Vintage Laser Archive

[Bob H]

I've been collecting old lasers, and have assembled them in a private Google Site to share. Currently there are over 175 lasers in the collection (including those embedded in products and seconds), and about another 170 laser and holography related artifacts. The oldest is a proof-of-concept prototype for the first commercial laser, made by Raytheon in November 1960. 65% of the collection is from the 1960s and '70s.

If anyone here is interested in viewing the site, please send me your email address to add to the viewing list. A gmail address is best. If anyone has, or knows someone who has old lasers or related equipment laying about, please contact me.

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in
news:82056657-44a1-422d...@googlegroups.com:

> private Google Site to share

Oxymoron?

Why not a normal website?

Brian
--
http://www.earthwaves.org/wwwboard/wwwboard.html - Earthquake prediction &
Earth Sciences
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in

news:defb3378-764a-473b...@googlegroups.com:

> don't necessarily want surplus sellers on Ebay
> to have easy access to information I gather about them.

Information about the lasers? Or about the ebay sellers?

Sounds too much like, "if I told you, I'd have to kill you."

[Bob H]

It's information about the lasers I want to keep a bit close. Here's something I wrote about some of the lasers in the collection.

http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/415/1/012027/pdf/1742-6596_415_1_012027.pdf

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in

news:7be38b52-bec2-4557...@googlegroups.com:

OK. And what harm is something like that if an ebay seller
sees it?

That's what I don't get.

[Bob H]

The harm comes when a seller uses my words to describe something they have no idea about, raising the price significantly because of the information I researched and very likely costing me more to buy what they're selling. It's already happened. I'm trying for a balance between sharing with those really interested in lasers, and protecting my information from those only interested in making a profit.

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in

news:de369408-76cf-4516...@googlegroups.com:

As opposed to you buying things "for a steal" because the seller
doesn't know what they have. Got ya.

Maybe you shouldn't share any info, then.

[Bob H]

It's not "black or white". Sharing the collection with those interested in lasers allows knowledge about the importance of them to get out. Most of those people won't be interested in collecting them too, so they refer finds to me. Happens all the time. Putting up a few simple hoops for people to jump through to get to the information filters out the really lazy and uninterested who stumble upon something they only want to maximize their profit with. That way, I can get them "for a steal" as you say. It's my goal to pay as little for them as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in

news:fb0bfa2d-f9c8-457d...@googlegroups.com:

> Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yeah, I guess that's the real issue for me.

Although I'm curious to view your documentation, it's not
worth even giving out an email address for. I place a very
high value on my personal information.

And to be honest, my first impressions set off my scam artist
detectors. I doubt that's what you're doing, but the way you
presented yourself just didn't ring true, hence why I grilled
you for more information. It simply reminded me of others I've
run into on the net before who "have the answer" yet "it's a
secret" unless "you give me X".

[Bob H]

Gimme a freakin' break! I'm not offering boner pills or a secret on how to win at black jack.

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in

news:374f3029-d662-4b9c...@googlegroups.com:

> Gimme a freakin' break!

Gimme a freakin' break! It's just documentation about old lasers.

Well, that's not far off from my initial reaction to your post,
regarding the need to be put on a private viewing list.

Brian
--
http://www.earthwaves.org/forum/index.php - Earthquake prediction & Earth

[Sean Reeber]

If I could step in, I have his site bookmarked, and it's a wealth of knowledge.

Think of it like an image library of Sam's FAQ.

Not only that, but him and I have worked out getting lasers, and I feel that we have a respectable/professional relationship through lasers.

Think of it as you want. I'm sure you have more than one email, there's nothing against using an old email to get in that has already become a well for spam. Or you could pass it off as useless information.

To me, the mentality of "It's just documentation about old lasers." seems rather daft.

How do you expect to understand anything about current lasers, and how they work, and where they're from, whilst ignoring their history? That's equivalent to being a patriot because you support your current President/Heir, while ignoring the benefits of past members, and ignoring how your country came to be.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems very daft and ignorant. Though feel free, I can't stop you or anything...

[Skywise]

Sean Reeber <sean....@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:55e90cfb-501c-42bd...@googlegroups.com:

> If I could step in, I have his site bookmarked, and it's a wealth of
> knowledge.

I don't doubt the quality and historical value of the
information gathered. It sounds very interesting.

It's the way it was announced and presented that strikes me
as odd and self defeating.

