.Solar cells on top of helmet power a tiny transmitter and receiver during daylight. The silicon cells also charge four small storage batteries to operate the set at night. (U. S. Army Photo)
Tag "alternative energy"
.Big Bee-hive Gets Water From Air
AN ODD “drinking water fountain” in Europe acts as a giant artificial spring, condensing the moisture of the air.
The thick brick walls keep the inside of the stone structure at a lower temperature than the outside, so that moisture condenses on the thousands of stone slates.
I don’t buy it. Hair dryers use a LOT of electricity. Plus, unless they have some sort of flywheel or intermediate battery, wouldn’t the power fluctuate if his speed alters?
.Leg Power replaces electricity in this Parisian beauty salon, where Madame has her hair dried despite the lack of coal-generated current. An ingenious beautician hires unemployed 6-day bicycle racers to peddle away on a bike, the back wheel of which is attached to a small generator! The current runs 6 driers.
Origin of the ethanol lobby?
.Urge Alcohol Gas for Farm Relief
FOR economic and technical reasons a mixture of alcohol and gasoline for automobile fuel is being recommended by farm relief advocates.
Use of the fuel by motorists would consume 680,000,000 bushels of corn a year, greatly reducing the crop surplus, it is said. The gasoline would be diluted with 10 per cent of alcohol. It is claimed the fuel results in greater power at considerably less cost.
.HOT NEWS ABOUT THE SUN
Not in the future—but right now—scientists are putting to work the limitless energy of the sun.
By Lester David
SOON, a native of East Punjab, India, will walk into the local version of the neighborhood hardware emporium, plunk down 80 rupees and buy a newfangled kind of stove. Back home, he’ll proudly unwrap the shiny gadget, set it up and tell his wife to start dinner.
Less than an hour later, she’ll call out the Indian equivalent of “Come and get it!” and the family will sit down to a meal—a meal cooked by sunshine in the world’s first mass-produced solar stove!
This initial Solar Cooker—a device simple to operate, easy to maintain and economical to use—is actually in production in India right now and is just about ready to go on the market.
.NOVEL NEW MACHINES for PULLING POWER from the SKIES
IN THE endless quest for cheap sources of energy, two proposals have recently been advanced which demand serious consideration, both for appeal to the imagination and the possibilities of practical operation.The high speed windmill shown on this page is the latest development of Volf’s laboratories in New York. The first of these power producing units will be in operation by May first. Three fans are provided so that one is always facing a wind current. The fans are geared to a gyro stabilizer which runs on inertia so that the fans will not run down in calm intervals between gusts of wind.
.Sun’s Rays Harnessed to Run Steam Engine
One of man’s great ambitions— to harness the sun to a steam engine—has been achieved. Dr. C. G. Abbot, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, has developed a solar heater and demonstrated that it would operate a one-half horsepower steam engine with sufficient efficiency for commercial purposes.
If you build one of these, you too could be this cool.
.Salt Water Powers Radio
Battery made of scrap metal and a pill vial runs for months!
By ROBERT E. KELLAND
THE salt-water cell powering this transistor radio has all the advantages of a dry cell, costs only pennies to make, and lasts for months. The complete radio receiver, with battery but less earphones, can be built for $3 or less.
As shown in the photos, the battery delivers about three-tenths of a volt. The radio consumes only 12 microamps while running, and in actual tests ran three days continuously without any detectable dip in volume.
It’s a giant space condom!
.Inflatable Solar Collector
Rocketing into space in a canister the size of a teacup, a solar collector will billow out to a conical shape with a metalized Mylar reflector that is seven feet in diameter.
The sun’s rays striking the reflector are focused onto a collector. These rays will be transformed into heat energy which then may be used to power various electrical and mechanical instruments in space.
.A Miniature Gas Plant
IF YOU happen to live outside the city and do not have access to local gas mains, you can nevertheless enjoy the use of gas-operated equipment by constructing the miniature gas plant pictured here. The amount of gas constantly “on tap” will depend on the size storage chamber built. Coal, corn cobs, or similar fuel is used as a source of the gas.
