Word: launching
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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When a book of gossipy memoirs entitled The Story of San Michele was launched in the U. S. (May, 1929) by Publisher Dutton, the little imported edition (364 copies) slid simply down the ways, struggled unostentatiously against the flood, then sank apparently without a trace. But ten months later it emerged again as a bestseller, led all non-fiction books for eleven months.* So famed grew The Story of San Michele and its author, Dr. Axel Munthe, that shrewd Publisher Dutton wanted to launch another Munthe book. Not having a new one handy he raised from the bottom, where...
Planes are flung into the air from battleships and cruisers by catapults. Originally all these were operated by compressed air. Then it was found that a charge of black powder (a slow explosive), would launch the plane with a more gradual thrust, less of a jerk. But the powder blast sometimes causes accidents, once blew a seaman overboard, makes as much noise as a 5-inch gun. Last week the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics ordered a newly designed "blast reducer" for all explosion-catapults. Built somewhat like an automobile muffler ?a cylindrical chamber perforated with many small holes?...
...Camden, N. J. and the yards of New York Shipbuilding Co. went Mrs. Hoover last week to help American Export Steamship Corp. launch its first of four 8,700-ton vessels built with U. S. loans under the new Merchant Marine Act. A whistle tooted; Mrs. Hoover put down her roses, took a basketed bottle of spring water, cracked it smartly over the moving prow, exclaimed: "I christen thee Excalibur." Declared the first lady: "I got a real thrill when my hand touched the bow of that powerful vessel." Later in the week at Camp May Flather near Harrisonburg...
...Antwerp shipyard last week went three-year-old Princess Josephine Charlotte, daughter of handsome dark-haired Crown Prince Leopold and Princess Astrid, to launch the S.S. Princess Josephine Charlotte, a new Channel steamer for the Dover-Ostend run. Since a champagne bottle would have been, unwieldy for her diminutive Highness, thoughtful company officials tied a bright pink ribbon from the ship's prow to the launching platform. At the appropriate moment Princess Josephine Charlotte toddled to the edge of the platform, snipped the ribbon with a tiny pair of gold-plated scissors. The steamer slid majestically into the water...
...California, with Syracuse. Navy, Washington and Columbia a few yards apart. At two and a half miles Cornell was a quarter of a length out and Syracuse had passed California. Then, "Open water." yelled the Cornell crowd. Captain Shoemaker and Coach Jim Wray, following their men in the Cornell launch, saw a slowly widening space appear between the Cornell stern and M. I. T.'s bow. Washington and the Navy were still in striking distance, but at the railroad bridge they were out of it and M. I. T. was trying wildly and uselessly to hold off Syracuse. Cornell...