February 7, 2007

Girl Fights Octopus FOR UNDERWATER MOVIE (Dec, 1933)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 10:21 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1933
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Girl Fights Octopus FOR UNDERWATER MOVIE

ADVANCING with easy, graceful strokes, a young girl swims under water across the field of the movie camera. Ahead of her lurks that strange monster of the deep—a huge octopus whose frightful tentacles move slowly to and fro. Apparently unaware of the danger, the swimmer comes within reach of one of the slimy arms. . .

With this dramatic scene, Leon F. Douglass, wealthy sportsman and inventor, was trying out a new camera of his own design. His stage setting was an especially designed swimming pool on his estate of fifty-five acres at Menlo Park, Calif. The star of his exciting movie was his seventeen-year-old daughter, Florence. An expert swimmer, she readily volunteered to do sham battle with a twelve-foot octopus brought in a tank from Samonica Bay, Haiti. The huge creature seemed exhausted by its long trip and was supposed to have little fight left in it.
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Use Five Farms as Big Laboratory to Watch Electricity at Work (Dec, 1930)

Filed under: Other Animals, Sign of the Times — @ 10:15 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1930
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Use Five Farms as Big Laboratory to Watch Electricity at Work

AGRICULTURAL interests of twenty-four states have united in an effort to find out just what can be done with electricity on the farms of this country. At present the experiments are being made on five average farms in Maryland under the direction of the University of Maryland. On them electricity is being used for almost everything, from killing flies to turning on an alarm clock to wake the hens to a busy day of laying. When flies light on a screen through which a current is passing, sparks leap out and electrocute them.
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MOTORLESS WASHER Among Newest Household Robots (Aug, 1935)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 10:11 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1935
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In the 1930’s you could call anything a robot. Screwdriver? Nope, it’s a tightening robot. Bucket with a handle on it? Household Washing Robot.

MOTORLESS WASHER Among Newest Household Robots

DOUBLE DECK TWIN BEDS have interchangeable fide rails and end boards, permitting use of beds side by side or one above the other. In making up the double-decker shown above, both head-boards are used on the bottom bed, and extensions added to the legs of the upper to give more headroom.

KITCHEN ROBOT pictured above can, at touch of button, make ice cream, wash cutlery, mix cake batter, mash potatoes, squeeze or mash fruit, grind meat, and do a host of other tasks about kitchen.

MOTORLESS WASHER
cleans clothes in less than five minutes. An agitator plate inside swings back and forth as hand-operated lever is moved with slow, easy strokes.

ALL-PURPOSE COOKER plugs into light socket, does any type of cooking or baking. Shown below are the broiling and baking pans, waffle grids, muffin tin, and oven which fit into chromium-finished unit.

Motorized Eyebrow Tweezer Works Rapidly, Painlessly (Aug, 1933)

Filed under: Personal Appearance — @ 10:05 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1933
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Motorized Eyebrow Tweezer Works Rapidly, Painlessly
THE painful yanking of eyebrows with tweezers in order to obtain the high-arched brow, the fashion now prevailing among the feminine sex, is a thing of the past, thanks to the development of the machine shown in the photo at the left. The instrument, inventors claim, not only pulls the hair out by the roots, but also does the job in a painless and permanent manner. Power is furnished by a small motor through a flexible cable, to the end of which is attached a hair-extracting device of special design.

Putting Nature’s Power to Work (Aug, 1932)

Filed under: Ahead of its time — @ 10:04 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1932
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Putting Nature’s Power to Work

Methods of Harnessing Natural Energy Described by DICK COLE

Upward of 40,000 inventions a year are granted patents by Uncle Sam, but not one of these offers a practical solution of the problem which scientists agree is the most pressing of them all— that is, how to harness natural sources of energy for power. Mr. Cole does not profess to have solved the problem, but the methods he describes here point out the trend of probable development.

WHAT is the most needed invention? Not television—not new kinds of airplanes—not speedier automobiles. Men of science are agreed that what the world needs most is a motor which converts the sun’s rays and other forms of natural energy into usable power. Orville Wright, Lee De Forest, Elihu Thomson, and other leading scientists are among those who proclaim the need for a new motor.
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February 6, 2007

BEAUTIFUL ELECTRIC SKY RIDES (Dec, 1933)

Filed under: Toys and Games — @ 10:50 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1933
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I would have killed for one of these when I was a kid.

BEAUTIFUL ELECTRIC SKY RIDES

The model C SKY RIDE ……………………………………………. $7.95
Includes two towers 25″ high, one illuminated car with automatic controlled motor to stop and start oar at towers, two 32″ rails to make span of 64″ between towers. Beautifully finished in attractive enamel color.

