Agitators, Engineers Are Chessmen

MODERN as tomorrow morning’s headlines, a newly simplified form of the game of chess has for its game board the Modern World, and for its pieces Farmers, Mechanics, Engineers and even Agitators struggling against forces symbolized by opposing Armies, Bankers, Radio, Press, Law and Middlemen trying to become Rankers.

The play, which is solely a matter of skill, centers around opposing forces trying to dominate one neutral piece called Government while either the red or white side, as the antagonists are named, is in power.

The game may be played by either two, three, or four persons and is substantially like chess. But gone are the Pawns, the Knights, and the Kings and Queens,

EAST INDIAN MERRY-GO-ROUND
ONE of the most popular sports for young people in India is riding in merry-go-rounds of the type shown in the photograph. It seems to American eyes to he a crude imitation of the Ferris wheels which are so popular in amusement parks. Four chairs are suspended from X-like cross pieces which are mounted on uprights. The device is propelled by man power, and when it gets into action its squeaks can be heard for a long distance, since the axles are never greased. A group of Indian children are shown waiting their turn to ride.

TOMORROW-LAND

High spot of the New York World’s Fair reopening this Spring — GM Futurama!

You can look over GM’s exciting “idea” cars — Firebird IV with television, stereo, game table, refrigerator; GM-X with jet aircraft cockpit and controls—fascinating design and engineering innovations right out of
tomorrow.

You’ll take a ride that is wrapped in wonders . . . through the metropolis of the future, over Antarctic wastes, into tropical jungles, along the ocean floor.

You can count on the people of General Motors again to provide the most popular show at the Fair—the Futurama.

General Motors Is People…
making better things for you

Cards Now Played like Midget Golf

THE latest addition to the ever increasing list of games devised for the amusement of incurable golf fans is a combination of midget golf and bridge, played on a carpet spread out at the bathing beach for games between plunges.

The unique carpet on which the game is played has painted on it a circle containing card symbols on which various card numbers are inscribed. In the center is a cup, and the objective of the player is to score by driving the ball into it. If he misses, the ball rolls onto a section representing another card.

The carpet can easily be rolled out on the beach for a rubber at any time.

Toy Automobiles With Real Motors Displayed in England for First Time

IN THESE modern times when motor cars are playing such a prominent part in family life, the children have such an advanced knowledge of the auto that they demand that their toys he correct in every detail. These miniature cars, which were recently displayed at a British automobile show, are equipped with motorcycle engines, pneumatic tires, electric lights, starters, and all other modern accessories. The little fabric coupe pictured here is the first of its kind.

New Game Uses Wooden Foils

A NEW fencing game uses foils made of wood with suction cups on the ends. Shields made of cardboard are worn with various sections of the body marked off. Face protecting masks made of cardboard and wire mesh also are included. Shown demonstrating the outfit are Rita Hart (left) of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Ethel E. Battner, of Jamaica, L. I., N. Y.

WILLY the walking bug

WILLY can be taken off the wooden track and played with but his finest moment is on the track, being pulled by the string. His legs take on a most lifelike movement which is imparted by the waves cut in the “wiggle spine.”

Begin by making the body from the layout block as shown. Use fine-grained white pine. Cut two saw-kerf leg pivot grooves and dado out the larger groove which receives the spine. If any part of the body splits away mend it with glue. The antennae are No. 165 compression springs stretched slightly and tipped with eraser discs. Fit legs in place on coat-hanger wire after legs and body are painted. The waves under the spine are cut with coping or jigsaw, narrowed to a ridge with then narrowed to a ridge with a circular saw. •

view additional pages

FUN WITH BALLOONS

Next time the children have a party add to the fan with these toy balloon games.

TO ADD zip and zest to a children’s party turn your attention to these toy balloon games. Here you will find the answer to gay and novel games. The blowing balloon race, shown in the top photo, is one of the most popular forms of amusement. Line up two or more players at one end of a room and in front of each place an inflated balloon. At a given signal each player fans or blows his balloon toward the opposite wall. The balloon should not be touched by any part of the body. The player whose balloon touches the opposite wall first, wins. Another interesting pastime is playing basket ball, using a balloon as a ball. Place an inverted lamp shade or waste-basket on a raised object six feet high at each end of a room. Select two groups of players, two or more to a side. Each team has a basket as its goal. Both teams line up in the center of the room. At a signal one player bats a toy balloon into the air. Each player then tries to bat the balloon without its touching the floor into the opponent’s basket. Any player breaking the balloon or permitting it to touch the floor is disqualified. The team scoring the greatest number of baskets in two five-minute periods, wins.

A balloon bottle race is another well-liked game. At one end of the room line up your guests against the wall. Furnish each of them with a one-pint milk bottle and a large, round inflated balloon. At a given signal each player ‘ balances his balloon on the mouth of his bottle and begins walking toward the other end of the room. If a balloon drops from the mouth of a bottle that player must stop and replace the balloon before proceeding further. The player who reaches the opposite end of the room first, wins.

The game of tennis can also be adapted for balloons. Stretch a string approximately 12 in. above a table. Select one or two players to a side. Inflate a small balloon. One player serves the balloon over the string to his opponents using his hand as a paddle. The opponents return the balloon in the same manner. Should either side catch, hold, hit the balloon under the string or off the table, a point is scored for the opposing side. The side scoring 21 points first, wins.

Puppets May Now Smoke

The high spot of a marionette show now touring the country is when one of the tiny puppets lights up a cigarette, inhales the smoke, and blows it out. The picture above shows the puppet under the guidance of invisible strings, and below, how the smoking stunt is accomplished.

