November 27, 2006

This Sidewalk Runabout is Easy to Build (May, 1938)

Filed under: Automotive, DIY, Toys and Games — @ 9:03 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1938
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This Sidewalk Runabout is Easy to Build

By Hi Sibley

THERE is one definite rule to follow in making a sidewalk automobile—get your engine first and build the car around it. This applies pretty much to the wheels, too.

A half-horsepower, two-cycle washing machine engine is available in nearly all sections of the country, and as these can be had second-hand at a reasonable price and have sufficient power for moderate speeds, they make satisfactory installations. Herewith are working drawings of the little car owned by Richard Weber, of San Marino, California, which is driven by this type of motor and has proved successful for a long period. It is very easy to build.
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November 23, 2006

Uranium For Sale (Mar, 1950)

Filed under: Sign of the Times — @ 7:04 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1950
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Uranium For Sale

A-metal goes on market, and other odd metals find new uses as they step out of chemistry boohs into everyday living.

By Alden P. Armagnac

WANT to buy some uranium? You can, now, for the A-metal’s on the market. Just explain to the New York licensing division of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission what you want it for, satisfy them that you’re a reputable researcher, and you’ll get a license entitling you to send in an order.

To meet legitimate needs, the AEC has authorized the sale of 200 pounds of uranium through normal commercial chemical channels. That’s news, because in recent years every available ounce of the silvery metal has been earmarked as a source of fissionable material for A-bombs and chain-reacting piles.
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Basketball Players Learn from Models (Mar, 1940)

Filed under: General — @ 6:47 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1940
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Basketball Players Learn from Models

Tiny models of players holding basketballs in various shooting and passing positions are being used by Ernest Messikomer, coach of the Temple University squad, in Philadelphia, Pa., to instruct his charges in the fine points of the game. The model players are used on a miniature court, complete with backboards and baskets.

Prunola (Mar, 1922)

Filed under: Advertisements — @ 6:38 pm
Source: Physical Culture ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1922
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Prunola AN IDEAL FOOD

SUNDRIED CALIFORNIA OLIVES AND PRUNES

“PRUNOLA” is an ideal combination of two of California’s most wholesome fruits, retaining their full nutritive values. It is an excellent blood and tissue builder, rich in natural fruit sugar, olive oil, basic mineral elements and vitamines. It is a natural laxative food.

$1.00 SPECIAL OFFER

We want you to know how good and healthful Carque’s unsulphured fruits are and as a special trial offer we will send you postpaid the following assortment, all for $1.00.

1/2 lb. pkg. Prunola
6 oz. ” Black Mission Figs
7 ” ” Smyrna Type
2 ” ” Fruit Laxative
2 ” ” Nut Fruto

Send Your Order Today

We are pioneers in the production of Unsulphured Dehydrated California Fruits, nuts, nut-butters, olives, olive oil, natural whole rice, genuine whole grain flours, etc. Ask for price-list and descriptive booklet “Natural Food of California.”

CARQUE PURE FOOD CO.
2619 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, Cal.

New Weapons for the Next War (Nov, 1931)

Filed under: War — @ 1:19 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1931
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New Weapons for the Next War

by JAY EARLE MILLER

The last war saw the development of tanks, flame throwers, poison gases and airplanes as war weapons—what will the next war bring forth? Little-known facts about the latest death-dealing weapons and the defenses developed to draw their fangs are set forth by Mr. Miller in this absorbing and authoritative article.

A GERMAN patrol of Uhlans, the sunlight glinting on their polished helmets and the tips of their long lances, rode out of the woods above the Marne and down toward a small copse where a scouting detachment of Algerian cavalry, with drawn sabres, laid in wait for them.

The time is mid-August, 1914, just seventeen years ago, and the description is from a recently published volume of war memoirs by a French cavalry officer. Imagine the scene—lances against sabers. Here’s another war-volume, “Fighting Fury”, the autobiography of Major James Mc-Cudden, V. C, the famous “Jimmy” McCudden of the British Royal Air Force, who shot down fifty-seven German machines before he lost his life in an accident. Just seventeen years ago today (August 22, 1914) he, with the British air force in France, saw his first German machine. The ground crew turned out to take pot shots at it with rifles while six English planes took off, armed with home-made hand grenades, in an effort to bomb it down.
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Keep Photo of Deceased on Grave (Oct, 1933)

Filed under: General — @ 1:19 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1933
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Keep Photo of Deceased on Grave

PORTRAITS on tombstones are a decorative idea that is being put into practice throughout the country.

