January 25, 2007

New Inventions in the Field of Sports (Jun, 1939)

Filed under: General — @ 9:21 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1939
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New Inventions in the Field of Sports

NOVEL DEVICES PROVIDE THRILLS FOR PLAYERS AND SPECTATORS, AND GIVE AID IN PRACTICE

NEW thrills for players and spectators, and novel aids for practice, are provided by the latest inventions in the field of sport.

Polo becomes an exciting aquatic game when played on mechanical steeds, skimming the water under the power of husky outboard motors. A ring-shaped grip controls throttle and rudder, leaving the player with one hand free to strike the floating ball.

In baseball games, a new electric umpire takes the guesswork out of calling “balls” and “strikes.” When a ball passes over the plate at the proper height, it intercepts two light beams, actuates corresponding electric eyes, and lights an indicator.
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SHIP’S PASSENGERS ARE LANDED WITH DERRICK (Mar, 1933)

SHIP’S PASSENGERS ARE LANDED WITH DERRICK
Scenes like that in the photograph below, suggesting a thrilling sea rescue, take place when visitors land on the jagged coast of Hamakua, Hawaii. There small boats bring passengers within range of a derrick-like landing gear that has been erected en a cliff. One by one, the passengers are hoisted ashore.

January 24, 2007

Electric Razor Brushes Teeth (Jun, 1939)

Filed under: Bathroom — @ 11:42 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1939
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Electric Razor Brushes Teeth
Toothbrush and razor, both electrically operated, are now available in a single unit just placed on the market. The body of the device is a small, oblong container housing an electric motor that draws current through an extension cord plugged into a wall outlet. Either a rotating brush for cleaning the teeth, or a cutting mechanism for shaving, may be inserted in the working head, which is connected to the motor unit by means of a flexible shaft.

Stitching Steel Into Streamliners (Feb, 1947)

Stitching Steel Into Streamliners

Budd’s new assembly line rolls out cars like cans.

By MORTON C. WALLING

AS YOU stand on a catwalk high above the plant you can scarcely see where it ends, dim in the distance, five city blocks away. The workmen dwindle to mere specks, the gigantic U-shaped welders become tiny tweezers. Toward you stretch three long, silver caterpillars: assembly lines. Here and there comes a flicker of blue flame from an arc welder, reflected and reflected again from shining stainless steel. Occasionally there is a rumbling medley of thumps from shot welders; otherwise there is only a low hum from the thousands of workmen and machines.

Here is modern technology in action—the assembly-line system the auto industry made famous. But as the great cranes swoop down along the line and the silvery bodies roll nearer and nearer you can see they are too shiny for automobiles—and too big. Each is as long as half a dozen motor cars—a stainless steel railway coach.
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Motor Unit Runs Bike or Mower (Jan, 1948)

Motor Unit Runs Bike or Mower

Powered by a 1-1/2-hp. engine, a two-wheeled unit designed and built by William Lusk of Cicero, Ill., can be readily attached to a bicycle, lawn mower, or scooter. Small pneumatic wheels carry its 200-lb. weight without marking soft turf and give ample traction for cutting heavy grass. Used on the highway as a scooter or bike motor, the unit delivers better than 25 m.p.h.

Lusk used a 1/8″ steel plate as a combined platform and chassis. The axle is a 5/8″ steel shaft running in ball bearings, with a small over-riding clutch at each wheel to give differential action. Power is transmitted by a pair of V-belts from the engine to a 7-to-l gearbox taken from a washing machine. A movable idler acts as the main clutch. By using V-belt pulleys of different diameters, Lusk changes the effective gear ratio to suit the job the unit is doing.
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NEW ZEALAND BOYS COAST ON MUD (Mar, 1933)

Filed under: Sports — @ 11:12 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1933
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NEW ZEALAND BOYS COAST ON MUD
American boys wait for a good snowfall to get out their sleds, but any day is a good day for coasting, in New Zealand. Snow is a rarity in the even, bracing climate of the islands, so the youngsters do the next best thing and coast on mud! Wooden sleds are used, and a bare slope is flooded with water for the sport. Frequent wettings keep the sun from drying up the course.

Mounting a Deer Head SO THAT IT DOESN’T LOOK STUFFED (Nov, 1933)

Filed under: General — @ 11:12 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1933
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Leonard F. Merrill, woodsman and guide, reveals the secret of

Mounting a Deer Head SO THAT IT DOESN’T LOOK STUFFED

A WELL-MOUNTED deer head is a source of continual satisfaction to the sportsman who bagged the animal, and if he mounts the head himself his pleasure is increased a hundredfold.

