Machine Knits Socks by the Yard
SOCKS by the yard for the English foot are being turned out by a new machine whose finished product is not unlike a length of link sausage.
Speedy in operation, the knitting machine turns out the hose in a continuous length. The socks only require cutting apart before being packaged and put on the market.
Bah, Cisco shmisco. I’ll bet you they don’t have hole-punch based routing tables!
CARDS FOR CONVERSATION
To find out how to route Long Distance calls a dial system needs lots of information—fast. To provide it Bell Laboratories engineers developed a new kind of card file—one that dial systems can read.
Punched holes on metal cards tell how calls should be handled. When a call arrives the dial system “asks” the “card file” how to proceed to a particular area. Instantly the appropriate instruction card is displaced so that its pattern of holes is projected by light beams on a bank of Phototransistors. In a flash the Phototransistors signal switches to set up the best connection. Cards are quickly changed when new instructions are needed.The “card file” will have its widest use in speeding Long Distance calls that are now dialed by a telephone operator and may one day be dialed by you personally. It is another example of how Bell Telephone Laboratories helps telephony to grow, as costs are kept down.
BELL TELEPHONE LABORATORIES IMPROVING TELEPHONE SERVICE FOR AMERICA PROVIDES CAREERS FOR CREATIVE MEN IN SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL FIELDS
EVERYDAY FOODS that Endanger Life
by MAXWELL REID GRANT
Poison death lurks in common table fruits and vegetables. Here is the story of how science battles to safeguard our foodstuffs.
ARMED with beakers and test tubes, scientists are waging a grim struggle against one of America’s most deadly enemies—the fatal poisons that lurk in common household foods.
The peril is not remote or imaginary—a scientific scare launched by some wild-eyed and overly enthusiastic laboratory worker. The danger is real—and no more distant than the corner grocery store. Such common foods as apples, pears, beans, spinach, even the lowly cabbage, carry microscopic elements which may mean death or disability to the consumer.
Recently fifty people became ill simultaneously after eating at a certain restaurant. A food inspector, hurriedly summoned, investigated the kitchen and found that cabbage being served contained a dangerous amount of arsenic.
Quickly the inspector traced the shipment back to its origin, a truck farm some distance from the city. Racing to the scene, he halted the harvesting of 11,000 heads of cabbage which had been sprayed with an anti-pest solution of arsenic a short time previously. But for the inspector’s prompt action, 11,000 poison cabbages would have been distributed throughout the city within
a few hours, carrying possible death into countless homes.
On another occasion the food detectives were called upon to inspect an apple shipment at a western orchard. A test of the solution with which the apples are washed to remove the spray residue proved that it
was too weak for safety. Some of the poison spray still clung to the fruit. A hasty checkup revealed that one load of the poison apples was already speeding toward market.
Warning messages hummed over the wires to agents in neighboring counties. Armed with descriptions of the missing truck, inspectors patrolled the highway, intercepted the deadly load and returned it to the ranch for reconditioning.
Last year more than sixty million pounds of arsenic preparations were used to fight pests on growing crops in the United States. Only ceaseless war against poison foods prevents the loss of many lives. To safeguard the consumer, moving field laboratories follow the producing seasons in California, moving from one area to another as pickers begin work. Each morning samples of the produce are chemically tested. If poison is found, shipments are promptly stopped. Often whole loads of beans, apples and pears are unloaded and mechanically
scrubbed before the inspectors release them.
The arsenic-carrying foodstuffs are not always fatal to the consumer. Generally the actual poison content is small, resulting in illness from which the patient recovers. More to be feared are certain organisms found in spoiled food which has been canned—the deadly botulinus bacillus which brings death three times out of five.
War on the botulinus organism began with dramatic swiftness in 1919, following an epidemic of poisoning throughout the United States. Pickled ripe olives served at a banquet in Canton, Ohio, had taken a toll of seven lives. Investigation revealed -living botulinus organisms in the brine in which the olives had been packed. The Canton deaths were followed by an alarming series of poisonings over the entire country—all traced to the same olive shipment.
Laboratory experiments were hastily launched to propagate the organism for study. Spores of the bacillus, harvested from young cultures, were weighed and counted. Crop production methods were studied, compulsory inspection inaugurated and the death epidemic was halted.
