NEW POCKET CASE HAS EIGHT DISTINCT USES Eight distinct purposes are served by the versatile pocket case, illustrated above. A cigarette compartment occupies the center, supplemented by a concealed writing tablet, a telescoping pencil, and a stamp container. In addition the case contains a five-inch rule, a lighter, a pocket knife, and a watch. The […]
Great Men of Korea Ride Safely one Wheel Riding on one wheel may convey an impression of reckless driving, but it is a slow and stately form of locomotion in the Asiatic land of Chosen (Korea). When a dignitary prepares for a trip, he dons a costume that properly reflects his power and prestige, and […]
New Helicopter Proves Its Lifting Power Designed to raise itself vertically and hover or fly forward at will, a new kind of helicopter showed promise in recent preliminary weight-lifting trials at Heston Aerodrome, England. When tethered by slack lines to stakes in the ground, it lifted front and rear wheels alternately under its own power. […]
His own invention, a one-man submarine, provides thrills for twenty-four-year-old James Bolar, Jr., of Oakland, Calif. He built the ten-foot craft in the basement of his home at a total cost of fifteen dollars for materials, and demonstrated it recently to astonished spectators in San Francisco Bay. Bolar enters a hinged conning tower, which is then sealed watertight by a rubber flap, and lies flat on the floor. A speedboat takes him in tow.
By George H. Dacy
ACCOMPLISHMENTS of United States Government scientists, during the past one hundred years, will be revealed by impressive exhibits at the Century of Progress exposition which opens at Chicago next month. A building of unusual design, decorated in bizarre color combinations, will house the remarkable display.
No scientific or technical exhibit ever set up exceeded in scope, variety, splendor, and magnitude the continuous performance Uncle Sam will stage in this windowless Federal Building with its trio of sky-pointing towers representing the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of our government.
TABLE FITS YOUR AUTO Handy for light repasts, a new table may be installed in the back of the car simply by inserting four screw eyes around the sides of the interior. Adjustable supporting straps are then easily clipped on or detached. They hold the table at any desired height. The top is always level, […]
Hidden Motors Give Life to Prehistoric Monsters Saber-toothed tigers, giant ground sloths, and dinosaurs, inhabitants of the earth millions of years ago, have been reproduced mechanically by the New York firm of Mess-more and Damon for exhibition this summer at the Chicago World’s Fair. Within a huge hemisphere of metal, they will give visitors a […]
Thirty Operators Working Eighteen Miles of Wire and String Are Needed to Give a Performance with the 800 Animated Actors that Are Cleverly Molded of Wood
By Robert E. Martin
EIGHT hundred performers, moved by miles of wires and string, are now touring the country presenting the most elaborate puppet show of history. Known as the Teatro dei Piccoli, "The Theater of the Little Ones," the organization has spent eighteen years in Italy building up its cast. Tap dancers and opera singers, witches and clowns, , bull fighters and pianists, acrobats and jubilee singers, and even a Mickey Mouse give animated performances, amazingly lifelike.
1 Pictures on this page show the steps in the process of making electric light bulbs. First, the tungsten wire filament is drawn through diamond dies. So fine is this wire, one-quarter the diameter of a hair, that it is extremely difficult to see it
2 Here is the mechanical spider that takes the fine tungsten wire and winds it around a steel wire form to shape the filament. An attendant watches the process through a microscope to be sure the spacing is accurate
PERISCOPE ON GOLF COURSE GIVES VIEW OVER LOW HILL Probably one of the most unusual golf devices in the world is on a Canadian course at Victoria, B. C. A small hill rises between the ninth and tenth holes, making it impossible for a golfer to see where to aim his ball. To remedy this […]
And it’s a compact camera at that! SELF-LIGHTING CAMERA NOW USED IN MOVIES A movie camera that produces its own light is a recent innovation in a Hollywood, Calif., studio. It carries a detachable lamp with a 500-watt tubular frosted bulb upon a bracket at the front. In this way a continuous light is thrown […]
An improved airline cab, capable of 155 miles an hour, is the latest invention of the French engineer who developed the trench mortar used during the World War. Suspended on monorails, the cabs resemble airplane fuselages. A small propeller at the front of the cab is driven by a fifteen-horsepower electric motor.
