December 31, 2007

Old Age Rejuvenator Centrifuge (Aug, 1935)

This is GENIUS. I’m going to buy an old Gravitron and charge an arm and a leg for centrifugalization treatment.

Old Age Rejuvenator Centrifuge

PERHAPS Ponce de Leon kept too far south in his search for the Fountain of Youth. He might have headed to Coney Island and there made himself young riding on a carousel, or a roller coaster, if a medical theory recently advanced is true—that, since old age is our final yielding to the inevitable, resistless pull of gravity, it is necessary only to overcome gravity and you overcome all that brings you down to earth. In describing trips to other planets, writers of science fiction have pictured the space travelers first crushed under intolerable weight during a few moments of ascent from the earth; then overwhelmed by a feeling of lightness, when all weight disappears. Indeed, there has been fear that too little gravity might have injurious effects on our bodies, unaccustomed to such a weightless condition; and that it would be as necessary to supply artificial gravity in a space ship as it would be to supply artificial air. However, no one seems to doubt that on the moon, or on Mars, freedom from the weariness of earthly weight would be pleasant.

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December 27, 2007

Rush-Hour Reading Glasses (Apr, 1960)

Filed under: Impractical — @ 1:21 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1960

Rush-Hour Reading Glasses
Rush-hour crowds packed John Holding into the London subway too tightly to read his paper. In desperation, he bought a pair of right-angle-vision glasses, the type used for reading in bed by invalids who can’t sit up, and reversed the prisms so the glasses viewed straight upwards. Now he rides and reads in the densest crowds.

December 19, 2007

GLOBE STORES LIGHT FROM ELECTRIC BULB (Mar, 1933)

Filed under: Impractical — @ 12:18 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1933

Something tells me this didn’t work quite as well as the inventor claimed.

GLOBE STORES LIGHT FROM ELECTRIC BULB
Storing light in a globe was a feat recently demonstrated by Ethan I. Dodds, America’s most prolific inventor, whose collection of more than 2,000 patents was exceeded only by those of the late Thomas A. Edison. The evacuated interior of Dodds’ magic globe, which is covered by twelve of his U. S. patents, is coated with a mixture of phosphorescent chemicals. When an electric bulb is held in an aperture and flashed on momentarily, the lamp glows with a soft, even light for two hours. The bottled light, Dodds says, is suitable for use in mines and in industrial buildings, where a night watchman making his rounds, could recharge each globe with a flick of his flashlight.

December 17, 2007

COSMIC RAY-GUN (Mar, 1947)

Filed under: Impractical, War — @ 12:08 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1947

Reading about this “death-ray” got me to wondering. Has anyone ever been killed by a laser? I mean directly, not someone getting blinded and crashing or something like that.

Anyone know?

COSMIC RAY-GUN

Atoms imploded by cosmic rays release far more radiation than is obtained by ordinary fission. Here’s a potential death-ray!

By Louis Bruchiss

DESPITE vehement reiterations thai the atomic bomb is the absolute weapon, a conviction has been growing that Einstein’s original equation E= MC^2 has not had its final say.

The very paucity of our knowledge of the complex. nuclear reactions and of the origin of matter and energy itself, would at once suggest that there may be a weapon more encompassing and deadly than the atomic bomb.

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December 15, 2007

LIGHT RAYS PRESERVE FOOD AND VITALIZE SEED (Jun, 1924)

Filed under: Impractical — @ 12:14 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1924

As a general rule, never trust a person who uses any form of the word “vitalize”.

LIGHT RAYS PRESERVE FOOD AND VITALIZE SEED

A method of preserving foods and fruit juices which many believe will do away with most cooking, pasteurizing, refrigeration and the use of chemicals for this purpose has been invented by Dr. N. H. Hazeldine, of Los Angeles. “Solar vitalzing,” the name given to the process, is accomplished simply by leaving any perishable article a certain length of time beneath a sheet of specially constructed glass and then putting it into airtight containers. Oils and dry materials may be left in open containers.

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December 13, 2007

Night Into Day (Feb, 1947)

Filed under: Impractical — @ 8:33 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1947

Night Into Day

With the activation of gases in the Ionosphere, we’ll have eternal day.

BY JOHN C. ADLER

A NEW radiance may soon pour-down from the night sky, dispelling the darkness and changing the life of mankind in the future. This light, the brilliant glow of activated gases in the Ionosphere, is now a definite scientific possibility.