Let's look at it in generalized terms. Someone has gathered
a collection of something and they publicly announce that
they have this collection. But it's a private collection and
you can only see it if you apply and are approved to see it.

If it's a private collection and you don't want everyone to
see it, why go around publicly advertising it? If it's so
important that certain groups of people aren't allowed to
see it, why let them know it exists?

But since the reason to keep it away from certain people is
monetary as freely admitted, then why make the information
available at all? If it's so important to keep the ebayers
from knowing about this information so they don't know what
they're selling, well, now they know.

It would be like Apple announcing the details of the new
product they've got in development and saying people can
go view it, but saying that Motorola and Samsung aren't
allowed to see the info because if they did it would hurt
Apple's sales.

Perhaps an example of the Barbara Streisand effect?

[Bob H]

On Sunday, January 19, 2014 7:03:14 PM UTC-7, Skywise wrote:
>

> If it's a private collection and you don't want everyone to
>
> see it, why go around publicly advertising it?

Explained above. So those REALLY interested in lasers will have access if they want it.

If it's so
>
> important that certain groups of people aren't allowed to
>
> see it, why let them know it exists?
>

Again, explained above. I wouldn't let THOSE people know if I had a better way to get the word out to those I want to see it. That's why I'm posting in laser forums about it.

>
>
> But since the reason to keep it away from certain people is
>
> monetary as freely admitted, then why make the information
>
> available at all?

To share with those REALLY interested, so when THEY find very old lasers they'll save them.

If it's so important to keep the ebayers
>
> from knowing about this information so they don't know what
>
> they're selling, well, now they know.
>
>

Not necessarily.

>
> It would be like Apple announcing the details of the new
>
> product they've got in development and saying people can
>
> go view it, but saying that Motorola and Samsung aren't
>
> allowed to see the info because if they did it would hurt
>
> Apple's sales.
>
>

Bad example. I'm not selling anything. I'm not offering anything for sale on my site. I have every right in the world to limit in any way I desire, the way I share my collection and/or the people I share it with. There's no cost to view it, and I don't do anything with email addresses except put them on the viewing list.

>
> Perhaps an example of the Barbara Streisand effect?
>
>

No, perhaps it's the unreasonable expectation that ALL information must be free to everyone, always, because of a computer terminal on the desk.

[Helpful person]

Your goals seem to epitomize what has become wrong with information exchange on the internet. Most sources now seems to want either payment or unreasonable conditions for information.

Try looking at Meadowlark Optics web site to see how one should behave. Their application notes are easy to find and are there to help the world, not keep their area of expertise a secret.

http://www.richardfisher.com

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in

news:566a1af4-1520-454d...@googlegroups.com:

>> If it's so important that certain groups of people aren't
>> allowed to see it, why let them know it exists?
>
> Again, explained above. I wouldn't let THOSE people know if I had a
> better way to get the word out to those I want to see it. That's why
> I'm posting in laser forums about it.

Yep. In the very places where someone who has a laser to
sell on eBay is likely to be searching or getting google
hits to in their quest to find out what their asking price
should be.

> Bad example. I'm not selling anything. I'm not offering anything for
> sale on my site.

But you are seeking monetary gain by trying to make sure that you
can buy valuable goods for less than they are worth by making sure
that those selling don't know what it is worth so you can buy it
for less than what they should be asking.

It's one thing the be a savvy bargain hunter. It's another to
start rigging the game. Everyone has their own judgement of
where "the line" is and whether this is unethical/dishonest/
immoral/deceptive or not.

> I have every right in the world to limit in any way I
> desire, the way I share my collection and/or the people I share it with.

Yes you do. And everyone else has a right to comment on it.

> There's no cost to view it, and I don't do anything with email
> addresses except put them on the viewing list.

Unlike to most of society, my personal information has a
non-zero value. There's all sorts of allegedly free or
discounted stuff out there, so long as you turn over some
sort of personal info. An example is the store discount
card. You don't think they just sit on all that personal
info you give them when you sign up, do you? That they
just sit on all that shopping habit information? No, they
sell it. Therefore my personal information HAS VALUE.

Sure, you may do nothing with the information, and I'm
not making the argument that my email address is of
consequential value in order to view your information.

My point is, you are controlling access in the same way
and that gives a certain first impression. And then to
find out that it IS in fact monetarily motivated...

> No, perhaps it's the unreasonable expectation that ALL information must
> be free to everyone, always, because of a computer terminal on the desk.

