Yesterday Today

1923 Christie Monowheel, the Mother of All Monowheels

The product of the fertile imagination of a Professor E. J. Christie of Marion, Ohio, this gyroscopic unicycle was supposedly capable of speeds of up to 400 miles per hour, although at the time of an article from the April, 1923 issue of Popular Science, it had yet to be tested. To be fair, the inventor only claimed “a speed of at least 250 miles per hour, and possibly 400 miles per hour” though this is the sort of uncertainty that suggests he hadn’t a clue what he was about.

Professor E.J. Christie atop a version of his 14 foot monster monowheel in 1923, which may or may not have been tested. Note the smaller model.

The design had a centre wheel of 14-foot in diameter, and weighed 2400 pounds. The “gyro wheels” on each side of the driver weighed some 500 pounds each. The machine, which was reportedly “being constructed in Philadelphia” at the time, was to have been powered by a 250-horsepower airplane motor.

Here is the text of the Popular Science Monthly article:

Will Gyroscopic Wheel Shatter Speed Records?

DOWN the track of a motor speedway a wheel 14 feet high whirls at such a dizzy speed that racing automobiles traveling at top speed––115 miles an hour––seem almost to stand still. So fast does the giant wheel travel that the details of its design can scarcely be distinguished. This is a possibility prophesied by Prof. E. J. Christie, of Marion, Ohio, for an amazing gyroscopic unicycle of his invention, now being constructed in Philadelphia, Pa. The 2400-pound 14-foot model of the speed wheel is almost ready for a trial spin and Christie confidently predicts that it will develop a speed of at least 250, and possibly 400 miles an hour!

In design, the strange vehicle resembles a giant bicycle wheel with an exceptionally long hub, at the end of which supporting spokes are fastened. Attached to the axle, on each side of the center are 500-pound gyroscopes designed to rotate at a speed of 90 revolutions a minute––a speed sufficient to maintain equilibrium.

From April, 1923. Chrstie has numerous automotive patents in his name for inventions or improvements.

Suspended from the axle by a frame, the upper end of which supports the driver’s seat, is a 250-horsepower airplane motor, the power of which is transmitted to the axle through a friction clutch, three-speed transmission, and jackshaft. An additional chain drive in the center of the axle connects the engine transmission with the gyroscopes.

The machine is controlled and operated like an automobile from the operator’s seat immediately above the axle. Here the driver is saved from swinging about the axle by the steadying weight of the engine slung below.

“How can such a strange vehicle be turned?” you may ask.

This problem Professor Christie has solved in a unique way. By means of the steering wheel, he shifts the position of the two gyroscopic flywheels on the axle to the right or to the left. When the center of equilibrium is thus shifted, the unicyle immediately turns in its course, without tilting, the degree of turn depending upon the distance the gyroscopes are shifted. In other words, the farther the shift, the shorter the turn.

The wheel is supplied with a seven-inch rubber tire, the manufacture of which proved a problem in itself. Pressure resistance was found to be so great that several attempts were made before a strong enough tire was produced.

The new gyroscopic unicycle is not the first machine of its kind Professor Christie has produced, although it is by far the most pretentious. He first used a gyroscope to demonstrate the rotation and momentum of the earth.

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38 Stunning Photos of Bo Derek While Filming ’10’ in 1979

Bo Derek had her first major film appearance in 10, a 1979 American romantic comedy film written, produced, and directed by Blake Edwards. It was considered a trend-setting film at the time and was one of the year’s biggest box-office hits. It follows a man in middle age who becomes infatuated with a young woman whom he has never met, leading to a comic chase and an encounter in Mexico.

10 was released by Warner Bros., opening in 706 theaters. It opened at number one in the United States, earning $3,526,692 ($12,174,445 today) its opening weekend. The film went on to make a total of $74,865,517 ($258,442,218 today) in United States, making it one of the top-grossing films of 1979. It received mostly positive reviews from critics.

Take a look at these stunning photos to see glamorous beauty of Bo Derek while filming 10 in 1979.

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Clint Eastwood Samples a Pint of Beer During His Visit to Manchester in 1967

Hollywood hardman Clint Eastwood found his favorite pint of beer during his visit to Manchester on June 12, 1967. “I love beer but the froth gets up my nose,” he said. And immediately he blew it off the top of his pint.

The actor had just risen to fame as the “Man with No Name” in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy” of Spaghetti Westerns. He was also well known for playing Rowdy Yates in the TV series Rawhide.

Eastwood was on a UK tour promoting the first film in the “Dollars Trilogy,” A Fistful of Dollars, which also starred Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach. The other movies in the series were The Good the Bad and the Ugly and For a Few Dollars More.

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35 Adorable Vintage Photos of Children Posing With Their Beloved Animals

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Pets are part of many children’s lives. Parental involvement, open discussion, and planning are necessary to help make pet ownership a positive experience for everyone. A child who learns to care for an animal, and treat it kindly and patiently, may get invaluable training in learning to treat people the same way. Careless treatment of animals is unhealthy for both the pet and the child involved.

Children raised with pets show many benefits. Developing positive feelings about pets can contribute to a child’s self-esteem and self-confidence. Positive relationships with pets can aid in the development of trusting relationships with others. A good relationship with a pet can also help in developing non-verbal communication, compassion, and empathy.

