Before the invention of electronic amplifiers, mechanically coupled carbon microphones were also used as amplifiers in telephone repeaters for long distance service.

Before the invention of the integrated circuit in 1959, electronic circuits were constructed from discrete components that could be manipulated by humans.

Before the invention of reliable electrical methods, hot tube and flame methods were used.

Before the invention of woodblock printing in China or by moveable type in a printing press in Europe, all written documents had to be both produced and reproduced by hand.

Before the invention of synthetic dyes, mushrooms were the source of many textile dyes.

Before the invention of clocks, people marked the time of day with apparent solar time ( also called " true " solar time ) – for example, the time on a sundial – which was typically different for every settlement.

Before the invention of the self-propelled torpedo the term was applied to any number of different types of explosive devices, generally having the property of being secret or hidden, including devices which today would include booby traps, land mines and naval mines.

Before the invention of measuring tools ( like weights, meter sticks, clocks, etc.

Before the invention of crinoline, women's underwear was often very large and bulky.

Before the invention of artillery, many of the world's cities and towns, particularly in Europe and Asia, had protective walls ( also called town walls or city walls ).

Before the invention of electronic amplifiers, mechanically coupled carbon microphones were used as amplifiers in telephone repeaters.

Before the invention of electric lighting, candles and oil lamps were commonly used for illumination.

Before the invention of the printing press, stories were passed on via oral tradition.

Before this, Huang ( 皇 ) and Di ( 帝 ) were given as titles of a number of rulers from the era known as the " sage kings " period, supposedly predating written history, but probably coinciding with or following the invention and early stages of evolution for the Chinese writing system.

Before the invention of photography, people commonly hired painters and engravers to " re-create " an event or a scene.

Before printed circuits ( and for a while after their invention ), point-to-point construction was used.

Before the invention of spinning yarn or weaving fabric, archaeologists believe Stone Age people across Europe and Asia sewed fur and skin clothing using bone, antler or ivory needles and " thread " made of various animal body parts including sinew, catgut, and veins.

Before its invention, wet country roads became muck and were often nearly impassable.

Before 1925, recording was done by the same purely mechanical, non-electronic " acoustical " method used since the invention of the phonograph nearly fifty years earlier.

Before the invention of the variometer, sailplane pilots found it very hard to soar.

Before Mergenthaler's invention of the linotype in 1884, no newspaper in the world had more than eight pages.

Before this invention, coal was mined from underground with a pick and shovel.

Before the fuze's invention, detonation had to be induced either by direct contact, or a timer set at launch, or an altimeter.

Before the invention of the car, whiplash injuries were called " railroad spine " as they were noted mostly in connection with train collisions.

Before the invention of impermeable glass bottles, oxygen caused many wines to spoil within the year.

Before divesting them, the chemical giant owned consumer products Eveready and Energizer batteries, Glad bags and wraps, Simoniz car wax, and Prestone antifreeze.

Before hitting the pole, Mr. Stone's car brushed against a car driven by Alva W. Vernava, 21, of 23 Maple Ave., North Providence, tearing away the rear bumper and denting the left rear fender of the Vernava car, police said.

Before the Civil War, Carnegie arranged a merger between Woodruff's company and that of George M. Pullman, the inventor of a sleeping car for first class travel which facilitated business travel at distances over.

Before the Datsun brand name came into being, an automobile named the DAT car was built in 1914, by the, in the Azabu-Hiroo District in Tokyo.

His mechanic Mabelli said about this race: " Before the start, Nuvolari told me to go down on the floor of the car every time he shouts, which was a signal that he went to a curve too fast and that we need to decrease the car ´ s center of mass.

Before the law requiring a mandatory crash test in 1970 there was a booming kit car industry in Sweden with most companies basing their kits on the VW Beetle chassis.

Before the season began, Häkkinen and team-mate Nigel Mansell had complained the new car had been too small for them to fit in and they suffered from their hands and elbows bashing on the sides of the cockpit.

Before his graduation, Kelley got a job as a drugstore's car hop.

I used to be red when I'd play in front of people because I believed they were looking at my hand, which they probably weren't ... Before my accident with my finger occurred, my oldest brother was killed in a car accident and two weeks afterward my younger sister had her big toe cut off.

Before the would-be assassins can confirm if Tintin was killed, Haddock, having heard the gunfire, arrives in his car, causing them to flee.

" Before his death at age 83 in 1931, the prolific inventor amassed a record 1, 093 patents for creations including the phonograph, a stock ticker, the motion-picture camera, the incandescent lightbulb, a mechanical vote counter, the alkaline storage battery including one for an electric car, and the first commercial electric light.

Before leaving town, Marge questions Jerry again, asking him about the car used in the Brainerd murders.

Before the Tamar Bridge was opened, most car drivers wishing to travel between Saltash ( on the Cornish side ) and the Devon city of Plymouth used car ferries.

Tupac Shakur's bodyguard, Frank Alexander, produced a documentary about the murder, Tupac Shakur: Before I Wake, in which he stated that it would be inconceivable that Suge, who was the driver of the car in which Tupac was killed, and a very large man, would put himself in the path of bullets if he knew they were coming.

Before the scene is shot, Eli points to the Duesenberg and explains it is the only copy of the vintage car that the production has.

Before the opening credits begin, a dedication to Yusuf Hawkins is shown, who was killed on August 23, 1989, in Bensonhurst, New York, by neighborhood folk who believed the youth was involved with a white girl in the neighborhood, though he was actually in the neighborhood to inquire about a used car for sale in the area.

Before her second solo album was completed, Lopes died in a car crash while filming a documentary in Honduras, which would later be released as The Last Days of Left Eye in 2007 on VH1.

Before his coming to America, Trungpa drove a sports car into a joke shop in Dumfries, Scotland.

Before restructuring ( beginning circa 2000 ), Hyundai's major areas of activity included shipbuilding, car manufacture, construction, retailing, finance, and electronics.

Before they can agree on anything, another car shows up.

Before computer generated imagery special effects, these effects were limited to the use of models, false perspective and other in-camera effects, unless the creator could find someone willing to jump from car to car or hang from the edge of a skyscraper: the stunt performer or stunt double.