Kitz Forum
Chat => Tech Chat => Topic started by: sheddyian on July 28, 2015, 08:24:54 PM
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Does anyone here recognise this, or know anything much about it?
I saw it recently in an old shop window as part of an art project, but the reason it caught my eye is because I used to have one when I was much younger. My grandfather gave it to me one day, and I fitted it to the wall in my bedroom.
Inside it had no circuit or electronics, other than the switches, a speaker and a volume control knob. I wired it to a radio, as I recall.
Having suddenly seen it again recently in the shop window made me wonder what it's origins are - hotel room perhaps?
The one I had looked just like this one, including the teak effect wooden box that was black inside, but my one may not have had the "Reliance" badge on it - don't remember that bit.
Anyone recognise it, or even have used or fitted one?
Ian
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I don't recall ever seeing one, but then I've never been a frequent user of hotels.
Your guess about hotel rooms seems to be correct -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/28545691@N07/3467025762
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Excellent, thanks for that! :thumbs:
Ian
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It didnt ring any bells with me when I saw the photo the other night, but just seeing 4candles mention of hotels and I went ooooooh yeah! :idea:
At the risk of sounding like a bad mother I can recall seeing these in some hotels. In particular the likes of Circus Circus in Vegas used to have them... but I think a lot of disney type hotels had similar too. The idea was you switched it on & told reception who then monitored your room for you. It was basically a 'baby listening' device the idea being that when your child was asleep you could go down into the restaurant or casino but be alerted if your child cried or called out where they would make a tannoy announcement. Such a thing may be frowned upon in today's world, but about 15-20 yrs ago it was considered quite acceptable to do so and thinking back quite a lot of the family orientated larger hotels had them and even advertised as having child listening services which encouraged you to stay within the hotel complex.
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A bit like Butlins, only they relied upon the redcoats to hear us crying.
Could you imagine the uproar if you left your child in the hotel room these days.....
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A bit like Butlins, only they relied upon the redcoats to hear us crying.
haha yes, didnt they do a patrol walk past all the chalets?
Kids were packed off to bed and Mum & Dad went to the evening entertainment? I've never stayed at Butlins but I do recall staying in a similar type of holiday resort. I certainly recall being 'bundled' in a room with my parents friend's 2 girls and being warned to "be good" as there would be someone walking past checking up that we were behaving. Bearing in mind that at the time we lived in Oz so the eldest I could have been was 7/8 and the other 2 girls weren't any older. I'm quite sure that back then no-one thought anything of it and it was quite the norm... as you say these days things are a bit different.
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Such a thing may be frowned upon in today's world, but about 15-20 yrs ago it was considered quite acceptable to do so and thinking back quite a lot of the family orientated larger hotels had them and even advertised as having child listening services which encouraged you to stay within the hotel complex.
It's all about risk perception, and what was considered reasonable / normal /acceptable at the time. Wasn't it fairly common once (1950's?) to leave babies in prams outside of shops whilst the mother was inside? Can you imagine that being done now, or what the outcry would be if it was? I'm not convinced the actual risk would be much greater now than at that time, but the perceived risk certainly is. (Tho perhaps it was underestimated at the time?)
Likewise, can you imagine trying to explain the modern world of online data sharing to someone from that time - they would be horrified.
We're not very good at actual risk perception.
Ian
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Yes that's it Kitz, the Red Coats as they were called walked past the chalets as a listening service.
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Could you imagine the uproar if you left your child in the hotel room these days.....
Many hotels still advertise baby listening services.