July 15, 2006

Use Car Power to Grind Meat (Dec, 1932)

Use Car Power to Grind Meat
NOW you can operate your meat chopper, ice cream freezer, apple parer, or practically any other device turned by a crank without work or worry, thanks to the simple idea of an Illinois inventor. A strap iron strip just long enough to fasten between rim bolts on opposite sides of the car wheel is made. The shaft of the device to be operated is then attached to the center of the strap.
All that remains is to jack up the rear wheel, start up the motor and let ‘er rip. The picture below shows the arrangement in operation. It’s handy for picnics where much food has to be prepared outdoors. Naturally the shaft of the food chopper must be practically in line with the hub of the wheel.

July 11, 2006

Grapefruit Conquered at Last (Aug, 1933)

Finally, after countless lives lost and ruined, the Grapefruit wars are over.

Grapefruit Conquered at Last
AT LAST the grapefruit has heen conquered. The weapon employed in the conquest is an “umbrella spoon” shown at left, which automatically opens into a large shield when you gouge down into the meat of the fruit. When you raise the spoon to your mouth the shield closes.

July 10, 2006

Fountain Brush Sprays Teeth (Oct, 1933)

She really does seem to enjoy doing that.

Fountain Brush Sprays Teeth
A FOUNTAIN toothbrush, which forces a liquid carbonic spray through the bristles, thoroughly cleans the teeth and acts as an atomizer at the same time.

The flow of the liquid is controlled by pressing a lever on the container holding enough cleaning fluid for a month. The device is a Norwegian invention.

July 7, 2006

SQUEEZE (Jun, 1959)

There is something about this image that I find very disturbing.

SQUEEZE (not the girl, the container) and heated food put in by Mommy squirts onto spoon and is shoveled into baby’s mouth.

July 6, 2006

Modernistic Fireplace Opens to Reveal a Small Bar (May, 1939)

Modernistic Fireplace Opens to Reveal a Small Bar

FOR the small apartment or house where space is at a premium, a combination fireplace and bar may be constructed by anyone who can use a hammer and saw at a cost of approximately five dollars. The one illustrated was built from clear white pine 1″ thick. The hearth is made from a piece of pressed composition wood, and the same material is used as a back, which is then covered with an appropriate wall paper. The top door swings down to make a handy serving shelf. The decorations on the front are pieces of large dowels, cut in half and painted a contrasting color.—J. S. Bardwell.

July 3, 2006

Huge Kettle Affords Tea Room Customers Hot Stimulant (Sep, 1929)

Of course when it is full that thing would weigh 175lbs.

Huge Kettle Affords Tea Room Customers Hot Stimulant
THERE is an old saying that an Englishman can’t do without his tea. The manufacture of this huge kettle shown at left seems to bear this out, for it was made for the purpose of being able to brew large quantities of tea to accommodate the hundreds of persons who drop in a prominent tea room in London at any time of the day or night and demand a stimulant. A study in contrast is afforded in the photo in which a young woman is pouring tea from the immense kettle into an average sized tea pot. Ordinarily she would not be able to lift it so easily, but the kettle is nearly empty. It has a capacity of approximately 20 gallons and weighs 15 pounds.

June 9, 2006

TOMORROW’S HOME: Comfort in Cubes (Aug, 1960)

TOMORROW’S HOME: Comfort in Cubes

In a few years, do-it-yourselfers may be playing a gigantic game of dominoes—using aluminum cubes to build an efficient, mobile and low-cost home

By MERLE E. DOWD

HOLLOW aluminum cubes —12 ft. square with translucent plastic tops and variable wall panels—might be the building blocks for tomorrow’s do-it-yourself homebuilder.

The cubes, which could be put together domino-like to form any floor plan you want, are the basic unit for a startling experimental “Industrialized House” which was brain-stormed by famed designers George Nelson and Co., Inc., of New York.

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June 8, 2006

Fluorescent Bars in Lamp Replace Electric Bulbs (Feb, 1941)

Fluorescent Bars in Lamp Replace Electric Bulbs
Several fluorescent bars replace the traditional bulbs in a new type floor lamp to produce a pleasant reading effect, and may burn twenty-four hours straight without emitting noticeable heat. The average life of the fluorescent tubes is about 2,500 lighting hours, and the stand can be fitted with a standard lamp shade.

June 5, 2006

High-Tech Snack Shop (Jun, 1958)

A long but very entertaining article detailing all of the latest in kitchen gadgetry. Among the marvels: infrared heat lamps, the microwave oven, a magnetically driven chocolate mixer, french fry and burger makers and a polisher that pummels your silverware with 1/8″ shot. The author also goes into all of the ways restaurants can increase their sales including allowing people to order through a microphone and speaker (because people like to hear themselves talk), good lighting and perfect consistency from day to day.

Overall it kind of sounds like a modern day McDonalds…

YOUR SNACK SHOP IS GOING HIGH-HAT

By James Joseph

AN OLD-HAND CHEF, venturing out of retirement, recently spent but an hour in a restaurant’s chromed and push-buttoned kitchen before turning in his white hat and apron for good.

“You don’t need a cook,” he snorted. “What you need is an electronics engineer!”

Like that old-timer, you have only to look behind (and under) the counter of your favorite hamburger place to eyewitness a revolution that’s both gastronomic and electronic:

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June 1, 2006

Depthscrapers Defy Earthquakes (Nov, 1931)

Depthscrapers Defy Earthquakes

THE “Land of the Rising Sun” (Japan) is subject to earthquakes of distressing violence at times; and the concentration into small areas of increasing city populations invites great destruction, such as that of the Tokio earthquake of 1923, unprecedented in magnitude of property loss, as well as life.

It was natural, then, that the best engineering brains of Japan should be devoted to the solution of the problem of building earthquake-proof structures; and a clue was given them by the interesting fact that tunnels and subterranean structures suffer less in seismic tremors than edifices on the surface of the ground, where the vibration is unchecked.

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May 31, 2006

Houses that Hang from Poles (Sep, 1932)

Houses that Hang from Poles

A house which hangs suspended from a central mast, in whose bath room you bathe in a pint of water, where clothes are laundered in fog and where power is supplied
from garbage —this is the revolutionary type of home science okays for the future.

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May 29, 2006

Color-Harmony Introduces a New Mode of Expression (Jun, 1930)

Light Furnishes Ballroom Decorations

Color-Harmony Introduces a New Mode of Expression

SINCE Bainbridge Bishop patented his “color organ” in 1877, many artists and inventors have been at work on the creation of an art form of light somewhat similar to the age-old art form of sound-music. In its early stages this pioneer work was greatly hampered by the unfortunate and totally unfounded belief that each color corresponded definitely to a musical note. Now, however, the light artists of later years have come to look at light as an independent medium for esthetic expression no more related to music than to painting or sculpture. Form, color, and motion are the basic factors, according to the theory of Mr. Thomas Wilfred, an artist in light who has developed his dreams into the practical applications which we illus-strate in this article. He has designed a clever keyboard from which lighting of any kind can be controlled with such delicacy as to enable an artist to express himself in form, color, and motion.

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