Popular Mechanics Magazine

Articles from Popular Mechanics Magazine

Iceberg Warnings as Early as January (Popular Mechanics, 1912)

The attached two paragraphs appeared in Popular Mechanics some six weeks prior to the maiden voyage of Titanic:

As many as 4,500 different bergs have been actually counted in a run of 2,000 miles; estimated heights of from 800 to 1,700 feet are not uncommon, and bergs with lengths of from 6 to 82 miles are numerous.


The notice indicated that if the Indian Ocean is suffering such a large number then certainly it can be surmised that the North Atlantic will be plagued doubly. It stands to reason that if the editors of this magazine were aware of the heavy presence of South-bound icebergs, then the naval community must also have been in the know.

Racial Segregation in Truxton, Virginia (Popular Mechanics, 1919)

A small notice appeared in POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE that announced African Americans will be allowed to live in a new town located in Virginia intended to house the employees of the naval station in nearby Portsmouth. Due to small reports as this, Truxton proved to be a destination during the African-American migration period.

Tailoring at Sea (Popular Mechanics, 1910)

During the First World War a popular songster in the United States penned a little diddy that ran just so:

-Though the Army is the clover


T’was the Navy brought them over

And the Navy will bring them back….


In anticipation of this roll, the far-seeing Department of the Navy ordered each and every American battleship to have within its arsenal at least one sewing machine, and a tar who was proficient at tailoring in order to make themselves worthy of the task.

Consumers Tell it to Detroit (Popular Mechanics, 1954)

Attached are the results of a nationwide survey from 1954 indicating what the American automobile consumers were shopping for in cars:


• 54% preferred whitewall tires over any other kind


• 68% preferred push-button door handles


• 59% wanted jet-age hood ornaments


• 44% wished that dashboards were loaded with dials and gauges

Armed Motorcycles (Popular Mechanics, 1914)

The combining of machine gun and motorcycle was an entirely Canadian concept that made an appearance early in the war. It is highly likely that the vehicles never got their baptism of fire:

an interesting adaptation of the motorcycle to military uses has been made by employing it as a light artillery vehicle…the accompanying photograph shows a machine gun mounted on a sidecar chassis.

The Dummy Horse Observation Post (Popular Mechanics, 1918)

History’s ancient example of camouflage, the Trojan horse, has a modern twist in this illustrated article. The journalist reported that at some undated point earlier in the war the French had a chance to set a mock horse-carcass between the opposing trenches and use it as an observation post.

Railway Guns (Popular Mechanics, 1914)

Railway-mounted artillery can be dated to the 19th century, however their shining moment came during World War One, and the most notorious of these was the German manufactured Paris Gunstyle=border:none which showed up in 1918 and was able to shell that city from as far as 75 miles away.

The well-illustrated article attached herein first appeared a few months prior to the war’s outbreak and concerns the railway gun that the French had on hand at the time: 7.87 inch, 6 inch and 4.7 inch howitzers which were intended for coastal defense. By 1916 both sides in the war would be deploying enormous rail-mounted naval guns, capable of delivering a far larger blow.

Click here to read about the U.S. Navy railroad guns of W.W. I.

Railway Guns (Popular Mechanics, 1914)

Railway-mounted artillery can be dated to the 19th century, however their shining moment came during World War One, and the most notorious of these was the German manufactured Paris Gunstyle=border:none which showed up in 1918 and was able to shell that city from as far as 75 miles away.

The well-illustrated article attached herein first appeared a few months prior to the war’s outbreak and concerns the railway gun that the French had on hand at the time: 7.87 inch, 6 inch and 4.7 inch howitzers which were intended for coastal defense. By 1916 both sides in the war would be deploying enormous rail-mounted naval guns, capable of delivering a far larger blow.

Click here to read about the U.S. Navy railroad guns of W.W. I.

Railway Guns (Popular Mechanics, 1914)

Railway-mounted artillery can be dated to the 19th century, however their shining moment came during World War One, and the most notorious of these was the German manufactured Paris Gunstyle=border:none which showed up in 1918 and was able to shell that city from as far as 75 miles away.

The well-illustrated article attached herein first appeared a few months prior to the war’s outbreak and concerns the railway gun that the French had on hand at the time: 7.87 inch, 6 inch and 4.7 inch howitzers which were intended for coastal defense. By 1916 both sides in the war would be deploying enormous rail-mounted naval guns, capable of delivering a far larger blow.

Click here to read about the U.S. Navy railroad guns of W.W. I.

Papier-Mache Used to Deceive German Snipers (Popular Mechanics, 1917)

By the time the U.S. Army had joined the war in 1917, they were far behind in the study of camouflage, but they did their best to catch up quickly. The American generals assigned the task camouflage to the Signal Corps, which began to cruise the ranks for artists and sculptors because of their natural abilities understand paint and scale (one of the more well-known W.W. I Signal Corps camofleurs was the painter Grant Wood: click here to read about him).

The attached article displays an illustration that clearly shows that the American Army had torn a page out of that well-worn play book written by the British Camouflage School in order to deploy papier-mache dummies along the front lines. There is no evidence or written word to indicate that it was actually done.

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