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What Magicians Do When Magical Tricks Go Wrong

Mechanical ingenuity and high-speed thinking are required by magicians when something goes haywire with their tricks. Here Fred Keating, famous magic master, tells of some of his embarrassing moments.

As told to George Bailey by FRED KEATING

AT ONE time when Robert Houdin, patron saint of modern magicians, after whom the great Houdini adopted his name, was asked by the execution of what trick he judged a conjurer, he replied, “Never by the execution of any trick, but wholly by his ability to get out of a trick that fails, and covering it up.”
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Bathing Cap Has Suction Cups
A WATER-PROOF bathing cap now on the market is provided with a one-inch band, consisting of three rows of scientifically designed suction cups, which permits the cap to fit over the head perfectly so as to exclude all water. The wearer merely moistens the suction cups, tucks the hair up inside past the cup band, and thereby becomes prepared for a comfortable swim.

Tourists Can’t Lose Road in Radio Guided Automobile

AUTOMOBILE tourists still get lost, especially in states where the road marking is poor and at night when various guiding signs are invisible.

A new system of direction finding will banish all of that. In the future the auto tourist, rolling along in strange country, will hear an alarm on his dash sound when he gets off the right road for each great national highway will then have its set of code signals flowing through the telephone or telegraph wires at the side of the roads by means of carrier waves. Read the rest of this entry »

Drug Said to Cause Clairvoyance
A SOUTH AMERICAN plant called Yage is believed by natives to have the magical property of enabling the drinker to see great distances or through obstacles. Before the drinker falls asleep everything seems to be filled with hazy bluish rings. As the stupor deepens the sleeper sees vivid visions of things or people known to be somewhere else. This is the reason the drug is supposed to cause clairvoyance.

Screening Fierce Battle in Drop of Water

YOU might not believe it, but ferocious and cannibalistic battles are staged every moment of the day in the drops of water that make up the rivers, lakes and oceans of the world.

A few of these battles are to be brought to the screen for the amusement and amazement of visitors to the Hall of Science at the 1933 World’s Fair. What will make this feat possible is a special projector which throws on the screen in a greatly magnified scale what is seen at the eyepiece of a powerful microscope.

Drops of water containing various species of unfriendly protozoa will be joined on the slide under the microscope connected with the projector. The battle to the death will be primitive and unmerciful, for protozoa are hungry and they ask no quarter and give no quarter. The artist’s drawing above shows how the projector and screen will be rigged up for the show.

Electric Shovel is Mechanical MONSTER

A NEW monster in the mechanical world has made its appearance in the form of an electric excavation shovel of almost incredibly gigantic dimensions.

Shown above, the shovel has a dipper that will scoop up 18 cubic yards of dirt at one sweep, and will dig enough in a 24-hour day to fill 7,500 motor trucks of 4 yards each. A seven-passenger car can be driven through the dipper with room to spare.

The enormous reach of the shovel is illustrated in the fact that it can pick up a dipper full of earth, rotate, and dump it 200 feet away on the top of a seven-story building.

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What YOU should know about PATENTS

By Harry Kursh

WHAT is a patent? It is a “legal monopoly” authorized by the Constitution and granted to inventors by the U. S. Patent Office. It gives inventors the right to exclude others from making or selling their inventions.

How long does a patent last; can it be renewed?

A patent is good for 17 years. It can be renewed only by a special Act of Congress but no patent has ever been renewed in modern times.

What does it cost to get a patent?

You pay the Patent Office $30 when filing your application for a patent and another $30 when and if the patent is granted. An additional $1 is charged for each claim in excess of 20 claims. If you engage a patent attorney, the initial patent search may cost about $25. If your invention is patentable, and the attorney files the necessary papers, takes care of the drawings and follows through on your application until the patent is granted, average legal fees for a relatively uncomplicated patent will total $300-$500. Read the rest of this entry »

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These SKIMMERS Go Anywhere

THE Wright boys would blink in astonishment at some of the weird rigs taking to the air these days. Air-Cars, Sky-Boats, Flying Jeeps, Hovercraft—they’re revolutionizing the Age of Flight.

Most of these craft are based on two new devices: the ducted fan and the air cushion.
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Black Spray
of carbon is blown into the face of this industrial worker to test the efficiency of a respirator incorporating a revolutionary new dust filter. The mask was developed by the American Optical Company to protect laborers exposed to microscopic poisonous and disease-producing
dusts smaller in diameter than 24 millionths of an inch.

Jeepers! The lowly jeep has been glamorized in the best Hollywood tradition. The boys overseas would have to look twice before they recognized it. This gives you an idea of what can be done with the present car-of-all-work of G.I. Joe when it is painted and generally fixed up. Jeeps are going on sale now to the public. The girl on the hood? She comes under the heading of Special Accessories—which you have to supply yourself.

Zig-Zagging Target Tests Gunners’ Skill

THE Field Artillery, U. S. Army, has long experienced difficulty in obtaining practice against fast-moving targets. To meet this need, the Artillery Corps has recently perfected a target which can be towed behind a rapidly-moving automobile and yet zig-zag across the landscape like a drunken jackrabbit.
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The Fuel-Injection CORVETTE

Chevy leads the way with a fuel injection system that may enable this buggy to beat the Grand Prix record of 170 mph, says Tom, By Tom McCahill IN 1920, when a be-mustached gentleman named Gaston Chevrolet won the Indianapolis classic at the astounding speed of 88 mph, he was a hero’s hero and about as swashbuckling a character as you would be apt to meet at a luncheon for the late Jean LaFitte. Later on, Gaston zigged when he should have zagged and they buried him that November. Somehow I can’t help wondering how Gaston would have reacted if he could get a look-see at his namesake as we know it today. Read the rest of this entry »