May 6, 2007

NOTCHED WEDDING RING WORN TO DENOTE DIVORCE (Jan, 1924)

Filed under: Just Weird, Personal Appearance — @ 1:57 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1924
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NOTCHED WEDDING RING WORN TO DENOTE DIVORCE
Many women in England, who have been divorced from their husbands, continue to wear the wedding ring, but have a fracture cut in it by a jeweler, as an indication of that fact. Those who have parted from more than one husband have notches to indicate the number made in the edge of the gold band, it is said.

The Original Swiffer (Apr, 1934)

Filed under: House and Home, Origins — @ 1:49 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1934
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Mop Has Disposable Roll

A DUST mop that uses disposable dusting material has been developed by a Chicago, Ill., manufacturer. The mop features a roll of crepe wadding which is claimed to be superior to paper or cloth. As the outside layer becomes soiled, it can be torn off and a new layer made ready for use. Rolls are inserted in a special holder.

CHANDELIER SERVES AS BANQUET HALL (Jan, 1924)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 1:48 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1924
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CHANDELIER SERVES AS BANQUET HALL

Big enough to accommodate a small dinner party, a chandelier, 12 feet in diameter and with all its fixtures weighing over a ton, has been installed in the auditorium of a recently erected building in a western city. Plans already have been made for holding a banquet in it. There are more than 70 light receptacles and reflectors within it, and the rays from these are cast to the main floor 50 feet below by the ceiling, which curves down to meet the bowl. The lower part of it is gilded, painted, and ornamented, and to illuminate it, another cluster of bulbs, sufficient to light a small assembly hall, is suspended from the underside. Access to the chandelier is gained through a trapdoor and a steel ladder from the attic.

Novel Appliances for the Household (Aug, 1933)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 1:47 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1933
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Novel Appliances for the Household

KEEPS FOOD WARM. When dinner is delayed, food is kept warm in the utensil shown here. The center compartment, filled with hot water, heats the contents of the outer sections

LOVE SEAT ALSO A BED By pressure on a lever, this love seat is easily turned into a comfortable bed as may be seen in the lower photo. The ends drop down and the cushions build up ends of mattress
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“Workshop” Bus Trains Hobbyists (Jul, 1948)

Filed under: General — @ 1:46 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1948
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“Workshop” Bus Trains Hobbyists
Ten instructors and a complete assortment of craft tools are aboard a bus touring communities in the southeastern United States to promote youth interest in hobbies and in organizing hobby clubs. At every stop, modeling techniques are shown with movies and demonstrations. The tour was arranged by Aero King Modelers, a national hobby organization with headquarters in Chicago.

Atoms for Peace (Sep, 1958)

Filed under: Scary, Sign of the Times — @ 1:46 am
Source: National Geographic ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1958
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Atoms for Peace

Lockheed, always in the forefront of aeronautic and scientific achievement, now extends its leadership into a significant new field—Nuclear Energy for the World’s Work.

For eight years, Lockheed’s nuclear scientists, physicists and engineers have been working on the development of a nuclear-powered airplane. Now, these scientists are also ready to put the atom to work for industry—with research and process heat reactors, food irradiation facilities and the applications of radioisotopes.
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It always has stopped raining (Apr, 1935)

Filed under: Advertisements — @ 1:45 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1935
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I am utterly perplexed by this advertisement. Besides the obvious irony that for smokers sixty is more likely the beginning of the end, can someone please explain what point this ad is trying to get across? “It always has stopped raining”? Is that a proper sentence? It sounds like someone started with a sentence like “It felt like an eternity before the rain stopped.” then used google to translate it into french, then german then chinese then back into english again.

It always has stopped raining

Life begins at sixty

Chesterfield

They Satisfy

Thrills in Laying Deep-Sea Cable Across the Atlantic (Jan, 1924)

Filed under: Communications, Nautical, Origins, Telephone — @ 1:43 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1924
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Neal Stephenson wrote a huge travelogue for Wired in 1995 where he followed the progress of a new world girding fiber optic network being constructed. Along the way explores every aspect of the process and history behind laying communications cables underwater. It is a wonderfully interesting read and I highly recommend it.

Thrills in Laying Deep-Sea Cable Across the Atlantic

WHILE, 57 years ago the world noted the fact that the steamship “Great Eastern” had completed its memorable work of connecting America with Europe by the first successful Atlantic telegraphic cable, the recent landing on the south shore of Long Island of a new line of communication attracted little attention.

Nevertheless, this latest undertaking marked the closer binding together of the New World and the Old, for, despite the advent of the wireless and the establish-ment of powerful radio stations, which are capable of spanning vast terrestrial distances, the fact remains that this newer method of electrical intercourse has not scrapped the older order of long-range telegraphy.

Traffic over the submarine cables linking North America with Europe has increased fourfold in the last decade, and yet, until recently, nothing has been done within that period to add to these undersea nerves of communication. The cost of the new cable, representing the present height of scientific knowledge concerning such things, has been put at $15,000,000; and to get it properly in place on the sea bed has required the service of specially constructed craft manned largely by a crew trained for that hazardous and extremely exacting work.
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