By Aiko Hill

Los Altos always up on latest technology

My husband works for a world-leading technology company and my two teen daughters run a Web site (Mabet.com) that gets more than 250,000 hits per month, so it always interests me to hear about technology in the Silicon Valley prior to silicon.

In the mid-1900s, our most reliable form of long distance communication was the telephone. We’re familiar with the “information highway” but the term seems to be a rehash of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph’s slogan of the 1950s, “Your telephone is your voice highway!”

They went on to describe this development as “(a) pair of tiny wires … labeled with your telephone number at the central office distributing frame … (Y)our individual wires lead out of the office, through cables, directly to your telephone! They also go the other way - on into special complex equipment that has the specific job of handling your important calls! It seems almost like magic when you think of it.”

And when we think of the many enterprise software applications currently available, it’s interesting also to consider how much has changed for small business over the past 50 years. Inventory used to be done by hand. Because of that, stores had to close. They couldn’t do inventory while customers were buying at the same time.

In September 1950, Don Gordon noted that he would be using new technology during his market’s upcoming inventory. Yes, he would be closed on Monday but the process time would be reduced. Mr. Gordon was planning to implement inventory by Dictaphone. As his clerks looked at each item, they read and repeated the inventory number and item price into a microphone hung across their chests. This information was then transmitted into a Dictaphone record. After the inventory was completed, the recording was played back and the results tabulated. Simple and effective.

And on the aeronautical front, did you know that Los Altos was also home to one of the world’s fastest flyers? Some of the country’s most sophisticated aircraft were developed in the 1940s and there’s a good chance local resident Lawrence Clousing flew them. In his work as an engineering test pilot, he flew faster than any other living person. In recognition, he was presented the 1947 Octave Chanute Award by The Institute of Aeronautical Sciences.

Fast flying, fast counting and fast communication. It seems like Los Altos has always been home to the latest technology.

Aiko Hill is a member of the Los Altos History Museum Association. Send comments and suggestions to aikohill@aol.com.