This is as good an example as any of why vintage Popular Mechanics horrifies us.  The story isn't about how this glass-blowing maniac seals kittens into prison globes.  Rather, it glorifies his so-called "expertise."  Utterly disgusting, as per usual.  From 1932.

"Bungalow hat."  From Popular Mechanics, 1919. 

When Big Science follows the Hermetic maxim: "Riddle of the stars sought in depth of earth."  As above, so below.  From Popular Mechanics, 1930.

"Earth is ahead of schedule in its rotation."  From Popular Mechanics, 1930.

"How I sought solitude and found it — a tragedy of the Cornish coast."  From The Sketch, 1901.  (We personally found the Cornish coast neither comic nor tragic but rather more like a Shakespearean romance.)

"Building for bachelors has unusual features."  From Popular Mechanics, 1919.

"France stops time for a few minutes."  From Popular Mechanics, 1911.

Here's a precursor to Marshall McLuhan's "the medium is the message" (1964).  "Letter is its own envelope" (1930).  From Popular Mechanics.

A headline from Popular Mechanics, 1908 -- Human Teeth as Sidewalk Material.

"Suffragette sleeps in a bathtub."  From Popular Mechanics, 1911.

Here's a precursor to Pee Wee Herman's trick furniture.  The headline is from Popular Mechanics, 1931.

You've heard of a long summer, but here's one that lasted seven months.  (That said, the summer in Malta lasts eight months.)  From Colin Clout's Calendar: The Record of a Summer. April-October, by Grant Allen, 1883.

""Man-made star guides flyers.  Civilization is constantly reaching back into the centuries for old ideas to meet modern needs."  From Popular Mechanics, 1930.

"Noiseless city is predicted within ten years."  From 1931.  The naiveté would be quaint were Popular Mechanics not so excruciatingly, sickeningly smug about the religion it makes of Big Science.

"Twin thermometers reveal why one is uncomfortable."  From Popular Mechanics, 1921.

Just shoot me -- "'Mercy' bullet brings sleep instead of death."  From Popular Mechanics, 1930.

This sort of embarrassing hubris spans the centuries.  There are no "new" types of prehistoric Indians in Texas, only types new to the so-called discoverer who is merely extraordinarly behind the times.  From Popular Mechanics, 1931.

Here's one of the few headlines in Popular Mechanics that we've actually believed.  "Artists in butterfly wings do their work backward."  From 1929.

"Hoop-skirt parachute for airmen."  From Popular Mechanics, 1911.