February 7, 2007

MOTORLESS WASHER Among Newest Household Robots (Aug, 1935)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 10:11 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1935
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In the 1930’s you could call anything a robot. Screwdriver? Nope, it’s a tightening robot. Bucket with a handle on it? Household Washing Robot.

MOTORLESS WASHER Among Newest Household Robots

DOUBLE DECK TWIN BEDS have interchangeable fide rails and end boards, permitting use of beds side by side or one above the other. In making up the double-decker shown above, both head-boards are used on the bottom bed, and extensions added to the legs of the upper to give more headroom.

KITCHEN ROBOT pictured above can, at touch of button, make ice cream, wash cutlery, mix cake batter, mash potatoes, squeeze or mash fruit, grind meat, and do a host of other tasks about kitchen.

MOTORLESS WASHER
cleans clothes in less than five minutes. An agitator plate inside swings back and forth as hand-operated lever is moved with slow, easy strokes.

ALL-PURPOSE COOKER plugs into light socket, does any type of cooking or baking. Shown below are the broiling and baking pans, waffle grids, muffin tin, and oven which fit into chromium-finished unit.

February 6, 2007

Mechanical Aids Remove Drudgery from Housework (Jul, 1933)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 10:50 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1933
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Mechanical Aids Remove Drudgery from Housework

Cocoanut shredder
Fresh cocoanuts may be shredded with complete safety to hands by use of this new household utensil.

Combination lawn lounge and settee can be wheeled to any part of lawn or beach. Does duty also as convalescent chair.

Ideal for the bed-ridden is this two-legged table, suitable for use as a card table, bed table, tilted book rest, etc. Legs are adjustable to bring top to any height and angle desired.

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February 2, 2007

Device Dries Wash In 3 Minutes (Apr, 1936)

Filed under: House and Home, Origins — @ 11:25 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1936
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Device Dries Wash In 3 Minutes

AN ELECTRICAL clothes drier using centrifugal force is capable of rough drying the family laundry in three minutes. The dryer plugs in on any light circuit, and is small enough to fit in any out-of-the-way corner.

The clothes to be dried are suspended by a net inside a rotating cylinder. As the rotation casts the water off, air currents are drawn through the clothes to hasten the process through evaporation. A waste pipe draws off the excess water. The dryer is much easier on clothes than wringing, as well as being
much faster. It was developed in Germany.

January 30, 2007

Garage Door Tells Time (Mar, 1954)

Filed under: DIY, House and Home — @ 10:23 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1954
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Garage Door Tells Time
An eight-foot clock decorates the garage door on the home of Clifford Cattell of Adrian, Mich. He says raising the door doesn’t interfere with the wooden works. Yes, he’s a clock designer by trade.

January 29, 2007

New Electrical Wonders Work Living Room Magic (Sep, 1956)

Filed under: House and Home, Origins, Television — @ 1:35 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1956
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New Electrical Wonders Work Living Room Magic

How do they work? Take a look inside the wireless TV control, switchless lamp, cordless clock.

By Martin Mann

AMAZE your friends! Just look at the TV and make it change channels or silence the commercial—while your hands are in your pockets. Make a lamp light when you wave your hand and mutter abracadabra. Lift the electric clock, its second hand sweeping merrily —but look, no wires!

Magic? Yes, sir. But not the kind you laboriously rig up yourself. These are new commercial marvels, available in stores around the country.

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Vacuum Cleaner Does Wash (Dec, 1951)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 10:10 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1951
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Vacuum Cleaner Does Wash
The mass of soapy bubbles in this wash-tub was formed by the perforated steel tubing in the hands of its German inventor. Attached to the blower of a vacuum cleaner and placed in the bottom of the tub, it is said to do an effective job of clothes-washing with a third the soap normally used.

