MORE MACHINE AGE

With Captain Bobby at the helm, we revisit the mid-20th century for an update on technical developments aboard the U.S. Steel oreship William A. Irvin.



Behold machine-age air movement technology. The cage was more symbolic than functional. Its presence alone was considered adequate to warn people not to place fingers in the blades, but the spacing between the wires was adequate only to prevent decapitations in a rolling sea.



In the machine age there was no room for flip phones. A manly place like an oreboat needed manly rugged telephony.



But in the cozy comfort of the guest rooms - yes, they had four walnut-paneled guest rooms - they had a much sleeker, more civilized phone.



OK, maybe not. Well, if the phone failed, they could always try the keyboard for instant messaging.



I don't know what happened to the monitor, but you can see from the phone plug that they had to use dial-up.