WARNING
Don’t buy food in cans that are bulged.
Don’t judge meat solely by its bright red color. It may have been treated with sodium sulphite.
Wash and brush all vegetables thoroughly.
Eat no fruit peelings unless washed. Beware the stem and calyx ends.
Throw away all questionable food. It’s better to ruin you budget than risk your life.
Straw Hat Autos for Hot Climes
IN THE torrid Madeira Islands, automobiles have donned straw hats to provide the last word in comfort for motorists. Experimenters there have found that woven straw is much less heat absorbing than the customary metal cover, and so have equipped their cars with an overall sheathing of this airy material. Hood, body, running boards, mud guards, and even wheels are encased with woven straw and motorists report that they no longer suffer from the terriffic heat when their cars are exposed to sun rays. An auto which has gone straw hat is shown in the photo above.
This inspired the very short-lived spin off magazine Suicide Illustrated.
Precaution for Would-be Suicides
IF YOU are figuring on committing suicide, be sure to take this precaution: Use new bullets. Old bullets are sure to be laden with germs, so that they might infect the wound, and cause you to die. If you use new bullets, you might recover from the attempted suicide.
Lady Gaga’s grandmother was a parrot. This explains so much.
Poker-face Polly
LOOK! YOU’RE EVEN GIVING POLLY NERVES. IF YOU’D ONLY LISTEN TO ME ABOUT COFFEE!
NONE OF YOUR CAFFEINE-FREE COFFEE FOR ME. I KNOW WHAT I LIKE!
YOU AND I ARE GOING TO FIX THOSE NERVES POLLY. WE’LL GIVE HIM KAFFEE-HAG COFFEE TONIGHT- BUT KEEP IT QUIET
NEXT WEEK
YOU LOOK SO PEACEFUL, I BELIEVE I DARE BREAK THE NEWS. THAT’S KAFFEE-HAG COFFEE YOU’RE DRINKING.
IT IS? WELL, IT’S THE BEST DARN COFFEE WE EVER TASTED, ISN’T IT POLLY?
POLLY KEEP A SECRET!
DRINK IT TO YOUR NERVES’ CONTENT!
If your heart warms to a glorious cup of coffee — but your nerves say “No!” —then here are a few words you’ll like. Kaffee-Hag is more than real coffee. It’s the finest coffee that money can buy. It has everything any fine coffee has—except the jitters. For the nerve-lashing caffeine — 97% of it — has been so painlessly removed that not an atom of flavour is lost. Make Kaffee-Hag strong. Extra brewing brings out its finest aroma.
Kellogg’s KAFFEE-HAG COFFEE
Adventurers of Science Explore Mankind’s Past
by ALFRED ALBELLI
Archaeologists, who are as much adventurers as they are scientists, are every day striking out into remote parts of the world in search of relics of mankind’s mysterious past. The dangers these explorers encounter, the scientific methods they employ, and the treasures they have unearthed are described in this article.
THE thrilling, zestful days of the old West are almost gone, the North and South Poles have yielded most of their secrets to intrepid explorers, the mysteries of the impenetrable jungles of Central America, Brazil and Africa have been solved by the all-seeing eye of the airplane, and so it would seem that the world holds no more frontiers for adventurers in their quest for the thrills of the unknown.But modern adventurers need not despair, for the science of archaeology, bent upon solving the mysteries of mankind’s past, is now pointing the way to new frontiers in remote regions of the world where buried and long-forgotten cities of antiquity are yielding to stout hearted explorers a rich harvest of thrills and treasures that are inexhaustible.
Employing every resource of modern science available for their purpose, venturesome archaeologists are digging in the bowels of the earth and bringing to the light of day the lore and relics of ancient civilizations, which flourished thousands of years ago and whose secrets are now being read.
Why is work of this kind being carried on? There is an intense fascination in seeing how mankind lived back in the remote beginnings of the world. Even the most modern and sophisticated person feels a certain astonishment and keen appreciation when some beautiful and precious object, last used some fifty centuries ago, is placed in his hand.
Thanks to the patient labors of adventurous archaeologists, we know far more today how men lived in the remote past, what were their beliefs, their culture, their sports, their wars and intrigues, than the generations that followed them ever knew. What Egypt taught Greece about warfare, navigation, and industry, what the conquering Romans learned from the Greeks in the way of architecture, government and athletics, and what our modern civilization owes to all these nations of antiquity, has been slowly gathered from the graves and ruins that they left.
