Modern Mechanix

Issue date: 5-1930

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Mar, 1930

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Jun, 1930

Voltage of Sunset Is Large

THE electric voltage of a sunset is 2000 volts higher than of a sunrise. Day and night three vast electric currents, like rapid tidal floods, rush around the spinning earth in layers of the air 80 or 90 miles above the ground.

Sun Gives Off Ultraviolet Rays

Astronomical writing got a lot easier to understand once they started referring to other stars as stars instead of suns. Sun Gives Off Ultraviolet Rays IT IS fortunate for human beings that the earth revolves around a mild and friendly sun instead of around some other of the suns which astronomers discover among the stars. [...]

Trans-Atlantic Speedboat Nears Completion

Trans-Atlantic Speedboat Nears Completion One of the first trans-Atlantic aero speedboats, the Silver Eagle, will soon be tested in Massachusetts. It has a wing span of 48 feet and powered by two Liberty motors. Each prop is 9 ft., 4 in. Jong. A speed of 90 m.p.h, is expected. It is 40 ft. long, will [...]

Minute Savers for Milady

Many of the messy, time-consuming duties of the household have been completely eliminated by these mechanical time-savers. Here is an adjustable bridge or floor lamp that has two intensities of light. Just a slight pressure on a button is needed to make the adjustment. With the shade turned up the lamp gives a diffused light for general illumination. Turned down, a localized light is provided.

Mysterious Test Tube Diver

AN interesting toy which will mystify party guests is the mysterious diver which sinks down in a jar full of water and bobs up again apparently of its own volition. The diver is made from a test tube and the pool in which he dives is simply a Mason jar filled with water, so the mystery of his conduct is quite striking to anyone not acquainted with the secret. The drawing above shows how an electromagnet is hooked up to make the diver sink when a button is pressed.

Building an Empire In Africa's Jungles

A NEW world is in the making at the western edge of Africa, where American business has undertaken to reclaim the jungle for the purposes of modern industry. Today the republic of Liberia is the scene of a great overseas enterprise hardly matched in the annals of empire building. For the first time private business has embarked upon an effort of the kind that nations heretofore have struggled to perform. What England did in America, France in Canada, and Spain at the south from two to three hundred years ago, an American organization is striving to do upon its own account.

Largest Diesel Engine in World Has Just Been Completed

THE first of the pair of Diesel engines that are to drive the White Star liner M. V. Britannic across the Atlantic has just completed its test run. This ten-cylinder double-acting four-stroke power unit, which was built by Harland & Wolff, Ltd., of Belfast, is the largest Diesel yet made and on test it gave 10,000 h.p. at 110 revolutions per minute on the dynamometer.

Photographs STAR Moving 4800 MILES A SECOND

Sitting with his eye glued to a telescopic camera for 45 hours, M. L. Humason, Mt. Wilson astronomer, has succeeded in setting a record for long distance photographs. The nebula on which he trained his camera is 50,000,000 light years away from the earth. FOR 45 hours in total darkness, Milton L. Humason, member of the astronomical staff at the Mt. Wilson observatory at Pasadena, California, trained the world's largest telescope toward a far distant point in the heavens and obtained a photograph of a nebula 50,000,000 light years away from the earth—a total of 300 quintillion miles.

Like a Conquering Army THESE BOOKS have marched triumphant through the centuries

DR. ELIOT'S FIVE-FOOT SHELF OF BOOKS. (The Harvard Classics) THE LIBRARIES of the old world and the new are crammed with volumes, shelf on shelf, which a thousand men in a thousand lifetimes could never find time to read. And millions more volumes have passed forever into oblivion, not even to find shelter in the archives of public libraries. Yet these books have come thundering down through the centuries, influencing, teaching and delighting mankind with their indomitable power. They are as new and invigorating as when their immortal authors instilled in them the breath of eternal life.

An Underground Laboratory for Studying Radium Rays

NEW advances are being made daily in a study of radium rays, cosmic rays, and X-rays. Cancer and other diseases are being treated and the effect of these powerful rays upon various forms of life are being noted. Science is probing deep into the mysteries of ray treatment. Prof. E. B. Babcock, of the University of California, has constructed for himself a strange laboratory underground in a speculative study of the effects of radium rays.

This Novel Martin House Is Built to Resemble Zeppelin

Edited by A. NEELY HALL BIRDS ought to appreciate this latest design in apartment houses, built to resemble a Zeppelin. To make it, secure nine pieces of one-inch white pine and saw them into 10-sided partitions as shown in the drawing below, the middle partition being 12-1/2 inches in diameter and the others tapering down to 6 inches.

