This Skirt Should Be Pressed With Steam
Here’s a new skirt capable of turning either the eye or an 80,000 kilowatt turbine. The pretty girl is shown wearing $5,000 worth of General Electric turbine buckets. Though a bit impractical as skirt material, these steel buckets, also known as blades, are important parts of huge electricity producing equipment. They function like the blades of a windmill in harnessing energy of scorching steam shot through some turbines at 1,200 miles an hour speed, 12 times greater than that of the average hurricane.

James Liddy’s Bedsprings

By Alfred Lief

ONE day in 1853 James E. Liddy, a carriage maker’s blacksmith, drove his wife into Watertown, N. Y., in their buggy. They were newlyweds. Young Liddy was rather irked, waiting in the seat so long. He fidgeted and bounced on the coil-spring cushion seat—then suddenly his expression changed. Read the rest of this entry »

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CHINA’S MILLIONS Twist the DIALS

The Orient opens its heart to radio and in the footsteps of the American listening public, succumbs to the appeal of native amateur hour artists.

by Robert H. Berkov

AGE-OLD China, shaking loose from centuries of tradition, has taken the radio to its heart, and loud speaker entertainment has become one of the most important influences in a nation which is fast adopting the modernism of the west in even the most outlying sections.

From bustling Shanghai and fast-growing Nanking near the eastern coast, to Chengtu in remote Szechuan province, from the far reaches of Hopei province in the north to Yunnan in the extreme southwest, countless receivers blare forth a cacophony of western and Chinese music, announcements, speeches. Read the rest of this entry »

This attitude had passed by the sixties: Men Do Make Passes at Girls Who Wear Glasses

Maybe You Just Have To Get Used To It
NO, THE ladies aren’t going to a masquerade. They are just demonstrating what the glasses of tomorrow may look like. New York fashion experts claim that glasses can be a beauty and fashion aid if properly accented with clothes, hats, coiffure and make-up. We’re a mechanix magazine and not supposed to know much about these things, but if the girl of tomorrow is going to wear these goggles, we are all for the girl of today.

Ford Navigates in Flood Areas
“SERVICE regardless of flood water” is the motto of a Mississippi taxi driver who “raised” his Ford to meet the occasion. The body is elevated from the axles by using simple metal cross-frames. An elongated drive shaft and steering apparatus complete the job.

Exciting things are happening… where Independent Telephone Companies are growing!

Businessmen with airborne mobility, for example. No longer grounded in the metropolitan centers, industries now make their homes along the new frontiers of economic growth. Low costs, high productivity provide the incentive. Private air travel keeps them within minutes of their customers.
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AIR-SEA JETLINER

AFTER months of top-secret tests, the Navy has partially lifted the wraps on its XF2Y-1 Sea-Dart, world’s first delta-wing seaplane, which uses retractable hydro-skis for take-off and landing.

MI’s cover and the Convair drawing above show what this sensational development may mean to commercial air travel of the future. Imagine a supersonic jetliner, too large to be handled efficiently at even our largest airports but perfectly capable of squatting at any of our innumerable seaports and being nuzzled to its dock by tugs! In addition to passenger convenience and greater capacity is the extra safety factor in trans-oceanic hops.

Sadly, this seems pretty tame by comparison with what is considered normal today.

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Washington’s Brassy Influence Peddlers

Retired generals and admirals cozy up to their old buddies to swing billions of dollars in defense contracts!

By FRANK DEGNAN

LAST JULY, three of the largest defense contractors in the nation readied plans to entertain Air Force Lt. General Bernard S. Schriever, head of the Air Research and Development Command. Party invitations described the affair as cocktails and dinner with an off-the-record chat by General Schriever about his plans and problems.
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FUN WITH BALLOONS

Next time the children have a party add to the fan with these toy balloon games.

TO ADD zip and zest to a children’s party turn your attention to these toy balloon games. Here you will find the answer to gay and novel games. The blowing balloon race, shown in the top photo, is one of the most popular forms of amusement. Line up two or more players at one end of a room and in front of each place an inflated balloon. Read the rest of this entry »

Bossie Gets The Breaks
ABOVE we see a demonstration of the newly-invented diathermy machine for, applying heat treatment for adhesions and other ills to the udders of cattle. At the right, a contented cow peers out from behind an electric fly screen, the most recent device to save wear and tear on bossie’s fly-swatting tail.

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FAMILY YACHT FROM A LANDING CRAFT

He bought a LCVP from Navy surplus and from it fashioned this nifty “floating cottage.”

By Marylaird Wood

IT ALL began when Thomas L. Collins of Alameda, Calif., bought a LCVP from Navy surplus. The discarded landing craft sold for $24.00. It didn’t look much like a family boat but Tom thought it had possibilities.

Collins and his 14-year-old son, Tom, Jr., love the water. When they bought the LCVP they already owned a 30-foot sailboat but the problems of overnight accommodations, limited cabin space, and the fact that the ketch required a crew, took some of the fun from weekend sailing. Read the rest of this entry »

HISTORY WITH A BANG!

ROBERT Lewis of Tujunga, Calif., gets a big bang from his hobby—a private gun collection said to be one of the finest in the country. He began gunning for guns 25 years ago and has amassed 135 historically significant weapons ranging from the 15th Century to the present day and including flintlocks, percussion and cartridge types. All are in perfect working order and he’s fired most of them. Each item has a personal history which he can support by documentary evidence. For example, the Burnside carbine in photo below, left, belonged to famous outlaw, Harry Tracy, who was killed in a jailbreak at Steamboat Springs, Colo., in 1898.