In recent months excavators digging in the ruins of Pompeii, Italy, a famous city whose life was suddenly snuffed out by a fiery rain of lava from Vesuvius centuries ago, came upon a group of gold and silver objects worth over $1,000,000.
From other corners of the earth comes the news of discoveries that have roused intense enthusiasm in explorers and their sponsors. The diggers of ancient lore, it seems, are in for a bull market. It has been conservatively estimated by H. Phelps Clawson, the noted excavator, who aided in bringing to light the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen eight years ago after it had lain hidden from civilization for over 3,000 years, that the year 1931 would see over $50,000,000 expended to unearth the secrets of bygone centuries.
Mr. Clawson also declared that the possibilities for improvement in the mechanical aids used to penetrate to the hidden vaults of antiquity were limitless.
“The amount of money required to carry out such a work,” he said, “depends upon where you are working and the size of the staff you maintain. An expedition in a fairly permanent location will need an equipment consisting of dump-cars, yards of track, engineering implements, chemicals for pre- serving the finds, photographic supplies, and a thousand and one things that are used in scientific research.
In connection with the discovery of the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen, Howard Carter, another eminent archaeologist who figured conspicuously in its discovery, announced recently that the tomb of that Egyptian monarch had been thrown open to the public as the last gesture in one of science’s greatest adventures. Ironically, the Earl of Carnarvon, the leader of the Tut-Ankh-Amen expedition, perished in the midst of operations.
Turning eastward from the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, we find that the diggers are as busy as beavers unearthing the tombs of the ancient kings of Ur, and on other sites in the Tigris-Euphrates valley.
The joint expedition of the British Museum and the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania not long ago brought to light the burial places of three kings of Ur. Horace H. F. Jayne, director of the Pennsylvania museum described this site as the most monumental ruins in Mesopotamia. The oldest of the tombs date back about 4,300 years.
Mr. Jayne pointed out that the expedition had centered its attention upon these tombs at Ur for nine seasons. The excavation was made difficult, he said, because the enormous mudbrick walls which Nebuchadnezzar built around the sacred area ran directly across the site and had to be dug through.
“Below these,” he went on to say, “are also private houses of about the twentieth century B. C, and it is only when they have been cleared away that we can lay bare the work of the third dynasty of Ur. Some of the buildings have solid walls of burnt brick laid in bitumen, with square and rounded buttresses along the outer face.”
Some of the resourcefulness of these diggers, in combining science and mechanical skill and ingenuity, may be gleaned from the recent operations carried out on the site of an ancient Greek settlement called Chersonese, and described in the writings of Strabo, a Greek geographer.
A group of Russian archaeologists, baffled after months of excavating on what they had divined to be the site of Chersonese, decided to look under the sea, near the modern Crimean city of Sevastopol for the long-lost city. This was after fishermen had spread tales of a wonderful submarine city off the coast of Sevastopol.
It was then that scientists set to work with divers and giant searchlights. Their quarry was located 200 feet offshore. The city has been completely submerged and the divers found a semi-circular wall, a market-place, crumbling houses and a small amount of treasures. The reclaimed city flourished over 2,000 years ago and is believed to have been sent to the bottom of the sea by the violent earthquakes of 480 A. D. Millions of dollars of diggers’ plunder lurks in old Chersonese and engineers are making plans for recovering it.
Athens, which has felt the restless onslaught of the steam shovel and spade for generations, has been girding herself for another attack this summer. Last winter the American School of Classical Studies secured, the condemnation of thirty buildings on the Athenian agora, as the market-place is called, preparatory to excavations there. Perhaps another Acropolis group will be found. Millions will be spent to inquire into the mysteries which “this site conceals—and perhaps the reward will net many millions of dollars more.
For the person, or group of persons, who seek adventure through the quest of subterranean treasure or lore, the realm over which he may roam is still virgin territory. Despite the vast sums of wealth which have been gathered since one of Napoleon’s lieutenants found the Rosetta Stone near the Nile River in 1799, thereby offering a key to rich domains of scientific data and jewels, because it made possible the translation of the -Egyptian language of the ancients, there still abound vast, untapped kingdoms.
