April 24, 2006

How THREE COLOR MOVIES ARE MADE (Jul, 1935)

Filed under: Movies — @ 8:28 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1935
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How THREE COLOR MOVIES ARE MADE

WOULD you like to know how the color in a Walt Disney Silly Symphony or in “La Cucaracha” is obtained? Have you ever wondered how a motion picture film, in which each picture is about the size of a postage stamp, is colored so it can be magnified 35,000 or more times and still retain the beautiful coloring of a Silly Symphony?
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April 23, 2006

Device Measures Musical Talent (Apr, 1935)

Filed under: General, Just Weird, Music — @ 9:30 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1935
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Device Measures Musical Talent
A YARDSTICK for the measurement of musical talent, an automatic tone-variator, is now being used at Northwestern University to determine students’ ability to determine exact tonal pitch.
The machine contains 14 tuning-forks, set within one-quarter tone of each other. Two notes are struck in quick succession, and the students are asked which note was higher. Those that can detect the higher note consistently are keenly encouraged to study music. They are considered to be musically apt and talented.
Students with less sensitivity to tone are advised to study instruments with broader tone distinctions such as pianos and other keyboard instruments.

April 19, 2006

How Comic CARTOONS Make Fortunes (Nov, 1933)

Filed under: General, History, Sign of the Times, Toys and Games — @ 10:31 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1933
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How Comic CARTOONS Make Fortunes

The “funnies” you read every day bring $8,000,000 a year to a small group of 200 cartoonists. How they rose to the top and how you can enter their select circle is told here by leading comic artists.

THAT laugh you had today over your favorite funny strip is worth money— $200 to $1,000 a day to the cartoonist that made you chuckle.

His pen and ink characters are part of a great $8,000,000 industry that is far from overcrowded and that is practically depression proof.

Of the 200 successful cartoonists today the majority were not “born artists.” In many cases they were not artists at all, but just fellows with a knack for sketching who thought of a good idea or a funny character that “made a hit” with an editor and eventually with newspaper readers.
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Ad: How far away is the pocket-size TV camera? (Nov, 1956)

Filed under: Advertisements, Television — @ 8:25 am
Source: Scientific American ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1956
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CREATING A NEW WORLD WITH ELECTRONICS
How far away is the pocket-size TV camera?

Samples were used at the last political conventions.
Production models—built around subminiaturized circuits requiring semiconductors—can be expected any day. The proved reliability of Hughes diodes, even under severe shock or weather conditions, makes these tiny, compact semiconductors a logical choice for such circuits. Read the rest of this entry »

German Boys Build Scale Model Liners for Sea Cruises (Sep, 1935)

Filed under: Cool, General, Nautical, Toys and Games — @ 6:31 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1935
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This is the coolest boat model I’ve ever seen. You can ride around in it!

German Boys Build Scale Model Liners for Sea Cruises
EXPERT marine constructionists, between the ages of 9 and 16 are being developed in one of the most novel trade schools of the world at Potsdam, Germany. Under the tutelage of experienced marine engineers, the youths receive a thorough technical training in building exact replicas of real steamships on a scale of one to twenty.
Grades are given according to the aptitude and intelligence shown in building the model vessels. The plans from which the youth work are the same plans, scaled down, of such ships
as the Normandie and the Queen Mary. At the end of the school year, advanced students build models that can actually go to sea.

April 18, 2006

Power It with a PULSE JET (Jun, 1952)

Filed under: Automotive, DIY, Toys and Games — @ 9:17 am
Source: Science And Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1952
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Power It with a PULSE JET

THIS model plane project uses what may be the smallest successful pulse-jet engine ever built. It was developed after scores of experiments and the building of a dozen test models by Hiram Sibley, Jr., a California guided-missile engineer.
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April 17, 2006

Automat Swaps Candy for Bottles (Jul, 1935)

Filed under: Cool, Toys and Games — @ 7:03 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1935
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Automat Swaps Candy for Bottles
TO INSURE the return of empty milk bottles and eliminate the cost of replacements, an automat has been devised which dispenses candy and gum in exchange for “empties.” Shaped and painted like a huge milk bottle, the container has a capacity of 60 bottles. The empty bottle is placed on a red hook in an opening near the top and a handle is pushed to the right to deposit the bottle. Gum or candy is discharged into the customer’s hands.

April 16, 2006

Strictly Fresh Ideas for Easter Eggs (Apr, 1939)

Filed under: General, Toys and Games — @ 9:53 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1939
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Strictly Fresh Ideas for Easter Eggs
IF THE eggs used in making these novelties are blown’ by the method illustrated, the contents may be used for the table in the form of an omelet or scrambled. Clean the shell with soap and warm water, es–pecially if water colors are used in decorating. Sails, wings, legs, and other parts may be fastened on with model-airplane cement. Features are modeled in artist’s clay of the self-hardening type.—Hi Sibley.

April 15, 2006

Rifle shoots infrared ray (Oct, 1962)

Filed under: Origins, Toys and Games — @ 4:43 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1962
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Rifle shoots infrared ray
You can stand in front of this target rifle without fear of being hurt. Instead of bullets, it shoots a beam of light. Both rifle and its special target are powered by flashlight batteries. A bull’s-eye is scored when a pulse of infrared light strikes the center of the target and activates a flashing light and a bell. The rifle is manufactured by Infrared Industries, Waltham, Mass., makers of electronic devices for the government’s missile and satellite programs.

April 12, 2006

Midget Midget Racer (Sep, 1949)

Filed under: Automotive, Toys and Games — @ 11:10 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1949
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George Andrews, of Akron. Ohio, who likes to drive midget racers, wants his son to follow in his footsteps; so he built this “midget midget” for Junior. It isn’t powered now, but George plans to mount a Ford starter motor on the rear axle. Eventually, after Junior masters the battery-driven job, a one-cylinder gasoline engine will be employed for power.

HOW TO MAKE PHOTO CARICATURES (Apr, 1962)

Filed under: Photography, Toys and Games — @ 9:27 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1962
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HOW TO MAKE PHOTO CARICATURES
By Weegee (The Famous!)
WANT to accent a prominent feature such as the eyes or jaw in a photo caricature? Using distorted sheet plastic as a supplementary camera lens will do it. Take a clear sheet 1/16 to 1/2-inch thick, heat it in an aluminum foil pan, twist it with gloved hands and dunk it in cold water. Then turn it before the subject, looking through for the desired effect. Repeat the heating and twisting if necessary. Once you have the effect, take the photo through the plastic. Some remarkable results are illustrated.

Synthetic Scenery Eliminates Movie Sets (Mar, 1933)

Filed under: Movies — @ 7:48 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1933
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Synthetic Scenery Eliminates Movie Sets

HUGE, one-sided sets built at great cost in Hollywood movie studios to recreate for the camera famous buildings and famous settings, are fast becoming obsolete. Stored away in round metal cans in the film vaults of Radio Pictures, are hundreds of well-known synthetic settings, and cameramen are now being sent around the world to gather thousands more, to be used in a revolutionary new process called “rear projection.”
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