Novel Sculpture Fast Replacing Billboards in Nationwide Advertising

WITHIN recent years Los Angeles and Southern California in general has startled tourists with huge sculptured advertising originated by C. F. and F. G. Carting, and which is meeting with favor among advertisers.

Practically every firm has some slogan or emblem identifying it with their product. The Carling brothers were manufacturing small art pieces of plaster composition plated with metal when the idea occurred to them to reproduce these emblems in miniature. Read the rest of this entry »

view additional pages

Houdini’s Master MAGIC TRICKS EXPLAINED

By R. D. ADAMS

The Mechanic Who Made Houdinis Trick Magic Apparatus In response to numerous requests from readers who enjoyed his thrilling articles, concluded in the December Modern Mechanics, telling of the methods by which Houdini, the master magician, performed his tricks, Mr. Adams has given us another interesting “behind the scenes” story. He built much of Houdini’s apparatus.
Read the rest of this entry »

Owl Declares War on Man

ANYONE who has met a “man-eating” owl is invited to communicate with Professor Albert M. Reese of the University of West Virginia, at Morgantown. Such a bird came to live in Morgantown one day last summer, Professor Reese declares and for a few days actually terrorized pedestrians in one section of the city. Hiding in a tree until some passerby approached on the sidewalk, the vicious bird swooped down suddenly on the unsuspecting humans and struck them violently with its claws. The bird is described as a small one.

Invisible Lens Worn Under Eyelids
IN a demonstration before the American Academy of Optometry in Chicago, Dr. William Feinbloom, a New York optometrist, demonstrated a perfected type of invisible eyeglass to be worn under the eyelids. Unlike European spectacles of a similar nature the new glasses eliminate misfits since each lens is made over with a wax cast of patient’s eye.

Take A Letter, Miss Bunny

TO ALL SPORTSMEN: DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE FROM HUNTING AND FISHING BY LEARNING TO MOUNT YOUR BEST TROPHIES…

IT’S EASY!

YES! It’s Easy to Learn, Right in Your Own Home, to MOUNT ANIMALS, FISH and BIRDS!

WILD GAME in growing scarcer. Every specimen you get from now on is doubly interesting and valuable. Mount them for yourself and your friends. Learn quickly in spare time to Restore and Recreate birds and animals no they appear actually ALIVE. Read the rest of this entry »

Landing airplanes on top of buildings was a really common theme in articles of this time. It’s kind of boggling that anyone thought it could be done safely.

Runway for Airplanes Atop Skyscrapers
A NEW YORKER has invented a novel turntable runway which he believes will be suitable for landing and take-off of airplanes from the tops of high buildings. The device is declared to offer many advantages over the proposed platforms for such landings. The landing table can be tilted at any angle and swung about in any direction so that the wind is along its axis. The incline naturally serves as a brake on the landing ship and air blasts assist in checking the speed of the landed ship. The turntable would also present an incline which would enable a faster than ordinary take off.

The device on the second page is interesting. It’s sort of like a mechanical version of an LCD screen.

view additional pages

Life Size Radio Movies Are Coming

C. Francis Jenkins is inventor of the original movie camera and holder of more than 400 patents, many of them in the field of radiovision. He predicts for the near future life size radio movies and radiovision of news events which may be projected on theater screens at the actual instant they happen. Jenkins describes the present status of television and the lines along which he is working.

by C. FRANCIS JENKINS Famous Inventor

WITHIN a short time, possibly within a year, I expect to see movie screens showing life size pictures of news events as they are happening. We are working now on that problem. We may not be first to solve it, but it is only a question of time until some one does, and it is quite possible that we may be first.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m pretty sure this is how E.T. got called to earth in the first place.

PLANETS ON UMBRELLA MAKE ASTRONOMY EASY

A new invention for amateur astronomers is said to make self-instruction in the secrets of the skies easy and absorbing. It is a homemade planetarium, which reproduces in miniature the dome of the heavens, showing the planets and constellations mapped out in their proper positions.

The unique contrivance was constructed by a New York City inventor from simple frame parts of metal and wood, while an old umbrella hood served for a dome. It rests on wheels so that it can be moved about without difficulty.
Read the rest of this entry »

NEW EYEGLASSES FIT UNDER GAS MASK
Eyeglasses specially designed for use with gas masks have just been introduced to the public in England, where the entire civilian population is being trained to protect itself in case of wartime gas attacks. Unlike conventional glasses, whose rigid frames do not always fit close to the head and might cause a slight leak when a mask is put on, the new spectacles have flexible frames made of elastic tape, which fit closely over the side of the face. The flexible frames are easily adjusted.

view additional pages

WHAT’S NEW For Your Home

A four-page “shopping section” dedicated to modern homemakers

LIGHTWEIGHT LAWN MOWER weighs 19 pounds and cuts to within one inch of walls. Rear rollers spin blades

SELF-WRINGING MOP has a cellulose sponge that folds like a book when sleeve on the handle is pushed. It mops without splatter and wipes dry
Read the rest of this entry »

I’m pretty sure that gas is called “steam”.

Sun Operates Gas Machine

Developed by Otto H. Mohr, of Concord, Calif., a specially constructed machine utilizes the sun’s rays to produce a gas which, when broken up by means of an electric current, yields hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen and oxygen are then stored in separate tanks for cooking, heating, etc.

Machine Gun Fires Rocket Bullets

A MACHINE gun hardly heavier than an air rifle, yet capable of firing 700 shots a minute with almost no recoil and no possibility of overheating, was recently ‘announced by its inventor, Clyde Farrell of San Francisco.

Special bullets receive only an initial impetus from the firing pin, and generate their own energy in flight, just as do rockets. All remaining energy is released when contact is made with the target.
Read the rest of this entry »