A proof of the inexhaustible source of this ancient treasure-trove may be found in the excavations of the Egypt Exploration Society of London. It has 350 men at work in Upper Egypt. Among this group is Gilbert D. Phillips, an American student who sought this particular brand of adventure. Only a short time ago he unearthed a jar containing twenty-three small bars of pure gold with a market value of about $5,000.
In Lake Nemi, near Rome, two pleasure galleys of the Emperor Caligula have already been located. Through drainage operations.
conducted by the Fascist government in 1928, one galley has already been recovered. Professor Ugo Antoniello in charge of the archaeological operations, has announced that he will bring a third one of Caligula’s luxurious galleys into view. They disappeared 900 years ago.
Last January considerable furore was caused when Dr. E. L. Sudenik, a member of the faculty of Hebrew University, Jerusalem, announced that a tomb had been discovered at Jerusalem which bore the Aramaic inscription, “Jeshua Bar Jehoseph,” meaning, “Jesus, Son of Joseph.” Investigations were started to ascertain whether this was the tomb of Christ. Although it did not prove to be, the pages of archaeologist’s story is replete with instances where their excavations gave proof to Biblical statements.
Although science has been endeavoring for centuries to locate the cradle of civilization, striving to determine the definite beginnings of human evolution, diggers in deserts, caves, plains, pits, mounds and other sites are constantly turning up evidence to overthrow the orthodox scientific beliefs concerning the beginning of man.
Today there are scores of excavators in the Orient seeking the secrets of man’s origin. These diggers find their reward not in the golden-wares of other ages which they might unearth but in scientific discoveries they might make concerning the history of man. Similar work is going on in the Holy Land.
When one trains the attention on the operations of these men, one does not reckon with centuries but with cycles of thousands of years. For instance, in Montana a Princeton University expedition of scientists uncovered dinosaur eggs believed to have been laid 50,000,000 years ago.
Arizona has also been designated as the habitat of creatures which roamed the face of this globe millions of years ago. Roy Chapman Andrews found similar types of eggs, and even older ones, in Mongolia seven years ago.
Not long ago Dr. James A. B. Scherer, director of the Southwest Museum, announced that traces of man had been found in Gypsum Cave, near Las Vegas, Nevada. It had been previously believed that man had not inhabited North America until 10,000 years ago.
THESE TWO WOMEN ARE REDUCING THEIR WAISTS, TUMMIES, HIPS AND THIGHS with the Fabulous New SAUNA BELT TRIM-JEANS
The Amazing Space Age Slenderizer that is so sensationally effective it is …
GUARANTEED TO REDUCE YOUR WAIST, TUMMY. HIPS AND THIGHS A TOTAL OF FROM 6 TO 9 INCHES IN JUST 3 DAYS OR YOUR MONEY REFUNDED TRIM-JEANS — THE SPACE AGE SLENDERIZER WITH RESULTS THAT ARE OUT OF THIS WORLD, The trim-jeans are a marvel of ease, comfort and efficiency. Once you have slipped them on, you are ready for the most astounding experience in rapid slenderizing you have ever known. Only trim-jeans has the unique features of design, including the exclusive super sauna-lock that permits the constant snug fit and solid support in all 4 areas — waist, tummy, hips and thighs — without which truly sensational results are not possible. We recommend that the trim-jeans be used a few minutes each day for 3 days in a row when you first receive them and then several times a week until you have achieved your maximum potential inch loss. After that, for maintenance you can use the trim-jeans about twice a month or as often as you feel the need.
THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY GUARANTEE IN SLENDERIZING HISTORY. So many users of the trim-jeans obtain instant reducing’—are inches slimmer, inches trimmer in from just 1 to 3 sessions with this super slenderizer—are actually losing as much as a total of 7 or more inches from their waists, tummies, hips and thighs in just 1 session and up to 14 or more inches from 3 sessions. This principle produces really fantastic results. There may be variations of speed and/or degree of results due to individual differences in metabolism and body response. Not everyone may lose 7 inches in just 1 session and 14V2 inches in three days but remember this: No matter what your metabolism, no matter what your body type, if you do not lose a total of from 6 to 9 inches from your waist, tummy, hips and thighs in just 3 days, you may return the trim-jeans and the entire purchase price will be immediately refunded.
