolt, etc) might weigh only a gram or two, but adding enough material to support a fastener starts to add significant bulk and weight. For mobile electronics, this absolutely matters.

You could make a strong case for footwear as well, especially performance footwear where the difference between a soldier running at 18mph and a soldier running at 18.1mph could literally be the difference between life and death. Repairability and modularity aren't really considerations if you are making something like that.

For consumer goods, however, it is really irritating how far cost-cutting has gone. I am restoring a John Deere pedal tractor (for reference only, I do not endorse this website) and it is refreshing how old things were built with repairability in mind. Absolutely everything on the this toy can be replaced.

--
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
Re:Last repairman? by cold+fjord · 2013-09-12 06:03 · Score: 1

Try these: Red Wing Shoes. Comfortable and durable. I've had them resole some in the past. Some of them make for very good walking shoes - like 10-20 miles / day.

--
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Re:Last repairman? by bws111 · 2013-09-12 06:37 · Score: 1

In the past, factories did not have a whole lot of quality control. That is NOT to say that the things they produced were of low quality, but that there was variation. Different components were put together by different people. Person 'A' may have had a different technique he used when soldering a coil than person 'B'. That sort of thing. So, in the past, if your coil was leaking there was a reasonably good chance that the rest of the system was OK, and a coil repair made sense.
Today, there is a lot of quality control and automation. Again, that does not necessarily mean high quality, but it means consistency. Today, if your coil is leaking there is a very good chance that the entire system has reached the end of its useful life, because everything was built to the same specs. Sure, the guy could probably find and repair the leak. But what happens in two weeks when another leak pops up? Most people are going to have a fit and complain that the repairman ripped them off, etc. When they get done ranting, they will have the new leak fixed (maybe after bullying the repairman into doing it for free). And a few weeks later the THIRD leak appears, etc.
Did you actually ask the repairman why repairing was not appropriate, or did you automatically jump into 'must be a rip-off' mode?
Re:Last repairman? by n7ytd · 2013-09-12 07:14 · Score: 1

Back in the day a typewriter was a serious investment, just like all business machines that eventually trickled their way into consumer use. (Think telephones, faxes, copiers, adding machines, printers, etc.).
When something costs $$$ and makes your business $$$$, there's a legitimate need and market for repair services that can keep a device going for $$. As soon as the object becomes obsolete or replaceable for $$, or with only a very few special use cases, it makes no financial sense to repair them.
It's not that they become impossible to repair, but with a skilled technician doing the work the majority of the cost to do the repair (the human) hasn't fallen at the same rate as the cost of the device.
Re:Last repairman? by n7ytd · 2013-09-12 07:22 · Score: 1

In design, minimizing materials and manufacturing cost or keeping the product compact tends to far outweigh repairability concerns.
Which will not change, as long as we continue to pursue the Walmart model of cheaper-and-good-enough rather than expensive-better-repairable.
One of the other posters mentioned bike shops as an example of a repair shop model that continues to exist. Customers that frequent those shops are looking for a premium item; you won't find a $100 Huffy there, but the customer who invests $1000 in a bike will most likely continue to spend $50 for a tune up each year, long after the Huffy has hit the scrap heap. As long as people are willing to spend money for a quality bike, they will stick around, but they will always fill a niche market, not the high-volume, low-margin space that is most of our marketplace.
Re:Last repairman? by Darinbob · 2013-09-12 07:37 · Score: 1

It's s throw-away culture. It also means no need to have quality or plan for a device that will last 20 years or more. It used to be when you bought an appliance you would have it for quite a few decades; typewriters, televisions, adding machines, washing machines, telephones, bicycles, etc.
People look back at the 50s and ridicule it as an era of conspicuous consumption and planned obsolescence, but it seems probable that we're more wasteful today in many ways.
Many times we discard items that are still working just to get a new one. You don't need someone to repair an item when it's thrown away before it breaks.
Re:Last repairman? by Darinbob · 2013-09-12 07:46 · Score: 1

Quality control is only part of the issue. Today we have a culture that will throw away a relatively new mobile phone that merely because there's a new model available. There's not enough time given to items for them to even break.
We had an article this week making the assumption that everyone with a 5 year old HDTV is ready to replace them with new models. If they're breaking already then these have LESS quality than televisions of 30 or 40 years ago. But they're not breaking, they're not even obsolete, they're just not "new" and so the modern consumer who is obsessed with newness wants a replacement.
Re:Last repairman? by Darinbob · 2013-09-12 07:49 · Score: 1

