Sky-Writing Cannon--This might look like some super-weapon or space gadget, but actually it's a new advertisement projector. Developed in Salzgitter-Bad in northern Germany, the "Astralux," as it is called, beams an advertising message onto a bank of clouds by means of a mirror reflector (left) at the end of the light barrel. Maximum altitude it can reach is 16,500 feet, and under proper weather conditions the message can be read eight miles away, the makers claim. Operators wear protective clothing because of tremendous heat and the gamma rays produced by the electric arc.

Associated Press · [ca. November 1951]

[Information from item housing] Guns...Artillery