Scientist Invents Nickel-in-Slot Blood Pressure Machine

EVERYONE has put a nickel in the slot to make a telephone call, to buy candy, gum, horoscopes, and various gewgaws and “prize” packages; but soon, according to Dr. George A. Snyder of Hollywood, Calif., it will be possible to get a blood pressure reading for the same price.

Since the public became aware of the fact that excessive blood pressure accounts for twenty per cent of all deaths of persons past 50 years of age, Dr. Snyder has kept pace with this growing interest by inventing a machine which will make it possible for individuals to keep a check on this condition with a minimum of cost and inconvenience. Any adult can operate the device.

Laminated Glass Bends Like Rubber
A PLASTIC glass superior to any previously used has been made possible’ through the use of Vinyl plastic in the lamination or sandwich construction of the glass. Although shattered the glass remains in one piece and may be rolled up like a carpet. A man weighing over 200 pounds jumping on the glass had little success in severing the pane although it did sag under his weight. While developed especially for automobile use the glass is valuable for show windows and display cabinets.

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PLASTICS - Modern Marvel of Science

by John E. Pfeiffer

Science has learned the secret of converting natural gas. milk, acetates, ammonia and waste materials into useful products that enrich our lives. This is the third article of a series revealing their laboratory magic.

THE plastics industry crept up on the United States during panicky depression years. New that things have calmed down, people have time to look around a bit—and everywhere they look, they see hundreds of plastic-made objects. The moldable rivals of metal, lumber, china, and such materials that go into the making of objects for your home and office, are all around you in various forms, including everything from combs to salt shakers. Jewelry using plastics is to be found in Tiffany’s as well as Woolworth’s. The old-fashioned bar with its wooden surface and brass rail is giving way to stylish bars made with a brilliant array of colored plastics. John D. Rockefeller has plastic-made panels for the bathrooms of one of his homes, and the great ocean liner the Queen Mary uses about $100,000 worth of the new industry’s best wares.

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I’ve only ever seen plastic birdies, so I guess this was a success.

Plastic Badminton Bird
Now available for badminton players is a plastic shuttlecock that the manufacturer claims will last four times longer than a feathered bird. It is true in flight and unaffected by moisture or prolonged disuse.

FENDER LIGHTS WARN OF LEFT OR RIGHT TURN

To make it easy for a driver to signal his intention of turning, a new warning device is controlled from buttons mounted beneath the steering wheel and within convenient reach of the fingertips. Pressing the left-hand button illuminates arrows pointing to the left on front and rear fenders of that side. The right-hand button lights up arrows on the right fenders pointing in the opposite direction.

Code Machine Defies Brainwork

DURING the World War, practically all governments suffered loss of code books which revealed to the enemy the contents of wirelessed messages.

And when the enemy did not have the necessary code dictionary, skilled code workers, by diligent search for a key letter or word, could usually decipher almost any message.

A new machine, invented by Swedish scientists, is said to be so complicated in its action that it defies solution by a human brain. A message is typed on this machine from a standard keyboard, but instead of delivering the words as written, the machine delivers them typed in the code which is being used.

To decode a message, it is necessary to have a machine arranged exactly like the one on which the message was written. The message is typed in the code in which it is received and it is delivered from the machine in ordinary, understandable language.

Clumsy Specs Eliminated by Small Invisible Eye Glass
AWKWARD and all-too-conspicuous spectacles may in time go the way of ear trumpets and bustles when the diminutive and invisible eyeglasses shown in the photos above, an invention of Prof. Dr. L. Heine of Kiel, Germany, come into widespread use. The glass is a thin curved lens that is worn monocle fashion beneath the eyelid in the horny coat of the eye. It can be inserted or extracted by the patient.

Stereoscopic Film Viewer Shows Scenes in Color

Three-dimensional views in color are provided by the novel stereoscopic instrument pictured in use at the right. Color films are mounted in disks that are placed within the apparatus, which is provided with a small lever at the top for moving successive frames into place before the dual eyepieces. Each disk contains a different set of film pictures. Small pieces of ground glass behind the film insure an even light on the scene viewed.

Automatic Fountain Serves Soft Drink

Automatically mixing and serving a carbonated drink, a new soda-fountain dispenser is said to blend its product more accurately than could be done by hand. Within five seconds it delivers a paper cup holding the drink as shown above. A built-in cooling unit and a small but efficient carbonator give the beverage the right amount of chill and “fizz.” Another model of the machine, operated by dropping a coin in the slot, mixes drinks for self-service patrons and has a capacity of 220 drinks before refilling.

WARNING LIGHTS FOR AUTOS LIKE RAILROAD SYSTEM

Protective lights for the rear of automobiles, patterned after the railroad system of red and green signals, are a recent development. When the machine is moving, a green light shows constantly, but when the brakes are applied, the green signal is extinguished and a red one flashes a warning to following motorists. Two sets of green and red lights are used, one set for daylight driving and the other for night travel, the former being more powerful so that they may be plainly seen in the sunlight. Interlocking shutters are provided for each pair of lights and the signal has two 1-inch red side lights.

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His Vision Made Television

The True Story of a Boy Who Had a Big Idea and Followed It Through to Final Success

By ELLIOTT ARNOLD

HE only trouble with Philo T. Farnsworth’s story is that it is out of time. It belongs to another day. It ought to be a hoary legend now and it’s just twenty years old and still in the making.

It has everything the school teachers love —boyhood on a farm, the dreamy inventor, the years of struggle, success. It’s the story of television and it all took place when folks whose names slip the mind for the moment did a lot of shouting about the frontiers being gone.

Farnsworth dreamed of television without moving parts when he was thirteen; a year later, still in high school, he invented some of the basic parts of electronic television. In 1927, when he was twenty, he took out his first patent, on an entire television system—not just one part—and Donald K. Lippincott, the radio engineer, called him “one of the ten greatest mathematical wizards of the day.”

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ENDLESS LADDER GIVES EXERCISE TO CLIMBER
Climbing, pushing, pulling, lifting, and other forms of exercise are provided by a vertical treadmill designed by an Oregon inventor. Two endless chains, running over sprocket wheels, are joined by steps to form a rotary ladder. An adjustable brake regulates the needed motive force.