April 19, 2006

German Boys Build Scale Model Liners for Sea Cruises (Sep, 1935)

Filed under: Cool, General, Nautical, Toys and Games — @ 6:31 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1935
| Buy on Ebay

This is the coolest boat model I’ve ever seen. You can ride around in it!

German Boys Build Scale Model Liners for Sea Cruises
EXPERT marine constructionists, between the ages of 9 and 16 are being developed in one of the most novel trade schools of the world at Potsdam, Germany. Under the tutelage of experienced marine engineers, the youths receive a thorough technical training in building exact replicas of real steamships on a scale of one to twenty.
Grades are given according to the aptitude and intelligence shown in building the model vessels. The plans from which the youth work are the same plans, scaled down, of such ships
as the Normandie and the Queen Mary. At the end of the school year, advanced students build models that can actually go to sea.

April 18, 2006

Power It with a PULSE JET (Jun, 1952)

Filed under: Automotive, DIY, Toys and Games — @ 9:17 am
Source: Science And Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1952
| Buy on Ebay

Power It with a PULSE JET

THIS model plane project uses what may be the smallest successful pulse-jet engine ever built. It was developed after scores of experiments and the building of a dozen test models by Hiram Sibley, Jr., a California guided-missile engineer.

Read the rest of this entry »

April 17, 2006

Inventors Patent Odd Designs For Safer Planes (May, 1935)

Filed under: Aviation, Impractical — @ 6:54 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1935
| Buy on Ebay

Inventors Patent Odd Designs For Safer Planes

Unusual ships, straying away from accepted designs, are being tried in an effort to increase safety and simplify air travel. Some of thef ideas are shown here!

The odd looking barrel shaped airplane above is based on the patent of Hans G. E. Roth, of New Rochelle. N. Y. It differs from the successful Stipa-Caproni barrel shaped ship, built some time ago in Italy, in that the propellers are not mounted within the tunnel itself and in the curious arrangement of vertical fins above and below the main wing. These fins aid in lateral and directional control. Passenger accommodations would probably be located in the thickened portion of die barrel about the main wing, while die crew would be in the lower fin as shown above.

Read the rest of this entry »

April 16, 2006

Glass Cooky Jar Becomes Diving Bell (Sep, 1935)

Filed under: Nautical — @ 5:59 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1935
| Buy on Ebay

Glass Cooky Jar Becomes Diving Bell
DIVING enthusiasts for more than a year, the twin brothers, Joe and Jerome Maurice, 17-year-old high school students of Fond du Lac, Wis., invaded their mother’s pantry for their 1935-version diving helmet.
A heavy glass cooky jar was selected to form the bell of the helmet, and thick sheet copper was sealed to this to form the breast plates and shoulder supports for the jar.
Several improvements in construction were added to the new model. The air valve was placed within easy reach of the right hand, with the air hose entering the helmet from below to prevent kinking. The helmet may be swiftly slipped off in the event of accident below water.
The greatest advantage of the cooky jar diving bell is that it permits full vision in all directions with ample safety. Air is supplied through a two-cylinder pump at a pressure of 30 pounds per square inch. At a depth of 35 feet, the helmet functioned perfectly.
The helmet the twins used in 1934 was made from the end of a water tank, with a top air valve and welded port window for observation. The imperfections of this helmet led to the invention of the new one.

Cycle Engine Gives 50 m.p.h. Speed to Wheel Chair (Aug, 1935)

Filed under: Automotive, General — @ 2:23 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1935
| Buy on Ebay


Cycle Engine Gives 50 m.p.h. Speed to Wheel Chair

A THREE-WHEELED chair built around a motorcycle engine brought Norman Tapper, 23-year-old Californian whose legs have been paralyzed since childhood, to Indianapolis almost a month before the start of the 500-mile auto race. The motorized chair was parked at the gate of the Speedway, to make certain of a good position on the day of the race.
Tapper asserted that this novel wheel chair, which he built himself from motorcycle and automobile parts, reached 50 miles an hour on the long drive from California to Indianapolis.

