OK, this is supposed to be “for specs”; let’s get out of the drafting room, and…
Remember when, for example, Division 8 had sections numbered 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, etc.? And the section topics were never the same from job to job. Windows might be 8C one day, and 8G the next.
Remembering THAT system from the ‘good old days’ will make you appreciate MF04.
“9. You thought French curves were sexy…” I bought a set of 8 different French curves, and gave them names that seemed appropriate to their shapes. How many can I remenber? Let’s see…Yvette, Marie, Jacqueline, Francoise, Cybele, Genevieve…my memory fails. Brigitte? Gigi? Adele? Claudette? Renee? Danielle?
from the spec world:
IBM Mag Cards – and the cards were so expensive that we would delete projects from them and use them over a year later?
printing government projects on government sized (and provided) paper that was 8" x 11"? And of course, in Courier type face only..
splicing changes onto spec sheets over a light table because the typist always went home exactly at 5 pm and you still had changes to make until 11 pm that night?
from my own career:
when women weren’t allowed to work on Saturdays because the office was concerned about their safety?
when no one wore jeans to the office unless they were doing job site inspections?
when people smoked PIPES in the office?
when people actually drank martinis at lunch? (and ate steaks and smoked cigarettes..)
when people took a prescribed break for 15 minutes starting at 10 am and at 3 pm?
when coffee wasn’t allowed at drafting stations because of fear of spills?
when eradicator would make a white splotch on anything it landed on – except some synthetic fabrics which it turned turquoise as it dissolved the dye?
when drafters bragged about being able to finish “a sheet a week”?
How about:
Cutting stencils (one project I worked on for a state project actually required that we turn in stencils).
Making changes on spirit duplicator masters with white correction tape and then typing over it.
I have drafted on linen and with inking nibs (not technical fountain pens), but not on the same project and not seriously.
Here’s my favorite audio memory: When the quiet of the drafting studio was interrupted by a loud sneeze, someone invariably said, “Ooops… better start THAT drawing over again…”
My tenure “on the board” spanned the late 70’s ('79) to around 1991 or so. Some of what I remember:
I worked in one office where we did much of our drafting in ink, and had one of those special IBM typewriters with the open carriage for typing directly on drawings.
Xerox vellums
Diazo mylars (black-and brown-line)
Wash-off mylars (very cool, but expensive. You had to keep the tip of your eraser wet so you wouldn’t burn the film).
Zipatone
The bilious green Castell pens with tungsten points (competitor to Rapidograph jewel points)
Gray Rapidograph pens (my last set was the newer white style)
Rapidometrics with the little gizmo you stored them in to keep the tips moist (coolest tech-pens of all)
The classy-looking green Castell drafting pencils with the white stripe (still have some somewhere)
Using those gray kneaded erasers to blot graphite smudges off your drawings-I always had one stuck on the end of my Mayline
Heavy blackline and brownline prints for colored presentation drawings.
Taping sketch paper (“flimsy”, “buff”) over exposed portions of your drawing so you wouldnt smear the graphite.
Let us also not forget our “greaest ally”–
the “Pink Pearl” eraser!
Timely templates. Around here they were usually freebees passed out by the repro house sales reps. Couldn’t begin to annotate door numbers, room numbers, plan notes, column bubbles or revisions without them!
For any one interested I have a write-up about the old time drafting room with diagram.
Drop me an e-mail for a copy.
Tongue-in-cheek drafting room sayings:
“Never draw more in the morning than you can erase in the afternoon.”
“Cut to shape, beat to fit, paint to match.”
I just used some of my French curves recently to as a guide to trim window tint on my car. Worked even better than the protractor.
Then there were the ones popular in the '80’s that were shaped like the figure seen on truck mud flaps - a female figure in repose. And yes, they were available in art supply stores where the French curves were sold.
Hey unregistered guest you have names for your french curves? you obviously have been snorting too much of that drafing dust from your scum-bag, god forbid what you are doing with your kneaded eraser…boy that was fun…its been an awful day and that was really fun, but isn’t this french curve thing getting a little sexist - where is Margaret when we need her?
Oh I’m here. Just sitting back and laughing at all of these memories. Most of which I share.
Thanks to all of you.
As far as the french curve thing goes I have a set too, inherited from my mother, who was a draftsman in her high school days during WWII. Now that they are no longer used for drafting, I use them when modifying dress patterns and my husband uses them in drawing boat designs.
You k now we all are overlooking the real opportunity. Seeing a static French curve as sexy is one thing, but for the many who always seek “the ideal”, we must not forget the
ADJUSTABLE CURVE"!!!
You can form that into any curved shape [!!!] you desire! Ah, fantasy!
Whoa!
Trouble is, I’m so old I have forgotten what ideal I was after!
Robert,
Two more drafting room sayings that I remember from way back when, from a great mentor:
“You get paid the same for erasing as you do for drawing.”
“The drawings aren’t finished until the building’s demolished.”