Defense Gun Hurls Balls of Fire
A GUN which shoots eight streaking balls of fire in rapid succession is now being tested as a possible anti-aircraft gun to set fire to enemy planes during wartime.
The gun is built on a “Roman Candle” principle, each ball being separately ignited from a battery as the trigger is pulled. A metal funnel on the end protects the operator from flying embers cast by the imperfect powder balls now being used.

It seems like they didn’t quite understand that the planes were the important part, not the tower.

Giant Air TOWER to GUARD PARIS
TO GET defense aircraft into action more quickly, architects of Paris have worked out plans for a huge aerodrome tower, more than a mile in height, which will literally hurl planes, into the air at the 5000-ft. level, ready for combat.
High-speed elevators would bring planes from the roof-top-level landing field up to each of the three aerodrome platforms. Swooping downward after leaving the inclined take-off platform, planes would reach flying speed with little loss of altitude.

If he actually tried to jump off that cliff with those I’m guessing this is the last picture of him alive.

Oregon Man Builds Flapping Wings for Mountain Gliding
WITH only a pair of strange cloth-covered wings strapped over his arms, Joe Fodie of Rowena, Oregon, hopes to glidfe through space by the power of his arms alone, after jumping from a mountain top precipice. Should this intrepid inventor glide safely to earth, it will be the first time man has flown through the air under his own power. The queer wings are hinged at their center, with a stop to prevent them from buckling upward. As the arms are moved upward in flight, the outer halves of the wings would naturally fold inward; on the downward stroke they flatten out again, providing lifting power. Fodie designed his wing action to resemble as closely as possible the flapping motion characteristic of a bird in flight.

German Death Ray Pistol Stuns Animals at Mile Range
AN ODD-LOOKING pistol firing a magnesium charge said to be capable of stunning men and animals a mile away is now being demonstrated in Paris. Its inventor, a German who was forced to flee from his native land, hopes to sell the idea to the French government.
Scientists believe the operation of the device is based upon the “thermit reaction” now used in certain welding operations. The reflector mounted on the barrel of the gun would concentrate the deadly heat rays, and protect the operator from the dazzling glare of exploding magnesium.

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Moon Farms to Banish Starvation

FIFTY years from now much of the world’s food may be grown high in the sky! Tomorrow’s farmers may raise their crops on artificial “moons” that have been launched into space and move in orbits around the earth. And the successful agriculturalist will probably be a combination chemist, biologist and engineer.

Fantastic as it may sound, this revolutionary type of farming is more than possible. Five years of intensive research in this country and 60 years of study by five other nations have explored its potentialities. This news comes from the very conservative Carnegie Institution of Washington which has released a 357 page report on the almost unbelievable new science of “algal culture.”
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This seems a bit sketchy, seeing as how it violates the laws of physics.

Cans Lift Up Water Column in Perpetual Motion Engine

THE latest in perpetual motion machines is a fuelless engine devised by a Frenchman of Paris, M. Miralle. The contraption functions on an application of Archimedes’ principle of floating bodies, and consists of a sort of thick set chimney made of sheet iron and equipped with fifteen flywheels.

The machine is set going by turning one of the flywheels about fifteen revolutions, which subsequently sets the remaining wheels in operation. Over these wheels passes an endless chain fixed in the interior of the chimney like a motor, in which is also a series of chambers made of vegetable cans.

The chimney is filled with water so that the chamber and the endless chain are submerged in the liquid. One of the columns of chambers contains water and the other, through a process known only to M. Miralle, is filled with air. The air-filled chambers tend to rise to the surface of the water-filled chimney, thus setting the motor in motion. The photo shows M. Miralle standing beside his invention.

While this does look fun, it seems like one would want a bus to have a bit more stability. A bus that hurls hurling passengers around would not be that fun to ride on.

Check out the history of mono-wheel vehicles here. (via)

DYNO-WHEEL Drives New MOTOR BUS

Rolling along on a single huge wheel, this motor bus combines safety with high speed.
by VICTOR J. PESEK

PROMISING to revolutionize the field of motor transportation, the new Dyno-Wheel bus operates upon practically the same principle as the tiny “Dynasphere” auto which was successfully built by Dr. J. A. Purves of Taunton, England, some years ago.
A single huge drum wheel supports the car at high speeds. Control wheels on either side are raised or lowered in response to the steering gear, to tip the bus slightly and change the direction of travel. Small fore and aft wheels come into action only when stopping or starting. A stabilizing fin keeps the car level at high speeds.

Or I guess I should say “developing your form”. You know, if that’s what you want.

