EVERYBODY in America wants an automobile." It is less dangerous to make that generalization about the universal desire for, a car than about almost any other semi-luxury. With over ten million automobiles in use, there are still more people that want cars of their own.
THE problem of getting enough coal for this winter is vital in nearly every house in the land today. Whatever efforts are made to increase coal production this fall, it seems inevitable that we shall have to get along on short fuel rations. Coal economy becomes, therefore, a matter not only of money saving, but of actual physical comfort.
H. L. Doherty, Traction Magnate with 150 Patents to His Credit, Is One of America’s Greatest Inventors
How Doherty Values Science
A Newspaper Lad’s Achievement
Electricity as Man's Servant
A Doherty Invention
“Why?” the Keynote
Other Important Inventions
Carfares Should Vary with Distance
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James H. Collins
WE WERE sitting in Henry L. Doherty’s “back yard”—the strangest corner of a strange aerial home of one of the most interesting business men in the world. Perhaps you have heard of the unique skyscraper bungalow that this millionaire utilities magnate, inventor, and financier has built on top of a tall office building in lower New York.
How Theory of Relativity, Questioned in Recent American Experiments, Will Be Put to Test in Coming Eclipse
Toy Steam Engine Propels Small Model Side Wheeler
Resurfacing Worn Oilstones
Railroad Iron Makes Small Anvil
How to Make a Cool Smoking Short-Stemmed Pipe
Fan Improves Carpet Beater
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IS EINSTEIN’S theory of relativity about to be consigned to the scrapheap? Breaking upon an astonished public some three years ago, turning our conception of the universe topsy turvy, seeming to be completely accepted by scientists, it now appears possible that the theory of relativity may have to be considerably modified as a result of remarkable experiments with light rays carried out in California, on the top of Mount Wilson.
Will America or England Win Race to Make Movies Talk?
Remarkable Cameras Photograph Actors’ Words
Picture and Voice on One Film
Light Beam Records Sound
English Competitors
Twin Camera Records Voice with Pictures
Unique Talking Movie Device Invented by De Forest
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THE greatest question in the motion picture world today is whether or not the pictures of players in the movies should be given voices and made to speak their parts like actors on the stage. While many artists, motion picture experts and writers assert that the power of the silent drama will be damaged if its silence is destroyed, scientists in three countries have lately made such remarkable progress in photographing and reproducing voices on movie films that it seems certain the coming of speaking photo plays—whether we want them or not—cannot be long delayed.
How You Can Burn 30% Less Coal and Still Keep Warm This Winter
Use Scientists’ Astonishing Discoveries about Your Heating Plant to Thwart Coming Coal Famine
A Second Coal Famine
Long Accepted Theories Exploded
Health in the Home
Intake Pipe Causes Trouble
Outside or Inside Inlets
Thermostatic Control
Where Revolutionary Heating Facts Have Been Learned
Home a Desert
Humidifier in Furnace Fire Pot
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W. H. Driscoll
THERE is apparently a grave fuel emergency approaching. I believe that it will sharply awaken the average American to the costly inefficiency of his domestic heating plant. "The homes in which our families live 24 hours a day certainly deserve more attention from heating engineers than the office buildings in which we spend only eight hours a day.
SAFETY lamps that sing when danger from “firedamp” threatens have been devised for the use of miners. The principle employed is that of the “singing flame.” Scientists have known for centuries that a hot flame burning in a narrow tube under certain conditions will set up vibrations and produce audible sounds.
Quick Change of Wheels Converts Truck into Tractor
Pushbutton Trips Save Fingers of Workmen
Stableboy Turns Crank to Curry the Horses
This Small Movie Machine Uses Flashlight
A Rain Cape of Paper Folds into Handbag
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IN RECENT tests on the Thames River, England, armored coastal motor boats destined for the United States navy, clipped off a two hours’ run at a speed of 46 miles an hour. The miniature vessels are only 45 feet in length and eight feet six inches in beam.
New Automatic Drill Will Compete with Sculptor's Chis as Camera Does with Artist's Brush
“Blocking Out" the Portrait
Plate Guides the Drill
Relief Can Be Varied
Wind Operates Traffic Signal Light
Road Roller Rides to Work on a Trailer
Light Rapid Fire Gun Has Only 38 Parts
Mounds of Earth Serve as Pipes for Coolies
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PHOTOGRAPHS deftly reproduced in basrelief out of ivory, alabaster, or wood, a few hours after a sitting, are the outcome of an extremely ingenious method of photo-sculpture invented by Howard M. Edmunds, of England. By this device the tedious hours of posing for a sculptured relief or a bust are eliminated.
