Page:Popular Mechanics 1928 01.pdf/60

 



Airplanes can be stopped within a space about twice their length when landing, according to claims of a western inventor for his propeller brake. It consists chiefly of a small motor, with push-button regulator on the control stick, whereby the propeller can be made to push the air instead of drawing it back. This is accomplished by changing the pitch of the blades with the motor apparatus. It is expected that the device will also be of aid to the pilot when the plane strikes air pockets or other "bumps" along the sky ways.

 

Short pieces of motion-picture film, showing the subject in different poses, will be filed away in the rogues' gallery in Chicago, if present plans of the police department are carried out. It is believed that the movies will greatly help in identifying suspects, as they will show how a man walks and performs other movements which would give additional clues to their identity.

 

Pansies with blossoms four inches across and with stems eighteen inches long, are grown by a Connecticut florist in large numbers every year. They are the result of selection of seed and care, but the grower declares that anyone could produce equally handsome flowers by proper methods. The seed is planted outdoors in summer and the plants are removed to hothouses at the approach of cold weather. They are reset in soil in which the flowers never have been grown before, and, at the end of the season, the soil is entirely replaced by new. Ordinary fertilizers are used, but one of the mysteries of the plants is that they will grow to such large size only in certain localities and, after having produced huge blossoms for a number of years, they will suddenly lose their size and quality. These constitute some of the hazards of the pansy-producing business the grower declares. In good seasons, however, he may ship as many as 75,000 blossoms in one day.



