List of obsolete technology

Last updated December 05, 2024

This is a list of obsolete technology, superseded by newer technologies. Obsolescence is defined as the "transition from available to unavailable from the manufacturer in accordance with the original specification."^[1] Newer technologies can mostly be considered as disruptive innovation. Many older technologies co-exist with newer alternatives, or are still in use due to cost, convenience, personal preference or availability. Some people still use their existing CD collections or their old functional equipment. Some prefer the sound of vinyl records. Specialist or niche applications use technology that may have become commercially obsolete, like the vacuum tube. Historical societies may maintain a working knowledge of old machines.

Most experimental creations and conceptions, particularly in early development of technologies, like that of steam power, have also never been recorded. Technologies that were never successfully developed, may have disappeared completely.^[2] These are not contained in the following list. Also not included are spurious inventions - technologies which are generally considered to not possess their claimed capabilities, to be hoaxes, or to not have ever existed in the first place.

List of obsolete technology

Obsolete technology	Replacement	Still used for
Bathing machine	No longer required due to changing social standards of morality
Hourglass	Clock	Tasks where a fixed amount of time can be measured with a low-tech solution: Exposure time tracker in saunas (where electronics might be damaged by the heat or ultraviolet light); retro kitchen timers, board games, other short-term timers.
Manual vacuum cleaner, carpet sweeper	Electric vacuum cleaner	Carpet sweepers are sometimes used in commercial applications (like movie theatres) where the noise of an electric vacuum is unwelcome.
Primitive fire making	Ferrocerium, Match, Lighter	Practiced as backup survival skills if advanced methods unavailable.
Quill pen, reed pen, dip pen, fountain pen	Ballpoint pen, felt tip pen, brush pen	Calligraphy; ink drawing; personal preference; acting and historical re-enacting. Fountain pens in particular maintain use as fairly standard writing implements, and are in a state of co-existence, rather than of obsolescence, despite reduced usage.
Sundial	Clock	Occasionally seen as a decoration in gardens and other outdoor settings.
Outhouse	Flush Toilets, Sanitary sewers, Portable toilet, Chemical toilet	Remote or undeveloped locations far from sewage systems.
Teleseme	Private branch exchanges with telephones in every hotel room
Swamp cooler	Air conditioning	Dry climates; lower cost alternative in some climates.
Water clock, incense clock, candle clock	Clock
Lighting
Incandescent light bulbs	Fluorescent lamps, cold cathode lamps, high-intensity discharge lamp, LEDs	Specialty purposes, especially for holiday decorations; devices where lower voltages and lumens are preferred or required. Mandatory phase-out of incandescent light bulbs is happening in some countries, usually only for general lighting; LEDs are also gradually replacing compact fluorescent lamps.
Moonlight towers	Distributed street lighting
Producing light with fire. Early: candles, torches. Later: kerosene lamps, fuel-based lanterns, and gas light	Flashlights, electric lights	Torches sometimes used for performance purposes. Coleman Lanterns and similar are sometimes used for camping, but battery-powered lanterns are becoming more common. Gas lighting is still used for street lighting in some historic districts, but not indoors due to toxic emissions. Candles are still used for aesthetic purposes, both visual and olfactory. Gas and fuel based lanterns as well as candles may also be used to generate light in addition to flashlights during power outages.
Kitchens and cooking
Icebox	Refrigerator	Portable cooler boxes are still used for camping and for transportation of perishables. Also used in low-tech communities.
Open hearth cooking	Kitchen stoves, ovens, barbecue grills, various small appliances	Frequently done for reasons of flavour (usually specifically ovens); sometimes done during power outages, especially in the absence of gas stoves. Also done in historical recreations and re-enacting.
Toasting fork (for use with open flame to make toast)	Toaster, toaster oven	Camping; used in the winter in some houses lacking central heat as a matter of preference.
Turnspit dog (Extinct)	Steam power, wind-up power, electrical power
Audiovisual communication
Audio cassette, cassette player, Walkman	Compact disc, MP3, MP3 player	Playing older or archived recordings.
Analog television	Digital television	Mandatory digital television transition has been underway around the world since the 2000s.
Betamax	Lost a format war to VHS	Playing older or archived recordings.
Cathode ray tube	Flatscreen	Retrogaming; some specialty devices.
Portable CD player	MP3 player	Personal preference.
HD DVD	Lost format war to Blu-ray	Playback of older or archived recordings.
Dial-up Internet access	Broadband Internet	Similar technology — CSD is used for M2M communications. Still used by some Internet enthusiasts.
LaserDisc	Compact disks, DVDs, and Blu-ray	Playback of older or archived recordings.
Overhead projector and slide projector	Video projector	Primarily for continued use of older materials. Some teachers find the overhead projector more convenient for lectures depending on their teaching style.
Phonograph and phonograph record	Audio cassette, 8 track tape, CD, digital audio	Used to play older or archived recordings. Additionally, records are preferred by some, especially by audiophiles, for their perceived high fidelity. The focus of vinyl revival.
Tin can telephone	Electromagnetic telephone	Continued use as a novelty and for demonstrating acoustic principles.
