Weird Universe Blog — April 11, 2021
Reuben Lindstrom’s Wind Driven Vehicle
In 1940, Reuben Lindstrom was granted a patent for a "wind driven vehicle". It was a toy made out of tin cans. It resembled a model train, and the wind could make it go by itself. In his patent, Lindstrom explained that he deliberately avoided using a sail to propel the toy.In wind driven vehicles it is desirable to avoid use of elevated wind responsive devices such as sails, windmills and the like and this is particularly true in toy vehicles simulating various types of full-sized vehicles for the reason that it is desired that the toy vehicle resemble as nearly as possible the full sized vehicle which it simulates.
Instead, he had shaped the wheels "to constitute wind responsive impeller blades".
Digging more deeply into the history of this patent, it turns out that Lindstrom was quite a character. For a start, he never cut his hair because, so he said, whenever he did he got heart trouble. In America, in the 1940s, this was unusual enough that it made the news.
Warren Times Mirror - June 28, 1949
He was a regular fixture around Wisconsin Rapids. A 2001 article in the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune called him "our most unforgettable character."
In addition to his wind-driven toy train, he had built a kind of motorized bicycle, described as a "weird contraption of bicycle wheel, one cylinder gas motor, pulley, levers, scooter and miscellany." He used this to get around on roads and railroad lines.
He basically lived as a street person/free spirit, always carrying around "a picture of a woman with a large snake wrapped around her neck." Some people referred to him as the "inventor hobo".
One of the quotations attributed to him: "Fashion is the main religion of this world. If you are different, they think you are nuts. Most people stay away from me because they think I'm a religious fanatic. The girls also stay away from me."
Also: "Dirt's natural and it keeps human diseases from penetrating the skin and entering my body."
He died in 1988.
There's some more info about him at randyjack.com.
Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune - June 9, 2001
Posted By: Alex - Sun Apr 11, 2021 -
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Category: Bums, Hobos, Tramps, Beggars, Panhandlers and Other Streetpeople | Inventions | Toys | 1940s | Trains
The Middleton Family at the New York World’s Fair
This drama illustrates the contribution of free enterprise, technology, and Westinghouse products to the American way of life. The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair pits an anti-capitalist bohemian artist boyfriend against an all-American electrical engineer who believes in improving society by working through corporations. The Middletons experience Westinghouse's technological marvels at the Fair and win back their daughter from her leftist boyfriend.
Memorable moments: the dishwashing contest between Mrs. Modern and Mrs. Drudge; Electro, the smoking robot; and the Westinghouse time capsule.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Apr 11, 2021 -
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Category: Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts | Family | Technology | Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers | 1940s
April 10, 2021
Cow-Tongue Baldness Cure
Several sources have independently reported that the way to cure baldness is to have a cow lick your head.
Regina Leader-Post - Mar 8, 1984
Colombian hairdresser says he can lick baldness
November 29, 2000
PEREIRA, Colombia -- Want to lick hair loss? A Colombian hairdresser says he has found a way to lick baldness -- literally. His offbeat scalp treatment involves a special tonic and massage -- with a cow's tongue. "I feel more manly, more attractive to women," says customer Henry Gomez. "My friends even say 'What are you doing? You have more hair. You look younger.'"
November 29, 2000
PEREIRA, Colombia -- Want to lick hair loss? A Colombian hairdresser says he has found a way to lick baldness -- literally. His offbeat scalp treatment involves a special tonic and massage -- with a cow's tongue. "I feel more manly, more attractive to women," says customer Henry Gomez. "My friends even say 'What are you doing? You have more hair. You look younger.'"
Posted By: Alex - Sat Apr 10, 2021 -
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Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil | Cows | Hair and Hairstyling
10-Four, Good Buddy Board Game
Did any fad ever evaporate as quickly as CB radio?
Learn details here.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 10, 2021 -
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Category: Fads | Games | Motor Vehicles | Technology | 1970s
April 9, 2021
Marilyke Fashion
In 1953, Reverend Bernard Kunkel of Bartelso, Illinois launched the Marilyke fashion movement. Dresses that were sufficiently modest, like the Virgin Mary would have worn (i.e. 'Marilyke'), were given a seal of approval in the form of a Marilyke tag they could display. The tags were "there to guide the Catholic girls."It seems that only wedding dresses and formal gowns were tagged. As Kunkel noted, "There's not much to be done about bathing suits... We strongly disapprove of the trend in modern bathing suits."