Perhaps, if this information is so valuable, maybe you should
put it together in a book, eletronic or paper, and sell it for
a modest fee?

If the information is of such a nature that it indicates the
value or worth of specific items, then THAT information has
value that you could profit from by selling it.

It's not an unprecedented idea. There's whole sections in
bookstores on price guides and shopping guides for all sorts
of products, for example comic books, depression glass, cars,
guns, etc....

But like you said, you have the right to control how you
disemminate the information as you see fit. I can't stop
you.

Besides, what's to say that I don't give you some throw away
email address, grab the info, and use it to start making a
profit buying and selling lasers on ebay and elsewhere?

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in

news:c612e01e-34ad-4e76...@googlegroups.com:

> Apparently you'll just have to wait for the book to come out, but
> it'll be a while before you find one for free at the public library.

At least folks get a chance to browse the contents of a
book before they decide if the price is worth it.

But the registration requirement itself isn't my problem.

It's the reason. The motivation. That's what I find... sour.

Anyway, I've had my say.

Have a nice day.

[Bob H]

On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 1:10:31 AM UTC-7, Skywise wrote:

> But the registration requirement itself isn't my problem.
>
>
>
> It's the reason. The motivation. That's what I find... sour.
>
>
>
> Anyway, I've had my say.
>
>
>
> Have a nice day.
>
>
>
> Brian
>

From your signature, I conclude that you're apparently a serious skeptic and that's why I think your initial objection was really all about paranoia about identity theft and spam. If you don't like my motivation for the way I've decided to share my collection with others, I suggest you must have a problem with ALL auctions (especially sealed bid auctions), the concept of trade secrets, hand signals used by baseball catchers, encryption technology, passwords, and all other techniques people use to keep information they think is proprietary (or has undefined value) to themselves. That's your right, but I resent your suggesting that there's something "sour" or dishonest about my method of sharing by requesting only an anonymous email address (opening myself up to the scams you described above) in return.

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in

news:3c469956-ee7e-43b9...@googlegroups.com:

> From your signature, I conclude that you're apparently a serious skeptic

<snipola of hyberbolic erroneous conjecture>


"Not even wrong" - Wolfgang Pauli

"All lies and gest still a man hears what he wants to hear and
disregards the rest" - Simon & Garfunkel

The point here is that you are reading something out of my
words that I did not say, and totally missing what I actually
DID say.

I guess I need to get straight up blunt...

What I didn't like was that you are keeping such valuable
historical information close to the chest because you are
a self admitted greedy thief.

You are not interested in sharing the information.

You are interested in protecting your wallet.

You are doing so by making sure that sellers are not
educated and informed so you can basically "steal" the
products they are selling for less than they are worth.

As I already said, it's one thing to be a savvy bargain
hunter, and grab a bargain, or pass something that's
overpriced. It's another entirely to rig the game by
attempting to cheat people out of their goods.

Your attitude stinks.

There. Do I make my point clear enough?

Now bugger off before I insult you a second time.

[Bob H]

On Tuesday, January 21, 2014 2:35:49 PM UTC-7, Skywise wrote:

> <snipola of hyberbolic erroneous conjecture>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Not even wrong" - Wolfgang Pauli
>
>
>
> "All lies and gest still a man hears what he wants to hear and
>
> disregards the rest" - Simon & Garfunkel
>
>
>
> The point here is that you are reading something out of my
>
> words that I did not say, and totally missing what I actually
>
> DID say.
>
>

No, I'm not. Read your post on the 16th above where you say your "real issue" is the inconvenience of having to provide an email address (YOUR sacred personal information) to view what you admit in that post is valuable historical information.

Later, you say it's my motive of paying the least necessary that's the bug in your britches. So which is it? As I just said, I believe it's the first because of the signature line. And despite declaring you've made your point and were done, here you remain spitting personal insults as you come unglued. Quite the gentleman. How about YOU "bugger off" this thread of mine unless you can think of something to add that's actually about old lasers?

[gr]

Hmmmm..... submitting an email address to be allowed access doesn't seem
like much of a hurdle to get info you might want and a good way to
minimize his dealing with spambots, trolls etc.

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in

news:5a505225-80e4-4f0b...@googlegroups.com:

> So which is it?

In a sense, both. But one depends on the other.

I am ok with providing information if there is a valid
reason for it. I just don't think your reason is valid.
I think it's dishonest.