Cream or Milk as You Want It

Cream or Milk as You Want It AMONG the many cream and milk skimmers, this one is considered by housewives to be one of the best and most practical. Simple in operation, it is entirely made of aluminum and is thoroughly sanitary. When cream is desired, the aluminum tube is let down into the bottle [...]

Unique Film Trebles Width of Movies

MOVIES three times as wide as usual are made possible by a new lens invention. The principle of the lens designed to widen the photographing capacity of the average movie film three times is much the same as the distorting mirrors at the circus. Set into a copper frame which fits into the front of the camera are finely ground cylinders of glass, one concave, the other convex.

HOW to be a Successful INVENTOR

by JAY EARLE MILLER No. 3 of a Series. In this, the third of a series of articles dealing with the problems of inventors, Mr. Miller points out some of the personalities who have found success through Specialization on certain ideas. One invention rarely makes a successful inventor, the money is made in amplifying the idea or applying it to new uses. You will find much of interest in Mr. Miller's article. Next month he tells what not to invent. LAST month and the month before we talked about what to invent, how to invent it, and what to do with it after the device was perfected. But one invention, as a rule, doesn't make a successful inventor.

Cigarette Smokers Can Very Easily Make Their Own Menthol Inhalers

Cigarette Smokers Can Very Easily Make Their Own Menthol Inhalers ANY cigarette smoker can easily make a menthol inhaler to fight his winter colds. All that is necessary is a small bottle of menthol crystals, some absorbent cotton, a cigarette holder, a smoke instead of a sweet, and the habit. Several of the menthol crystals [...]

Making SUBMARINES SAFE for SAILORS

by ROY DEAN NINETY-NINE men who have perished at the bottom of the sea in the thirteen American submarine disasters since the E-4 went down off Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on March 25, 1915, may not have died in vain. Spurred on by their heroic sacrifice —and particularly by the loss of the 73 who perished in the S-51 off Block Island and the S-4, rammed and sunk by the Coast Guard Destroyer Paulding off Providence— the navy has at last perfected a complete group of submarine rescue devices which are expected to save all who escape the first rush of water and find refuge in watertight compartments.

Science Presents Dumb Man With a Removable Voice

C. F. LORENZ, a Wichita Falls, Texas, auditor who was dumb for months as the result of an operation is now one of the six persons in the entire world who can place his voice in his pocket after completing a conversation. Some time ago Mr. Lorenz was stricken with caricinoma or cancer of the larynx which is often called the human voice box. It was necessary to have the larynx removed and as a result he became dumb.

New Midget Scouts of the Air

cold to feel anything very much." I thought consarned was a typo, but it would have been weird since the correct replacement would have been "consumed by" or "concerned with the". Turns out it means: confounded; damned. ::image_gallery::

New Midget Scouts of the Air by Lieut. RALPH S. BARNABY, U.S.N. First Man to Pilot a Glider from a Dirigible If scouts were important to old style warfare, they are doubly important to the new warfare of the air. Army and Navy officials have experimented with every possible idea. Only recently they tested the value of gliders for scout work from dirigibles at Lakehurst. Lieut. Barnaby tells here his story of gliding a motorless ship from the dirigible Los Angeles.

A "Down the CELLAR" Chem Lab

by FREDERICK O. SCHUBERT Here are some interesting experiments you can perform with simple chemicals, with notes on building the beginnings of your own basement chemistry lab. More next month! NOW that we've succeeded in shoving Andy, the grease monkey, and the rest of the "hangar gang" over a bit for the lab boys, let's get together and make real use of our "chem" pages.

British Motor Cars Improved to Win Women Buyers

BY PROVIDING luxury automobiles completely equipped on the American plan at a price heretofore charged without extra refinements, British automotive manufacturers hope to retain their grip on the market with the addition of the new season's models which they exhibited recently; in the Olympia.

New Easy-to-Operate Tire Pump

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this at my gym… New Easy-to-Operate Tire Pump A BRITISH inventor, who likes his rowing exercises, produced this tire .pump which enables the maximum amount of air to be forced into an automobile tire with the minimum amount of effort. The seat slides forward and backward on runners just as [...]

Novel Sculpture Fast Replacing Billboards in Nationwide Advertising

WITHIN recent years Los Angeles and Southern California in general has startled tourists with huge sculptured advertising originated by C. F. and F. G. Carting, and which is meeting with favor among advertisers. Practically every firm has some slogan or emblem identifying it with their product. The Carling brothers were manufacturing small art pieces of plaster composition plated with metal when the idea occurred to them to reproduce these emblems in miniature.

