Twenty Walls for Better Lights…

This shell is half of an icosahedron—a fancy word for a 20-sided room—used by Westinghouse engineers to test new street-lighting fixtures. When the technician above has adjusted the globe enclosing a bulb, the other half of the odd-shaped room is attached, and multiple walls give an even distribution of light. Brightness is then measured by a photocell mounted in a window at one side. For comparison, a bare bulb is similarly tested in the auxiliary socket at left.

This is a pretty fun article that does a pretty mediocre job of predicting the future. Must have been those damn labor-unions that held everything back. My favorite prediction is that used underwear will be recycled into candy.

view additional pages

Miracles You’ll See In The Next Fifty Years

By Waldemar Kaempffert

Science Editor, The New York Times

WHAT WILL the world be like in A.D. 2000? You can read the answer in your home, in the streets, in the trains and cars that carry you to your work, in the bargain basement of every department store. You don’t realize what is happening because it is a piecemeal process. The jet-propelled plane is one piece, the latest insect killer is another. Thousands of such pieces are automatically dropping into their places to form the pattern of tomorrow’s world.

The only obstacles to accurate prophecy are the vested interests, which may retard progress for economic reasons, tradition, conservatism, labor-union policies and legislation. If we confine ourselves to processes and inventions that are now being hatched in the laboratory, we shall not wander too far from reality.
Read the rest of this entry »

Mystery Top
How does it work? A mysterious top, spun on a smooth surface in the ordinary manner, spins normally for a few seconds, then rolls over and continues to spin on its stem. Eventually, as it “runs down,” the plastic top rolls over on its side and finally resumes its normally upright position. It comes in two-color combinations.

view additional pages

The Amazing Story of Stainless Steel

RUST which, it is estimated, causes a loss of about one billion dollars a year in this age of steel, today is in full retreat before an advance that began about a generation ago. Strangely enough, the big guns of war played a key part in the early stages of the battle.

The history of man’s attempt to conquer rust goes back almost to the time when the first iron tool was fashioned. The most important chapters, however, have been written since the beginning of the present century.
Read the rest of this entry »

GOLD-SILVER-COINS
Easily located with new Lightweight M-Scope Detector. Superior performance, lowest price, monthly payment plan.
FREE LITERATURE
FISHER RESEARCH LAB., INC.
PALO ALTO CALIF.

It looks like she is defying God to strike her dead with a lightning bolt.

Lightweight, Transparent Rain Suit for Golfers

Protection from rain, without noticeable weight or interference with the wearer’s freedom of movement, is afforded golfers by a transparent rain suit. The suit consists of a long-sleeved jacket and trousers.

Police Identification System “Fingerprints” Faces

FACES are classified like fingerprints, to index hundreds of thousands of portraits, in the criminal files of Los Angeles County, Calif. A ruled glass screen called a “physiogmograph,” applied to each photograph, enables experts to determine accurately such information as facial height and width, and the size and shape of nose and mouth. Characteristics also noted include position of the ears, height, weight, general build, and the color of hair, eyes, and complexion. Finally, all these items are ingeniously combined in a number-and-letter code symbol, such as 11/5 NUFCFLCHD, under which the picture is filed.
Read the rest of this entry »

view additional pages

How Your Automatic Toaster Works

YOU push down the handle, wait . . . and the bread pops up all by itself, toasted to a turn. Ever stop to wonder how the toaster knows enough to brown your slice without burning it?

Automatic toasters are mostly of two types—both ingenious. One has a thermostat that cooks with the toast and switches off the current after the right amount of heat. The other kind is timed by clockwork, but uses a thermostat to speed up the machinery when full heat is reached. Here is what goes on inside both types, shown in Toastmaster toasters through the courtesy of A. Lockyer of Toaster Appliance Sales
and Service Co., New York City.

Beating Bombs Into Mufflers
PRACTICE air bombs, left over from the war, are being converted to a peacetime job. Air Forces trucks and autos in Germany urgently need mufflers, so the Bruck Air Ordnance Depot at Nuremberg is making them from surplus-bomb stocks.

The project, started late in 1946, Has already turned out more than 4,600 truck mufflers. Now the production line is well into an order for 2,200 jeep mufflers. Capacity is 600 of these a week.

Even Necktie Designers Can Use Electrons

FABRIC designers in search of inspiration may well turn to a television receiver, General Electric engineers suggest.

When they test cathode-ray tubes for modern sets by applying varying voltages, the engineers have found that the flying electron beam often sketches traceries of striking beauty upon the luminescent viewing screen. Ranging from random squig-gles to intricate geometrical lacework, the designs offer fascinating possibilities for dresses, scarves, ties and draperies.
Read the rest of this entry »

Spring Heels Make Walking Easier
THESE spring heels are claimed to be the latest aid for prolonging life by their inventor, a Swiss shoemaker. The lower portion of the heel is attached to the upper by means of small springs. These eliminate all jars to the various organs of the body which are experienced by wearers of ordinary shoes.

HAIR GROWS! when our Vacuum Cap is used a few minutes daily. Sent on 60 days FREE trial at our expense. No drugs or electricity. Stops falling hair, cures dandruff. A postal brings illustrated booklet.
MODERN VACUUM CAP CO.
499 Barclay Denver, Colorado