As far as I know, this one-man tank never left the mind of Les G. Scherer. Scherer designed this personal-sized tank to weigh 7,000 pounds, pack two .30 caliber machine guns, and have 650 ports arrayed around the driver with each port containing a shotgun shell that could be electrically fired. Main selling point of… Continue reading Turtle Personal Tank, 1952
Month: March 2013
Atomic-Powered Heating System for Building, 1952
This was real, not Fifties fantasy: a building heated by atomic energy. Appropriately enough, the building, located in Harwell, England, was the center for that nation’s atomic research. Waste heat from the nicknamed “Bepo,” one of the atomic piles, was diverted to heat the 330,000 cubic foot/80 office building. The system cost $42,000, but it… Continue reading Atomic-Powered Heating System for Building, 1952
Hal B. Hayes House, Hollywood California, 1953
Though I’ve lately dedicated this site to cutaway drawings from the golden age of illustration art–1930s to 1960s–certain things come along that are so amazing that they trump my mission. The Hal B. Hays residence in Hollywood, CA is one such thing. I ran into the Hal B. Hayes residence, which Popular Mechanics described as… Continue reading Hal B. Hayes House, Hollywood California, 1953
Winchester .22 Model 52 Rifle Trigger Mechanism Cutaway, 1951
Even a .22 rifle has a complicated trigger mechanism. This one, a Winchester Model 52 from 1951, is timeless. You’ll find essentially the same mechanism on rifles today. Click to Enlarge to 935 x 766 px: Source: Popular Science November 1951
Hand Grenade Cutaway Drawing, 1951
Despite its fearsome reputation in TV and movies, a hand grenade is a fairly simple and imprecise killing device: a metal container that contains “filler” (as the cutaway says) segmented so that it will split open in predictable chucks. This cutaway shows what a generic 1950s hand grenade looks like, cut in half. The only difference… Continue reading Hand Grenade Cutaway Drawing, 1951