Ok, now I’m starting to think that Tom McCahill just had a fetish about imagining Chinese men in uncomfortable situations.

By the way, if you want to see just how much safer modern cars are than cars of this era, check out this video put out by the insurance institute on its 50th birthday. It’s a collision between a 1959 Chevy Bel Air and a 2009 Chevy Malibu. Guess who wins.

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McCahill Sounds Off On Safety

Uncle Tom blasts so-called “safety features” and suggests ten ways makers can cut traffic deaths.

By Tom McCahill

IN THE automobile business right now the topic of safety is as hot as a naked Chinaman in a barrel of tabasco. With various professors fronting for them and spouting statistics by the yard, carmakers in newly-tailored angel suits have set out almost en masse to halt highway slaughter.

Now this is a noble undertaking, the good Lord knows, and I am all in favor of anything that will save even one life on the road. But the trouble is, the safety campaign so far has not shown much evidence of being overloaded with realistic thinking. Read the rest of this entry »

Treating A Big Gun’s “Sore Throat”

BIG guns on the battleship bark their songs of death—and soon develop sore throats. Then they must go to the doctor for care. In the Battle of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, British Men O’ War rarely go through more than one engagement without having to return to the shops to have their big guns refitted. A 15-inch gun cannot be fired more than 200 times, at the most, under battle conditions, without its lining being worn out. The picture at the right, below, shows the method by which such a gun is re-lined. A series of gas burners are placed about it, the outer casing is heated until it expands, the lining is slipped out, and a new lining, shown at left, is slipped in.

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NEW in SCIENCE

Sharpnel-Proof Vest is displayed by Pfc. Ralph Barlow of Redondo Beach, California. While in front line action in Korea, Barlow was hit by shrapnel and knocked to ground, but received no serious injury. Vest stopped the metal fragment.

Bell X-5 is undergoing tests at Edwards Air Force Base in California. It is our first plane able to change the sweep of its wings in flight from the most forward position, top, to a fully sweptback position, bottom, in 30 seconds. It is jet propelled.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’d say that when smoking stops being a pleasure and starts being a habit, it’s a good time to quit.

Escape from the commonplace
Enjoy something different …try MARLBORO CIGARETTES

Finer taste, superior mildness —a luxury in smoking unmatched by any other cigarette!

When smoking has stopped being a pleasure and becomes only a habit, it’s time to freshen up your taste. So if you need a change, remember…

Marlboros are better in every way for those who smoke throughout the day!

Inflation Hits Toy Balloon Market

IN SPITE of the depression toy balloons have continued to go up, but this can no doubt be laid to an inflation of the stock.

This cat, 12-1/2 feet high, is one of the many inflated comic figure balloons built for the use of parades, department store displays, carnivals, or what have you.

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RAILROADS IN THE SKY

Monorails promise swift and economical transportation for congested cities.

By Archie Robertson

HERE’S a brand-new way of travel for American commuters—the overhead, suspended train. In a monorail coach, light and roomy as a luxurious airliner and faster than a surface train, you will skim along above the crowded downtown streets, looking with thankfulness at your escape from a misery of crawling cars, traffic fumes, honking horns, whistling cops and squealing brakes. Whether you’re just going downtown to shop or commuting to work 50 miles from your home, a monorail will take you where you’re going two or three times as fast as conventional surface transportation. Read the rest of this entry »

So now we know that Crackle was the oldest of the Krispie children, Snap and Pop had yet to be born in 1930.

It sings a song of crispness!

YOU CAN’T imagine a more tempting cereal! So crisp it actually crackles when you pour on milk or cream.

And how good these nourishing rice bubbles do taste. Crisp with toasted goodness, rich with flavor. Children welcome milk when it comes with Rice Krispies.

Serve this crunchy cereal for your own midday meal. With sliced fruits or honey. Delicious for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And the kiddies’ supper — so easy to digest.

Good to munch right out of the package. Sprinkle into soups. Try in candies, macaroons, in place of nutmeats.

Order Rice Krispies at cafeterias, on dining-cars. At all grocers. In the red-and-green package. Made by Kellogg in Battle Creek.

Kellogg’s Rice Krispies

Bernstein’s was open between 1912 and 1981.  It was at 123 Powell St in San Francisco. There’s a DSW there now.

Restaurant Entrance Like Bow of Ship Attracts Business

IF a first prize were awarded for unique entrances, it would probably go to the proprietor of the Bernstein’s sea food restaurant in San Francisco. The entrance to the restaurant, shown in the photo at the right, leaves passers-by in little doubt as to the particular kind of food served there. It must, they reason, come from the sea, and on going in to investigate, they find their guess correct.

The entrance is built in the form of the bow of the ship “Nina,” on which, as every schoolboy knows, Columbus sailed on his great voyage of discovery. The model is complete, even to figurehead portholes.

Toy Air Limousine Has One Hundred Fifty Rubber Band Prop Power
A TOY produced by a western manufacturer is guaranteed to fly several hundred feet. It is equipped with 150 rubber band propeller power, and has a steering wheel, gauges, levers, in fact about everything that is found on a regular machine. The windows are of celluloid and the passenger department is luxuriously upholstered.

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THISH CAR RUNSH ON BEER

By Rudy Arnold

Liquor for this auto’s engine of distinction makes it run smoothly with that gurgling, surging power.

VERNON G. EISEL has what you might call a lush car. It will drink anything—and often does.

Pouring such barroom concoctions as beer, whisky or even soda into the fuel system of his ’53 Olds makes it purr like a kitten.

The secret, according to Eisel, who lives in Levittown, N. Y., is the “caveator” which lies beneath the hood and gives the car its gurgling, surging power. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve never really thought about it, but it must be really hard to come up with new and interesting superlatives for things you like.

“…Dr. Porsche’s engineering with such cars as the SSK had the same head-spinning effect as a pipeful of poppy dust to a Chinese playboy.”

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MI Tests the German Porsche

If money is no object and you are looking for a small competition car that’s really loaded with TNT, this is it, our Uncle Tom reports.

By Tom McCahill

THE late Dr. Ferdinand Porsche was the Hopalong Cassidy of the automobile business. For 50 years he engineered mouth-watering cars for generations of big boys to dream about. What Hopalong does for the kids today, old Doe Porsche did for their old man’s old man by building cars with all the intrigue of a Left Bank dive. His fame started back in 1900 with the chassis and power plant of the Austro-Daimler and really came to a boil with his SSK Mercedes and later the famed Auto-Union. Doctor Porsche got more sex appeal on four wheels in a single day than Minsky could cram on a runway in 30 years. To the real gone automotive nut, Dr. Porsche’s engineering with such cars as the SSK had the same head-spinning effect as a pipeful of poppy dust to a Chinese playboy. Read the rest of this entry »

Day or Night Deposit by Chute

RECEIVING bank deposits and carrying them through a steel chute to the vaults, a day and night depository service has been inaugurated by a bank in Oakland, California. Built into the masonry, the chute is wired with burglar alarms and is safe from possible theft. Women may safely deposit jewelry in the evening.