Most devices that are sent to recycle centers are only crudely recycled. Ie, computer monitors will have wires ripped out to be melted down but the rest will go to a landfill. That's not really recycling. At best it's a feel-good solution so that naive consumers can stop worrying and start spending more money. Many modern devices are designed to make recycling nearly impossible; like sealed smart phones or tablets filled with resin to give them a solid feel.
Re:Last repairman? by Darinbob · 2013-09-12 07:55 · Score: 1

Conservation is being messed up here. There is more to just recycling to conservation. It also means to be frugal, to not throw away something that is working fine merely because it's out of fashion. Conservation should be about not throwing stuff away, whereas the big recycling push encourages us to throw things away as long as it's to the right bin.
You inadvertantly express exactly what is wrong here: people want a new product with new features or performance, and will unthinkingly throw away something that is not broken just to get something new. This is selfishness.
Labor is cheap, that's why all these toxic computer parts are sent to third world countries where they are "recycled" by hand without any expensive safety monitoring or actual re-use of parts.
Re:Last repairman? by ArsonSmith · 2013-09-12 08:34 · Score: 1

My riding mower threw a rod and plunked a hole in the crank case. New this model is ~$2200. I looked on craigs list and found one in good running order around $1200, also looked around and found a brand new complete drop-in motor was $520. Ordered the engine, dropped in (5 bolts, a wire harness plug, fuel line and a hot wire to the starter) up and running good as new within 2 hours.

--
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
Re:Last repairman? by ArsonSmith · 2013-09-12 08:45 · Score: 1

Because things are considerably cheaper now then they have been in the past. To pay someone to repair something is going to cost a repair company in the $40-60 range just to get a tech to look at it. (hourly pay + shop + transportation etc...)
Then you'd be looking at the techs hourly pay of ~$20 or so an hour plus cost of parts, etc it's hard to provide a repair service call for less than ~$120. That's only going to be the start. If a part is required then that cost is added, if the task is difficult than that's going to be added, by the time you're done a repair is going to be in the $250+ range. The last few appliances I've bought have been in the $500-1200 range. is nearly half the cost of new worth living with an aging device?
Of course some large items (home maintance, HVAC, Vehicles) that are expensive enough to warrant repairing will be so. Most smaller items just are not worth it.

--
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
Re:Last repairman? by SirGarlon · 2013-09-12 08:58 · Score: 1

But they're not breaking, they're not even obsolete, they're just not "new" and so the modern consumer who is obsessed with newness wants a replacement.
You say that like it's a bad thing. I say it's the reason I prefer to buy stock in Sony than to buy a new Sony TV.

--
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Re:Last repairman? by drinkypoo · 2013-09-12 14:02 · Score: 1

Sadly, Red Wings have pointy toes, and I have wide toes. I wear a "D" but Red Wings doesn't seem to have got the memo that says that a "D" is wider in a 16 than it is in, say, a 12.
I guess I didn't mention that I wear a size 16. That's pretty relevant information. Most of the brands that people are suggesting don't make any shoe in a size 16.

--
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:Last repairman? by drinkypoo · 2013-09-12 14:13 · Score: 1

Each traditional fastener (screw, bolt, etc) might weigh only a gram or two, but adding enough material to support a fastener starts to add significant bulk and weight. For mobile electronics, this absolutely matters.

It matters a lot for laptops, which have considerable weight if you're not careful, but it matters less for handhelds. They're just never that heavy. Saving space is a consideration there, however, as you say.

You could make a strong case for footwear as well, especially performance footwear where the difference between a soldier running at 18mph and a soldier running at 18.1mph could literally be the difference between life and death. Repairability and modularity aren't really considerations if you are making something like that.
The problem with this idea is that these shoes failed the second time I wore them; it would almost certainly have been the first time if they were worn by someone into a combat situation. Also, they're based on the same design that the military has been using since time immemorial, although with slightly fancier materials. The military spared every expense when designing the specification.

