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Archive: Modern Mechanix
November 20, 2008
Switch closes window, turns on heat for early riser
Switch closes window, turns on heat for early riser - Modern Mechanix, 1932.
THERE would be fewer people late for work these winter mornings if the room were warm enough to permit arising in comfort, but a warm room is impossible if we keep the windows up to scare the T. B. bugs away. That is, it was impossible until the inventive genius of G. A. Brewer, a sophomore at Western Reserve Academy, came to the rescue of himself at least. The alarm clock wakes Mr. Brewer, even as you and I. But does Mr. Brewer throw the clock out the window and pull the covers over his head? He does not! He merely reaches over and throws a switch, which closes the window and turns on the radiator. Give us the combination, Mr. Brewer.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 20, 2008 05:00 AM
DIY Projects, Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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November 12, 2008
Traveling woodworking shop tours schools
Let's bring back the traveling woodworking shop tour, Popular Mechanics - 1938.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 12, 2008 12:00 AM
Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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November 11, 2008
Mono-Scooter is speedy
Mono-Scooter Is Speedy - Popular Mechanics, 1936-
With a little practice, you can get more speed out of this mono-scooter than out of a pair of roller skates. It is made from two roller-skate wheels and a hardwood block as wide as the shoe and about 5 in, longer. Round the ends of the block and slot them to take the wheels. Steel rods serve as axles, and washers are placed on either side of each wheel to keep it true. These should be lubricated. Triangular blocks serve as heel and toe plates, and a single toe strap keeps the scooter on the shoe. Tilting the foot to one side brings the block into contact with the sidewalk to get efficient braking
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 11, 2008 09:00 AM
Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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November 7, 2008
Spike the potato
Unique Game for Party Amusement Modern Mechanix, 1933 - surely to be a Wii game soon....
“SPIKE the Potato” is a highly entertaining game for any party. All that is needed is a single large potato, a number of paper cones and some needles. The paper cones are about 7 in. long and 1-1/2″ in diameter at the large end. When you roll them into shape, slip a needle or pin into the small end and daub it with glue. This, when dry, will hold it in place. At the same time, glue the edge of the paper fast. Then pull a small tuft of cotton into a fluffy ball and after rubbing some glue on the inside of the open cone end, push the cotton in.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Nov 7, 2008 12:00 AM
Gaming, Modern Mechanix |
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October 15, 2008
Electric miniature mono-railway
Electric miniature mono-railway Modern Mechanix, Feb, 1931.
IT IS a well known fact among experimenters that when a whirling gyroscope is set in an upright or inclined position it will not change unless some strong exterior force is applied. Due to this peculiar quality, which is known as the precessive effect, the gyroscope can be utilized in the construction of many scientific instruments and practical devices which are used in every day life.One of the most important uses to which the gyroscope is put is that of keeping a mono-rail train in an upright position as it speeds along on its single track. The most practical and outstanding railway of this kind is known as the Brennan Mono-railway, which is used in Ireland.
An interesting and instructive toy mono-railway working on the same principle as its big brother can be easily made by any home craftsman out of a few Meccano parts, an old six-volt toy motor, a bell transformer, a piece of No. 20 gauge sheet iron, an old sewing machine fly wheel, and some No. 14 bare copper wire.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 15, 2008 08:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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October 13, 2008
Radio-cooked toast
Every time there is a new technology, the makers figure out a way to cook food with it... Radio cooked toast, 1933.
RADIO cooking is the latest stunt developed by broadcast engineers. If a hot lunch is wanted by the operators in a transmitting station, all they have to do is place their food between the electrodes of the transmitter. In a few moments it will be done to a turn. Bread may be toasted in six seconds, but steak and potatoes take several minutes. Oddly enough, food overdone by cooking on the radio transmitter does not have a burned taste. Toast can be charred black without tasting in any way different from the kind a cook would be proud to serve. Engineers are not quite sure just why this is so, but believe it is because the cooking is done by the electric discharge and the electrodes get only slightly warm.
Laser cooked toast... Made :)
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Oct 13, 2008 11:30 AM
Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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July 28, 2008
Retro ThingamaHat
In response to my posting of the hat-i-fied version of the Bleep Labs' ThingamaKIT, MAKE Editor-in-Chief Mark Frauenfelder emailed me this cover from a 1949 Hugo Gernsbeck pub, Radio - Electronics. Thanks, Mark!
More:
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jul 28, 2008 11:00 AM
Kits, Modern Mechanix, Music, Retro |
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June 7, 2008
HOW TO - Movies in 3 dimensions
How to adapt any 8 or 16mm movie camera and projector to take and show stereo movies -Mechanix Illustrated 1953.
IF you own an 8 or 16mm movie camera and projector, you can make your own amazingly lifelike three dimensional movies in full color or black and white at a cost of less than $6 for equipment.The principle of stereoscopic vision is simple. Each eye sees a slightly different aspect of any view. The right eye sees slightly more of the right side of solid objects in the foreground, and the left eye sees slightly more of the left side. In addition, when the eyes are gazing at an object in the foreground, the objects seen by the right eye in the background are displaced to the right, and the objects seen by the left eye in the background are displaced to the left. These two slightly different images that fall on the retinas of the right and left eye are transmitted to the brain and are fused into a scene which enables us to perceive depth.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jun 7, 2008 12:00 AM
DIY Projects, Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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March 24, 2008
TRANSISTORS - first family of electronics
Scientific American, August, 1956 - TRANSISTORS-first family of electronics.
