10 YEARS AGO — JUNE 3, 1999
Machine spits out polymer bearings: An assembly machine from Thomson Industries Inc., Port Washington, N.Y., claims to place Type 5, 6, and 7 Nyliner bearings and SnapLok Nyliner polymer bearings at a rate of 30 bearings/min versus three by hand. It also eliminates assembly defects caused by human error. The machine requires 2 sq ft of space, mounts into any X-Y-Z orientation, and can be programmed to index bearings to a specific orientation before insertion. The machine can process any length bearing without changing the machine’s components.
30 YEARS AGO — JUNE 7, 1979
Clone your workshop for a friend: The ultimate tool for the do-it-yourselfer, Super Shop can be used to make another Super Shop. Fox Industries, Bloomington, Minn., designed the tool to produce Foxjet twin-engine aircraft and then decided to offer it on the home-workshop market. The 500-lb, 24 × 69-in. tool stands 42-in. high with the powerhead horizontal and 81-in. tall with the powerhead vertical. In its basic configuration, Super Shop is a 10-in. power saw, 12-in. disc sander, / -in. wood/metal drill press, horizontal wood/metal boring machine, 17 × 34-in. wood lathe, high-speed wood shaper, and a variable-speed stationary router.
50 YEARS AGO — JUNE 11, 1959
Heat-resistant mirror reflects space-age demands: Rapidly changing temperatures and stresses of rocket flight into space won’t change the resolving characteristics of this telescope mirror. The mirror’s novel trusslike body is made of Pyroceram from Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y. Pyroceram has practically zero coefficient of thermal expansion from –100 to 150°F, the temperatures the mirror will see during space flights. Pyroceram lets the mirror quickly achieve steady state during drastic temperature changes.
