December 2, 2008

Radio Equipment for Autos Brings Broadcast Programs to Motorists (Sep, 1930)

Filed under: Automotive, Origins, Radio — @ 12:43 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1930
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Three batteries, just for the radio?

Radio Equipment for Autos Brings Broadcast Programs to Motorists

RADIO, it seems, is destined to be installed in everything that flies, runs on wheels, or floats on water. The fast moving auto is the latest vehicle to be invaded by radio’s onward march.

Equipment has recently been placed on the market for installation in automobiles. As shown in the photo below, the control dials are installed on the dashboard, while the apparatus occupies a small space up under the cowl. The location of the loud speaker is optional, the space under the cowl being preferable. The antenna is ordinarily strung up in the roof, but many cars are equipped with built-in and invisible antennas, especially in the de luxe models of expensive makes.

November 13, 2008

Brain Waves Are Measured with Radio Amplifier (Dec, 1936)

Filed under: Medical, Origins — @ 1:07 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Dec, 1936
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Brain Waves Are Measured with Radio Amplifier

With an ordinary radio set for an amplifier, a young scientist at London is measuring brain waves. A fairly regular electrical wave emanates from the human brain during normal thought, but the waves diminish during sleep. The intensity of the waves is measured on an electric meter, enabling research men to study the relative intensity of thought processes.

November 6, 2008

Plastic Football Helmets (Sep, 1946)

Filed under: Origins — @ 11:57 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1946
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Plastic Football Helmets. Only half as heavy as the familiar leather-and-fiber helmets, these headgear are weather resistant and have as much or more protective strength. Made by MacGregor-Gold-smith, of Cincinnati, they are molded in one unit from phenolic laminated material.

October 29, 2008

Pushbuttons replace dials on telephone (Apr, 1964)

Filed under: Origins, Telephone — @ 12:55 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1964
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Pushbuttons replace dials on telephone

Tests in regular service last winter at Carnegie and Greensburg, Pa., suburbs of Pittsburgh, have shown it’s easier and more than twice as fast to press buttons for a phone call than it is to twirl a dial. As each “touch-tone” button is pushed, it sounds a pleasing musical tone.

Bell is introducing the phone area by area, will nave it in general use within the next 10 years.

October 12, 2008

Outboard Starter Rewinds Itself (Aug, 1931)

Filed under: Origins — @ 11:50 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1931
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Outboard Starter Rewinds Itself

A NEW starter for outboard motors makes obsolete the rope starter heretofore used. A steel tape, which automatically winds itself into the container in readiness for the next pull as soon as it is released is the feature of this device.

Boating enthusiasts who have had difficulty in finding their starting ropes—who have lost their ropes upon the sudden kick-back of a motor—whose wives have protested when the knot of a suddenly released rope snapped back over their heads—who resented picking up grimy, oil-soaked ropes—who have wasted time winding the rope around the starting plate—all have hailed this development as the greatest boon to outboard motoring since the development of the tilting propeller years ago.

September 17, 2008

Public Key Cryptography (Jan, 1983)

Filed under: Computers, Origins — @ 10:09 pm
Source: Byte ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1983
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Public Key Cryptography

An introduction to a powerful cryptographic system for use on microcomputers.

John Smith
21505 Evalyn Ave.
Torrance, CA 90503

Cryptography, the art of concealing the meaning of messages, has been practiced for at least 3000 years. In the past few centuries, it has become an indispensable tool in the military affairs, diplomacy, and commerce of most major nations. During that time there have been many innovations, and cryptography has changed and grown to accommodate the increasingly complex needs of its users. Present techniques are very sophisticated and provide excellent message protection. Current developments in computer technology and information theory, however, are on the verge of revolutionizing cryptography. New kinds of cryptographic systems are emerging that have incredible properties, which appear to eliminate completely some problems that have plagued cryptography users for centuries. One of these new systems is public key cryptography.

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September 14, 2008

Waterproof Sand Exhibited (Mar, 1938)

Filed under: Origins — @ 9:46 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1938
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Waterproof Sand Exhibited

W/ATERPROOF sand constituted one of the many marvels of modern chemistry exhibited at a Chemical Industries Exposition recently staged in New York, N. Y. In a convincing test demonstration, water was passed through a series of curves in the chemically treated sand without becoming even partially absorbed.

September 13, 2008

Science Transplants Babies (Jan, 1948)

Filed under: Medical, Origins — @ 1:02 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1948
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Science Transplants Babies

BY LESTER DAVID

The embryo conceived by one mother has been removed from her womb, stored by refrigeration, then transplanted to another mother for normal birth. Mother’s name Is “Mrs. Rabbit”—some day it might be Mrs. Jones.

IF YOU could mate a man and a woman—could let the embryo get just a start, then transfer it to the body of another woman to complete its prenatal growth and be born—that would start a revolution in human genetics, wouldn’t it!

It’s just been done with rabbits.

It certainly will be done next with cattle.

And just as certainly it will some day be possible with human beings!

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August 27, 2008

Telescoping Wings “Brake” Airplane (Apr, 1923)

Filed under: Aviation, Origins — @ 8:15 pm
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1923
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Origin of flaps?

Telescoping Wings “Brake” Airplane

ONE of the most difficult problems of flying—that of reducing the speed of a high powered airplane to a minimum without slowing down the engine—has been solved to some extent by a Frenchman, M. Bille, who has invented an airplane in which
the wing surface can be mechanically increased, thus cutting down the speed of the machine.

Early inventions for varying the size of wings in flight lacked wing rigidity necessary to safe flying. Bille’s invention overcomes this handicap by means of two pairs of extension wings that telescope snugly into the main wings of the plane, so that they can be extended or taken in at will during flight.

At a recent demonstration of the plane Maneyrol, the French record making aviator, flew 100 miles an hour, then slowed down to 35 miles, and finally to 12 miles, simply by extending the wings. This was done in six seconds.

August 14, 2008

Underwater Gallery for Aquarium (Aug, 1936)

Filed under: Animals, Origins — @ 12:17 am
Source: Science And Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1936
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Underwater Gallery for Aquarium

SHARKS are always intriguing to the curiosity—more so than lions; for you can less frequently get a good look at a shark. A professional shark hunter is now promoting plans for an open-water aquarium with, not tanks, but pens; and floating steel compartments from whose windows thrill seekers may watch the demons of the deep. The idea, as distinguished from its accomplishment, is very old; a medieval picture shows Alexander the Great in a (fabulous) submarine observatory.

August 11, 2008

Swallows New Camera to Get 16 Pictures of Stomach (Jul, 1934)

Filed under: Medical, Origins — @ 10:41 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jul, 1934
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Swallows New Camera to Get 16 Pictures of Stomach

A CAMERA so small that it can be swallowed without discomfort takes sixteen pictures of the inside of the stomach.

A two inch long metal cylinder contains the camera, a roll of film, and a tiny flash bulb capable of 20,000 candle-power illumination. The control plunger runs through a two-foot rubber tube attached to the cylinder.

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August 8, 2008

Suicide or Murder? ~ Science Tells Which (Jan, 1932)

Filed under: Crime and Police, Origins — @ 12:44 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1932
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Suicide or Murder? ~ Science Tells Which

NO LONGER can a murderer defeat justice by placing the gun in the hand of the victim to mislead the coroner’s jury into returning a verdict of suicide. On the other hand, it will no longer be possible for an innocent man to be convicted of murder on circumstantial evidence if the deceased fired the shot which ended his own life, for science can now identify positively the hand that fired the gun. Whenever a firearm explodes, the generated gases expand and blow backward as well as forward. No firearm has yet been built in which some of these gases do not escape backward.

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