Telegraph	Telephone, teletype, email, Global Maritime Distress and Safety System	Revived as text messaging.
Video cassette recorder	DVDs, digital video recorders	Playback of older or archived recordings.
Computing, information storage, and office equipment
BlackBerry physical keyboards	smartphones have keyboards displayed on the touchscreen when necessary	Tasks that requires physical keyboards; devices used by the blind, especially those who are also deaf; personal preference.
Carbon paper	Photocopier, cheap printing of multiple copies, carbonless copy paper	Still used by some enterprises; in art as a medium or to transfer designs on to certain materials, such as glass or metal; for certain scientific experiments.
Car phone	Mobile phone
Credit card imprinters, with carbon paper	Magnetic stripe cards, EMV (chips)
Drafting, manual drawing for creation of blueprints	CAD (Computer Aided Design)	Still used where upgrading to CAD would be too costly or time consuming.
Dot-matrix impact printing	Inkjet printer, laser printer	Still used in some enterprises, especially for old carbon paper forms.
Faxes	Email, World Wide Web	Still used by some enterprises and sectors.
MicroSolutions Backpack line of peripheral devices	Online file storage, Cloud storage	Older PCs, laptops
Mimeograph	Photocopier, cheap printing of multiple copies
Landline	Cell phones, VoIP services	Still used remote areas with poor cellphone coverage and by some enterprises and conservative users.
Pager	Cell phones	Still used in certain industries, especially in the medical industry.
Paper address book, Rolodex	Contact list, electronic address book	Personal address books remain common according to preference.
Paper card catalogs, edge-notched cards	Computer databases	Card catalogues still preferred by some libraries, usually when complementary to computer databases.
Paper data storage for computers (punch cards, punched tape)	Magnetic data storage
Paper ledger	Computerized spreadsheets and databases	Used as backup and for small scale uses.
Paper map, atlas	GPS-aided map software	Used as navigational aids in numerous professions; personal preference; navigating in locales where GPS is unreliable or absent.
Personal digital assistant (PDA)	Modern smartphones and tablet computers
Phone book	Search engine and online database	Yellow pages are still distributed for advertising purposes; the general phone book continues to be published and has some continued, albeit greatly reduced, practical function.
Printing press	Rotary printing press, computer printing	Still used for high-quality printing, especially reproductions of certain historical texts, such as the Gutenberg Bible.
Typewriter	Word processor	Used by some writers as less distracting or otherwise personally conducive to the writing process; personal preference; used by some artists as a medium of creation.
Abacus	Mechanical calculator, digital calculator	Still used as an exercise, learning tool, and to assist improving mental arithmetic; personal preference.
Slide rule, mechanical calculator	Digital calculator, computer	Still used as an exercise; mechanical calculators sometimes still used for calculations while travelling at high speeds.
Vacuum tube	Transistor	Vacuum tubes are still used in microwave ovens, RF communications and radar, high power industrial switching such as in pulsed lasers and generation of x-rays. They have found niche popularity in more expensive guitar amplifiers and hi-fi power amplifiers.
Transport
Airships	Airplanes, helicopters; Project Loon replaced by cellular networks and land-based Internet services	Advertising; adventures; research; long-duration surveillance; tourism.
Boneshaker, penny-farthing bicycle	Safety bicycle (early version of the modern bicycle)	Historical re-enactment.
Buggy whip	Automobiles do not require them	Horse transport: for utility in developing countries and low-tech communities, especially the Amish, and for driving.
Carburetor	Fuel injection	Small engine equipment and piston engine aircraft; less frequently used in serviceable antique cars.
Celestial navigation with lunar distance method and dead reckoning	Marine chronometer to solve the longitude problem	As an exercise and as backup.
Celestial navigation with sextant and marine chronometer	Inertial guidance, radio navigation, radar navigation, satellite navigation	Backup in case of electronic system failure or jamming, spaceflight where satellite and ground-based systems can't be used.
Cobblestone	Concrete, asphalt	Still used in some areas, primarily historic districts; driveways.
Draft animals for plows, carriages, light rail vehicles, canal boats	Motorized boats, tractors, steam railroads, electric trolleys, cable cars, horseless carriages (automobiles)	Sled dogs in arctic regions, especially of North American and Greenland. Horse-drawn carriages are recreational attractions in some highly developed cities; they continue to be used practically in low-tech communities; historical reenacting. Driving is also done for recreational and athletic ends.
Steam locomotive	Diesel locomotive, electric locomotive	Still used for historical heritage railways.
Steam tractor, or steam Traction engine	Internal combustion powered Tractor	Maintained by preservation societies and for historical demonstrations; steam turbines.
Marine steam engine and steamship	Marine diesel engines, nuclear marine propulsion, aircraft for long-distance passenger travel
Ocean liner	Airliners and jet airliners	Only the RMS Queen Mary 2 is still in service as an ocean liner.
Pack animals	Trucks and vans	In developed countries, only in difficult terrain with no roads (e.g. Grand Canyon) or for tourist purposes; generally used in less developed areas and in low-tech communities.
Roman concrete	Reinforced concrete	Used for restoration of older structures; also used in combination with modern concretes to create more durable concretes.