Even the professional taxidermist has no secret formula by which he can take a poorly prepared, burned, or rotted skin and make a perfect mounted specimen of it. At best it will have a stuffed and lifeless look. It is obvious therefore that some thought and care must be given to the preparation of the trophy when the animal is first killed and without delay.
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JOUSTING: NEWEST WATER SPORT (Jul, 1966)

JOUSTING: NEWEST WATER SPORT

OOPS! Total victory is rare in this sport for flipping an opponent usually means loss of your own balance. Jousters use 10-ft., rubber-tipped aluminum poles and the tippy floats are truck inner tubes topped with 3/4-in. plywood. The Johnson Outboard Motors crew staged this upset in motel pool at Cypress Gardens, Fla.

FLOATS are spaced 10 ft. apart on centers and moored out in the middle of the pool where skulls stay intact

ROPE lacings secure disks to tubes. A rubber ball fits snugly into toilet plunger on each pole, is held by tape.

BE A CHIMNEY SWEEP (Nov, 1980)

The best part of this ad is that it’s from 1980, not 1930.

BE A CHIMNEY SWEEP

Your Own Business: A chimney sweep can clean a chimney with the August West System in one hour. Nationally, the average charge is $40.00.

A Growing Need:
The energy crisis has resulted in a dramatic increase in wood burning. Wood smoke deposits flammable creosote in chimneys Regular cleaning is necessary to prevent fire damage.

The August West System:
More sweeps use it than any other method in the country.

Send for our free booklet, or call TOLL FREE and ask for “The August West Story.”

800-243-5166
August West Systems, Inc.
Box 603 — Dept. IMW
Westport, CT 06880

January 23, 2007

TROLLEY MATCHES SPEED OF PLANE (Dec, 1930)

TROLLEY MATCHES SPEED OF PLANE
A red trolley and a blue biplane raced along an in-terurban right-of-way near Moraine, Ohio, not long ago, and the trolley more than held its own. It was one of the new ninety-mile-an-hour electric cars recently put in service to carry passengers between the Ohio cities of Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Springfield.

The latest in trolleys not only boasts a speed seldom attained by any steam locomotive, but in other features it is called entirely new in electric railway transportation. Passengers sit either in individual coach seats or in an observation compartment at the rear like that of a railway train, from which they have a clear view of the scenery whizzing past the windows.
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ESCALATOR IN GARAGE SPEEDS CAR SERVICE (Dec, 1932)

This looks really fun, but I think you might have a tough time getting insurance after the first few workers get crushed.

ESCALATOR IN GARAGE SPEEDS CAR SERVICE
Workers in a San Francisco, Calif., garage, with a 1,000-car capacity, can deliver a customer’s automobile from the eighth floor to the sidewalk in forty seconds. This is made possible by a vertical escalator and a long ramp down which cars are driven. Each worker, going for a car, steps on a tiny platform attached to an endless belt and rides straight up. To descend, he steps on the other side of the escalator and rides down. Electrical motors keep the escalator running constantly.

I’ll help you get a Daisy for Christmas – Red Ryder (Dec, 1940)

This is a great ad. Kids who really want a BB gun for christmas write in and Red Ryder will send them little “this is what you should get me for christmas” reminder cards. Then they just hide them all over the house where their parents are sure to find them.

I also really like the line “If you HAVE money now (or can get it) buy your Daisy NOW”. You know how you can get it. Mr Jones down the street said he’d give you a shiny nickel everytime you sat on his lap. A small price to pay for a brand new Red Ryder Golden Banded 1000-Shot Saddle Carbine isnt it?

I’ll help you get a Daisy for Christmas – Red Ryder

The new Golden Banded 1000-Shot Red Ryder Saddle Carbine

BOYS! Send coupon to Red Ryder for your FREE Christmas Reminder Kit, enclosing 3c stamp, please, to help cover our handling-postage cost. Kit contains printed “messages” to be signed by you, pictures of all Daisy Air Rifles, complete directions. It’s FUN to use! Put “Reminders” under milk bottles, in mail-box, on Dad’s easy chair. They’ll HELP you get a Daisy for Christmas.

If you HAVE money now (or can get it) buy your Daisy NOW. IF your Dealer hasn’t it, or no Dealer is near you, send us the price of your favorite Daisy in cash or Money Order and we’ll mail it POSTPAID. (Duty added in Canada.) Or—rush coupon, 3c stamp, for Christmas Reminder Kit.

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