Popular Mechanics 1920-07: Vol 34 Iss 1

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Pee = pe fea ee, Popular Mechanics Magazine REGISTERED In U. ©. PATENT OFFICE WRITTEN SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT Vol. 34 JULY, 1920 No. 1 Battle Tanks Carry Holiday Crowds ‘THE hackneyed joys of riding the moth-eaten camel or elephant around the amusement park seem tame when compared with the up-to-the-minute thrills now offered to the patrons of a park in southern England. Here two of the famous “Mark IV” battle tanks have been acquired by the proprietor, and are now kept busy every day in the week giving the public the thrills denied them in war time. The capacity of each tank has been increased by the addition of a platform to the top. On this platform are bolted seats for 28 passengers; eight more are carried inside. Operated by former officers and men of the Royal Tank Corps, the lumbering vehicles carry their cargoes of pleasure-seekers over a specially prepared course that includes every variety of breath-taking climb and drop. High railings around the platforms prevent loss of passengers’ during these acrobatics, This British use of the big tanks for joy riding recalls the French use of military tractors for mountain climbing, described by this magazine last December. Copvment, UNGOR . Here is Seen One = the Two British Tanks Recently Added to the Equipment of the Amusement Park. They are Conduc over a Specially Prepared Course by Veterans of the Tank Corps. The Platform Accommodates 28 Passengers; a Few, Desiring More Intimate Acquaintance with the Mechanical Monster, are Allowed to Ride Inside “ “+ WN 1

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As the Lever at the Left is Moved to the Proper Hole, This Improved Counter Handles Dimes, Pennies, Nickels, or Quarters. The Discharge Opening is Seen at the Lower Right - ae. «a en ee SS ee re 5 Ae ~ vy om aE? rag SPIE eS. Sadia. Cita ea ate = ie ha PSF a me - Se ost: ae The most meritorious feature of the improved model now being made by a manufacturer of coin-counting machines is the adjustment which makes it possible to handle coins of most denominations without the use of separate attachments. The change to dimes, pennies, nickels, or quarters is made by the shifting of a lever at the side. By means of another lever handle, at the front, the machine may be set to count continuously, or to stop automatically when it has counted 10, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, or 100 coins. Turning the hand crank, the operator can count 1,500 coins or more a minute with the new machine, or count and wrap eight pack- ages. Wrapping is done with the aid of a small extension attachment for the dis- charge opening. Weighing only 30. Ib., the machine is easily carried from desk to desk as required.

MACHINE WEAVES WICKER FURNITURE For some 5,000 years man has been weaving wicker baskets and furniture by sticking upright stakes, or the weft, into a frame, then weaving the. warp in and out. This process has al- ways been a man- ual one; until a few months ago, in fact, manufacturers of woven baskets, furniture, and baby carriages ac- tually asserted that a machine could never be in- vented to do this work. But the ma- chine has been built, and is now in use. The industrial impor-

tance of the invention This Chair and is suggested by the Baby Carriage - et that : i $00,800. Machines. The rm pai . : ‘eave is to last April, for the Evenand Floste British rights. “. The invention was made possible by a radical departure from the tra- ditional manual method. Weaving, thatis, is not done on the frame, and in the final shape. Instead. the . frame is built in one of the factory, and the wicker fabric is wovén in another. “The last step in the manufacture is, of course, the application of the wicker fabric to the frame. a The loom is a revolving machine to which the stakes, or weft, are fixed, over a pattern. The wicker, wrapped on two spools at the sides of the loom, is fed into it through an overhead tension pul- ley. As the loom re “aaa tc passes Irom the ey to e hand, as in the old process. .

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Two of the Wicker-Weaving Machines are Seen in the Foreground. The Loom at the Left is Weaving the Body of a Baby Carriage. The Wicker is Fed through Tension Pulleys, Suspended Here from a Rafter. The Loom at the Right is Weaving Flat Wicker Fabric of the T being Displayed at the Edge of the Photograph. The Two Men between the Machines are Holding Specimens of the Work Done, in This Case a Baby-Carriage Body and Hood

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4 POPULAR WONDER CASCADE ON HILLSIDE BUILT BY MODERN METHODS Dame Nature has found in a land- scape artist at Minneapolis a keen com- petitor, for so skillfully has he construct- ed an elaborate cascade that the- entire work would readily pass as nature’s own to practically every observer. The extent of the work can be realized from the fact MECHANICS ing the framework of the cascade, was first made in the usual manner by depos- iting concrete between plank forms. None of this concrete can now be seen. It has been entirely covered and its lines broken by the well-planned rock forma- tion. 3 _ Into this concrete wall were set small iron rails and 42-in. rods about 5 ft. long, which were intended to support the arti- ficial work that hides the Remarka - Bowlders and Slabs against a Concrete W: by Iron Rods. The Water Falls that the cascade is 40 ft. high, more than 100 ft. long, and throws nearly 500,000 gal. of water every 24 hours over its precipice. The artist was set the task of creating an artificial cascade that would harmonize with its surroundings and prove a genu- ine attraction in the park. The spot se- lected for this purpose was a sidehill gradually approached by a winding road that is a favorite with visitors to the park. The big wall, with its abutments, form- bly Natural Appeasines, Feet wall proper. Each of the large bowlders rests on two rails, well cemented into it a@ quarter of its length from either end. Four or five rods around the tops and sides were connected with the rails ; then other rods were * crossed and fastened to ' these, producing a skele- ‘ton framework. . This framework was then covered with wire mesh and coated with mortar. Of course, while the men were working on these bowldets, it was necessary to build staf- folds. While the ‘wire baskets were being plas- tered they were propped up from below. Braces * on the inside kept the top from sagging. A _ thick coat of mortar was _applied:to the inside of the rocks to make them stiff and strong. At some places, the flat wall pieces that showed be- tween the bowlders were merely plastered over; at other places, natural bowlders were piled on top of the artificial; mor- tar was then used to break the lines. In addi- tion to. the wire-mesh ' rocks that are suspended on the wall and overhang the large pool, there are\ also a few solid overhangs built up from the floor of the l.. The overhanging part of these rocks was built on platforms of boards, covered with canvas or sacks, spread with mortar, and the rocks stuck in. It was then built up with layers of mortar and rocks to the desired height, size, and shape—large rocks in the bot- tom filled in with smaller ones near the top. Reinforcement 'was used wherever the. overhang excteded 18 inches.

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The es Laboratory fo CEAN-CABLE telegraphy over a bare wire, without a vestige of insu- lation, entirely dispensing with the pres- ent cumbersome and expensive form of cable, is now practically assured as a de- velopment of the early future. Still more astonishing, direct telephone conversa- tion over the same bare submarine wire may be expected as a concurrent accom- plishment, These extraordinary results are predicated upon the success of a series of experiments recently performed by the chief signal officer of the U. S. Army. Reduced to its simplest terms, the newly discovered system of communica- tion is a combination of wireless and wire methods, , and its equip- ment consists of two wireless telegraph or telephone sets connected by a wire. In the first experi- ment, a bare, clean No. 12 phosphor- bronze wire was laid across the bottom of the Potomac River, between stations three-quarters of a mile apart. The transmitter was an electron-tube oscillator with a current output of about 270 milliamperes at 600,000 cycles, and the receiver an elec- Water is bein of the United States Bureau of Standards Used by the Si Interior of the Experimental Building: A Channel of Fresh Prepared, in Which the Bare Wire is Laid and Connected to the Sending and Receiving Apparatus at the Ends ¥ . al Officer as an Ex r Working Out the New System of Communication over an Uninsulated Wire Lai rimental in Water tron tube and six-stage amplifier without ground connection. Tuning in the usual way, both telephonic and _ telegraphic communication was obtained, in multi- plex as well as singly. Two stations the same distance apart were also connected by a bare No. 16 copper wire, buried in 8 in. of moist earth or laid on top of it, and similar satisfactory results were obtained, using about 100 milliamperes of current and frequencies as high as 1,000,000 cycles. In connection with the work a new form of resonance wave coil was developed, con- sisting of a very long helix of many turns. This coil not only improves transmission when used as part of a line wire or an- tenna system, but serves as a valuable direc- tion finder when employed as an open-coil antenna in wireless work. Besides the obvious bene- fits derived from the elim- ination of in- sulation, t he bare-wire sys- tem, with its high-frequency currents of large voltage, shares the advantage of wireless in clar- ity of transmission and absence of dis- tortion. It is virtually free from the elec- trical restrictions which automatically 5

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wee ie 6 POPULAR MECHANICS oie PRE MEF At the Left Is the New Resonance Wave Coil Right Is the Signal-Corps Wireless Set Used with the Bare the Potomac River, Transmitting Both Telegraph limit the working speed of the submarine cable, and the practical length of the land in Connection with the Bere-Wire Work. At the «Bronze Wire Laid in hone Messages line. In short, results without insula- tion are better than with it. end FIREPLACE REVOLVES TO WARM ANY ROOM DESIRED ‘Though fuel is now none too plentiful in England, one English inventor evi- dently expects the supply to be still more The Grate Carried by This lace can bic gar uyertaieee curtailed, In fact, he has devised an.open firéplace which can serve as many.as four rooms, It is necessary only that all the rooms be contiguous at one point. Here the chimney and: fireplace are installed. The fire »grate is carried on a revolving platform, ‘which is controlled by handtes mounted at each wall opening. hen ‘the the pat and ? a working capacity of occupants of one room have finished with the fire, the grate is moved by means of a handle to the next, or any other room. The revolving platform carries, also, a tank which is heated’ by the fire, and from which hot water is supplied to all the rooms. HUGE SHIPBUILDING CRANE FORFEITED BY GERMANY One of the forfeitures of equipment most distressing to German industry is that of an enormous shipbuilding crane now located at Hamburg, but soon to be transferred to England. The “Imperator” and several other great and famous ships were built under this huge structure, which covers the whole slipway area of ‘tons. e erection of this crane a tew*years .ago established Hambutg as the mew center of German shipbuilding activity, and ‘its loss is one of the penal- ties to be. for ‘the scuttling of naval vessels at pa Flow. Accompanied by three passengers, an ex-sergeant of the U. S. Army Air Serv- ice recently piloted a biplane of a type now on ‘the commercia! market from Mitchell Field, Mineola, ‘N. Y., to a height of 16,200 ft. This is a world’s record.

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POPULAR MECHANICS 7 QUAKES SHAKE. UNITED STATES 87 TIMES IN 1919 One is surprised to-learn from a recent report of the Weather Bureau, Depart- ment of Agriculture, that in 1919 ‘the United States was shaken by earthquakes 87 times. To this statement is appended, however, the assarance that this number is less: by 40 than the total for 1918. Most of the quakes were unfelt by the populace of the affected areas, too, and were de- tected only by delicate seismographs. As for distribution, it is seen that most of the disturbances are reported from the , Pacific coast. More than a score, though, | occurred in the Mississippi Valley. Most of these were in the region comprised by southern Illinois, southern Indiana, west- ern Kentucky, and western Tennessee. VACUUM CUP ON SPRING LIFTS RECORDS OFF PHONOGRAPH When the smooth, slippery edge of a record hugs the turntable tightly, the user is prone to wish that phonographs had ejectors, like shotguns. An eastern con- a Phono- Vv i acuum on o fees ae iew Shows the Attachment in Use cern now supplies the deficiency with a simple attachment consisting of a vacuum cup on a spring arm. The arm is fastened alongside the tone arm, and the little cup has a tiny vent in its metal ‘back, which is closed by the finger when it is pressed down on the record. When the other hand has gripped the lifted record, the finger is removed, and ‘the suction ceases. STAND FOR WATER JAR IS NEW SERVICE-STATION ACCESSORY For the service station there is now made an inexpensive piece of equipment which keeps the disti water or elec- trolyte clean and always ready for use. It consists of a metal stand which is set upside down upon any one-gallon bottle. -The stand’s nonmetal stopper fits tightly ‘ of hard tubber. When ‘of the water in the bottle. into the neck of the bottle. To a hole in-the stopper is connected a short length of rubber tubing, terminating “in a nozzle i mmiow, “ao the bottle is ready for instant use. To start the flow of water to a storage bat- tery the nozzle is carried below the level One metal clip supports the tube in an elevated posi- tion when not in use; another hoids a hydrometer. SLIDING WHEEL ON TRAY IS MECHANICAL CARD DEALER A French player, rhaps one who has seen his friends deal from the bot- tom of the pack, has recently introduced a mechanical card dealer. Its use makes cheating difficult. It is composed of a celluloid tray for the pack, with one -side cut away. To the opposite side is hinged a standard which carries a rubber-tired wheel. This wheel rests upon the top card. To use the tray the dealer pulls the wheel toward him by means of a ———E to the Left, has Pushed the The So the Top Card ' (the Pack looped wire. This pressure released, a coil es locks the whedl and -carries it ‘back, so forcing the top card out of the itray.

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8 POPULAR MECHANICS ELECTRIC CLOCK FOR AUTO DASH NEEDS NO ATTENTION An electric clock of marked simplicity and of an excellence proven in war-time service, is now being added to the dash- . a rake Oka i ’ ee The Electric Clock is Shown at the Top in Side and Front Views. The Cutaway Views, Below, Suggest the Simplicity of the Mechanism we board equipment of many automobiles. The clock is automatic in operation, never needs attention, and is accurate under almost any conditions. Current from the storage batteries or dry cells, entering at the back, tensions a coil spring to give the movement the exact power necessary for a proper beat of the balance. Little current is required; as a matter of fact, it is estimated that the clock consumes in one year less than a dashlight in one hour. The case is of the flange type to orang the use of a large dial with a small ody. MOTOR AND PUMP COMBINED - IN 45-POUND UNIT 4 little power unit weighing only 45 Ib., onsisti aud .¢ ting ofa %4-hp. motor directly connected to a rotary vacuum and pres- and Vacuum Unit is Seen to : of ilk achine. The 4-H er Motor Directly Connected to the A toomane Pome sure pump, is now marketed as a handy farm accessory. The light weight is at- tributable to the use of aluminum for all parts except the motor itself. On the ‘projecting end of the motor shaft is a reduction gear which reduces the speed from 1,750 to 350 r.p.m. A gauge and re- lief valve are fitted to the pump to reg- ulate the vacuum produehd, Conmatred to a lamp socket, the unit can be used for milking cows, pumping water, inflating tires, separating cream, or any similar work. PEANUT-BLANCHING MACHINE WORKS WITH COLD WATER A new type of machine that blanches peanuts by treating them to a bath of cold water, circulated by an_ electric motor, has just been put into successful use in a midwest city. The shelled nuts are dumped into a hopper at the top, and after turning on the water and starting the motor, the operator inspects the proc- ess from time to time through an open- ing in the top. When ready, the nuts are discharged at the end into 2 washing tank, Peanut-Blanching Machine That Handies 35 Pounds Every 16 to 20 Minutes, Using Cold Water to remove any particles of skin, and the water and skins pass out at the bottom, where a pump returns the water for fur- ther use. The machine blanches 35 Ib. of peanuts, common or “Jumbo,” every 15 to 20 minutes, and with one, operator is declared to take the place of 20 hand workers, making a considerable saving not only in labor, but in the operating space required as well. @An industrial use has been discovered for horse chestnuts, which yield on dis- tillation an oil composed of one part acetone and two parts alcohol of the butyl class. To obtain these products, the nuts are subjected to a special process of fermentation.

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AUTOS OF 'BABY<CAB. SIZE POPULAR IN BERLIN

, € ” Populari of These Tiny Vehicles in Berlin is Attested she um to ~4 Seen a Resorts. gre Driven by an nice Bottery, and Are Se Ee a can Operate One with The Convenient Little “‘Solo” Machine Ru Runs - Boue urs on One Battery Charge, arging Stations - are being Installed throughaqut th e City

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HERE has been perfected by a Pacific- coast inventor a high-power pneu- matic rifle which is said to have many advantages over the guns whose bullets are projected by powder. Tests indicate NEW AIR GUN IS HIGH-POWER WEAPON . By L. W. PEDROSE % e rear, adjustable for various distances. e exposed metal parts are steel-blued, with the exception of the air-release hammer and repeating action bolts, which are nickel-plated. he walnut stock is beautifully grained, with oiled finish, and is fur- nished with pistol-grip stock. Pistol grip and So eee itt Diagrammatic Section through the forearm are carved in knurled pattern. The air-storage cham- Breech and Pum Action, =o wg —— ee on owing the Bullet-Charging aa of the breech on the Mechanism and Air Release oP ordinary rifle. It is a The New High-Power Air Gur wi Action Closed, in the Top View, Compressing the Air Charge, that the model of this new air gun, a .22 caliber, has practically three times the hitting power of the ordinary rim-fire .22. By increasing the air-storage capacity of the weapon, it was apparent that the gun would have a heavier striking capacity than the regular 22 high-power sports- man’s rifle. . The ordinary rim-fire .22 can only pene- trate an inch or inch and a half of paper in the form. of books stacked against a solid background. In testing the new air gun, the storage chamber was charged by pumping the lever eight times. Five hele were discharged without renewing the stored-up air. Three of these shots sg cleanly through six inches of ooks, and two shots penetrated more than three inches. The rifle is of two types, single-shot and repeater, with additional utility as a single-shot. In size, balance, weight, length of barrel, appearance, etc., it is comparable to the regular high-power sportsman’s rifle. The stock and forearm are of American walnut; the barrel is of steel, round and tapering toward the muzzle. .Sights are regulation sporting type—beaded knifeblade front and leaf and Open in the Bottom V: steel tube about one and me) One-half inches in diam- “= eter and six and one- i half inches long. It is built to withstand sevy- 4 eral thousand pounds | pressure. Great leverage is obtained on the charg- 4 ing plunger. When the desired pressure is ob- tained, the lever is tripped to permit escapement of the air in the pumping . chamber. Discharge of air in projecting the bullet is controlled by the strength of the blow of the hammer against a plunger valve. The hammer spring is re ed from the forward end beneath the barrel; by in- creasing the strength of the hammer blow, more air is released to project the bullet, and vice versa. In the papneting model, a sliding bolt rotates the rotary: breechblock, into which a tube feeds bullets and cocks the weapon. To clean and oil the gun, a few drops of oil are placed in the breechblock at the opening where single bullets are fed, and the gun discharged. It is expected that the principal market tor the new gun will be remote places where ordinary: ammunition is hard to get and is very expensive. For instance, a case of small-caliber ammunition that costs $20 in the United States, costs $200 in the Arctic, it is pointed out. With\the high-power air gun, it will be possible to make bullets from the native copper of the Arctic. k A rifle of larger caliber and a shotgun are being developed by the inventor, who declares the pneumatic principle also is applicable to the army rifle. @A union depot for motor-truck freight has been established in Toledo, Ohio, by several independent -trucking concerns.

