If you are thinking of making this, keep in mind that 21 new elements have been discovered since it was printed. You can find out more at http://www.webelements.com/.

view additional pages

Building Blocks of Science

By HOWARD W. BLAKESLEE

Science Editor, The Associated Press

THE periodic table of the elements—the 96 metals, nonmetals and gases that form everything in the material universe— is the blueprint of the atomic future.

This table states a very simple fact: Everything material is made of three kinds of particles; namely, neutrons, protons and electrons. The difference between any two elements, iron and oxygen, for example, is in the number of particles.

On a map, specific places are always at specific points. The periodic table is like that. It tells facts about the elements that never change.

Although the table does not show where to look for uranium, it indicates the likely mineral formations. It shows that the kind of chain reaction that makes uranium bombs cannot be achieved without uranium’s aid. It also gives the limits of the uranium reaction and guarantees that it will not explode the earth.

Read the rest of this entry »

Corkscrew Puts Leverage on Stubborn Stoppers

Even the most stubborn cork is said to be tamed by the powerful leverage of a new corkscrew. Inserting the screw in the cork, by turning a winged key, raises a pair of geared arms to a horizontal position. Push the arms down again, and out comes the cork, under pressure applied through a flange that fits over the neck of the bottle. The two operations are shown in the pictures below.

Before the web and cable news made them ubiquitous you actually had to order your “year in review” roundup on film.

Own Castle Film’s “NEWS PARADE OF THE YEAR”

Momentous events of 1946! Filmed ’round the world as history Was made! The greatest and most dramatic news stories packed into one thrilling reel of authentic movies —now yours to own and treasure in future years. This tenth annual Castle Film, now world famous, is a “must” for every home-movie projector owner. A complete motion picture in one reel of all the year’s most important events! Order yours now!

FREE!

All this in ONE Film!

• Atomic Bombings at Bikini!

• Great Turf Classics!

• War’s Aftermath

Read the rest of this entry »

$1.00 and coupon below WOULD HAVE SAVED THEM FROM POVERTY
A tiny sum invested today—and those precious lives that are in your keeping are made safe by old line, legal reserve life insurance. There is nothing complicated, nothing difficult. The Postal Life Insurance Company which has paid more than $40,000,000 to policy holders and has been known all over the world for 28 years, is now making a timely special offer which no one can afford to miss.

Read the rest of this entry »

Midget Bus Carries Nine Children

A HIP high miniature bus which seats nine juvenile passengers and the driver has made its appearance on the streets of St. Paul, Minn. Four storage batteries mounted under the hood operate headlights and furnish the power for the two motors which run the bus.

It was built at a cost of $350 by L. F. Wright, St. Paul garage operator. Fashioned after the commercial type bus, the midget vehicle can attain a speed of 18 miles per hour.

Neighborhood children find that the bus provides all the thrills of a larger car without endangering the lives of the passengers. Mr. Wright designed the bus after building several midget racing cars.

Compare this ad from WWII with the message our government is sending now. Then it was “save, don’t spend”, “don’t allow profiteering”, “buck up and pay higher taxes”. Now it’s “The best way to defeat the terrorists is for you to go shopping and support lower taxes for rich people!”

Mister-you’re getting paid in DYNAMITE!

Our pay envelope today is dynamite.

The wrong way to handle it is for us to wink at prices that look too steep . . . telling ourselves we can afford to splurge.

We can’t afford to—whether we’re business men, farmers, or workers. And here’s why:

Splurging will boost prices. First on one thing then all along the line.

Read the rest of this entry »

view additional pages

Air-Rifle Shooting Gallery

Do you have a budding marksman in your home? You’ll rate high with him if you help him build this Lilliput shooting gallery.