Related:
How transistors work
Microcontroller basics.
How transistors of an integrated circuit are made.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Mar 24, 2008 08:00 AM
Electronics, Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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February 27, 2008
Amuse Friends with chemical stunts
Modern Mechanix 1934
DO YOU like to dabble with chemicals? It was a hobby with Thomas A. Edison during his youth and formed the basis of an education that later brought thousands of new inventions into the world. Far from being a "dry" science, chemistry can be very amusing and entertaining. How many people would believe that you could pour a little drinking water into a china bowl and cause it to burst forth with flames several feet high--without the use of matches?Amuse Friends with chemical stunts - Link.
Related:
Thrilling stunts with a glass-eating chemical - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 27, 2008 08:00 AM
DIY Projects, Modern Mechanix, Retro, Science |
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February 24, 2008
Jumpin cars, sled stoves, battery powered cars and steampunk RC trains...
"Build a comedy ford", old timey version of bouncing suspension once found in rap music videos. Modern Mechanix 1933 - Link.
Sled stove for skating parties, Modern Mechanix 1933 - Link.
Back in world war II people would conserve gas and use battery powered/pedal powered ways to get around, Popular Mechanics, 1941.
Steampunk remote controlled train, retro Crab-Fu! Popular Mechanics 1936 - Link.
All of this and more @ Modern Mechanix - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 24, 2008 02:00 AM
Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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February 17, 2008
Grindstone attached to bicycle
Clever way to sharpen knives, Science And Mechanics 1936 - Link.
Related:
Knife sharpening tricks (video) - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 17, 2008 12:00 AM
Bicycles, Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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February 12, 2008
Clocks in odd figures show Makers' skill
Case modd'er from Popular Mechanics 1924!-
Showing skill possessed by watch-makers long before members of this ancient craft had advantages of modern tools, a collection of old timepieces owned by an eastern jeweler, provides a n interesting contrast with similar creations of a machine age....Clocks in odd figures show Makers' skill - Link.One was cleverly made in a suit of armor that moved the hands around the chest and opened and closed the eyes and mouth, at every hour. After five and a half years of labor, one man completed an odd mechanical clock containing 298 moving figures, carved from oak with a penknife. They depict various historical scenes. Experts say that the watches in this display of mechanics of a past day are marvels of art and workmanship.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 12, 2008 05:30 AM
Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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February 6, 2008
Kitchen utensils make professional photo enlarger
Photo enlarger made from kitchen gear, Modern Mechanix 1936 Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 6, 2008 08:00 AM
DIY Projects, Imaging, Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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February 5, 2008
Merry go round airplane launcher
Here's a neat idea from Popular Science 1933, best tested on MythBusters now (they just tested if a plane could take off from a treadmill)... a merry go round airplane launcher, what do you think would happen? At least it would be more fun than most airport experiences - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Feb 5, 2008 06:00 AM
Modern Mechanix, Transportation |
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January 27, 2008
Electric gloves - SHOCKING!
Electric glove from Modern Mechanix 1935 - Link.
The old timey one reminds me of this modern hacky "Tazer Glove" - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 27, 2008 05:00 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Instructables, Modern Mechanix |
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January 21, 2008
Anti-hitcher device and roller (tank) skates
Shocking anti-hitcher device, Link.
Roller (tank) skates - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 21, 2008 12:00 PM
Modern Mechanix, Retro, Transportation |
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Landlubbers hoist their sails and go yachting on bikes
Sail biking! Popular Mechanics 1938 - Link.
More:
Bicycles @ MAKE - Link.
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 21, 2008 05:00 AM
Bicycles, Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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January 16, 2008
HOW TO - Build a beer keg radio
Here's how to build a beer keg radio from Popular Science 1938 -
NOVEL as well as serviceable, the beer-keg radio described on these pages will make a useful addition to the furnishings in your game room. It can be used either as an end table or as a refreshment stand, and, since it is an entirely self-contained unit, operated by dry batteries, it can be carried onto a porch or even into the yard when warm summer days and evenings make this desirable. If you build this five-tube set carefully, it will give excellent reception from stations 1,000 miles or more away.HOW TO - Build a beer keg radio - Link.The unusual cabinet that houses the chassis, speaker, and batteries of the powerful superheterodyne circuit, is nothing more than an inexpensive ten to fifteen-gallon wine barrel, which can be purchased from any mail-order house. Making the barrel resemble a beer keg requires simple, inexpensive treatment which will be described later...
Posted by Phillip Torrone |
Jan 16, 2008 09:00 AM
DIY Projects, Modern Mechanix, Retro, Wireless |
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January 7, 2008
A different kind of "third hand"
A pic from a 1948 issue of Popular Mechanics of a "spring-arm" hands-free calling device.
Flexible steel arm for hands-free calling, 1948 - [via] Link
Posted by Gareth Branwyn |
Jan 7, 2008 02:00 PM
Modern Mechanix, Retro |
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