Archive
Transportation
Popular Mechanics
Issue: Aug, 1951
Posted in: Automotive, Radio
Posted: 05/14/2006
No Comments
Mobile Broadcasting Booth (Aug, 1951)

This is a pretty cool looking vehicle.

Mobile Broadcasting Booth
Radio reporters and commentators view news events at firsthand from the weatherproof press box built on a truck chassis for the Columbia Broadcasting System. As many as four commentators can broadcast simultaneously from the observation platform at the rear of the truck. The Plexiglas windows provide full vision on three sides. A plastic bubble atop the truck gives full forward vision. The truck has a high-frequency transmitter powered by its own generator. It has a range of 35 miles from the home station and can tie into telephone cables for longer transmission.

.
Popular Mechanics
Issue: Feb, 1941
Posted in: Automotive, Bicycles
Posted: 05/14/2006
No Comments
Tandem Bike Tows Loaded Cart in Gas-Rationed Europe (Feb, 1941)

Tandem Bike Tows Loaded Cart in Gas-Rationed Europe
Many ingenious methods of cartage have been devised in Europe because diversion of gasoline for war purposes has curtailed the use of automobiles and motor trucks. In Sweden two youths pedal this tandem bicycle to tow a loaded cart in truck-and-trailer fashion.

.
Popular Science
Issue: May, 1938
Posted in: Automotive, Sign of the Times
Tags:
Posted: 05/13/2006
1 Comment
Highways of the Future (May, 1938)

Highways of the Future

By E. W. MURTFELDT

PICTURE a 15,000-mile network of twelve-lane motor speedways spanning the nation—three of them linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, six more crisscrossing the country north and south —and you will have an idea of the vastness of a spectacular highway plan proposed by Senator Robert J. Bulkley of Ohio. Requiring twenty-five years for completion, the mammoth gridiron of superhighways would change long-distance driving from a motorist’s nightmare of snarled traffic into a reality of fast, safe transportation. It would represent an impressive start toward an era of scientifically constructed speedways, and crashproof cars of radical new design to run upon them, foreseen by leading experts for the not-too-distant future.

.
Modern Mechanix
Issue: Dec, 1935
Posted in: Automotive, Impractical
Posted: 05/13/2006
24 Comments
Water Succeeds Gasoline As New Invention Is Perfected (Dec, 1935)

Water Succeeds Gasoline As New Invention Is Perfected

WATER powered automobiles are predicted for the not too distant future as the result of an invention of G. H. Garrett of Dallas, Texas, which substitutes water for gasoline.

Garrett uses an electrolytic carburetor which breaks up water by electrolysis into its component gases, hydrogen and oxygen, and then forces the explosive hydrogen into the combustion chambers for fuel.

For operating the automobile motor on which the tests have been conducted, Garrett has added an over-size generator to supply the extra electricity needed by the carburetor. Beyond that, the motor has needed no changes, though it has been in operation continuously for several days.

Garrett has protected his device with patents.

.
Science And Mechanics
Issue: Feb, 1935
Posted in: Automotive, Cool, Just Weird
Posted: 05/11/2006
1 Comment
Miniature Cars are Practical (Feb, 1935)

I really wish people still drove around in these. I certainly would pay extra for a pizza delivered by a little kid wearing a cap, driving tiny car.

Miniature Cars are Practical
CHEAP and serviceable, this little car has attained much favor in England. It goes only 15 miles an hour, but can be driven by a child, and is obviously easy to maneuver and park. Weight, 200 pounds; balloon tires, 12-inch diameter. It is cheap to run —and taxes (based on power) are very low. It is even used for sales display as a miniature of larger cars, with bodies on a reduced scale. In spite of a juvenile appearance, it is quite serviceable for commercial and individual use. Control is by a single pedal.