Military
Early siege engines (siege towers, battering rams, catapults, ballistae, trebuchets)	Artillery, aircraft	Historical reenactments.
Forts, defensive walls, castles	Vulnerable to air attack, useless to prevent the advance of aircraft	Limited use of underground bunkers and civilian air raid shelters; some limited use as fortifications, depending on the military situation at hand.
Gunpowder	Smokeless powder, high explosives, dynamite, ANFO	Recreational shooting; historical reenactments. Also continues to be used outside of its military and industrial applications, most notably in fireworks.
Muzzleloader firearms	Breech-loading weapons	Historical reenactments.
Spears and other polearms	Firearms	Bayonets, spear fishing; used for some sports and in historical reenactments; part of some uniforms, such as the Swiss Guard.
Sword	Firearms	Issued for ceremonial purposes to NCOs and upwards; used for some sports and in historical reenactments; part of some uniforms, especially diplomatic ones.
Bow and arrow	Firearms	Used for some sports and in historical reenactments.
Medicine
Anatomical Machines	Modern anatomical models
Iron lung	Ventilator	Cheap substitutes in case of shortages during an outbreak or pandemic.
Art
Han purple and Han blue	Other pigments, synthetic dyes	Restoration; some limited use among artists.

Co-existing technologies

Older technologies substantially co-existing with newer technologies include:

Analog watches are still widely used for reasons of fashion, readability, durability, and personal preference. The availability of digital watches with their potential smart watch capabilities, has not by any means, supplanted the analog watch. Other analog clocks persist alongside their digital counterparts for similar reasons.
CDs are still used alongside and in conjunction with iPods, mainly due to the significantly lower permanence of non-physical media and their somewhat lower audio-fidelity.
DVDs have not been displaced by Blu-rays.
DVDS are still used in home consoles.
Ignoring their supplementary uses (including providing back up both for heating and cooking during power outages), fireplaces are still used for primary heat in some houses in developed countries, especially older ones which have never been equipped to have any form of central heat. Although furnaces, electric heat, and other modern climate control systems are less polluting, can be better controlled, and can also provide cooling, the costs of installing such systems, especially to the architecture, can often significantly outweigh any gained advantages. If the building in question is on a historic preservation register, such modernization may in fact be legally prohibited. Furthermore, fireplaces remain in use as the primary heating for low-tech communities.
Ferry travel has not been completely displaced by bridges, tunnels, and airplanes.
Fords are still used for rural roads, although bridges have replaced them for most roads in most developed countries. Fords are cheaper and can typically transport more weight than a bridge, thus may be preferred for crossings with low traffic depending on the typical water level and the terrain.
Hammers have not been displaced by nail guns, due to the very limited practical use of the latter.
Hot water bottles continue to be used along with electric blankets and heating pads.
Long-distance travel by railroads and highway has to some degree been displaced by airplane, but not entirely, in part due to the higher expense and subsequent issues with terrorism. Countries adopting high-speed rail use domestic flights even less regardless due to the ease and lower expense of rail-travel.
Postal mail continues to be used alongside email, but with substantial decreases in personal correspondence outside of special occasions, due to the availability of text messages and email. Postal services, being a constant necessity for packages, also deliver messages included in the packages, often being personal correspondence. Postal mail remains primary for nearly all government correspondence to individual citizens, such as calls to jury duty and tax returns.
Pneumatic tubes for moving documents and postal items continue to be used alongside email, especially where quick transportation of a specific copy of a document or small package is needed, such as in hospitals or banks. Pneumatic tubes for passenger transport have been used in atmospheric railway to provide motive power, like a cable car system.
Outside of historical reenacting and sports, shields co-exist with bulletproof vests, and are used by riot police. Lighter-weight and stronger materials are available compared to ancient wooden and bronze shields, including clear plastic shields and bulletproof shields mounted on firing platforms.
Carbonless copy paper co-exists with digital copying, mainly for some forms where multiple copies with a signature or other writing done in situ are required.
The sewing needle has not been displaced by the sewing machine. Due to its greater speed and physical limitations, machine sewing is used for tasks such as seams, hems, and other basic work (especially when involving flat, regularly-shaped material and results), while hand sewing persists for mending and more elaborate work. Additionally, many forms of textile work continue to be practiced using manual methods both for the production of specialty and high-end items and as a hobby.