Air Rifles Have Lever

Hand Pump A well known type of air rifle has been improved by the addition of an easy lever hand pump action. The gun also has bolt action, hammer fire, hair trigger, safety and adjustable sights.

Phototube Detects Bowling Fouls

A PHOTO-ELECTRIC tube now makes it impossible for bowlers to step on or over the foul line without being detected. A small beam of light is focused across the alley so close to the floor as to be intercepted by nothing except the player’s toe, which needs to slide across the foul line but a fraction of an inch to be detected and registered by a flashing red light.

The light source is a small incandescent lamp which is focused by a lens into a narrow beam across the alley to the photoelectric cell. The instant anything intercepts this beam, cutting down the amount of light which hits the electric eye, the tube actuates a relay turning on the red light which indicates a foul.

view additional pages

Their Ship Came in… from Tokyo

Clair Oberly and Les McDonough, two ex-fliers, parlayed their model boats into a million-dollar-a-year business. By Louis Hochman SEVEN years ago, Clair Oberly and Les McDonough were just another pair of ex-Army and Navy fliers earning their keep as pilot and navigator for the Flying Tiger Line, a commercial outfit operating between the United States and Tokyo.

They didn’t even know each other until they were both assigned to the same flight one day. But this chance meeting developed into a fast friendship and a model boat business that began with a modest $100 investment. Today the model boats—the Fleet Line and K & O Boats, electrically operated toy speedboats of modern design—provide work for more than 1,000 employees and an annual million dollar gross income for the two ex-fliers.

Clair had been running a retail toy store in Wisconsin as a sideline at the time of the meeting. Since they were Tokyo-bound, Clair decided to investigate the toy market in that city.

In Tokyo, the fliers visited various toy manufacturers and picked up an assortment of items—a screw set, boat kit, cheap outboard motor and some accessories.

When they returned to California they contacted some jobbers in the Los Angeles area. The toys, said the jobbers, were practically worthless. Almost nothing was plated, the metal parts would corrode easily, the wood wasn’t properly cured, the screw sets wouldn’t fit domestic motors, etc.

Les and Clair pointed out these flaws to the Japanese on subsequent flights, an invaluable service since the Japanese couldn’t afford to keep a man Stateside. As a result, after about their fourth trip to Tokyo and an outlay of $50 each, they began getting a warmer reception from the Los Angeles jobbers.

They kept their jobs with the Flying Tiger Line for three years, pouring the profits into letters of credit with Japanese manufacturers and bringing in freight loads of constantly improved goods which sold at phenomenally low prices. The airline cooperated by allowing them to stagger their flight schedules so that one could work the local end in the States while the other handled the manufacturing end in Tokyo.

The first big break came when Clair decided to put out a boat kit with a motor in it. He designed the No. 101 Speedster kit, the first complete model boat kit ever put on the market. It contained everything the model boat builder needed—motor, hardware, fittings, deck, hull, etc., and sold for only $11.95. The 101 Speedster kit was made in Japan in 1952 and 51,000 were sold in the States. It was this kit that really put the K & O Models Company on the map.

They have since put out another complete kit with motor for $4.95 and ready-make craft with motors for as low as $2.29.

Things rolled along smoothly until one serious problem came up. The wooden boat hulls being made in Japan were not too good because of improper curing of the wood. So in 1953, Les and Clair made a bold move. They decided to set up their own plant in the United States and manufacture the boats, using the Japanese-made decks, fittings and motors with U. S.-made plastic hulls. They took a leave of absence from their flying jobs and leased a plant in Van Nuys, Calif.

The new company took a severe body blow when the first 10,000 boats they turned out proved to be worthless. Parts didn’t fit, tolerances were off and drive screws started to pop. The novice businessmen had to discard every one of them and $65,000 went into the drink.

After this near-fatal mishap Clair took off for Tokyo with a staff of assistants to supervise plant production there. Les took over operations on the home front.

Under Clair’s supervision, the Japanese, who are capable of making excellent quality goods, produced merchandise with an unusually low defective rate—less than one-half of one per cent!

In the home plant, new methods to attach the wooden decks to the plastic hulls with drive screws were sought. Since the normal pressure used on these drive screws cracked the plastic, K & O, through the efforts of the Burklyn Company of Los Angeles, pioneered the development of a smaller, less powerful air hammer which does the job.

Painting problems were solved with a $20,000 conveyor belt spraying unit which automatically moves the boat hulls past spraying booths and through an infra-red drying oven.

The increase in production from these and other innovations was sensational. In 1954,27 workers on the assembly line turned out only 350 to 400 boats a day. Today, 13 girls on the assembly line can produce 750 to 900 boats a day.

Perhaps K & O’s best break came when Clair conceived the idea of making authentic working miniatures of famous outboard motors. Les and Clair worked a full year with a Johnson motor, scaling it down until they perfected a tiny working replica that was accurate in every detail and color to its full-size counterpart. When the Johnson people saw it they gave K & O exclusive world-wide rights to use the name of Johnson in their miniatures. Les and Clair later obtained similar rights to the Evinrude, Mercury and Scott-Atwater outboard designs.

These little motors measure 5-5/8 in. in length, are electrically operated and precision-made of die cast aluminum.

The tiny outboards propel their craft through the water at close to four feet per second. Harmless to the fingers, they can be clamped to a cocktail glass and make excellent mixers.

Duplicating in miniature name brand equipment buoyed K & O’s gross sales. The company now thanks as the largest manufacturer of built-up boats in the world.

Besides the ready-made boats, K & O also supplies materials for model boat building hobbyists.

