[GreenKeys] Nose Oil

[Peter Gottlieb]

Hmmm I used to know people in NYC who thought "powder your nose" meant to go 
snort a few lines with your friends in the ladies room.

But seriously, actually use oil from your nose on contacts?  Doesn't that kind 
of oil go rancid really fast?  Surely there was a better choice, if for no other 
reason than a panel office had way more contacts to be oiled than could be 
supplied by a tech's nose.


On 3/15/2013 8:42 PM, Frank Carraro wrote:
>     I have heard of it as "nose grease".  I used it to cover minor scrathches
> on photo negatives.  I didn't invent that of course.  A professional
> newspape photog showed me how it works.  The area at the base of the human
> nose has numerous pores that secrete oily gunk.  That's why women (some at
> least) "powder their nose"
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Don Robert House [mailto:k9tty at dls.net]
> Sent: Friday, March 15, 2013 7:15 PM
> To: til128 at aol.com
> Cc: greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Nose Oil
>
>
> Tom,
>
> Nose oil was specified for the wiper contacts for the old Panel
> Central Office.  This equipment was 11' 6" tall and the selectors rose
> up and down spinning rods.  In the 20s and 30s up until the last panel
> office was scrapped in 1984 there was a technician known as the
> "Equipment Cleaner"  Imagine different kinds of grease and oil and
> cleaning compounds.  Bell engineers did not want the normal oil on
> wiper contacts, so the practice instructed the technician to rub their
> index finger on the side of their nose and use that oil for these
> contacts.
>
> My good friend and elmer Dave Alm, WG9J (SK) won many bets with this
> little bit of nostalgia.
>
> The only remaining panel office is at the Museum of Communications in
> Seattle.
>
> Don
> Bell System 1966-1983
> Ameritech 1984-1996
>
>
> On 15 Mar 2013, at 7:16 AM, til128 at aol.com wrote:
>
> No kidding - has anyone heard of "nose oil"??
>
> I have heard rumors of its use in relays . . April fool joke or was
> this actually used?
>
> TT
>
>
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