Cameras spin on bicycle wheel to film lightning streak, Popular Mechanics – 1936 – Link.

Inventor hides secret of “Death Ray” – “Pigeons on the wing instantly killed by death rays from a machine four miles away–that is the feat reputedly accomplished by a deadly apparatus developed by Dr. Antonio Longoria, of Cleveland, Ohio, who recently announced that he had deliberately destroyed the lethal machine for the good of humanity.” Popular Science – 1940 – Link.

Robot checker player is undefeated, Mechanix Illustrated – 1938. Trickery! Likely a person in there… – Link.

Thinking in glass, Popular Science – 1947. A look back at some master glass constructionists from the Kellogg Company plant in the 40′s – Link.

This and more from the past’s future @ Modern Mechanix -Link.