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The Caméra Man's Diving Bell, with Its Plate-Glass Window Seen R ona Behind It Is the Cran¢ by is Lowered, and in the Background, the Pump y ae oy It with Air TAKES UNDERWATER MOVIES FROM DIVING BELL REMARKABLY clear and sharp movie lens used, cameras for this work being films and still pictures, taken under equipped with special lenses, corrected water, are the product of an improved for water refraction, and having a pene- form of diving . tration that bell recently gives good pic- perfected at a tures at more west - coast” than 100 ft. A studio. The in- ~ hand - operated strument was three - cylinder developed for high - pressure the express ~ pump supplies purpose of re- the air, and its cording the capacity allows work of a a working noted lady depth as great swimmer, and as 200 ft. A has. proven special tele- highly success- — phone connects ful. The bell © the director on weighs 1,800 Ib. the surface ashore, but © with the cam- only 70 Ib. in era operator in the water, and the bell at all is so arranged — ac aka egy ental times. By this That AN the that- the. cam- ae ey tn 'Air, Taken throwgh jee means the ex- era man inside ee eee ae eee we with Lenses Cor- ecutive is able can move it to direct the about on the bottom to change his view- work of taking the picture almost as ef- point. fectively as though camera, subject, set- A large oval plate-glass window accom-__ ting, and all were on dry land. modates the field of the widest-angle The submarine studio thus made avail- il

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12 POPULAR MECHANICS able, used in conjunction with the am- phibious dexterity developed by certain players, promises an early supply of mo- Movie Players Enea ed in a Submarine Fi Example of the New Diving Bell's Photographie Work tion-picture scenes of entirely new char- acter, taken against the strangest of nat- ural backgrounds. NATURAL GAS NOT IMPAIRED BY EXTRACTING GASOLINE That no reduction of the heating qual- ity of natural gas results from the extrac- tion of its gasoline content, is the con- clusion just reached by the U. S. Bureau of Mines, after a thorough study of the question. One gallon of the high-grade gasoline so obtained, valued at 25 to W cents, is equal in heating power to 35 cu. ft. of gas, worth 1% cents. The gas consu- mer.does not pay for it in any event, as it isextracted before reachinghismeter. Fur- thermore, the loss of the liquid is an actual benefit to the gas, as the disintegra- tion of rubber gaskets and connections is reduced, diminishing leakage loss in the pipe lines. There has been a general im- pression among communities using nat- ural aes that removing the gasoline im- paired the remaining fuel. SOLUTION IN PRESSURE TANK MAKES AUTO WASHING EASY Increased facility in washing automo- biles in service stations and garages is obtained with a recently devised system, which employs a pressure tank to hold the special soap solution used.- Air from the regular pressure supply is admitted to the top of the tank, and the solution is forced out, — a hose connection, to the washing tool. This consists of a hose nozzle on a handle with two valve connections, the second of which carries a hose line from the city water supply. The usual large sponge is tied over the nozzle, and the air pressure forces the solution through as needed, the change Reduced Model of the Pressure Tank, Washing Tool, and Double Hose Connection for Solution and Water to plain water being made by turning the handle valves. Other forms of nozzle may be used if desired. HOW AIRDROMES WERE LAID OUT IN JUNGLE The recent navigation of the trans- African air route was made possible, as stated previously in this magazine, only by the heroic work of the three advance atties who laid out the 43 airdromes. he difficulties overcome by these parties, heretofore more conjectured than known, have lately been described in the pub- report of the third group, which prepared the 13 airdromes in the south- ernmost 2,000..miles. When the site for a typical airdrome had been selected tentatively, it is told, four boundaries 800. yd. lon, and two diagonal traverses, were : cleared of grass, usually 7 to 10 ft. high, and of smaller obstacles. This work re- vealed with least labor the configuration and suitability of the ground. ch ha- tive was then assigned for clearancé a “skonkewan,” or area 10 yd. square. When this patch had ‘been cleared of grass, the anthills were carted away. en trees and stumps were taken out, roots and all. The ground was drained and leveled, finally, and replanted with suitable grass, Each field. was identified by huge mosai¢s of white stones, and was provided “with. wells, dwellings for staff anf visitors, and large ;4 round dumps of gasoline and lubri ss a

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POPULAR MECHANICS a te

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14 POPULAR MECHANICS HUMAN CUSHION BREAKS FALL FROM LOFTY FLAGPOLE Thanks to the quick-witted heroism of his comrades, a sprained ankle was the only injuty suffered by a high-school stu- dent of Waterloo, Iowa, several . weeks ago when -he fell from a 90-ft. fi le. Assembling before the schoolhouse for a. patriotic flag raising, the boys had oan the halyard missing from the pull the top of’the pole. A member o the ' at present, to put the coin: “handicap to the e: . to be altered, in the first pl |. sentatives recently ment of the Interior report on the ' cost of privately senior class volunteered for the hazardous task of replacement. A 60-ft. ladder was procured and lashed to the pole-: Up this he climbed, with an angle iron and pulle in his hand. These he fixed to the pole in order that the crowd might hoist. the ladder to the top. He stepped upon the angle iron, As the lashings broke, the crowd gasped to see him fling wide his arms, somersault backward, then stay his fall for an instant by erasing a rung of the ladder. As though-in response to a shouted command, the lads “rushed for the base of the pole. The human cushion was formed just in time to receive the as body of the youthful steeple- jac BRITISH UNWILLING TO ser DECIMAL COINAGE SYSTEM Despite the manifold disadvantages of the present system, enumerate many witnesses exami royal commission on irs hae ‘ recently reported that it is .. &, ~ti ay ; ree. 4 a decimal basis. und-shilling-pence system ‘is ys earn, difficult to figure with; sion feels that the di ct — wf would be almost insurmount lions of industrial contracts © ‘h ¥ § on . replace the present coins an new 3 require the whole normal output mint for 13 years, no allowance | made for increased production. 1 “1 half of the output were devoted to re- placement, and the other half to meeting current demands, this confusing transi- - tion would take more than twice as long. FORMATION OF GIANT-RE! PRESERVE Is With the intention of establishing a new national forest the Hou: pre- \ Dep rt- nia containin ~cime wood ay bag the concern, by the House on = m signed to p nso ernment We eint ~ exchange ay Bs vately owned areas nie nate the Sierra National Forest. =~

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: : —m ’ a a j wt, ———— aes if Race a — aa = ‘ ¢ ’ ’ e>° ope ~ . B . ; ; ’ 4 0 ' . D rT ‘ mon : 9 n 4 ‘ . pur! ‘ ‘ be . Py iz ' r) ‘ a4 7 . ' ele . ies as . bee ry ry . Pi . ve

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16 POPULAR MECHANICS W MACHINE GRADES PEACHES fe BY SIZE WITHOUT INJURY ~reaches are usually. graded by hand, jor they must be without blemish for the AUTOMATIC WIRELESS SENDER NEW AIRPLANE EQUIPMENT | Any one of a number of prepared mes- sages may be sent by wireless from an igi tts 2 Best market, and are Sendéi-akiiuhdl ‘A mew machine, manufactured in the East after designs by government experts, ‘sorts the fruit in different bins, according to size, without even bruising the bloom. ' Bcogee conveyor with wood rollers ves the peaches, while hand pickers remove defective specimens. At the top conveyor dumps them onto two sets ropes running on pulleys, side by side and nearly parallel. The two inner pul- leys at the conveyor end may be moved en the shaft, by means of a handwheel, to adjust the distance between the ropes. The peaches pass along the ropes and — drop through at different points, accord. | ing to their size, into canvas chutes. -COAST-TO-COAST MAIL PLANES TO HAVE OMAHA AS BASE | Because of its central location ernment sg ng at Omaha, N become a lla le within two. for 500 acta lanes, according to a 4 credited A to the chief yj statement recently of construction and ae planes will be used in the New York San, ie: fancisco service, and in the maintenance — . of feeder lines.| Omaha’s central location also. Converted in a day to. v- : re ss airplane by the simple pressure of a lever, with a Recta automatic trans- mitting apparatus now being shown in London. The nes is in- closed in an aluminum case only 6 in. square, on the front of which are three rows of iains en- Each Pe rhs ; Sages. essage has _ a socket into- which the _. wireless can be ay Pirie J on the end of the - case is depressed, and its _ slow return actuates the the. ties tae ‘ ing P Ss sign. Using code, any desired information” may be transmitted by the pilot without assist- ance. A similar apparatus, for artille work, is used in connection with an aeria map. TRACKLESS . _ocomorivasieins OVER HIGHWAY TO COAST Somewhere between Indiana and Cali- fornia; a locomotive on rubber tires _is tooting its whistle and ringing its bell for the rage = way on oa nations high- ‘influenced the choice. ta 2 way : whi a these 500 mail carriers will reach the Atlantic coast, the or the Mexices: border within 3 t to 20. hours. aaills She Tong range. really than a

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POPULAR MECHANICS Side View of Tires That is a Highway Indiana and Const The * Boilerlike ‘Body is Built H Automo Chassi of 146-Inch Wheelbase, and te Total Length “Ts $1, Peet hh te Dateas bp tes esigner, Whose obby is g Unu it is far from being merely a car with a freak body. From the riveted steel boiler with its smokestack exhaust, to the cab, and back of that the short tender, the whole machine-is built in exact’ replica of a modern rail engine, and built to stand the roughest of treatment. Itis mounted on a chassis of 145- in. wheelbase equipped with a six-cylinder, 90-hp. motor, and is capable of speeds up to 50 miles an hour. The total length is 21 ft., the width 5 ft. 8% in., and the height 7 ft. 6 in., the weight be- ing 4,500 Ib. All the controls and gauges are in the cab, located above the “fire box” in locomotive style. The curi- Ous machine represents the handiwork of an Indiana au- tomobile en- thusiast, whose hobby is the construction of queer cars. Front versenkt, iew of the Hi Locomotive, Whi Pall-Bise” Railroad | ate in Everything ex tilizer-imp > ch Reproduces a cept Its Wheels AMERICAN FINDS MUCH LIME AND POTASH IN GREECE Germany’s domination of the Greek fer- ort business will be according to an authoritative “spurlos prediction, by the recent ac- tivities of an American uni- versity scien- tist. Sent to Greece by the Red Cross to investigate agricultural conditions, the professor found that the supply of pot- ash in Greece was sufficient to make it more than practicable for certain districts to dig it from the soil rather than to import it from Ger- many. While inspectin abandone farm land and other unused areas, the pro- fessor discov- ered, too, large deposits of lime.

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16 POPULAR MECHANICS NEW MACHINE GRADES PEACHES BY SIZE WITHOUT INJURY Peaches are usually graded by hand, for they must be without blemish for the AUTOMATIC WIRELESS SENDER NEW AIRPLANE EQUIPMENT Any one of a number of prepared mes- sages may be sent by wireless from an airplane by the simple pressure of a lever, with a new automatic trans- mitting apparatus now being shown in London. The mechanism is_ in- closed in an aluminum case only 6 in. square, on the front of which are three rows of plates en- graved with the mes- sages. Each message has a socket into which the wireless lead can be plugged. To send, a han- dle on the end of the case is depressed, and its slow return actuates the best market, and are tender-skinned. A new machine, manufactured in the East after designs by government experts, sorts the fruit in different bins, according to size, without even bruising the bloom. An inclined conveyor with wood rollers receives the peaches, while hand pickers remove defective specimens. At the top the conveyor dumps them onto two sets of ropes running on pulleys, side by side and nearly parallel. The two inner pul leys at the conveyor end may be moved on the shaft, by means of a handwheel, to adjust the distance between the ropes. The peaches pass along the ropes and drop through at different points, accord- ing to their size, into canvas chutes. COAST-TO-COAST MAIL PLANES TO HAVE OMAHA AS BASE Because of its central location the gov- ernment airdrome at Omaha, Neb., is to become a base depot within two years for 500 aerial mail planes, according to a statement credited recently to the chief of construction and extension. *These planes will be used in the New York-San Francisco service, and in the maintenance of feeder lines. Omaha’s central location influenced the choice in a military way, also. Converted in a day to battle planes, these 500 mail carriers will be able to reach the Atlantic coast, the Pacific coast, or the Mexican border within 15 to 20 hours. The Conveyor Dumps the Peaches onto the Ropes Which Run Side by Side, and They Drop Through at Different Points, According to Size message key, first send- ing the plane’s call sign. Using code, any desired information may be transmitted by the pilot without assist- ance. A similar apparatus, for artillery work, is used in connection with an aerial map. TRACKLESS LOCOMOTIVE RUNS OVER HIGHWAY TO COAST Somewhere between Indiana and Cali- fornia, a locomotive on rubber tires is tooting its whistle and ringing its bell for the right of way on the national high- The Array of Controls and Gauges, and the Con- ventional Steering Wheel, in the Locomotive Cab way—the first trackless railroad engine to make the long trip to the coast. The strange vehicle is really an automobile rather than a locomotive, of course; but anita gg ll” i

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Ate test

ans pent te ES atten YS

POPULAR MECHANICS

Side View of the Locomotive on Rubber Tires That is Now Running alon Indiana and the Pacific Coast: The ‘Steel Boilerlike ,Body is-Built on a of 145-Inch Wheelbase, and Its Total Length*Is 21 Feet. Building Unusual Cars it is far from being merely a car with a From the riveted steel boiler with its smokestack exhaust, to the cab, and back of that whole machine is built in exact replica of a modern rail engine, and built to stand freak body. the roughest of treatment. It is mounted on a chassis of 145- in. wheelbase equippe d with ix-cylinder, 90-hp. motor, and is capable of speeds up to 50) miles an hour. The total length is 21 ft., the width 5 ft. 814 in., and the height rf ft. 6in., the weight be- ing 4,500 Ib. All the controls and gauges are in the cab, located above the “fire box” in locomotive style. The curi- ous machine represents the handiwork of an Indiana au- tomobile en- thusiast, whose hobby is the construction of queer cars. the short tender, the tilizer-import

< “a business versenkt,” according to

Front View of the Highway Locomotive, Which Reproduces Full-Size Railroad Engine in Everything except Its Wheels a a Highway Somewhere between 0-Horsepower Automobile Chassis It is Driven by Its Designer, Whose Hobby is AMERICAN FINDS MUCH LIME AND POTASH IN GREECE Germany’s domination of the Greek fer- will be an authoritativ “spurlos prediction, by the recent ac- tivities of an \merican uni- versity sciet tist. Sent to Greece by the Red Cross to investigate i.gricultural conditions, the professor found that to dig it fron he soil rathe t than to import it from Ger many. While inspecting abandoned farm land and other unused areas, the pro- fessor discov- ered, too, large deposits of lime.

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18 POPULAR MECHANICS EARNEST GOLFER RECEIVES REMARKABLE CLUB A golf player of Chicago, Ill., whose enthusiasm for the game completely eclipses his skill, re- cently received from appreciative friends a weird and wonderful club. It is a driver of Hereulean dimensions. To the shaft is fixed, first of all, an automo- bile horn with which a shrill “Fore” can be sounded. Near the junction with the head is a fishing reel to which the ball is fas- tened by means of many yards of line. Cranking this reel, the wielder of the club can retrieve his ball from deep streams and neighboring pastures. The massive head, it- ee self, is equipped with a compass, spirit level, and flashlight bulb for the adjustment of the stance, and with three spring-backed disks for the lengthening of the drive. AMERICAN ENGINEERS LAYING OIL-PIPE LINE IN FRANCE A double oil-pipe line 130 miles long is being constructed from the port of Havre to Paris, France, by American engtneers, as a solution of that country’s increasing difficulties with coal and transportation, This, it is declared, will be the first pipe line laid in a country producing no oil, all that is used in France being imported. The two pipes are intended to carry all grades of oil, one being 10 in. in diameter for the heavier varieties, and the other 4 in. for petroleum and its lighter deriva- tives. They will be laid in a trench 4'% to 6 ft. deep, for protection from frost. The line, which is to be completed in about a year, will be able to carry 24,000 barrels of oil a day, and will necessitate large storage facilities at both ends, and a new refinery at Paris, CYLINDER OF ODD PHONOGRAPH ACTS AS SOUNDING HORN A phonograph with unusual qualities, constructed on an entirely new plan, has been designed by an eastern inventor. It uses cylinder records 8 in. in diameter and of various lengths, the receiving cyl- inder of the machine being 18 in. long. The interior of this big tube is connected to the double-jointed tone arm, and con- stitutes the sounding horn of the instru- ment. It is electrically driven, and has a diamond stylus on a floating support, sen- sitive to the finest vibrations and requir ing no changing of needles. The shortest records are about 3 in. across the face, and the largest run the full length of the cylinder, taking an hour to play. A series of short records placed side by side may be played in succession automatically without attention. The peculiar con- struction is declared to effect a consider- able improvement in reproducing quality. A flat turntable at the rear is provided, for playing regular disk records, The Big Cylinder Constitutes the Sounding Horn of This Phonograph. It can Play Disk Records, as at the eft, but is Primarily Intended to Use Large Cylinder Records of Various Lengths, as at the Right, the Needle Passing Automatically from One to Another i yall

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- ee es WHAT THE WIND LOOKS LIKE By E. N. FALES N the popular mind the distinctive char- found that the blades of his windmill acteristic of air is its invisibility and must be of a certain size and shape. The intangibility. “Out of sight, out of mind,” meteorologist has found that air circula is true here, for the atmosphere, in its tion is a matter of pressure differenc: movements, has been almost an unknown due to changes of temperature, and that quantity through all the ages. This most one of the great principles in this at- intimate essential substance in human ex- mospheric circulation is the cyclonic istence, inhaled rotational move every four seconds eh from birth till death, has never been seen by man. We can hear the sounds it carries, we can feel its force pushing against us, we can sense the degree of its cool- ing ett ct; but far- ther than that we ire unfamiliar with its actions. “The wind bloweth where it listeth; and man knoweth not the way there- of.” It is only re- cently that man- ment of air. he ventilation engineer has found that when air. flows through a pipe the pipe must be very smooth, or the air will be broken up into eddies and whirls, and these whirls will be ac- companied by a slowing down of air current in the tube; that is to say, these eddies will tend to make a ventilating sys- tem less operative, and will use up the tan power waste-

kind has had any fully. inclination to con- = semaines _ a Our knowledge cern himself with Half Span of the Model Wing, Showing the Tip is derived from Pa ee ie bape Vortex at Left: The Camera Axis Coincides with the Oe Alia tne im ernal actions Vortex Axis. Note the Spiral Form of the Vortex crude methods of the wind. The investigatio sailor has found that sails of a certain lhus, the meteorologist. desiring to kno shape and angle will catch the wind and the speed and direction of atmospher propel the ship: the windmill builder has air currents, sets loose a small ’ ag | } don -- a H om HY i | i / } i <li} tial é tf ee | | } i : ee - i | y ) oe 5 A ——

pe ee tly

Army Wind Tunnel at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, in Which Air Flowing at 500 Miles per Hour is Made Visible by a Method Developed Recently

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20 POPULAR and with watches its progress, as it travels the air. He also arranges weather vanes, anemometers, etc., which depend upon the motion of the air for their action; and by their means he is able to get rough esti- mates of the local direction and speed of the wind. The ventilating en- gineer inserts a small anemometer into the pipe where he desires to know the speed of air flow He soon finds that the speed on one side of the pipe may be dif- ferent from the other side, and at once he know the He blows wants to reason. smoke into the pipe and is able to make a rough estimate as to the whirls and changes of direc- tion of air flow in- sid he pipe. . side the pipe He are Here Shown may use a _ fine thread which will take up the direction of the air current, or he may use pressure gauges, which by giving him information as to the pressures at all parts of the air- flow cross section, him to deduce 7 enable ~ the characteristics to a certain extent. With the advent of aeronautics it has become highly important that we inter- pret correctly all the flow, because it is upon the motion of air that mechanical flight The utilization of thin, empty air as a means of support, was thought to be an absurd idea by most everybody on earth unt 1896. It is significant, however, that those very inventors who produced the air- plane are also the same who fully into the analysis of ma peculiarities of air de pends. went care- tters of air flow. It is not common knowledge that the Wright brothers experimented with small laboratory apparatus before they attained their successful man flight; they had an artificial air current created by a fan, and in this air current the deportment of small model airplane wings was ob- served, and the results of their study ap- plied ‘to their full-sized man-carrying machine, with success. Quite recently, aeronautical engineers in the War Department have developed a remarkable new method for studying the View Taken Diagonally from above the Model Wing The Tip Vortices of the First Illustration MECHANICS behavior of air. Not content with the indirect studies above mentioned, they succeeded in actually making the air vis- ible. The first illustration is from a photograph of the air effect produced by an airplane in flight, as disclosed by the new method. The photograph shows that, in every air plane which flies, a miniature Kansas cyclone trails be- hind each wing tip. This shape of air flow surprises the average reader but what is more remarkable still is the fact that it was long ago predicted by mathematical theory. “The way of an eagle in the air” ji nowhere nearly so complicated as is the way of the air o which the eaglk owes his sustenta tion. This is what the physicists found two decades ago when they tried to explain the possibility of man flight. The air being invisible, they deduced from pure theory a system wherein dynamic flight could be explained in terms of circulation, vortex motion, ete. Their theories were the more they had very few facts upon which to base them beyond the ordinary undet lying laws of physics, which they had ap t plied to. an entirely new field in order The \ arrive at would that such + in Perspective renious because ) rational conceptions. come to the conclusiot and such phenomena must necessarily exist in the air, under certain conditions, and then they would keep their eyes open to observe proof of it. Sometimes a dust whirl on the street, or a whirlpool in a stream, or a billow in smoke, or the flut tering of a flag, would give ther slight encouragement in their theories, but in the main the theorist had no assistance from practical experiment to back up his theoretical conceptions This was due entirely to the invisibility and the mystery of the phenomena associated with the mechanical flight, and with air in motion anywhere. Therefore a means for rendering visible a flow of air is of great interest to the scientist and to the aeronautical engineer.

