Patents ~ Nutty or Novel?

BELIEVE it or not, the United States Government has issued letters patent on the extraordinary devices pictured on this page. The average owner of a patent is lucky if he breaks even on expenses. Out of some two million patents granted in this country, the number which never make a cent for their inventors reaches staggering proportions.
Read the rest of this entry »

Radios Now Built in Grandfather’s Clock, Tuned by Remote Control
RADIO receiving sets have been manufactured in a wide variety of forms since the coming of broadcasting, but the latest and perhaps most unique appearance which a receiver has assumed is that of a grandfather’s clock. And because such a type of clock belonged to an age which did not enjoy modern day conveniences, it should not be thought that inconvenience is one of the features of this new radio, for the very opposite is the case. Read the rest of this entry »

view additional pages

IT’S NEW!

AUSTIN-HEALY SPRITE, new British sports car, seats two, gets 35 mpg, tops at 80 mph. It has four cylinders, lour speeds, costs $1795 F.O.B. New York without the little extras.

FISH SCALER to lit your power drill; the $2 answer to the scale-fearful fisherman’s prayer. The nylon cylinder will not tear or harm the skin of fish or fisherman, but a child can clean fish like an Indian guide if Daddy will let him use his 1/4″ holemaker. Jaco Mfg. Co.. P.O. Box 2659, Lakewood, Ohio.

PNEUMATIC SPLINT for first aid support to injured limbs is a new German gismo. Rigid frame contains four air cushions.
Read the rest of this entry »

Smokes Without Glow
A HOME-MADE aluminum shield with vent holes enables this English air raid worker to enjoy his cigarette and obey the “Lights Out!” warnings.

BOOKS in Postage Stamp and billboard Sizes!

WHETHER you want a book that you can carry around in a thimble, or one which requires a truck to move about, you can find what you are looking for in the great libraries of the world. The pictures on this page show some of the Davids and Goliaths of the book world.

Taller than an average man, this huge atlas is more than 400 years old, dating from the 16th century. It is housed in the University of Rostock, Germany. The man in the picture is studying a map of the world as it was known to scholars of the middle ages. Note the hinges for clasping the book shut when not in use. Read the rest of this entry »

Is that a typo? Or did they really spell Goodbye as goodby? Sounds like the name of a butler.

MI LOOKS AHEAD

with LOUIS WOLFE

GOODBY, FALSE TEETH! Two dental surgeons in New York City have taken tooth buds from week-old kittens and put them into the mouths of full-grown cats. The buds have then grown into full-size, normal teeth. Eventually it may be possible to transfer a tooth bud from a child’s crowded mouth to that of an adult.
Read the rest of this entry »

Eye Stoppers

BIGGEST CUCKOO comes out of the world’s biggest cuckoo clock every hall hour in Wiesbaden, the famous German health resort.

HEAVIEST CHESSMEN are moved by five-ton crane directed by a tape recorder “brain” in recent automation exhibition in London.

LOVABLE LOBSTER, pet of New York chef Ted Miller, on his morning stroll. Name Oscar is painted on right claw.

LIVE MAGICIAN George Grimmond is in minority; six others have died trying to snap up bullets fired at them on stage.

TRICK JOOLS are lights with tiny GE salt water-activated batteries. They burn one hour after a very quick salt bath.

view additional pages

NEW in SCIENCE

MECHANICAL RUG CLEANER designed by a carpet cleaning company in West Berlin, Germany, is a popular innovation in the trade. Device beats the dust and dirt from the rugs, then vacuum-cleans them—right on the street where customers can watch job being done. Housewives can also phone for service and company will oblige them.

DURABLE DENTURES invented by Doctor Irving L. Cook of Suring, Wis., were designed to cut and shear food the same as a meat grinder. The molars and the bicuspids in the lower plate have holes in the tops and two channels down the outside where the food is forced through. Chap using them might be said to have an iron bite, eh?
Read the rest of this entry »

PIPE FOR FALSE TEETH SMOKERS

PIPE smokers who wear false teeth can now enjoy the use of a pipe with a specially designed mouthpiece which enables it to be held easily in the mouth. The photograph clearly shows the semi-circular projection extending from the pipe stem. This mouthpiece rests along the top of the false teeth and helps to support the pipe in the mouth. It is the invention of an Englishman who designed it originally for his own use and then decided to market his idea when he found how popular and practical the pipe was. The photo was taken at the International Inventions Exhibition recently held at London, where new inventions from all corners of the globe were exhibited.

Everything in this Meat Market is Made of Candy
ONE of the most unique candy stores in America is the “Candy Meat Market” which is run by Jim Crowe in the loop, Chicago. Here Mr. Crowe is seen posing for a photo in the midst of his candy meats.

Everything in the store, except the actual fixtures, is made of candy. So well are all the meats imitated that the hams smell of that salty tang that is so familiar to all of us. Read the rest of this entry »

Artificial Silk Made From Air

PROF. Harold Hibbert, of McGill University, Montreal, has completed successful experiments whereby he is able to spin out artificial silk from the atmosphere. The constitutents in the air with which he dealt were water and carbon dioxide. With this new method, artificial silk, cotton and paper can be manufactured without the use of the cotton plant or the spruce tree.
Read the rest of this entry »

New Egg Processing Machine
A NEW machine, original in design and operation, for the processing of eggs for preservation in cold storage for as long as a year has been developed by a San Francisco machine works. The machine consists of a number of trays moving over rollers which convey the eggs to a hot oil bath, processing an average of 76 cases of eggs per hour, and keeping three operators busy.