Obsolete jobs

Obsolete jobs

Morini & Lopardo

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index

1. Switchboard Operator 2. Ice Cutter 3. Pinsetter 4. Knocker-Upper

In the early days of telephony, people used manual telephone switchboards, and switchboard operators connected calls by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks. Now they have been eliminated and replaced by automated systems.

Switchboard Operator

Ice cutter orIcebreaker

The icebreaker was winter work collecting ice from lakes and rivers for use in ice stores and selling as a cooling method.An icebreaker is someone who saws through the ice, and then sells or delivers it from a cart or truck. The profession was once much more common than today because, now we have technology and air conditioning.

Before the advent of automated pinsetting machines in bowling alleys, resetting the pins after each turn was the job of a pinsetter, often referred to as a “pin boy.”

Pinsetter

Knocker-upper

The knocker-upper, sometimes called bussatore, was a craft born mainly in the UK and Ireland, as well as in other parts of Europe, during the industrial revolution period when alarms were neither cheap nor reliable.The knocker-uppers, who were paid a few pennies per week, used a short and heavy stick, or a long and light bamboo one with which they could reach the windows of the higher floors. Some, like the famous Mary Smith, used a blowpipe loaded with peas. The job was finished when the person showed up to the knocker-upper.

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