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How Lasers Are Going to Work for You

The light fantastic is no longer a scientific curiosity: It’s now being used for just about everything from moon measuring to tire checking

By C. P. GILMORE / PS Consulting Editor, Science

At RCA’s David Sarnoff Laboratory in Princeton, N.J., Dr. Henry Kressel handed to me what appeared to be an odd-looking gold-colored bolt about three quarters of an inch long. The threaded part was ordinary enough. But a small block perhaps a quarter of an inch long and half that thick was built onto one side of its flat head. A wire from the head arched up and connected to the side of the block.

“That’s the laser,” he said, pointing to where the wire joined the block. “This metal block?” I asked.

He took the device, walked into a laboratory next door, put it under a powerful binocular microscope, and peered into the instrument as he adjusted it.

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Burton Holmes was apparently quite the Extraordinary Traveler.

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The Senic WONDERS of the WORLD
By BURTON HOLMES

THE nine most interesting places in the world? I should not dare to try to name them. But I can give you a list of those which to me have seemed to offer more of interest than any other nine that I have known. First—The Grand Canyon of Arizona. Why? Because I love beauty and it is the biggest beautiful thing in the world. It is unique because the earth can show nothing to equal it in beauty, gorgeous-ness of color, grandeur, impressive weirdness and immensity.

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EXPERIMENT IN LONELINESS

IN an underground “sensory deprivation chamber” at the VA Hospital in Oklahoma City sits an eight-foot-deep tank of water. It is part of a project designed to examine the mental stresses—especially hallucinations— that may afflict persons in environments of solitude, weightlessness, darkness and silence.

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LOUDSPEAKERS IN METAL “MAN” MAKE ROBOT MUSICAL
By connecting loudspeakers in a sheet-metal “man” to a radio receiver, a musical robot has been produced as an advertising stunt for a New York store. The metal figure, made of stovepipes, galvanized-iron cans and funnels, is installed on the roof. Wires from the loudspeakers located in the hollow arms of the robot are connected to the radio set in the store beneath, enabling the operator of the radio to make the man on the roof sing, deliver a lecture or perhaps tell a bedtime story to passersby on the street.

Dr. Tesla Claims New Discoveries
CLAIMING that the propositions of relativity are false, and asserting that he has discovered a new apparatus for transmitting mechanical energy without wires and to any distance, Dr. Nikola Tesla, world famous scientist made formal announcement of his discoveries on his 79th birthday recently.
Should his announced energy transmitter prove successful, it would become the most sought for device in the world.

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Teaching Young AMERICA to Shoot Safely

Teaching young Americans how to shoot safely is objective of an organization established by police department of Alhambra, Calif. Weekly classes are held at a special range. Members bring their own guns, or if they have none, guns are furnished. Age limit is ten to eighteen. Working in cooperation with National Rifle Association, the group conducts matches and awards medals. Top, left, youngster sighting at Alhambra range. Below, .22-caliber bullet is shown to have penetrated four inches of wood.

Left, center, the pupils are taught NOT to look down a rifle barrel to see whether itps clean. Bottom, shows WRONG way to cross a fence. Never climb over one while carrying rifle. Instead, lay rifle between lower rails, one post from where you intend to climb over. After you’re over, pull rifle through
fence, butt first.

Above, typical group of boys and girls shooting at Alhambra range. They fire only one shot, never attempting to operate automatic rifles. Telescopic device shown at right in photo is used for checking hits on targets. Circle (at right), correct way to examine inside of rifle barrel is to place a piece of mirror in firing chamber. Muzzle is then pointed toward the sun and inside of barrel is inspected easily in the mirror. At the range the breech of every rifle must be kept open except when actually on the firing line.

Below, rifle is fastened on box; bull’s-eye is held in front of white paper twenty feet away. As novice sights, bull’s-eye is moved until lined up with sights. Then pencil mark is made through its center on the paper, left. Process is repeated. Usually a novice’s dots are far apart. To pass test, three dots must be within one-eighth inch of each other.

Largest Camera Weighs 14 Tons
THE world’s largest camera has just been completed for the Coast and Geodetic Survey. It weighs 14 tons and is 31 feet long.
Two years’ time was needed to build the camera which can take photographs with microscopic exactness. It is equipped to make nautical and airway charts with a precision of less than l/1000th of an inch. The camera can hold plates as large as 50 inches square.

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LOSE A MINUTE OR LOSE A FINGER
Let a cut go and you invite infection, amputation or even death! Apply anti-septic, cover with Drybak Band-Aid, and you are safe! Drybak Band-Aid is a ready-to-use strip of waterproof adhesive with a borated gauze pad attached. Sun tan color to be less conspicuous. Individually wrapped for your
protection. Sold in convenient tins by your druggist.

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THREE-WAY SPURS. Italian, are not for spurring on but for fighting off: model demonstrates.

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The Age of Color

THE world is spending millions for color today and, as a result, is rapidly changing from a dull, drab sphere into a gay and cheerful place garbed in all the hues of the rainbow.

America alone is using about $50,000,000 worth of dyes a year. These dye-stuffs sell, or help to sell, six or seven billion dollars’ worth of merchandise annually because, to a great extent, we buy what pleases the eye.

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Stick Substitutes For Table
A WORKMAN’S desire for comfort during his lunch hour is responsible for this novel picnic stick, which is a good substitute for a table. Instead of eating out of a dinner pail, the diner takes his food off a plate which is attached at a convenient height to the stick by means of a clip. A smaller plate, attached higher up by the same method, holds sugar, salt and a bottle of ketchup. Another one, lower down, contains pie and cheese. Other plates may be added if the diner wishes a heartier meal.

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How a Skyscraper Window Washer Faces Death

by FRED A. BELL

HAILED as supermen, stunt artists are paid fabulous sums to risk their necks for a thrill-hungry public; yet their most hair-raising feats are duplicated every day by the daring men who clean the windows of the nation’s towering skyscrapers.

Perched at dizzy heights on window ledges barely wide enough to afford a toehold, the aces of the window brigade put circus acrobats and parachute jumpers to shame. For there is no margin of error—no nets or parachutes to break a possible fall. An error in judgment, a slip of the life belt and the window cleaner has signed his own death warrant. Below him there is nothing but a yawning city canyon—a square of concrete pavement to land and die on.

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