K & 0’s low-priced inroads into the field of high quality toys have established a name and fortune for Les McDonough and Clair Oberly, two ex-fliers who will be the first to admit that their ship literally came in—from Tokyo. •

Fascinating Toy with an educational value is this building set invented by Andrew Sommerfeld of Hadley, Salop, England. Using moulds which reproduce sections to scale of famous buildings, youngsters cast the parts in a special concrete strengthened by copper wire. Here they are finishing a church.

view additional pages

Clink, Clink, Clink Goes the Trolly

Jack Francis’ whimsical kiddie trolly is clanging along to the tune of merry dollars.

JACK FRANCIS is a dreamer who follows up an idea by saying: “Let’s try it.”

Optimistic as he is, even Francis thought his idea for a kids’ trolly was a bit zany. While he rode around on his motorcycle, doing his job as a traffic officer for the city of Oakland, Calif., he kept thinking about building a little trolly car.

In his work with traffic safety, Francis had plenty of experience with youngsters. He loves children and, with the trolly car scheme he had in mind, he thought he had something that would make them happy. But he had three problems: no money to build it, no place to operate it, and no time to undertake such a project.

Among his friends who took a special interest in Francis’ idea was his fellow traffic officer Sam Daugherty. While this duo made their motorcycle rounds they discussed how the dream trolly might look. Sam, who is skilled with a drawing pencil, went home one night and drew up a series of rough diagrams and sketches.

That was the spark that ignited the flame in Francis. Armed with the gay drawings, he approached Superintendent William Penn Mott of the Oakland Park Department with the idea of building such a trolly and operating it in Oakland^ nationally famous Children’s Fairyland. Mott and his board members agreed that if the finished project was as imaginative and clever as the sketches, Francis could have park space for his project.

Although he had no firm commitment from the parks (they wanted to see what they were getting) Francis was encouraged enough to approach a bank.

Now, quaint little trolly cars operating on a seasonal basis are not usually considered collateral but the civic-minded Oakland Bank of Commerce decided to back Francis in his venture.

President Carrel Weaver of the bank says it wasn’t quite as easy as it looked to Francis: “We investigated the young man, found him talented, enterprising and reliable. Besides, we thought his idea was a good community project.”

Thus Francis began work on a model, building it with police buddy Daugherty’s help in his own garage workshop on weekends and evenings. The result was a sturdy little car with plenty of personality. The body is 11- gauge steel framing, all hand-riveted. The wood top is antiqued pine, with quaint, old-fashioned windows for the youngsters to peek through. The first car was painted a bright turquoise. Later Francis added one of coral, another of bright blue and a gay yellow. The model (and later ones) measures 42 inches in width, 80 inches in length and 89 inches in height. The interior has leather straps hung at just the right height for youngsters; the seats are of attractive and durable rattan.

When the model was complete, Francis devised a plan for a rustic setting with old-fashioned light posts, lanterns and a 12xl8-ft. depot and platform. He hung bright baskets of geraniums and put old-fashioned dummies, a pot-bellied stove and a wall telephone to give a Gay ’90s atmosphere to the station.

The bank directors and park officers were enthusiastic with the whimsical model car and the plan for its setting. So with the park’s guarantee of a spot in Fairyland, and with an initial loan of $8,000 from the bank, Francis began building the conductor’s car and four identical passenger cars. He then gave notice to the police department so that he could give full-time to his jolly trolly.

Aided by his friend, Sam Daugherty, Francis laid 3,100 feet of 12-pound, 21-1/2-inch gauge track and built the charming, old-fashioned depot. The Jolly Trolly began operating in August, 1955 and the small fry have been clamouring for rides ever since.

The conductor wears a high collar and striped shirt in the style of the ’90s. He takes the youngsters for a bumpy, six-minute ride amidst the oaks and pines— in view of Oakland’s skyline and along the edge of beautiful Lake Merritt. It’s a scenic trip as well as a gay one. The kids pile in, eight to a car, and pay ten cents a ride. Francis hauls about 2,000 children along his happy route, from 10:30 a. m. to 5 p. m. each day.

As a result, he has built a business that today represents an investment of $26,000. The project is now set up under the firm name of Jolly Trolly Enterprises. The bank first arranged a chattel mortgage and they have written a con- tract which allows for payments on a seasonal basis. From time-to-time, they have loaned as much as $15,000 to the project.

The little trolly carries as many as 35,000 passengers in its peak month although bad weather sometimes knocks this figure down to 5,000. Francis’ trolly operates nine-and-one-half months a year.

Francis says he will never forget his sense of elation when the bank said “yes” to his unique idea for this miniature gas-powered ride for small fry. In fact, he ended up packing so much whimsy and charm in his colorful creation that even the parents of the youngsters who ride his train became enchanted with the Jolly Trolly, making it one of the major attractions in Oakland’s Children’s Fairyland.

Francis, who left a secure job with eight-and-one-half years’ seniority on the police force now has a brand-new patent, issued in August 1956, on his appealing trolly.

He’s already expanding his business to accommodate the daily horde of fun-lovers that crowd the ticket office. He must add new cars to carry the load and has built a new mechanical set-up, using a 36-horsepower Volkswagen auto engine. The unit also includes a Nixe marine transmission—with forward, neutral, and reverse for train-type operation—gas tank and electric self-starter.

It was only a dream but because it combined originality with practicality, Francis made it a success. When the off-key gong goes clang, clang, swarms of kids—and parents, too—get in the lineup. They have to wait but it’s worth it. The children love the Jolly Trolly for its charm and personality. •

view additional pages

Side Car Attached to Tricycle Adds Fun for the Children
THE use of side cars and rumble seats is now being extended to children’s vehicles, thus cutting down the expense of parents by making one vehicle serve two children. A recently patented children’s tricycle with a side car attachment suitable for carrying an additional passenger is pictured in the photo at the left. Children of small weight can be carried without adding perceptibly to the burden of the driver or to the wear of the machine. The vehicle is durably constructed of wood and metal and has an attractive appearance. It will prove a great boon to children who have a smaller brother or sister to take care of.