More info: Aliens in this world
source: University of Dayton
Detroit Free Press - June 13, 1955
Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 09, 2021 -
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Category: Fashion | Religion | 1950s
The Mimi Award
The Wikipedia entry for MECHANIX ILLUSTRATED tells us:A long-running feature of Mechanix Illustrated was "Mimi," a shapely young woman dressed in skimpy overalls with blue and white vertical stripes; and, in the early sixties, a matching railroad engineer's cap (later discontinued). She was in a picture holding, standing beside, sitting on, lying on or just in the picture with a new product each month. Each "Mimi" held the job for a year. Their names were never given except for the announcement of a new "Mimi" in the January issue. One Mimi did, however, hold the job for a few years in the sixties. An actress from Southern California, she left to live in Hawaii, and a readers' poll was conducted to choose a replacement from a short list. The readers' choice only lasted a short while, and was replaced by one of the runners-up. "Mimi" was discontinued with the change to Home Mechanix.
Ten more Mimi's after the jump.
More in extended >>
Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 09, 2021 -
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Category: Hobbies and DIY | Magazines | Technology | Sex Symbols | Twentieth Century
April 8, 2021
Avoid Undie Odor
Throughout the 1930s and 40s, the marketing team for Lux soap repeatedly warned consumers that if they didn't wash their clothes everyday, they risked having "undie odor". Some details from Suellen Hoy in her book Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness:Lever Brothers, the makers of Rinso, Lifebuoy, and Lux soap, revised its advertising copy over the years to reflect the changing cultural meanings of soap itself... In 1916, Lux was "a wonderful new product" for "laundering fine fabrics:; by the mid-twenties it could also preserve "soft, youthful, lovely feminine hands" and, by the early thirties, prevent "undie odor" as well—"She never omits her Daily Bath, yet she wears underthings a SECOND DAY."
Francis Countway, the president of Lever Brothers and the individual most responsible for the "discovery" of body odors and the "stop smelling" ad pitch, was inspired by Listerine's successful advertising campaign against the previously unknown halitosis. Countway and his associates admitted, while Lever Brothers' business boomed, that they cared little "about the opinions of softies who think that the Body and Undie Odor copy is disgusting." They were simply doing their job, "bringing cleanliness into a dirty world."
Francis Countway, the president of Lever Brothers and the individual most responsible for the "discovery" of body odors and the "stop smelling" ad pitch, was inspired by Listerine's successful advertising campaign against the previously unknown halitosis. Countway and his associates admitted, while Lever Brothers' business boomed, that they cared little "about the opinions of softies who think that the Body and Undie Odor copy is disgusting." They were simply doing their job, "bringing cleanliness into a dirty world."
Lux soap was also responsible for the "undies are gossips" campaign.
Wilmington Evening Journal - Feb 9, 1932
Kansas City Star - Apr 24, 1940
Posted By: Alex - Thu Apr 08, 2021 -
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Category: Hygiene | Advertising | Underwear | 1930s | Smells and Odors
Unlikely Reasons for Murder No. 4
Being the victim of hypnotism pretty much qualifies as unusual cause for murder.The scan of the story at this source is defective, so some text missing. The second scan gives a condensed version without reference to hypnotism. There is a discontinuity in the text in the second piece as well, and a truncated ending--but that's the way the article appeared.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 08, 2021 -
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Category: Death | Hypnotism, Mesmerism and Mind Control | Nineteenth Century
April 7, 2021
Chair Safety
1999: Due to a spate of "chair-related injuries", the employees in the Seattle Police Department's Identification Unit all had to take a training session on how to safely sit in a chair.
I guess chair safety is one of those things that sounds silly, until you hurt yourself sitting down wrong. Below, Regina Cochrane, "professional accident preventer," offers some chair safety tips.
Posted By: Alex - Wed Apr 07, 2021 -
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Category: Accidents | Furniture | 1990s
An Obvious Case of Entrapment
Posted By: Paul - Wed Apr 07, 2021 -
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Category: Domestic | Burlesque, Exotic Dancing, Stripping and Other Forms of Staged Nakedness | Stupid Criminals | 1940s