Oil Rams Tip Truck Body to Right, Left, or Rearward
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COMBINING in its wide sweeping dome, its windows, and cornice decorations, interesting features of both Greek and Norman architecture a unique religious edifice under the name of Bethany Temple, has been constructed in the city of Sierra Madre, Calif., by one man.
Cement Filled Shell Boxes Form Bricks for Rebuilt Homes
Sensitive Air Tubes Detect Fire and Ring the Alarm
Five Room Tent-Bungalow Fits on Runningboard
Stage Martyrs Keep Cool in Mock Fire
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HERE is the story of an enterprising American aviator who runs probably the only one-man air line in the United States and makes a good living from it. His success is interesting confirmation of what Glenn H. Curtiss said in the July, 1922, POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY concerning a young man’s chances of making money in commercial flying.
THE public’s first real chance to observe the wonders of the heavens through the powerful modern apparatus of astronomers has come through the efforts of Professor Frank Schlesinger, new director of the Yale University Observatory, New Haven, Conn.
Grim Battle against Stealthy River, Waged by United States Engineers, Might Be Helped by Construction of Spillways
The Danger “Boil”
Guarding Rails
Spillways to Supplement Levees
Where Danger Lies
How Levees Are Built
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FIGHTING a grim battle against the stealthy, undermining attack of surging waters, engineers under the supervision of the War Department continue to construct levees along the lower Mississippi in an attempt to hold the “Great Western Sewer” within its bounds.
Revolving Disks Sort Weeds from Wheat in New Machine
Pockets Catch Weed Seeds
Crane Operator Rides with Load in Warehouse
Heated Air Improves Tone of Phonograph
Alarm Rings when Radio Detects Distress Calls
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NIGHT flying planes will be aided in making landings by an automatic illuminated wind indicator and ground sign resembling a weather vane now undergoing tests at the Croydon aerodrome near London, England. The same indicator is useful for signaling aviators by day.
Yale Scientist Makes Remarkable Discovery that Chlorine Will Destroy Evil Odors that Cost Nation $2,200,000 Property Loss
Doctor Henderson's Discovery
Odors Trouble Boston
Science Classifies Smells into These Six Fundamental Odors
He Has Found a Use for the World’s Worst Smell
You Don’t Smell with Your Nose
Ingenious Scaffolding Slung from Mine Roof
A Mental Obstacle
Vast Business Built on Sense of Smell
Chlorine Conquers!
Plastic Fuel May Solve the Nation’s Coal Problem
Whirling Mold Casts Fourteen Iron Pipes Every Hour
Daring Airmen Locate Seals for Fur Hunters
Steel Rackets and Masks for Tennis
Brood of Hummingbirds Can Nest in Spoon
Many Instruments in One Small Timepiece
Flying Plane Survives Lightning Bolt
Why Bolt Passed On
Ore Machine, Aided by Magnets, to Stretch Our Iron Supply
Utilizing Low Grade Ore
Hematite also Is Used
Boys Build Self-Propelled Model of Famous Ship
Rotary Electric Ovens Toughen Auto Parts
Old Tires Are Quoits in Totem Pole Game
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Harry A. Mount
WE AMERICANS spend every year tens of millions of dollars for perfumes, scented cosmetics, and toilet soaps having an odor we like. But we spend many times that much to get away from odors we do not like. The actual property loss in the United States due to public aversion to certain odors is more than $2,200,000,000!
New Medical Knowledge Makes Baldness a Case for Scientific Treatment Rather than Barber's Tonic
Bald-Headed Classes
Analyzing a Hair
Do You Know These Facts about Your Hair?
Inherited Baldness
Illness a Cause
Useless Remedies
What Ultra Violet Rays Accomplish
Can Hair Tonics Cure Baldness?
Steam Roller Runs New Pavement Breaker
Three-Ply Metal Formed by Electrolysis
Map Tacks Keep Tabs on Fire Apparatus
Blast Furnaces Burn Stumps from Logged-Off Land
Sprinkling Can Tests Soil for Flood Prevention
Lifters Frozen into Heavy Cakes of Ice
Operator Pedals Movie Machine like Bicycle
Solidified Kerosene "Ice" New Form of Fuel
Harrow and Seeder in One Machine
Locomotive Sprinkler Lays Dust on Railway
From Mule to Motor Bus on Street Car Tracks
A Monster Steel Plate Drill And Other New Machines and Tools
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Chester T. Stone
BALDNESS is definitely on the increase in the United States, and is more characteristic of the American than of the European, according to recent observations by the medical profession. In the large cities of the United States is to be found a greater percentage of prematurely bald heads than in any other region on earth.