Robot Plays Card Games Press Button – It Deals a Hand

TO PLAY a game of cards with this robot merely press a button. Miniature cards are speedily shuffled and a full hand of five cards flash into view. Each hand is awarded points according to the value of the cards. A pair counts five, three of a kind counts fifteen, a straight represents fifty, and so on up the scale.

The miniature cards are made by pasting, side by side on a sheet of cardboard, fifty ordinary playing cards (a complete deck excepting two deuces). These are taken outdoors and photographed, as large as possible, with a 4″x5″ or post card size camera. Trim the tiny cards from a contact print of the negative.

Ten of the cards are glued to each of five wood wheels measuring 2-1/4″ in diameter and 3/8″ thick. The wheels are weighted with lead slugs and revolve loosely on a length of doweling. Each wheel has ten small brads nailed into it and one brad fixed near the axle to engage a bit of spring brass driven into the doweling.

When the doweling axle turns in a clockwise direction, the wheels are engaged and turn with it. Stopping the axle allows the wheels to continue to turn with their own momentum. When they finally stop, a strip of spring on the baseboard brushes two of the ten brads in order to frame one of the cards of each wheel in its window. Each of the springs has a different tension so that no two wheels rotate with the same speed.

How to Make the Control Button

The control button is another piece of dowel resting in a drilled-out block containing a stiff spring. It should be covered with an inch of thin rubber tubing where it rubs against the dowel axle.

A press of the button spins the axle, giving the card wheels sufficient momentum so they rotate a number of times. Each stops at a different moment.

Plastic Water Wheel
Swimmers have a new play item this summer—a huge water wheel which spins on the surface to provide the thrills of a roller coaster. The wheel, made of Vinylite, is six feet in diameter. When inflated, it forms a double ring that has circular openings spaced uniformly between the two rings. It can be made to roll across the surface, used in a competitive “king of the mountain” game or anchored as a float for diving or sun-bathing. The plastic resists abrasion, oil, grease and temperature change. Deflated, the wheel rolls into a small bundle weighing only eight pounds.

Mono-Scooter Is Speedy

With a little practice, you can get more speed out of this mono-scooter than out of a pair of roller skates. It is made from two roller-skate wheels and a hardwood block as wide as the shoe and about 5 in, longer. Round the ends of the block and slot them to take the wheels. Steel rods serve as axles, and washers are placed on either side of each wheel to keep it true. These should be lubricated. Triangular blocks serve as heel and toe plates, and a single toe strap keeps the scooter on the shoe. Tilting the foot to one side brings the block into contact with the sidewalk to get efficient braking

Unique Game for Party Amusement

“SPIKE the Potato” is a highly entertaining game for any party. All that is needed is a single large potato, a number of paper cones and some needles. The paper cones are about 7 in. long and 1-1/2″ in diameter at the large end. When you roll them into shape, slip a needle or pin into the small end and daub it with glue. This, when dry, will hold it in place. At the same time, glue the edge of the paper fast. Then pull a small tuft of cotton into a fluffy ball and after rubbing some glue on the inside of the open cone end, push the cotton in.

The game is played in this fashion: Suspend the potato near a wall and arrange a row of chairs six feet away. No contestant may approach nearer than the backs of these chairs. Ask the people to get ready and then step up and swing the tuber. As soon as it swings, the signal may be given for firing. Guests should throw their cones in an attempt to stick them into the potato, as demonstrated in an accompanying photo.

Grooved Logs Build Toys

view additional pages

An Electric Miniature Mono-Railway

IT IS a well known fact among experimenters that when a whirling gyroscope is set in an upright or inclined position it will not change unless some strong exterior force is applied. Due to this peculiar quality, which is known as the precessive effect, the gyroscope can be utilized in the construction of many scientific instruments and practical devices which are used in every day life.

One of the most important uses to which the gyroscope is put is that of keeping a mono-rail train in an upright position as it speeds along on its single track. The most practical and outstanding railway of this kind is known as the Brennan Mono-railway, which is used in Ireland.

An interesting and instructive toy mono-railway working on the same principle as its big brother can be easily made by any home craftsman out of a few Meccano parts, an old six-volt toy motor, a bell transformer, a piece of No. 20 gauge sheet iron, an old sewing machine fly wheel, and some No. 14 bare copper wire.

The body of the train is made from the piece of sheet iron, which is cut to the dimensions given in Fig. 2, and nailed around the baseboard, as illustrated. A second piece of sheet iron can be cut to the required shape and soldered on the top of the cabin to serve as a roof.

From an old Meccano model builder set you can obtain the pulleys with which to make the trucks. Mount these wheels in the the two carriages cut from pieces of thick sheet iron bent into square cornered U’s. Two small round headed stove bolts are used as hubs. The completed carriage is fastened to the bottom of the baseboard with threaded pins, which are connected with one terminal of the motor to provide contact with the rail-wire.

The next step is to construct the gyroscope, which in this case is kept extremely simple. The gimbal is made from two strips of sheet brass cut in the shapes shown in Fig. 1. The strip at the base has a dent punched in the center to hold the lower point of the flywheel hub. The upper strip is a little more complicated, however. It has a long, narrow slit cut in it, with a l/16th-inch jog in the center.