[Bob H]

On Thursday, January 23, 2014 5:35:57 PM UTC-7, Skywise wrote:

>
> I am ok with providing information if there is a valid
>
> reason for it. I just don't think your reason is valid.
>
> I think it's dishonest.
>
>
>
> Brian
>
> --
>
> http://www.earthwaves.org/forum/index.php - Earthquake prediction & Earth
>
> Sciences
>
> http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
>
> Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

Nice backpedaling. You must have old lasers you want to sell, and believe for some irrational reason that you're entitled to the results of my research about them. My personally funded research, in time and money. You're not. I shared an article I wrote about some of them and directed you to where you can see many more, and in return you say I'm "not really interested in sharing" and question my integrity. Of course, to view the pics I've posted on the internet forum I mentioned above, you'd have to register with an email address. I guess you won't do that either, right? Anyway, you sir, are an asshole.

[Skywise]

Bob H <bobh...@comcast.net> wrote in

news:80e70990-5e64-460a...@googlegroups.com:

> Anyway, you sir, are an asshole.

Coming from a swindler, that's a compliment!!! Thank you!!!

Have a nice day.

[Bob H]

On Thursday, January 23, 2014 9:35:14 PM UTC-7, Skywise wrote:

>
> Coming from a swindler, that's a compliment!!! Thank you!!!
>

> Have a nice day.
>
>
>
> Brian
>
> --
>
> http://www.earthwaves.org/forum/index.php - Earthquake prediction & Earth
>
> Sciences
>
> http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
>
> Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

No soup for you!

[Bob H]

As of July, 2016, the archive includes 350 lasers, 210 related artifacts, 400 publications, and about 600 holograms. There are also now about 35 vintage lasers from the former Soviet Union.

[Pooua]

On Saturday, July 9, 2016 at 7:39:11 AM UTC-5, Bob H wrote:
> As of July, 2016, the archive includes 350 lasers, 210 related artifacts, 400 publications, and about 600 holograms. There are also now about 35 vintage lasers from the former Soviet Union.

You have a wonderful collection. Thank you for inviting me to see it online.

A long time ago, I spent a few months working for IMO Varo, a government sub-contractor. I was a Laser Tech II, assembling eye-safe laser rangefinders for use on the battlefield. Varo doesn't exist anymore, but it made a lot of lasers. I'd like to find some documentation on them, just to have the information. That's one of the last things I said that I'd try to find years ago, when I last posted on this forum. I came close, once, when I spoke with one of the last employees for Varo.

[Samuel M. Goldwasser]

Pooua <po...@aol.com> writes:

> A long time ago, I spent a few months working for IMO Varo, a
> government sub-contractor. I was a Laser Tech II, assembling eye-safe
> laser rangefinders for use on the battlefield. Varo doesn't exist
> anymore, but it made a lot of lasers. I'd like to find some
> documentation on them, just to have the information. That's one of the
> last things I said that I'd try to find years ago, when I last posted
> on this forum. I came close, once, when I spoke with one of the last
> employees for Varo.

Some info on one device here:

http://repairfaq.cis.upenn.edu/Misc/laserscl.htm#sclvaro

--
sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is
ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the
subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

[Pooua]

Thanks, Sam. That is the device that I was building for IMO Varo in 1994/95. I hardly ever saw it in finished form, though. My job was assembling the laser cavity, consisting of the two gold-plated reflectors, a flashlamp, laser rod, o-rings, and mounting brackets on a test base. This was done at the start of the assembly line, and I turned over my completed units for testing before they went on to mounting to the electronics boards.

We had two types of o-rings; nylon and rubber, I think, one for the flashlamp and one for the laser rod. We had to be careful not to touch the end of the laser rod with the o-rings, as they would contaminate the rod. We used a three-solvent process for cleaning the ends of the rods. I don't remember the solvents we used, but two of them were hydrocarbon (methanol, ethanol or butanol, or something like that) and another alcohol, and we lightly dragged a moistened lens cleaning tissue across the end of the laser to clean it, then inspect the result under a magnifying glass. We also checked for the chamfer on the end of the rod, to ensure it was in tolerance.

Sometimes, the gold plating on the reflectors was not uniform and kept the tab on the two halves from fitting inside the groove in the end brackets, so we had to file them down a little bit. As long as we didn't file down to the underlying nickel metal, we could use the reflector. Somewhere, I might still have a bag of tissues that I used to wipe up the gold powder from the filings (though, not enough gold in them to be visible).