DISHONEST storekeepers are encouraged to use light weights and short measures by the indifference of their customers, according to Commissioner Joseph P. McKay, of New York City's Bureau of Weights and Measures. Doctored scales give short weight. Crimped-in berry baskets deceive the eye as to their contents. Gasoline pumps can be manipulated dishonestly. Easy prey to these practices is the careless buyer.
AN EMBARRASSING MOMENT
Several cigarettes are strung together in manner shown. Taking one, takes the whole string
A FAKE BOX OF SMOKES
With a razor blade, several cigarettes are cut into small bits and then stuck upright on a piece of cardboard that fits the box snugly. Trying to take one brings a laugh
IT'S FUN TO BE FOOLED ...IT'S MORE FUN TO KNOW
ILLUSION:
In India, the fakirs present a spectacle to tourists. Two lovely performers appear, throw jagged pieces of glass into a box already filled with broken glass. They step barefooted into the box and do an Oriental dance—uninjured.
EXPLANATION:
Before appearing the performers toughen their feet in a solution of alum water and rub them with pulverized resin. They throw the sharp glass around the edges of the platform. The glass on which they actually do dance has the edges rounded off. They just pretend to dance on the sharp glass.
Simple Experiments and Home-made Apparatus Extend Your Knowledge and Speed the Work You Can Accomplish in Your Own Laboratory
by Raymond B. Wailes
IT IS surprising what the amateur chemist can do with a fifteen-cent bottle of ordinary household ammonia.
Being a mixture of ammonia dissolved in water, this pungent-smelling liquid offers an ever-ready supply of ammonia gas for the home laboratory. Even at room temperature, the gas is released from the liquid. By heating it, the experimenter can obtain the gas in larger quantities.
Strictly speaking, household ammonia is not ammonia at all, but ammonia water or ammonium hydroxide. Although ammonia can be liquefied, it is a colorless gas at normal temperatures. The fact that it dissolves readily in water makes the manufacture of ammonia water possible.
AUTOGIRO HALTS FLEEING ‘BANDIT’ CAR To test an autogiro in a motor bandit chase, a driverless car recently was sent speeding across a field near Bryn Athyn, Pa. A windmill plane took off in pursuit, carrying Chief of Police Theodore Hollowell. Using a sub-machine gun, as at left, he peppered the car until a direct […]
PIERCED by a battery of tunnels a flying wing airplane is proposed by an engineer at the famous Caproni airplane works in Italy. Streamlined motors and four-bladed propellers will drive air blasts through the tunnels, each of which forms a Venturi tube, expanding toward the rear. Thus, according to the inventor, the air will give a forward push something in the manner of rocket propulsion. Aided by the Italian government, the designer recently completed a single-engined experimental craft incorporating his ideas. This odd flying barrel was put through successful tests near Rome. (P.S.M., Jan. '33, p. 18.) Details of the huge machine he proposes to build for transatlantic travel are shown in the pictures above.
A NEW sixteen-millimeter movie camera now places the professional's bag of tricks in the hands of the amateur. Fade-outs, double exposures, animations, and enlarged close-ups are only a few of the unusual shots that can be obtained merely by pressing buttons.
Besides lens turret and slow-motion shutter, this new product of the Eastman Kodak laboratories in Rochester, N. Y., has a number of other improvements not found on the ordinary high-grade home movie camera. A crank that runs the film through the camera backwards, an accurate, geared film footage indicator, a unique focusing device, and a shutter that can be opened or closed while the camera is operating are important features.
With the removal of national restrictions against the manufacture and sale of beer, American brewers are again in action. Their operations represent one of the most extensive applications of modern industrial chemistry. More than 2,000,000,000 pounds of malt, 650,000,000 pounds of corn and corn products, and 41,000,000 pounds of hops are a part of the vast consignment of raw materials that experts will turn each year into beer. On these pages, our artist shows how the transformation is accomplished in one big, and now active, American brewery.