For consumer goods, however, it is really irritating how far cost-cutting has gone. I am restoring a John Deere pedal tractor (for reference only, I do not endorse this website) and it is refreshing how old things were built with repairability in mind. Absolutely everything on the this toy can be replaced.
This is why I spend so much time yard sailing. I just got a 17" drill press at a quarter of the regular price, for example. It's so fancy it doesn't have a hole in the table though, so now I need to get the hardware to attach my clamp to it... and a better clamp

--
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:Last repairman? by Areyoukiddingme · 2013-09-12 16:30 · Score: 1

I left out the important part. I had the same company replace the entire system, compressor, coil, and all, just 6 years ago.
Re:Last repairman? by cold+fjord · 2013-09-14 06:11 · Score: 1

It's not completely clear from your reply if you're just going off the web catalog or if you've ever actually been to one of their store to have your foot measured and see the styles. I can tell you that the style I wear looks like it has a fairly pointy toe on the web, but the actual shoe doesn't. I recommend that you actually go to one of the stores and have your foot measured. Red Wing does make up to 16E, and it may be that you need an E width for their shoes/boots. Sadly the choices have narrowed considerably by the time you get to that size. You can see what they have available in different sizes and widths with the shoe finder at the link below. You probably just want to filter by size first, and maybe width. I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being a special order. If they measure you first, before the order, I would expect it to fit. Of course new shoes / boots often need a "break in" period before they reach their full potential.
http://www.redwingshoes.com/red-wing-shoe-finder
For whatever it is worth to you, I've been happy with every pair I've bought, and I had several of them resoled.
Good luck, and have a great weekend.

--
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Re:Last repairman? by drinkypoo · 2013-09-14 09:15 · Score: 1

I've been to their store. They told me I was a 16D, which is what I am. They sold me a shoe that doesn't have room for my toes. I kept it because I didn't have time and money to buy another shoe etc etc. Now I'm done with Red Wing Shoes, thanks.
Mostly what I wear is Tevas. Sometimes I can find Converse work shoes, which are just a basketball shoe made of heavier leather (though not by much) and with a work sole. They last about as long as you'd expect, but they're very comfortable until they fall apart.

--
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Re:Last repairman? by cold+fjord · 2013-09-14 10:19 · Score: 1

Sorry to hear it. If you're keeping them it might be worth checking with a cobbler to see if they can be stretched, or maybe try it yourself. There is a tool that can be used for that. It gets inserted into the shoe and it spreads out to stretch it. You might be able to stretch it enough to make a difference. Of course there are some risks to trying it.
Anyway, good luck, and hopefully things never get this bad for you. ;)

--
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell

Re: At last by smitty97 · 2013-09-11 22:57 · Score: 4, Funny

I hope they set his obit in Courier

--
mod me funny

300,000 Machines? by ericpi · 2013-09-11 23:12 · Score: 4, Insightful

There have been about 30,000 days since he started working in 1930. If the 300,000 number is accurate, he would have had to fix an average of 10 typewriters, every day, for the past 80 years. That's without any weekends or holidays.

I guess I have no direct experience repairing typewriters. However, I would have certainly guessed that it takes longer than ~1 hour to "fix" a typewriter. In addition to that, I would think it's hard to find a stream of that many typewriters to repair. (I.e., a rather successful business.) If these numbers are true, the guy was pretty impressive.

Re:300,000 Machines? by EvilIdler · 2013-09-11 23:32 · Score: 3, Interesting

Some repairs are pretty easy (replacing one simple part). Typewriters used to be pretty sturdy too, so many repairs would be of the simple kind. Somebody who's good can probably replace a cylinder in 5 minutes and a key in 15 (or less).
Re:300,000 Machines? by wisnoskij · 2013-09-12 00:11 · Score: 2

I imagine that most repairs would take far far less than an hour. And that when you are hired by a company with a million typewriters, always haveing work to do when you come in in the morning is not a major problem.

--
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Re:300,000 Machines? by The-Ixian · 2013-09-12 00:19 · Score: 1

Presumably he had several employees in the hay day of typewriter repair...

However, you bring up a good point. The article should credit the institution he founded / lead, rather than himself, solely.

--
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
Re:300,000 Machines? by jqpublic13 · 2013-09-12 00:22 · Score: 5, Informative

Not only are some repairs quicker than others, but TFA noted that he had a staff as large as six people at one point assisting him in his shop... I don't doubt that a man of his abilities could repair 300,000 machines (depending on the complexity of the repair), but it could be a reference to those repairs he supervised, and not just those he actually performed with his own two hands.

