February 12, 2007

CAT PICTURES USED TO SCARE AWAY BIRDS (Aug, 1933)

CAT PICTURES USED TO SCARE AWAY BIRDS
If live cats will scare birds away, why not use imitation cats as scarecrows? Acting on this unconventional idea, a farmer of Warwickshire, England, is decorating his property with painted likenesses of cats like those illustrated above. Stoppers from mineral water bottles supplied the eyes. Now it remains to be seen whether the birds will be terrified.

Beauty in 3rd Dimension (Dec, 1951)

Beauty in 3rd Dimension

A selection of figure studies in breathtaking 3rd Dimension. These pictures come to life when viewed through the magic viewer. Realistic depth and beauty only 3rd Dimension can provide. Send 25c for Magic Viewer & Samples

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February 10, 2007

INSTRUMENTS PUT ON AUTOS HOOD (Aug, 1933)

INSTRUMENTS PUT ON AUTOS HOOD
So he can read the dials of his car’s instruments without taking his eyes from the road, a Binghampton, N. Y., engineer has redesigned his car and placed them on the hood. A streamline housing for the meters gives the car a distinctive appearance. At night the dials are illuminated by a small light on a standard just in front of the windshield. Hinges of special design are attached to the hood, enabling it to be swung clear of the instrument panel when lifted to fill the crankcase or inspect the engine.

THREE AMERICAN Chinchilla Farms PRODUCE MOST COSTLY FURS (Dec, 1933)

THREE AMERICAN Chinchilla Farms PRODUCE MOST COSTLY FURS

Wild Creatures from South American Andes Thrive in Captivity and Make Their Owner a Fortune in the Mountainous Sections of Our Western States

By Andrew R. Boone

IF YOU want the world’s finest fur coat, with wool long enough to thread a needle and fine as a spider’s web, you can get it, not from animals roaming at large in faraway places, but from captive rodents.

On three farms in Idaho, Utah, and California these tiny chinchillas grow. Naturalists call them the “missing link” between the rabbit, the squirrel, and the rat.

From the South American Andes, a former mining engineer, alone of the scores who have sought with fortunes and considerable skill to remove these strange little creatures from their native haunts in Peru and Chile to European and American pens, has transplanted a dozen. Today his herd numbers 160, only twenty more than would be required to make one large coat like the one illustrated at the extreme right.
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Match Dwarfs World’s Smallest Electric Motor (Aug, 1939)

Filed under: General — @ 1:06 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1939
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I think that’s just a giant match.

Match Dwarfs World’s Smallest Electric Motor
Completely dwarfed in comparison with an ordinary kitchen match, a Lilliputian electric motor constructed in Switzerland by Ferdinand Huguenin is said to be the smallest in the world. Rated at five thousandths of a watt and driven by a two-volt battery, the tiny engine employs forty-eight separate parts, including pieces of platinum and two rubies.

130 DENTAL DRILLS BUZZ IN ONE ROOM (Aug, 1933)

Filed under: Scary — @ 12:30 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1933
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I think that for many people this would be their idea of hell.

130 DENTAL DRILLS BUZZ IN ONE ROOM
If the sound of a dentist’s drill gives you a slightly weak sensation, imagine a hundred and thirty of them going at once! This is the number of dental chairs, complete with every modern piece of equipment, that line the monster hall at the University of Pennsylvania where students of dentistry learn their profession. Since the embryo dentists have already acquired a high degree of skill before being allowed to treat actual cases, volunteer patients are not hard to find.

February 9, 2007

Flying Police Outwit Crooks of the Air (Aug, 1933)

I story about the criminal of using a homing pigeon to get extortion money. The victims were supposed to attach the money to the pigeon and let it fly away. The cops painted it orange and then followed it by plane. Poor little orange pigeon.

Flying Police Outwit Crooks of the Air
HURLED into the pounding surf, a thousand yards from shore, seven members of the crew of the navy blimp, J-3, were righting for their lives. It was the morning after the loss of the U. S. Navy dirigible Akron. This second tragedy had occurred as the blimp returned to Beach Haven, N. J., after an unsuccessful search for survivors. A forty-five-mile an hour gale had caught the lighter-than-air craft, driven it out to sea, and sent it crashing into the water with ripped bag and disabled engine.

Spectators crowded the shore. They knew the men would be smothered by the gale-lashed waters long before a boat could reach them. Suddenly, overhead there was the high whine of an aerial motor. A silver-winged amphibian was scudding under the low, black clouds, heading for the wreck. It swooped, landed like a seagull on the tossing ridges of water, and the two occupants began dragging the floundering men to safety within the craft’s cockpit.
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February 8, 2007

Personalized Laundry Bag for Child’s Room (Dec, 1950)

Is this to show your daughter what she’ll look like when she gets knocked up? Seems like a mean thing to do to a little kid.

Personalized Laundry Bag for Child’s Room
Topped with a portrait of its little owner, this child’s laundry bag looks much like a life-size doll, and its novelty will go far to encourage children to take care of their soiled clothing. A good close-up snapshot of the child is selected and that portion of the negative showing only the head and possibly part of the shoulders is enlarged as close to 8 x 10 in. as possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Miami Has an Electric Nervous System (Dec, 1955)

Miami Has an Electric Nervous System

CAPTAIN Verner Smith pushed the attitude lever and nosed the blimp down closer to the water. Now it was within 50 feet of choppy Biscayne Bay off Miami, Fla., so close that the trailing landing lines of the huge powered balloon almost touched the water. A loudspeaker in the cabin blared: “This is Miami Communications, Vern. What’s happening?”

The sun-browned pilot pulled a control and the blimp nosed up again. “He’s still struggling. Trying to hold onto his boat. Get the patrol boat here—fast.”

The loudspeaker talked again. “The police boat radios that he’s coming over. Stay directly overhead. He’ll sight on you.”

“Check.”

Guided by the blimp, a patrol boat of the Miami Police Department scudded to the rescue scene.
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February 7, 2007

Single-Lens Camera Uses Reflex Principle (Jun, 1950)

Single-Lens Camera Uses Reflex Principle
Composing, focusing and picture-taking are all accomplished through one lens of a new miniature camera that uses the single-lens reflex principle. Without increasing the convenient size of the miniature, the new design enables the photographer to focus with a brilliant, full-size image on a ground glass while holding the camera at eye level. Read the rest of this entry »

Rear-Engine Car Looks Like Bus (Feb, 1949)

Rear-Engine Car Looks Like Bus
Assembled entirely from standard parts and sub-assemblies, a rear-engine automobile called the Mustang has been introduced in Seattle as the newest entry in the low-price field. The car, which seats six, two in front and four in back, is designed to sell for $1235. It has a four-cylinder, 59-horsepower Hercules engine. The power unit, consisting of engine, transmission and rear axle, slides out for repair when the body is raised. A door in the body just ahead of the rear wheel provides access to the engine for servicing. There is a large luggage compartment in the rear. The buslike front end provides excellent visibility for front-seat occupants

YOU CAN NOW PRESS PANTS WHILE IN THEM (Dec, 1930)

YOU CAN NOW PRESS PANTS WHILE IN THEM
A new electric presser is said to be the only device that can give trousers a crease while they are being worn. A user holds the top of the trouser crease and runs the iron down the leg. V-shaped jaws open at the touch of a thumb lever to grip the fabric and apply necessary heat from electric current.

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