He Made Sky Mapping a Big Business
High above the broken floor of the Rio Grande River basin, an airplane growls monotonously over 32,000 square miles, each click of its Cyclopean camera bringing nearer to completion the largest photographic mapping project ever undertaken in the United States.
EXACTING and tedious is the scientific job of gathering up 32,000 square miles and literally pasting them in your hat. Only one man is utterly capable and he is the fellow who supervises the shooting and assembling of this vast mosaic.
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The QUEEN of the SEVEN SEAS
THE 79,280-ton “Normandie,” a ship that dares comparison, is about ready for the supreme test of a transatlantic crossing.
Described as the largest moving unit ever built by man, the vessel sets a standard difficult to equal. Her plan and decoration reach a high-water mark in maritime history. No such ultra-modern interiors have ever been seen on an ocean vessel. The outside strikes a complete harmony with the inside. Her low rakish hull rides gracefully on the water, while her clipper bow and streamline funnels give her all the earmarks of the greyhound.
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“The Box” - All Wheels Steer and Drive
Look at this ultralight on-and-off-road vehicle that hits new highs in mobility
By JIM DAVIS / PS West Coast Editor
Racing car? Economy car? Dune buggy? Off-road vehicle? The answer, every time, is yes; the Box is all of these. It began life as a multipurpose car suitable for street, track, and off-road use; but because it has a fully watertight body, it even converts to an amphibian when paddles are fixed to the wheels.
The designers, Dan Hanebrink and Matt Van Leeuwen of Costa Mesa, Calif., aimed for aircraft lightness. They also had their own ideas on just about everything in the chassis department.
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The Trailer Grows Up
By Julian Leggett
ROM the time, only ten years ago, when it was little more than a big wooden box perched precariously between two wheels, the trailer has come a long way.
Just recently, an auto-and-trailer unit was traveling the desert road beside the Salton sea, with the speedometer needle hovering close to seventy. As the driver picked up the telephone to inform his family in the trailer that they were nearing their destination, there was a loud bang. The driver felt a quick tug at the steering wheel, a sudden drag on the car. But nothing else happened. There was no loss of control, no careening. Cautiously he set the brakes and brought the two vehicles to a stop. Investigation revealed that one of the trailer tires had blown out—at seventy miles an hour-yet not even a dish was out of place in the trailer’s cupboard.
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Atomic Planes
Are Closer Than You Think High-payload atom-powered jet flying-boats within the next five to ten years: that’s MPs prediction, based on a study of design trends and necessities.
By Frank Tinsley
THE buckaroos of science are breaking the atom to harness at a fantastic rate. In just 15 short years, fission has grown from a super-secret equation whispered in a President’s ear to a solidly established 14-billion dollar industry. The hectic stage of A-and H-bomb monopoly is fast giving way to a happier and less explosive phase of atomic development. Late last year Congress enacted the Atomic Energy Act of 1954; directing that the atom’s neglected humanitarian potential be put to work “to promote world peace, promote the general welfare and increase the standard of living.” Along with this, President Eisenhower launched his World Atoms-For-Peace Program to spur the exchange of knowledge and the rapid development of international atomic power projects of all kinds.
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