--
Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat.
Re:300,000 Machines? by Yergle143 · 2013-09-12 00:51 · Score: 1

Maybe he'd have given a more accurate number if he knew how to use a computer.
Re:300,000 Machines? by dywolf · 2013-09-12 01:34 · Score: 3, Informative

plus theres the factor of once you become THE guy to do it (low supply, high demand), your shop starts getting typewriters shipped in from beyond the local area.

--
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Re:300,000 Machines? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 02:11 · Score: 1

"However, I would have certainly guessed that it takes longer than ~1 hour to "fix" a typewriter."
I bet they LOVE you at the auto repair shop!
Re:300,000 Machines? by Darinbob · 2013-09-12 08:00 · Score: 1

I really wanted to get a job repairing typewriters when I was in highschool, as there was a shop that did this downtown. These were the most nerdy things around, even compared to the nascent microcomputer industry. Hundreds of tiny parts all of which are unique and which must be fitted together precisely like a puzzle. Of course the vast majority of repairs would have been just cleaning them (more likely to be gummed up than to have parts actually break). But I think it would have been fun for a summer.

Very sad by wonkey_monkey · 2013-09-11 23:15 · Score: 5, Funny

R.I.{.

--
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.

I'm sorry, but... by Psychotria · 2013-09-11 23:16 · Score: 1

[quote]
A man of sober reserve, Mr. Whitlock could wax uncharacteristically philosophical about his long, symbiotic relationship with his charges.
[/quote]

Why do journalists feel that they have to write insane sentences like that? Guess what... it doesn't even make sense!

Re:I'm sorry, but... by Darinbob · 2013-09-12 08:01 · Score: 1

"I asked him a simple question and he wouldn't shut up about it!"

Did he have apprentices? by RevWaldo · 2013-09-11 23:24 · Score: 2

It would seem a shame for all his experience not be passed on to another generation, even if it is for an archaic technology.

.

--
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!

Re:Did he have apprentices? by dj245 · 2013-09-12 05:19 · Score: 1

It would seem a shame for all his experience not be passed on to another generation, even if it is for an archaic technology. .
Why? We have better ways to solve that problem now. It is like losing a repairman who specialized in Penny-farthing bicycles. Those skills aren't especially needed now. If society needed that skill again, someone could figure out how it was done.

--
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
Re:Did he have apprentices? by RevWaldo · 2013-09-13 03:54 · Score: 1

Not the best analogy, I'd say, since bicycles are still widely in use and penny-farthings are very simple bicycles.

Figuring out how something was done in the old days through reverse engineering isn't that straightforward or simple. Ask how Stonehenge or the Great Pyramid of Giza were built and you'll be knee-deep in theories and conjecture.

Take a penny-farthing completely apart, lay the pieces on the ground, show someone of modest mechanical ability a picture of one completed and say "OK, put it back together." That'd take what? a few hours? Now do the same thing with a manual typewriter. How long will that take?

Now repeat both exercises, but take away some of the parts. How long will it take for the mechanic to work out the issue?

And say the mechanic is able to reassemble the typewriter, will it work well? Will it jam? How many unwritten tricks and tweaks does an experienced typewriter repairman have up his sleeve that'll be lost if he doesn't write them down or pass them along to someone else?

.

--
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!

Re:I wonder how many computers I've fixed? by camperdave · 2013-09-11 23:27 · Score: 2

To be fair, did you dump the computers because they actually ceased functioning, or simply because they could no longer keep up with your expectations?

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When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!

Godrej stopped making the manuals in 2011. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · 2013-09-11 23:37 · Score: 1

India's Godrej company ended production of manuals in 2011. For millions of rural Indians the ticket out of poverty has been typewriting and shorthand certificates. My dad used a portable Remington to pound out inspection reports. He stopped using it once he became a superintendent and got his own stenographer. I used it as a toy and kept it going for long time. Lacking a proper machine shop all my repairs were done using bent paper clips and bits of nylon strings. These machines are indestructible. Eventually it was sold for scrap for a few cents per pound. Sad, I miss the smell of metal and oil and the ink and the ribbon.

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sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact

Mechanical engineering at its best by gweihir · 2013-09-11 23:43 · Score: 2

Typewriters are at the pinnacle of mechanical engineering before electronic control systems made it possible to compensate for inaccuracies and faults in the mechanics. They demonstrate what can be achieved when it _must_ be perfect in order to work.

I do very well understood why this guy thought he had found his calling, because indeed he hat. Impressive.

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Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.

Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by locofungus · 2013-09-12 00:06 · Score: 1

I'd say that the piano got there first - and probably has more complicated mechanics too.