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i abe ee POPULAR \ method, discovered at McCook Avia- tion Field, Dayton, Ohio, utilizes a 200- hp. wind tunnel. This tunnel, in addition to its ability to render air visible, is fur- ther novel in that it provides a speed of ir flow greater than any yet used for such purposes, namely, 500 miles per iour; and it affords this speed at an eficiency higher than usual heretofore. \ word of description concerning this wind tunnel is pertinent. It consists of tube 19 ft. long provided with a 200-hp. power fan at one end which sucks air through the tube from the other end. lhe tube is large at both ends and narrow n between; in fact, it is shaped like a Venturi tube for the purpose of securing high efficiency of flow. The fan is built on airplane-propeller principles, but at the same time it acts like a conventional commercial fan. It is five feet in diam- eter, with 24 blades. The air stream has i. diameter of 14 in. A small model air plane wing ts placed in this 14-in. blast so that the air blowing against it will create certain forces. In order that the model shall not be blown downstream, it is sup- ported on a strong rod which reaches into the tunnel from the outside and which is connected on the outside with a delicate measuring balance, so that the lifting irce and the resistance due to the wind in be accurately measured. rhe method of visualizing air flow de- pends upon the fact that the moisture ir the air condenses out as foo when the iture 1 reduced to t he dew poi ovided there is a solid or liquid nucleu c ) tart the condensation. lin the \l Cook Field wind tunnel the temperature | is brought about through expansior +} ste dhs r acceler d - oO il Ss nn hR l h ( 1O e Call be I l il] ed too low. The necessary nucleus fo1 ndensation is provided bv the mod self, or by the walls of the wind tunnel rr by particles of dust in the air. When the model is removed the vor tices and eddies of flow through the un obstructed throat may be observed Phe condensation is more pronounced behind 17 the impact tube and thermometer bulb than elsewhere, since these are obstacles to the flow and therefore constitut: nuclei for condensation. <A_ projecting cotter pin Me in. high at the wall causes a perfect vortex which shows up against the white foggy background as a black circle. The general appearance of the air flow, which may be considered typical of all air flow, is as follows: A cross section at the MECHANICS 21 throat shows a seething mass of fog spec- ters, denser at the walls than at the center, though occasionally the entire disk fills up with fog to the point of opaquenes The specters have, in the cross-sectional plane, a gentle movement like the flame of an alcohol stove, showing the constant readjustment of equilibrium. Vortices

Tip Vortices: Enlargement of a Moving-Picture Film, Looking along the Center Line of a Wind Tunnel Note the Visible Flow behind the Impact Tube, Below, and at the Tunnel Walls, Above and “S”-shaped whirls continually form, . vw" - | | and, after moving about, lose themselve , Lh 1 1 ] . i. ‘ ] in the general confusion In a diagon ew they take the appearance of long loge: file et¢ lg dk 1 he t ke ode ixes h re, Ol . ( ) h ( | det nid l ! ( if ‘ ) an | ies { \y ( ) ] y 1 airect q < Site the ot me ‘ Ra | ‘ Oo to s ly the as 1 iporat | vO ces shown 1 the 1 { TIONS Are « 5 | | ictiv tine ort o Vor oO e 1 1 SCcli€ VDCCOMES a c\ rie 0 ¢ 1 ] power. The vortex motion which we ob- serve at the periphery of air flow in g as above mentioned is analogous to the circulation of atmospheric air, friction of the walls of the wind tunnel is similar to the skin friction of the wind as it flows along the surface of the earth Gusts of air, billowing of smoke. flutte: ing of a flag. are all phenome: wl look for their explanation to cyclic motion in the air.

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22 POPULAR RACE-TRACK TICKET MACHINE IS AUTOMATIC BOOKMAKER At a certain race track in Australia, where horse racing still is a sport of dig- | t SS j Electrically Operated Machine That Records Race- Track Bets and Issues Tickets by Pressing a Button nity and ceremony, a new and ingenious machine has lately been introduced. To all intents and purposes it is an auto- an gg . | : d : +7 z ~ mys , gt ns la al od a eee naeidinell ie [ECHANICS matic bookmaker. Electrically driven, and combining the functions of cash reg- ister and adding machine, it prints and issues up to 42 or more tickets, registers all bets in plain sight, and indicates the odds against any horse. All this is ac- complished by pressing the proper button for each bet. When the race starts the current is turned off, and the machine ceases to operate. FOUNDERED WOOD SHIP TOWED TO PORT Recently the four-masted schooner “Henry Wilson,” bound from Puget Sound to Port Graham, Alaska, with a cargo of lumber and piling, ran into a severe storm upon passing out at Cape Flattery and was picked up two days later in a foundering condition by a coastal steamer, to be towed to Neah Bay and turned over to the Coast Guard steamship “Snohomish,” which brought it back to port. With only its forecastle, poop deck, and rigging showing above the water, the foundered ship was sup- ported by tugs and towed through the Lake Washington Ship Canal to lighter age docks on Lake Union for unloading and examination of its hull. Since a wooden ship not too heavily burdened with machinery will not sink when it fills with water if it carries a cargo of lumber, piling, or ties, it has been urged that the idle wooden ships of the Emergency Fleet Corporation ly- ing in the harbors of the Pacifit coast be reconstructed into sailing ships and utilized in carrying lumber. The Schooner “Henry Wilson,” Foundered off Cape Flattery, on the Way to Alaska, being Towed into Port for Unloading and Examination of Its Hull, with Its Decks Awash, Supported by Tugs at Either Side and by Its Buoyant Cargo of Lumber chy a

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POPULAR MECHANICS 23 the Invisible the Wireless Over at the Left Is a View of the Little Electric Auto That Starts, Steers, and Stops by Influence of a Distant Wireless Switch. The MastCarries aTiny Pilot Light, to Tell the Operator That All Is Well. Above is Seen a Part of the Interior Mechanism, Including the Driving Motor and Battery, and a Portion of the Receiving Apparatus for Impulses. At the Right Is a Fractional View of the Running Board of a Car, on Which the Sending Equip- ment is Mounted, a Signal- Corps Field Set. Each Impulse is Sent by Pressing the Key PHOT py ERS’ PHOTO SERVICE SMALL CAR CONTROLLED Simple as its secret of operation may be to the wireless expert, the distant control of a motor-driven vehicle is always a strange performance to the layman. A diminutive electric auto weighing 185 Ib., reeently built by a New York inventor, is mystifying large numbers of spectators by its antics under invisible but effective guidance. The operator sends out the actuating wireless waves from a signal- corps field set mounted on his auto, the antenna wire being stretched to the nearest tree or post. The first pressure of the key starts the little car off on a straight line, from which it is turned to the right by a second pressure. A third impulse straightens it out, a fourth turns it to the left, a fifth straightens it again, and a sixth stops it. All these movements are accomplished by switch bars on a drum in the car, which connect local batteries to the proper starting, steering, or stopping mag- nets. A ratchet arrangement rotates the drum one step at each wireless impulse. When the operator wishes the car to skip FROM AFAR BY WIRELESS some of the sequence of movements, he sends out two or more impulses in quic! succession, and the mechanism obeys only the last one. A tall mast on the car bears a green pilot light at its top, its flash telling that the circuits are in working order. So promptly and accurately do the little vehicle respond to its distant control that the inventor has steered successfully through a crowd. SUMATRAN WATER POWER TO MAKE FERTILIZER In order that electricity may be di veloped for the manufacture of fertilizer the Dutch East Indian Government |! recently granted a 40-year concession a Norwegian engineer, allowing him tunnel the Barisan mountain range, whi parallels the coast, then to divert tl waters of the Musi River so that it flow. not to the South China Sea as present, but to the Indian Ocean Bo the power house and manufacturing plant will probably be established near Benkule1

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CUT VESSEL INTO TWO PARTS ON WAYS .-——— - ‘ - The Divided Hull at the Moment of Beginning the First Launching, with the Stern Portion Just Start- ing down the Ways: At the Left, the Method of Cutting the Hull in Two t__ |} The Stern Section Taking the Plunge from the Ends | = | of the Ways into the Waters of the Canal: The Near | End, Showing the Exposed Surfaces of the Cut, of | t Course had been Made Thorougnly Water-Tight Perr” —s eget : — ~ —_ . dh = 2: ——= ee ASL ee The Stern Half Floating on an Even Keel, to Which It Promptly Righted Itself after the Sharp Angle of the Plunge: It Is Now Ready for the Installation of Boilers and Engines is launched, and then slide the parts into the water as separate objects, is a decidedly novel pro- cedure in shipyard prac- tice. A double launching ceremony of this kind was recently performed at Welland, Ont., with the vessel “Canadian Ot- ter,” of Canada’s mer- chant marine, as the sub- ject. This cross-sectional di- vision of a finished but untried hull, though seemingly a simple me- chanical process, was not undertaken without a considerable application of engineering thought. The finished hull was 320 ft. long, 43 ft. 10 in. in the beam, 25 ft. deep, and of 4,350 tons dead weight. Of this big structure an accurate model was' built, and subjected to a series of experiments, and cal- culations were made to determine the exact cen- ter of gravity of each part, as affected by the proposed lines of separa- tion. These tests and figures proved the practi- cability of the plan, and in accordance with their results, the workmen proceeded to cut the hull in two just forward of the cabin. When the work was completed, and the ves- sel lay on the ways in two units, with assur- ance that theexposed bulkheads were water- tight. the rather breath less moment arrived for the sectional launching As is usual in shipyards located on narrow water ways, the divided hull was to be launched side. ways, and arrangements were made for sending the stern portion into the L° NG ships and short canal locks have water first. The word was given. Slowly been the cause of more than one op- the severed beams and plates moved past eration making the bow and stern of a_ their stationary counterparts on the bow vessel two distinct units. But to make portion, the half hull gained speed, slid the bisection on the ways, before the ship off the ends of the ways at an acute angle, 24 2 Ry teal? os Ws

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AND LAUNCH HALVES AS SEPARATE UNITS and then, righting itself, floated on as even a keel as any regular ship. As soon as the stern had been towed out of the way, the bow half was launched in the same manner and with the same success. As nearly as possible, outfitting was completed on the separate halves, the engines and boilers, and most of the cabinet- work being_ installed. Then the bow and the stern, still as independent units, started on their long tow to Montreal, there to be brought to- gether in a huge drydock and made into one again. “LIFE AND LIMB CLUB” ACTIVE AT UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS “Safety First” instruc- tion, one phase of shop- work training that is commonly neglected, at the University of Illinois receives really adequate attention. Students tak- ing the shop - work courses at this school are introduced to the subject, first of all, by lectures which analyze the human being as a factor in industry, and reveal the relation of safety methods to effi- ciency of production. Thereafter, responsibil- ity for safety conditions is placed squarely upon the shoulders of the stu- dents. This transfer of responsibility from in- structor to student is accomplished through two mediums. The first is the appointment of “safety assistants” from the student body. These men inspect and report on the mechanical equipment of their de- partments. Hazards and defective safe- guards which they bring to light are at- tended to at once. More important, however, is the second medium, known SS rr boy The Bow Portion on the Stocks, Ready for Launch- f - —{ ing: Its Severed End is Left Exposed by the Previous }- Launching of the Stern Portion, Which has been Towed Out of the Way in Preparation for the Second vent —— —- — - — a — ~~ i ~ ever +; - = Ne ce AEE ame-| The Launching of the Bow Section, Which, like the a cane Stern, Went down the Ways and into the Water -— " | Sideways: With This Half, in Spite of Its Different = Form, the Operation was Quite as Successful as with | the Other The Bow Section after Righting Itself, Looking from the Front Not unlike a Whole Ship, and Floating Just as Gracefully: It is About to Join Its Complement in a Trip through the Locks as the “Life and Limb Club.” This stu- dent organization has for its aim the de velopment of the “safety spirit,” without which the worker is in danger no mat- ter how elaborate the safeguards.

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26 POPULAR OFFICE-DESK PAPER BINDER MAKES SQUARE EYELETS The newest office appliance is a paper binder that makes square metal eyelets. This Newest Office |! Appliance Is a Paper | Binder That Makes | Square Metal Eyelets This form of eyelet is claimed to be su- perior to the circular because the papers do not swivel, while the metal is folded flat, not crimped into a comparatively thick and bulky ring. The eyelets, to the number of 1,500, are stamped from a 4- lb. spool of metal tape, .005 in. thick. A single depression of the lever completes the operation—that is, punches a square N [LECHANICS hole in the papers, cuts a square piece off the metal tape, and clinches four tri- angular flaps over the edges of the hole in the papers. Weighing little, the ma- chine is easily moved from desk to desk. MOVE TO ELECTRIFY RAILROAD ALONG CHICAGO LAKE FRONT Work has finally been started on the electrification of the railroad that runs along the shore of Lake Michigan for several miles in Chicago, about which acrimonious discussion has raged for many years. Though it will be some time before the task is finished, 50 large all- steel passenger cars already have been ordered, and will be operated as coaches in regular trains until electrification of the right of way is completed. From the downtown terminus of the road a subway is being built that will take patrons under- neath a crowded boulevard and into the business district without interruption of trafic. The electrification work alone is expected to cost $21,700,000, and some $30,000,000 more is to be spent on other improvements, in accordance with the city’s lake-front improvement plans. PLANE FUSELAGE FOLDS The hinged fuselage is the most striking feature of a British two-seater recon- In This View the Folding-Fuse- lage Airplane is Seen to be Equipped with Flotation Bags naissance airplane latels designed to be carried in considerable numbers on the decks or in the holds of naval cruisers and floating airdromes. As may be imagined, there are no longerons, or longitudinal members, in TO FACILITATE STORAGE the fuselage structure. Rather, it is a three-ply and bulkhead affair, devoid, too, of all wire bracing. The hinges are placed just back of the ob- server's cockpit. When the fish- plates on the left side are un- fastened, and the tail end of the fuselage swung through 90°, it lies snugly beside the interplane struts. Wires from the pilot’s controls to the tail surfaces are ingeniously led through eyes near the hinges, making it unneces- sary to femove the wires when the fuselage is folded for storage, as described. The Hinges are Placed Just behind the Observer's Cockpit. This and the Pilot’s Cockpit are Seen to be Contained in a Hump on the Fuselage Top

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a aS acs POPULAR MECHANICS 2 -2 Launching the Big Floating Concrete Landing Stage, 110 Feet Long and 7 Feet 8 Inches Deep: The Stern End, 67 Feet 7 Inches Wide, is Stepped to Receive the Wooden Incline from the Shore FLOATING CONCRETE PONTOON IS FERRY LANDING STAGE At the terminal of a ferry line in Sydney, Australia, a floating landing stage made of concrete has just been in- stalled. This remarkable “stone” raft is 110 ft. long, from 53 ft. 3 in. to 67 ft. 7 in. wide, and 7 ft. 9 in. deep. The bottom, walls, and deck are 5 in. thick, and 4-in. bulkheads divide the interior into 44 com- partments. The whole contains 342 cu. vd. of concrete, reinforced with 43 tons of round steel rod. A step at the stern receives the hinged incline from shore. and a timber frame about the deck is notched to fit the-mooring piling, while wood posts support an awning overhead The total displacement in service is 783 tons, fully equipped, the concrete hull alone displacing 625 tons. POTATO-SACKING MACHINE IS ATTACHMENT FOR DIGGER Now that machines for digging pota- toes are in common use, the next step is to provide automatic means for loading them into sacks. An Ohio inventor has just developed such a mechanism, in the shape of a three-wheeled trailer which at- taches to the back of the digger. The front wheel has a caster mounting, en- abling it to follow the digger in turning at the end of a row. An elevated in clined screen receives the potatoes from the conveyor of the digger. The sacks are hung on four hooks at the rear, their bottoms supported by a small platform. With one man on the platform to re- move occasional vines, and another fol- lowing the machine to gather small ~- Potato-Sacking Trailer Attached to a Digging Ma- chine: The Sacks Hang on Hooks at the Rear. and are Supported by the Small Platform tubers that sift through the digger, work is accomplished that ordinarily takes six or eight men.

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28 POPULAR PAIR OF TOOTHBRUSHES USED WITH NEW STERILIZER The conviction that the ordinary tooth- brush is seldom if ever disinfected has impelled an American dentist to place on the market an effective and inexpensive sterilizer. It consists of a glass tube, 7 in. long, which is hung from a wall hook by means of a slot in the upper cap, or end. The cap at the bottom is readily removable, and contains an_ absorbent pad which is soaked ev- ery fortnight with a few drops of formaldehyde solution. With the ster- ilizer are sold two tooth- brushes in order that, while the wet brush hangs from a hook on the upper cap to dry, the dry brush may undergo sterilization in the tube. In this way a dry, sterile brush is taken from the tube each time the teeth are to be cleaned. To aid identification the brush handles are colored differently. METAL TRAVELING BAG IS ALSO LIFE PRESERVER \ valise which a few strokes on a hand pump transforms into a life preserver, is a new invention which merits the interest of the traveler contemplating extensive ocean travel. The valise is made of metal, and is covered with leath In the event of shipwreck the valise is emptied and locked. \ metal cap is then un- screwed a t one end to uncover the handle of a little air pump. As this handle is worked back and forth, air is forced into a rubber tube which lies in a groove, or channel, run- ning around the rim of the body of the valise. The abutting rim of the top is MECHANICS provided with a similar groove. As the space formed by the conjunction of these two grooves is completely filled by the expanding tube, the opening between body and top is hermetically sealed. The valise preserver is fastened to the body of the traveler by means of broad straps. ATTACHMENT FOR DIRIGIBLES MEASURES AIR VELOCITY Dirigibles and kite balloons used during the latter part of the war were able to take accurate read- ings of air speed, even in shifting winds, by means of a simple de- vice developed by the Navy Depart- ment. A _ vertical box, 11 in. high and slightly ta- pered downward at the front, has a rectangular slot in sts etnias baile dite its forward side, OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE through which the air enters. After its moisture has been extracted by wire gauze, the air passes up and forward through a double Venturi tube, into the center of a hollow cross cylinder, and out through slots in the back. An aneroid gauge connected to the throat of the Venturi gives reliable readings of air velocity, pressure differ ences being relatively slight even with considerable variation of pitch, and di- rection. TOASTER WITH TIME SWITCH AVOIDS SCORCHING BREAD The common experience of scorching toast is avoided by using a new form of electric toaster which has an aluminum and mica oven, is 12 in. square and 14 in. high, and weighs 18 lb., be- ing particularly intended for hotel and restaurant use. The bread slices are placed in a receiver, and lowered into the oven by two small levers. A time switch is set for the quality of bread used and the degree of toasting desired, and automatically turns off the current when that point is reached, while the oven keeps the toast warm.

