Scientific Experiments with Toys
By Raymond B. Wailes
Many Novelty, Toy and “Jokers” Supply Stores sell small glass “meters” or “thermometers.” as they are called, attached to a card supposed to represent the quantity of intoxicating liquor the individual can consume, a state of health, denote a fortune, etc. The items are designed to provoke mirth and hilarity, but they operate on a scientific principle and can be used admirably for demonstrating some physical laws. What to do and how to conduct the experiments are details covered in the accompanying text.
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High-voltage Spark Generator
By WalterE. Burton
Here’s a simplified Toepler-Holtz static machine for generating high-voltage electric sparks. By experimenting with it you can learn something about the nature of electrical currents.
IF YOU are interested in learning the nature of that mysterious and invisible force known as electricity, there is no better means of studying it than by experimenting with this inexpensive and easily made static machine. This is not a machine, mind you, which makes that awful noise in your radio receiver, but a device which generates high voltage electric sparks which are quite harmless, but with which you can have barrels of fun. It is of the Toepler-Holtz type which is used in most school physics labs to demonstrate the strange things that electricity can be made to do.
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Popsy - A Simply Made But Very Lifelike Dummy for the Amateur Ventriloquist
By KENNETH MURRAY
POPSY is an intriguing ventriloquist’s dummy you can construct from inexpensive materials without any special skill or shop equipment. His name comes from Popular Science Monthly, for which he was specially designed. He wags his jaw realistically and, if you want to take a little extra trouble, he can be made to wink, wiggle an ear, smoke, spit, or even blush!
Teaching him to talk takes a little practice, of course, but it’s not nearly so hard as commonly believed, and once you learn the trick, you will be able to entertain and astonish your friends.
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The Amateur Electrician
Edited by THEODORE ALLEN
Experimenting with electricity is a most fascinating and instructive pastime. This month, Modern Mechanics and Inventions presents to its readers plans for making apparatus with which both the practical and theoretical side of electricity can be studied. Editors of this department always stand ready to assist readers in any way possible.
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HOW TO CONSTRUCT A FUN - PROVOKING Cigarette Dispenser
When the fisherman’s figure is pushed backward, one of the fishes instantly disgorges a “butt”
By HOWARD R. HEYDORF
STRUGGLING with his catch, this comic fisherman seems to be fighting a pretty hopeless battle. Give him a little help by tilting him backward and he will reward you with a cigarette delivered through the mouth of one of the fishes. He will continue to deliver cigarettes one at a time till the magazine of thirteen is empty.
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How to Build an Electric Organ FOR ABOUT FIVE DOLLARS
WITH its deep, mellow notes, the electric organ is fast gaining the musical limelight. As a rule, these instruments are large and costly. Yet, for the price of a new hat, you can build a duplicate of a small organ that was featured in a recent coast-to-coast radio broadcast.
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That sundial looks like something out of Hellraiser.
a sundial for your garden
Sundials are not only decorative adjuncts to outdoor gardens and walls—they’re also fascinating and fairly reliable time tellers.
By Carl W. Bertsch
SUNDIALS may be made of a variety of materials; the only requirement is that they be weatherproof. Exterior-grade plywood, stainless steel, aluminum, opaque plastics, brass, copper, bronze, concrete, ceramics, and slate are all useful. Hour lines and numerals may be painted, etched, or carved.
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Building and Riding a Unicycle
Learning to ride this fugitive from the circus is becoming an increasingly popular modern day exercise
By HAROLD P. SMITH
A USED or even wrecked 20 or 24-in. bicycle will supply most of the major parts needed to make a unicycle, and you can build it for one-third the cost of a new one.
We chose 24-in. bikes for parts to build the unicycles shown in Fig. 1. If you are picking up a used or wrecked bike for parts, select one with a good front wheel fork and rear wheel. And, if possible, one having a New Departure Model D or Bendix 13 coaster brake because these types have rear wheel hubs that are identical in size and shape at both ends, a feature that simplifies the making of the axle adapters.
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These are actually kind of cool looking.
Photographic Cut-Outs Appear to Prop Up Book Ends
To make novel photographic book ends of the type illustrated, first take pictures of the subjects pushing against a wall or the side of a car and enlarge to 5″ by 7″. These enlargements are mounted on 1/4″ thick plywood with glue or dry mounting tissue.
The outlines are then cut on a jig saw with a rather fine blade.
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It seems like at least half of the craft projects in this country used to be about making crude representations of ethnic stereotypes.
Laughable Lamps
By KENNETH MURRAY
HOME decoration isn’t a subject to make light of, but here’s a way to do it nevertheless. These comical lamps are formed from 7-1/2- and 10-watt bulbs of the round, outside-colored variety, usually sold for 10 cents. More powerful lamps would be unsatisfactory because the novelties are not for general illumination—merely to add a spot of live color here and there.
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Workbench Award Winners…
THE proud builders of each project pictured this month are five dollars richer and also have our beautiful Workbench Award Certificate. Their entries were chosen, as the best submitted for the month. We know you like to see what others are doing—and we know others like to see what you are doing. So why not send us a few photos of yourself with your project? If judged one of the best received during the month we’ll publish your picture, send you a five dollar check and a Workbench Award Certificate. Enclose sufficient stamps for return postage and mail your entry to:
WORKBENCH AWARDS. MECHANIX ILLUSTRATED. 67 West 44th Street. New York 18. N. Y.
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A Seesaw Merry-Go-Round
By HARRY D. TIEMANN
A LOT of fun can be had with the teeter-totter merry-go-round shown in the illustration, and any boy can make it who is at all handy with carpentry tools. If built substantially it will amuse the youngsters, big and little, for years. It will go up and down like a seesaw and spin around like a top until the passengers are dizzy.
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