High-Tech Gadgets of the past


Charged up

(Tribune photo by Ernie Cox Jr.)
Electric automobiles have been around since the beginning of cars and only made periodic comeback attempts until recently. Here, Tracy Myers, president of Seaway Engineering Supply of Oak Park, shows of the Comuta-Car, which cost $4,995 in 1981 and could go 40 miles on a single charge.


Walkman generation

(Tribune photo by Michael Fryer)
When music first became portable and cool. Here, two Sony vice presidents show off different models of the Walkman, the original on the left and the other Tiffany silver-plated.


What will they think of next?

(Tribune archive photo)
If you were trying to find a Father's Day present in 1987 for the dad who has everything, you may have been tempted by the pocket ticker. The $435 beeper, plus a $60 monthly service, provided up-to-the-minute sports scores plus results from the local race tracks.


Home computer

(Tribune archive photo)
The cost of setting up a home computer in 1983 was, from left: printer $499, cassette recorder $59, central processing unit $1,000, modem $149 and graphics printer $995.


Cell phones getting smaller

(Tribune photo by Gerald West)
In just four short years, the cell phone went from fitting into a brief case to fitting into a a chassis the size of a brick. Here, Chicago businessman Ed Lang conducts business out and about in August 1989.


Mobile phone

(Tribune photo by John Dziekan)
To celebrate the two-year anniversary of the nation's first commercial cellular system, right here in Chicago, Ameritech Mobile Communications showed off the latest technology in September 1985, a brief case telephone with a built-in transceiver.

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