Breathing Balloon
will develop your form, if that’s what you want. It’ll also train you to breathe deeply by measuring your lung capacity by means of the shut-off valve. Moore’s, 14548 Forrer Ave., Detroit, Michigan.

I love this. The 3 page description of how man will explore the moon includes this crucial fact: “Movies may be shown, if desired.”

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HOW WE WILL EXPLORE THE MOON

An original MI design by FRANK TINSLEY

EARTHMEN who land on the moon will need a special lunar vehicle for exploration. The vehicle must be self-sustaining and capable of traversing both the smooth, dust-paved crater beds and climbing the steep rocky passes of their mountainous rims.

Mi’s design for this difficult job is a giant Moon Explorer unicycle with a spherical body mounted inside its rolling rim and composed almost entirely of inflated fabric parts. These constitute the lightest possible structure and can be easily disassembled and deflated for storage.

The Moon Explorer is 32 ft. high. It is driven by electric motors and stabilized and steered by gyroscopic tilting. Power is derived from a circular “parasol” faced with solar batteries that always face the sun. Those atop the disc are of the light-actuated type. The bottom units are thermal generators, extracting electricity from reflected ground heat. This arrangement uses every inch of area and constitutes a simple, long-lived generator with no moving parts. It not only produces free power but also serves to shield the vehicle’s body from the burning rays of the unfiltered lunar sun. Despite its large size, the parasol is extremely light in weight. It consists of an envelope of thin, inflated fabric, stiffened by internal spokes and a rim of inflated tubing. It is carried above the wheel tread on four light magnesium legs and mounted on a ball-joint so it can be tilted to any angle. An electric eye, linked to gyros in the hub, controls its movements automatically.
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Yes, now you too can cook eggs on a flying disk!

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Look! It’s Flying Disks Again!

PARIS has its flying saucer, but it is called “The Magic Plate.” It is a two-pound aluminum disk that floats in air without apparent support.

It moves up and down. It rotates. It lifts an ornate chandelier with bulbs burning continuously as it spins. If such trickery doesn’t prove that the plate is magic, it will fry eggs to a golden brown with nothing between it and the table but air!

Actually, of course, it is no more “magical” than the magic of electricity and the phenomenon of induction.

Below the plate, concealed in the table, are two concentric coils. The inner coil sets up a magnetic field that repels the tray, forcing it into the air. To keep the tray from slipping sideways out of the lifting field, a large outer coil is used. This develops a conical field, tapering toward the top, to keep the plate centered.

A third field makes the disk rotate. Four coils create it. Once the tray starts spinning, it does so for a long period even after the rotation coils are turned off because the drag of friction is almost nonexistent.

The chandelier weighs one pound. Its bulbs are lighted by induced current. The aluminum tray gets hotter than an ordinary electric iron, providing ample heat for egg frying.

What’s it all for? It is strictly a stunt used in Parisian store windows to attract customers and impress them with the magic of electricity.

The “Thinker” device sounds like B.S.. They admit that it has to be “pumped” with answers. My guess is that it either it just spits out the next answer in it’s queue when a button is pressed (I doubt the mike is hooked up to anything). Or, more likely, it’s just a complete fake and there is someone controlling it. It sure as hell doesn’t have voice recognition in 1955.

Also, it seems to me that $150 or $200 in 1955 is a hell of a lot of money for a high-school science project.

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High-School Robots Learn the “Three Rs”

By Jim Collison

AN ELECTRONIC THINKER—a completely mechanical robot — built by Robert Kotsmith, 16, and Michael Chmielewski, 17, high-school juniors at Foley, Minn., is passing exams of a factual nature that would stump any uneducated robot.

The machine, built during a period of 10 months at an estimated cost of only $120, understands and answers the human voice. The Thinker answers mathematical questions, gives data on current events and history, writes and even learns new facts it does not already know.

Even to persons well versed on scientific progress, this project seems astounding. Foley science instructor Alfred A. Lease says this of his students: “Their accomplishments would make some college graduates look on with envy.”
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Flying BARREL to Carry 100 Passengers

Development of a huge “flying barrel” transport plane capable of carrying a hundred passengers inside its thick tubular hull is foreshadowed by recent successful test flights of the hollow fuselage plane shown in the photograph directly above, designed by Engineer Stipa of the Italian Caproni works. The picture shows: double cockpits placed on top of the cylindrical body, but in the refined version of the plane for large scale passenger traffic, the piloting compartment is faired into wing and propeller is driven through gears much like the dirigible Akron.