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God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = -@B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t," and there was light.
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by Trailer+Trash · 2013-09-12 00:49 · Score: 1

Typewriters are far more complex than pianos. Pianos are interesting, but each mechanism is fairly simple and identical to the others. On a typewriter, you have each key, but you also have the carriage and all that goes with it.

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Do you have ESP?
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by dywolf · 2013-09-12 01:35 · Score: 1

Nope. Not even close.

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The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by locofungus · 2013-09-12 01:36 · Score: 2

The una corda pedal moves the entire mechanism relative to the strings. The sostenuto pedal holds the dampers off the strings of the keys that were depressed at the time it was pressed while allowing the other dampers to operate normally.
There's no way I would describe the piano escapement as simple. Just the fact that the hammer has to bounce away from the string while the damper stays raised when the key is held down but the mechanism has to allow very rapid repeats is a non-trivial problem to solve.

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God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = -@B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t," and there was light.
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by Rob+the+Bold · 2013-09-12 01:41 · Score: 1

Typewriters are at the pinnacle of mechanical engineering before electronic control systems made it possible to compensate for inaccuracies and faults in the mechanics. They demonstrate what can be achieved when it _must_ be perfect in order to work.
Not to take anything away from the impressive mechanics of the typewriter, I would have said the clock and its derivatives were the pinnacle of pre-electronic engineering.

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I am not a crackpot.
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by QilessQi · 2013-09-12 01:44 · Score: 2

Don't forget antique pocket watches. I've owned a couple, and watching the movement is mesmerizing. Springs, gears, and sundry bits, all working together to convert linear time into circular motion, and all it takes is one simple winding to set it in motion. And you can carry it with you. Beautiful technology.

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Koans and fables for the software engineer
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by gl4ss · 2013-09-12 03:03 · Score: 1

I don't know.. I always thought pinnacle of mechanical engineering was V2.
Certainly not typewriters...
then we have these things called "clocks" which are tremendously accurate mechanical tickers that have very fine parts in them and utilize gemstones as sliding surfaces....

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world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by gweihir · 2013-09-12 04:54 · Score: 1

Pianos are not mass-produced and not nearly as miniaturized. They could be built a lot earlier. But yes, they are impressive too.

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Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by gweihir · 2013-09-12 04:56 · Score: 1

Clocks are pretty simple, as they are completely deterministic and have a single force-path.

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Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by Darinbob · 2013-09-12 08:05 · Score: 1

I'd say there were roughly similar in basic complexity. But the typewriter has smaller parts with tighter tolerances, plus may different incompatible styles and mechanisms.
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by Darinbob · 2013-09-12 08:08 · Score: 1

Well, watches maybe. The gears are so small that it's a much more impressive feat to manufacture them to the required tolerances than for a large clock.
Re:Mechanical engineering at its best by cold+fjord · 2013-09-12 13:34 · Score: 1

The V2? If you're thinking rockets, I've got to go with the Saturn V - man's ride to the moon and back.

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much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell

Eh? by dtmos · 2013-09-11 23:44 · Score: 5, Insightful

It's not an age thing.

Why do you say that? Everyone on your list is young.

Let me put it this way: Mr. Whitlock became an expert in a technology he learned in his teens, and rejected a technology that developed around him in his sixties. How receptive will you be to the state-of-the-art, game-changing technology of say, the year 2050, that makes the computer technology you have worked with your whole life, obsolete?

Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 00:02 · Score: 1

It's not an age thing.
Why do you say that? Everyone on your list is young.
Let me put it this way: Mr. Whitlock became an expert in a technology he learned in his teens, and rejected a technology that developed around him in his sixties. How receptive will you be to the state-of-the-art, game-changing technology of say, the year 2050, that makes the computer technology you have worked with your whole life, obsolete?
tablets?
I had a //e and always had pc's with video cards that went in a slot..
tablet takeover has confounded me... most people-- don't want to reach inside machines
they just want them to work-- and tablets do-- many households I know went from one PC to multiple tablets.
or to throw in a car analogy?
when is the last time you heard of a car that threw a rod
Re:Eh? by Jason+Levine · 2013-09-12 00:45 · Score: 4, Interesting

Forget 2050. There are times when I feel like I'm struggling to keep up with technology and I'm only 38! I'll likely be that old guy who shakes my fist as "those kids" and says "In my day when we wanted to look up information we did it the old fashioned way: We googled it! We didn't have any of these fancy brain-chips to tell us the information as soon as we think of it. Now get off my lawn!"

