Well this one certainly did come true.

MlDEAS Come True

When these ideas were only on the drawing board. Ml predicted great futures for them. We were right.
BATTLEVISION

BACK in January 1952 Mechanix Illustrated ran a story called Why Don’t We Have Battlevision? In it we suggested that the generals of the future might be able to see the progress of battles on television screens from the relative safety of their headquarters. The series of photographs on this page show the U.S. Army using this very system to observe cadets during battle maneuvers at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Mobile Signal Corps camera units at the front relay the complete television coverage of the sham battle back to commanding officers four miles away.

“The keyboard is the key to greater challenge.”

With that membrane keyboard, I’d say so.

The Only Video Game Voice Module with an Unlimited Vocabulary

The Voice from Odyssey 2 adds a whole new dimension to the fun of video games. With this optional module and its specially programmed cartridges, Odyssey 2 becomes the only video game system that can repeat any words typed into the keyboard, and much more!

Depending upon which cartridge you insert The Voice can do a whole bunch of other exciting things. Like asking questions and demanding answers to math and spelling problems. It even enhances sound effects and warns of approaching enemies in certain arcade games!
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New Ride Thriller Loops The Loop

THRILL seekers at county and state fairs, carnivals, and other amusement resorts will this year be offered all the thrills of a test pilot and all the safety of a train ride in the new Loop-o-plane. The new ride whirls its passengers in a giant loop, keeping them all the while securely strapped to their seats. It is six times stronger than necessary.

It’s a scale with legs, weighing itself. How very meta.

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MAKING HOME TASKS a Pleasure

Below and Right, a Dust-Proof Ash Receiver for Furnaces and Home Heating Plants; This Metal Container Prevents Dust and Dirt from Escaping and Settling over the Basement; Note How the Door Is Opened by a Foot Pedal, Thus Leaving Both Hands Free to Wield the Shovel.

Combination Cupboard and Dining-Room Table Which Can Be Converted from One to the Other without Moving the Dishes; Simple Locking Devices Hold It Rigid in Either Position.
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Portable Photo Copier Folds Like a Trunk When Carried

Entirely self-contained, a portable photo copying machine now on the market is complete with camera having an adjustable focus, spool of sensitized paper, built-in severing device that cuts paper to proper size, and all the developing chemicals. When folded for carrying it closes up like a trunk. It is not necessary to drain the liquids. The camera has a self-timer synchronized with the lights to turn them off when proper exposure has been given. Material to be copied is held by the front of the case which drops down and can be adjusted vertically. Made in two sizes, the larger unit weighs sixty-eight pounds and the smaller thirty-eight.

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Coo-Coo Concoctors Cop Cash

The popular Coo-Coo Contraptions contest closes with this issue to make room for other big contests. Winners in Contest No. 7 are announced below. See what you think of their fool devices!

CONCOCTORS of Coo-Coo contraptions crashed through consistently in copping crates of currency for their prize-winning ideas in Contest No. 7, just ended. (After writing the above sentence, the Coo-Coo contest editor can easily be convinced that his monthly task of studying thousands of Coo-Coo contraptions has affected his mind some way or other.) Read the rest of this entry »

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They Got Rich on Ribs

These lads knew from nothing about running a rib joint—but man, that barbecue sauce!

By Eda Johnstone

NEVER heard of Kelbos? Guess you haven’t been in L.A. lately. It’s one of the biggest success stories out there since Mr. Goldwyn quit the shoestring business.

Kelbo’s Hawaiian Barbecue opened with a bang six years ago. Beginning as a small roadside stand, it has now branched out as Kelbo’s Kar-B-Q and Kelbo’s Fairfax, which in the interval have served hundreds of thousands of customers from all over the world.
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Tear Gas Trap for Cash Registers

A NEW device used to spread tear gas has been invented for cash. registers. It is called a “money trap” and discharges a dense cloud of gas into the thief’s face when he tries to rifle the till.

Formed and painted to duplicate a dollar bill, the box-like compartment fits snugly into the cash drawer. Upon its face is a clamp under which the regular bills are placed. Read the rest of this entry »

Robots Answer All Questions

HOW England’s mechanical men work was recently explained. A youngster wishing to know the location of a restaurant sees one of the mechanical men on a street corner. Approaching him, he presses a button on his tummy. Almost instantly lights stare from under the steel man’s heavy eyebrows and a deep voice booms out, “What do you want to know?”

The youth startled, stutters, “Ppplease, where can I find a restaurant?”

“Three blocks and turn to your right,” the answer comes.

Bewildered, the boy follows directions and, sure enough, walks straight into a restaurant.

What has happened is this: When the youth pushed the button on the man’s stomach a light showed in front of a man in a control room some distance away. He immediately “plugged in” on the steel man from which the signal came. Conversation was possible by a microphone connection.

“Comet” Plane Navigates Land and Sea But Balks at Air

IN a recent tryout of the novel type of plane shown at the left, which its inventors, Wendel Wobido and Stephen Nagel, of Berlin, call the “Comet” plane, and which was designed to navigate air, land and sea, navigated land and sea all right, but when it came to going up into the air the darned thing balked and refused to depart from safe old Terra Firma, or rather, in this case, since they tried to take off from the water, good old aqua firma. Read the rest of this entry »

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TRAIN YOUR DOG TO RUN ERRANDS

It’s old stuff to Buck, famous movie dog shown above and below, but he is willing to pose so other dogs may learn. Below, training a dog to bark when a stranger approaches. As door opens, the dog is led forward and told to speak. “Guard duty” is the dog’s most fundamental job.

If your dog has learned to obey such commands as “Sit “Come” and “Speak,” he can be taught to perform many useful tasks, according to Carl Spitz, Hollywood trainer of movie dogs. Read the rest of this entry »

Like a Conquering Army THESE BOOKS have marched triumphant through the centuries

DR. ELIOT’S FIVE-FOOT SHELF OF BOOKS. (The Harvard Classics)

THE LIBRARIES of the old world and the new are crammed with volumes, shelf on shelf, which a thousand men in a thousand lifetimes could never find time to read. And millions more volumes have passed forever into oblivion, not even to find shelter in the archives of public libraries.

Yet these books have come thundering down through the centuries, influencing, teaching and delighting mankind with their indomitable power. They are as new and invigorating as when their immortal authors instilled in them the breath of eternal life.
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