SO ASTOUNDING have been recent radio developments that I suggest a moment’s pause in which to take stock of the actual accomplishments of this wonder period, and to analyze their bearing on the future. Three major inventions recently announced are likely to have revolutionary effects upon communication, navigation, and industry in general.
Famous Advocate of a National Broadcasting System Says It Would Improve Wireless Programs
Popular Science Monthly’s Great Radio Set
Necessity of Close Control
Hungary's "Telephone Newspaper"
How Europe Does It
Play Billiards with Magnetized Cue
Big Wash Bowl Shakes Mud from Cars
Compressed Air Grease Gun Measures Lubricant
Horses Shod with Copper
Toy Cycle-Car Is Propelled by Unique Elastic Drive
Making Simple Tin Whistles
Crankshaft for Benchstake
Football Shinguards Made from Old Automobile Tires
Blowing Up a Football
Bracket Staging for Roof
Making Clear Leaf Prints with Carbon Paper
Making Putty that Will Stick
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Charles E. Duffie
WE ARE only playing with radio today. I may startle most people by my assertion, yet I firmly believe that in the practical application of the radiotelephone—especially for broadcasting news over wide areas—Europe has been in advance of the United States.
How to Find the Trouble Quickly when Your Engine Dies
When an Expert's on the Trail
System Eliminates Trouble Spots
Vacuum Tank Troubles
YOUR CAR
Holding Tires in Position for Repairs
Protecting the Tire Gage from Loss and Damage
“Rusting Shut” a Small Crack
How to Insert New Oil Pipe in a Crankcase
Adjusting Automobile Valves
To Find a Leak in a Metal Float
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Harold F. Blanchard
WHEN your engine goes dead, how long does it take you to locate the seat of the trouble and get under way again? I am willing to wager you have often spent anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes in unsystematic fidgets over the situation—and perhaps have even resorted to the expense of calling a trouble car from the garage.
AS A special service to readers, the Editor will be glad to supply the names and addresses of manufacturers of devices mentioned in this issue DANGER, wasted money, lost time, and misspent energy all menace the motorist who neglects certain small but necessary adjustments and repairs to his car.
Photographic Enlargements Used as Advertising Signs
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Edwin J. Bachman
MOST women declare that of all the work they do around the house, washing the clothes is the hardest, and they dream of some day being the proud owner of an electric washing machine and looking like the immaculate ladies in the advertisements.
Learn Wireless Code with This Homemade Transmitter
Carpet Binding Makes the Contacts
Alarm Clock Winds the Film
Staggered Steps Make Stepladder Safe and Easy to Ascend
Protector for Draftsman’s Scale
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J. E. Pettibone
EVERY one who makes or buys a radio receiving set soon becomes curious to read the code messages that he can tune in at any time of the day or night. These messages, he quickly learns from other more experienced radio fans, are often most interesting—news despatches, witty interchanges between amateurs, messages between ships and shore stations, army and navy despatches, and all kinds of wireless traffic.
This Decorative Floor Lamp with Caned Pedestal Can Be Made with Few Tools
Tools and Materials Needed for Making the Lampstand:
Weaving Horizontally
Easily Made Adjustable Bookrest
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Herbert A. Mincher
PROPER lighting contributes much to the comfort, charm, and individuality of a living room at night. Poorly placed lighting fixtures of crude design, throwing either too much or too little illumination, will counteract the effect of furnishings that are in the best of taste.
Four Useful Tools that Any Machinist Can Make Easily
Boring Chuck, Center Punch, Taper and Scratch Gages
Wooden Casing Stiffens Long Gage
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MACHINISTS who are on the lookout for time and labor saving tools to add to their tool kits will find useful suggestions in the accompanying drawings, which give complete details for an eccentric boring chuck, a milling machine center punch, a taper gage, and a scratch gage.
This Screwdriver Is Useful for Heavy, Awkward Work
Using a Small Chuck on a Large Lathe Faceplate
A Ladder that Won’t Slip
Cutting Sheet Metal Disks with the Bench Shears
Wooden Lathe Fixture Supports Work for Grinding and Milling
Coarse Sand Is Best for Making Concrete
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W. F. Schaphorst
THIS ready-reference chart tells all about I-beams almost at a glance. It serves more quickly than a table for solving many problems of frequent occurrence in construction work and gives close results for regular standard beams. For “special” beams, however, caution should be exercised in applying it.
