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Luminescense Still Mystery to Science

by Calvin Frazer

ON DECEMBER 28, 1929, the British steamship Talma was off the eastern shores of the Bay of Bengal, en route from Calcutta to the Far East. The weather was calm and clear. Toward seven in the evening an extraordinary display of luminosity was seen in the surrounding sea.

“At first,” says the captain’s report, “what appeared like small globules of phosphorescence rising from below and breaking at the surface were observed. Later these assumed an appearance almost like flashes of lightning under the water, which rapidly formed into regular beams, curved as the curved spokes of a wheel might be, and of a width at the ship of about 30 feet.
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LOCKHEED JETSTAR: The corporate-size jetliner with stand-up, walk-around, stretch-out room

You won’t feel cramped or hemmed in aboard the JetStar. Even on long trips, big active men find plenty of room for comfort on this largest of corporate jets. There’s space, too, for the tables, desks and lounge furnishings you choose, or for 10 airline-type passenger seats. And more room for galley, private lavatory, separate pilot’s flight deck and a generous amount of baggage. Read the rest of this entry »

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Household Tasks Simplified With These New Inventions

Now comes the automatic kettle, which boils the water, makes the tea and automatically shuts off the current when tea is ready, thus relieving the housewife of the necessity of tending the pot. The current consumption is comparatively low.

This combination dust pan and broom rack that attaches to the wall proves very practical and handy for housewives. Made of heavy metal, the device will last a lifetime.
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TOWN PUMP’S END

Saginaw gives it civic burial when new water finally conies in Twenty years ago the city of Saginaw, Mich, erected a $2 million water-pumping plant, but it made the mistake of drawing its water from the Saginaw River, where chemical plants and other factories dumped their waste. A way was found to purify the water bacteriologically, but it still tasted like aqua nausea. Read the rest of this entry »

Car Exhaust Operates Upholstery Cleaner

BY THE use of a new auto upholstery cleaner the inside of your auto can be] kept as spick and span as your living room. This new invention known as the “Motor-Vac” cleaner resembles the standard household implement, having similar hose and nozzle, but power is taken from the motor exhaust.

No bag is used, the debris being discharged from the engine exhaust, which also creates the suction to draw the dirt out of the fabric.

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New Products

FILAMENT CHECKER.

Speedy testing of filaments and heaters in all types of tubes is the function of the Sencore FC123. Nuvistors, novars, compactrons, and 10-pin tubes, as well as all of the more familiar types, can be quickly and easily checked with this device. A pair of test leads is supplied for checking CRT’s, making other continuity tests, and testing neon indicator lamps. The FC123 sells for $3.95. (Sencore, Inc., 426 S. Westgate Dr., Addison, Ill.)
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Little Liberty

NOBODY ever launched the Andrew A. Nelson, but this Liberty ship is certainly doing its bit for the U. S. Merchant Marine. It’s a cutaway scale model which is used by our Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N. Y., to teach embryo officers the essentials of cargo handling. Read the rest of this entry »

Stockings Protect Golf Clubs

A DISABLED ex-service man at the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Eastbourne, England, has created the latest in head coverings for golf clubs. They are knitted woolen stockings, with the customary tassel and are especially serviceable for warding off rust attacks. The covers are made by veterans of the home.

New Eye Test Gauges Judgment of Level

An eye defect that causes some persons to see things slanted that are actually level, may be the cause of certain types of plane crashes and automobile accidents, according to optical scientists at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H. A pilot suffering from this ailment, it is stated, might see a landing field on a slant and bank his plane accordingly on landing, only to find too late that the field was flat. Read the rest of this entry »

Living Statues Are Coated with Special Paint
Various phases of physical education are symbolized by an athletic group famed for its “statuary” poses. In performances given before audiences throughout the country, the team depicts activities of the physical training division of Springfield College in Massachusetts. Wearing tight-fitting rubber caps and trunks, the men are completely coated with a special aluminum paint and glycerin mixture which gives them a metallic sheen to resemble silvered statues. The paint is not poisonous, and washes off easily with soap and water.

Thousand Tons of Rails Test Strength of Concrete Piers

A THOUSAND tons of steel rails were piled upon a concrete pier in Chicago recently, to determine whether piers extending only to a layer of hardpan, and designed for a four-story building, would support the weight of a 16-story structure on the site of the Chicago Union Station.

The soil at this point is composed of 65 feet of soft earth over an eight-foot layer of hardpan. Beneath the hardpan a second layer of soft clay and sand is encountered before rock is reached. The tests were conducted to avoid, if possible, the expense of excavating to bedrock, and to find how many additional piers would be required to support the 12 additional stories.
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The Next Frontier?

Shape of things to come? Even as Apollo and orbiting Skylab recede into history, American scientists consider a more awesome enterprise—a permanent colony in space.

By ISAAC ASIMOV Paintings by PIERRE MION

I DID NOT REALLY UNDERSTAND what L-5 was like, on this July day in A.D. 2026, until I no longer saw it from my vantage point in space.

On the shuttle flight I had observed by telescope the torus that we all recognize, much like a bicycle wheel, gleaming in the direct light of the sun and in the light reflected from the large mirror floating free above. The six spokes and the central hub were visible too, of course.
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