Old Auto Parts Prize Contest

ON this page are shown a number of suggestions of what can be done with various old auto parts. “We will, until further notice, pay for ideas submitted to this page under the following plan: $3.00 FOR EACH PHOTOGRAPH SUBMITTED TO THIS DEPARTMENT AND PUBLISHED BY US. Photographs must be BONA FIDE, and show the article after it has been converted and is ready for use. Photographs must be large and clear. A short article describing tile nature of the construction and its uses should accompany the photograph. Read the rest of this entry »

Shadow Amusements

CHILDREN and grown-ups alike are intrigued by shadow pictures. Many house parties have been salvaged from the depths of boredom by the arrival of a guest who knew how to flick his fingers before a table lamp in such a manner as to cast mirth-provoking silhouettes upon the living room wall. Read the rest of this entry »

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Easy STUNTS with Paper

Amusing tricks can easily be performed with sheets of paper if you know how to fold and cut or tear to obtain intricate and unusual patterns. Soldier hats and headpieces of other styles as well as the Jacob’s ladder can be speedily produced.

by KEENAN H. WARD

ALL you require in the way of equipment is a sheet of paper. All you need to do is fold it several times, here and there; tear it, so and so . . . and there you are with a clever paper hat, a mariner’s wheel, a paper ladder or some other clever little knick-knack of entertainment or utility. Read the rest of this entry »

Apparently to make a crossbow modern you just have to give it a sciency name. Still waiting for a Photon Cannon.

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“Ye Atom Smasher”… A Modern Crossbow

By George F. Snell Jr.

FOR the dub archer, hopelessly infected with the romance of medieval weapons, a crossbow should be the answer. A sporting crossbow is easier to make than a really good long bow and is much less difficult to shoot accurately. The cost should not exceed four or five dollars.

The power of a crossbow like the one illustrated is invariably a surprise to those not familiar with archery. In one test it shot a bolt (arrow) not only through a thick telephone directory, but also through a 3/32″ piece of sheet steel used to back it up! Such a powerful weapon must always be used with the utmost caution. Read the rest of this entry »

Moods of Cone Bird Tell Weather

MADE from a pine cone, and mounted on a pair of stilts carved to resemble legs, this odd little weather bird will tell you just what kind of weather is in the offing. When fair weather is due, the bird will bristle up as if it were angry, but when a storm is somewhere near, it will quiet down and smooth out its scales. A realistic head should be carved and glued to the end of the cone. Hot dry air causes the leaves to ruffle up; stormy air causes them to settle.

Novel Colored Postcards Made With Cancelled Stamps

Fashioning artistic postcards with cancelled postage stamps is all in the day’s work for an obscure Chinese artisan of Formosa. He sketches his scenes and then fills them in with parts of stamps, to make truly colorful pictures. Two of his best pieces of work show a lady riding in a rickshaw and a lady riding a caribou. Exceedingly intricate designs can be worked out with the stamps and the art introduced by the Chinese is destined to become quite a fad.

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Plans for Making a Racing Razor Blade Iceboat

By T. S. ASGAARD

RAZOR blades, box wood, and an old flour sack are the materials used in building this simple, fast and sure sailing iceboat. Balanced so that she will sail herself in all winds not strong enough to tip her, it will be found that this style boat is the answer to those boys who have often tried to make a workable miniature iceboat, only to find that the balance was wrong, that the thing was too heavy, or that it would not steer. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ride This Ice Merry-Go-Round for Thrills

by DALE R. VAN HORN

Speed is the chief source of thrills in winter sports. If you can lay hands on an old two-horsepower gas engine, you can construct this novel Ice Merry-Go-Round and get a real thrill as it whizzes you at top speed in circles around the ice. Read the rest of this entry »

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BOOMERANG throwers Show Amazing Skill

Deadly primitive weapon, a flat crooked stick, is still thrown by native tribesmen with remarkable accuracy and properly hurled the weapon will fly back almost to the feet of the thrower. Bushmen make more than 20 forms of boomerangs and the home shop worker can with little difficulty construct his own weapon.

by SAM BROWN
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A Fan Motor Television Receiver For Experimenters
by L. B. ROBBINS

Here is a simple and easily-built type of television receiver with which you can pick up the television images now being transmitted over the air from a number of stations.

THE time is now ripe for radio fans who build their own sets to construct a television receiver. Several broadcasting stations are on the air transmitting on both long and short waves, and have so perfected their apparatus that a simple receiver like that illustrated in the accompanying drawings will bring out the pictures with a fair degree of clarity and brilliancy. Read the rest of this entry »

Set Building Simplified by Standardized Hookup Board

THIS new hookup board will gladden the heart of many a newcomer into radio because of the ease with which it allows the novice to hook up his receiver. It eliminates all wiring from part to part and practically any type of circuit can be employed. Consequently the following of blueprints and diagrams can be avoided and the various items assembled by merely plugging them in the proper sockets in the board. Read the rest of this entry »

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Many NEW USES For OLD FORDS

Extraordinary uses ior the aged motor will make it useful over an indeterminate period.

Here is a farm power plant made from an old Model T Ford automobile. It operates a belt line and shaft for grinding feed, elevating corn and grain, cutting ensilage. It is also rigged up to operate a grindstone and emery wheel tool sharpeners. Such a power plant is of inestimable value on the farm as it can be adapted for a variety of uses. Read the rest of this entry »