Professor Etienne Vassy, Maitre de Conference of the Faculty of Sciences, Sorbonne University, Paris, has set imaginations soaring with his new theory. He proposes to shoot a power ray 50 miles into the air, up into the thin gases of the Ionosphere, activating these gases and causing them to glow with a neon-like light. An artist’s conception of this effect upon the business section of New York City is shown in the accompanying photograph. In this island of light, people could work without artificial illumination.

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December 12, 2007

Air Suction Drives Machine (Aug, 1937)

Filed under: Impractical — @ 8:02 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1937

Eight horse-power? That guy can really suck!

Air Suction Drives Machine

CONSISTING principally of four main wheels, three of which are nearly five feet in diameter and one-foot thick, a novel perpetual motion machine driven by air suction is claimed to have been invented by G. W. Johnston, of Tulsa, Okla.

Valves and other wheels are assembled inside the main wheel, each of which turns on a hollow axle. A turn of the wheel produces an air current at one end of the axle and suction at the other end, serving to keep the machine in motion. A small unit of the device, an eight-pound cylinder, can create eight horsepower under a 100-pound air pressure according to the inventor.

December 10, 2007

Death Ray Effective On Snakes (Aug, 1936)

Filed under: Impractical — @ 1:02 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1936

Yes, kill a snake in only eight and a half minutes! Of course this would only really work on animals that aren’t allowed to move. It seems like stepping on the snake would have been more effective.

Death Ray Effective On Snakes
A DEATH ray which proved its effectiveness before a San Francisco jury has been developed by Henry Fleur, Pacific Coast inventor. The apparatus which employs a light beam impregnated with infra-red rays successfully killed a snake in 8-1/2 minutes. A lizard was put to death in less than 6 minutes with only 30 seconds required to kill certain termites. Mounted on an adjustable tripod, ray can be aimed at objects in the same manner as a searchlight. The beam transmits a stream of high frequency vibrations.

Fertilize the Largest Farm in Illinois With Electricity (Sep, 1929)

Filed under: Impractical — @ 1:00 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1929

Fertilize the Largest Farm in Illinois With Electricity

CHARGING the soil with electricity as it is being plowed is the newest form of fertilization. The largest farm in Illinois, 13,645 acres in a single tract, is treated in this manner. The plow and apparatus used are shown at left. In addition to bringing an improved yield of crops the electric current kills harmful insects and weeds as it flows through the soil.

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December 1, 2007

Parachutes Save Victims Trapped in Burning Building (Dec, 1932)

Filed under: Impractical — @ 9:22 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1932

Parachutes Save Victims Trapped in Burning Building

THE latest wrinkle for persons trapped in a burning building comes from Berlin, Germany, where there has been developed a parachute to take the place of the slow and cumbersome type of fire escape. The device has proven highly satisfactory wherever used.

The pictures on the right show a demonstration being carried out. The victim has just flung herself from a blazing room and is about to land. The mask, seen in the close-up, resembles the type used during the World war. It is fastened securely over the head before the leap into space to protect against smoke and to prevent the face from being scorched.

November 30, 2007

Weeds Shot With Electric Pistol (Nov, 1935)

Filed under: Impractical — @ 12:13 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1935

Weeds Shot With Electric Pistol

WEEDS that mingle with the lawn grass have long proven obstinate foes to combat, yielding to most garden instruments only at the expense of considerable turf. Now, however, a new weapon has been devised which electrocutes them instantly.

The weed electrocutor is built like a pistol, the barrel of which terminates in a sharp point. The point is jabbed into the tap root of the doomed weed, and a charge of electricity is released when the trigger is pulled. As the electric current is confined to the point only, the instrument is perfectly safe.

November 13, 2007

Automatic Scale Calls Weight (Apr, 1934)

Filed under: Impractical — @ 7:42 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1934

Just what every woman wants: a scale that reads their weight to the entire room.

Automatic Scale Calls Weight

A NEW scale recently placed in operation in this country will tell you your exact weight. The novelty is attracting wide attention. The machine is said to be very popular. The customer merely puts a penny in the slot and then waits for the machine to call off his weight.

Cleverly composed of rugged parts, there are no springs or fine adjustments to get out of order. Another unique feature is that persons who are hard of hearing can amplify the tone, and there is no chance of misinformation, since the machine repeats the weight several times.

It is further reported to be so sensitive that great accuracy is obtained, which makes its day to day drawing appeal much higher. The machine is equipped with a loud speaker.

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