Related Research Articles

Fax, sometimes called telecopying or telefax, is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material, normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other output device. The original document is scanned with a fax machine, which processes the contents as a single fixed graphic image, converting it into a bitmap, and then transmitting it through the telephone system in the form of audio-frequency tones. The receiving fax machine interprets the tones and reconstructs the image, printing a paper copy. Early systems used direct conversions of image darkness to audio tone in a continuous or analog manner. Since the 1980s, most machines transmit an audio-encoded digital representation of the page, using data compression to transmit areas that are all-white or all-black, more quickly.

A letter is a written message conveyed from one person to another through a medium. Something epistolary means that it is a form of letter writing. The term usually excludes written material intended to be read in its original form by large numbers of people, such as newspapers and placards, although even these may include material in the form of an "open letter". The typical form of a letter for many centuries, and the archetypal concept even today, is a sheet of paper that is sent to a correspondent through a postal system. A letter can be formal or informal, depending on its audience and purpose. Besides being a means of communication and a store of information, letter writing has played a role in the reproduction of writing as an art throughout history. Letters have been sent since antiquity and are mentioned in the Iliad. Historians Herodotus and Thucydides mention and use letters in their writings.

Telephony is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunications services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is intimately linked to the invention and development of the telephone.

The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal systems have generally been established as a government monopoly, with a fee on the article prepaid. Proof of payment is usually in the form of an adhesive postage stamp, but a postage meter is also used for bulk mailing.

Video editing is the post-production and arrangement of video shots. To showcase perfect video editing to the public, video editors must be reasonable and ensure they have a superior understanding of film, television, and other sorts of videography. Video editing structures and presents all video information, including films and television shows, video advertisements and video essays. Video editing has been dramatically democratized in recent years by editing software available for personal computers. Editing video can be difficult and tedious, so several technologies have been produced to aid people in this task. Overall, video editing has a wide variety of styles and applications.

Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, traditionally through the postal system. Today it is usually played through a correspondence chess server, a public internet chess forum, or email. Less common methods that have been employed include fax, homing pigeon and phone. It is in contrast to over-the-board (OTB) chess, where the players sit at a physical chessboard at the same time; and most online chess, where the players play each other in real time over the internet. However, correspondence chess can also be played online.

Obsolescence is the process of becoming antiquated, out of date, old-fashioned, no longer in general use, or no longer useful, or the condition of being in such a state. When used in a biological sense, it means imperfect or rudimentary when compared with the corresponding part of other organisms. The international standard IEC 62402:2019 Obsolescence Management defines obsolescence as the "transition from available to unavailable from the manufacturer in accordance with the original specification".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mastering (audio)</span> Form of audio post-production

Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device, the source from which all copies will be produced. In recent years, digital masters have become usual, although analog masters—such as audio tapes—are still being used by the manufacturing industry, particularly by a few engineers who specialize in analog mastering.

Digitization is the process of converting information into a digital format. The result is the representation of an object, image, sound, document, or signal obtained by generating a series of numbers that describe a discrete set of points or samples. The result is called digital representation or, more specifically, a digital image, for the object, and digital form, for the signal. In modern practice, the digitized data is in the form of binary numbers, which facilitates processing by digital computers and other operations, but digitizing simply means "the conversion of analog source material into a numerical format"; the decimal or any other number system can be used instead.

