CIGARETTE LIGHTED BY GLOW

No larger than a woman’s lipstick, a new mystery cigarette lighter works without flame or electricity. The smoker simply holds his cigarette against the porous top and inhales several times and this lights the smoke. The secret is that a blended fuel containing methyl alcohol is thus drawn through a porous pill containing platinum. Catalytic action, similar to that of platinum gas-stove lighters, causes the pill to glow and light the cigarette. Wind cannot interfere with the use of the lighter, which works if a cotton pad is kept saturated with fuel.

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BIGGER THAN TEXAS

By William E. Warne

Ass’t Secretary of the Interior Warne presents a first-hand story of Alaskan opportunities and introduces some pioneers of 1948

ALASKA, which used to be thought of as a land of perpetual ice and snow, has suddenly assumed great importance to the United States because it is the crossroads of the air age.

Intercontinental routes, via the Great Circle and over the top of the Pole, are already using Alaska as the hub of their wheel. This giant “hub” covers 586,400 square miles which makes it considerably bigger than Texas which has a total area of 267,339 square miles.

With eyes focused sharply on Alaska for the first time since the Gold Rush of 1897, the American people have suddenly discovered that their former appraisals of this vast, beautiful, empty land were wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

Triple Magnifier for Jewelers

HERALDED as the first improvement in the familiar jeweler’s magnifying eyeglass in 50 years, this triple lens magnifier has been developed by a Hollywood inventor. The lenses are hinged on top, can be used independently or in combination. Result: choice of magnifying powers of two, five, and eight times respectively.

Entire outfit fits over ordinary spectacles.

Machines Help Map Makers

Topographical maps, many of which are sold to the public for as little as ten cents each, are made on specially designed machines costing $30,000 each. There are only three of the machines, which are known as aerocartographs, in the country and they are operated by the U. S. Geological Survey Bureau in Washington, D. C.

It’s amazing how the author can detail the way De Beers exploits, harms and kills it’s workers while creating an artificial monopoly and not let a hint of criticism into his voice.

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I Rode on a HIGHWAY OF DIAMONDS

MI’s correspondent visits a fantastic land of precious jewels in South-West Africa.

By Henry Albert Phillips

WARNING!

You are approaching diamondiferous territory. TURN BACK! Trespassers are liable to suffer bodily harm, a fine of 500 pounds or five years in gaol.

De Beers Consolidated, Ltd.

THAT’S the sign which greeted me a couple of miles outside of Luderitz in South-West Africa. Inside the ominous -looking gates was the diamond country— soil and sand laden with precious gems like almonds in a Hershey bar. I had imagined what the land of diamonds was like and I was about to see for myself at last.
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Coo-Coo Concoctors Cop Cash

The popular Coo-Coo Contraptions contest closes with this issue to make room for other big contests. Winners in Contest No. 7 are announced below. See what you think of their fool devices!

CONCOCTORS of Coo-Coo contraptions crashed through consistently in copping crates of currency for their prize-winning ideas in Contest No. 7, just ended. (After writing the above sentence, the Coo-Coo contest editor can easily be convinced that his monthly task of studying thousands of Coo-Coo contraptions has affected his mind some way or other.) Read the rest of this entry »

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New Pipe Lines Point to Gas Heating Era

By ALDEN P. ARMAGNAC

CHICAGO is going to get natural gas. San Francisco already has it. New York may get it. This is likely to make radical changes in the daily lives of millions of Americans who live in, or near, those cities. For natural gas is cheap gas.

Natural gas comes from wells where Nature put it and is free for the finding. It is better than manufactured gas because it has twice as much heat in it. It is, therefore, far cheaper to use, even when the price, by the cubic foot, is the same for each. Read the rest of this entry »

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What Invention Have You Patented?

by Frank Personette

WHAT is your patented invention, or aren’t you one of the 25,000 hopeful inventors who are now trying to cash in on the 32,000 inventions which have recently been granted patents in the United States?

Imagine 32,000 inventions, all of them patented, and all looking around, like a gold digger, for somebody to finance them. They range from hair curlers to flying machines, from mouse traps to combine threshers, from a pair of iceman’s tongs to, of all things, perpetual motion.
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Windmills for Steam

The fan-like internal structure of a huge steam turbine designed for driving an electric generator. High pressure steam enters through a close fitting cover at the center, and spreads through the “windmill” in both directions, transmitting its energy to the driveshaft. There are 1,500 blades. Read the rest of this entry »

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BUBBLE TROUBLE ON TAP

By Volta Torrey

We use 320 billion gallons of water a day but by 1970 pollutants may cut our ration NOT LONG AGO, a woman in Long Island, N.Y., was filling a cooking pot with water from her kitchen tap. Suddenly the pot foamed over with crisp, white suds.

These suds, she knew, were caused by synthetic detergents that had drifted over from neighborhood septic tanks and were adulterating her well. Since the sudsy water is distasteful, she uses tap water only for cooking and washing. She buys drinking water in bottles in another town for herself and her family.
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Fruit Ripened by Ethylene Gas

PERISHABLE fruits and vegetables shipped to the cities in an unripened condition may be treated by ethylene gas and ripened in 24 hours.

The artificially-ripened fruit has a natural taste, while the gas is said to have no harmful effects on the eater.

“Elastic glass” eventually became known as Plexiglass

Elastic Glass Arrives

ARRIVED at last is a transparent glass that actually bends and stretches, a glass that yields comfortably to body pressure and then eases back to its exact original shape. This amazing product of modern science has been hailed as a miracle material. It is water-proof, perspiration-proof, alcohol- proof, easily cleanable and does not support combustion. Despite its elasticity and flexibility, this new glass is tough, durable, does not scuff or crack. It is inert chemically and does not deteriorate.
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