.
Mechanix Illustrated
Issue: Feb, 1943
Posted in: Bicycles
Posted: 05/11/2006
1 Comment
Put An Outboard Motor On Your Bike (Feb, 1943)

… Or Put An Outboard Motor On Your Bike…
AN ATTACK on the trans– portation problem from a different angle has been made by G. E. Griffin, of Vass, N. C, at left. Mr. Griffin has attached a 3/4 h.p. aircooled outboard motor to his bicycle, the shaft geared by friction directly to the rear tire. He reports that the arrangement works very well, can do 30 m.p.h. or even better, and doesn’t appear to wear the rear tire badly at all.

.
Modern Mechanix
Issue: Nov, 1937
Posted in: General, Nautical
Posted: 05/11/2006
No Comments
Soviet Engineers Building 80-foot “Glider” Boat (Nov, 1937)

Soviet Engineers Building 80-foot “Glider” Boat
SOVIET engineers are constructing a “glider” speedboat for service on the Black Sea. The boat will have two hulls and carry 150 people at a speed of over 40 m.p.h. Four aviation motors of 675 horsepower each will power the novel craft, which will be 80 feet long with a width of 40 feet. A model of the boat has been placed on public exhibition in Paris, France.

.
Modern Mechanix
Issue: Oct, 1937
Posted in: Automotive
Posted: 05/09/2006
1 Comment
“Rocket” Car Goes 40 M.P.H. (Oct, 1937)

“Rocket” Car Goes 40 M.P.H.
EQUIPPED with a one-cylinder motor that provides propulsion based on the theory of the fluid rocket, a novel midget car has been developed by Millet, famous Paris engineer. On its trial runs, the three-wheeler car is said to have attained speeds exceeding 40 m.p.h. The all-metal car is bullet-like in its appearance.

.
Modern Mechanix
Issue: Nov, 1937
Posted in: Advertisements, Automotive
Tags:
Posted: 05/09/2006
1 Comment
Ad: I’D RATHER BE YOUR WIFE THAN YOUR WIDOW (Nov, 1937)

“I’D RATHER BE YOUR WIFE THAN YOUR WIDOW -
PLEASE PUT THIS BLOWOUT PROTECTION ON OUR CAR”
WHETHER you’re married or single — whether or not you’ve ever had a blow-out, don’t blind yourself to these facts:

Thousands of motorists are killed or injured—thousands of dollars are spent for repairs, doctor and hospital bills every year when blow-outs throw cars out of control. Every day somewhere, someone is headed for a cosdy or fatal blowout accident.

.
Science And Mechanics
Issue: Jan, 1933
Posted in: Aviation
Posted: 05/09/2006
4 Comments
Largest Private Plane is Flying Yacht (Jan, 1933)

Der plane! Der plane!

Largest Private Plane is Flying Yacht
• THE huge machine illustrated here appears to rival some of the air liners that have figured in trans-ocean flights. It is, however, the property of a wealthy British sportsman. Its cabins are luxuriously furnished as living quarters for protracted trips; the upholstered seats and berths folding to make living and sleeping quarters alternately commodious. Its size and power may be imagined from this view of its exterior.

.

Sponsors:

Categories:

Archives

Subscribe


RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

Recent Comments

  • Toronto: PS: Grampa died in 1972, by the way. So he puffed his way to 78 or so. Granny made it to 96: drinking and smoking... ` – May 17, 6:49 PM
  • Toronto: I think one of my grandfathers was 73 in 1967, and he smoked like crazy (he was a locomotive engineer, so probably inhaled a lot... ` – May 17, 6:43 PM
  • Toronto: @Stephen - I've had several of those inflatables. They used to be a popular "swag" at trade shows. The south pacific ocean apparently has a... ` – May 15, 6:29 PM
  • experiment 626: I thought The US stopped production of rubber consumer goods such as this by the time this was printed I thought. ` – May 15, 10:18 AM
  • GeorgeT: Does it have an Any Key? ` – May 15, 6:35 AM