The Press: Blood, Sweat & Marvels

For two generations, nearly every handy American boy read Popular Mechanics magazine. It was the bible of budding scientific and engineering genius, the blueprint to mechanical marvels and monstrosities. But in recent years the 56-year-old magazine has been hard pressed to compete with the wonders of the Missile and Atomic Age; for nearly a year Chicago’s H. H. Windsor family has been trying to sell Popular Mechanics (circ. 1,325,735)-Last week it found a buyer: Hearst Corp.’s magazine division.-The buy was shrewdly calculated; magazine circulation is up 23% since 1950, while Hearst’s 17 newspapers have been collectively losing ground. Hearst hopes to pump new life into the old Mechanics, but to the staff’s handymen the transaction was a sad event. Mourned one of them: “When I think of the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into every issue . . .”

-Which also publishes Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, House Beautiful, Bride and Home, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, Sports Afield, Motor Boating, American Druggist and Motor.