There are many true stories about these machine but the first one here, took place in July of 2008.
I use these machines on a project to rebuild a 1962 Mainframe computer, it's all on the Web at:-
ict1301.co.uk
On the Annual open day of 2008, I left my Hunter 16/80 in the Car and positioned the Car with its back to
the sun to reduce the amount of heat that would build up through the day. My trusty little work horse was in
A black zip jacket and I left it on the passengers seat. Departing to deliver the open day I locked my car and
gave no further thought to it's safety. But on returning to the car the Sun had swung round and the Zipped case
was in bright evening sunshine.
The first thing I noticed was a strong smell of hot Rubber, now I had just spent a long hot day with a very large
computer and was sensitized to any whiff of burning whilst that machine was switched on !
So not wishing to drive off with a car that had problems I quickly popped the bonnet and hopped out to
find the source of the smell. Nothing could be found, all was smell free under the bonnet. Returning to the
Car's interior the strong smell struck me again ! Using that Mk1 nose we all have, I tracked the smell down to the
case that held my trusted Husky, it had baked very well as the black leather case had absorbed about 4 hours of
strong afternoon Sunshine and was almost impossible to touch.
After a moment of panic as the realisation dawned on me, I picked up the Hot case and unzipped it.
Now I should have thought this through before trying to pick up the machine, the black case had lost its latent heat
rapidly but the Huskys Aluminium Case is a great store of heat and now I dropped the machine and stared at my
hand for blisters, Boy'o Boy was that little fellow HOT!
Nudging it gingerly back onto the Seat I just had to know if it had died, and pressed the power on button, a Bleep
and a fully black screen greeted me. Big sigh of relief, and I left the machine on with the passenger window wound
down and the fan on full blast as I drove home, the display slowly faded back into normal contrast !
A quick peek into the back shows no damage that I can see, but the temperature that this machine had reached was enough
to have buckled and distored a Hawk's plastic case.
' Tough ' or what !
It was common practice when assesing a Hunter 2, or any mobile computer, that had seen service. To check the keyboard
and screen for marks, not just for scratches but 'Tyre Marks'! And the tell tale marks were found more times than
most Service personel were prepared to admitt too. It does however bring a whole new meaning to Chips in the Road.
' Tough ' or Tougher ?
Most of the Husky's that went to sea were Heavily re-cased ( Tempested ). However some were used below decks and it
was considered that these did not rate extra protection. Now when a mapping room machine found its way into the engine
room and got ' Lost '. It was no surprise to discover the unit did not work when if was ' Found ' again a few months
later. The unit arrived and as it was unwrapped it was discovered to be a real STINKER, yes it ponged something awful.
It was hosed down until it became much less smelly and a recharge over 24 hours brought it back to life. however the question
of the pong remained. A discrete enquiry resulted in the truth coming out, the answer to the Peppe-Le-Phew effect was
Bilge Water.
So both Oil and Water together ( as well as other unmentionable compounds ) were not able to crack this little Toughey
Home
©"Copyright Shedland Software design" ( Designed for 800 x 600 Resolution ) and a 'POPUP' and 'FRAMES' free zone
Legal Info = ©"Copyright Shedland Software design"
An Oldwuzzark Production