Then there are washing machines and dryers. Most new models are stuffed to the guts with computer chips, but older styles are still available, new (Speed Queen) or used (appliance refurbishment shops). Old ones are purely electro-mechanical, with some rather ingenious timer boards that do a lot with only a few contacts, a tiny motor, and a large resistor.
(I helped repair an old dryer a few months ago: the large resistor is for the dryer's auto dry mode. The wetter the clothes, the more power the heating coils will draw through the resistor, which lowers the voltage of the power the timer motor receives, slowing it down. Once the clothes start getting dry, the voltage goes back up and the timer speeds up again.)
Interesting, good examples.
"The wetter the clothes, the more power the heating coils will draw through the resistor, which lowers the voltage of the power the timer motor receives, slowing it down. Once the clothes start getting dry, the voltage goes back up and the timer speeds up again."
Sounds like this kind of ingenuity is on its way out, though. I expect the vast majority of washers/dryers have semiconductors in today.
Is this still the case for the newer battery electric variants of these tools? The battery itself will have microchips for the BMS, and if those tools are using BLDC motors, those motors will contain a controller likely implemented with microchips.
* it's surprising how many dishwashers still use spring-loaded timers to sequence their operations. Although at this point mine is 19 years old so maybe that doesn't count.
* Likewise, my iron filter is sequenced by a mechanical timer (run off an electric motor), but my water softener's controller is fully electronic.
* A lot of houses still have mechanical mercury thermostats.
* The flush valve in your toilet tank is completely mechanical and surprisingly complex. Once you take it completely apart you realize that there's more to it than just a float that shuts off a valve.
* I'm always amazed by the centrifugal clutches in weed whackers and small gas-powered lawn appliances.
Should be more things I can come up with...
yeah, the houses that have heat. ask an HVAC guy about the new digital thermostats. I'm not even talking about the Nest etc. smart home ones, just the basic new digital ones that croak after three years. Keep the mercury-switch ones as long as you can.
Moka pot / press to do coffee. Lasts ten years easily.
All my tools and powertools. Some of them are old, really, really old (I've got my "favorite" screwdriver which is 30 years old). Some are manual, some require electricity.
Using daily my mechanical watch and my floorstanding loudspeakers which others mentioned. The loudspeakers are hooked to an amp to DAC to computer, so the "chain" is not exactly microchip free though.
EDIT: also various types of chimneys and stoves are still microchips free. Although there's a move towards freaking "smart" pellets stove that require electricity, WiFi, that are noisy but, hey, they're programmable. Thanks but no thanks. Good old chimney for me.
Also many plumbing related things in a house such as faucets, temperature shutoff valves, toilets.
Manual kitchen gadgets are usually pretty simple but still interesting. Peelers and slicers, pasta machines, oil expeller, scales.
But the magnetron in them is complex, has to be machined to a high precision, yet they are a pretty old piece of completely analog technology.
https://www.lg.com/us/cooking-appliances/lg-LMC0975ST-counte...
Recently I interacted with a brand new but old-schoolish one (dials and all), which was only openable by pushing a big analog button (which required a surprising amount of force). And this design seems common despite the totally idiotic UX of pushing a button that slightly opens the door, so then you have to open the door by hand, instead of putting a fucking handle on the door so it could be one move. (Probably because it's that much cheaper to have a door without a handle.)
After reading this thread my list is:
* Toilets
* Bicycles
* Water heaters
* Locks
* Guns
The rest seem either a little too specialized, simple, or already in the process of being replaced by things with microchips.
A few of these may be replaced as well (locks?), but it's not quite happening yet.
Tankless water heaters are necessarily much more fancy.
I have only seen the tank style in the U.S. So it seems to fit, though I guess you are implying those will get replaced by something better.
Stapler
Loud-speakers
Shop vac
But a basic speaker (driver) that's been around for decades is essentially a small linear motor: one moving part and very simple in operation.
[1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics-Computer-Speakers-Desk...
Locks? Guns? What else?
EDIT: perhaps an extra requirement that it's fairly durable, i.e. easily lasts ten years of normal use.
EDIT2: maybe it should also fit the requirement that it's a current model in production and that you don't have to go out of your way to find a non-semiconductor version.