Two Can Play Big Harmonica
THE mouth organ or harmonica, long a favorite instrument for the old fashioned barn dance and country “hoedown,” has grown increasingly popular, thanks to its extensive use by hillbilly bands. Its latest development is a giant harmonica 41 inches long and with a scale range of 320 notes. On it two players can make harmonious duets of “Turkey In De Straw,” “Wreck Of The Old ‘97,” and other old time hits. The only disadvantage is that this big fellow is too large to be carried in the pocket.

I wonder if they installed it outside the Piggly Wiggly.

Electric Pony Bucks and Trots
A NEW entertainment device which holds lots of fun for the youngsters is an electrical pony invented by Otto Hahs, a mechanic of Sikeston, Mo. The pony is operated by electricity and is set in motion by depositing a nickel in a slot in the neck of the beast. The pony lopes, trots and bucks, the rider regulating the gait with the bridle reins, to suit his tastes.

Everyone knows that the pin-up girls men like most are the pocket sized ones!

PIN-UP GIRLS
The kind men like! (Pocket size). 10 different PINUPS sent for 50c or 25 assorted for $1. Shipped prepaid in plain wrapper. No C. O. D.’s. Send cash or money order. No stamps.
NUDKI, Dept.P-236
Box 126, G.P.O., New York 1

Electric Chicken Plucker
Lay a scalded chicken or turkey against the whirling 4-1/2-inch rubber fingers of this electric machine, and in a jiffy the bird will be stripped of feathers. Half a minute per chicken is average. Machine is made by Mercury Company, Los Angeles, Calif.

It seems like having to have a belt drive connect both the transmitter and receiver might be a bit of a limitation, but this is still pretty neat. I wonder what the results looked like?

Simplified Electric Picture Transmitter

A COUPLE of sardine and salmon cans, a few bits of brass and several pieces of wood are all the materials that are needed to assemble an experimental but very practical picture transmitter and receiver.

Two of each of the cans will be needed. The salmon cans should be of the small or half can size and the end that has been opened should be replaced by soldering in water tight, a new disc of tin.
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It would be so cool if airmail really worked this way.

Chicago’s Airmail Pick-up Catapults Mail Bags To Planes
DRAWINGS revealing the operation of the pick-up device used at the 1934 Century of Progress in delivering and receiving mail from planes in flight have been revealed by the inventor, Dr. Lytle S. Adams of Chicago.

Most ingenious feature of the device is the method by which the incoming bag is released and the outgoing mail tossed into the air. As the plane flies directly over the chute, the comparatively fragile wire dangling from the plane is broken at the mail bag as it reaches the end of a narrowing chute in the pick-up device, releasing the bag. A steel ball on the dangling wire trips a lever which catapults a new sack out of the chute and into the air. Shock absorbers on the plane take up any jars not offset by the catapult when picking up a new bag of mail.

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Can We Ever Fly Faster Than Sound?

A seemingly impassable barrier blocks the way to higher plane speeds. Can we hurdle it? Our aviation editor gives his views.

By C. B. COLBY

Drawings by STEWART ROUSE

DESPITE glowing newspaper reports, man cannot now fly at the speed of sound. In fact it is doubtful, according to the best authorities, that man has ever closely approached sonic speed (764 m.p.h, at sea level and 664 m.p.h, at 40,000 feet), let alone attain or exceed it. Speeds of over 500 m.p.h, in level flight are a serious challenge to design and power-plant engineers. Even in a terminal-velocity dive (straight down with all stops open), it is doubtful that any pilot has attained the speed of sound.
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Hunts Needle in a Haystack
How long does it take to find a needle in a haystack ? Jim Moran, Washington, D. C, publicity man, recently dropped a needle into a convenient pile of hay, hopped in after it, and began an intensive search for (a) some publicity and (b) the needle. Having found the former, Moran abandoned the needle hunt.

Novel Service Breaks In New Shoes
Breaking in stiff new shoes for persons with tender feet or for women who want to squeeze a size-eight foot into a size-six shoe, is one of the unique services performed by the operators of a New York City firm. A corps of girls takes on this unenviable task, while the proprietors busy themselves with other unusual requests of clients, such as filling a midnight call for a violinist to play a sick child to sleep, and first scouting around for and then purchasing two penguins as a present for a pet lover.

Skeleton From Auto Parts
UTILIZING odd parts of old autos, a Tampa, Fla., firm dealing in used auto parts constructed a skeleton from a headlight, spring leaves, connecting rods, ring gears, pinions and starting gears. The unique “ghost” of many a long departed car, instead of scaring people away, attracted them, and many who came to laugh stayed to buy.

Record Holds Voice and Picture
NOW you can take a talking picture of yourself with a new coin-operated electric photo dispenser which snaps your picture and at the same time records your voice—all while you wait.

The record which reproduces the voice has a sensitized photo paper in the center, and a hand mike is used in conjunction with the machine. When you have done your stuff, the record is delivered in a receptacle as shown in the accompanying drawing.

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William B. Stout and his Wonderful “SKYCAR”

by J. A. Greenberg

BILL STOUT, the genius of Dearborn, Michigan, has been responsible for more revolutionary innovations in the design and construction of automobiles and airplanes than has any other man, living or dead. Yet he has found time to create such minor novelties as the first gasoline-driven railroad car, the first Diesel-electric streamlined train, a streamlined motorbus lighter and faster than any then manufactured, a brick conveyor which saved thousands of dollars in building construction, an improved theater seat, an air-conditioned bed, and, among other things, a staggering number of mechanical toys. He has been credited with more technical inventions than any man since Edison.
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