UNTIL the age of steel construction, no building could be trusted to defy an earthquake; but a steel building, riveted or welded together, will stand quite a wrench without being pulled apart.
TIMES SQUARE, where the Gay White Way bursts into volcanic illumination, has seen many electric moving signs — "spectaculars" they call them—since these were invented. A quarter-century ago, the Chariot Race (from Ben Hur) blazed down on the square. Its latest record-breaking acquisition is pitched at a slower-moving, good-natured tempo, in accordance with the mood of its "prospects."
AT the University of Chicago, Drs. Cooperman, Mullin and Kleitman have been studying sleep; and have reached the conclusion that the average person sleeps better with a cup of coffee just before retiring than without it. Also, that alcohol produces early sleep, but later wakefulness.
French Car has Front Door IN designing a car to give the minimum of resistance to the air—”to shed air as a duck sheds water”—M. Andre Dubonnet, a French automotive engineer, departed from usual practice and took advantage of the location of the engine at the rear to have a swing-up door in front, as […]
I’ve always wondered if the MoviePhone guy ever uses his own service and if it freaks him out. She Tells Herself the Time LONDON now has a time-telling telephone service, obtained by dialing T-I-M on the automatic exchanges. A natural-sounding voice gives the time— but it is, as a matter of fact, a phonographic reproduction. […]
Underwater Gallery for Aquarium SHARKS are always intriguing to the curiosity—more so than lions; for you can less frequently get a good look at a shark. A professional shark hunter is now promoting plans for an open-water aquarium with, not tanks, but pens; and floating steel compartments from whose windows thrill seekers may watch the […]
YEARS ago, a joke was very popular, concerning a very popular car. In brief, it ran that the would-be owner of a Model Zee had torn down an old shed and, reading that the manufacturer of his car was a large purchaser of scrap iron, shipped him a large crate of corrugated roofing, to apply on the price of a new shivver. A few days passed, and he received a letter from the service department of the factory: "Dear Sir. We are unable to tell what kind of accident your car met with, but we will repair it, as good as new, for $49.98."
Discovery 7,000,000 Years Too Late.
AT Mount Wilson, Drs. Hubble and Moore announce the appearance of a super-nova, or giant new star, in a spiral galaxy in the constellation Virgo, at an estimated distance of seven million light-years, or 42 quintillion miles. It is estimated 20,000,000 times as bright as the Sun—yet it cannot be seen with the naked eye —nor could the Sun at that distance with a 200-foot telescope. If the super-nova were as far from us as the nearest star, it would give Pluto more light than the Sun does now.
By STANLEY STEWART
IN making fireworks, if the experimenter will always remember that he is dealing with explosives that may pop off at any moment, and therefore exercises constant caution, the various spectacular night displays outlined in the accompanying article are not any more dangerous than playing with matches. At all times, care must be exercised in grinding the ingredients. Always use a clean mortar; always powder each chemical separately; when mixing, dump the required portions on a sheet of dry paper and use a wooden spatula, or gently rock the contents of the paper back and forth. Although the author is only fifteen years old he has been making fireworks for years and has not yet had one of them go off accidentally. The formulas contained in this article have all been tried and tested, and will be found to work perfectly.
“Rocket” Car Air Propelled TO demonstrate the principle which he desires to try out in dirigible aircraft, Thomas M. Pinley has built the strikingly novel machine at the left. On a Ford chassis, he has erected the tunnel-like structure in which a two-bladed 46-inch airplane propeller rotates, sucking in air at the front and ejecting […]
420 cans eh? Home-Made Metal Furniture from Beer Cans 420 cans soldered together produced the garden furniture shown in use below. Bernard Dier of Chicago made it in ten days.
Pocket Wine Cellar
TO eliminate unsanitary drinking out of a bottle, this patent provides for liquors in 1-ounce individual containers which can be drunk out of and discarded. A pocketful of them can be carried in a box, and an assortment provided.
Fountain Tobacco Pipe
DEVOTEES of large pipes will like this, with a stem holding a quantity of tobacco. When the bowl is smoked out, and emptied, it is depressed into the base, and a fresh charge allowed to flow in, from the stem.
Machine for Bridge Ha