Consult the photo below to see how the idea is worked. A photo medallion of the deceased is cut out and inserted in a frame carved in the headpiece. The photo is then inserted and cemented in place.

A window of heavy isinglass, cemented, with a good grade of transparent waterproof glue, will preserve the photo for years and years against the ravages of time and weather, making a lasting memento to the one whose grave is so marked.

November 22, 2006

Four Novel Toys You Can Make With Rubber Balloons (Jan, 1932)

Filed under: DIY, Toys and Games — @ 3:20 pm
Source: How To Build It ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1932
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Four Novel Toys You Can Make With Rubber Balloons

These drawings show the construction of four novel toys made from circus balloons that will prove highly fascinating. Fill the balloon with hydrogen and attach to it a postcard bearing your name, and a request to return it from whatever point it falls to earth. Thus you can learn in what direction and how far it travels. Another balloon, equipped with a gondola will float in the air like a wartime captive dirigible. The aerial torpedo which zips up through the air is made by affixing fins to an air-filled balloon. The unique air boat cuts through the water under power of air exhaust from blown up balloon.

Inventions New and Interesting (Nov, 1928)

Filed under: General, House and Home — @ 2:53 pm
Source: Scientific American ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1928
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Inventions New and Interesting

LAWN RAKE
This new fan-shaped rake has prongs of tempered, flexible steel that are rigid enough for raking and springy enough for sweeping. Grass is not torn up from the lawn and leaves do not clog the steel prongs.—Master Mfg. Co., 138 Davis Ave., Dayton, Ohio

ICELESS WATER COOLER
One of a number of styles of cabinets, utilizing Frigidaire, which have been designed to cool bottled water in offices and factories. The compact cooling unit is in the lower part of the cabinet.—The Charles E. Hires Co., 206 South 24th St., Philadelphia, Penna.

SINGLE SHOT BLASTER
For use in mining or single shot blasting. Forcing the plug into the unit which looks like a flashlight, fires the shot. It contains three flashlight unit cells.—National Carbon Co., Inc., New York and Saw Francisco
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Shell Ad: A phantom herd… from deep down underground (Aug, 1956)

Filed under: Advertisements — @ 2:46 pm
Source: Scientific American ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1956
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A phantom herd… from deep down underground

Not long ago the primary source of glycerine was herds of cattle! Fats from these animals were transformed, by the makers of soap, into glycerine.

Gliding unseen through underground pipelines to the refinery and then the chemical plant, petroleum has become the partner of cattle herds. From the products of petroleum, Shell Chemical has been making high-quality glycerine since 1948.

Today, Shell glycerine fills about one-third of
America’s needs. It goes into ink, explosives, lipstick … cellophane and tobacco … toothpaste, paint, even sausage casings. It’s used in more than 1500 different ways … in just about every industry.

Manufacture of glycerine from the products of petroleum is another Shell Chemical contribution to the nation’s industry.
Shell Chemical Corporation
Chemical Partner of Industry and Agriculture

Skaters’ pusher: all play, no work (Feb, 1965)

Filed under: Cool, Toys and Games — @ 2:43 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1965
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Skaters’ pusher: all play, no work

The rear skater in the quintet at right furnishes locomotion —the others just go along for the ride.

Strapped to his back is a homemade air propeller powered by a lawn-mower motor. The blade of the pusher fan whirls in a protective wire frame.

Introduced on Como Lake, St. Paul, Minn., it can do 30 m.p.h.— without extra riders.

Hospital Boasts Safety Chute (May, 1938)

Filed under: Cool, Medical — @ 12:12 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1938
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Hospital Boasts Safety Chute

The Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Ga. is equipped with a spiral chute by means of which bed-ridden patients can reach the ground quickly in the event of fire. On each floor of the hospital there is an entrance to the chute and in an emergency the patients are slid down it on a mattress.

THE KID WITH THE KAISER CONTRACT (Dec, 1944)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 12:07 pm
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1944
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THE KID WITH THE KAISER CONTRACT

by Dean Jennings

Stanley Hiller, teen-age tycoon, casually sat down in his workshop and built the co-axial flying machine Da Vinci dreamed about.

WAY back in the florid days of the Renaissance, when painters were social heroes and scientists were frequently hauled off to the clinic for nitwits, the great painter Leonardo Da Vinci invented a flying machine— on paper.

It would have two motors, one above the fuselage, one below, with long horizontal rotor blades revolving in opposite directions. This curious gadget was the father of all helicopters. But Da Vinci’s friends said he was as nutty as a squirrel, assuming they had squirrels in those days, and the idea never got beyond the drawing board.
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