Movies For Passengers on Long Plane Hops
FULL-LENGTH movies, news-reels, or shorts can be shown to airplane passengers by a new self-contained projection unit (right). Developed by the Air Transport Command and Army Signal Corps, the outfit also provides radio broadcasts and recorded music from sound films, a program being heard either through a loudspeaker or individual headsets. Plane movies entertained many of the War wounded who were evacuated over thousands of miles by air.

Speedy Motor-Cycle Car Runs on Two Wheels
WHETHER it’s a car or a motor cycle would be hard to say, but the inventor of the novel vehicle above declares it has the advantages of both. In motion, it rides upon two wheels, guided by a steering wheel. The driver experiences a pleasant swaying sensation as the machine tips like a plane or motor cycle for the turns. When the driver stops, a pedal lowers a pair of small auxiliary wheels at the sides for support. The photograph shows the odd gas buggy being driven by a mechanic in a tryout run at Miami, Fla. Another model has a seat for a passenger mounted behind that of the driver.

WIRE REPLACES WAX IN NEW DICTATING MACHINE

Unusually clear reproduction is claimed for a new type of dictating machine invented in Germany. In this device the fluctuations of a speaker’s voice, conveyed electrically to electromagnets, leave a moving steel wire traveling through them more or less strongly magnetized according to the intensity of the voice at each instant. To play back the record, the wire is passed through a similar machine where the reverse process takes place and the voice is heard in a pair of headphones. The wire may then be run through a demagnetizer and used again. Wax records are dispensed with, since the wire takes their place. The wire is made of an alloy the nature of which the inventor is keeping secret, but upon which, he says, the success of his device depends. The machine is shown above.

This article was published less than a year after the tomb was discovered.

view additional pages

TREASURES OF ANCIENT THEBES IN NEW-FOUND TOMB

By R.C. Folger

TREASURE that has been variously estimated to be worth from $15,000,000 to $40,000,000, has recently been brought to light upon the opening of a tomb believed to be that of Tutankhamen, who ruled in Egypt over 3,000 years ago.

The first objects to greet the eyes of the entrants to the tomb, were three magnificent state couches, each made of gilt wood with exquisite carvings and decorated with a lion’s head and other emblematic figures. On these rested gilt beds also beautifully carved and inlaid with ivory and jewels, and a number of boxes of rare workmanship. These boxes were inlaid with ivory and ebony with gilt inscriptions. Read the rest of this entry »

view additional pages

Panorama an a Giant Screen

SIGHTSEEING “trips” to America’s beauty spots have been conducted right on the Chicago Railroad Fairground with a projection system that makes color pictures of Niagara Falls seem so real that you wonder why you can’t feel the mist on your face. Kodachrome transparencies are projected on the screen five at a time and, so perfectly aligned are the individual pictures, that the effect is of a giant, natural panorama.
Read the rest of this entry »

The guy who invented this would have been rich if it hadn’t been for those pesky speaker pushers.

HEADSET STAND FOR RADIO
An ornamental wooden headset stand, for use as a distribution center when a number of receivers are used simultaneously, and as a rack for holding the headphones when these are idle, has been introduced. This appliance eliminates any crowding near the equipment. The’ stand may be moved around a room at will, and when the concert is finished, it may be conveniently placed in a corner or closet, out of the way. The outfit has a switch to disconnect any receivers not in use.

Bed in Magnetic Field Gives Sound Sleep
ACTING on the theory, deduced from extensive experiments, that human beings sleep most soundly when they lie parallel with the magnetic lines of force which encircle the earth from north to south, a German scientist has devised a special bed which permits a sleeper to get maximum benefits from the earth’s magnetism.

For rooms where a bed would look awkward with its head toward the north and its foot toward the south, an ingenious turntable is employed. Each night before retiring time, the bed is turned to lie north and south by means of a crank which operates the turntable through a system of gears. Magnetic. lines of force through the sleeper’s body tend to bestow good health. Bed is turned to normal position in morning.

Miniature Roller Coaster Is Thrilling Fun for Youngsters

ONE of the chief attractions for the youngsters at a children’s garden party held recently in London was a miniature roller coaster that gave the kids all the thrills of its big brother at the public parks.

The car of the miniature roller coaster rides on four small wheels, and is so constructed that the youngsters can sit astraddle and hold on by a couple of knobs on the front.

A breath-taking speed is developed along the undulating tracks, even though height at the start is only about four feet. A slight shove sends the rider dashing along the tracks for a ocean wave ride of fifty feet or more.

view additional pages

Newest Household Devices

MOTOR IN MIXER’S BASE. Danger of oil getting into the food is eliminated by placing the motor in the base. A condenser is installed in the base to prevent the mixer from causing radio interference

SAVES SOAP A rubber suction cup holds upright the metal feet of this soap holder. When attached to tub or basin, it permits the water to drip off, thus preventing waste

NEW OPENER To remove a jar top with this metal opener, just turn the handle. The flanges adjust themselves to grip the top. The strong leverage enables one to start a refractory top with little effort
Read the rest of this entry »

Yum!

Horse-Meat “Worms” Fool Frogs

TRICKING frogs into eating horse meat by making them think it alive is the solution worked out by H. L. Parker, of El Monte, Calif., for the problem of diet in domestic bullfrog breeding. For twenty years, Parker has been experimenting in raising frogs as a food delicacy. Recently he decided to try feeding his frogs on a horse-meat menu, since he found it practically impossible to provide the frogs’ natural live diet of vast quantities of minnows, insects, and earthworms. He contracted with the owner of a near-by lion farm for a supply of horse meat, the regular food of captive lions. This he chopped into strips about the size of worms and tossed into his concrete frog tanks. Read the rest of this entry »

Monster Clock Has No Hands

Moving numerals, three feet high, will tell Londoners the time when a monster clock now under construction in one of this British city’s railroad stations is completed. The big timepiece is believed the largest without hands ever built. Three endless belts of steel slats, driven by an electric motor, carry the numbers past a rectangular window high on the station wall where they are made visible. Each numeral is outlined by silvered disks of reflecting material, and floodlights play upon the figures to make them show up clearly at a distance. The movement of the belts is governed automatically from a control panel with an extremely accurate master clock, which in turn is constantly regulated from the observatory at Greenwich. The steel roller on which the hour numerals are shown is thirty-seven feet long and the blinds weigh about 15,000 pounds.

This looks like it would be a blast. Although it does seem like you might eventually cut a large circle in the ice.

view additional pages

A MERRY-GO-ROUND FOR THE ICE

BY L.B. ROBBINS

EXHILARATING sport is furnished open-air enthusiasts by the novel ice merry-go-round described in this article. The device, although it reminds one of an ice boat, is, however, a new departure in ice coasting, the novelty consisting in the fact that the merry-go-round, which is itself stationary, swings the riders, who are carried on sleds, in circles around it. When desired, the cord or rope that holds the sled to one of the revolving arms, is released, and the sled with its rider is sent flying off over the ice. With a good breeze blowing, the merry-go-round revolves with considerable speed, yet is perfectly safe, if constructed according to the instructions. It can be built by anyone who has some knowledge of tools and how to use them, and who possesses enough ingenuity for details of construction.
Read the rest of this entry »