The reason for this is plain on a little study. If the gyroscope is mounted on straight gimbals, there will he no turning or righting effect. But with the jog, or precession fork, the minute gravity attempts to sway the car the gyro hub hits the righting notch in the precession fork, bringing the car immediately into an upright position.

The flywheel from an old Model 10 Singer sewing machine will serve as a flywheel for the gyroscope. A small notch is filed in the hub to form the pulley, as shown in Fig. 1. As a driving belt, you can use four rubber bands.

The gyroscope is driven by a six-volt electric motor which is mounted on the base board in the position illustrated. The Meccano Model Builder set will supply you with parts for constructing the gear and pulley system which connects the motor to i the gyro. The gears should be so arranged that the gyro will turn at a rate of about 6000 revolutions per minute.

A trolley is all that is needed now to complete the car. This can be made of a piece of No. 10 bare copper wire bent into the shape shown in the drawing and soldered or bolted to the top of the sheet iron cabin. A wire is soldered to the supporting bolt and run to the remaining terminal of the motor.

With the train now completed, you can proceed to erect the trolley wire and the rail, both of which consist of lengths of No. 14 bare copper wire suspended in the manner shown in the accompanying drawings. Insulators are placed at both ends to avoid short circuits, and at the house end two leads are taken off and run to the secondary of a bell transformer, which supplies the current through the wires to the motor.

In running the car, you will have to allow several minutes for the flywheel of the gyroscope to pick up speed. This might take longer, as there will no doubt be a lot of slipping in the belt. When once it has worked up to a good speed, a gentle shove will send the train moving along the wire. To give a realistic effect to the car, you can paint it an aluminum color, and add a small headlight to the front. In- case no bell transformer is procurable, you can use a six-volt storage battery or four dry cells in series. A control board is arranged as shown.

TOTS Try Toys

Before trying to sell a new product toy maker Oliver Garfield (Toy Development Co.) tests child reactions to them.

Garfield and physicist Arthur Pinker-ton assemble Geniac, a toy electronic brain that flashes replies to queries.

TV WHIZ KID

Steve Allen, 13, with color TV he designed and built. Atherton, Calif., boy has been an electrical prodigy since the age of two.

Steve, whose color set was among first 100 in San Francisco area, made over $1000 last year repairing sets in his neighborhood.

view additional pages

He’s Forever Blowing Bubbles

Nat Fisher’s fluid for forming sudsy spheres may be the start of a $1,000,000 business.

By Bob Willett

BUBBLES FISHER is no strip-tease dancer as the name may imply—he is Nat Fisher of Hollywood, Calif., who says there are three things that will never die: marbles, tops and bubbles.

Most Americans are familiar with Fisher’s Billion-Bubble machines which he ‘began manufacturing nine years ago. A standard attention-getter at fairs, conventions, theaters and department stores, Nat’s bubbles have also become an important part of ice show, circus, nightclub and TV performances and his miniature plastic bubble-making machines are sold in novelty stores throughout the nation.

Nat lives up to his nickname, Bubbles, by constantly coming up with something new, producing frothy spheres ranging from pea-size .to 100 inches in circumference. The ingredients of his bubble-making fluid, which is more potent than any other known bubbling agent, is a well-kept secret at his plant in Burbank, Calif. But its effectiveness is well known.

The liquid produces bubbles of such strength that they bounce or split into several smaller ones before breaking. The big ones, which often drift for miles, are used for experimental purposes by UCLA, USC and Cal. Tech.

Pittsburgh-born Fisher’s background is well suited to the bubble business. He’s been a printer’s devil, singer, actor, theatrical manager, song-plugger, stage and screen writer and a producer-director.

Chemistry was Nat’s favorite school subject and he made a hobby of experimenting in his own laboratory. This activity began to pay off in 1924 when he patented Liquid Glass for cleaning, waxing and glazing automobiles with one two-ounce application that lasted a year.

Nat became a bubble expert after his wife, Evelyn, stood in what she thought was a nylon line and found that it had been formed by people taking turns watching a man blow bubbles in a store window with a little plastic loop. When she casually remarked to her husband that there must be an easier way to blow bubbles, Nat began working out plans for a bubble machine in his home workshop.

His biggest problem was finding a more satisfactory fluid than soapy water, something to suit his idea of blowing balloon bubbles with a loop six inches in diameter. For weeks he bubbled with enthusiasm and little else.

Vegetation in his backyard suffered from the dumping of a hundred different solutions, none of which were any good, but all bubbly enough to make pouring them down a drain decidedly impractical.

One morning at three a.m., a police patrol car caught him in the middle of the street experimenting with a wash-tub full of his fluid. The officers listened patiently as he explained that he was merely blowing bubbles. They put him down as hairbrained but harmless.

“Some people thought I was missing a few marbles,” he says, “but I finally hit on the right formula. My method was mostly one of trying anything once and success came after I started using chemicals that had never been connected with bubbles or even frothing.

So it was more by accident than design.”

The right formula resulted in 50 to 60 bubbles from one dip of the loop. They first burst on the public from a machine he made for a Los Angeles auto show at which a new attendance record was attributed to their attraction. There was an immediate demand for do-it-yourself equipment and Nat put his wife and friends to work packaging loops, trays and fluid for sale at a dollar a kit. They sold several hundred a day during the 18-day show.

Nat then refined his first make-shift machine, designing it for quantity production. It featured a perforated metal wheel revolving in a trough of fluid in front of a blower. A film of fluid clung to each opening and bubbles were blown as they passed the air stream. By varying distances, speed and pressure, he was able to produce bubbles at different speeds, in different sizes and which would either float or shoot straight out.