By Kenneth Murray

IF YOUR invitation to the next A-bomb test hasn’t arrived yet, you can still get your bangs at the nearest shooting gallery. Or, if you feel like tinkering, you can have a shooting gallery (junior grade) for your very own. It’s fun to construct and exciting to use, so it makes a perfect dad-and-lad undertaking. It works just like the big ones at summer carnivals, but an air rifle or air pistol with BB ammunition is used. That puts the shooting expense way down. Also, there’s no danger—you can set the target up either inside the house or, when the weather permits, outdoors on the lawn. It fits comfortably on an ordinary card table. The project is simply made. It has a wooden base and a front row of moving characters, such as Bugs Rabbit, who run on an endless belt. They can be knocked over, but come to life again the next trip around the circuit. At the rear are some more targets. One revolves slowly and, theoretically, you get a prize if you put a BB slug through the right hole at the right time and ring the bell. Then there are some “clay” pipes that look like the real thing. Instead of breaking, however, they merely spin merrily each time they are hit. Lastly, for timid shooters, there’s a round target that doesn’t go anywhere but has a large hole through which it’s easy to ring the gong.

Read the rest of this entry »

AIR-POWERED SPEEDOMETER
for bikes made by the Sinko Mfg. and Tool Co., Chicago sells for $1.89. As bike moves, air enters intake, deflects small fan blade on a spring-mounted needle.

Operation in Real-Time . . .
In the field of missile development, there’s only one commercially available digital computer capable of real-time performance — the famous Univac® Scientific. It’s the ideal system for flight simulation and for on-line data reduction. It solves complex problems from purely sensed data at speeds that are compatible with real-time control.

Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting article about all of the communications demands (radio, telegraph, crypto, etc) of an army division during WWII.

view additional pages

Army’s Nerve System

SPEEDS TEAMWORK OF FAST-MOVING FIGHTING MACHINES

By HICKMAN POWELL

THE heavy tanks and dive bombers hit the line, smash an opening. Through the gap rush the armored divisions, the light and medium tanks and armored cars, fanning out, a fast backfield running interference for the infantry.

Fifty miles, 100 miles and more a day the mechanized columns speed over the vast grid map of battle. Their slashing end runs flank the enemy at 35 and 40 miles an hour. In Flanders, France, Greece, Libya, the dashing pace of modern war has come more and more to resemble football in a broken field.

But the comparison breaks down completely at one point: there is no time out for a huddle between plays. Signal communications, the army’s nerve system, must be maintained at breakneck speed continuously. Observation planes, bombers, scout cars, tanks, artillery, infantry must remain in quick, instant contact with the high command; otherwise an integrated, intelligent striking force becomes a disjointed rabble. The marvels accomplished by the German Army in the last two years have set our political orators shouting for tanks, planes, guns—a cry with which everybody agrees. But every military man knows that the real marvel of the German assault has not been merely its preponderance in engines of war, but also the precise coordination with which this vast amount of equipment and manpower was used.

Read the rest of this entry »

view additional pages

Taming Lions with Drugs

CAN a roaring, raging lion be permanently transformed into a tame and docile animal, by an amazing new drug treatment? Working under the supervision of Dr. Knight Dunlap and Dr. Howard Gilhousen, psychologists of the University of California at Los Angeles, Joseph Cooper is preparing to try the fascinating experiment. One of his subjects will be the most vicious of 155 lions and cubs that roam a five-acre enclosure at Gay’s Lion Farm, El Monte, Calif.

About two years ago, Cooper explains, a Hungarian anatomy professor discovered that some human mental disorders responded favorably to repeated injections of a drug called metrazol. After an initial shock to the nervous system, complete cures frequently resulted. Dr. C. C. Speidel, professor of anatomy at the University of Virginia, recently learned how such cures take place. Treating tadpoles under the microscope, he found that metrazol attacked certain nerve endings and junctions in the brain, so that they literally disappeared. New-ones soon grew in their places, and the sick brain became well once more. It was like breaking a poor telephone connection, and substituting a good one.

Read the rest of this entry »