June 30, 2007

MURALS MAKE BEAVERS FEEL AT HOME (Jun, 1936)

Filed under: Other Animals — @ 12:33 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1936
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Wait. That’s a zoo? I thought it was the Alaskan wilderness!

MURALS MAKE BEAVERS FEEL AT HOME
Beavers in a den at the Belle Isle Zoo, in Detroit, Mich., now cavort amid scenes resembling their natural habitat. To minimize the artificial appearance of the surroundings, an artist reproduced a colorful forest panorama, complete with pine trees, scrub brush, streams, and lakes, upon the concrete walls of the open beaver pit. Visitors are attracted by the novelty of viewing the animals against a woodland background.

CREAM-MAKER Among Newest Home Aids (Jun, 1935)

Filed under: House and Home, Kitchen — @ 12:33 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1935
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CREAM-MAKER Among Newest Home Aids

BOTTLE-HOLDER now on market enables baby to feed himself without danger of dropping the bottle. Made of aluminum, the broad circular base makes the unit secure even on uneven surfaces such as pillows. The bottle is held in a pivoted sleeve which may be tipped to almost any angle which may be needed.

MOP-HANDLE which has a flexible joint can be bent around corners, to penetrate nooks and corners otherwise hard to reach. The mop may be set at any desired angle
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PHOTO STAMP PRINTER (Sep, 1949)

Filed under: DIY, Photography — @ 12:32 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1949
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PHOTO STAMP PRINTER

By Kenneth Murray

PRINTING up to 100 stamp-size photographs on a single sheet of 8×10 in. paper is easy with the MI Printer. After processing, each sheet can be gummed on the back, and cut so that individual stamps are available for attaching to personal stationery, books and other possessions.

Printing can be done from any negative; the mask opening is 7/8 x 7/8 in. This leaves a narrow white border on each stamp. Without changing the guides, you can substitute a mask with an opening twice as large and print 50 exposures on each sheet.
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WONDERS OF ANT LIFE SEEN IN GLASS HOME (Jul, 1933)

Filed under: Origins, Toys and Games — @ 12:32 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1933
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WONDERS OF ANT LIFE SEEN IN GLASS HOME
Between two photographic plates, held in a wooden frame, a New Hampshire naturalist placed dirt and thus constructed an anthouse with transparent walls. By this means the activity of an insect city is easily studied. The tunnels and subterranean chambers made by the ants are clearly visible and their work can be seen from each side of the glass home. The transparent cages offer more varied activity than a goldfish bowl, and the ants require much less attention than goldfish. The case is provided with a handle.

Foam Furniture Rises Like Bread (Jun, 1970)

Filed under: Cool, House and Home — @ 12:31 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1970
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Those chairs are really cool. Why do you think they don’t sell flat packed chairs anymore? My guess is because it would be too fun for customers to walk along with a key and puncture them. I know that when I was a snot-nosed little punk I delighted in puncturing the vacuum sealed coffee packs in the supermarket.

Foam Furniture Rises Like Bread

What goes up and doesn’t come down? A new kind of furniture called “Up.” You buy it flat-as-a-pancake in a vinyl package. Cut open the vinyl and the pancake automatically expands into a modern chair. Once expanded, it cannot be recompressed and cannot be punctured.

It works like this: At the factory in Italy the furniture is molded of poly-urethane foam, and covered with stretch upholstery. Then, in a vacuum chamber, the piece is compressed to force out the air, and sealed in the airtight package. Open the package and the foam absorbs air, expanding to its
designed size and shape.
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Uncle Sam CRACKS DOWN ON SPIES … To Guard the Secrets of His War Machines (Jun, 1936)

Filed under: War — @ 12:31 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1936
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Uncle Sam CRACKS DOWN ON SPIES … To Guard the Secrets of His War Machines

TRUE SPY STORIES, FILTERING THROUGH THE MASK OF SILENCE MAINTAINED BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, REVEAL A NETWORK OF ESPIONAGE DESIGNED TO FERRET OUT THE SECRETS OF OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE FOR FOREIGN POWERS

By Thomas M. Johnson

SCIENTIFIC spies for foreign powers are picking Uncle Sam’s pockets. As war tension heightens abroad, more and more of them invade our shores. They sneak across the oceans from Europe, where last year $50,000,000 was spent on secret service, or from Asia, where Japan alone spent