The history of computing is longer than the history of computing hardware and modern computing technology and includes the history of methods intended for pen and paper or for chalk and slate, with or without the aid of tables.

A digital image is an image composed of picture elements, also known as pixels, each with finite, discrete quantities of numeric representation for its intensity or gray level that is an output from its two-dimensional functions fed as input by its spatial coordinates denoted with x, y on the x-axis and y-axis, respectively. Depending on whether the image resolution is fixed, it may be of vector or raster type. By itself, the term "digital image" usually refers to raster images or bitmapped images.

Digital obsolescence is the risk of data loss because of inabilities to access digital assets, due to the hardware or software required for information retrieval being repeatedly replaced by newer devices and systems, resulting in increasingly incompatible formats. While the threat of an eventual "digital dark age" was initially met with little concern until the 1990s, modern digital preservation efforts in the information and archival fields have implemented protocols and strategies such as data migration and technical audits, while the salvage and emulation of antiquated hardware and software address digital obsolescence to limit the potential damage to long-term information access.

In library and archival science, digital preservation is a formal process to ensure that digital information of continuing value remains accessible and usable in the long term. It involves planning, resource allocation, and application of preservation methods and technologies, and combines policies, strategies and actions to ensure access to reformatted and "born-digital" content, regardless of the challenges of media failure and technological change. The goal of digital preservation is the accurate rendering of authenticated content over time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hybrid integrated circuit</span> Type of miniature electronic circuit

A hybrid integrated circuit (HIC), hybrid microcircuit, hybrid circuit or simply hybrid is a miniaturized electronic circuit constructed of individual devices, such as semiconductor devices and passive components, bonded to a substrate or printed circuit board (PCB). A PCB having components on a Printed wiring board (PWB) is not considered a true hybrid circuit according to the definition of MIL-PRF-38534.

Oral history preservation is the field that deals with the care and upkeep of oral history materials, whatever format they may be in. Oral history is a method of historical documentation, using interviews with living survivors of the time being investigated. Oral history often touches on topics scarcely touched on by written documents, and by doing so, fills in the gaps of records that make up early historical documents.

The term born-digital refers to materials that originate in a digital form. This is in contrast to digital reformatting, through which analog materials become digital, as in the case of files created by scanning physical paper records. It is most often used in relation to digital libraries and the issues that go along with said organizations, such as digital preservation and intellectual property. However, as technologies have advanced and spread, the concept of being born-digital has also been discussed in relation to personal consumer-based sectors, with the rise of e-books and evolving digital music. Other terms that might be encountered as synonymous include "natively digital", "digital-first", and "digital-exclusive".

The analog hole is a perceived fundamental and inevitable vulnerability in copy protection schemes for noninteractive works in digital formats which can be exploited to duplicate copy-protected works using analog means. Once digital information is converted to a human-perceptible (analog) form, it is a relatively simple matter to digitally recapture that analog reproduction in an unrestricted form, thereby fundamentally circumventing any and all restrictions placed on copyrighted digitally distributed work. Media publishers who use digital rights management (DRM), to restrict how a work can be used, perceive the necessity to make it visible or audible as a "hole" in the control that DRM otherwise affords them.

A photocopier is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers use a technology called xerography, a dry process that uses electrostatic charges on a light-sensitive photoreceptor to first attract and then transfer toner particles onto paper in the form of an image. The toner is then fused onto the paper using heat, pressure, or a combination of both. Copiers can also use other technologies, such as inkjet, but xerography is standard for office copying.

The conservation and restoration of time-based media art is the practice of preserving time-based works of art. Preserving time-based media is a complex undertaking within the field of conservation that requires an understanding of both physical and digital conservation methods. It is the job of the conservator to evaluate possible changes made to the artwork over time. These changes could include short, medium, and long-term effects caused by the environment, exhibition-design, technicians, preferences, or technological development. The approach to each work is determined through various conservation and preservation strategies, continuous education and training, and resources available from institutions and organization across the globe.

References

↑ IEC 62402:2019 Obsolescence Management - published 15 July 2019 ISBN 978 0 580 96776 4
↑ "Lost Inventions". Scientific American . Vol. 3, no. 35. 20 May 1848. p. 278.

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[1] IEC 62402:2019 Obsolescence Management - published 15 July 2019 ISBN 978 0 580 96776 4

[2] "Lost Inventions". Scientific American . Vol. 3, no. 35. 20 May 1848. p. 278.

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List of obsolete technology

Contents

List of obsolete technology

Co-existing technologies

See also

Related Research Articles

References