One improvement led to another and Nat purposely kept his patents pending as long as possible, finally making 20 claims to cover the many exclusive features of his machines. The latest model has a gallon feeder can and will operate unattended for a week at a time, turning out plain, colored and/or scented bubbles at the rate of 50,000 per minute.

He’s now working on a five-part plastic kit for construction of a small automatic machine that is within pocketbook range of the smallest businessman. He’s planning to put it on the market in a year or so.

The bubble king’s initial investment amounted to several thousand dollars before it began paying off. He sells his automatic machines for as much as $250 each. His bubble fluid runs as high as $20 a gallon and movie and TV studios rent his big automatic machines for $25 a day instead of buying them outright.

Nat points out that he now has more business than he can handle and is getting behind on his orders. He did not originate the dime store bubble kits; they were only the inspiration for his bubble inventions. He did bring out a king-size ring but has concentrated on the revolving wheel for several years. His miniature machines selling for a dollar have been sold to children and adults and are widely used for promotional „ purposes.

Fisher is convinced that $100,000 invested for advertising his bubble blowers on TV throughout the country could quickly make his bubbles a million-dollar business. He made a few appearances on TV last year, advertising his miniature machine. The response was overwhelming and Nat was amazed to get more orders from adults than children. At the rate Nat Fisher is going, he’ll soon have us all blowing pretty bubbles in the air.

REPEATING SLINGSHOT

A repeating slingshot, recently placed on the market, makes it possible to shoot 200 BB shot without fumbling about for ammunition and without reloading. The magazine is a metal cone that fits into the wire frame of the slingshot, forming a grip. The tip of the cone, slotted to form a prong, admits a single shot from inside the magazine.

Galloping DINOSAUR is Fascinating Toy

A TOY saurian from the far-away past proves to be a refreshing novelty to the youngsters. The toy is extremely simple to make, as there are only six major parts. In addition to these, four wheels and some wire complete the whole thing.

The sides or the two body pieces are separated about an inch or more. This is accomplished by using glass beads for spacers on the wires which form the joints. Stiff copper wires about 2 in. long are cut for the two pivots. These are bent over about % in. at one end and thrust through the holes in the side pieces. The rear wire is first passed through one rear leg. The side and leg are then laid upon the table with the wires pointing upward.

A wire loop is made to pass through the large pivot holes in the base of the neck and the forward extension of the tail. Next place a spacer bead upon each wire, and the assembled neck and tail placed over the wires.

How Cranks Are Formed

Cut four wheels from a 1 in. round rod. These are drilled 1/8 in. eccentric, and 3 in. wire axles inserted. In each of these axles, a crank is formed 1/8″ by 1/8″. By using pliers with a long, slender pair of jaws, the cranks may be easily formed after the wire has been inserted through the holes in the feet of the cutout.

A straight pin is inserted at the top of the foreleg as shown above. It serves to anchor the crank bar which extends from the crank in the rear legs. A crank bar extends from the crank in the forelegs to the wire loop connecting the neck-tail assembly.

Assembling the Saurian

Place two more spacer beads on the wires. Next place the second body cutout upon the wires, then the second rear leg, and finally the two remaining wheels. Secure the wheels by bending over the wires and placing the ends in locking holes drilled in the wheels.

A cardboard “backbone” is placed upon the animal to brace the sides. This may be held in place by ordinary pins cut off to a length of about % in. When this is done, the only remaining step is the painting. To please the child, a brilliant red ground color crossed by an irregular network of orange or yellow lines may be used.

Pull the toy across the floor and watch the peculiar motions.

view additional pages

Toys Keep Pace With Children’s Tastes

A YOUNG father of a two-year-old youngster, noticing the eagerness of his offspring to lay hands on something with wheels on it in which he could move about, sat down one evening in his basement workshop and knocked together that simple mechanism of juvenile locomotion known to millions as the kiddie-kar. Observing the popularity of the toy with children of the neighborhood, the father concluded that it would be a good idea to manufacture the cars on a commercial scale.

He was right. It was a good idea—good enough to set him on the path to financial independence. Today his invention is produced by the thousands, and this Christmas Santa Claus will slide down an unguessable number of chimneys on a kiddie-kar. That’s the way the business of manufacturing toys is conducted today—on the same efficient, large-scale production methods that characterize the automobile and other industries. Nevertheless, making toys is different. You can’t divest the business of all sentiment, for though dolls can be turned out by the million, the men who make them can’t help remembering that each puppet of plaster and composition will some day be the well-loved toy of some little girl.

When is an article a toy? What is the appeal of toys? Do they have any effect on shaping the lives of the youngsters who own them? And what are the most popular varieties?

A recent report issued by the Bureau of the Census leaves no room for doubt as to the most popular toys. Those with wheels lead all others by a big margin. This is quite to be expected, for Young America is just as much interested in mechanical means of getting about as the older generation. Wagons, scooters, toy automobiles, velocipedes, and bicycles are “best sellers.”

Dolls are always popular, but a significant feature of this part of the industry is that, although the value of manufactured dolls decreased last year, there was a substantial increase in the sale of doll clothes. This is a reflection of the keen interest of teen-age femininity in the all-important subject of dress. When the modern little girl grows up she’ll know all about Paris gowns, and the art of dressing will be an open book to her.

Santa Claus’ toy headquarters in America incorporates about five square blocks in the business section of New York’s Gramercy Square district. For example, at 200 Fifth Avenue there are over 40 toy manufacturers, each turning out a different product. Each represents investments of thousands of dollars. Before any of these manufacturers launches a new toy on the market, he knows pretty well whether it will be popular or not, though here, as in other industries, it Is impossible to predict when some toy will strike a popular fancy and develop in-;o a fad. Witness the recent rise to fame of the yo-yo top, which proved as big a bonanza to manufacturers as the mah jong craze of well-remembered popularity.