THE AMAZING TRIM-JEANS TAKE OFF INCHES WHERE THEY NEED TO COME OFF.
Your trim-jeans are designed to give you just the reducing effect you need where you need it… and the price of the trim-jeans is just $13.95 and each pair carries a FULL MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Here is the slenderizer supreme—trim-jeans—which we sincerely believe to be the easiest, fastest, most convenient, most sensationally effective waist, tummy, hip and thigh reducer ever discovered—with the most revolutionary guarantee in slenderizing history. So if you want trimmer, slimmer, sleeker measurements and you want them now, send for your trim-jeans today.
©Sauna Belt Inc. 1971, P. O. Box 3984 San Francisco, CA 94119/Pats. Pend.
EI Picturescope
Back in 1929, a pretty girl who wanted to listen to a portable radio had to have a weightlifter for a boy friend. Nowadays, a pert lass, such as West German starlet Maria Perschy, can “lug” her own portable, in this case a Telefunken. Sports attire also seems to have dwindled over the years.
So you want a bank loan, eh? At lower left, unbeknownst to the applicant across the desk, London bank executive views his account and ledger records via Marconi closed circuit TV to determine how much credit to extend.
A transistorized radio which tunes the standard AM broadcast band is shown looped over the ear of lovely Karin Krause in Frankfurt, West Germany. In her hand is a second receiver with a wire antenna that can pull in stations within a 15 mile radius. A tiny battery supplies enough power for 150 hours of operation. Tuning this lilliputian unit is done by changing inductance of a tuning coil. They can be converted to receive other frequencies.
Typewriting, which normally requires considerable finger dexterity, may now be accomplished by handicapped persons who do not have the use of their hands. An electric typewriter has been hooked up with an “upright keyboard.” Behind each letter or character on the board is a photo cell. In order to activate any given key, the patient simply aims a light strapped to his head at the appropriate “hole” in the board. Yes, it takes much practice.
It’s a Small World
“Tinest bicycle in the world” is 5 inches high, 27-1/2 inches long, weighs 2-1/2 pounds. It took Guenter Rieles of Berlin, Germany 200 hours to make. No toy, it really operates.
Pigmy pistol in New York’s Met Museum collection is capable of delivering a tiny, but lethal missile. It is a German Wheelock dating back to the 16th Century and is 2-3/16″ long.
Rudolph Russell, machinist of Richmond 1 Hill, N.Y., constructs accurate models of scenes of the past century like this one—a street in the old financial district of N.Y.C.Children and adults alike are enchanted by the tiny replicas of famous original silver.] pieces copied by Mr. Wm. B. Meyers of New- ] ark, N.J. Spouts pour, covers are removable.
This garden-in-minature blooms in an ordinary coat button. The dwarf cactus plants have been set into a shallow layer of sand and bits of peat moss, require little water.
Smallest bible in collection of the American Bible Society is just as complete as their largest, also shown. Bertha Manny, Society’s secretary, reads it with a magnifying glass.
This nickel-sized pocket watch from a. collection of Frank Jensen dates back to the turn of the century and drew much attention to its wearer. The big one is a wall clock.
Lawrence T. Gieringer, Hamburg, Pa., proudly displays the town he built himself. Switch on hand organ turns on the music from the loudspeaker concealed inside little hotel.
PERFORATED STRIPS ELIMINATE SOLDERING
A NEW system of wiring up radio sets has been devised by a London engineer who conceived the idea of using perforated metal strips instead of wire. The strips can be bent and joined together at will, eliminating the need for soldering the joints. The photograph shows the strips being used in wiring up a home-made set.
COFFINS FOR YOUR PETS
By Richard C. Redmond
DID any birds kick the bucket in your house lately? If they did, you can bury them in a miniature bird coffin designed and built by Bob Carpenter of Buffalo, N. Y., founder of The American Pet Casket Co.
Bob’s tiny coffins-for-the-birds idea was hatched one day when he heard a woman complain about the scarcity of suitable caskets for dear departed songsters. He checked the local pet shops and found only a crude wooden box used for the purpose.