The guys in electronics who assembled the flashlamps had trouble brazing the electrodes to the flashlamps, which caused a lot of problems. The electrodes often were so brittle that they would snap if we bumped them. If that happened during our assembly, we had to disassemble the whole thing and start over from the beginning. Considering that we barely had enough time to turn out our quota (ten a shift, minimum), I took to bending the wires before beginning assembly. That is, until my supervisor asked me to demonstrate what I was doing. I gave one flashlamp lead a good tug and heard my supervisor suck in air fast. She told me to be not so aggressive. I think that by that point, we were just trying to get assembled units out the door, without really caring how long they held together after that, though, from what I hear, none of our finished product ever actually made it past environmental testing.

I learned, a decade later, that Varo had already agreed, even before they hired me, to transfer all their laser clean room material assets to another company as they went out of business. About four months after Varo moved me from Albuquerque to Garland, they included me in the first wave of layoffs of 200 people. That was the end of my laser career. This was my first and last job as a laser technician. A decade later, I returned to Garland just in time to video record a worker demolishing the walls of the building that used to house our clean room facilities. That area now is a Baylor Hospital parking lot.

[Samuel M. Goldwasser]

Pooua <po...@aol.com> writes:

> On Thursday, September 8, 2016 at 3:17:36 PM UTC-5, Samuel M. Goldwasser wrote:
>> Pooua <po...@aol.com> writes:
>>
>> > A long time ago, I spent a few months working for IMO Varo, a
>> > government sub-contractor. I was a Laser Tech II, assembling eye-safe
>> > laser rangefinders for use on the battlefield. Varo doesn't exist
>> > anymore, but it made a lot of lasers. I'd like to find some
>> > documentation on them, just to have the information. That's one of the
>> > last things I said that I'd try to find years ago, when I last posted
>> > on this forum. I came close, once, when I spoke with one of the last
>> > employees for Varo.
>>
>> Some info on one device here:
>>
>> http://repairfaq.cis.upenn.edu/Misc/laserscl.htm#sclvaro
>>
>> --
>> sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
>

Interesting. ;-) Sorry about your short laser career.

I would like to put an edited version of what you wrote in the Laser FAQ
at the end of the Varo section.

Cheers,

[Pooua]

I'd be happy for you to do that. It seems good to me that someone makes a record of the manufacturing processes we had. In fact, I'd like to give a longer description of the facility, what I can remember of it, 22 years after the fact. Feel free to use what you like.

Laser assembly took place in the Optical Systems Division building, located on Walnut Street in Garland, on the other side of a small road from a Long John Silvers. Google Maps shows it was near 2203 W Walnut St, Garland, TX 75042. The LJS apparently is gone, and the entire laser facility is just a grassy field and parking lot behind Baylor Hospital. Even the little road is gone, though you can still see vestiges of it if you know where to look. The laser facility was a rectangular, concrete, single-story building. I was fascinated by the parking lot lamps, which had large, clear glass spheres on top of round, black poles; the way they were arranged on the property was hypnotic to me. Behind the building were tall metal pipes painted matte black. I remember that one of them had a large, circular hole near the top. When I asked about them, I was told these were used for testing laser beam propagation.

The building had one entrance on the short side facing Walnut Lane, and a side entrance way down at the far end of the building on the left side of the building. I usually entered through the entrance on the left side of the building. It was a badged entry. After swiping my badge on the sensor, I would enter and greet the secretary seated at a small desk in the alcove. She might have had Parkinson's, as she always shook, and she walked with difficulty using a walker.

I walked down a hallway and around a corner to another hallway. I could see electronics assembly work stations through the half-glass walls along the hall. Somewhere along the way, I put on a hairnet, smock and booties. Then, I came to a sliding door through which I passed into a vestibule. This was the airlock used to maintain our Type 10 clean room. Laser assembly took place inside the clean room. To the left was the assembly process for the Cr:Er:glass eye-safe laser range finder; to the right was the assembly process for a non-eye safe IR laser range finder used on missiles. I worked on the left side.

As clean as the room was, we used flow hoods at each work station to provide an even cleaner assembly environment. We did our work while wearing finger cots, latex that fit over our fingers. We had to change them every twenty or thirty minutes, as our skin oils and sweat would otherwise penetrate the latex sufficiently to contaminate our work surfaces. We worked ten to sixteen-hour shifts, with a half-hour lunch break and short breaks during the day.

