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Mid 70's Equipment


The Main Man

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

Can anyone help me out with a comprehensive list of DC equipment that would be available by the year 1975?I'll give rep.

Would be easier with a check list.

 

Kelvar, yes

 

Lexan, yes

 

Laser sights, no

 

Run flat tires, no

 

Night vision goggles, no, but could get a night scope for a rifle. Expensive, and the battery pack was worn on the belt.

 

Cell phone, no, but in larger cities could get a car phone, which was more of a radio. Had the "push to talk, release to listen" button in the handset.

 

Tasers, no

 

I'm sure I'll think of others. Anything specific, just ask.

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

M60 a2(Cutting edge)

M60 mmg

M16a1 rifle

normal AP bullets(no teflon coating)

Uzi's(normal size only)

Mac10 in .45 or 9mm

no apache or black hawk helos

Cobra or Huey are the combat helos of the time

nothing past a 747-100

C-130 transport and gunship versions

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

No Glocks. The H&K P7 arrives in 1976, but doesn't make much of a bang; likewise, SIG-Sauers are rare. The only common 9mm automatics are Brownings.

 

90% of police still use revolvers, and automatics in general are still looked upon as unreliable (this is a holdover from earlier days, and no longer true, but reputations take time to change).

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

I'm not sure what you're looking for: only human-portable objects? Only weapons?

 

In any event, here are a few bits and pieces; portable equipment, methods of transportation, new technology, and junk, culled from some printed sources I own. Almost all are brand new in the five years 1970-1974. If you cannot use them directly, they still will give you a sense of the times.

 

 

 

CB radios. (This needs to be checked; I'm depending on memory for this one)

 

Muscle cars and bellbottoms. ;)

 

The Concorde SST (SuperSonic Transport)

 

Soft contact lenses

 

Major increase in mag-lev trains

 

BART

 

Oil tankers of 350,000 "ton" capacity and beyond.

 

FedEx.

 

Polaroid's "develop right then and there" color camera

 

The World Trade Center was opened in 1972. The Transamerica building in San Fransisco and the Sears Tower in Chicago are from about the same time.

 

ATMs became popular

 

The UPC came into use.

 

Airbus started to challenge Boeing's dominence, with the A300B

 

The CAT scan was invented

 

The Heimlich manuever was introduced

 

Word processors with CRTs began replacing typewriters

 

BTW: The patent on polyester ran out in 1970. Artificial fibers really took off afterwards. The only countering trend was the major increase in production and use of cotton denim, mostly blue.

 

 

 

Note also that satellite phones, and ham radio equipment, though not new, were available.

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

Word processors with CRTs began replacing typewriters

The very begining. I don't believe I saw a standalone word processor until the 80's.

 

I saw one in use circa 1977.

 

Perhaps "began replacing" is too strong. "Showed they could replace" might be better. IAE, they are available. :)

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

 

CB radios. (This needs to be checked; I'm depending on memory for this one)

 

 

CB radios were a definite available as my grandfather had one in his International Scout at the time of his death in 1974.

 

After that my father kept the Scout which was a neat vehicle in an era without SUV's :)

 

There are days when I miss that truck.

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

Silverhawk' date=' what was the status of rail technology at that point?[/quote']

 

Per your request Lord Captain. Though I fear that I have strayed from technology though the information is useful.

 

The seventies is something of a low point for the railroads. The bankruptcy of the Penn Central Railroad at the start of the decade was the largest at that time. This was followed by the failure of other railroads financially in the northeastern US (particularly after Hurricane Agnes in 1972). These would emerge as Conrail in April of 1976. But that’s not technology.

 

The railroads were only starting in the 70’s to implement technologies such as computers for car movement data, billing and classification. Dispatching was still handled in many cases by telephone to a block station where an operator would pass the message on to a passing train crew. Radio communications were more prevalent than in the previous decade but these networks still had places where there were no relay towers limiting the usefulness of the technology.

 

Signal systems even for lines that had Centralized Traffic Control still relied on electro-mechanical relays for operation. And much like today there was a lot of unsignalled (i.e. Dark) territory.

