Bracelet Holds Complete Kit for Make-Up Useful as well as decorative, a new “cosmetic bracelet” provides makeup in handy form, especially for social occasions when it would be a nuisance to carry a handbag. Turning an outer metal band on the bracelet uncovers any of seven compartments holding lip rouge, face rouge, and face powder, […]
Target Range Under Water UNDERWATER target practice with rubber-band guns is a novel sport recently introduced in Florida. Donning water goggles, contestants dive below the surface with bamboo guns fitted at one end with heavy elastic bands that fire steel-tipped spears about three and a half feet long. After each shot, the contestant bobs up […]
Builds Organ of 550 Pipes in a Garage Using his garage as a workshop, and giving only his spare time to the task, H. T. Adams, of Ham, Surrey, England, built the 550-pipe organ shown in the photograph at the left. Although Adams, an automotive engineer, had had no previous training in the work, he […]
Vaporizer Works in Water Glass Hung from the edge of a glass partly filled with water, an electric vaporizing unit now available produces a medicated steam for inhalation by those suffering from respiratory ailments. The unit can be plugged into any alternating-current outlet.
Damn it, they stole the tag line of our sister site, Modern Meteorology. Tells Tomorrows Temperature Today Designed to supplement existing weather-bureau apparatus by forecasting changes in temperature, a novel long-distance thermometer invented by Prof. Charles M. Heck of North Carolina State University was tested recently in New York City. Heat given off by the […]
Sidewalk Chats Are Televised Passers-by in New-York City recently were interviewed on their tastes in television programs, while experimenters at sight-and-sound receivers watched them and heard their comments. A television camera was set up on the sidewalk for the experiment. N. B. C. engineers called the test the first scheduled outdoor program in their current […]
It seems like you could accomplish the same thing with a sharpie… New Sun Lamp Held in Hand Brands Babies A new hand-type ultraviolet-ray lamp makes it easier for nurses in a Brooklyn, N.Y., hospital to brand the initials of a new-born baby on his skin to prevent identification mix-ups in the hospital nursery. Soft […]
Model Shows 200-Inch Telescope MOUNT PALOMAR Observatory in California, and its 200-inch telescope, largest in the world, which will be placed in service in 1939, are depicted in miniature in remarkable scale model constructed by Samuel Orkin, above, in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology. One twenty-fourth the size of the $15,000,000 observatory’s fourteen-story-high […]
Ice Straws Flavor Drink Beverages are flavored and iced at the same time when sipped through a new-type drinking straw. The straw is designed so that when it is used, the beverage passes up through a soluble, frozen flavoring material within the body of the straw. The straws are kept on ice until time for […]
Witness Stand Is Wired for Sound To make sure that juries are able to hear clearly each word spoken by witnesses on the stand, a Los Angeles, Calif., court is now employing a public-address system with the witness answering questions through a hand microphone. On many occasions, it is believed, members of the jury miss […]
CREEPING at a snail's pace, a motor caravan of bottled death trundles twice a week through the streets of New York City in the early hours of the morning, as poisonous chlorine gas is transferred from railroad cars to plants where it is used to render liquid sewage germ-free. At the factory in Syracuse, N.Y., the chlorine is piped into cylindrical containers made of steel more than an inch thick.
Trailers for Planes Carry Extra Fuel TO INCREASE the cruising range of airplanes on long-distance flights, John Akerman, Chicago, Ill., inventor, proposes the novel flying gas tanks pictured in the drawing. The curious fuel wings, divided into a number of cells and provided with an automatic, float-operated mechanism that keeps them level, are towed behind […]
All that research just to discover morning breath? Halitosis Clinic Studies Causes of Bad Breath To discover the cause and cure of offensive breath in human beings, a novel halitosis clinic has just been set up at the Northwestern University Dental School in Chicago, Ill. Patients exhale through their mouths into a tube kept cold […]
HIS friends laughed when Cliff Arquette announced that he planned to create puppets which not only would emulate Charlie McCarthy by moving their mouths and eyes, but also would raise their hair when frightened. As he worked, Arquette solved the mechanical problems one by one, and recently a show of his creation appeared in an all-puppet motion-picture sequence which is considered tops for mechanical actors.