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CHICAGO CELEBRATES OPENING OF BOULEVARD LINK Pccrercbaerorty, wand —_ - = . Holiday was Declared in Chicago, a Few Weeks Ago, as the Mage r’s Automobile Led 10,000 Others in a Gigantic Parade across the Newly Com | pleted Michigan Avenue Bridge. The Procession Marked the End of 20 Years - | of Planning “and Legal Fighting by Proponents of the “Chicago Plan.” Of This Plan the Bridge Is Part, ae the North and South Sides x i. The Bridge Is a Jackknife, Double-Decked Structure—the Upper for Light and the Lower for Heavy Traffic—and is Said to Be the Only One of Its Kind in the World. The Street Approaches at Either End Are Similarly Double-Decked. The Bridge Has a Clear Span of 220 Feet, Weighs Approx imately 10,000 Tons, and Cost $16,000,000, Including Heavy Legal Costs ~

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REPLACING STEEL TRUSS BRIDGE WITH CONCRETE By HJALMER LINDQUIST The HE new concrete bridge, crossing the from the east end of the bridge. Mississippi River at Franklin Ave- engineers have established their store- houses and _ concrete hi ——— The Old Steel Truss Bridge That is to be Replaced by a Modern Concrete Structure: Some of the New Falsc- work is Seen in Place One of the Curious Little Gasoline Locomotives That Haul Concrete Dump Cars from the Railroad to the Bridge, Running on Tracks Laid alongside the Street for a Fifth of a Mile nue, Minneapolis, Minn., on which work has begun, is to have a center arch span of 400 ft. When completed, this will be the longest reinforced-concrete span ever made. A 200 and a 55-ft. span will be added on both ends, making the total length of the bridge, when finished, 910 feet. The new structure is to replace a truss bridge already on the spot. To meet the roads on both sides of the river, its piers must be directly beneath the old bridge. This makes the overhead-cable method of handling concrete out of the question. Two 25-hp. gasoline engines running on a single track take its place. A railroad passes about a fifth of a mile 3x mixers at this place. Coal, lumber, cement, sand, crushed rock, etc., une come in on the cars. meee 8 The men, with the aid of what machinery they have, prepare it for its place in the bridge, or store it away until it is needed. oe ee - -~ Underneath the End Span of the Old Bridge: The Concrete Chute for the New Structure and Part of the Reinforcement for the Arch Ribs are Already Installed, the Concrete being Dumped through the Floor Above The track over which the material is hauled from this terminal runs along the edge of the street. Special dump-bottom concrete cars, pulled by the little engines, carry the concrete from the mixers to the place it is wanted at the bridge, and drop the stuff through a hole cut in the floor between the rails. From there the con- crete passes through chutes to its destina- tion below. Small flat cars carry lumber, a derrick and hoisting engine handling it from the cars and passing it over the side rails of the bridge. In this way the old bridge is being made to serve as a work- ing platform while the new one is in process of erection. Two arch ribs, each 12 ft. wide, con- nected to the new piers, and passing on each side of the old piers, when com- pleted, are to serve in their turn as a temporary working platform while the old structure is removed. The concrete beams and the floor slabs of the bridge are to be cast on shore and placed in their proper position after the old bridge has been removed. i ae 6 east st Iho ae aoe oR ame ee ae

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NE WO oer POPULAR TEN MONTHS’ BUILDING WORK SHOWN IN TEN MINUTES Motion pictures of construction work in which a large public building appears to arise from the ground like magic, be- ing completed in the ten minutes’ dura- tion of the film, are being shown before various engineering societies by govern- ment representatives. The structure is the Industrial Building of the U. S. Bu- reau of Standards, and the pictures were made by exposing a short length of film every day during the ten months of work on the building. The effect of running these short exposures together in a single picture is an amazing condensation of time, making incidentally a highly in- structive and intensive study of modern building methods. APPEARANCE OF BIG BASEBALL ANNOUNCES BALL GAME Above a down-town corner in Cincin- nati, Ohio, hangs a baseball, two feet in diameter, on which is painted in white the words “Game Today.” The ball is sus- pended by a pulley from a wire which stretches to the diagonally opposite cor- Street on Each Day a Game is Scheduled in the Cincinnati Big-League Park ner. When they see that the ball has been pulled to the center of the inter- secting streets, local baseball fans—and this year that term describes the entire male population—understand that a game is scheduled for the day. COW RIDES TO NEW HOME IN AUTOMOBILE TQGNNEAU A full-grown Jersey cow was presented to a clergyman of Bolivar, Mo., recently by a farmer-parishioner who stipulated only that his gift be carried home in the rear seat of the clergyman’s automobile. As the car is of the species “flivver,” and MECHANICS 31 as the distance from farm to town is all of 20 miles, the clergyman might have been expected to deciine. But he ac- cepted—perhaps to the donor's secret The Cow was Given to the Motorist on the Condition That It be Carried 20 Miles in the Automobile astonishment. Having removed both rear doors, he filled the tonneau with straw, and extemporized a small loading chute. He then led the cow into the car, and lashed it in position. Thus, with two feet on either running board, the cow was safely carried to town. APPLY PNEUMATIC HAMMERS AT BOTH ENDS OF RIVET Shipbuilders in a west-coast yard are now making a practice of applying pneu- matic riveting hammers to both ends of each rivet, the tool used by the holder-on being capped with a snap die for standard round-head rivets, and with a saucer die for countersunk heads. It is asserted that this method results in an increased num- ber of rivets placed in a given time, and that they are made water-tight without calking, and show fewer defects. In addi- tion, the holder-on soon becomes profi- cient in handling the riveting machine, and is quickly eligible for promotion, ec a Using the Pneumatic Riveter on Both Ends of a Rivet, a Practice Employed in a West-Coast Shipyard

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Le a. a adie osc” Sacramento Hill at the Beginning of the Operation: The Rocky Peak at the Summit, 125 Feet above Steam-Shovel Line, was Removed in a Single Blast Before the Excavating Work was Started + im ae i os Ie % ide | | 4 ' One of the Six 103-Ton Steam Shovels at Work on the Diminishing Mountain: Its Bucket Has a Capacity of 344 Cubic Yards of Earth and Rock, and It Handles 100 Cubic Yards or More an Hour 7) STEAM SHOVELS SHOVELING away a whole mountain, and converting its exhumed foundation into an open-pit copper mine, is the ex- traordinary engineering feat now being performed near Bisbee, Ariz. The gigantic task was un- dertaken for the sake of a slight saving per ton in the work of getting out the ore and separat- ing it from the waste material. The mountain, known as Sacra- mento Hill, a spot of local his- torical interest, towered more than 300 ft. above the site de- sired for the mine, capped by a peak 125 ft. high. This rugged pinnacle, inaccessible to the steam shovels, was removed in one tremendous blasting opera- tion. The process of leveling the rest of the hill then became a series of drilling, blasting, and shovel- ing operations on a vast scale. The six steam shovels used weigh 103 tons each, have dippers of 314 "cu. yd. capacity, and average 100 cu. yd. or more an horr. Some 4,500,000 cu. yd. of earth and rock must be moved to raze the mountain, and 5,000,000 more, or a total of 9,500,000, to come finally to the 8,000,000 tons of good ore and 1,500,000 tons of _ Ag aaa tt NS

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-—, ‘ Ss . Oe fp »> 5 Stic, * Siu The W@ll Laid Off in 60-Foot Benches or Terraces for Easy Handling: Drilling and Blasting Operations Loosen the Formation at Each Bench, and the Steam Shovels and Dump-Car Trains Finish the Work AND DYNAMITE CHANGE MOUNTAIN TO PIT low-grade material that lies beneath, All this waste is hauled away on single-track rail lines through the gorges, and dis- charged about two miles from the mine. The trains of steel dump cars, their mechanisms operated by compressed air, keep 13 locomotives busy, and are moving now some 7,500 cu. yd. of material a day. A little army of 700 men joins its labor to that of the dynamite, the shovels, and the miniature railroad system, and th big job is rapidly nearing completion. ‘o TRACTOR-DRAWN LOCOMOTIVE RIDES SOFT ROAD Locomotives are made for such very hard roads that the task of moving one weighing 28,000 Ib. for some distance over a soft dirt highway proved quite a puzzle, until some one thought of a farm tractor. A gasoline machine of 12 to 25 hp. was pressed into service, and fitted with ex- Hauling a 28,000-Pound Locomotive over Soft Dirt Roads on a Wagon, by Means of a Farm Tractor Fitted with Broad-Rimmed Wheels: The Ox Team at the Right Is a Feature of the Scene Cur 6 tension rims on all four wheels, to float it on the yielding surface of the road The locomotive was then worked up onto a special wagon and the tractor hitched to it, and the unusual trip was completed without an adventure across the railless expanse of farming country. — sus by Comparis

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84 POPULAR SPRING THAW DROPS BOWLDERS UPON TROLLEY-CAR TRACKS Officials of an electric-traction com- pany operating about Baltimore, Md., are thankful that none of their cars was pass- The Undermining Action of Sloping Bed on the Walls of the Cut ing through a deep defile near the city, recently, when the tracks were oblit- erated in an instant by the fall of many huge bowlders. As it was, traffic was suspended for several days while the ponderous stones were broken and re- moved. The cause of the landslip was the undermining action of spring seep- age water, beyond a doubt, as the rock stratum slopes sharply toward the tracks at this point. € Annual white sweet clover is the name given to a new leguminous plant that matures in one season, other field-crop legumes requiring two. The new clover grows from 4 to 8 ft. high in four months, and is excellent for a soiling crop, ferti- lizing agent, honey supply for bees, or hay crop. It will thrive in any part of the United States or Canada, where crops of the same nature are grown. ILECHANICS ALASKA INDIAN SERVICE GETS “NAVY” After efforts extending over a period of more than ten years, the Alaska Indian School Service has prevailed upon the United States Commissioner of Education to provide it with a “navy,” and the service has been supphed with a ship for its own use. Previously revenue cutters did the work required, but the service was hampered greatly by not having these busy ships al- ways at its command. Hundreds of tons of supplies must be shipped north every sea- son, and in addition to freight, new teachers have to be taken in and old ones taken out. The United States Navy De- partment has_ presented the Alaska Indian School Service with the brigantine “Boxer,” a sailing ship of 300 tons burden. The “Boxer” is bei. juipped with 300-horsepower gasoline en- gines at Newport News and will be in the Alaska educational service by fall. In addition to its service for the educational department, the “Boxer” will carry supplies for the Indian cooperative stores, of which there are many being de- veloped in Alaska. Later it is planned to use it in the winter as a floating school for gas- Spring Seepage Water Dropped engine mechanics in southeast- These Bowlders upon the Trolley-Car Tracks from Their ern Alaska, where hundreds of natives own motorboats or are engaged in commercial fishing, where a knowledge of mechanics is valuable. ODD SIXTEEN-CYLINDER AUTO BREAKS SPEED RECORDS Speed records established only a short time ago were smashed, and new ones made, at Daytona, Fla., on April 25 and 27, by a special racing car equipped with a 16-cylinder engine. This curieus twin power plant consists of two separate eight-cylinder engines, each having its own propeller shaft running to one rear wheel, with a torque tube between them. The rear axle, a steel tube 2.44 in. in diam- eter, has a ball-bearing spring seat, and the drive is arranged to prevent danger arising from the accidental stopping of one engine. The car set new marks for all distances from one-half to five miles. In the two-mile event, in which it ran at — let ate ll BP cee ee

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Rane mitt tars ta, © cinta ese PP Ie st My POPULAR MECHANICS 35 The Curious 16-Cylinder Racing ‘4 Car That Broke Many Speed Records At the Left Is a View from the Rear Axle of the 16-Cylinder Chassis, Showing the Separate Propeller Shafts for Each Wheel, with a Torque Tube in the Center. At the Right Is a Close-Up Glimpse of the “‘Twin-Eight” Engine Itself, with Its Double Transmission 155.75 miles an hour and finished in 46.24 seconds, it caught fire and had to be driven into the ocean. The half mile was made in 11.57 seconds, the mile in 23.07 seconds, and the five miles in 2 minutes 04 second. SCALE ICE PEAKS FOR MOVIES OF MOUNTAINEERING FEATS Scaling perpendicular walls of ice, with nothing but air for thousands of feet be- low, and walking “tight rope” along sharp glacial ridges, were some of the feats recently per- tormed in the Canadian Rockies near Glacier, B. C., by a party of im- ported Alpine guides and native mountaineers, fo1 the sake of a few reels of unusual movie film. Packing the camera up to points of vantage proved even more excit- ing and dangerous than the performances it re- corded, and frequently a a = Car Unloading Machine That Empties a Car in One Movement: The MACHINE UNLOADS LOG CAR IN ONE OPERATION A machine that unloads a whole car- load of logs at one operation, and empties a train of 20 cars while the locomotive is taking on water, has just been put into use in the California pine woods. It consists of an engine-driven crane run- ning on a track parallel with the unload- ing siding. A cable from the boom oft the crane is passed under the logs, which rest on bunks above the car floor, and Log- h square yard of flat- Cable from the Crane is Passed under the Logs and Fastened on the Far topped ice pinnacle was the only available site for the tripod. The product of the expedition is a series of remarkable films of real adventure in the American Alps that are chronicles of daring. Side, and Hoisting Throws All the Timbers onto the Skidway hooked into a stake socket on the other side, or into a ring on the _ skidway. When the hoisting drum is started, the rising cable throws all the logs off at onc: onto the skids, and the unloader moves on.

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36 POPULAR MECHANICS PHONOGRAPH HAS ELECTRICAL REPRODUCER AND MOTOR Electricity is used in a new type of phonograph not only to drive the turn- PULSE TEST SHOWS CONDITION OF MICHIGAN SCHOOL CHILD The Michigan State Council of Physical Education is experimenting this year,

F

<7 The Telephone Receiver and Horn Used for Producing Music at a Distance ____—s—s with a view to use in all schools in the state next year, with what they call the “pulse-rate test for physical fitness.” Though applied in a few minutes’ time and with no equipment but a watch, the test indicates almost infallibly and without danger of over- exertion, the child’s con- dition and physical type. The test is made, pref-

The Complete Electrical Phonc- : graph Is an Elaborate Instrument or lecture period, when erably, after a recitation the pulse of each child is normal. When this rate has been recorded, the child is directed to mark time for 15 seconds, at the rate of three steps a second. The task is now to find the time re- quired for return to nor-

Left: A Chandelier Concealing the Electric Phonograph Horn. Right: The Electrical Reproducer, Transmitting Its Sound by Wire table and work the automatic stop, but to reproduce the sound as well. The re- producer is practically a small telephone transmitter, connected by wires to a re- ceiver in the horn. This enables the ac- tual sound to be produced at a distance from the instrument if desired, and even at several points at the same time. A feature of this arrangement is the use of art-glass pedestals, chandeliers, etc., with horns concealed in them.’ The instru ment also has an electric pilot light, which burns only when the cover is raised. FLOOD OF ACID IN STREET DESTROYS AUTO TIRES The rapidity with which automobile tires are destroyed by acid was demon- strated recently in a Canadian city, when a large carboy fell from a truck and was broken. The strong acid flowed along the street-car tracks for a considerable dis- tance, while a_ half-suffocated officer strove to divert traffic to safer thorough- fares. One driver, however, declined to change his course. Before he could cross the acidulated patch, his tires had ex- ploded almost in unison. The fumes were finally stifled with sand.

— mal. If this period is one-half of a minute, the subject is in excellent condition and of athletic type; if one minute, the subject is in good condition and of active type; and so on, toa period of three minutes, which indicates a sub- ject of poor condition and sedentary type. ACCESSORY HOLDS SCREW ON END OF DRIVER The carpenter will find that screws are much more easily driven when to his screwdriver is fixed a little ac- cessory now on the hardware mar- ket. It consists of a single strip of steel, slotted in the middle to slip over the end of the shank, and curved upward on either side to press against the shank. The two ends are bent downward again to hold the head of the screw against the driver.

ee AER OSA RD

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iantitie s se wee ae ae et Mo Reproductions of Three Pictures in Which Every Detail Is a Particle of Colored Cloth, Pasted upon Canvas, with the Salient Fig- ures Built Up in Relief. The Large Work Above Is Particularly Elaborate, but the Simpler Subjects at Left and Right Show No Less Skill COLORED CLOTH USED TO MAKE PICTURES It is not often that an entirely new not only exemplify the remarkable re- method of producing pictures is dis- sults attained when patience and the } t covered, and an Oregon artist is attract- artistic sense ing considerable atten- tion with a process as pleasing as it is original. Instead of using fluid pigments of any kind, bits of colored cloth, painstakingly cut to the particular shape and size of each detail of the work, are pasted upon the canvas back- ground, which is stretched over thin board. Some of the almost infinitesimal particles of fabric are shredded out to mere threads to get the de- sired effect, while the bulkier objects of the scene are built up in re- meee lief. A sharp-pointed stick serves as a brush The Artist at Work Pasting Bits of Tinted for this curious art. Fabric, from the Collection in Her Lap onto the Canvas before Her. Some of the are coordinated, are wholly charming themselves. The artist has found that all th tints essential to eve) the most ambitious work are to be found i: fabrics common! ivailable, silk being the material producing thx most satisfving result though cotton is easiet to handle. So far sh has finished 24 of these unusual canvases, man of them quite elaborate, in a total period of two years, € Camel meat was sold to enthusiastic patrons in a Parisian butcher shop recently, following the accidental killing ol one of these animals i: The finished pictures Canvases Are Quite Elaborate a privately owned zoo.

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38 POPULAR MECHANICS NEW RADIUM BANK TO ISSUE THE ELEMENT TO HOSPITALS \ radium bank was organized in New York City, some weeks ago, with $375,- 000 worth of the precious mineral as its capital. This radium the bank will lend upon application to hospitals and _ physi- cians throughout the country.