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My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Re:Eh? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-12 01:13 · Score: 1

I hope I will embrace it. But I also look for technology that can make life better and more free. The direction technology already seems to be going (and this is as someone not even 30 yet) is to be more simplistic, limited and controlled. If that trend continues, I may well end up being the 60 year old that wants my "old, complex, hard to use" computer because it may actually be more capable than the devices of the day. I hope and pray that doesn't become the case, but it does seem to be the way much of the general culture is hell bent on going.
Re:Eh? by jerry_gitomer · 2013-09-12 06:28 · Score: 1

It's not the 20-year-old PC the tablet has to compete with. It's the brand new PC that costs less, is built around the same level of technology, but has more of everything.
Tablet: low-power processor with decent CPU/GPU performance, a GB or two of RAM, and a few dozen GB of storage.
PC: high-power processor with insane CPU/GPU performance, a dozen GB of RAM or more, and a TB of storage. Oh, and it can be upgraded to have more of all of those things without too much hassle.
That's the comparison tablets are up against.
Making things simple is great when all you have to do are simple tasks. For some people, it's all they need. But for others, a tablet is inadequate, and it always will be. The very things that make it a tablet (small, portable, battery-powered) also make it inadequate for heavy-duty professional use.
Even when I was younger I would have been reluctant to carry my first PC with me. After all the separate case and keyboard of my Compaq 286 were awkward enough and then when I added the bulk of CRT monitor -- forget it.
Even my first "portable" a Compaq the size of a sewing machine with -- gasp -- not one, but two, 5 1/4 inch floppy drives required a wheeled cart if I wanted to move it more than 100 feet without suffering a heart attack.
Yes, my ThinkPads can be carried around and offer more performance than I need, but I find that for much of my usage my tablet is prefereable. Sure, the screen is smaller and (at age 77) my eyesight isn't what it used to be and processing power is laughable when compared to my ThinkPads, but for checking the weather, browsing the web and handling my email the table is good enough. An added benefit is that I can even use it with the dog sitting on my lap.
Of course when I want to do serious work with processor intense applications I sit down at the desk and use a ThinkPad.
The moral of the story is that it isn't an either/or situation and tablets and PCs can and should coexist.
Re:Eh? by dtmos · 2013-09-12 06:42 · Score: 1

The problem is that I simply want none of it.
This.
I well remember the first advertisement I saw for a device that "lets my friends know what I'm listening to!" I turned to my coworker and we shrugged at each other. Why would anyone want to do that? That's my business! If they're curious, they can ask; if I want them to know, I'll tell them. But geez, I would never give up my privacy like that.
We both shook our heads at the thought of the fools that would try to market such an obvious failure, and walked away. From the future, of course. But now that my coworker and I realize the error of our ways, do we now have such devices? No. Our privacy feelings haven't changed; only the world around us has (we went from agreeing with the majority to agreeing with a minority).
Re:Eh? by Agent0013 · 2013-09-12 10:38 · Score: 1

Plus, the tablet can only be used for consumption. The PC can be used to create. I don't think I have heard of anybody programming on a tablet. You do the programming on a PC, even if you are writing a program for a tablet. Also with the PC, you can learn a lot more about how the OS works. Linux in particular, but even Windows lets you mess around with the guts. On a tablet you can barely even look at the file system, but the OS is hidden from you.

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-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
Re:Eh? by volmtech · 2013-09-13 09:09 · Score: 1

Rev limiter. At a certain RPM the computer shuts off the fuel injectors. But yes, electronics.

Re:tech fright by dtmos · 2013-09-11 23:58 · Score: 2

till his dyeing day.

What color is he now?

The master mechanic by westlake · 2013-09-11 23:59 · Score: 2

So he'd rather be owned by typewriters than by computers.

The master mechanic is in control of his machines

Re:tech fright by deimtee · 2013-09-12 00:29 · Score: 3, Funny

Red or black, depending on where he set the ribbon.

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I'm guessing that wasn't on their radar screen...