Life Size Radio Movies Are Coming

C. Francis Jenkins is inventor of the original movie camera and holder of more than 400 patents, many of them in the field of radiovision. He predicts for the near future life size radio movies and radiovision of news events which may be projected on theater screens at the actual instant they happen. Jenkins describes the present status of television and the lines along which he is working. by C. FRANCIS JENKINS Famous Inventor WITHIN a short time, possibly within a year, I expect to see movie screens showing life size pictures of news events as they are happening. We are working now on that problem. We may not be first to solve it, but it is only a question of time until some one does, and it is quite possible that we may be first.

Agents $7 a Day

Can be made selling guaranteed hosiery. Must wear and satisfy or replaced. Newest styles. Finest silk hosiery that can't be beat. Big money daily, weekly, monthly. Steady year around business. I want agents who can sell, and Make $3000 A Year

The LINDBERGHS Learn to GLIDE

by CLYDE FREEMAN Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh and Mrs. Lindbergh now hold licenses as first class glider pilots, having completed a series of lessons in the Bowlus sailplane, plans for which were recently published in Modern Mechanics. The Colonel enthusiastically declares gliding to be the finest sport he knows. ON TWO exciting days recently from hills adjacent to San Diego, California, Colonel and Mrs. Charles A. Lindbergh in a sailplane designed by William H. Bowlus. demonstrated the ease and facility with which persons untrained in gliding can learn to master a motorless craft.

Hotel-On-Wheels Provides Solid Comfort Along the Road

THE luxurious expanding caravan car attached to the sedan is one of the many innovations now being seen at the automobile shows throughout the country. The "companion" car is equipped with a number of downy berths, running water, electric lights and practically every other feature or service to be found in an up-to-date hotel.

Dry Cleaner, Washer Combined

Dry Cleaner, Washer Combined THIS device, known as the Duette, is a combination washing machine and dry cleaner. The Duette is constructed from heavy corrugated steel to withstand any hard usage. It is foolproof and may be assembled or taken apart in about 30 seconds. When used as a washing machine, will wash clothes in [...]

My New Dirigible on Pontoons

by Lt.-Cmdr. C. D. BURNEY Designer of Britain's Giant R-101 Commander Burney, world authority on dirigibles, pens this revealing story of a startling new idea in lighter-than-air craft. Squat, elliptical, double hulled, hangarless—seagoing and self sufficient, the new ship on pontoons conceived by the designer of the R-101, is the solution to profitable ocean passenger trade.

The Roadside Stand Goes "High Hat"

The Roadside Stand Goes “High Hat” It is easily seen that refreshment – seeking youngsters pick the place that catches the eye. There is nothing like individuality to create lasting impressions. Here is a group of the once lowly roadside stands. Kinda ritzy, what? In “going modern,” stand owners are overlooking nothing that will add [...]

Now We Have the Baby Truck

Now We Have the Baby Truck RUBBER aviator cord adapted for automobile work by the J. V. Martin patents provides suspension for the new baby truck of the Martin corporation. The suspension is guaranteed for 25,000 miles and can be entirely replaced in a few minutes at a cost of 80 cents according to the [...]

Animated Cartoons for the Amateur Cameraman

by HI SIBLEY With your amateur movie camera you can make amusing animated cartoons which will give a new zest to home entertainments. In this article Mr. Sibley tells you just how to go about it to produce creditable animated cartoon films. THE amateur movie cameraman has a broad field of experiment before him, and trying out animated cartoons will afford no little amusement. Of course, the comical little figures we see in the theatres, with their exaggerated but still lifelike movements, are the result of long and painstaking experience, but the amateur, by beginning with the simplest ideas will eventually develop very creditable skill in this unique work.

Armored Pushmobile Guards Caddies From Golf Balls

AT a practice golf course in Detroit, time and revenue was formerly lost while an army of caddies swarmed on the field to retrieve the balls. Now caddies harvest the balls during the play, being protected against the barrage of driving shots by a chicken-wire enclosure mounted on three wheels.

Australians Hunt Sharks with Electricity

Australians Hunt Sharks with Electricity THE latest weapon devised to attack the man-eating sharks which are such a dread to surf bathers is an electrical charge. During recent tests held at Gunnamatta Bay, near Sydney, Australia, fishermen succeeded in killing a 10-foot monster with only a six-volt charge. Experiments conducted by the inventor disclose a [...]

Fast Electric Air Trolleys Planned by French Inventor

Fast Electric Air Trolleys Planned by French Inventor A UNIQUE air-trolley propelled over a monorail by an electric motor at a speed of 150 m.p.h, has been designed by Joseph Archer, a French engineer, who expects to demonstrate his unique invention in Paris shortly. The drawing above illustrates the essential features of Archer’s design. The [...]

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