January 24, 2007

Electric Razor Brushes Teeth (Jun, 1939)

Filed under: Bathroom — @ 11:42 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1939
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Electric Razor Brushes Teeth
Toothbrush and razor, both electrically operated, are now available in a single unit just placed on the market. The body of the device is a small, oblong container housing an electric motor that draws current through an extension cord plugged into a wall outlet. Either a rotating brush for cleaning the teeth, or a cutting mechanism for shaving, may be inserted in the working head, which is connected to the motor unit by means of a flexible shaft.

January 22, 2007

New Mechanical Devices Make Housekeeping Easy (Mar, 1933)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 10:22 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1933
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New Mechanical Devices Make Housekeeping Easy

TAKES OFF CRUST. Slowly pushing this tool into a loaf of” bread as far as it will go, removes the entire crust at once. This leaves the loaf all ready to use in making round sandwiches

TAPE IN PHONE DIAL CASE. A tape fifty feet in length is enclosed in a case designed like phone dial

CLOCK RUNS GAS HEATER. With the clock control device shown below, a gas heater is turned on or off. It can be set to keep the gas burning for any desired time up to an hour

PERFUMES CLOTHES As a flatiron is passed over the block of paraffin, shown below, it is lubricated so it moves easily over the clothes and as the paraffin is perfumed, a sweet scent is added to the garments. The sheet of asbestos, made into book form, serves as an iron rest

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January 16, 2007

Table Folds Into Giant Die Cube (Aug, 1935)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 10:25 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1935
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Table Folds Into Giant Die Cube

NEWEST in modernistic furniture to be developed in Hollywood is a card table which closes up to form a 2-1/2 foot cube having large black dots like those on dice. Three-legged folding chairs fit compactly underneath the table. Two doors to each side swing outward when the table is in use.

The center black dot in the table top is a loose disc fitted with a flush handle. When removed it reveals three shelves for cards, chips, and score cards.

January 15, 2007

WALKING IN TREADMILL DRAWS WATER (Mar, 1933)

Filed under: Cool, House and Home — @ 9:15 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1933
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WALKING IN TREADMILL DRAWS WATER

A British country dweller walks a quarter of a mile to get a drink of water, without leaving his own cellar! To raise the large bucket in his 300-foot well, Fred Hoare, of Beauworth, Hants, installed a twelve-foot treadmill beside the shaft.

When he steps inside it to take his daily constitutional, a windlass puts his exercise to practical use and winds in the cable to which the bucket, shown in the photograph below, is attached. Thus he secures his daily supply of water.

January 14, 2007

Would you Live in a Stainless-Steel Igloo? (May, 1945)

Filed under: Architecture — @ 12:40 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1945
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Would you Live in a Stainless-Steel Igloo?

These heavily insulated steel shells are a new approach to the housing problem. Low in cost and portable, they give a wide flexibility of layout.

By FRANK ROWSOME, Jr.

YOU can’t make an electric light just by perfecting a wax candle.” So says Martin Wagner, Harvard professor and internationally known architect, in explaining how he conceived the unique igloolike houses shown on these pages.

Most modern prefabricated houses, Wagner asserts, are at the same stage of development that automobiles had reached when their builders were trying to make them look like buggies. In his opinion, a steel, plywood, and plastic house that is produced in a factory should not merely imitate wooden, carpenter-built houses. Instead, it should make full use, in form as well as construction, of new materials and new techniques.

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January 12, 2007

Thirteen New Aids Designed for the Busy Housewife (Dec, 1930)

Filed under: House and Home — @ 9:22 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1930
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Thirteen New Aids Designed for the Busy Housewife

SOAP IN STEEL WOOL. In order to protect the user’s hands and expedite cleaning, a holder for steel wool has been developed which makes it unnecessary to handle the wool, which is impregnated with soap.

BURN YOUR RUBBISH. Food wastage and scraps from cooking are quickly disposed of in a kitchen incinerator, right, that can be installed under any gas range. It connects with stovepipe so all odors escape, has a pilot light for burners, and a convenient control handle.

HANGER FOR STOCKINGS. Dresser drawers are not cumbered with stockings if a converted coat hanger is used to hold them straight and convenient in your closet. It has metal clips that will also hold drying gloves.

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