Writing on a typewriter by jslaff · 2013-09-12 01:25 · Score: 1

I'm a playwright in my off hours, 54 years old, and I have to admit that although I love computers, there is something very tactile in thumping out a script on an old Royal manual, as I did for my first three plays in my youth. I took me quite a while to embrace writing fiction on a computer. Yes, it's incredibly easier to revise, but for some reason it seems less...substantial. I know many writers who still write by hand, and then edit as they transfer it to a computer. There's something about the physical nature of typing on a typewriter, especially a manual, that a computer can't replicate, at least for those that grew up with them. I'd never ever go back--the benefits of revision far outweigh the rosy sentimentality of The Old Days--but then again, typewriters don't lose your last three pages because you weren't careful and hit a few wrong buttons between backups.

Re: At last by Rob+the+Bold · 2013-09-12 01:35 · Score: 1

He didn't like electrics. There was no CR to hit. Reach up and pull the bar to the left.

Literally "returning the carriage".

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I am not a crackpot.

He was preceded by 16 years by twoears · 2013-09-12 02:18 · Score: 1

Jesse White, the Maytag repairman, died in January 1997. We live in an increasingly disposable world.

Oh, he knows what a computer is all right by davidwr · 2013-09-12 02:20 · Score: 1

"I don't even know what a computer is," Mr. Whitlock told The Yale Daily News, the student paper, in 2010. "I've heard about them a lot, but I don't own one, and I don't want one to own me." (emphasis added)

Apparently, he does know what a computer is.

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Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.

Re:Technophobia - wait a sec... by starshinecruzer · 2013-09-12 02:35 · Score: 1

> I don't want one to own me.

Did anyone check to see if he was Don Draper?

Re: At last by operagost · 2013-09-12 02:38 · Score: 2

Nope, Comic Sans. MUHAHAHAHA

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Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.

Re: At last by OglinTatas · 2013-09-12 03:17 · Score: 1

Elite (12 pitch serif) or Pica (10 pitch sans)

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More music, fewer hits

Kur5hin hasn't kicked the bucket yet? by torsmo · 2013-09-12 04:17 · Score: 1

Well, I'll be damned!

Another piece of living history lost. by Virtucon · 2013-09-12 04:47 · Score: 2

While I make a living with technology I still love old mechanical things and look back at how they were made and used. It's fascinating to see clockwork mechanisms with gears that had teeth that were hand-filed and laid out using a compass. The typewriter was a product of the industrial revolution and the complexity and the nuances of some of those design decisions, like the QWERTY keyboard we all know and love were products of that era.

It's sad when we lose a living link to that kind slide rule and french curve technology. Mr. Whitlock was probably so adept at what he did that he could identify a problem just from the description. I can also imagine a back room where there are boxes and boxes of spare parts gathering dust, just waiting for a broken Smith Corona or Olivetti to come through the door.

Sure, it's faster and easier now with modern technology but we all need to remember that technology and progress builds upon the prior innovations and in 20 years I'm sure people will probably laugh and these bulky tablets and cell phones we all cling to much like Smegle and his precious ring. I learned to type on typewriters, old clunky things that could jam your fingers and rip paper just by looking at it. I also remember the story of the neighbor's cat getting it's tail caught in the carriage. They wound up cutting it's tail off because they couldn't get it freed. Ahh the halcyon days of correcting fluid and carbon paper, a bygone era now replaced by MS Word.

As I tell my kids, when we lose a piece of our history we lose a little of ourselves.

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Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"

And now by kilodelta · 2013-09-12 04:53 · Score: 1

Printers are so cheap (But consumables not so) that you don't need to repair them. Just buy a newer, faster more capable printer.

Keen says no by justthinkit · 2013-09-12 06:24 · Score: 1

My five-year-old and worn all day every day Keens would disagree with you. Doc Martins are also superb. Depends what you buy.

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I come here for the love

Re: At last by justthinkit · 2013-09-12 06:30 · Score: 1

You sound like someone who has played the typing ball, Oglin. I started even earlier, with manual Olivettis in Jr. High, learning all aspects of their use but also their repair. (Teacher had to find something for me to do after I finished each assignment in one-third of the allotted time.) Anyone else repair manual typewriters? Love that 2 inches of travel on each key press. Not.

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I come here for the love

two different technologies really by gzuckier · 2013-09-13 17:05 · Score: 1

You can't really count selectrics in the same basket as "regular" typewriters, even electrics. Those were the ones Whitlock only worked on grudgingly. Are there any other brands that use a similar typeball technology? I think there were some brands that used a daisy wheel weren't there?

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Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.

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He Fixed 300,000+ Machines - America's Oldest Typewriter Repairman Dies At 96

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