The model B SKY RIDE ………………………. $14.50
Same as above with two cars, each motorized with automatic control and remote control for each car. Four sections 32″ rail to make double span between towers of 64″.

The model A SKY RIDE ………………………. $19.75

This is the model pictured with searchlights atop the towers. The towers are 32″ high. The cars are finished in aluminum and have automatic control to stop and start them at towers. The cars are illuminated and a remote control switch is included to control the cars by hand.
All sets operate on 6-8 V A.C. or D.C. current. Extra 32″ sections rail to increase span between towers to 96″ or 128″. Rail……..$1.00 per section.

We make a complete line of monorail toy railways as pictured at right. Priced at $8.85. $12.50, $20.00 and up.
For complete descriptive literature send ten cents in coin to:

Aero Monorail Company, Dept. S 2,
2712 Big Bend Blvd., Saint Louis, Mo.

Mechanical Aids Remove Drudgery from Housework (Jul, 1933)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 10:50 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1933
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Mechanical Aids Remove Drudgery from Housework

Cocoanut shredder
Fresh cocoanuts may be shredded with complete safety to hands by use of this new household utensil.

Combination lawn lounge and settee can be wheeled to any part of lawn or beach. Does duty also as convalescent chair.

Ideal for the bed-ridden is this two-legged table, suitable for use as a card table, bed table, tilted book rest, etc. Legs are adjustable to bring top to any height and angle desired.
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Fiber Glass Premiere (Feb, 1938)

Filed under: Origins — @ 10:41 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1938
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Glass Cloth

NEW MARVEL OF SCIENCE

GLASS is one of the hardest and most brittle substances known to man. Yet comparatively simple but highly ingenious machines transform it into a soft, lustrous and flexible material which is woven into actual “cloth” on ordinary looms, as pictured above.

Known as “Fiberglas,” the new textile is not affected by temperatures as high as 700 degrees, is resistant to corrosive chemicals, does not absorb water, and is a highly effective electrical insulator. It promises to revolutionize old industries and create new ones as it goes into commercial, large-scale production for the manufacture of such things as cords, threads, ropes, tapes, webbings, filters, awnings, curtains, draperies, screens, wall coverings, table pads, doilies, pictures, etc. Although now available only in natural white, the glass cloth eventually will be offered in a wide variety of permanent colors for every decorative purpose. Read the rest of this entry »

A Speedy Three-Wheel Auto (Feb, 1932)

Filed under: Automotive — @ 10:32 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1932
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A Speedy Three-Wheel Auto
A TINY home-made automobile recently was built by R. H. Griffin of San Diego. The car is powered by a four-cylinder motor which drives it through the rear wheel. Driver enters through front.

Quaker Oats Cereals (Apr, 1916)

Filed under: Advertisements — @ 10:25 am
Source: National Geographic ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1916
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“No – Not This”

“Go Get Your Own Puffed Wheat”

Every child has dainties she dislikes to share.

You did and we did. Children always will.
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WIN SUCCESS WITH A HANDSOME TAN (Feb, 1937)

Filed under: Advertisements, Medical — @ 10:18 am
Source: Physical Culture ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1937
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WIN SUCCESS WITH A HANDSOME TAN

IMPROVES YOUR APPEARANCE 100%

85% of success today is due to personality and ability to influence others.
. . . according to an exhaustive study recently made at Carnegie Institute of Technology.

That pale, pasty, inefficient, indoor look is a business and social handicap. Why put yourself at such an unforgivable disadvantage when you can get that handsome, healthy TAN everybody admires so much right in your home? Within ten days, you can actually improve your appearance 100%—look like a million dollars – as if you had just returned from a vacation in Palm Beach!
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PILOTS FACE EACH OTHER IN STRATOSPHERE PLANE (Dec, 1932)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 10:11 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1932
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PILOTS FACE EACH OTHER IN STRATOSPHERE PLANE
What the inside of a stratosphere plane looks like is shown in the picture at the right. It is the first view to reach this country showing the interior of a Farman plane recently tested near Paris, designed to fly at high speed through the rarefied atmosphere nine miles above the earth (P.S.M., Oct., ‘32, p. 13). Two pilots sit facing each other in the barrel-shaped cabin, which is sealed airtight to protect them from the physiological effects of reduced air pressure at great heights. They will fly the machine blind, depending upon instruments alone to guide them except in taking off and landing. Read the rest of this entry »

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