Tests for Balance O.K. High Heels
A METAL pencil has just written upon smoked paper a vindication of high-heeled shoes for women. Testing their effect upon body balance, Dr. Walter Mendenhall, of Boston, finds that girls wearing the much-maligned footgear can often stand more steadily than barefoot subjects. The telltale pencil, attached by a headband, recorded a subject’s wavering upon a chart.

This is pretty gross, but apparently if you slather yourself in ground meat labeled “Energy”, “Strength” and “Muscle”, you will become a man!

What’s My Job? – I Manufacture Weaklings into MEN!

GIVE ME a skinny, pepless, second-rate body —and I’ll cram it so full of handsome, bulging new muscle that your friends will grow bug-eyed! . . . I’ll wake up that sleeping energy of yours and make it hum like a high-powered motor! Man, you’ll feel and look different! You’ll begin to LIVE!
Read the rest of this entry »

Entertaining article that explains all of the latest law enforcement gadgets in 1932. Includes: bullet proof motorcycle and side-car, UV and IR light for investigation, the teletype, the fax machine, electric eye alarm system, security cameras, metal detectors, tear gas granades and more.

view additional pages

New Inventions that Baffle Crooks

by Lew Holt

Inventors working in the cause of law and order, inspired by a recent outbreak of outrageous kidnapings and other crimes, have perfected numerous devices which give the police a new advantage in the perpetual war on criminals. Crime weapons are fully discussed here.

COULD the immortal shade of Sherlock Holmes return to earth, he would find a new delight in using the latest weapons of science to wage war on criminals—criminals, incidentally, of such perverted genius and “big business” organization as to make the notorious Professor Moriarty of Holmes and Watson fame a decided back number.
Read the rest of this entry »

Use Old Phonograph as Grindstone
OLD phonographs can be made to do double duty by changing the turntable into a novel grindstone for sharpening knives, chisels and other small cutting tools.

This home-made sharpener is rigged up by cutting a piece of emery cloth of the circumference of the turn-table and slipping it over the revolving axis. When the motor is started, emery wheel turns.

Eliminates Nicotine From Fag
NICOTINE can now be eliminated from cigarettes by the use of a new device recently introduced in America known as the”Niconette.” The fag is moistened by a special chemical contained in the case which combines with the hot spark of the cigarette to eliminate the nicotine as the smoke is consumed.

Bottled Hen has made her homein a five-gallon jug since she was a week old. Owner B. E. Efird of Landis, N. C, is experimenting with a feed compound that makes hens lay red or green-yoked eggs. The air vents in the side of the jar enable the eight-week-old New Hampshire Red to put her head through to feed. Living in glass houses must agree with hens as she seems to be less neurotic than most fowl.

Odd Device Makes Music From Air
A FRENCH engineer, Rene Bertrand, has developed an instrument which, he claims, will produce music through electrical transcription from the air. How the apparatus operates has not been divulged by the promoters, save for the information that it is far superior to the instrument devised by the Russian scientist, Prof. Theramin. Tone and volume of the music is controlled by the dials on the
two cabinets, while the sounds issue from the two large speakers.

Electrical Device Tests Nerves to Determine Character
CRYSTAL gazing and fortune telling are being supplanted as means to determine inclinations and aptitudes of children by an electrical device which examines one’s character by testing the relative strength of your nerves.

The strange mechanism is an electrical unit operated with two electrodes. One is held in the hand of the subject being tested and the other is moved about on the head. Nerve reactions are tabulated and character’ determined by comparison to chart.

Wow, he looks 20 years younger in the drawing. Will you be his valentine?

view additional pages

TRICK Drawings From PHOTOS

MANY novel effects can be obtained by means of a simple process of converting ordinary photographic prints into black-and-white or colored line drawings. For engineering and other technical purposes, unnecessary or unimportant parts of machinery can be eliminated from a picture and the main structure thus given increased emphasis. For purposes of general illustration—serious or humorous—the faces or figures of people can be exaggerated or caricatured, double pictures built up, extra features inserted, etc. Comparatively little drawing ability is required, as the original print serves as a guide.
Read the rest of this entry »

This would be really usefull for fighting all those underwater fires…

New Mask for Diving, Fire Fighting
QUITE Frankenstein-like is the Los Angeles fireman, shown at the left, who is wearing the last word in fire fighting equipment. The device is a self-contained breathing apparatus designed to purify any atmosphere from the interior of a burning building to a flaming oil well fire. It may also be used under water to a depth of approximately 16 feet.

TOY WALKIE-TALKIE THRILLS YOUNG COMMANDOS
THAT young “commando” in your home will be the envy of the neighborhood when he goes out to play war with a toy walkie-talkie like that shown above. For all its G.I. look, the toy is built of scrap stock and a length of webbing or a belt.

The rectangular case is a 2-1/2″ by 3″ by 10″ closed box, with rounded top and bottom pieces overhanging the sides 1/8″ all around. Make the body of two 1/2″ by 2″ by 9″ pieces and two that are 1/2″ by 2-1/2″ by 9″, gluing and nailing the simple butt joints for strength. The mouth and ear pieces shown are turned in a lathe and then sawed off on a diagonal, as shown in the drawing, but if you are good at whittling there is no reason why you can’t shape them by hand. Two dowels form dummy controls on one side.

How the telescoping antenna is put together is shown in the drawing. Drilling the 1/2″ diameter dowel takes great care, and it is best to drill from both ends.
Finish with khaki paint and trim with white as in the photo.—Frank Mccarty.

Powered Wheel Chair Goes 25 M.P.H.
TIRED of pushing himself around in an ordinary wheel chair, Charles Bancroft, of Port Arthur, Texas, constructed a
three-wheeled vehicle which resembles an armored car in its general appearance. The home-built car is powered by a two-horsepower motor salvaged from a lawn mower and features a motorcycle transmission, the combination enabling the vehicle to travel about 60 miles on a gallon of gasoline.