Bob decided to design his own bird coffin. His sister’s mother-in-law, who was a worker in ceramics, agreed to help him. They came up with a 3×7-in. casket with looks and durability.The little caskets are white with painted linings in bird colors of green, yellow and blue. The lids are painted with flowers and each one is decorated with a tiny molded bird. Inside is a wee plastic foam mattress and pillow to make it look authentic.
The ceramic models cost up to $6.50. If you want to give your deceased bird a ball of a burial you can also purchase a miniature floral wreath. This is a 4×6-in. job composed of artificial flowers, ribbons and lace with a Styrofoam back. Three sticks are furnished to keep the wreath erect on the grave.
“People don’t put a price on sentiment when it comes to their pets,” says Bob. “Why some folks even bury their canaries in the family plot!” •
Cosmic Rays Only Thing Immortal
NEITHER stars nor worlds, sunlight or heavens, can science admit to be eternal. Only one thing known to science can be called immortal—the cosmic rays investigated, among others, by the famous California physicist, Dr. R. A. Millikan. These rays may even be relics of days before there existed any universe as we know it now.
RACING CAR TAKES THE LEAP FOR LIFE AT 100 M. P. H.
WHILE roaring around the Motor Parkway track at Mineola, Long Island, New York, the racing car of William Darragh took matters of direction into its own hands. Darragh was taking part in a six-lap elimination race at the Mineola Fair. During the second lap his car skidded, and rearing like a broncho slammed into an adjacent iron fence. The fence was smashed but the speed of the car was sufficient to carry it past the bank. A lucky twist of fate kept the crashing car on its wheels and it stopped in the deep straw that was piled on the outside of the track. The people who had gathered at this point rushed to the aid of Darragh, expecting to find him dead. He was neither dead nor badly injured. A close examination revealed merely a badly lacerated nose.
COO-COO Contest Number 4
Names of the Winners of Coo-Coo Contraptions Contest No. 1 and Details of Contest No. 4 are Printed Below.
LISTEN in now, all you folks who sent in entries in Coo-Coo Contraptions Contest No. 1! The winners have been picked and we’re all set to announce the names of the seven lucky contestants. Before doing so, however, the harassed judges wish to thank all the entrants in the contest for the ingenious contrivances which they submitted. It was a Herculean task to select the seven winners from the avalanche of submissions which descended on the editorial office.
First prize of $25 went to H. Palmer, 11548 95th Street, Edmonton, Alberta, one of our Canadian readers, for his ingenious cider press shown on the opposite page. We think you will agree with us that the press classifies as a Coo-Coo Contraption of the first water. Second prize of SIO was awarded Alexander M. Adams, 313 Reed St., Clearfield, Pa., for his nutcracker shown on this page. Mr. Adams’ contraption winds up to a snappy finish, the idea being, as shown, that the goldfish sneeze and awaken the squirrel in his cage. The nut to be cracked sees the squirrel and in a frenzy of fear at the proximity of its deadly enemy the hapless nut dashes out its brains on the floor—thereby accomplishing the purpose of the contraption.
The five third prizes of $3 each were awarded as follows: Donald C. G. Mac-Kay, Queens University, Kingston, Ont; R. A. Reedy, U. S. S. Concord, Charleston, S. C; Clarence E. Hill, Groton, Conn.; Paul Ranck, 1125 E. 16th St., Santa Monica, Cal., and 0. B. LaFlair, Box 3287, Honolulu, T. H.
Now that Contest No. 1 has been disposed of, try your luck in the current contest, No. 4, announced herewith. Prizes will total $50 and will be divided as follows: First prize, $25; second prize, $10; five third prizes, each $3. Contest No. 4 will close March 1, 1929. Manuscripts received after this date will be entered in Contest No. 5. The Coo-Coo Contraptions Contests will run every month until further notice.
Manuscripts will not be returned. In case of a tie, duplicate prizes will be awarded the tying contestants. Address all manuscripts to Coo-Coo Contraptions Editor, Modern Mechanics Magazine, Contest No. 4, Robbinsdale, Minn. Decision of the judges must in all cases be accepted as final. There is still time to enter your Contraption in Contest No. 3 if you wish; this contest closes February 1. Prize winners will be announced as soon as possible after the closing date of the contest.
