From John Wilson Croker’s 1853 manuscript, The History of the Guillotine: The Guillotine was not originally designed with any view to what turned out to be its most important characteristic – the great numbers of victims that it could dispose of in a short space of time: it is curious, and ought to be to [...]
Walter Crane was the second son of Thomas Crane, portrait painter and miniaturist. Early on in his career he came under the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and was a student of John Ruskin. In 1864 he began to illustrate a series of sixpenny books of nursery rhymes in three colors for the printer Edmund Evans. The Baby’s [...]
50 years ago today, at 2:47pm, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. During the anniversary festivities held over the weekend at Kennedy Space Center, retired NASA Engineer Norm Beckel Jr. reminisced over being in the blockhouse at Launch Site 14 with astronaut Scott Carpenter as he called out to Glenn just [...]
On February 20, 1962 astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. lifted off into space aboard his Mercury Atlas (MA-6) rocket and became the first American to orbit the Earth. After orbiting the Earth 3 times, Friendship 7 landed in the Atlantic Ocean 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds later, just East of Grand Turk Island [...]
It is quite difficult to mow the grass on steeply slanting terraces, and for this work an extension handle for the lawn mower will be found a great help. Two pieces of hardwood of about the same dimensions as the mower handle are fastened to the latter with bolts, as shown. A handle is fastened [...]
Comedy motion-picture producers go to great expense to evolve new and absurd situations in which the cast perform, and the elongated automobile shown in the accompanying photograph is a late instance of this. An old car of well-known make has been transformed into an imitation motor bus, whose excessive length of wheelbase and the sagging, [...]
Filmed in the United States in 1932, this incredible footage shows the sheer skill of handicapped golfer Tom McAuliffe. By placing the golf club in between his neck, shoulders and face, he is able to drive the ball 150 yards down the fairway despite not having any arms. For more information on Tom McAuliffe, check out [...]
There is now being manufactured a camera which can be carried in the pocket, operates automatically with the precision of a high-grade watch, and takes either motion pictures, snapshots, or time exposures simply by pressing a button. No tripod or hand crank is required, the camera being held in the hands and the image located [...]
What appears, at first glance, to be an airplane without wings, is, in reality, a road vehicle driven by a motorcycle engine and propeller. Airplane parts have been used for nearly all of the construction, and on smooth roads the little machine is capable of good speed. Braking is accomplished through two hardwood reels that [...]
Fishing in the waters surrounding Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, recently, one of the natives captured a giant halibut that measured a little more than 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. An old-fashioned native wooden hook was used in making the catch, and after the fish had been killed, it was loaded into a [...]
In an effort to excel in their chosen profession, performers are constantly devising new ways of showing their skill or strength. As an example of this nature, a circus performer of Berlin makes himself the center support of a merry-go-round on which eight full-grown men ride. The strong man lies on his back on a [...]
Terminating at the edge of the pool, a radio megaphone has been constructed at a California bathing resort, that, for size, eclipses anything of the kind that has been built, up to date. The opening of the megaphone is rectangular, and is so large that it can be used as a diving platform by at [...]
In cities having bathing beaches on lakes where there is little or no current of water, many people are deterred from swimming by the fear of infection from polluted water. Recent inquiries by the American Public Health Association among a number of medical specialists and health officers, elicited the fact that three-fifths of them considered [...]
Checkers, that staid old game usually pondered over in the quiet corners of the home, has lately been introduced as an outdoor novelty by a New Jersey inventor. The “board” consists of a specially prepared lawn, the regulation number of “white squares” being made by removing sections of sod, while the “black” are designated by [...]
“Wooden policemen” brandishing heavy spiked clubs on which is written “Keep off the Grass!” are used by the University of Wyoming to keep pedestrians from trampling the college lawns. The effigies are 26 inches high and mounted on a stake about 10 inches long. They were made by a student organization. Image/Copy credit.
Camouflaging the telephone is a method used by the proprietor of a café in Los Angeles, Calif., to provide service at any time to those acquainted with the secret. The exterior of the building being of concrete blocks, an imitation block having a spring door has been made of wood. Persons familiar with the location of [...]