{ PYRIGHT, KEYSTONE ViEw < An Official of the Radium Bank is Seen Here behind the Bank’s Treasure, Valued at $375,000. The Radium is Loaned to Hospitals Already one city institution has been fur- nished with $40,000 worth for use in re- -—! The Odd Hydroplane, ——— i Seen Below, is Pictured Above as It is Driven at High Speed by Its Air- plane Engine and Pro- peller y

Despite Its Clumsy Appearance This French Hydroplane has Made Remarkable Speed. search work, and more particularly, for its cancer experiments. The three grams of radium were exhibited recently at a state medical convention. The stuff was seen to be contained in two cylindrical strong boxes lined with lead, and measur- ing about eight inches in diameter. This is said to be the largest collection of American-mined radium in existence. AIR SCREWS DRIVE ODD MOTOR CRAFT AT TERRIFIC SPEED Conspicuous among the many motor- boats that have been built on the Con- tinent this spring for the races at Monaco, are two French craft that, despite a crude, bargelike appearance, develop remarkable speed. Both are of the hydroplane class, are guided by rudders at the bow, and are propelled by high-power engines turn- ing air screws of airplane type. The most awkward-looking, but strangely enough the fastest, of the two, is built of metal. At its full speed, said to be more than 70 miles an hour, it steps out of the water almost entirely. Power plant and pilot are plaeed in a streamlined body, which is bolted to the flat deck. The’ second craft is decked over, but is otherwise of similar construction. / This Second Hydro- plane Resembles the First, but is Com- =| pletely Decked Over. The Propeller is Driven Direct, Too, | and Not through a \ Chain and Sprockets PYRIGHT, KADEL & HERBERT Here It has been Drawn Out of the Water and Mounted on Wheels for Easy Transportation

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POPULAR MECHANICS 39 At the Left Is a Special Coal-Mine Motor, Piped for the Admission of Explosive Gas inside Its Casing. At the Right Is the Steel Testing Gallery in Which the Motor is Placed and the Gas in It Exploded ELECTRIC MOTORS FOR MINES TESTED BY EXPLOSION In coal mines where explosive gas is likely to collect, the sparks from the com- mutators of electric motors are a possible source of danger. Special motors are now made for these situations, in which the explosion is allowed to take place inside the motor case, but prevented from com- municating to the outside. The U. S. Bureau of Mines has adopted an interest- ing method of testing these machines. The motor is placed in a steel testing gal- lery, which is then filled with explosive gas. To make sure that the gas gets in- side the motor, pipes are tapped into the and the “fire damp” forced in. When the gallery has been sealed, the gas in the motor is ignited, either by a spark from the commutator, or by a spark plug. After this test has been made re- peatedly, without exploding the gas in the gallery around the motor, the machine is declared satisfactory. case, PARROTS TAUGHT TO TALK BY PHONOGRAPH The phonograph is now lightening the work of an aviarist in a western city by taking her place in the instruction of the many parrots always in stock. The woman formerly spent weary hours with the birds, repeating to them the words and phrases which every well-educated parrot must know. But now she simply groups them before a motor-driven, re- peating phonograph, and puts on the rec- ord desired. Hour after hour the ma- chine grinds out the familiar “Hello, Polly,” for example, until from sheer boredom the parrots say the words Other records recently made bear the words “Go around to the back door,” and “The lady of the house is not in.” The Aviarist is Standing behind The Record Repeats by the Hour the Wor Phrase the Parrots must Learn. When the Less Memorized Another Record is Put On the Phonog: —,

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4¢ POPULAR MECHANICS ee ee A : % Fi ‘il eee & s The 9,000-Ton Ship ‘New Orleans’’ on the Canal between the City of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain: Construction was Started on the Vessel While the Site Was Still a Prairie. Later It was Taken through the Lake and the Gulf of Mexico, and Sent to New Orleans ROD FOR HOLDING SMALL BARS IS NEW WELDING TOOL A small tool is now manufactured for grasping the small bars, and similar pieces of metal which are so difficult to handle in welding. The tool consists of a rod. about a foot long, with a gripping finger at the _ end. Operation of this fin- get is con trolled by a lever By Means of the Finger at the End, This Little Tool Grasps the Bars of Metal Used in Welding handle at the other end of the rod. By pressing upon the lever the mechanic causes the finger to grip the object. When pressure is removed from the handle, the grip of the finger is relaxed. The finger holds the rod at a convenient angle for operation. STEAMER NOW ON MISSISSIPPI WAS BUILT IN PRAIRIE Nothing extraordinary is to be noted in the appearance of the new 9,000-ton steamer “New Orleans,” now afloat on the Mississippi River, but the sight it of- fered in its early construction period was remarkable indeed. It was built, as a matter of fact, on a site that was a prairie when work was started, with not enough water at hand to float a rowboat. Three months later, however, dredging opera- tions began for the canal connecting the city of New Orleans with Lake Pont- chartrain, and by the time the vessel was ready to launch, there was an adequate depth of water right alongside of it. Only the end of the canal toward the lake was open, however, and to get the new craft to its city dock, only five miles away, it was necessary to lighten it to a 7-ft. draft, tow it through the lake into the Gulf of Mexico, and send it up the river to New Orleans, a distance of 107 miles. Work is still progressing on the canal, which is about six miles long. abate ct.

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“ese WORLD’S LARGEST TRADE SCHOOL TRAINS MECHANICS FOR U. S. NAVAL AIR SERVICE By PAUL A. JENKINS ECAUSE so much has been said in recent months about the shameful shrinking of our American air services, it is high time that worried advocates of national preparedness be told the story of the world’s greatest trade school, known to officialdom as the Aviation Mechanics Schools of the Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Illinois. - The name is doubtless new to the reader. As a mat- ter of fact the existence of the schools, or of the school as it will be called herein- after, is unknown to four naval officers out of five. This unique university, now humming with the work and play of 2,500 American boys, represents the outcome of confer- ences held at Washington shortly after the signing of the armistice, in November, 1918. At these it was decided that the training of mnaval-aviation mx¢chanics, which during the war had been carried on at the many different stations, should be concettrated thereafter at Great Lakes, arid that the task of organization should be undertaken at once. Accordingly, a training system was evolved by a famous engineer, since re- turned to a high position in civil life. Drawing on their professional knowledge and highly specialized war-time experi- ence, other experts com- piled textbooks to cover every item of the in- struction now offered. Perhaps the most inter- esting phase of this pre- paratory organization was the accumulation of the equipment, of which so much and such a va- riety is needed for an en- terprise of this sort. Little money was available. So lathes, presses, seaplanes, propellers, engines, spare parts by the thousands—nearly all this vast array of material was retrieved from the junk piles created in every aircraft manufactory by the wholesale cancellation of government contracts. So, efficiently organized and thoroughly equipped, this greatest of all trade schools was soon busy with the development of the men who tomorrow will be entrusted with the care of the navy’s airplanes, fly- ing boats, and dirigibles. Admission was gained and still can be gained by any normal American youth with “an ambi- tion to succeed.” No previous higher schooling or mechanical experience is re- quired, though such qualifications natu- rally are desirable. The student is enlisted as an apprentice seaman for the regular navy period of three years. After a few probationary weeks con- sumed in learning the elementary duties of the sailor man, the recruit, if inexpe- rienced, declares himself for one of five courses. The first and longest of these is the machinist’s mate (aviation) course of 36 weeks. Typical of the others in the scope of the instruction given, this course embraces the following subjects: Shop Engine Ignition Is Another Bos Item in the Machinist’s-Mat eee | Course. A Class is Applying ; pyeta 4 Above, the Knowledge Gained o* x tema from Lectures = . mathematics—w! cidentally, is the fir study taken up in each of these first fiv« courses— element physics, blacksmith Theoretical and Practical Work are Carefully Proportioned at the Great Lakes Aviation Mechanics Schools. A Class is Receiving Instruction, Above, in Motor Theory, an Item in the Machinist’s-Mate Course work, sheet-metal work machine-shop wor k overhaul and test of

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42 POPULAR MECHANICS aviation motors, ignition and carburetors. Graduates of this school are rated ma- chinist’s mate 2c (A), and upon discharge are thoroughly qualified as expert auto- mobile repair men. Just as this first course trains recruits in the operation and maintenance of motors, so the second, or carpenter’s mate (aviation) course, of 33 weeks, fits re- cruits to perform all the operations in- volved in the shop, the electroplating outfit, and the blacksmith shop with its 30 forges and accommodations for 90 students. There is no space in this account for descrip- tions of the other structures, among them the comfortable barracks, the mess hall, sick bay, theater, and swimming pool. Walking from end to end of the first of the three large buildings mentioned, one sees a machine shop equipped with 50 lathes, 50 mill- repair and con- § struction of hulls, fuselages, Wings, and pro- pellers. On re- turning to civil life the gradu- ate of this course will find employ ment anywhere as a skilled cabinet- maker. The other three courses are shorter,and train men as gunnery ex- perts, as air- plane riggers, and as dirigible mechanics. In addition to these five courses, the school offers five more to men with pre- vious experi- ence in me- chanical trades or in the air service. The names of these advanced cCowrses are ing machines, 50 drill presses, 50 shapers, and with benches and vises_ for 90 men. Next come tool crib, storerooms, and equipment- maintenance shop. At the end is the big motor labora- tory, with its w ork benches acc ommodat- ing 120 men, and with its many fuselages in which the students mount the motors after test. Here also is the car- buretor lab- oratory. Traversing the second of the large halls, one sees. on right and left, classroom after class room. Here is’ the splendidly equipped igni- sufficiently de- This Is the Machine Shop Which Occupies Almost Half of One tion laboratory, scriptive. [They of the Three Large Halls. It Contains 50 Lathes, 50 Milling , Machines, 50 Drill Presses, 50 Shapers, in Addition to Bench and Vise Equipment for 90 Men are the ad- vanced cop- persmith’s course of 20 weeks, the ad- vanced machinist’s mate course of 12 weeks, the machinist’s mate watchmak- ing or instrument course of 12 weeks, the boatswain’s and carpenter’s mate course of 8 weeks, and the machinist’s mate ignition course of 6 weeks. This comprehensive curriculum is ad- ministered to the 2,500 students now en- rolled, in three great halls, each 600 ft. long and 75 ft. wide, and in one smaller building which contains the coppersmith the engineering library, and the engine mu- seum. The farther end of the build- ing is fitted up as a great carpenter shop. The third of these three halls houses, in addition to several class- rooms, the quariermaster school and the plane assembly room. In the first, the student learns, among other things, to sew, fit, and dope fabric to wings and fuselages. In the second, classes knock down, assemble, and aline all types of scout planes and flying boats. Unfortunately, this short summary of @ eye»

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sa Sn ome Sele Sa ch ela 2 In the Carpenter Shop, Men of the Carpenter’s-Mate Course Are Bus with the Construction of Propellers, Wings, Fuselages, and Hulls. One of the Last is Seen at the Left. Every Kind of Power and Hand Tool is Provided — Course Learn to Sew Fabric on Wings, and Then to Dope, Paint, and Patch It. The Wings Seen Here will Later be Installed on This Is the Quartermaster School Where Men of the Quartermaster Seaplanes and Airplanes by These Same Men E Oise Whweaic | AN ' IG, 4 oe as Beene some ,, Bmaaaaai ee ! In ‘the Motor Laboratory Men of the Machinist’s-Mate Course Acquire Skill in the Knockdown and Assembly of All Kinds of Air-Craft ( Engines. The Great Room Has Bench Space and Tool Kits for 120 Men

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44 POPULAR MECHANICS

In the Plane-Assembly Room Airplanes and Seaplanes of Every Type are Taken Down and Reassembled by the Students. A Scout Plane is being Put Together, at the Left. In the Background, at the Right, is Seen a Flying Boat of the Larger Type the school and its activities can contain no account of the wise ordering of the curriculum, which mixes theoretical with practical work in carefully calculated pro- portion in order that student interest shall not flag, nor of the amazing and diligent spirit of the place which demonstrates the wisdom of this scheme. Little can be said, too, of the system which effects an almost absolute economy of materials, which orders that the valve stem, for ex- ample, which the student forges in the blacksmith shop, shall be turned in the machine shop, and used, finally, in the motor laboratory.

MECHANISM STRIKES FERRY FOG BELL INTERMITTENTLY For the use of a ferry company op- erating in an American seaport, the chief engineer has invented and installed an interesting fog-bell — striker. As mounted beside the bell, at the end of the ferry slip, the mechanism consists, first, of a horizontal striking rod held, normally, against the rim of the bell by a stout coil spring. When fog obscures the bay, water is admitted to an old wa- ter meter, placed near the striking rod. The flowing water gives a reciprocating ———

The Photograph at the Left Explains the Operation of the Fog-Bell Striker. The Reciprocating Plunger in the Old Water Meter, at the Extreme Left, Engages with the Lug on the Striker, and So Pulls It Back. It is Then Released by a Trigger. The Mechanism is Exposed to View, at the Right <cahtinint =) Win lad oA

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imnmmenmer wenieitl POPULAR MECHANICS 45 motion to a plunger which pulls back, or cocks, the striking rod every time the plunger is drawn back into the cylin- der. A simple trigger mechanism releases the rod, for each blow, when the coil spring is compressed to its minimum length. KIT FOR ROLL-FILM CAMERA TAKES SMALLER FILMS One advantage always conceded to the plate camera is its ability to use plates smaller than its regular size, with the aid of kits placed in the plateholders. Now a roll-film camera can perform the same feat in an even simpler way, one patented kit serving for all the film used. The shorter spools of the smaller film are fitted with extension spool heads, fas- tened to a yoke, and inserted in the camera in the usual way. The kit itself is a simple mask, with an opening of the proper size for the small film. Flanges ‘a — | t In the Center Is the Kit, and at the Sides, the Film Spools Fitted with Extension Heads hold it firmly in place in the body of the camera, in front of the film exposure sur- Tace. COMPETING INVENTOR TAKES PRIZE WITH ODD GAUGE One of the prizes awarded at the close of the recent exhibition of inventions at Brussels, Belgium, went to the inventor of an interesting liquid gauge. His appa ratus consists of three helical solids, of any material, which are fixed one above another to an axle. This axle is deli- cately pivoted at either end; at the upper end it carries a graduated dial which re- volves past a fixed pointer. The gauge may be used to indicate the level of any liquid. As installed in a motorcycle gaso- line tank, for example, the axle is inclined at about 45° from the vertical, with the The Novel Liquid Gauge is Pictured at the Left. It has been Placed in a Glass Tank, at the Right, to Show the Manner of Its Use dial in front of the rider. As the gaso- line level drops, it uncovers more and more of the helixes; the unbalanced col- umn seeks a position of equilibrium, and so turns the axle in proportion to the drop. This action turns the graduated dial past the pointer. VENTILATORS FITTED TO ROOF OF CITY RESERVOIR It has seldom been considered neces- sary to ventilate the surface of city water reservoirs. This is now done, however in Glendale, Calif. The plank roof which covers the pool was pierced at intervals, and wide-mouthed ventilators were in- stalled. These have proved satisfactory Ventilators were Installed on the Top of This Water Reservoir to Aerate the Surtace and So Keep the Water Fresh and Odorless it is found, in fact, that water can stand nearly twice as long as before without any taint of stagnation.

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46 *>POPULAR MECHANICS EXTRA STEP FOR AUTO FOLDS UNDER RUNNING BOARD To make it possible to mount the run- ning board of an auto in two steps, in- Folding Auxiliary Step for Auto Running Boards: It is Extended for Use by Pressing a Small Plate stead of one, adding to the comfort and convenience of passengers, an eastern concern is bringing out an ingenious at- tachment in the shape of a folding step. It is long enough to serve both doors, and is hung on a simple system of levers, folding compactly against the underside of the running board, but instantly swung downward and outward for use by pres- sure on a small plate near the driver's foot. It is refolded by pressing another similar plate, working easily both ways, but rigid and durable in use. The auxil- iary step is adaptable also to railway cars. CIn spite of fog and high winds the naval dirigible “C-10” recently made the 300-mile trip from Chatham, Mass., to Rockaway, L. I., in the remarkably good time of six hours. The journey was made in order that the craft might participate in the maneuvers of the Atlantic fleet. FLORIDA BOYS EXPERT MAKERS OF MODEL AIRPLANES One who has the welfare of American aviation at heart can find no promise of the future more reassuring than the American boy’s persistent enthusiasm for the springtime competition. In the last meet, held some weeks ago, there partici- pated 11 planes from the grammar grades, and an equal number from the high school, Half the Model Airplanes En- tered in This Year’s Competition were Made in the School Shops by This Group of High-School Boys the construction and fly- ing of model airplanes. And nowhere is this juve- nile interest keener or more intelligently di- rected than in the manual-training shops of the grammar schools and high school of St. Petersburg, Fla. Here the aeronautical climax of each school year is — | il R — With one_ exception these were of the mono- plane type, offering con- trast to the contest of 1919, when the biplane figured more. promi- nently. This last meet was won by a monoplane which established 151 ft. as the school record for continuous flight. It was built by Denzil Deever, a 14-year-old lad. The Other Entries Grammar-School Boys. The Winner is Indicated by the Arrow in This Year's Competition were Made by These

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oma ee “ POPULAR MECHANICS 1? bali 7 al | 3 — | Left: The Portable X-Ray Set is Seen in Use, with the Transformer at the Base and the Control Equipment in the Box on the Chair. Right: The Set is Shown Packed in Four Bundles for Transportation X-RAY OUTFIT FOR SURGERY MADE IN PORTABLE FORM The X-ray set ordinarily used in hos- pitals is quite a cumbersome fixture. An outfit is now available which preserves all its advantages in a portable form, easily carried in a small auto to patients who cannot go to the operating room. It packs in four units, a suitcase containing the tube and small parts, a box of con- trol instruments. a case like a golf bag for the stand, and the transformer. The last, heaviest of the packages, weighs but 43 lb. Operating requires about 660 watts, which may be taken from any lamp socket, the control apparatus compensat- ing for any supply variations. The oil- insulated transformer delivers 10 milli- amperes at 60,000 volts. The tube is re markable for its size, only 2!5 in., and the fact that it acts as its own rectifier It is made of glass, containing 57 per cent of metallic lead, doing away with all hields. Not only is the ray intensity a¢ curately adjustable, but a time switch makes the length of exposure automatic, assuring exact and reliable results. MIXES LIVE STEAM WITH GAS IN AUTO INTAKE MANIFOLD Water taken from the auto’s cooling system, and heated by the engine-exhaust manifold, is injected into the fuel-intake manifold in the shape of live steam by a special auxiliary carburetor recently placed on the market. The instrument, which is controlled from the dash, is readily installed on any car in an hour's time. Carefully made tests on a number of different cars indicate that the use of the steam injector increases the milea on a given quantity of gasoline from to 41.3 per cent, gives 5 re S 5 speed from 5 to The Manner hich the Auxili- ary Carburetor Injects Live Steam into the Intake Manifold is Ses ss § 7 miles an hour higher with the same fu consumption, and shows from 9 to 13.4 per cent greater power on a 6-per-cent grade. The acceleration also is improved 19 to 31 per cent. @ The famous old U. S. battleship “Iowa.” now obsolete, is being fitted with appara- tus that will enable it to be steered and controlled by wireless from a distant sta- tion. When equipped, it is to be used as a moving target.

