Modern Mechanix
Issue: Sep, 1935
Posted in: Cool, General, Nautical, Toys and Games
Posted: 04/19/2006
3 Comments
German Boys Build Scale Model Liners for Sea Cruises (Sep, 1935)

This is the coolest boat model I’ve ever seen. You can ride around in it!

German Boys Build Scale Model Liners for Sea Cruises
EXPERT marine constructionists, between the ages of 9 and 16 are being developed in one of the most novel trade schools of the world at Potsdam, Germany. Under the tutelage of experienced marine engineers, the youths receive a thorough technical training in building exact replicas of real steamships on a scale of one to twenty.
Grades are given according to the aptitude and intelligence shown in building the model vessels. The plans from which the youth work are the same plans, scaled down, of such ships
as the Normandie and the Queen Mary. At the end of the school year, advanced students build models that can actually go to sea.

.
Modern Mechanix
Issue: Jan, 1938
Posted in: History, Sign of the Times, Telephone
Posted: 04/18/2006
No Comments
The WHITE HOUSE Talks to the WORLD (Jan, 1938)

Amazing! If the President wants to talk to an admiral at Pearl Harbor the call can be connected in under 10 minutes!


The WHITE HOUSE Talks to the WORLD

WHAT might properly be called the “number one” telephone in the nation is listed in the Washington phone book as National 1414. This is the official home of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Better served is he by telephone than any other person in the world. Better by far than any President we’ve ever had.

At any moment, day or night, Mr. Roosevelt can select any one of 150 phones and talk with friends, official emissaries of our government, in fact, anybody in almost any nation in the world. Sixty different countries are now linked by telephone service. These countries have an aggregate of over thirty million telephones, according to official estimates, of which some eighteen million are on the North American continent and over ten million in Europe.

.
Science And Mechanics
Issue: Aug, 1960
Posted in: Impractical, Space
Posted: 04/18/2006
1 Comment
Lunar Explorers May Ride in Squirrel Cage (Aug, 1960)

Lunar Explorers May Ride in Squirrel Cage
SPACE explorers may roll around the moon’s surface in a squirrel cage-type vehicle much like this one.
Once a space craft lands on the moon, the collapsible Moon Sac would be inflated, then equipped to house and provide for explorations by a two-man team. The inflating gas would also serve as an atmosphere and allow natural breathing, speaking and eating.
The lightweight, bar-bell-shaped vehicle was designed by Scully-Anthony Corp., a division of Scully-Jones Co., Chicago, 111

.

.
Popular Electronics
Issue: Apr, 1956
Posted in: General
Posted: 04/18/2006
No Comments
Battery Is Size of Paper Clip (Apr, 1956)

Battery Is Size of Paper Clip
Not much longer than a small-size paper clip is a new type of silver oxide-zinc battery. It uses a pile-type construction instead of plates. In dry-charged condition, it is capable of shelf storage for months.
The battery is activated by injecting a hypodermic needle into the top of each cell. Designed by the Raleigh, N.C., Engineering Laboratories of the American Machine & Foundry Co., under contract with the Air Research and Development Command, it will power special electronic gear where weight and size are important.

.
Modern Mechanix
Issue: Jan, 1935
Posted in: Animals For Profit, Just Weird
Posted: 04/18/2006
No Comments
Chicken Guests Fill Miami Hotel (Jan, 1935)

Chicken Guests Fill Miami Hotel
ABANDONED by a real estate syndicate, a Miami hotel has been turned into one of the world’s largest and most palatial chicken coops by the ingenuity of Maurice R. Harrison, graduate engineer turned poul-tryman.
Securing a long-term lease on the property following its abandonment by the original owners, Harrison installed batteries of wire cages and promptly populated the hotel with about 60,000 chickens.
Each hen has an individual compartment, supplied with a private feed trough and a drinking fountain of freshly flowing water. Floors of the laying cages are slightly at an angle, permitting eggs to roll into a convenient trough to speed egg-gathering.