These vintage photos capture lovely moments of children posing with their beloved animals.

35 Beautiful Photos of Singer & Actress Carol Bruce in the 1940s

Born 1919 as Shirley Levy in New York City, New York, American band singer, Broadway star and actress Carol Bruce began her career as a singer in the late 1930s with Larry Clinton and his band. She sang with Ben Bernie’s orchestra in 1940-1941.

Bruce made her Broadway debut in Louisiana Purchase, with songs by Irving Berlin, who discovered her at a nightclub in Newark, New Jersey. She was the first actress to play the role of Julie in a Broadway production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Show Boat since the 1932 Broadway revival.

Bruce appeared with Abbott and Costello in Keep ’Em Flying (1941). Her first serious film role was in This Woman Is Mine (1941). She had supporting roles many years later in the films American Gigolo (1980) and Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), and probably best-remembered for her recurring role as the domineering and meddlesome Lillian “Mama” Carlson (mother of the station manager played by Gordon Jump) on CBS’ WKRP in Cincinnati.

Bruce died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, aged 87.

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35 Amazing Photos Show Chicago in the 1950s

Mayor Richard J. Daley, a Democrat, was elected in 1955, in the era of machine politics. In 1956, Chicago conducted its last major expansion when it annexed the land under O’Hare airport, including a small portion of DuPage County.

Between 1950 and 1960 Chicago’s population shrank for the first time in its history, as factory jobs leveled off and people moved to the suburbs. Poor neighborhoods were razed and replaced with massive public housing that solved few of the problems of poverty and violence.

These amazing color photos show what Chicago looked like in the 1950s.

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Vintage Portrait Photos of Actor John Garfield in the 1930s and 1940s

Gorgeous Vintage Portraits of Ingrid Bergman in the 1940s

Ingrid Bergman found her first success in the United States for her critically acclaimed performance in Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939). Hailed as a fine new talent, Bergman appeared in three films in 1941: Adam Has Four Sons, Rage in Heaven, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde—the last earned her even more praises. That same year she was also successful on her second stage appearance in Anna Christie. In 1942 Bergman had her most famous and enduring role as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca. Despite receiving numerous acclaims, the film was not one of Bergman’s favorite performances.

Bergman received her first Oscar nomination for For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1943. Ernest Hemingway himself stated that “Miss Bergman, and no one else, should play the part.” Her performance as a “wife driven close to madness” in Gaslight (1944) won Bergman her first Academy Award. She received her third consecutive Oscar nomination for her role as a nun in The Bells of St. Mary’s in 1945. That same year Bergman also appeared in Spellbound, the first of her three collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock. Notorious, her second film with Hitchcock, was released in 1946. Bergman won a Tony Award for her performance in Joan of Lorraine in 1947. Joan of Arc (1948), the movie adaptation of the play, would later earn her another Oscar nomination. Bergman’s last film of the decade, also the last of her collaboration with Hitchcock, was Under Capricorn (1949).

Take a look back at the legendary actress in the 1940s through 30 stunning vintage portraits:

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Scalped in 1867 by Cheyenne in Nebraska, Here’s the Story Behind William Thompson’s Scalp

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Scalping is often depicted in old-timey cowboy-and-Indian movies with lots of quavering music and dramatic pauses. But then you see the real scalp under a bell jar and it isn’t so melodramatic anymore.

William Thompson’s scalp, archived at the Main Library in Omaha, Nebraska, looks more like some sort of rodent than an impactful part of history. However, Thompson’s story—surviving a scalping, holding on to the coiffure in question—makes it all the more remarkable.

Amazing Vintage Portraits of a Young Harrison Ford in the 1960s

Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is one of Hollywood’s leading men, with an acting career that has spanned more than 50 years and included iconic roles such as Indiana Jones and Han Solo.

“When I started carpentry, I liked it so much partly because it was such a relief from what I’d been doing before. Shortly after I got out here in 1965, I signed a contract with Columbia Pictures for $150 a week. I was pretty happy. I had a wife and two kids – I still have the kids – and the rent wasn’t much then, seventy-five dollars a month.”

Ford struggled for years as an actor before George Lucas cast him in 1973’s American Graffiti. He then hit superstardom as Han Solo in the first three Star Wars films and as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels, all huge successes. He has enjoyed leading roles in numerous Hollywood films such as Blade Runner, Witness, Working Girl, Patriot Games, The Fugitive and 42, among many others. Ford later revisited some of his most famous characters in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Blade Runner 2049.

“For a while, it was fun. I earned my money by romping on the beach at Malibu with the other contract actors, and these photos would appear in places like Argosy. The captions would read, ‘Harrison Ford et al., on the beach, courtesy Columbia Pictures.’ It was less sophisticated than modeling, but it was a way of being acknowledged as an actor while I learned how to act. They did have some good classes. The worst thing was that in those days, you had to be properly dressed – jackets, no jeans.

“I bought a house near the Hollywood Bowl and decided to take out everything I didn’t like about it. I’d never done carpentry before, but I got the books from the library, got the tools and did it – for about eight years, late Sixties, early Seventies. I did cabinets, furniture, remodeling – it was great! I could see my accomplishments. So I decided not to do more acting unless the job had a clear career advantage.”