Re: Old (irreplacible?) Ealing Air Table

[Stanley A Dodds <dodds@ruf.rice.edu>]

Dave Seely writes:

> Does anyone out there know if anyone still makes the large air table once
> sold by Ealing?  It measures about 48 inches on each side, and has a black
> acrylic top. I have been unable to locate Ealing (Ealing Electro-Optics
> exists, but it is a different company), though I note that one of the air
> tables sold by Fisher has Ealing's name on it.  The air tables sold by
> Cenco, Frey, Sargent-Welch, and Leybold are different.

About five years ago I contacted Ealing Electro-Optics about the old
educational products. (I wanted to buy some more of the air gyros.)
Eventually I spoke with a person who recognized what I was talking
about and she told me that all those items had been discontinued years
before. The small Fisher table may be a resurrection, but I haven't
seen one in person to know for sure.

> Alternatively, does anyone have one of the 48-inch an Ealing air tables that
> they might want to sell?

We never had one of the big Ealing tables, but recently acquired a
partial substitute for demos. Air hockey tables work well, if you
replace the wimpy fan with a regular air track blower. They can be
big, also: Ours is 4 x 7 feet. Quite spectacular with an overhead TV
camera. The disadvantage is that they are not as flat as one would
like, so collisions etc. have to be fast to avoid confusing the issue
with drift.