Blinders for Learners Teach Driving Dangers To demonstrate how defective vision and dirty side windows on an automobile can affect the driving efficiency of motorists, students of a traffic school drive a special car equipped with dual controls while they wear glasses that distort their eyesight and blinders that narrow their field of vision, making […]
Boy Chemist “Eats Up” Course in Foodstuffs Relationship between the fields of chemistry and cookery is the research project that interests seventeen-year-old Edgar Friedenberg, the youngest man ever to appear on a program of the American Chemical Society. Friedenberg is pictured below taking time off from his studies in synthetic foodstuffs to try a little […]
UNDERWATER FLIVVER DIVES THIRTY FEET, MAKES FOURTEEN-MILE RUNS
SHAPED like a fish, a one-man, homemade submarine built by Barney Connett, of Chicago, Ill., is believed to be one of the world's smallest underwater boats. Shorter than the average canoe, the craft measures twenty-three inches at its widest point and is thirty-seven inches high. Painted gills and eyes heighten the fishy look of the ship, which has a stabilizing tail fin surrounding its propeller.
TWELVE-TON TOOL BOX ON WHEELS TURNS ANY LEVEL COW PASTURE INTO A SERVICE BASE WITH ALL EQUIPMENT FOR REPAIRING PLANES.
ROLLING swiftly down highways on ten oversize balloon tires, a revolutionary airport-in-miniature for use by passenger air lines and military air forces now provides quick and complete assistance to stranded airplanes. This curious "twelve-ton tool box" is the invention of Kibbey W. Couse, of East Orange, N. J. It is capable of turning any level cow pasture into an airport complete with machine shop, repair parts, floodlights, and radio.
Diver Collects Cash in Drive Dressing a solicitor in the full regalia of a deep sea-diver was the novel means employed recently by the British Lifeboat Institution to attract the attention of pedestrians on the streets of London to their campaign for funds. Fully equipped, from lead-weighted shoes to a heavy steel diving helmet, the […]
By ROBERT E. MARTIN
HOW do crime sleuths "tune in" on the meetings of gangster mobs? How do police detectives provide prosecuting attorneys with phonograph records of telephone conversations that contain damaging evidence against criminals? Most of this work is done by expert wire tappers, specialists in the art of scientific eavesdropping, and how they do it and the ingenious equipment they use is graphically illustrated in the photographs on these pages.
Hand Set for Television Uses Midget Screen Nicknamed a “television monocle,” a miniature unit recently on display at an exhibition in London, England, is a complete sight-and-sound receiving set. Shaped like a hand-type telephone, the apparatus has an earphone through which the user hears the sound accompanying a televised broadcast while watching the moving images […]
ALL the thrills of deep-sea fishing, from hooking a giant swordfish to fighting it in toward a boat, are provided for the entertainment of sportsmen on land by an ingenious amusement device. Seated before a translucent motion-picture screen, the angler grasps an actual big-game fishing rod and reel fitted with a line that runs to a revolving drum placed just below the screen.
Swimmer Eats While Floating In training for a projected long-distance swim from Atlantic City, N. J., to the water-front site of the World’s Fair in New York City, Norris Kellam, 381-pound endurance swimmer, is shown at the right practicing the technique of eating while floating on his back. During his swim, Kellam plans to lunch […]
"CRYPT OF CIVILIZATION" WILL RE-CREATE OUR DAILY LIFE FOR PEOPLE OF 8113 A.D.
THE YEAR is 8113. Spired cities built by the ancient people of the twentieth century have long since crumbled to dust. Of the airplanes and automobiles in which they traveled, not a rusted scrap remains. Their perishable tools, utensils, books, magazines, and newspapers have vanished completely. What learning they possessed is but dimly known. But where Oglethorpe University once stood, in what was Atlanta, Ga., a band of archaeologists has just unearthed a door of stainless steel. They break it open—and find themselves in a treasure house of the past. Pictures and records, perfectly preserved through the ages, tell them in every detail the long-forgotten story of what life was like in 1938.
Wouldn’t this be a bit loud? Vacuum Cleaner Purifies Air Small enough to rest on a bedside table, a vacuum cleaner now on the market has a special attachment that makes it useful for purifying the air in a sick room. Employing turbine-type blades instead of the conventional revolving fan to create suction, the unit […]
Scale in Soda-Fountain Seat Warns Overweight Patrons Soda-fountain patrons may watch their weight as they enjoy their drinks and sundaes, with the invention of a counter seat that also serves as a scale. Through levers beneath the pedestal of the seat, the customer’s weight actuates an indicator built into the counter. By consulting the dial, […]