Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Tools From The Past: Type Writer And Adding Machine

It's been two and a half years now that my grandma has passed on to a better place. My heart still aches every time that I think of her. I miss her every day. I still can't talk about her without tears welling up, and that familiar feeling of a knot in my throat. My family waited a year before cleaning out the house and putting it on the housing market. It was just to painful and emotional to go through 60 years of memories the first year after her passing. But the house eventually got cleaned out. These are a few items that I came to acquire. I thought they were really cool antiques. The type writer was my grandmothers that she used when she was in business school in the late 1930's. I remember her telling me stories of her school days during the Great Depression. She was always so proud that she was a student of business. She was so proud of this old type writer and that she purchased it with the money she earned from her first job. That was a huge thing back during the depression era. Gosh, do they even make type writers anymore? During my high school and college days a type writer was all I had to use.

The adding machine was used by both my grandparents. My grandfather worked for GM most of his adult life. As with today's tough economic times with the big three car companies, my grandfather was out of work many times through his years with GM due to lay offs. My grandparents invested in several apartment buildings and rented them out for additional income to make ends meet. This was the adding machine that crunched all the numbers for them. I know the adding machine was used in the 40's and 50's. I'm so fascinated that the adding machine still has a little adding machine tape left, and I'm sure it was placed there by my sweet gramps. I have no idea the actual age of the machine. Isn't it crazy how technology has advanced in the past 70 years. It just blows my mind. If any of my fellow bloggers knows anything about antiques and could tell me something about these amazing old machines, I'd truly appreciate it.
These photo's were taken with a Nikon D-80.




6 comments:

zuveena said...

wow! i bet this is antique..this may cost a bunch of bucks..hehehe! i never seen such a thing in my entire life...hehehe!!

siteseer said...

Nice shots. I am so glad I don't have to use those old things lol

Bridget said...

YAY for photography! I am excited to read your ventures in photgraphy...I have a photo blog too if you want to check it out!
http://shotsbybridge.blogspot.com/

Tammy said...

My mom had these in her house when I cleaned it out. They are really neat!

Jo said...

Cool! Nice work!

Birdy Official said...

These may be antiques for you, but still in function in our offices.