.
Science And Mechanics
Issue: Jun, 1952
Posted in: Automotive, DIY, Toys and Games
Posted: 04/18/2006
6 Comments
Power It with a PULSE JET (Jun, 1952)

Power It with a PULSE JET

THIS model plane project uses what may be the smallest successful pulse-jet engine ever built. It was developed after scores of experiments and the building of a dozen test models by Hiram Sibley, Jr., a California guided-missile engineer.

.
Modern Mechanix
Issue: May, 1935
Posted in: Personal Appearance
Posted: 04/18/2006
No Comments
SKALP-O-LATOR (May, 1935)


SKALP-O-LATOR
If bald or losing hair let us send Skalp-O-Lator kit on five months trial. Deposit money with any bank pending results. Satisfaction or cost you nothing. You are to be sole judge. Skalp-O-Lator releases pressure of tight scalp to permit blood to nourish roots. Information and proof on request.
GOODWILL SALES COMPANY Desk M Box 155 New Haven, Conn.

.
Modern Mechanix
Issue: Apr, 1935
Posted in: Origins, Telephone
Posted: 04/17/2006
No Comments
Rubber Telephone Cord Stretches (Apr, 1935)

Rubber Telephone Cord Stretches
A BAND of gum rubber, woven between the wires in the center of a telephone cord, gives it an elasticity which permits a stretch of four feet on a cord originally only one foot long.
Small wires are packed into the rubber center like a spring to coil when released. Said to be equally as durable as the conventional cloth wrapped cords, the new type can be extended to four times its original length.

.
Mechanix Illustrated
Issue: Aug, 1949
Posted in: Just Weird
Posted: 04/17/2006
No Comments
Sportsman With Invisible Hands (Aug, 1949)

Sportsman With Invisible Hands

THE man with no hands walked up to the attendant in the shooting gallery and asked for a gun.

“Do you really think you can shoot?” the attendant asked, noting the stubs where hands should be.

“I can try,” Joe Padderatz replied. Whereupon he gathered a .22 Winchester into his arms and amazed the onlookers with an expert display of sharpshooting. Before he left, the amazed attendant insisted upon writing a testimonial letter. “Nobody will ever believe it unless it’s in writing!” he said.

.
Modern Mechanix
Issue: Jan, 1935
Posted in: Origins
Posted: 04/17/2006
No Comments
Amaze Friends with this Sound Robot (Jan, 1935)

This is the Clapper!

Amaze Friends with this Sound Robot
STEPPING up to a mysterious oiled paper diaphragm, the amateur electrical wizard mumbles unintelligible Greek words, suddenly claps his hands. Room lights go out almost instantly, and an oscillating electric fan throws its turbulent air blast over the faces of surprised friends.
The sound robot is made from easily obtainable materials. After the paper diaphragm is in place, a thin metal disc having soldered to it a fine wire lead is attached to the center with a drop of sealing wax. Adjust the pointed screw of the fixed contact to touch this disc at the slightest movement of the diaphragm.
Almost any magnet coil or door bell magnet having around 100 turns of No. 22 or larger magnet wire will be satisfactory for the trip relay. As the soft iron hinged armature is pulled forward by the magnet, it allows the weighted lever to drop, closing the large contacts which control the fan.

.

Sponsors:

Categories:

Archives

Subscribe


RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

Recent Comments

  • Toronto: PS: Grampa died in 1972, by the way. So he puffed his way to 78 or so. Granny made it to 96: drinking and smoking... ` – May 17, 6:49 PM
  • Toronto: I think one of my grandfathers was 73 in 1967, and he smoked like crazy (he was a locomotive engineer, so probably inhaled a lot... ` – May 17, 6:43 PM
  • Toronto: @Stephen - I've had several of those inflatables. They used to be a popular "swag" at trade shows. The south pacific ocean apparently has a... ` – May 15, 6:29 PM
  • experiment 626: I thought The US stopped production of rubber consumer goods such as this by the time this was printed I thought. ` – May 15, 10:18 AM
  • GeorgeT: Does it have an Any Key? ` – May 15, 6:35 AM