Popular Mechanics Archive

[Tin Falcon]

What better way to understand History than browse a hundred years worth of magazines.



Popular mechanics Magazine Archive.

I have found the WWII years issues of particular interest. Companies advertising product that they could not sell or produce or at least products that were not available to the readers as all production was going to the war effort.

Statements such as look forward to our new product line when the war is over or when the troops are home safe seemed common.

Tin

 

[westender]

Popular Science is also archived on Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books/about/Popular_Science.html?id=MC0DAAAAMBAJ

Like PM, the articles of interest to folks using this site kind of peter out by the mid- 50's.

They are searchable, so put a timer on yourselves. Otherwise, it's 6:00 A.M.
before you know it.

Tom

 

[AussieJimG]

I have been re-reading some issues of Scientific American that I first read in the mid-1960s.

Of particular interest are the advertisements for computers, computer software and job vacancies. There are advertisements for Cobol compilers for your mainframe for example.

And the articles don't dumb down the language; they expect the reader to understand the technical language or to find out and keep up.

It takes me back.

Jim

 

[Herbiev]

Just read somewhere that all the computing power to put man on the moon is less than what's on a USB stick.

 

[AussieJimG]

I heard at the time that NASA was reluctant to change the Apollo hardware or software even though it was out of date because they knew it was bug-free.

I can understand that. And as I have flown on successive versions of commercial aircraft, I have been aware of the increasing reliance on software for control. It is a scary thought.

Jim

 

[cheepo45]

The Popular Mechanics and Popular Science archives are a wonderful resource.
My Grandfather saved Popular Science from about 1925 to 1970. Every time we visited, I would read stacks of them. This started my fascination with Mechanics, Science, Machining, and building things etc. that I still have.
Thanks, Popular Science and Popular Mechanics !
cheepo45

 

[ShopShoe]

Someone once gifted me the Popular Mechanics (or was it Pop. Science?) from the month I was born. I thought that was a special and thoughtful thing to do. Reading something like that makes one ponder the state of the world and the way things were here in the USA when my parents were young and starting out.

-Nostalgia follows

It was the 1950s and I have many childhood memories living in different places where everyone was doing some kind of D-I-Y project. I particularly remember one neighbor who "disappeared" a screened-in porch in one day and built a large garage to house a wood shop. The next summer Dad and I went to visit them and they were scratch-building a mahogany speedboat. Six older boys installed their own private telephone system using old crank telephones they got who-knows-where, going through the trees and through yards to avoid the real utility companies.

-Rant On

My own four grandsons don't think they are capable of doing anything for themselves and I'm tired of hearing how bored they are. I try to get them interested in what I do, but they can't visualize the connection between the Concept-In-Your-Head and the process and the finished product.

I take heart that there is a "Maker Movement" going on and that places like this forum do exist. There seems to be a huge interest developing around 3D printing. Perhaps some of the kids will take an interest in creative activities....

-Rant Off

Offered in the spirit of nostalgia and fostering thoughts on creative energy.

--ShopShoe

 

[bmac2]

What better way to understand History than browse a hundred years worth of magazines.



Popular mechanics Magazine Archive.

I have found the WWII years issues of particular interest. Companies advertising product that they could not sell or produce or at least products that were not available to the readers as all production was going to the war effort.

Statements such as look forward to our new product line when the war is over or when the troops are home safe seemed common.

Tin

Tin. I am 100% in agreement with you. It absolutely amazes me the skill level of the “average Joe” coming home from overseas after the war. When I read articles from that time period I can’t get over the work being done with the tooling and materials available.
My dad caught the model engineering bug while stationed in England and bivouacked on a farm with a gentleman that was a steam enthusiast while they waited out that little trip across the straights. He had subscribed to The Model Engineer for as long as I can remember (and as it turns out, before that) and after he passed as far as I knew the Library had been binned.
It was only a couple months ago that I discovered that for sentimental reasons one of my sisters (God bless her) had rescued the collection from the trash. Starting Jan 1949 going to the mid 60’s and unbeknownst to me she'd had it in her basement for the last 10 years!
I’m up to September 8 1949 and just finished the series on “making a home refrigerator”. The depth of knowledge passed on in what today, at about 35 pages (though I did just read that they hoped to be adding more pages soon) would almost be a leaflet is amazing. I always feel like I should be wearing white gloves and turning the pages with a stick.

Hey anyone interested in a Myford ML7 cheap? The ads will just break your heart. . . .

 

[RogerP]

Hey anyone interested in a Myford ML7 cheap? The ads will just break your heart. .

In 1949 £39.17.6d for the Myford lathe would have been about the equivalent of 12/13 weeks wages for the average craftsman.

 

[bmac2]

Yep I know, you have to adjust for inflation. This hobby has never been cheap

 

[GLCarlson]

Just read somewhere that all the computing power to put man on the moon is less than what's on a USB stick.

Heck, it's less than what's in my watch!

 

[GLCarlson]

Yep I know, you have to adjust for inflation. This hobby has never been cheap

Best way to do that is to look at cost in hours of work required to buy an X at a given time point. Remarkably constant in some cases, drops like a hot rock in others (mostly, silicon based).

While it's true that this is not a cheap hobby, valuing it is complicated. For example, many of us can weld, plumb, do electrical work, AND make a new gear for a busted machine. The costs we avoid by doing our own work must surely count toward the cost of the hobby. I am certain that I avoid hundreds, if not thousands, per year with my skills. (A recent case in point- I replaced a circuit board and plenum in a flow-thru hot water heater- cost of parts, $260; cost of new heater, $900, plus installation! Convince me I didn't just avoid spending $1000...and it was done faster, to a higher standard, and at MY convenience! Neither I nor my spouse will have a problem next time I buy a $50 milling cutter.)

And, every now and then, I can bail out a neighbor or friend. Priceless.