Opening scene shows cadets at the Imperial Japanese Military Academy in Tokyo, practicing Kendo martial art using bamboo swords (shinai) and wearing protective armor (bōgu). Next the cadets run an obstacle course. We see them leaping over a wall and then running over wooden poles across a deep open pit. They then leap another wall and climb out of a deep ditch and over a stone wall to the top. Next, students are seen demonstrating kendo in a courtyard at the a Military School in Kobe, Japan. Many spectators watch the demonstration.
July 17, 1928, Friedrichshohe, Harz, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. Trial run of an Eisfeld-Valier propulsion system on a simple rail car (chassis mounted on steel wheels) running on the Harz Narrow Gauge Railway ,in central Germany. A man fits rocket boosters in the chassis. A flag marks the start point. The car leaves the start point and attains speed of over 100 Km per hour. Spectators stand near the track. July 25, 1928. Another trial run of the rocket-propelled rail car. Men near Eisfeld-Valier-Rak-1propelled rail car on tracks. Men fit rocket boosters in the car. The boosters are ignited. The car attains a speed of 180 Km per hour. July 26, 1928. Official speed run of the Eisfeld-Valier-Rak 1rail car at Stiege, Germany. On this third run, the car reached 180 km / hr but continues its strong acceleration, causing it to derail and fly off the track at a speed estimated to be 300 Km per hour.
Thomas Edison with his original tin foil phonograph (recording and playing device), that was produced in December 1877. Edison stands near a NBC microphone and shows operation of his tinfoil phonograph, also referred to in press of the late 1800s as a Talking Machine. This footage was shot on the occasion of a recognition ceremony for Edison on October 20, 1928, where he was also presented the Congressional Gold Medal by President Calvin Coolidge. This original tinfoil phonograph had been given by Edison in 1880 to a representative of the English Patent Office who visited the Menlo Park lab. The machine had been exhibited in England. It was repatriated for this 1928 event by the South Kensington Museum in London. British diplomat Ronald Ian Campbell, partially visible on the left in this footage, presented the phonograph back to Edison. Today it is on display at the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey.
Before the eyes of 3000 invited guests, the Opel RAK 2, Fritz von Opel's rocket car, set a speed record in 1928 at Berlin's AVUS race track. The Opel RAK 2 managed a top speed of 238 km/h with the help of 24 solid-fuel rockets packed with 120 kilograms of fuel. Fritz von Opel chose the high-speed AVUS track in Berlin because the company's racetrack was not engineered for speeds over 140 km/h. Men fix rocket boosters on the car. The car moves at a high speed. It releases large amount of smoke as it moves. Crowd watches the car. Photographers take pictures.
An Opel-Sander Rak-3 car on a track for a test drive on 23rd June, 1928 in Germany. Men fix rocket boosters on the car. The car moves at a high speed. It releases smoke as it moves. Crowd watches the car from a hill above tracks. Photographers take pictures. The car gets damaged. A techincian takes a kitten from the car. Technicians arrive in a car. In another test drive the car explodes. Wreckage falls near the tracks. Technicians view the wreckage.
An Opel-Sander Rak-4 car on a track for a test drive on 4th October, 1928 in Germany. The car moves at an uncontrollable speed. It releases large amount of smoke as it moves. Crowd watches the car standing from a hill above tracks. Photographers take pictures. The car explodes. Wreckage falls near the tracks. Scientists view the wreckage.