Another great resource from the past, one that fired my imagination, was the Boy Mechanic Series from the editors of Popular Mechanics.  The first series of three books was published in 1913 and the fourth book in 1925.  Later releases came in the forties and then a final run in the fifties.  The later editions were only 200 pages per edition while the early editions were 400+ pages.        

Cover Page From The Boy Mechanic Volume One

Copyright 1913 by H. H. Windsor