Umbrella Follows Modern Trend With “Safety” Window

THE old umbrella, for ages untouched by the forward moving wheels of progress, has responded to the spirit of the times with the addition of a new front window to afford better vision.

Hitherto, the umbrella user either had to carry his umbrella so high that it was of no practical use, or he pulled it down and took reckless chances of collision with oncoming pedestrians.

The new isinglass window eliminates these hazards, and affords a chance for people to use their umbrellas to shed the rain without fear of poking out the eyes of a fellow citizen.

Operating a TV station using electro-mechanical equipment looks really hard. That camera looking thingy at the bottom of the page is not in fact a camera, but an arc lamp. In front of the lamp is a spinning disc with holes punched in it which scans the light across the subject. The “camera” is actually composed of those six light-bulb looking things in front of the subject. They are just ordinary photo-electric cells.

And to view it at home? Here’s what you need:

“you will require a 60-hole scanning disc, revolving at 1200 revolutions a minute, giving 20 frames a second. Further, you will need two short-wave receivers, if you desire to pick up both image and voice frequencies. The images are transmitted on 107 meters, and the sound is sent out from W2XE’s shortwave transmitter on 49 meters.”

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Latest Television Broadcast Station

CHICAGO, Toronto, Boston and Washington have recently reported the regular reception of both “sight” and “sound” signals from the new Columbia television station W2XAB, and its accompanying sound transmitter W2XE. The Columbia “telecasting” station was opened on July 21 last, when the Hon. James J. Walker, mayor of New York City, lifted the curtain from the photo-electric cells; which formally marked the opening of the station. The television transmitting apparatus and antenna systems are adjacent to the studio, which is located on the 23rd floor of the Columbia Building at 485 Madison
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TOMORROW’S HOME: Comfort in Cubes

In a few years, do-it-yourselfers may be playing a gigantic game of dominoes—using aluminum cubes to build an efficient, mobile and low-cost home

By MERLE E. DOWD

HOLLOW aluminum cubes —12 ft. square with translucent plastic tops and variable wall panels—might be the building blocks for tomorrow’s do-it-yourself homebuilder.

The cubes, which could be put together domino-like to form any floor plan you want, are the basic unit for a startling experimental “Industrialized House” which was brain-stormed by famed designers George Nelson and Co., Inc., of New York.
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Electric Pin Boys Go Home

A MAN who wouldn’t give up after everyone else had failed has produced what bowlers the world over have wanted ever since the game was invented—a machine that will “spot” tenpins on the alley.
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Inflated Plastic Suit Shields Worker in Atomic Laboratory

Radioactive dust doesn’t bother a worker at the General Electric plutonium plant in Richland, Wash., who walks around in a plastic balloon. The suit provides a protective barrier against radiation in “hot” areas, permitting checking for contamination, cleanup and maintenance work. A flexible plastic tunnel at the rear of the suit connects to a port in the wall, provides air and serves as an entrance and exit passage. An air mask is worn ready for use in case the suit develops a leak. The suit and tunnel remain inflated because air inside the contaminated room is at a lower pressure than air on the outside. Any flow of air is into the contaminated area rather than out.

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Here’s an unusual photographic hobby:

Table-Top Photos of Grasshoppers

CREATING LIFELIKE SCENES in miniature is Dr. Lehman Wendell’s way of relaxing. The Minneapolis dentist arranges his insect “actors” with dime-store props. Their stage is the top of a tahle in the basement; lighting is supplied by two ordinary bulbs, one cm each side. Dr. Wendell snaps the scenes with a single-lens reflex camera and does his own processing.

This is a pretty remarkable invention for it’s time. A color, plain paper, fax machine from 1946 that used colored pencils to print the output. The resulting image looks a lot like a printout from my first color inkjet printer. Sending a 7×10″ picture in full color took about 15 minutes, which seems pretty damn reasonable to me.

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Tune In a Painting

PSM photos by Hubert Luckett

TAKE a good look at the front cover of this issue of your Popular Science Monthly. You are looking at something you have never seen before—a picture that was transmitted by radio in one operation and imprinted on a sheet of ordinary paper.

This is known as color facsimile. It is the product of years of effort to transmit an image by wire or radio and reproduce it perfectly on ordinary paper at the receiving point. It was developed by Finch Telecommunications. Inc., of Passaic, N. J. Finch labels it “Colorfax.”
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Senate Subway Is Safest In U. S.

CLAIMED to be the safest subway system in the world, the Senate subway, connecting the Senate office building with the Capitol, has been operating without a single accident for the past 24 years. Only two cars are used on the line which operates on an overhead rail system with the current being supplied by a conductor in the floor. The motormen ride in the center of the cars since they cannot be turned around at the end of the run.

Each car has a normal seating capacity of 24 and travels at a maximum speed of 5 miles per hour. When installed in 1912 the complete system cost the government only $9,500 and in its years of operation has cost very little for upkeep. While only United States Senators may call the cars anyone may ride them upon invitation. Yearly thousands of visitors are offered a “lift” by the lawmakers.

Very interesting article about how the UPI used to report and distribute news. I’ll bet their operation ran a lot like this up untill about the 70’s when computers started taking over.

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Racing Time For News Scoops

By ROBERT L. FREY

Executive Assistant United Press Associations

NEWS travels fast. It circles the globe like lightning while historic events are still in the making.

The world was reading the tragic details of the Morro Castle disaster while her passengers were still leaping from the burning decks of the doomed Ward Liner into the storm-swept waters of the Atlantic.

Less than 20 minutes after first radio operator Rogers sent his SOS from the Morro Castle, the tragic story was flashed over United Press leased wires into newspaper offices from coast to coast. Cables carried it to Europe, South America and the Orient.
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Checkers for the Invalid

Checkers or chess can be played by invalids and blind persons with slotted boards that hold the pieces in place. Each square is numbered with raised numerals so the blind can identify them. The black pieces have one flattened side for identification by touch. The key slots hold the pieces in place even though the board is tilted as it would have to be when used by many bedridden persons.

Fluorescent Bars in Lamp Replace Electric Bulbs
Several fluorescent bars replace the traditional bulbs in a new type floor lamp to produce a pleasant reading effect, and may burn twenty-four hours straight without emitting noticeable heat. The average life of the fluorescent tubes is about 2,500 lighting hours, and the stand can be fitted with a standard lamp shade.