Full Floating Reamer Holder Insures Accurate Reaming
Clamp and Gage for Numbering with Steel Stamps
Rebabbitting Bearings Easily
Repairs Made by Electroplating
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Joe V. Romig
FOR very accurate reaming work, floating reamer holders are used because they allow the reamer to adjust itself to any slight misalinement between the bore and the true axis of the lathe spindle. Reamers held rigidly will invariably trail a mark through the bore and also they are apt to cut large and untrue.
THIS core-box plane is an improvement on the old-fashioned right-angle type and has the additional advantage that it can be used as a router. The frame should be made of cast iron or aluminum. With three knives of different lengths, any size of core-box from 1 in. to 5 in. can be worked out.
EVERY home worker who has ever attempted to do artistic handiwork and is interested in the decorative crafts, finds continual difficulty in obtaining good designs for use as ornaments. This is equally true in regard to stencil ornaments for woodwork, designs for tooled leather book covers, patterns for textiles, or ornamental units and borders for handmade jewelry, hammered brass and copper work, wood carving and embroidery.
Constructing an Enameled Wall Cabinet for the Small Bathroom
Tool Grinder Provides Power for Sandpapering Machine
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Clifford A. Butterworth
FOR the small bathroom, where there is no room for built-in drawers or a cupboard, this wall cabinet will prove convenient. It has a closed compartment for medicines, two shelves, and two good sized drawers in which towels may be kept. Made mainly of ¾ or ⅞ in. whitewood, it is glued together, with a few nails for reinforcement where necessary.
Soldering Copper with Flexible Handle for Awkward Places
A Continuous Record Box
Mirror Aids in Setting the Camera for Copying
Powerful Double-End Screwdriver
Old Clothes-Wringer Converted into Bending Machine
Protecting Phonograph Records
What to Do when Your Last Hacksaw Breaks
Perpetual Motion Rubber Balls Form Store Window Novelty
Rubber Puttees for Hunters
Making a Knife for Light Work
Cheap Attachment Regulates Flow of Water in the Laboratory
Making a Single Slip-Gap for Small Farm Stock
Wooden Hygroscope Foretells Wet and Dry Weather
Blowpipe and Soldering-Torch Made from Gas-Light Burner
Hacksaw Slot Takes Place of Cotterpin Hole
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H. L. Johnson
TO MAKE a drill press that will pay for itself in the time it saves in the home workshop is not at all difficult. The materials needed are as follows: 1 ¼-in. drill chuck with a ¼-in. shaft 1⅝ in. long, drilled and tapped on end 2 ½-in. pipe tees
Ford Panel Switch Permits Quick Change of Radio Circuits
Depth Gage for Backsaw
Attachment for Light Sawing on a Bench Lathe
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J. M. Rolston
IN CHANGING from short to long wave reception I make the necessary circuit adjustments in my radio set quickly and easily by using a Ford panel switch. This permits me to use a variocoupler type of tuner for broadcasting, and various sizes of honeycomb coils for the long wave stations.
MAKING a neat little extra income by digging wild horseradish may hardly qualify under the terms of the contest, “How I Made Money with Tools,” especially since the tools I used were only a spade, grubbing hoe, and hatchet. But the idea itself is perhaps novel enough to interest readers of POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.
Printing Box for Photographers Works almost Automatically
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Herbert C. McKay
PRACTICALLY an automatic system of printing for the amateur photographer is provided by this printing box. Among its advantages are an automatic light switch, positive contact with even the smallest prints without danger of slipping, printing surface at a convenient angle, easily adjusted masking leaves, and fixed registering guide.
Test Tube Rack Facilitates Small Chemical Experiments
Easily Detached Terminal Connection Locks Nut
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Robert Page Lincoln
AUTUMN is the time when the big fish bite and when your chances are good for catching a prize-winner. When you have made the big catch, mount it, and it will be one of your treasured possessions. It is not difficult to skin the small-mouth bass (Fig. 1).
WHEN window and porch screens are taken down in the fall, they should be marked in some way so that they can be readily replaced the following season. There are a number of good methods for accomplishing this. One way is to punch marks on the top or the bottom edge of each screen with a screwdriver or chisel, following a uniform system throughout.