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His Vision Made Television

The True Story of a Boy Who Had a Big Idea and Followed It Through to Final Success

By ELLIOTT ARNOLD

HE only trouble with Philo T. Farnsworth’s story is that it is out of time. It belongs to another day. It ought to be a hoary legend now and it’s just twenty years old and still in the making.

It has everything the school teachers love —boyhood on a farm, the dreamy inventor, the years of struggle, success. It’s the story of television and it all took place when folks whose names slip the mind for the moment did a lot of shouting about the frontiers being gone.

Farnsworth dreamed of television without moving parts when he was thirteen; a year later, still in high school, he invented some of the basic parts of electronic television. In 1927, when he was twenty, he took out his first patent, on an entire television system—not just one part—and Donald K. Lippincott, the radio engineer, called him “one of the ten greatest mathematical wizards of the day.”
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Sometimes you have to wonder… Just because they didn’t have photoshop doesn’t mean they couldn’t fake photos.

Studebaker Builds World’s Largest Auto — 41 Feet Long
AT THE entrance of the Studebaker proving grounds, in South Bend, Indiana, stands the world’s largest automobile—so large that an ordinary car can be placed under its hood. This mammoth car, shown above, weighs five and a half tons, and is 41 feet long—two and a half times the length of the ordinary car.

Tourist Cabin Made from Discarded Sailboat

When a storm wrecked the hull bottom of his sailboat, Albert O. James, of Lakeport, Mich., hauled it up on shore, scooped out a foundation for it in the sand, and changed it into an overnight cabin for tourists. A wooden shelter was erected over a double bed set into the forward part of the cockpit, while a screened sitting room was built at the aft end and fitted with colorful awnings. The transformation from boat to cottage cost less than five dollars.

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What to Invent

By Raymond F. Yates

Fortunes From Needed Inventions

INVENTORS in the United States have been greatly stimulated during the past few weeks because of a definite improvement in spirit, reflected in a rapidly rising stock market and a greatly quickened production pace. The pessimists are gradually coming around to the point of view that there is “plenty of life left in the old girl yet.” Thousands of new inventions will be sold in the coming years and, what is more, they will be sold easily and they will bring higher prices than ever before in the history of this land. We have at hand much of interest this month. The writer has been touring the Eastern and Mid-Western parts of the United States during the past year and has found many new needs voiced both by large and small manufacturers, many of them now making ample preparation for expansion of business activity during the coming months.
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Don’t Punish Your Stomach to Relieve Constipation!

When you’re dull, tired, upset, headachy due to constipation, don’t take chances on making bad matters worse! Remember, no other type of laxative CAN do exactly what FEEN-A-MINT does ! It safeguards against trouble in 3 special ways:

1. NO STOMACH UPSET—you don’t swallow a heavy, bulky dose; there’s nothing to burden your overworked digestion.
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What Makes MICKEY MOUSE Move?

Illustrated by Walt Disney

Fifty highly trained artists and scores of sound engineers unite to bring fast-moving animated talking cartoons to screen. Here’s how amazing job is accomplished.

by EARL THEISEN – Honorary curator motion pictures, Los Angeles Museum

MAKING Mickey Mouse move is not a mysterious technical process that Walt Disney does behind studio walls. It is an interesting thing that everyone can understand. The methods of animating a cartoon are fascinating. The fact that a hand-drawn picture can show motion is little short of miraculous.

A cartoon studio, in many respects, may be compared with a real life studio. In both they have stars or characters, a story or scenario, a director, and sets. In the Disney studio, the stars are cartoon pictures painted on sheets of celluloid and the sets are not made of wood by a carpenter, but are water color paintings made by an artist. The cartoon director is known as the “layout” man. As the term implies, it is his duty to lay out the story. He does this in the form of rough pencil sketches which serve as a guide for the artists who draw the story action. These sketches illustrate the various things the cartoon character does in the story. Read the rest of this entry »

Infectious Dandruff?

Go after the germs with Listerine Antiseptic and Massage… Quick!

Those flakes and scales on coat shoulder—especially if they persist—may be symptoms of infectious dandruff and the millions of germs that go with it.

Don’t delay or experiment with untested methods. Get staffed at once with Listerine Antiseptic and massage twice-a-day and keep it up. This is the tested way that has helped so many… may help you.
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Aww, how cute. The little Nazi needs training wheels.

TWO TINY WHEELS KEEP NEW BICYCLE UPRIGHT

A four-wheeled bicycle which recently made its appearance in Germany may be mounted easily, even by a beginner, and may be parked anywhere. Two small auxiliary wheels are attached by movable brackets to the frame of the cycle and are raised or lowered by moving a lever on the handle bar. So long as these wheels remain lowered, the cycle stands upright as shown above. When in motion, they are raised.

Is there any way this could possibly have worked? It seems like way too subtle a problem to solve just by matching certain frequencies. I’m sure you could program a computer to do a pretty good job of this now, but even that would have problems. And even if it worked, who’s to say a commercial can’t have music?

Device Shuts Off Radio Advertising; Tunes in Music

RADIO listeners who dislike advertising announcements and long speeches will welcome a new invention that automatically shuts off voice programs.

The device, known as the “radio advertising eliminator,” will operate the radio only when musical programs are coming over the air. Just as soon as any voice announcement is made from the station, the radio receiver is turned off and is not turned on again until the musical program resumes.
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Um… What exactly am I supposed to push there?

WARNING SIGNS aid stranded motorists. They read: Caution, Out Of Gas, Stalled, Need Help. Signs, are luminous and fit into trunk.

Sunset Mfg., Los Angeles.

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Will Monster Insects Rule the World?

By Jay Earle Miller

Fantastic as it may sound, it is a scientific possibility that in some distant age man will disappear from the earth, his food supply ravaged by insect hordes who remain to dominate the world. Mr. Miller’s article is a fascinating discussion of a subject which has been made increasingly important by the many existing crop-destroying pests.

A WORLD ruled by giant insects, with the last remnants of the human race as slaves is one of the favorite devices of one school of fiction writers.

Fantastic? Not at all. Thoughtful scientists recognize that as one of the possible endings for our civilization. In fact, all past history indicates that when, and if, the present civilization comes to an end, it will die because of an unsolved food problem, and that insects will be a contributing factor, and hence may be the survivors. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that’s a niche product.

Compact Toaster for Marshmallows

THE latest thing in electrical household appliances is an electrical marshmallow toaster which toasts both sides of the confection at once. Ladies will find this little device useful for entertaining at bridge parties, as they permit the preparation of dainty desserts on the dining table. Six marshmallows may be toasted at once, and enough of the tid-bits for a large party may be toasted in a very few minutes.