$12,000,000. These spies are no fools, fantastically disguised, whispering, scowling. They are intelligent men and women, using clever tricks to steal from this wide-open country the countless military appliances and inventions that American ingenuity produces. With our own weapons, pilfered from us, foreign powers are arming for the next war. For that purpose, the scientific spies lurk unsuspected in our midst.
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June 29, 2007

Eye-Movement Glasses (Feb, 1954)

Filed under: Just Weird — @ 12:06 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1954
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Eye-Movement Glasses
An extra pair of eyes seems to sprout beneath the cheekbones of a person using a new visual aid. The effect comes from inclined transparent mirrors attached to a pair of glassless spectacles. With the tool an observer can watch a reader’s eye movements and discover the reasons for retarded reading rate or comprehension. It is possible to estimate the length and number of eye pauses, the number of backward eye movements, and the smoothness of eye movement rhythm.

It’s Lots of Fun to PLAY the DRUMS … and EASY, too! (Jun, 1939)

Filed under: Advertisements, Music — @ 12:05 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1939
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There is something unusual about this ad. Can you guess what it is?
That’s right, Chick Webb, “The King of the Drums” is a black man! Do you know how many ads I’ve found from before the late 60’s that have a black person who’s not a maid or a porter? This is it folks. I think I have one or two articles that have pictures of black people in them. If you were a kid growing up in the mid-west reading science and tech magazines, black people simply did not exist.

It’s Lots of Fun to PLAY the DRUMS … and EASY, too!

Step out in front! Be entertaining … popular … sought-after by friends. Start to play a GRETSCH DRUM. Begin a BIG MONEY career—be an ace drummer like Chick Webb; “The King of the Drums”. Chick and thousands of others have won success on radio, stage and screen using GRETSCH equipment. EASY TO PLAY—no difficult lessons. Buy GRETSCH DRUMS, on NEW EASY-PAYMENT plan.
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No. 1A Pocket Kodak, Series II (Oct, 1925)

Filed under: Advertisements, Photography — @ 12:05 am
Source: The Mentor ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1925
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No. 1A Pocket Kodak, Series II

The Lens:
Kodak Anastigmat f·7·7 lens is a sharp-shooter—it puts keen definition in the negative. Result, snappy prints—and enlargements when you want them.

The Shutter:
The Eastman-made Diomatic shutter has four snap-shot speeds up to 1/100 second as well as time and bulb actions, and these speeds are accurate. This precision, plus the presence of the automatic exposure dial which gives the proper timing at a glance, means correctly exposed negatives.
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Novel Blueprint Lamp Shade For Den or Workshop (Feb, 1954)

Filed under: DIY — @ 12:05 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1954
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Novel Blueprint Lamp Shade For Den or Workshop
An old blueprint, perhaps of your own house, makes an attractive lamp-shade covering for a man’s den or workshop. Use the type of shade that has the top and bottom loops fastened together with corner wires. Strip off the old shade, use it for a pattern and cut the new cover from the blueprint. It can be fastened to the frame with glue or cellulose tape.
L. C. Auer, La Porte, Tex.

A TRANS-ATLANTIC VIEW OF EUROPE’S 1954 MODELS (Feb, 1954)

Filed under: Automotive — @ 12:05 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1954
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A TRANS-ATLANTIC VIEW OF EUROPE’S 1954 MODELS

FORD introduces a new Anglia in England for ‘54, below. It has 4 cylinders, unitized body, gas tank in rear fender

AUSTIN offers a new two-door sedan, left. It is just over 11 feet long, four feet less than the shortest U.S. car, and is built for economy. Its engine is an overhead-valve four
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Electrically Heated Screen and Foot Pad Take Chill From Cold Room (Jul, 1932)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 12:04 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1932
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Do you have to sit like that? Or are they just having a bomb drill?

Electrically Heated Screen and Foot Pad Take Chill From Cold Room
CHILLING surfaces, cold, damp walls and frosty windows need no longer bring discomfort to the home or office. All their icy darts are robbed of their sting by a new electric screen and pad, shown ‘on the right, which have just been constructed by L. W. Schad of East Pittsburg, Pa.

Connected to a light socket by an extension cord, the electrically heated screen serves as an auxiliary radiator and can be moved anywhere about the house or placed between your desk and the window, where it will heat the room and also protect vou from the draft. The chilling effect of cold floors is eliminated when standing on one of the heated pads which, like the screen, can be moved about as desired.

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