BOSS’S MOVING OFFICE KEEPS WORKERS BUSY
When the manager of a European shoe factory discovered that shop work lagged on the floors that he seldom visited, he adopted the novel solution of transferring his office into a special elevator erected against the outside wall of the building. Now, by merely pressing a button, he can move to any floor without leaving his desk or even interrupting a telephone conversation. The arrangement has proved so successful that a new office is planned which will move horizontally as well as vertically.

view additional pages

Giant Wind Turbines

Currents in Upper Air Form Unfailing Source of Power for “Windmills” of Future

WIND, at the surface of the earth, is proverbially uncertain; but recent researches show that, a thousand feet or more above the ground, wind is comparatively steady and unfailing. This has given new life to the hope of finding a substantial source of natural power, even more universally available than water power; and the designs illustrated here have been prepared by a German engineer, Honnef, the erector of several huge radio towers. As shown here, the structure carrying the power plant would be higher than any other building man has yet been able to erect.
Read the rest of this entry »

Dual Controls On Motorcycle
Dual controls on a new motorcycle permit either rider to drive the machine. When used as a trainer the motorcycle permits a novice to learn to drive in 30 minutes, according to the manufacturer. The motorcycle has a second seat over the rear wheel with a complete set of controls for the rider.

This is insane. I had no idea that anyone raced pigeons, let alone thousands of people in races that often exceeded 1,000 miles! Apparently people still race them. Check out the American Racing Pigeon Union.

view additional pages

Mile-a-Minute Pigeons Thrill Millions in Races Against Time
By Edwin Teale

STREAKING through the skies with the speed of crack express trains, feathered racing champions, trained by amateur pigeon fanciers, are shuttling across the map on amazing flights. In recent years, the sport of pigeon racing has spread rapidly. In the United States alone, upwards of 10,000 amateurs own lofts, and each year the American Racing Pigeon Union sends out half a million numbered aluminum bands that go on the legs of newly hatched “squeakers.” As this is written, all over the East and Middle West fanciers are grooming their prize birds for the Chattanooga National, the Kentucky Derby of the air. This annual event, held about the middle of June, sometimes attracts as many as 1,700 entries. Last year, a one-year-old male pigeon, which had never won a contest in its life, carried off the prize. It averaged almost fifty miles an hour for the 535 miles from Chattanooga, Term., to its home loft at Washington, D. C.
Read the rest of this entry »

This seems like it would just be really awkward and end up giving you a headache.

PRISMS AID BED READER
To make reading in bed easier, a British inventor has devised “lying-down” spectacles. Prisms mounted in eyeglass frames bend the light rays at right angles so that the wearer can lie flat and read a book held upright on his chest.

view additional pages

Mechanics of Magic

By “DUNNINGER”

AN electric lamp, consisting of a tubular fixture, containing a battery, with a switch operable from the bottom, and a small globe, socketed beneath an inverted glass hood (such as illustrated) has recently been placed upon the market, and is securable at every large electrical supply house.

Should the mechanically inclined reader, however, prefer, the diagram will enable him to construct one of these, with but little difficulty. As will be noticed, the lighting and extinguishing of the bulb depends upon the plungerlike projecting peg arrangement at the bottom of the fixture. An excellent “spirit” effect is obtained by causing this light to mystically go on and off, guided, apparently, only by the will of the wonder worker. Read the rest of this entry »