TRICKS of the Filling Station Gyp Exposed
by MANLY S. MUMFORD WHEN a motorist asks for five gallons of gasoline at an oil station, he may get it. And he may not. He may get four and a half gallons of gasoline and a half gallon of kerosene, furnace oil or some other adulterated form of gasoline. There are many ways in which oil stations can, if they are so minded, bilk the public, and many of them do it. Read the rest of this entry »
Scrambled Line-Up
By IRA KAMEN
In the battle for TV ratings crime will be the loser when WUHF broadcasts the line-up THE New York City police are using UHF-television as a weapon in their war against crime. Now, more than ten times the number of detectives can view and study the features and mannerisms of criminals at police line-ups than was previously possible—by watching a TV screen at their local precincts.
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Police Inaugurate Two-Way Radio
THE first two-way police radio equipment in the United States is now in operation at Piedmont, a fashionable suburb of Oakland, California. Permission for this efficient new form of communication between police officers in the field and headquarters has been granted by the federal radio commission. Read the rest of this entry »
Electric Chair Powerless to Harm Wizard
THREE hundred and fifty amperes of electric current were powerless to affect the body of Bernays Johnson, electrical wizard, shown strapped to the electric chair in which the demonstration took place. The feat was performed at the recent Aero-Radio show in Boston. Read the rest of this entry »
Tear Gas Makes Weapon of Fountain Pen
AN INNOCENT-APPEARING fountain pen containing a charge of tear gas which makes it a most effective weapon has been perfected for the use of cashiers, bank tellers, and others likely, to be objects of robbery. The tear gas is carried in the pen in liquid form and when the trigger is released it spouts out of the pen as a vapor which will blind and disable anyone it is directed against. The release trigger is shaped like the conventional ink-filling lever, and in appearance the weapon cannot be distinguished from an ordinary writing tool.
Bullets from Same Gun Linked By Camera
PHOTOGRAPHIC evidence as to whether or not two bullets were fired from same gun is irrefutably supplied by a new comparison camera invented by Dr. J. H. Mathews, University of Wisconsin professor and criminologist.
The camera marks a sensational advance of science in the war against crime. By taking pictures of opposite sections of the two bullets being checked, the camera reconstructs a composite bullet of the two sections. The resulting photographic reproduction is enlarged between 64 and 256 times the size of the bullets, permitting positive identification before a courtroom jury.
The camera is really two cameras merging into one at the single plate holder. The bottom camera takes a photo of the base of one bullet while the upper camera registers the top section of the second bullet, the two halves appearing on the print as one.
Novel Door Lock Stops Gangsters
AN AUTOMATIC electric clock built for revolving doors such as are used in banks and department stores was designed by three Minneapolis inventors to thwart gangster attempts at wholesale robbery.The device is concealed in the wall just above the axis of the door. In case of a holdup any employee can press the alarm push button. A small electric motor immediately engages notched clutches which prevent the door from turning.
VENT SAVES Bank Vault PRISONERS
“STICK ‘EM UP!”
“Now waltz into the vault!”
These commands, ripped out to hapless bank employees as they look into the muzzles of awesome revolvers, will no longer hold the old-time terror.
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Installment Buying Landed Me In Jail
She was imprisoned, beaten and twice carted off to a mental hospital—as a result of buying a TV set—that didn’t work!
By SHARY O’HARA
I WAS THROWN INTO JAIL, beaten almost to death, and twice sent to a mental institution as insane—all because I bought a television set on installments.
This sounds fantastic, I know. But my hand trembles as I write this. I want to close my eyes and cry a five-week nightmare from my mind. But I must tell my story to someone—to someone who may have forgotten that a citizen’s rights are the most precious, most wonderful rights in the world.
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Bullet-proof Shield Protects Police Officers in Gun Battles
COLLAPSIBLE armored shields to protect the bodies of police in gun battles have been invented to aid Uncle Sam in his war on crime. The shields were designed following the slaying of four officers in front of the Union station in Kansas City, Missouri.
The collapsible armor permits free movement of the body. The shield is made in three sections, the two end sections hinging to the center body piece. At the top is an opening fitted with bullet-proof glass through which the officer can see ahead.
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Gas Replaces The Noose
FOLLOWING the lead set by Nevada, Arizona and Colorado in the quick and painless method of executing criminals by gas, Wyoming has installed a lethal gas chamber to replace the noose, a now fast disappearing method of capital punishment. The Wyoming death chamber, manufactured by a Denver, Colorado, firm, is claimed to be the most humane yet devised. Several other states are said to be considering the adoption of gas chambers for legal executions.
CAMERA BALKS FALSE ALARMS
SILENT SENTRY is trained on alarm box, shoots picture when alarm is pulled. Twelve of these installations in Oakland, Calif., have cut false alarms at protected boxes to zero—chiefly as a result of publicity given the new devices. Cameras were posted at trouble spots—a number being in high school neighborhoods.
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