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18 POPULAR MECHANICS PASSENGER STATION EQUIPPED WITH UNLOADING PLATFORM Long, movable platforms, or steps, are now being distributed by one western railroad to its smaller passenger stations. rhis Little Platform Is the Successor to the Porter’s Footstool Which the Passenger Usually Finds So Hard to ‘*“‘Land On” Squarely This is done in the belief that the little boxes, or stools, usually placed beneath car steps to assist passengers in descend- ing, are encumbrances en route, and are inconvenient in use. The new platforms, on the other hand, are left at the sta- tions, not carried in the car vestibules, and when drawn into place by the porter, ire easily found by the passenger's de- scending foot. CONCRETE PAVILIONS REPLACE ROTTING WOODEN STATIONS By the substitution of concrete for wood in the construction of the stations along its route, one electric-traction com- pany expects to save annually the many thousands of dollars formerly spent on upkeep. These concrete buildings, or pavilions, are of uniform design. Each is formed of 14 fluted columns, which support a roof of colored tile. At either end is a high-backed bench of concrete. Beside each bench is a graceful column bearing an electric globe. The first of these concrete structures, erected on a seaside line, have already demonstrated their superiority to wood by resisting completely the effects of high winds, fre- quent fogs, and blowing sands. OIL LAMP HEATS SANDED FLOOR OF NEW BROODER In the newest chicken brooder, heat from an oil lamp is applied from below and not from above. The brooder is made of galvanized iron throughout, and resembles a drum with a double bottom. Beneath the center of the upper bottom The Oil Lamp is Placed beneath the Double Bottom of This Brooder to Heat the Sand-Covered Floor. Chicks Enter from the Right is placed the oil heater. Chicks gain ad- mittance to the drum through a covered, inclined way. The floor of the drum they find covered with sand, and hottest, of course, at the center. If the heat is too great here, the chicks move of their own accord to the circumference of the floor. —_— — The Attractive Shelter Above Is One of the Concrete Stations Erected by an Interurban Railway to Replace the Old Unsightly Wooden Structures. It Is One of the Seaside Stations Which have All Resisted So Completely the Effects of Wind, Fog, and Sand sips: ata

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oe ee a SENDING MERCHANDISE BY WIRE By T. BENJAMIN FAUCETT NE of the world’s most famous aerial cableways covers the stretch of JU miles between the mountain cities Mari- quita and Cajones, in southwestern Co- lombia. In the near future, the company now Operating it will extend it 30 miles farther over the extremely mountainous country to the city of Manizales, and it will then be the longest in the world. Little aerial by recognizing the difficulties of moun- tain travel. The necessity for waterproof packages is realized when it is known that the cableway does not run at night, so that packages halfway to their destination hang suspended in the air until the ma- chinery is started again. This is often for a period of several days, as at present he cableway vagones [ec ar s | are attached to the cable at certain inter- vals and each of them carries three cargoes, or to make a pecific illustra- tion, six bags of coffee. Two s of mer- chandise con- stitute a cargo, as these ba Ys are suspended from each side of the pack mules that bring them up the narrow mountain trails to this cable- way shipping rminal. The usual weight of each bag is | only runs two days a week on iccount of the rregularity and slowness ot pack - muls« transport, on which it de- pends _ alto- gether. All mail for this interior section of the Andes also goes over this cableway, but of course 1s subject to the same delay as merchandise vet this is noth- ing out of the ordinary for all South Ameri- can countries tr iversed b \ the famou chain of moun ibout 125° Ib., tains. P thus making a sengers are not total load of usually carrie 7) Ib. carried though som by a single adventurous ierial wagon. = 2g | Oones have Exporters to In the Background is Seen a Vagone Which has Just been Clamped pl iced ban 0 this section of to the Cable, and is Now being Loaded for the 30-Mile poles between : Trip over Mountain and Chasm to Cajones South America two wagon should bear in mind that their goods strapped their saddles on the poles should be packed in waterproof packages have ridden to their destination. Hoy weighing about 125 lb. each, as they must ever, they had to be positive that tl be brought up to the aerial cableway cableway would run long enough for terminal by pack mules whose maximum them to reach the end of the line, or load should be 250 Ib., and equally divided least stop in a high spot where the cab so as to balance the load. Many Amer-_ ran close to the ground. In any event ican shippers ignore these instructions these adventurous travelers always c¢ for packing, so that when their goods ried a coil of rope so that they co are unloaded at one of the seaport cities slide down if the machinery happens native packers must repack them for get out of order and left them stranded mountain transport, adding greatly to the cost and causing the merchants of the \ndes region to express a preference for European exporters who cater to them high in the air. But should this take place while the are crossing from mountain to mountai! ' on either side of the River Guali, they

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50 POPULAR MECHANICS Occasionally an Adventuresome Party Travels by Wire. A Coil of Rope is Always Taken Along, So That the Cars can be Deserted in Case the Machinery Fails power station whenever it is time to at- tach another wagon to the cable. Neces- sarily, the cableway is in a straight line between the twe cities, and consists of one endless 1!5-in. steel-wire cable that winds around enormous drums at each terminal point. As this steel wire is ex- tremely hard and tough, the drums are made of softer metal so that they take almost all the wear, for it is much easier and less expensive to renew one of thi drums tian the 30-mile stretch Several of these drums wear out every year, and this, combined with all the other abnormal wear incident to a moun- tainous and humid region, is what causes the high transportation rate of $20 a ton. One may wonder why the large stock of grass or fodder, in the foreground of one of the pictures, is accumulated, but it happens to be neither. The pack mules of the Andes regions are very particular about their feed, and it is a pile of sugar- cane tops brought up from the tropical level and collected at the terminal for the animals to eat while waiting to be reloaded for the return trip. A pack mule simply must have plenty of sugar, and will follow anywhere if only a chunk of panela (lump of residue left after sugar is refined) is held before him during the journey. of cable. one would be suspended 1,500 ft. in ' the air, and some method of signaling would have to be used in order that the engineer at the power plant might run them over to a lower level. This will never happen except through accident, for the engineer can tell to a mile just where every wagon is, and thus stop any of them in the most convenient place for the adventurous passengers to alight. In going over long stretches be- tween cable supports, the wire sags down quite close to the ground, and when first con- structed much trouble was ex- perienced with thieves climbing upon the wagons at these low After throwing the car- goes overboard, the daring rob- bers would follow and load the merchandise upon their mules, but this thievery was soon elim- inated when the Colombian gov- ernment placed a very heavy pen- alty on the culprits. Three 10-hp. steam engines are _ required to keep the cable in mo- ‘tion, and indicators ring in the points. In the Days When the Law was Less Strictly Enforced, Bandits Often Pulled the Cargoes Off the Vagones at Points Where the Cable Was within Reach

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ies edt on ile. BL POPULAR MECHANICS 51 SUBMARINE RESCUES DISABLED FLYING BOAT HE U. S. submarine “H-3,”’ and a big naval sea- plane of the F-5-L type were recently the principals in a strange drama of coincidence staged on the Pacific Ocean, barely over the horizon from Los Angeles Harbor. The submarine was running, submerged, on a short practice cruise. The officer on watch had just swung the periscope through 360° without sighting a vessel. Suddenly there dropped into the field of view a big seaplane. Odviously this was a landing forced by engine failure. The order was given to bring the sub to the surface. Meanwhile, the crew of the flying boat, finding themselves alone upon the sea, had resigned themselves to a helpless beating, possibly to death, at the hands of the squall that was threatening. They knew that, as one of the units in the San Diego- Los Angeles mail service, their craft would soon be missed. Yet their chances of riding out the storm until the arrival of rescuers, they decided, were slim. At that moment the submarine was seen to break the surface a few hundred yards away. The airmen stared in astonishment, then cheered as the sub drew along- side. A line was passed and all speed put on. The pace was not slackened until rescuer and rescued were safely inside the Los Angeles breakwater. PRINTER’S PAPER MATRICES newspapers receiving tons of it in the USED FOR LINING WALLS ern Seca emer we Sente ae Oe sizes up to tull eight-column pages. A westert The paper-pulp matrices sent by syndi- publisher has discovered that he can sel these sheets to builders, who use then for lining house walls. For that purpos the hard, thick paper has been found cates and advertising agents to news- papers, for the purpose of making stereo- types, ordinarily become waste material l vers as soon as they are used, or when they — satisfactory and cheaper than regul are not used at all. The quantity of this building paper. It is particularly adapted commodity sent out is enormous, some to the construction of chicken houses.

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52 POPULAR MECHANICS LANTERN SHOWS RED OR WHITE FOR DANGER OR SAFETY All the gyrations of the railway gate- man’s lantern have their meaning, but the peregrinating public cannot always inter-

F aoe ~<F ’ 5 et ee Frc sisuterinmaeeitoahien + vale Sella tod

ahe Cross of Red Glass Visible When the Lantern is Held as at the Left Indicates Danger. Turned as at the Right, Only White Light is Seen pret them. To assure that signals of dan- ger or safety shall be clear beyond per- adventure, a Texas inventor has designed a lantern which shows a bright red cross to all approaching a crossing from either direction, when the bail of the lantern is held parallel with the rails. Held at right angles, only a white light is visible. The lantern may be fixed on a post and turned with a lever. MACHINE WITH SWINGING HOE THINS OUT COTTON PLANTS An agricultural operation that seemed, from its nature, to be limited to manual performance—the thinning out of rows of cotton plants—now is being success- fully accomplished by a peculiar machine. The cotton plants should be about 12 in. apart, but usually come up in close for- mation. The chopping mechanism is a hoe with a two-sided 12-in. blade, on a : -

shaft which swings it back and forth across the row as the machine is drawn along it. A pair of disks bar off the earth from the plants before cutting, and four plow blades put it back afterward, while a second pair of disks protects the young plants. A clutch controlled from the driving handles stops or starts the hoe instantly, or it may be disconnected al- together. When its swing encounters too great a resistance, it is automatically freed by a sliding rear bearing. AIRPLANES EASILY HANDLED WITH PIVOTED DOLLIES The mechanics at one army flying field have lightened their work appreciably by constructing several pivoted, pneumatic- tired dollies. With one of these beneath the tail, they now find it an easy matter to push an airplane about the shop, or wheel it into position on the field. Each dolly consists of two wheels from the landing gear of a dismantled airplane. To the axle is fixed a light wooden tongue. On a pivot atop the axle is r ' |

This Pivoted, Pneumatic-Tired Dolly Makes Easy the Work of Turning and Moving an Airplane on the Field or in the Hangar mounted a small boxlike structure. This box receives and holds the tail skid of the airplane. The subsequent maneuver is directed by a mechanic at the tongue.

The Machine for Thinning Out Cotton Plants is Seen in Use at the Left. In the Close-Up View at the Right, the Swinging Hoe Blade That Cuts the Plants Is Visible between the Front and Rear Disks 1) ee

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POPULAR MECHANICS * 53 IMPROVED STEAM AUTO HAS GAS-CAR ADVANTAGES Perspective Plan View of the New Steam-Car Chassis, Showing the Loca- tion of the Boiler at the Front, and the Two- Cylinder Double-Acting En- gine Mounted on the Rear Axle 4 - — SPARK COIL MECHANICAL SPRAY FUEL NOZZLE ELECTRIC MOTOR TO DYNAMO —. , BATTERY TO DVNAMOC — GROUND MAGNET SWITCH AND-STARTING SWITCH MAGNET STEAM-PRESSURE ~ GAUGE PIN KEROSENE CONNECTION ~ KEROSENE-PRESS URE GAUGE PIN The Compact Continuous- Flow Boiler of Nickel- Steel Tubing, Coiled , DLAI Conically in Four Layers, | a Serer ST EAT TLE DISCHARGE FROM RADIATOR and Built for a Working = _ _— - - : Steam Pressure of 500 to 600 Pounds Complete Schematic Diagram of the Boiler, Burner, Water, and Fuel Feed with the Electrical Apparatus Used for Automatic Control steam may raised ( ’ cold bo: 20 to SX) second by mers t iwea s that the « I i atte! the fire 5 oO " that one 253-ga tant ) ‘ is good for 100 to 230 mil The continuous-flow bo | 5 made of nickel-steel tubing ot ona? 14,-in. inside and *4-in. outsid The Finished Car, Which Resembles a High-Grade Gasoline Car in diameter. arranged conical Appearance and Convenience, While Retaining Steam’s Advantages , : ; - rf in tour avers, a the t¢ ot Though popular opinion has made the which the kerosene or fuel oil is burn gasoline auto the standard type, the in a spray. A small electric motor rut steam car retains loyal friends because the water and fuel pumps and the air of its superior power flexibility. To blower, and is automatically controlled retain this advantage, and achieve all by a switch operated by the steam gaug that the gas car has besides, is the which shuts it off at 600 Ib. and start purpose of a new steam drive for autos, it at 500 Ib. of steam pressure. Ignition tractors, or trucks. With this im- is by an ordinary spark plug, actuated proved equipment it is declared that by a contact on the kerosene gauge

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54 POPULAR MECHANICS HOUSEBOAT GOING FROM OHIO TO BRAZIL A Honeymoon Houseboat de Luxe, Pulled by a Motorboat and Carrying an Automobile, Now on Its Way to Brazil by Way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and the Gulf of Mexico, a Total of 8,000 Miles of Water Few homes ashore could offer, in equivalent space, more comforts than are incorporated in an unusual houseboat that has just started a window on both sides, giving plenty of light, air, and On an extraordinary trip. The boat, owned SLEEPING | SLEEPING SLEEPING | SLEEPING view. The upper cabin contains four sleeping rooms ae equipped with com- fortable bunks. A rough-riding auto for by an Ohio physician the Brazilian forests : - a “he ROOM ROOM "er : and his bride, is on its - — aes is carried at one end way to Brazil, where i - Ih ‘a of the deck, and a the honey- = double og , of aa > > ] € d 4 mooners will | PIANO ~ SHELVES house, tenanted establish a per- CO DINING ROOM by two police : : LIVING ROOM OD KITCHEN a manent home ‘4 pa em dogs, at the on a farm of \ | | GTABLE D other. The sever: 10u- y qo See Doz - everal the ul TABLE cHuns ss houseboat, pro sand acres. The / P=) oun Pe lled by a lower deck of A, BOOKCASE x) i CUPBOARD > STOVE small motor- the craft is di- EL Yk & boat, is taking vided into liv- The Lower Diagram Indicates the Living-Room Arrangement 4 leisurely ing room. din- of the First Deck. The Upper Plan Shows * course down .° " the Sleeping Quarters . ing room, and the Ohio and kitchen, all appropriately furnished, even Mississippi rivers into the Gulf of Mexico, to piano and bookcases. As the rooms’ and is expected to reach its destination extend across the cabin, each room has_ next August. TRAP CATCHES HOGS AND HOLDS THEM TIGHTLY eee at Be a | The Manner in Which a Hog is Held Tightly but without Injury by the New Trap is Shown in the Side and Front Views Hogs can be marked or given surgical attention without difficulty by the aid of an automatic trap recently put on the market. The device resembles a pair of doors, which, by pushing a lever, are opened just enough to admit the head of the hog. The inquisitive animal, eager to push through the aperture, is caught just behind the ears, and in trying to back out, actuates a ratchet and sets the trap still tighter. In this position it is held without discomfort, but quite motionless, until released.

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POPULAR MECHANICS USE ODD FACTORY-MADE UNITS TO BUILD FRENCH HOUSES Restoring the great number of build- ings, some 450,000, destroyed by the in- vaders of France, in the face of a dearth of labor, has evolved some ingenious short-cut methods of construction. One architect has devised a system in which the posts of a new building are set up in a factory, and connected by metal gutters heavy enough to act as girders. Roofs of glass or tile in three joints are then fitted between gutters and ridgepole, #& and concrete units are precast for other parts of the structure. —— These factory-made parts are as- sembled on the ground with 10 per cent of the labor ordinarily required for erecting a_ similar building. AUTOMATIC COUPLER CONVERTS WAGON INTO TRUCK TRAILER \ coupling arrangement for the back of a motor truck that enables it to be backed under the front end of a wagon and auto- matically connected, making a. semitrailer, has just been placed v - co wt STUBBY FUSELAGE IS FEATURE OF SURPRISING AIRPLANE According to theory, the tail surfaces of an airplane should be placed well to 4 In This Front View of the Machine the Undercarriage Axle is Seen to Be Almost at the Level of the Lower Wings on the market by a Massachu- setts firm. The coupler is similar in form to the fifth wheel of a wagon, but is pivoted transversely to give flexibility to the system, and provided with coil springs to take up shock. The bolster plate and upper circle of the at- tachment are fastened to the wagon bed in place of the regular fifth wheel, and slide into locked engagement with the truck portion when they are brought to- gether. It is disconnected by pulling a lever from the driver’s seat, a wooden Above: The Automatic Trailer Coupler in Position for Engagement with the Upper Circle, Which, with Its Bolster Plate, is Shown Separately. Right: The Under Side of the Coupler horse being placed to catch the front of the trailer. The Designer Demonstrates the Compactness of the Fuselage by Placing One Hand on the Upper Wing, the Other on the Tail Surfaces. The Unusually Large Rudder Is:Noteworthy the rear in order that elevator and rudder may exert powerful turning movements about the center of gravity. Actual flying tests have now been made, however, with a biplane machine characterized by a fuselage of surprising stubbiness. Though the wings are of conventional span, the rudder and elevators are actually within four feet of the trailing edges. Appar- ently to compensate for this alarming sac- rifice of control leverage, the designer has modified the position of the wings. The upper wings are not only set far ahead of the lower, but are inclined at a much larger angle to the line of flight. \s result of this wing rangement, incidental the designer has found it possible to place the two landing wheels immedti- ately in front of, and not entirely below, the lower wings. The recent flving tests were conducted in secret, but the pilot re- ports that the machine

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handles easily on the ground, and in the air is safely flown with hands off the controls. COMBINED TRACTOR AND PRESS BALES HAY RAPIDLY Between 70 and 100 tons of baled hay may be turned out in a day by a combina- tion tractor and hay press, of 20 hp., now . annie - — = = | Tractor-Hay Press That Bales 70 to 100 Tons a Day, Operated by Seven Men anda 20-Horsepower Engine yi the market, which works in the field and is operated by seven men. The ma- chine can make 730 Ib. of hay into two bales in one minute. The operation of the press is automatic, the follower in the baling chamber and the pusher in the feed box being so connected that the re- turn movement of the follower, after making a bale, sets the pusher readv for another charge. FISHERIES COURSE OFFERED BY AMERICAN UNIVERSITY Recently 24 men were graduated by the University of Washington from its course in fisheries, the first instruction of this character ever offered by a school in the United States. Only one other school in the world gives instruction along similar lines, and this is located in Japan. The list of courses given by the Uni- versity of Washington and the number of students who attended the first classes include: The fisheries of the Pacific Ocean, 21; canning of fishery products, 34; curing of fishery products, 24; classi- 56 POPULAR MECHANICS fication, habits, etc., of Pacific economic aquatic species, 20, and elements of navi- gation, 9. A number specialized in dis- ease and parasites of fishes and othe, aquatic food animals. Students comprised men from all parts of the Pacific coast, Alaska, and one from Siberia. Classes included one general manager of a fisheries corporation, one head of a wholesale fish company, office men, superintendents, cannery tforemen, and mechanics: also motorboat operators in Alaskan and Puget Sound waters. The ages of the men ranged from 21 to 60. Piece by piece machinery has been added to the equipment of the university. Manufacturers coOperated with the de- partment by lending machinery or giving it outright. In this manner an outfit of modern mechanical devices used in fish plants has been gathered. Marked expansion is projected for the fisheries course next year. Instruction will be offered that will appeal to the sportsman as well as the practical fisher- man. MOTOR CONNECTED DIRECTLY TO NEW HAIR CLIPPER A motor-driven hair clipper, quite dif- ferent from others of its kind, has re- cently made its appearance in many bar- ber shops. The flexible driving shaft for the stationary motor is eliminated; in- stead. the motor is carried just back of the clipper handgrips. By the removal of two knurled nuts, motor and clipper are disengaged, making it possible to ad- just one without disturbing the other. It is impossible for hair to lodge in the gears of the clipper, too, as all gears are contained in a grease-tight cup. The New Hair Clipper Is Ready for Use, at the Top. The Two Nuts have been Unscrewed, Below, to Permit Separation of Motor and Clipoer

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| | VO SE ae we _aan —. $$ ee Pe | a | Among the Equipment Used at the Spectacular Test of the | mer ¢ * High-Pressure System Were Five Turret Nozzles, Two of Which } ig are Seen Above. Each is Carried on a Two-Wheeled Cart, and es Is Thus as Mobile as Any Piece of Light Artillery : ae 3 co ” As the Water was Turned On, 14 Streams Rose Higher than the Roofs of the Skyscrapers Near By. This Height could have been Doubled, If Each Hydrant was Equipped with Three Reducing Valves, Each of Which has Connections for Two Lines of Hose. In Each Valve Pressure is Regulated to the Pound by Means of a Lever Handle like the One in the Foreground Full Pressure had been Used This Photograph was Taken Just before the Start of the Demonstration. The Apparatus is Seen to Incluc¢ ne Water Tower, Two Batteries, Five Turret Nozzles, and Numerous Three-Ways. Thousands of Spectators Watched the Exhibition SAN FRANCISCO TESTS HIGH-PRESSURE SYSTEM \ vv. FOURTEEN years after San Fran- cisco was destroyed by fire the San Francisco public was given a demon- stration to show that the high-pressure system would prevent the reoccurrence of such a catastrophe. The demonstration Occurred recently at the corner of Mar- : E CIiVenN ket, 1] hird, and Kearny streets and 45.00) ft. of hose WwW ere used in the te St. Water was taken from nine hydrants, each | drant being equipped with three high pressure valves, with two fire hose tached to each valve. making six lines e» tending from each hydrant. These lines

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58 POPULAR were extended to one water tower, two batteries, five turret nozzles, and nu- merous three-ways. [his equipment shot 14 streams of water higher than the 12- story skyscrapers. Only 165-lb. pressure was used. The maximum pressure at this point is 314 lb. to the square inch. Had this pressure been turned on, the streams would have reached nearly twice the height. There were eight lines of hose extending from the hydrants to the water tower, six to the two batteries, and four to each of the turret nozzles. The turret nozzles are carried on a_ two- IMMENSE GERMAN CANAL GATE HANDLED AS SINGLE UNIT As indicating that the artisans of Ger- many have not lost their technical cun- pe = a WIDE WORL PHOT Huge German Canal-Lock Gate, Manufactured in Sections, Assembled on Shore, and Installed by Giant Cranes ning, for all their troubles of war reac- tion, the recent installation of a huge canal-lock gate at Augsburg, on the Lech River in Bavaria, is interesting. The great steel-plate structure, manufactured in a near-by plant, was shipped to the canal in sections. There it was completely as- sembled before installation. MECHANICS wheeled cart, two of which can be seen in the foreground of one of the views. Early in the afternoon Market Street was roped off and promptly at 2:30 the ap- paratus was placed in position, and faced so that the streams of water would shoot down Market Street. Many thousands stood back of the lines and watched the spectacle from the rear. One of the interesting features of the demonstration was the perfect control of the pressure by the high-pressure valves, which were described in Popular Me- chanics Magazine last year. NEW DAIRY PROCESS REDUCES MILK TO FLOURLIKE POWDER Though many bakers, confectioners, and ice-cream manufacturers have been using it for some time, only recently has an occasional American housewife learned the value of powdered milk. The general public still knows almost nothing, in fact, about this remarkable new commodity which can be stored almost indefinitely, then can be retransformed to fresh, sweet milk by the addition of a proper volume of water. Powdered milk is going to be widely used when it becomes generally known that the stuff will not freeze in winter, nor deteriorate in summer, and that it can be shipped in quantity at a fraction of the cost of transporting the liquid. The milk is converted into the powder by an interesting, patented process. After careful test. the milk is poured into vacuum pans, where part of the water is extracted at a temperature which does not coagulate the albumin. The resulting liquid is then forced at high pressure through tiny holes in metal plates. It emerges as fine spray into a current of heated air. As the moisture is absorbed by the parched air, the suspended solids fall, like drifting snow. to the floor of the process chamber. This powder, re- sembling the finest flour, contains less than two per cent of moisture, and on test is found to harbor no bacteria. The warming and spraying produce absolutely no chemical change. @A wire cableway, suggested by an American Red Cross officer, now conveys firewood across an unbridged chasm to the poverty-stricken inhabitants of Pod- goritza, Montenegro. This expedient makes accessible great stores of cut wood abandoned by Austrian forces during a retreat.