Two years ago when Zeppelin flights stirred up the world, with the feats being glorified in pictures and in newspaper stories, Ferdinand Strauss, one of the foremost American makers of toys, seized upon the idea of turning out a toy Zeppelin. It proved the toy sensation of the year.

This last summer saw spectacular growth ¦ in popularity of outdoor miniature golf. The craze swept over the country like wildfire. Instantly toy manufacturers designed still smaller sets for children. Santa Claus has looked these half-pint sized golf courses over and from all indications his sleighs will be bulging with them.

It is all in the psychology of the thing. Before a toy manufacturer or inventor sets forth to produce a certain article, he makes a study of the popularity of the subject after which his commodity is going to be patterned. He knows that children are inculcated with an insurmountable superiority complex.

He knows that every child, on reaching the age of rudimentary understanding, aspires to emulate heroes, performers of great deeds. It is innate, as established and as certain as the moon and sun. He knows that the ego in children asserts itself vitally in the face of other children and before their elders. The qualities of child psychology are thoroughly understood by the man who decides to invest in a certain toy, which means special factory equipment which will be useless for any other project in the event that his calculations are wrong.

In the toy mechanical refrigerators which have been turned out by the thousands this year one sees the workings of the child’s mind, attracting it to this object, rather clearly. A little girl watches her mother at work around the refrigerator. The child is baffled by its operation and yet craves to imitate her mother who is grown up and capable of handling the icebox.

Horace E. Boucher, one New York model and toy manufacturer, says: “It is the realism which is reflected in the toy which makes it a success for the child. Without its realistic qualities it would be useless. It is only in recent months that a genu- – ine appreciation has been felt by the toy manufacturers of the country of the lack of benefits of toys to boys.

“When a girl has gone through the cycle of her toys, she usually has a thorough course in domestic science. She has her dolls which teach her various matters about dress and hygiene. She has her toy-house which instructs her in cooking and caring for the home.

“But up to a comparatively recent day boys have been burdened with fantastic toys, adding little to their education. I cannot imagine anything more preposterous than a train with wings or an ambulance with a clown at the driver’s wheel. Yet that has been the trend of the boys’ playthings. Many great men can trace their profession to toy hobbies.

“I am of the Pestalozzi school. That Swiss genius was able to combine the teaching of various principles with play. Only a short time ago I turned out one of the most unique toys of my career. The Oklahoma State Department of Health asked me to make for them a train which would illustrate the science of health.

“For the locomotive parts I had miniature tooth-brushes and tooth-paste. The boiler was made of soap. In it was water. The first car represented a loaf of bread. The second certain meats. The third illustrated certain vegetables. The last car in this line of health stood for sleep. The whole apparatus showed how a healthy program would function.”

A survey of the toy industry shows that the talking pictures and their popularity brought about a big demand for miniature movie machines. The Eastman Kodak Company put Kodatoy on the market for Santa Claus and his citizens. It is a movie projector throwing pictures on its own silver screen.

Even the radio has contributed its bit to the toy industry. Amos and Andy created a market not only for their own figures in miniature, but also of their rickety taxicab, the main asset of the Fresh Air Taxicab Company, Incorpolated. Those articles brought the toy-makers nearly $500,000.

Noise still holds a thrill for the youngster, the toy-men say. St. Nick had a big variety to choose from this year. Aside from drums and whistles, he found an assortment of twisty clicks, frog crickets, scream whistles, rattlers and the good old standby, the kazoo. Tin horns and cornets and accordions were also plentiful for the musically inclined.

Despite the inroads made by the various new toys appearing on the scene this year, Kris Kringle will find that the dolls and trains were in greatest demand. In the Gramercy Square section there was loft after loft full of these two playthings just as the Christmas spirit began to make itself felt. Even airplanes, the manufacturers’ records showed, did not begin to come up to these in popularity.

One maker of electric trains spent $25,000 during the year to perfect a train with trucks and stations. It included the last word in mechanical make-up. These sets were sold for $100 each.

Toy gliders were produced in abundance. Magic goods came in for a generous share of the country’s fun market. Boats went over big because of the attempt of Sir Thomas Lipton to wrest the cup from the American defenders, as well as the popularity of speed races.

Last July several hundred American toy manufacturers had their annual convention at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It is interesting to note what kind of sport these concocters of the nation’s play implements went in for during their idle moments. It may be surprising to learn that ping-pong and lawn-bowling proved their favorite pastimes.

And before Santa Claus and Uncle Sam have their last pinch of snuff together until another year passes, Santa will tell your Uncle Samuel that toy exports to other countries during the past year have exceeded $5,000,000. He will confide to him that Germany, which was once the chief source of Saint Nick’s supply, was one of America’s best customers.

Related posts

• A Hundred Miles of Cookies Every Day (Jan, 1931)
• MODERN WONDERS of an Ancient Art Part II (Jan, 1931)
• Auto Made from Beans (Jan, 1931)
• AUTOMATION (Jan, 1931)
• He Made Sky Mapping a Big Business (Jan, 1931)
• Behind the SIGNS (Jan, 1931)

Periscope for Bridge Kabitzers

AT A recent international bridge match the problem of letting people watch the play without interfering with the players was satisfactorily solved by the use of a horizontal periscope with one end suspended over the table and the other fitted through one wall of the room, so that the observers need neither be seen nor heard by the players.

