Whatever happened to Slingshots?

When I was a boy, my granddad made me a slingshot or two. In that he worked for Goodyear Tire & Rubber, rubber bands were an easy thing to acquire.   No, not the run-of-the-mill type; I’m talking about Elastic, industrial-strength rubber-bands with a guarantee!

“Whatever happened to Slingshots?” is the title of those things – sometime nostalgic – that apparently have gone by the wayside, have reached obsolescence, or just went out-of-style. Unlike those Goodyear rubber-bands, the things that I’m trying to generalize will not “flex” back – in use or style.   No, these things are gone, caput, and have entered the great divide overlooking the landfill.

I know that slingshots have not completely gone out-of-use; there must be somebody out there who still fires one – and maybe even makes them.   But like the things I plan to find – and write about – the slingshot could be a dying cause.

As a kid, I owned a few Slingshots that my granddad made.   At the same time, he seemed to keep one handy to ward-off stray dogs.   Now where have those things gone?
For more information, please e-mail:   hey@hkirkrainer.org

Writings on Old Machinery	Comments on the Writings about Old Machinery
Slingshots_Making_11-28-08.pdf	How do you make a slingshot anyway?
SlingShots_Storyboard_11-26-08.pdf	Storyboard for with description in the attachment and as provided in the summary below
Slingshots_PortableSteam_01-13-09.pdf	A Portable Steam Boiler - as the centerpiece of a small town in west Georgia - is the object of this writing; but not just the way-out wagon, but steam power and boilers of all kinds in the bygone days...and even now
Slingshots_BeltConveyor_02-13-09.pdf	Ok, what's so interesting about a belt conveyor? Well sometimes the challenge and rewards come in taking the most overlooked and expounding on what you know and what you can learn. Let's take a look at the less-interesting and, maybe, we can learn something...
Coming next: "F-4 Phantom"	As a note, the F-4 appeared in such movies as: *Forrest Gump,* and The Great Santini, but my most memorable account was a low altitude flyover during a parade at my college.