It is not necessary to make a finished sketch of your contraption, although it will be helpful to our artists if you wish to submit one. Study the prize winner on the opposite page and design some device just as coo-coo and just as funny. Remember that the prize winners will be judged on a basis of humor and originality. Anybody except employees of the magazine can compete in the contest; it is not necessary to be a subscriber to Modern Mechanics.
Then the boss calmly sipped his tea, had the doors chained, and explained how he’d always thought they were lazy and upped the quota to 300 dozen needles.
Somewhere in the rear, a lone voice cried out.
Short Day Stimulates Workers
YOUNG girls working in factories will not work harder for more money but will do so to get off earlier in the afternoon, it is reported from experiments conducted by British scientists. A plan was tried of paying a fixed daily wage but allowing each girl to go home when she had threaded 100 dozen needles. The speed of work increased immediately, the average girl being finished and ready to go home by 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
That used to be my nick name in high-school. I was a lonely child.
“Wind Wagon” Made From Ford
JOE BAIRD of Arcadia, Neb., got tired of driving an ordinary Model T Ford, so he got busy and converted it into the “wind wagon” shown above. The motor is raised above the chassis, the radiator turned sideways, and a four-blade propeller attached to drive the vehicle.
MI’S TIE BAR BROOCH
BEEN awarded a Golden Hammer Tie Bar you’d like to convert to a brooch for your best gal? It’s easy: (1) peel off the tie clip with needle-nose pliers; (2) mold aluminum foil around the hammer to dissipate heat rapidly when soldering and so protect the finish; (3) solder a two-piece pin back in place and (4) you have it. You can get pin backs at your local hobby shop or from Immerman’s, 1020 Euclid Ave., Cleveland 15, Ohio.
Right, dealing inside an opaque table that has four card sharps’ hands under it is the best way to prevent cheating.
Table Deals Bridge Cards
THE latest aid for the expedition of bridge games is a machine which shuffles and deals hand of cards to the players. An interior and exterior view of the table is shown below. When the cards are gathered up after a hand, they are placed in a slot. Alter this a mechanical arm operated by a motor picks up the cards one at a time and delivers them, shuffling them en route, into a special compartment at the players’ finger tips. The machine never deals and shuttles twice in the same manner, and it will never cheat you as a human being might be tempted to do. The players pick up their hands from the apertures at the side of the table, as illustrated below.
One hand can be played while deck is being dealt for next game.
The explanation given sounds roughly like how an LCD works. What do you think the mystery material was that went transparent when current was applied?
Scanning Method Brings Television Movies
THE progress of television has long been retarded by the lack of an efficient light source which could react instantaneously to the fluctuations of incoming radio currents and at the same time be powerful enough to project the image upon a large theatre screen.
This difficulty, however, has now been overcome by the development of a new scanning method which promises to equal or excel the movies as a source of home and public entertainment. This new method dispenses with the neon tube altogether and utilizes as a source of illumination the arc light of the conventional projector.
New “Control Plate” Is the Secret The heart of the new system is a “picture frame,” or “lantern slide,” a small glass plate on which the actual moving scene being broadcast is created. This plate is covered on one side with a fine wire mesh impregnated with an electro-sensitive substance which renders the glass, normally opaque, transparent when an electric current is passed through it.
A scanning disc is used to provide the electrical disturbance necessary to render the plate transparent. This disc, shown in the artist’s drawing above, is made of clear glass with 60 fine wires radiating out from the center like spokes from a wheel, each wire terminating in a tiny brush. These brushes are arranged in a spiral curve, similar to the holes in the metal scanning disc of the conventional television system.
Each brush is spaced from the next by a distance equal to the width of the chemically-coated glass plate. Then while the disc makes a single revolution, the sixty terminals sweep the plate one after the other, with 60 slightly curved parallel lines, each a short distance apart, until the plate is covered from top to bottom. The speed of the scanning disc is synchronized with the transmitter at the broadcasting station.
The chemical coating on the plate, under the influence of the electric current from the passing wire terminal of the disc, becomes transparent in a varying amount, according to the intensity of the incoming radio signals. With these 60 brushes sweeping the plate 15 times a second, the speed of the disc, a moving picture corresponding the scene at the transmitter is built up.
The light passed through the changing transparency of the control plate is projected upon the theatre screen just like any moving picture.