My understanding is that the Cr:Er:glass laser range finder was supposed to function similar to a pair of binoculars. A user would hold it up to his eye like a pair of binoculars, to sight a target. Once sighted, the user could push a button to emit a laser pulse that would reflect off the target, and the trip time measured by the unit. I never actually saw this finished device in real life, but I remember seeing photos of them.

After entering the clean room from the airlock, I faced the solid metal backs of some work stations, reaching up nearly to my shoulders, so I could see across the room. I walked to my left to the end of the row of three work stations side-by-side, and then made a u-turn to my right. My work station with flow hood was straight ahead of me, with one work station to the left of mine. To the left of that work station was a wall. In front of the wall was a stand that had plastic tubs containing the raw parts that we assembled, flash lamps and little square plastic boxes with flip-top lids and foam rubber inserts holding the laser rods. Each flash lamp cost something like $50, and each laser rod cost somewhere around $600 or $800. I don't remember what the gold-plated reflectors cost.

We cleaned the ends of each laser rod prior to assembling into a laser cavity. We had little plastic squirt bottles that held our solvents. I think we also had distilled water. We had a specific sequence of solvents we were to use, but I don’t remember what it was. Each lens tissue could make only a single pass across a laser rod. So, we would put the dry lens tissue on top of the rod end, apply a drop of solvent, then drag the tissue across the rod end, and then throw the tissue away. We did that for each of the three solvents, and then examined the rod under magnification for cleanliness.

We also examined the ends of each rod under magnification to check the quality of the antireflective optic coating. The coating lab had production problems, resulting in tiny bubbles or dust in the coating. The bubbles shone like little stars. We had to reject the rods if they had too many imperfections in the coatings. As I mentioned, we also checked the chamfer of the ends. If we rejected a rod, we put it back in the little box and put the box into a tub of rejects. The coating lab was working on salvaging some of the rods, though without much success. Actually, the results were horrible, and I rejected every one of those refurbs that I saw.

I accidentally snapped a laser rod while assembling a laser cavity. It was a stupid mistake; I adjusted the height of the rod while it was in the gig, instead of disassembling the whole thing, and the rod snapped under stress when it began bending over a piece of metal attached to the gig. I quietly put the rod in a box and placed it in the reject bin. I was relieved that no one ever said anything about it.

As a joke, one of my co-workers put a small pieces of paper folded up into one of the boxes, with a note on it saying, “Help, I’m trapped and forced to build lasers.”

I put the o-rings on the laser rod while under magnification, too. I remember that the rubber o-rings were naturally filthy, at least from our magnified, highly-clean perspective. Rubber has natural oils in it, and has a flaky surface, either of which would contaminate the ends of the laser rod and our finger cots. We had to change finger cots after putting the rubber o-rings on the laser rod, and we had to be careful not to touch the end of the rod with the rubber o-ring.

As I walked around the room, I might pass the man whose job was measuring the room’s air quality. He had an instrument on a wheeled stand that told him how many particles of dust were in the air. He rolled this device around the entire clean room to make his tests.

On the left side of the room was a window for passing small items between the lab on the other side of the wall with our lab. A little farther down our room on that side was the optic alignment check room. Across from that room was the station where the firing circuits were added to the laser cavity. Somewhere along here, the laser cavity was removed from the gig and placed on its permanent mount.

I don’t remember which stations came after the firing circuits, but down at the far end of the room was the QC Department, which checked all our work. One of my classmates from Albuquerque Technical-Vocational Institute, where we both graduated with AAS degrees in Laser Electro-Optic Technology, worked in the QC Department. I never knew why management chose to put him in QC and me assembling laser cavities. I think we both were working on the eye-safe laser range finder because it was considered easier to assemble than the laser system for the missiles; experienced laser techs went over to that side.

Environmental testing took place in a completely different room in a different part of the building. I never saw it. Other rooms in the building included a room with a sandblaster and a grinder. I remember that someone helped me retrofit a broken hex wrench so I could do my job; it was sometimes difficult to find the tools we needed to assemble lasers.

