Automatic Machine Cuts Ice Into Small Cubes

THIS machine saws a 300-pound piece of ice into standard size ice cubes in about seven minutes. The cake of ice stands on its end on a small elevator. As the sawing progresses, the block of ice is automatically raised about one and one-half inches at a time. The top of the cake is cut off by a horizontal saw to make an ice slab of the correct thickness. This slab then is subjected to the action of two sets of vertical saws, so that the ice is cut lengthwise and crosswise into cubes which then drop into the iceman’s bag, or are carried to storage by a conveyor. The clean “snow” resulting from the cutting can be used for many purposes, and is stored within the cabinet in a box which is easily emptied while the device is operating. The machine is entirely automatic and safe.

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Novel Cigarette Automat

YOU probably never saw a real live bird that looked like this one, but then you never saw a real live bird do what this one does. When you want a cigarette he bobs down and comes up with one in his beak, just like that. Unlike most trick cigarette boxes, this one won’t be discarded very soon because you and your friends will never get tired of having cigarettes handed to you in this novel manner.
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Long before computer labs and internet cafes people had to make due with coin-op typewriters.

Living Automatically

New machines ready to serve at the drop of a coin

A New York restaurant has substituted machinery for waiters. The diner needs only to write out the order and drop the card into a slot in the table, as above (see PSM, Apr. ‘40, p. 126). In a basement kitchen the food is prepared and, course by course, served through the center of the table, which operates like a dumb-waiter (right) by hand or hydraulic power, compressed air, or electricity.
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Make Trailer From Defunct Auto

OLD automobile bodies that have been consigned to the junkyard can still do a lot of good in the world, for they can be pressed into service as very substantial trailers.

The chief operation you will have to perform on the auto is the cutting ofF of the front at about the point of the dashboard. This disposes of the motor and its weight. You can easily contrive your own coupling. In the photo above the side members of the chassis are bent in, to form a V, at the point of which is attached the coupler.

Of course, weight should be reduced to a minimum. Strip the machine down to its essentials, and you’ll have accommodations for extra passengers and luggage when you go camping.

Cereal Package Has Five Kinds

TO INSURE freshness and provide variety in breakfast-cereals, one food corporation is now packing five different kinds of dry cereal in one carton. Inclosed within a transparent, moistureproof wrapper, the carton contains ten small-size packages of cereal, each holding one individual serving. Two small packages of each kind of cereal are included. Thus, a fresh package is opened whenever cereal is desired.

Bulletproof Body Turns Any Auto into an Armored Car

Every automobile in the United States is potentially an armored car, under a plan recently proposed to aid the national defense program. The scheme would provide tanklike bodies of half-inch steel which could be speedily mounted on the chassis of standard cars. Swarms of these “minute man tanks,” the proponents claim, would prove an invaluable aid in combating invaders and parachute troops.

Runners Convert Wagon

Four small wheel runners quickly convert this child’s wagon into a steerable sled for use in winter. Patented by Emil Lersch, of Pensacola, Fla., the ski-like, turned-up metal runners are each clamped firmly to a wheel of the wagon by a pair of side plates shaped to conform closely to the wheel’s contours. In addition, angled braces between the runners and the axles provide lateral stability.

This is pretty remarkable. Apparently the best way to filter the results of a radar, even in as late as 1955 was to actually build the display CRT so that it just cut off part of the rear signal and fit in more of the forward signal. As opposed to some sort of tunable electronics that would allow you to change the scale and proportion displayed. This seems sort of wasteful since they obviously have front and rear signals that go out to 50 miles but are perfectly happy throwing that data away…

Off-Center Radar Picture Tube Gives Added Forward Vision

Ships can “see” 50 miles ahead and 30 miles behind with a special radar cathode-ray tube. General Electric, which developed it, calls it the “far-sighted, nearsighted radar indicator tube.” Engineers built the first tube by taking a standard 17-inch TV picture tube and installing a different phosphor screen and electron gun. Then they bent the glass neck of the tube five degrees so that the electron gun would give an off-center indication on the screen. The tube, used on Navy cargo vessels, gives added forward vision without the addition of a larger tube and a more expensive radar set.

SAFETY ON SKIS

A ski binding that spring-cushions minor shocks and automatically releases the boot under abnormal strain is said to be an answer to the most common skiing hazards. In a bad spill the foot instantly snaps free. Tavi Products Inc., of New York, makes it to sell for about $10. It may be attached to any ski.

Rock-A-By Razor

This nonelectric razor gives you a dry shave when you hold it against the skin and rock it gently back and forth. Its two blades, explains the British manufacturer, cut the whiskers by a scissors movement. At the same time the guard sharpens the blades, and is said to give them a life of several years. The blades, moving in a half circle, crop the beard bristles that project through the perforated guard shown above.

Belt Drive Replaces Wheels On Novel Motorcycle

DEVELOPED primarily for operation over rough ground, a new type of motorcycle invented by J. Lehaitre, of Paris, France, features a tractor-type drive belt as its means of locomotion in place of conventional wheels. Named the “tractor-cycle” by the inventor, the novel vehicle is said to be superior to an ordinary motorcycle in its ability to climb steep and rough grades, although its speed on level ground is limited to about 25 m.p.h. Steering is accomplished by handlebars which control a sideways motion of the drive belt.

The tractor-cycle could easily be adapted for military use, as depicted on the cover of this issue by a Modern Mechanix artist. Fitted with a machine gun, the cycle could be used by dispatch riders or entire military units to travel over shell-torn terrain.