One look at any of these gadgets you can make, and your friends will call you a mechanical genius—or a mad scientist! Build a rocket-propelled toy car or a secret place to hide your treasures from snooping little kids. Grow a pumpkin so big, even an adult can’t lift it. Make an automatic dog feeder, a mechanical snowball thrower, or some storm-predicting bells. All fifteen “Amazing Stuff” projects produce toys that are more than playthings. Yet all you need are some pieces of wood, nails, oatmeal boxes, jar lids, and Popsicle sticks. And you just use a hammer, screwdriver, and other tools from around the house—plus a couple of cheap electric motors you can buy at any electronics store.
I have always been a contraption fiend, at least ever since I made my first one when I was around 11. It was an electric buzzer that I got the idea for from the World Book encyclopedia. I was simply amazed by how the knife (which is one part I used to make it) vibrated back and forth continually when the battery was connected. I was hooked on contraptions at that instant and have been designing and making them ever since! If a kid is hooked on making contraptions what do you think he will want to do in later life? Of course become an engineer and design more contraptions! And I did just this! I received my Bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and, with the help from a NSF Fellowship, also got my Master's in Electrical Engineering from the same college. The first contraption I designed that appeared in publication was a Thunderstorm Alert gadget which received a front cover position in the September 1973 issue of Popular Electronics. This was the first of a long list of articles which appeared in nearly every general interest electronics related magazine around. And back in the 70s and 80s there were a lot of them! However, once you get the writing bug it grows on you so my writing life wasn't limited to contraptions. I also wrote for a multitude of magazines including Boys' Life, Organic Gardening, Michigan Out of Doors, Flower and Garden, Mother Earth news, Back Home, National Gardening and others. I also wrote two other books: Unique Electronic Weather Projects and Programming and Customizing the HC11 Microcontroller. I am now writing a column for both Boys' Quest and Fun For Kidz magazines. What type of column? You guessed it! A Workshop Column!
Since one gets really, really hungry putting together contraptions, I had to have a place where I could grow luscious food like fresh sweet corn and tree ripened peaches. So one could say it was my stomach talking that got me into the fresh fruit and vegetable business. You see, my family and myself , operate Magicland Farms Roadside Farm Market where we only sell what we grow ourselves. Who are in my family? My wife and six of my kids. What do I do on the farm? Well I use a bunch of contraptions like tractors, planters, harrows, cultivators, plows and on and on!