I think it was before Christmas that I found that the electronics assembly rooms were unmanned and the lights turned off. Management had also brought in temp workers to help us assemble lasers, but then it turned out that the laser techs (who had laser degrees and were full-time employees with benefits) were being replaced by the temp workers. One of the temp workers was so disgusted by what management was doing to us that he quit in protest. Even so, we didn’t know when our end was arriving. For me, it was January 13, I think, when I was hunched over my workbench, getting everything set up to begin work, when my supervisor told me to follow him. We walked to the other side of the room, the missile side, and he told one of the workers on that side to join us. We were told to meet in a room on a certain day and time. As I said, there were about 200 of us in there. I saw the woman who walked with the walker in there with us, too.

[Samuel M. Goldwasser]

Added:

http://repairfaq.cis.upenn.edu/Misc/laserscl.htm#sclvaroa

Any corrections or additions, probably best to contact me via the
Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Feedback Form.

--
sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is
ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the
subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

--- sam

[Pooua]

Thanks, Sam. I'd like to think that the details might help anyone who happens to come across one of these lasers, and I'm glad to have one of my memories kept alive. I think I've posted some of this material on Usenet, several years ago, too, when it was fresher in my mind. It would be nice to polish the text and fact-check the details.

I remember that we used calipers to measure the thickness of the gold reflectors. They had to be within a certain range, and we could grind down the gold coating if it was too thick, as long as we did not expose the underlying nickel-based metal.

I used to live in the apartment complex that still stands a few blocks away, on Shiloh Road. The name and owners have changed a few times, but the buildings are still there. I used to run in the pre-dawn darkness to get to work on time. Most of my co-workers wanted us to get off-shift by 3:30, so we had to start really early to put in a ten-hour shift. Because I was new, and not the most skilled assembly worker, I was given only 50 to 65 hours of work a week, and only on day shift. Some of the other guys put in close to 100 hours a week, at peak production. One of my co-workers drove down from Oklahoma every day, about a 100-mile commute each way.

[Samuel M. Goldwasser]

> Thanks, Sam. I'd like to think that the details might help anyone who
> happens to come across one of these lasers, and I'm glad to have one
> of my memories kept alive. I think I've posted some of this material
> on Usenet, several years ago, too, when it was fresher in my mind. It
> would be nice to polish the text and fact-check the details.
>
> I remember that we used calipers to measure the thickness of the gold
> reflectors. They had to be within a certain range, and we could grind
> down the gold coating if it was too thick, as long as we did not
> expose the underlying nickel-based metal.
>
> I used to live in the apartment complex that still stands a few blocks
> away, on Shiloh Road. The name and owners have changed a few times,
> but the buildings are still there. I used to run in the pre-dawn
> darkness to get to work on time. Most of my co-workers wanted us to
> get off-shift by 3:30, so we had to start really early to put in a
> ten-hour shift. Because I was new, and not the most skilled assembly
> worker, I was given only 50 to 65 hours of work a week, and only on
> day shift. Some of the other guys put in close to 100 hours a week, at
> peak production. One of my co-workers drove down from Oklahoma every
> day, about a 100-mile commute each way.

I be happy for you to edit the text and contact me via the feedback form
at RepairFAQ.org .

[Bob H]

The archive now holds over 400 lasers and 350 related components and artefacts in addition to the publications and holograms mentioned above. I have also added the best of the holograms to the website with the lasers (although a lot of information still needs to be added), and opened it up to everyone. Also on the site is my collection of pre-laser pointers. Those include pointer sticks and flashlight pointers that project an arrow or similar indicator. The link is below.

https://sites.google.com/site/vintagelaserarchive/

[Charley Hale]

On Saturday, January 11, 2014 at 10:01:04 AM UTC-7, Bob H wrote:
> I've been collecting old lasers, and have assembled them in a private Google Site to share. Currently there are over 175 lasers in the collection (including those embedded in products and seconds), and about another 170 laser and holography related artifacts. The oldest is a proof-of-concept prototype for the first commercial laser, made by Raytheon in November 1960. 65% of the collection is from the 1960s and '70s.
>
> If anyone here is interested in viewing the site, please send me your email address to add to the viewing list. A gmail address is best. If anyone has, or knows someone who has old lasers or related equipment laying about, please contact me.

Hello, Bob, sounds neat to me; my email address is cha...@gmail.com. I'm in laser R&D since...lord, 1981 it would appear! Lots of lasers in my past, to be sure. I'm sitting next to a Boulder-garage-sale HeNe from ~ 1961 I believe, made by "Optics Technology Inc.", Palo Alto CA. Neat old thing to have on the shelf. Lots of weird appendages not seen on a modern HeNe...--Charley