A PORTFOLIO OF Cars you’d like to own (Apr, 1962)

Filed under: Automotive, Cool — @ 8:30 am
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1962
| Buy on Ebay

A PORTFOLIO OF Cars you’d like to own

HERE’S A CAR THAT CLIMBS WALL

SOMETHING special for the off-the-road motorist: the Hickey Trail Blazer, built by Trail Blazer, 9424 Gallatin Road, Downey, Calif. Designers Victor Hickey, Sam Weaver and Jack Henry meant it for climbing mountains and slogging through sand but it can do its share of roadwork and takes stop-and-go traffic good-naturedly.

Read the rest of this entry »

April 15, 2006

Luxury Side Car Is Streamlined (Sep, 1935)

Filed under: Motorcycles — @ 4:35 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1935
| Buy on Ebay

Luxury Side Car Is Streamlined
DRESSED up in modern streamlining, the new motorcycle side car which is making its appearance on European highways is making a strong bid for popularity among motorcycle enthusiasts.
The latest side car of streamline design has a windscreen which extends well over the passenger’s head, with a head rest in the rear built up to follow the sweep of the air stream. Along the bottom edge of the screen is an adjustable ventilator which provides a flow of air to all parts of the car.
The blunt nose of the earlier model side car has been replaced by long sweeping curves.

Streamline Beauties Lure Travelers to Rails (Nov, 1935)

Filed under: General, Trains — @ 10:19 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1935
| Buy on Ebay

Streamline Beauties Lure Travelers to Rails

ROLLING along railways of the world at greater than mile-a-minute speeds, streamlined trains are conquering time and space in an attempt to keep the traveling public from deserting the rails for airplanes and motor buses.

Three choices have been offered to the jury of travelers—the ordinary steam train running on faster schedules, the beautiful Diesel-powered streamliner, and the light weight steam streamliner in its gleaming new dress of chromium and brass. A fourth contestant recently entered the picture—a turbine-drive steam locomotive that may surpass all others in speed, safety, and comfort.

Read the rest of this entry »

April 14, 2006

Motor Unicycle Proves Fast, Safe (Sep, 1935)

Filed under: Cool, Motorcycles — @ 1:34 pm
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1935
| Buy on Ebay

Motor Unicycle Proves Fast, Safe
A SPECTACULAR demonstration of unicycle operation was given in Los Angeles recently when Walter Nilsson, California inventor, drove his specially constructed machine 18 miles per hour in second gear without the aid of a pneumatic tire.
His unicycle consists of a single outer wheel driven by an inner wheel held in a stationary frame and powered by a one-cylinder motor. The engine is mounted motorcycle fashion between the rider’s legs. Steering is accomplished by means of a secret device which tilts the outer wheel while permitting the rider to remain upright.
With the arrival of a pneumatic tire, Nilsson expects to be able to attain 100 miles per hour.

Exhaust Flame-Thrower (Feb, 1952)

Filed under: Automotive, Cool — @ 12:26 pm
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1952
| Buy on Ebay

Exhaust Flame-Thrower is a new gadget for hot-rodders. Spark plugs set in the exhaust pipes ignite unburned gas in the vents which shoot out flames to a distance of 20 ft. on fast starts. It’s noiseless and police want an excuse to prohibit it.

Fill’er Up with Cold Air! (Sep, 1953)

Filed under: Automotive, Just Weird — @ 9:10 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Sep, 1953
| Buy on Ebay

“Fill’er Up with Cold Air!”
Texas gas stations are delighting motorists with a new kind of free air. When a car stops for gas, a nozzle fixed to an air conditioner is poked in the window. Station attendants say temperature inside the car drops as much as 20 degrees in two minutes.

Maginot Tower (Jan, 1935)

Filed under: Aviation, Impractical, War — @ 6:48 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1935
| Buy on Ebay

It seems like they didn’t quite understand that the planes were the important part, not the tower.

Giant Air TOWER to GUARD PARIS
TO GET defense aircraft into action more quickly, architects of Paris have worked out plans for a huge aerodrome tower, more than a mile in height, which will literally hurl planes, into the air at the 5000-ft. level, ready for combat.
High-speed elevators would bring planes from the roof-top-level landing field up to each of the three aerodrome platforms. Swooping downward after leaving the inclined take-off platform, planes would reach flying speed with little loss of altitude.

23 queries. 0.627 seconds.