 

The steam engine had been gone for decade and the diesel ruled. 1972 saw EMD (Electro-Motive Division part of General Motors) produce the first of their Dash 2 line. These locomotives had modular electronic control systems to control wheel slip that made them more powerful than previous models. EMD’s competitor GE would field models with similar features starting in 1977.

 

The boxcar was still the most common type of car. Typically these were 50 feet long for most general service cars. Exceptions include 86 foot cars for automotive parts being transported to the assembly plants. Hopper cars were open top for coal and minerals that need no weather protection. Covered hoppers were used for Cement and Grain that needed to be kept dry. Intermodal was still a young area of the business. Majority of this business was trailers on flat cars (TOFC) as opposed to containers (COFC). These trailers at most places were backed on to the flat car one at a time. Today they are lifted off and multiple lifts can be conducted depending on the facility.

 

Passenger traffic was taken over by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK). Early Amtrak trains were a riot of colors as cars previously owned by the now freight only railroads were mixed together. These would gradually be replaced as Amtrak’s first order for cars (the so-called) Amfleet cars) arrived.

 

There were 41 Class I railroads (earning revenue above $50 million) in 1978. Compare that with seven today. A few representative railroads are listed below. Most were the result of mergers during the late 1950’s and the 1960’s date of merger in parenthesis for the few that happened during the decade.

 

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe

Boston & Maine

Burlington Northern (1970 merger of Northern Pacific, Great Northern, and Chicago, Burlington & Quincey)

Chessie System (1972 operational merger of Baltimore & Ohio, Chesapeake & Ohio, and Western Maryland Railway)

Clinchfield

Conrail (1976 reorganization of Penn Central, Reading, Lehigh Valley, Lehigh & Hudson River, Lehigh & New England, Erie Lackawanna, Central Railroad of New Jersey)

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (known also as the Milwaukee Road)

Chicago, Milwaukee & Sault Ste. Marie (known also as the Soo Line)

Chicago & North Western

Delaware & Hudson

Denver Rio Grande & Western

Florida East Coast

Grand Trunk Western

Louisville & Nashville

Maine Central

Missouri Pacific

Norfolk & Western

Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac

Southern

Southern Pacific

Union Pacific

Western Pacific

 

I'll be happy to try an answer specific questions if there is a need.

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

The family car was a station wagon, not an SUV or a van. Vans were out there but not like today. The van was a utility vehicle. The inside wall was the metal of the outer wall. My family had a 1969 Dodge Van. It was very rough compared to today's vans.

Bob

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

Computers are late 70's, really the early 80's.

 

On April Fool's Day, 1976, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs released the Apple I computer and started Apple Computers. The Apple I was the first with a single circuit board used in a computer.

1978 Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankston VisiCalc Spreadsheet Software

1979 Seymour Rubenstein & Rob Barnaby WordStar Software Word Processors.

1981 IBM The IBM PC - Home Computer

For more on the computer time line look here

http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm

 

 

Bob

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

The family car was a station wagon' date=' not an SUV or a van. Vans were out there but not like today. The van was a utility vehicle. The inside wall was the metal of the outer wall. My family had a 1969 Dodge Van. It was very rough compared to today's vans. [/font']

Bob

 

You could get passenger vans as my parents replaced a Ford Station Wagon (that was a real lemon :mad:) with a Dodge Van. It was a no thrills in terms of interior with two bench rows plus driver and passenger seats.

 

But you could get custom vans with captain's chairs and tables. :thumbup:

 

That was 1975.

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Re: Mid 70's Equipment

 

You could get passenger vans as my parents replaced a Ford Station Wagon (that was a real lemon :mad:) with a Dodge Van. It was a no thrills in terms of interior with two bench rows plus driver and passenger seats.

 

But you could get custom vans with captain's chairs and tables. :thumbup:

 

That was 1975.

And quadrophonic sound. And shag carpeting. Not only on the floor, but the walls as well. Sometimes the headliner as well. What the **** were we thinking?

 

Oh, that's right, certain recreational substances were involved.

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