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Turning Out Photographs by the Million

Great Plants in All Parts of the Country Are Developed to Supply Quick Service and Assistance for Army of Amateurs

DEVOTED exclusively to developing films and printing pictures for an army of amateur camera enthusiasts, great plants have been built up in all parts of the country. During the “busy” months of June, July, August and September, when the weather is best suited to taking pictures, the seven largest finishing plants in Chicago handle more than 114,000 pictures daily. Several have an output of 8,000 to 12,000 every twenty-four hours, and many print more than 5,000,000 as an annual average.

In Cincinnati, a single company serves almost a hundred drug stores, employing a fleet of automobiles to collect the film and deliver the pictures to the proprietors who have found that the “side line” in film service is a profitable advertisement and brings in potential customers. In one week, one of the collectors for this company brought in 20,000 spools of film and as many as 17,500 prints have been distributed in a single day.

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How Your Home Locks Work

PSM photos by W. W. MORRIS

1. The simplest, most common door lock is the single-tumbler type, the workings of which are exposed here in an oversized model. The slots in its key are called wards. They are mated with projections inside the lock to permit the key to turn. This type of lock gives little protection since an ordinary skeleton key will usually open it.

2. Inside a one-tumbler lock. The semicircular projection (arrow) just inside the keyhole fits a notch in the rear edge of the key and prevents a strange key from turning.

3. As the key turns, the notch or bitting in its bottom edge permits it to pass along the back of the irregular tumbler (arrow) fixed to the bolt. Without this notch the key would be stopped.

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CYCLISTS’ MOLDED MASKS

For races on cinder tracks, daredevil New York motorcyclists wear grotesque masks to protect their faces against flying particles from the wheels of each other’s machines. The racers dip the masks in water to soften them and then press them against their faces. When dry, the masks take on the contours of the cyclists’ features. Goggles are worn over the eyeholes. In addition, the racers wear football helmets to guard their heads.

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How the Experts Build a Snow Man

Their big, fancy snow sculptures take a lot of work, but you can copy them on a smaller scale in your yard.

By Carol Ennis

BUILDING a snow giant like this one is a real construction job that crews of students tackle every winter at Dartmouth College for the school’s Winter Carnival. They begin by erecting a framework around which the statue is molded. A separate scaffold gives working platforms at several levels. Snow mixed with water forms slush for shaping the statue. The job takes the crew about three weeks of spare-time work.

For your yard this winter, you can build a small version of this Alpinist and his horn. If the scale is modest, the statue won’t be as much work.

Cabin Scooter Built for Two
Europe continues to come up with new and fresh designs for the small basic car. A fully enclosed three-wheel scooter with a top speed of about 60 miles per hour seats two persons side by side behind a single front door. There’s ample room for children or luggage in the rear. A canvas roof is rolled back in good weather. The car is expected to sell for less than $1000. It has a four-stroke, 175-cycle engine.