I don’t know if I’d really want to be swimming a foot from an outboard motor. Perhaps I’m just a coward.

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Three WATER WHEELS For The Beach

For new thrills at the beach this summer, build one or all of these novel fun wheels— the head-over-heels Aqua-roller, the Outboard Swim Spinner, or the Barrel-boat that rolls over sea or sand.

FROM far-off Holland comes the design for the first of MM’s water wheels—an Aqua-roller originated by P. C. van Petegem. A wheel of tubular floats mounted on a frame of two steel hoops rolls along the water as the bather shifts his weight from side to side inside the wheel.

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MERRY-GO-ROUND DRIVEN BY HAND

Children provide their own power to take an exciting spin on a merry-go-round produced by a Dallas, Texas, inventor. Occupying seats at the ends of a long board, the two children push hand levers back and forth. Wires leading from these handles actuate a ratchet wheel which causes the board to spin rapidly about. The board is mounted on ball bearings on a single support set in concrete. Adjustable steel stirrups are fitted to the board.

MUSIC PLAYED BY TOUCH

Designed as an educational toy, an electric xylophone introduced by Barr. Inc., of Rockford, Ill., produces a tune when a pointer is inserted in holes constituting the notes of special music sheets. Each contact closes a low-voltage circuit, energizing a solenoid and causing a glass tube to be struck. The instrument has nine notes, and operates on A.C. only. Six music sheets are available.

I was very disappointed to learn that the rifle on the second page is not actually a toy.

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Santa Goes Electronic

BY DON ROMERO

An atomic-age Santa naturally has to bring electronic toys.

WILLIAM L. GARSTANG has created a $l,000,000-a-year business by giving old man Santa Claus an electronic shot in the arm.

Little more than a year ago, as president of Electronic Laboratories, Inc., of Indianapolis, tall, slim, 36-year-old Garstang was up to his ears turning out war supplies for the armed forces. As the inventor, designer, and manufacturer of some of our most vital electronic equipment, Garstang did a capital “E” job. But when reconversion began to loom, he began to wonder what he’d do with the huge defense plant that would soon be sitting idle on his hands. He found the answer in the very devices he was manufacturing. In place of working for Uncle Sam, he decided he’d work for Santa Claus—by reconverting war devices into electronic toys.

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We’ve seen something like this before but I’m always amazed by the fact that at one point washing-machines had gasoline powered motors. I wonder if you had to pull start them like a lawn mower.

Washing-Machine Motor Drives Midget Racing Auto
Built on racing lines, a midget automobile constructed by Grover Revelle of Fredericktown, Mo., for his younger brother is powered by a one-cylinder washing-machine motor. Its “radiator” is copied after the latest style die-cast grilles. The tiny car will travel fifteen miles an hour on the level, and runs fifty to sixty miles on a gallon of gasoline.

Advertising Novelty Blows Smoke Rings
Smoke rings are easy to produce with a small cardboard pyramid introduced as an advertising novelty. Through a hole in the side, smoke may be blown into the interior. Then a series of quick taps ejects slender smoke rings that float lazily through the air, as shown in the illustration at the right. Pressing slowly on a side releases a fat ring. For best results, a spot free from drafts must be chosen, otherwise the air currents will quickly destroy the rings.

WONDERS OF ANT LIFE SEEN IN GLASS HOME
Between two photographic plates, held in a wooden frame, a New Hampshire naturalist placed dirt and thus constructed an anthouse with transparent walls. By this means the activity of an insect city is easily studied. The tunnels and subterranean chambers made by the ants are clearly visible and their work can be seen from each side of the glass home. The transparent cages offer more varied activity than a goldfish bowl, and the ants require much less attention than goldfish. The case is provided with a handle.

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Amazing Skill with Unseen Strings gives life to Most Famous Puppets

Thirty Operators Working Eighteen Miles of Wire and String Are Needed to Give a Performance with the 800 Animated Actors that Are Cleverly Molded of Wood

By Robert E. Martin

EIGHT hundred performers, moved by miles of wires and string, are now touring the country presenting the most elaborate puppet show of history. Known as the Teatro dei Piccoli, “The Theater of the Little Ones,” the organization has spent eighteen years in Italy building up its cast. Tap dancers and opera singers, witches and clowns, , bull fighters and pianists, acrobats and jubilee singers, and even a Mickey Mouse give animated performances, amazingly lifelike.

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Novel Jig-Saw Puzzle MADE IN FORM OF CUBE

By George S. Greene

THIS new and unusual type of jigsaw puzzle forms a cube when assembled and has a different picture on each of its six sides. When the parts are spread out and well shuffled on the table, they resemble those of an ordinary picture puzzle, except that some of the pieces have no indication of pictures on them at all to aid in the assembly.

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Train Rolls Through Maze of Wires on Suspended Track

SOMETHING DIFFERENT—that was the goal of Philip Karr and his son David, of Milwaukee, Wis., when they decided to build a model-railroad layout. They achieved it by suspending the rails from the ceiling joists on wires. Now they have a multilevel layout that can easily be changed by lengthening or shortening the wires. Chains anchored to a table under the layout prevent any side sway of the tracks. The layout contains 84 feet of track, supported by plywood strips at the joints. From a distance the track appears to be floating in mid-air.

What, no whip?

Dashing Barrel-Body Chariot Thrills the Backyard Warrior
Here’s a chariot you can make for the children that will provide lots of fun for them and their friends. All you need is a barrel and a pair of wheels from a coaster wagon or even an old baby carriage. Cut the barrel as indicated and put reinforcing strips of flat iron inside the barrel opposite each hoop, screwing both the hoops and the strips to each stave. The axle of the wheels is mounted on the barrel bottom with iron brackets, after which the tongue is attached as indicated. It’s a good idea to sandpaper all of the edges carefully to avoid any possibility of splinters and then give the chariot a couple of coats of bright-colored paint.

Have Fun With This Chariot-Type Tricycle Trailer

Rolling along on semipneumatic wheels, this little trailer will double the enjoyment the youngsters get from their tricycles. The frame, rail and tongue are all bent from thin-wall conduit, either by using a standard pipe bender or by filling the conduit with sand, plugging the ends and then bending by hand. The trailer-hitch bolt engages a hole drilled in a piece of flat iron which is bolted to the tricycle-seat frame. The wheels are fastened with cotter pins or the axle is drilled and tapped for attaching them with roundheaded screws