From the observer’s standpoint this method of watching a bridge game is more satisfactory than standing by the table, as it permits a view of the cards held in all hands as well as a better look at those played.

view additional pages

An Airplane Swing for the Back Yard

by Dick Cole

Children will get endless hours of fun out of this airplane swing, run by pedal-driven propellers. Any handy man can build one out of inexpensive junked auto parts and a few lengths of pipe.

OF ALL the sensational “rides” at an up-to-date amusement park, perhaps none is more thrilling than an airplane swing. It affords many of the sensations of actually flying, but without any danger. There is no case on record where a passenger has been seriously injured in an airplane swing. So, while it may look spectacular to see the cars of the swing whirling over people’s heads, the hazardous element is lacking in a strongly constructed swing.

A home-made airplane swing can be made at a small cost by any handy man. The drawing shows the general appearance of the finished swing. Six cars—or gondolas— are suspended from the overhead revolving frame. Only three gondolas are fitted with propellers; the others are “trailers.” Unlike the usual amusement park swing, in which the overhead frame is turned mechanically and the propellers are only dummies for effect, this home-made swing is rotated by the direct action of the propellers. These can be operated with pedals.

The most important part of the device is the overhead revolving frame. It is built up on the wheel of a half section of a full-floating type rear axle assembly from a junked automobile. Many old-time cars used this style, and they can be bought for a dollar or two from any auto junk yard. Six pieces of selected wood — preferably hardwood — 2″x4″x72″ are bolted radially to the side of the wheel. Usually there are six bolts securing the driving axle flange to the wheel, and six rim lug bolts. These can be driven out and be replaced with longer bolts for bolting the radial pieces, making it unnecessary to drill additional holes.

The radial pieces should be strengthened with stay-rods as shown. In the drawing, a length of pipe is used to support the stay-rods at the middle, but in many cases the driving axle itself can be reversed and will serve the purpose even better.

At the end of each radial piece is a substantial eyebolt to which the swing cables are attached. Quarter-inch steel cable is recommended, but heavy fencing wire will serve. The cable or wire should pass around cable thimbles to prevent chafing. It is obvious that the thimbles will have to be spread open slightly to be placed within the eyebolts. Afterward they are closed again, and the cable or wire put in the thimble groove and twisted a few times. The free ends of the cable should be left about 11 feet long for attaching to the swing gondolas.

After the overhead assembly is complete, it is rigidly attached to one end of a 15-ft. length of 2-1/2-inch iron pipe. The method of doing this depends upon the axle housing design. Sometimes the pipe can be inserted into the housing and be bolted or brazed. Whatever method is employed, it must be absolutely solid. The other end of the pipe is now set firmly in the ground. It is suggested that a floor plate be used on the end of the pipe to prevent it settling. Stay-rods are also necessary. It is well to set the pipe and the rods in concrete, but if sunk deeply in firm soil, and tamped with rocks, sufficient solidity can be had.

Next come the swing cars, or gondolas. The drawing suggests a design which will prove satisfactory. Of course the builder can make gondolas that more closely resemble airplanes if he desires to, but the one illustrated offers the all-essential factor— safety. The sketch makes the construction obvious. The most important point is the bearing for the propeller shaft. The shaft must be oiled freely.

The propeller shaft is of 1/2-inch cold-rolled steel threaded at one end to receive the propeller, and at the other end to receive a small, grooved pulley.

The pedaling gear is not shown in detail in the drawing. Its construction depends upon the material and facilities one has at hand. Two wooden disks about 18 inches in diameter can be beveled on one edge and then be bolted together to form a satisfactory pulley. Or a bicycle or velocipede wheel, with tires removed, can be used for the driving pulley. The gear ratio should be such that the propeller can be turned about 750 r.p.m. with comfortable pedaling. Leather belting 2-1/2 inch round, is used for transmission. The sketch shows how this passes around the pulleys.

The construction of a suitable propeller may seem like a rather difficult job to many. Yet an efficient propeller can be made very simply as shown. Instead of being cut from a solid block, this prop is built up of slats —laminated, as it were. Not only does this method result in a very strong propeller, but it also has inherent balance and uniform pitch. The center holes of the slats should be so small that the propeller shaft must be screwed into them, and afterward be locked between two nuts and large washers. Glue on the threads will make the attachment even more rigid.

The propeller illustrated is intended to be foot operated at 750 r.p.m.

We now have an airplane swing. If built according to directions, there is no danger of its collapsing.

Scale-Model Railroader

MAYBE you’ve never noticed it but somewhere in every full-length Walt Disney picture there’s a railroad. This busy producer of animated cartoons belongs to that fast-growing group of executives who have adopted model railroading as their hobby.

Thus he keeps one jump ahead of his fellow hobbyists—he not only designs and builds his trains but draws ‘em as well.

Related posts

• Mickey Mouse Goes Classical (Mar, 1951)
• What Big Arms You Have . . . and So Many (Mar, 1951)
• What Makes MICKEY MOUSE Move? (Mar, 1951)
• Sound Tricks of Mickey Mouse (Mar, 1951)
• PAST PRESIDENTS “TALK” IN EXHIBIT (Mar, 1951)
• Pinocchio the Puppet (Mar, 1951)

New Rifle Shoots Beam of Light

AN INVENTION of considerable interest to rifle enthusiasts is the “Shadolite” gun. Without ammunition of any kind, this new gun registers bull’s-eyes and misses just as does an ordinary rifle.

A powerful flashlight mounted inside a nine gauge shotgun flashes a beam of light at the target for any set interval of time ranging from zero to 30 seconds. A photoelectric cell mounted behind a hole in the center of the target causes a relay to operate when the rifle is correctly aimed, thereby lighting a signal lamp. The aim of the gun may be corrected within the time length of the bullet beam.