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POPULAR MECHANICS 59 OVERALLS FORCE PLANE MECHANICAL LOADER FEATURED TO MAKE LANDING BY VARIED PERFORMANCE A pair of overalls slipped out of the A mechanical elevator and loader of re- observers cockpit of an army airplane, cent invention is almost human in its per- recently, while the craft was flying on coast pa- trol over Atlantic City, N. J. As the slip stream As the Front Wheel of ¢ hi y t | wrapped the garment eels tat oy a around the rudder, the Positions, the Machine ; Re : : is Made to Attack the plane was forced into a Pile in Any One of Four dizzy tail spin. Thanks | Ways. The Rear Wheels to the pilot's clever work . oe with ailerons and eleva- Te tors, the plane was right- ed, however, and brought to a spectacular landing in an outlying field. POWER TAKE-OFF WORKS FROM AUTOMOBILE TRANSMISSION For the purpose of tak- ing power from an auto- mobile engine without interfering with its regu- lar use, a Michigan man- ufacturer has developed a transmission and power take-off which formance, by virtue of its three-wheel may be operated together at any time. mounting and differential drive to the The take-off, which attaches to the side two rear wheels. If the pile of gravel, of the transmission case, is practically a coal, crushed rock, or similar material, is separate sliding-gear set, with a large to be removed in the ordinary gear meshing with the idler gear of the way, the front wheel is set transmission. By sliding a gear on the take-off main shaft, the power shaft may be run forward or reverse as desired. The take-off is full ball and roller-bearing, and can be attached to either side of the trans- mission, and operated with the car run- ning or standing. It may be used to work a dump body or winch on a truck, or for outside power purposes. parallel with the others. Th loader will now dig its” w: straight into the pile. If th impracticable, the wheel may be turned at an angle. The pick up end of the elevato hoor will now travel in a circle, or the drive to the rear wheels m be reversed alternately, moving the pick-up end in arc, back and forth acToss he bas of th pile | _ CA onaetenfesn —— tins i 4 4 ii¢ made oO! soda silicat and raw kaolin has been found quite free from the destructive chemical action that takes place some cements, at the high temperatures at- tained in such engines as Left, Auto Transmission Arranged for Power Take-Off at the Side Window. those used for airplane Right, Four-Speed Truck Transmission with Take-Off work.

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60 POPULAR TRUCK TURNS IN OWN LENGTH ON SMALL EXTRA WHEELS A motor truck is enabled to turn around in its own length, pivoting on its hind wheels, by an attachment now in use at a London railway terminal. Two small wheels, mounted on a vertical column under the engine, are arranged at right angles to the regular wheels, and driven by chain from the power plant. By a lever at the driver's hand, they may be thrust down by gearing until the front 1 wheels of the truck are clear. The whole MECHANICS mechanically operated keys, constantly re- peating the words “out” on one cable and “in” on the other. All wireless-equipped ships will be able to follow these signals safely in any weather. As an alternative, a similar system using a single cable may be adopted. SOIL FERTILIZED BY SULPHUR INOCULATED WITH BACTERIA It has long been known that sulphur has its place in the fertilization of soil, but there was little information as to its action. and no certainty as to its proper use, It has now been demon- strated that the sulphur is transformed into sul- phuric acid, with the subsequent evolution of useful chemicals, by the activities of certain bac- teria in the soil. Workers at the New Jersey state experiment station have discovered that sulphur may be inoculated with these soil bacteria at will, producing a fer- tilizing agent of remark- able properties. Used with mixed fertilizer on potato land infected with scab-fungus disease, the crop was increased, and ae Motor Truck Fitted with Small Chain-Driven Auxiliary Wheels, on Which only 14.2 per cent of it It may be Swung Bodily About in Its Own Length, the Shift proved unsalable com- being Made by a Lever at the Diiver’s Hand ’ forward end is then swung bodily about on the auxiliary wheels. WIRELESS GUIDES FOR SHIPS IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY Ships passing into or out of San Fran- cisco Bay are soon to be guided by auto- matic wireless signals, if present plans are carried out. Two cables are to be laid on the sea bottom, extending out seven or eight miles, and connected to pared with 54.9 per cent using ordinary fertilizer. One-fifth part of inoculated sulphur mixed with phos- phate fertilizer greatly increases the yield of phosphoric acid. Alfalfa crops in Oregon were increased as much as 1,000 per cent by its use, and the qual- itv improved. An excess of the sulphur forms acid that eradicates all weeds, and the soil may then be completely restored by lime treatment. The inoculated sul- phur, ready for use, is soon to be placed on the market. LONDON RAILWAY ADOPTS NEW CARS AND SIGNALS Most street-railway congestion and de- lay is caused by slow loading and unload- ing. London's underground electric-rail- way system has recently adopted a new form of car, with five side doors, permit- ting almost instant emptying and filling at stations. Straps for standing pas- sengers are dispensed with by providing holding rails at each partition and seat back. At Victoria station a siren horn has been installed, and after a train has stood for 30 seconds. an attendant in a high booth, commanding the waiting room and train platform, sounds a signal that hurries the passengers into their places, and saves still more time. ..

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New Cars of the London Underground Electric Rail- way, with Five Side Doors That Open Together, Per- mitting Almost Instant Loading and Unloading of Passengers The Attendant from His High Booth Keeps an Eye on Both Waiting Room and Train Platform, and, Watch in Hand, Pulls the Siren Rope When the Train has | Stood for 30 Seconds The Siren, Which Calls the Waiting Patrons to Assemble on the Train Platform, Is Visible in the Upper Part of the Picture The Rather Unusual Seating Arrangements of the New Cars, Increasing Their Passenger Capacity About 9 per Cent The Rails Take the Place of Straps for Standing Passengers —

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62 POPULAR MECHANICS ~ eth The Interior of the Altitude Laboratory Now Maintained by the Bureau of Standards at Washington, D. C., is Pictured at the Left. the Opened Door. BIG LEAGUE BALL PLAYER WIELDS NEW-STYLE BAT » 1 A member of the Cincinnati “Reds” last winter outlined to a sporting-goods man- ufacturer his notion of the ae ries in his Dat weapon of his own design. [t differs from the ordin iry bat in that the working end is cylindrical. The grip end is without taper likewise, and measures in diametet about 3% in., or a little more than a third the diameter of the thicker end. FLIGHT CONDITIONS IMITATED IN ALTITUDE LABORATORY Engines for American aircraft can now be put through the severest high-altitude tests on the ground. In the new “alti- tude laboratory” maintained by the Bu- reau of Standards, conditions similar to those encountered at 30,000 ft., or at any other reasonable altitude, can be imi- The Testing Chamber in the Background is Shown at the Right, as Seen through In This Chamber High-Altitude Conditions are Reproduced Accurately *+ , ] +? 1 7 rr . , ] } tated exactly. Che vital part ot the labo- ratory is, naturally, the small chamber in ' which the engine is mounted for test. The t 11 walls of the chamber are thickly insulated, and are strongly built to resist external i uctural precautions air supplied to the engine during an “altitude” test is very cold, and at very low pressure. Throughout eacl engine is care- fully scrutinized for valves and carburetors. air pressure. These str are necessary because the defective NEW ELECTRIC SIGNAL HAS DOUBLE HORNS To replace the large electric Fong ally mounted in factory corridors t oO all- nounce quitting time, fire drill, or for similar purposes, there is now made an electric-horn signal of new form. Two megaphones are provided; in conse- quence, the sound is sent with equal in- | The tensity in both directions. body of This Electric Horn is Meant for Use in Factory Gor- ridors, So is Provided with Two Megaphones. The Sound is Sent with Equal Force in Both Directions the signal is made of cast metal, and is tapped for union with a conduit.

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a aS POPULAR MECHANICS CYLINDERS REBORED BY PORTABLE APPLIANCE Reboring auto-engine cylinders is generally looked upon by the owner as a task of con- siderable ceremony, with a large bill at the end. Now, however, a Cali- fornia inventor comes forward with an engine attachment which does the boring without skilled ittention, and So ra})- = a! oer ys eS, WILY nat the m LC HITE ls Top, Special Mi- » and the first cyl- crometer for Cutting : eo : 2? - Head; Bottom, der finished in 30 min- Goarsé and Fine Furthermore, mos Cutters in Place in engines with remova Cutting Heads ids need not be take 7 ie I n out s into a base clamped to the cylinder, is driven by a flexible shaft to a ! ctric motor. A cutting head adjusted hy micrometer fastens to the end of th: boring bar. The feed is r culated by 1! rting one or more pins in holes in tl which act on the arms of a wheel, giving from 15 to 120 cuts t nch, up or down. The machin 60 |b. necte d by cre r bOxX, and is accurate to OOS in Centering Collars for Different-Size Cylinders ing on Case Cylinder-Boring Outfit Complete: At Top, Motor- . gets Driven Borer Working on Cylinder Block; Bottom, , Rest- QUEER TRACTOR REPLACES STREET-CAR HORSES IN DUTCH CITY NTIL recently, the cars that run in the good old-fashioned way. But a good many people found that tory as riding, and patronage fell off tractors of unusual design. walking So the horses were The chain-driven ri 1 taken away, an streets of Apeldoorn, Holland, w 1 vere aS aim their unnin ear, with its steel truck an usual form, but the body is peculiarly like a double-ended automobile coupé, with front and rear, and a glass cab in the middle. The queer locomotives, which the ars, are accomplishing their purpose, and the little trailers are well f 1 ] aga irawn ost as places i flange hood 1 are able to illed n q by | 1ick ed

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@liy OLE PCASUNAVIC AlLILUGe, Call VC lilli- tapped for union with a conduit, 64 POPULAR MECHANICS GRATINGS REPLACE AIR-TIGHT PARTITIONS IN WAREHOUSE The substitution of heavy, movable wire gratings for the usual permanent, air-tight partitions, in one large storage SCIENTIST STUDIES INFLUENCE OF ATMOSPHERE ON WOOL The action of the atmosphere on woolen stuffs, particularly army cloths, has recently been studied by a German scientist with a thorough- ness typical of his kind. Repeated destructive tests have assured him that deterioration is most pronounced when the wool is in the natural state. When dyed, the wool is better able to resist the attacks of the atmosphere. The degree of this resistance depends on the dye employed. Acid salts, alum, and iron salts are efficacious, but are all less potent than chrome salts. In fact the cloths least affected by atmospheric influences are found to be those containing one per cent oxide of chromium, cal- sey = = fo ~ This Glimpse of the Warehouse Interior Shows the Wire Gratings Set Up culations being made on to Form a Number of Storage Compartments. warehouse, has given owners and custom- ers unexpected satisfaction. Insurance costs less, as the protecting company be- lieves that the ordinary tightly sealed, unventilated storage compartment invites spontaneous combustion. The customer is invariably satisfied, too, by the fact that he pays rent only on the floor space actually occupied. As the wire partitions can be set up anywhere, he is never forced, by a scarcity of storage space, to rent a large room for just a few effects. WOULD CUT CYPRESS TREES WITH ACETYLENE TORCH The success of the acetylene torch in cutting metals suggests to a southern lumber concern the possibility of using the same method to fell cypress trees. No fire danger would be involved, since this particular timber grows in swamps, and those responsible for the proposal are now searching for further evidence. of its practicability. The naval committee of the national Senate recently voted to establish a large deep-water naval base on San Francisco Bay. A commission is to select the site and submit plans by October 1, this year. Space may be Sold the weight of the dry Strictly by the Square Foot, as the Gratings can be Erected Anywhere - wool. In general, how- ever, for fabrics which are required to wear well, the scientist recommends that organic be substituted for mineral dyeing compounds. COMPRESSED AIR ACTUATES NEW MARINERS’ COMPASS Compressed air, not magnetism, is the controlling element in a_ surprising mariners’ com- pass now be- ing demon- strated. Es- sentially, the apparatus con- sists of two parts, a vessel hearing the compass card, and a_ small sphere within the vessel. As compressed air is admitted to the vessel, it ae ans spins the sphere, and, in a manner not explained, keeps the axis of revolution in constant orientation. This axis returns to its given position, that is, from any accidental displacement, as long as the propelling air is “properly applied.” a tenn

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oe at a — nee Ea nag ee ete THE ROMANCE OF THE CAPRIFIG By R. P. CRAWFORD HERE is probably no greater story Smyrna figs, which have always com- in the horticultural kingdom than manded a fancy price, being generally that of the caprifig. It is a story with regarded as the aristocrats among the fi the romance of 2,000 years ago, and a In fact, until comparatively recent story of how America is gradually wrest- horticulturists in both Europe and this ing from the Far East the supremacy in country regarded the entire matter o: the Smyrna-fig business. A tiny wasp, caprification simply superstition on th: known as Blastophaga grossorum, plays part of the inhabitants of Asia Minor. I \ the title role in this eS i i _ But it appears that drama. Without wasps 2,000 years ago they there are no figs, and | so today just as much attention must be given to the keeping up of a supply of insects as to the fig trees themselves. The caprifig is a tg tree, too, but its fruit is practically worthless. llowever, in order to knew their yUSINESS quite well and_ pos- sessed information that is even now scarcely disseminated eve among the horticultur ists of this countr\ save those directly caged in the business The temale was} supply pollen to the upon which depends fruit-producing fig and the entire success of! to make a home for the the Smyrna fig, is less wasps, this tree must be so than an eighth of an grown as well. The de- These Are the Little Caprifigs from Which inch in length, black i vi lopments of the past the ee a color, and has wings few years, as well as Che caprifig trees whic! surveys made throughout our southern are essential to maintaining it resemb! states by the Department of Agriculture, ordinary fig trees to the uninitiated eye, disclose the reason many fig trees do not ind bear fruits like figs. The secret ot bear fruit—there are no caprifigs nor Smyrna-fig culture consists in carrying wasps. In California, during the last few the poll n from. the s prifigs to the vears, there Smyrna - fig have been big 7~— in” oo | Sei Ce = trees at the developments along this line, and there a profitable busi- ness of grow- ing Smyrna figs has been established. In the first right time: and th Wasps ire he only means of doing this How this is iccomplished TMS one 7 the most intet Cs 12 Stor? > place, there are oO scien two main divi- There at sions o1 the crops ¢ edible figs, the . S ! Smyrna andthe \ \driatic figs. ind Most of the fies rr ¢ erown in the h past in this country have t : been the Adri- vA atic, for they ‘ , . ie ns — did not require — —-______—_ — the services of From Three to Five Caprifig Trees, According to Present | \ sps |] the Bl istophaga Opinion, should be Planted for Every Hundred Smyrna-Fig 1, roe > Trees. The Tree in the Foreground is a Typical Caprifig . ed 4 5 and the capri- t fruits hgs. But every year we have been im- the summer caprifigs and th lie. W porting nearly a million dollars’ worth of these eggs hatch out, the wasps

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66 POPULAR MECHANICS lay their eggs in the winter caprifigs. These hatch out, and the new wasps lay their eggs in the spring caprifigs, and the later hatch lay - their the summer caprifigs, thus completing the cycle. lhe cap- rifig tree must be bearing fruit practically the year round in order that the life cycle of the wasps may not be inter- rupted. Some caprifig cwTees are worthless because they do not always have the fruit, and so the wasps have no eggs in there would be an equal number of the caprifig and the commercial fruit-produc- ing Smyrna trees, but in actual practice es — a fig grower will keep only a few of the former. When it gets about time for the wasps to issue and the Smyrna figs are ready for caprifica- tion, a few of the caprifigs are gathered and _ scattered about in bas- kets, or strung through the fig trees, so. that the wasps will be sure to get into the fig- producing place to lay =" ig their eggs, and consequently die off or have to seek other caprifig trees. But in order to take care of the Smyrna figs, nature plays a little joke on the wasps. When they issue from the spring caprifigs and go hunting for a place to lay their eggs, their bodies are covered with pollen from the caprifigs. In seek- ing a place for her eggs the wasp often gets inside of a Smyrna Wasp was Recognized. The Growing of Smyrna-Fig Trees like the One Above has fies Become a Profitable Business Since the Function of the Fig 1gs Unvisited by the Wasps, the Smyrna Figs Turn Yellow and Drop —= trees. Smyrna may be caprifed any time from the moment they are the size of filberts until they are about an inch in diameter. This may be repeated a number of times, as that increases the chance that every fig on the tree will be entered by the wasps. The generation of wasps used for this purpose begins to issue any time from early in June to early in July, depending on the season and the fig instead of a caprifig. In doing so- she carries the pollen from the caprifig to the Smyrna fig. But she soon finds out her mistake, and without laying eggs she crawls out again. The Smyrna figs which have not been entered by wasps dry up and fall weather. Warm weather always hastens them. Not until about 1900 was the first successful importation of the wasps to this country accomplished by the Department of Agricul- ture, each caprifig with the eggs imside being wrapped in tinfoil. But the joke of it was that many years later wasps were discovered to have made their home in a tree near Modesto since 1865, having been from the trees. Those which have been sup- plied with pollen un- dergo a_ wonderful change a few days later. The ribs become less prominent, the fig in- creases greatly in size, gradually the green color is lost, and the fig becomes less glossy. The wasps never lay their eggs in Smyrna figs, or the fruit would be wormy. Under natural conditions, perhaps, A Study in Caprification: The Figs on the Left have been Entered by the Wasps, the Three on the Right have Not brought over with some fig trees at that time. The Department of Agriculture for some time has been maintaining a _ caprifig orchard at Loomis, and has been supply- ing the caprifigs free of charge to grow- ers. In that way the difficulties of many

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ee ee eee

<a pe stan POPULAR small fig growers have been done away with. In fact, partly through ignorance of the value of the Smyrna-fig trees and the means of caprifying them, hundreds of trees have been cut down at various times. One man can look after the capri- fication of about 40 MECHANICS 67 carried out in treating the latter, how- ever, with the caprifig wasp, and in some cases valuable varieties have resulted. In a recent survey, numerous Smyrna- fig trees were found throughout the southern states. Most of them, howe, —s . due to the absence of

acres, and the entire procedure takes only about three weeks. It is now believed that there are more varieties of the caprifig trees in California than in any other country of the world, due to the enter- prise of the growers there, who have im- ported them not only from Asia Minor, but from Greece, Italy, and northern Africa. The climate of California is said to be as favorable s, if not superior to, that of Asia Minor. | Smyrna figs ripen and ata. tise ee

o| «a the wasps, have not been bearing fruit. Some growers have had caprifigs containing the 1 shipped from California, and colonie of the wasps have re cently been established in the South. Some ot the old fig trees there nsects are now bearing frutt for the first time. A: important point is tha the temperature must not go too low, or the isp colony may b exterminated. Another obstacle to the com- mercial development of a ' : . the Smyrna-fig busi- !

dry on the trees, and as soon as they fall, the smaller fruits are cured well enough to keep, while the larger ones are left on the ground, or placed on a platform in the sun for a short time to dry them further. They are rinsed in water and laid out to dry. Then they are put in boxes and packed down tightly. The overdry figs hsorb humidity from the moist figs, and the entire mass becomes pliable and ot uniform quality. They are then ready to be packed in bags to be sold to the fruit packers, but some of the growers do their own packing, in the form of the mall bricks so often seen on the market. When being packed for market the figs re dipped in boiling brine for a minut o destroy the eggs of any insects and o help retain the moisture. To some extent, of course, fresh figs may be sold in various ways. Although sh Smyrna figs command big prices n eastern markets, the expense of ship- ping them is considerable. This, how- ever, might become an important industry in the South Atlantic states The Smyrna fig has a big advantage over the Adriatic fig, not only in size and quality, but no treatment with sulphur is necessary to improve its appearance. The Smyrna fig can usually be identified by the fact that it has seeds, which are not common to the Adriatic variety. Some interesting experiments have been Smyrna Fig at the

The Result of Caprification: The Corpulent Measure Approximately Three Inches in otten ~ Diameter

ness in the South is the Bottom is Seen to fact that wet weather occurs in. the ripening period, so that the figs do not dry on the trees. It would seem, however, that fresh figs could be shipped north with good success. One fig grower in California made t discovery that he could keep the caprifigs vith the Blastophaga inside, over winter by gathering some of the winter capri figs in December and packing them sand or moss. The fig trees so far have heen little troubled with insect pests, and hat has been one advantage in growing

A Caprifig has been Cut Open, Above, to Show t! Wasps Preparing to Emerge on Their Egg-Laying Missions

them over most warm-climate fru Hundreds of acres of Smyrna-fig t1 have been planted in California the is few years, but as yet they represent onl

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68 POPULAR MECHANICS a little over a third of the total acreage, the remainder being devoted to the Adriatic type. It was formerly thought that the Adriatic was the heavier pro- ducer, but now it has been found that the Smyrna, if properly caprified, gives nearly a ton to the acre more. The fact that the war cut down the imports from Asia Minor greatly stimulated thi ° busi- NEW POSTAGE-STAMP AFFIXER WETS ENVELOPE, NOT STAMP A small machine for affixing postage stamps, recently put on the market, moistens the envelope or package instead — Small Stamp-Affixing Machine That Holds 500 Stamps, and Applies Its Moisture to the Envelope Surface of the stamp. Built largely of aluminum, it weighs but 15 oz., and is scarcely 4 in. long, yet holds a roll of 500 stamps, and water for them. In use, the nose of the device is pressed down on the surface to be stamped, and moved slightly forward. Five separate rollers feed the stamps out and assure their firm attachment, even to ness in this country, and since the prices for Smyrna figs have always been re- munerative, it has proved a fine oppor- tunity. \ccording to experts of the Depart- ment of Agriculture, a four-year-old orchard should begin to produce fruits at a profitable rate, and from that time on should pay good dividends every year. an irregular surface. A counter may be included if desired, making an accurate record of the number of stamps used. HIGH WINDS BUILD “ICEBERGS” ON SHORE OF LAKE MICHIGAN Two picturesque “icebergs” were tormed on the northwest shore of Green Bay, last spring, after continued strong winds, breaking the rotting ice in the bay, had pushed it bodily toward the coast. For several miles along the shore of the upper bay the cakes were piled high by the steady pressure. Only at one point, however, about six miles south of Escanaba, were the bergs erected. Here the piled-up cakes mounted higher and higher, until in one instance they built an ice mound 50 or 60 ft. high. A neigh- boring pile measured about 10 ft. shorter. The bavyward sides of the “bergs” were practically perpendicular; the lea sides sloped at about 45°. These sloping sides were composed of a mass of shattered, iridescent chips, produced by the grind- ing of the cakes. Landward Wind upon the Rottin Height. This Photograph was These Mounds of Broken Ice were Formed on the Shore of Green Bay, Michigan, by the Action of a Steady Ice in the Bay. The “Berg” at the Right Measures Almost 60 aken from the Shore to Show the Tumbled Mass of Iridescent Chips Feet in

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a POPULAR MECHANICS 69 : ee t 5 > Above, a Motorized Section ‘ Car has been Equipped with , a Generator to Supply = - Current to the Tie Tampers ere LLORES: The New Tie Tampers are Used as Illustrated at the Right. The Curved Handles of Spring Steel Absorb the Vibrations of the Motor and Tamping Bar. These Vibrations are Set Up by the Rapid Revolution of the Unbalanced Rotor Pictured at the Left. This Is the Only Moving Element in the Machine UNBALANCED MOTOR SHAFT USE HOLLOW CONCRETE SLABS TAMPS RAILROAD TIES FOR BUILDING HOUSES A new tool, constructed upon a new A method of casting hollow slabs o ind interesting principle, may now be concrete, with a sand core it can b idded to the equipment of the railroad washed out with a hose, has been devised ction gang for rapid tie tamping. The by a Montana inventor. In housebuild tamper is electrically driven, but em- ing, 8-in. slabs, composed of a 2-in. aii bodies only one moving element. This is space with 3-in. walls, are average size. the armature, upon the shaft of which is Grooves at the edges allow the slabs to carried an unbalanced weight. Revolv- be cemented together in the walls. Simil ing at 3,600 r. p. m., this weight vibrates slabs, reinforced, are used for the ceilings the motor casing, and hence the tamping nd solid slabs for the roof, shaped fo: . har, which is bolted to the casing. This support and braced inside the hous powerful vibration is scarcely felt by the SRingle and clapboard finish may be cas laborer, however, because he holds the — tool by means of a handle made of fl pring steel. This handle is so shaped too, that he can incline the tamping b to a vorking angle without bendi ick. Power for the tool is supplied by a portable generating plant, when . othe ources are unavailable. Or t ytor-driven section car may provided ith a generator powerful enough to op- erate a number of the tampers. @ Many pools of molten silver were found by inspectors who examined the charred ruins of a passenger train which recently — recked and burned near Delhi, — ‘i Thin’ Selid Sieber tee cs 2 - India. The pools were the earthly re- mains of scores of native passengers. The mn the outer surfaces. The inventor natives, it is explained, habitually carry built a small model house of concret their savings on their persons. illustrate the system. em

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70 POPULAR MECHANICS BIG WHEEL IS DRYING RACK REGULAR AERIAL TOURS IN INSTRUMENT FACTORY OF MOUNT RAINIER In an eastern factory devoted to the An innovation in mountain touring in production of stringed musical instru- America has been introduced by a for- Two of the Drying Wheels are Seen Here. The Clamped Parts, in This Case the Backs and Fronts of Guitars, are Attached to the Radial Racks by the Worker at the Left. The Parts Usually Dry in the Course of One Revolution mer army aviation instructor who has established a field on Puget Sound, about 50 miles from Mount Rainier, the highest mountain in the United States. The tourist can take a comfort- able ride of 20 minutes by train from Seattle, climb aboard a fleet airplane, enjoy an equally comfortable trip to the great mountain, circle it, and view its crevasses and ice fields without physical effort, and be back home within three hours. The organization running the service is equipped with . one large battleplane of American make, another of Canadian man- ufacture, and two smaller Amer- ican-made planes. OIL WELLS ON GROUNDS OF RAILROAD STATION Officials of a Texan railroad frequently observe that if the road owned a few more stations like the one at Burkburnett, they could profitably set the brakes on all the rolling stock, and draw the fire from every locomotive boiler. For within a few feet of the station building are to be seen two gusher oil wells, flowing ments, there has been developed a dry- liquid gold at the rate of several hundred ing apparatus that effects a noticeable barrels a day. At current prices this daily economy of time, labor, and floor space. flow It consists of a large wheel that, may be lik- ened to an old-fashioned water wheel, with blades replaced by simple racks. Before the introduction of the wheel, it may be explained, mandolin and guitar parts, clamped to- gether after the applica- tion of glue, were placed on the floor to dry. The consequent waste of the three elements men- tioned above is obvious. Now, however, the clamped parts are handled by one man, who fastens them to the “ racks as they are passed The Derricks of the Two Oil Wells are Seen in the Background, and to worth several thousand dollars. - the Right, of the Station Building. The Wells Pour Hundreds to him. of Dollars into the Coffers of the Railroad Each Day ot ig. tel

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POPULAR MECHANICS 71 Huge Truck Tank Mounted Directly on Chassis: The Tank Has a Capacity of 2,400 Gallons, and is Divided into An oil well in the shadow of the pas- senger station was undreamed of a year and a half ago, but now the sight draws no comment. There are few house- holders in Burkburnett without a well in back or front yard.: IDENTIFICATION DISKS TIED TO NEWBORN BABES That anxious mothers may have no suspicions that the infants given them are not their own, the man- agement of one large maternity hospital has devised a simple method of identification. As each child is born, there is tied about his neck a small aluminum disk, upon which an attend- ant has previously scratched the name. The tag is about the size of a five-cent piece, and has a single per foration for the soft linen tape. The hos- pital staff has been amused to find the tags cherished by the mothers as priceless souvenirs, though their intrinsic value is next to nothing. HUGE TRUCK TANK MOUNTED DIRECTLY ON CHASSIS A motor-truck oil tank, holding 2,409 gal. and claimed by its makers to be the largest in the world, has just been turned out ready for work on a 714-ton truck chassis. The huge steel container, of oval cross section, is divided by transverse Four Separate Compartments by Welded Partitions, Which Extend Below and Form the Chassis Fastening, Eliminating Some 2,000 Pounds of Wood Undersills Commonly Used welded partitions into four separate com- partments. Extensions of the partitions and heads at the bottom, a patented con- struction, enable the tank to be mounted directly on the chassis, and do away, it is asserted, with some 2,000 lb. of wood undersills or other fixtures ordinarily used, besides saving much space. Sep- arate pipe lines welded into the bottom of each compartment terminate in taps at the rear of the truck. The longer pipes are braced against vibration by being welded to the partition extensions. LOCKING FRAME HOLDS AUTO TRUNK TO RUNNING BOARD A special wardrobe trunk which is car- ried on end upon the automobile running board has recently been put on the mar- ket. The trunk itself, containing a number of gar- ment racks and compartments, is of familiar These consist of a dust- proof slip cover, a removable frame, and a locking plate and hinge which are screwed to the running board. Thanks to the hinge, the trunk can be tilted over the mudguard when the fore door must be opened. + con- struction. The novelty is em- bodied in the ac- cessories fur- nished with the trunk for attach- ment to the car. meee

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CIVIC FEATURES THAT PROMOTE THE COMFORT

Tt } ( Parking Space Is Scarce in Downtown — Seana Seattle, Washington. One Man Rented 2 A a Vacant Lot, and Divided It into be my) Stalls, as Above, Which He Subl ts J « a]

oes A:

CING| NNATI CO MMUNITY CHEST

This Cabin, First Hostelry to be Built in Ohio, Still Stands in the Heart of Dayton. Walls and Framing are Well Preserved

MINIMUM BUDGET 3.875.000

\ Cc i ee ALL FOR EACK <= eee = Aten ~~

This Life-Size Figure of Cin- cinnatus, Seated on a Monster Chest, was Erected to Enlist Interest in a Recent Drive in Cincinnati, Ohio

one 00 news i —a i pina

sane

6, } ne {ne Lower Pipe in the Rail- NS ‘ ing around a Pleasure Pier aout at Redondo Beach, Cali- - , fornia, Conveys Water to The City Sealer has Erected This Booth in the Sropping Dis- Many Faucets, Placed at trict of Denver, Colorado. If a Shopper Suspects That She Intervals for the Benefit of has been Cheated, She Carries Her Purchase to the Attendant Fishermen Who Weighs It and Computes the Fair Price

ck UN eR.

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4 hana 265 Peet ee eee AND ENJOYMENT OF VISITORS AND RESIDENTS ditt , “ee. i 4s ik ye The Canvas Dwellings : = of the Tent City at Cor- s , a cen, a ~ onado, California, have . Pog et é been Replaced This Year by Houses Made of the Thatch Growing Wild Near-By |S Station at Denver, Col- a! orado, Answers 6,000 08 Questions Daily during The New Municipal Exhibit the Height ofthe Tourist Building in Glendale, Ari- Season in Midsummer zona, was Built around the Tallest Unspliced Flagpole L in America This Intormation Desk , ' ’ | in the Union Terminal ] : J ed { ~ This Meandering Stairway of Reinforced Concrete Rises to a Wooded Park Overlooking the City of Dubuque, Iowa, and the Mississippi River. The Stairway was Built in Large Part through the Generosity of the Family Which Gave the Park to the City souri, Rises So Abruptly Here That Vehicles Go Around, While Pedestrians Climb the Grade by Means of Four Flights of Steps

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14 POPULAR MECHANICS — — — — Apparently Unconscious, One of the Alligators is Seen Above after a Few Moments’ Treatment at the Hands of the Dealer The Dealer] Induces the Cataleptic State by Gently Stroking the Underside of the Alligator’s Jaw LOOSE RAILROAD-CAR WHEELS DETECTED BY PAINT MARKS That railroad-car inspectors may be able to determine at a glance if any wheels are loose on freight or passen- ger cars, a west- ern road has idopted a system is simple as it 1 effective. Each wheel and its a is marked with a streak of int four points of the circumference. If a wheel loose, the slight movement breaks the continuity of the paint, and the streaks do not register. This is much quicker than the old meth- od of watching for the oozing of oil be- tween axle and wheel. becomes YATAQTO AA ARO MITAY mie en es oe ee ee ee ee a. ee = oy. ar aes "ple gy - a ed y ‘ 4 eB: * ion st Rt t i ee oe . ~ A ‘Telegraph Hitch,’’ the Dealer Demonstrates, will Both Muzzle the Alligator and Provide a Line by Which He may be Led ALLIGATOR DEALER PUTS REPTILES TO SLEEP Monotonous sensory southern dealer in alligators has found, will quickly render the smaller reptiles unconscious. To demonstrate his un- canny control of his reptilian stock in trade, he placeS one of the smaller alli- gators upon its back. Kneeling beside, it, he holds the wriggling body with one hand, while he gently strokes the under- side of the jaw. Back and forth the hand until the squirming ceases and the limbs relax. Some say that the deales temporarily suppresses the functions ot the crocodilian cerebrum; others, skep- tical, maintain that he simply lulls the illigators to sleep. stimulation, one FOes CORNCOBS YIELD RARE DYES AT LITTLE COST Of importance to the dye industry is the recent discovery that furfural, or fur- furaldehyde— tracted, like mmot corncob, and at a cost of only 15 cents a pound. This colorless, oily liquid has pre- viously been obtained only in the tory, and at something like $17 a pound. In consequence of this announcement the despised corncob will take on consider- ible commercial value. In the hands of the chemists it will yield dyes of a vivid green, in addition to the rare brown and blue vat dyes. a dve base—can now be ex- cellulose, from the ce labor a-

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aera eee aa ily Sven Dn POPULAR MECHANICS v5) HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM DRIVES SMALL TRACTOR Though steam was the original motive power used for tractors, certain advan- tages of the _ internal- combustion engine have brought it to the front in recent development. Now, however, a new steam-driven tractor has mace its appearance, in which all the refinements of modern practice are incorporated. It has a water-tube boiler with 34 half-inch tubes, 11 ft. long, and delivers super- The Water-Tube heated steam at 550-Ib. aoues ee = pressure. No scale is 11 Feet Long,Any formed in the tubes, pang, Se which are removable and may be adjusted to any desired power. The two-cylinder engine runs at 20 to 800 r.p.m., delivering 26 to 70 hp. to the (0-in. driving wheels. The whole ma- chine, less than 12 ft. long and 51% ft. wide, weighs but 3,400 Ib. It runs at any speed between ¥g and 7% miles an hour, and its burners are adapted to the use of either kerosene or distillate as fuel. The Steam Tractor does Not Differ from a Gasoline-Driven Machine The Compact: Two-Cylinder Double-Acting Engi..e Runs at 20 to 800 Revolutions per Minute, and Delivers from 26 to 70 Horsepower TYPEWRITER SURVIVES LONG FALL FROM AIRPLANE Jarred from an airplane at a height of 2,700 ft., a typewriter fell toward the earth recently at Hollywood, Calif. Near- ing the end of its fall, it knocked off the hat of a pedestrian, grazed his vest, then buried itself at his feet in 12 in. of hard soil. Even more remarkable than the man’s escape from death is the fact that the typewriter is now again in service. Though sadly battered by the tremendous impact, the machine was restored in three hours by a skilled mechanic to complete usefulness. He replaced only four broken parts, After Its Half-Mile Tumble, the Typewriter was Dug Out of the Ground, and in Three Hours Was Ready for Service Once More. It Was Necessary to Replace Only Four Broken Parts ARM EXERCISER RESEMBLES SPADE HANDLE A novel exerciser for the hand and arm has recently been introduced by a COPYRIGHT, PUBLISHERS PHOTO NEWS SERVICE The Exerciser is Shown, at the Top, as First Used; Below It has been Adjusted to Match the Growing Strength of the Muscles French athlete. It is formed of a handle which resembles a spade grip, and a metal column which takes the place of the spade shaft. Along this column slides a heavy cylinder of iron which can be fixed by a setscrew to any part of the column. When the exerciser is first used, the weight is kept near the handle: as the muscles develop it is moved toward the other end, so increasing its leverage and apparent weight.

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WASTE MATERIAL FROM GREAT SALT LAKE MAKES GOOD ROAD By FREDERICK KINNEY HERE has just been completed in Salt Lake County, Utah, a 14-mile stretch of speedway, intended as a loop A Section of the Old Road, Now Forming a Loop of the Lincoln High- to the sun’s rays, it quickly hardened and became as firm as cement. Having dis- covered this, he gave the benefit of his discovery to the county authorities — and = was laughed at. A little persuasion and some further experi- ments followed, and the contractor was FIVE! permission to go ahead with the plan of building a Lincoln Highway loop Salt Lake City-Saltai: speedway with the aid of the high-smelling de posits of the waters of (;reat Salt Lake. lor this matter is’ highly odorifet ous, especi illy 11 I summer when the sun way, as It Appeared Before It was Coated with the Decomposed pours its ravs on the wet Shale Deposits Thrown Up by the Waters of Great Salt Lake | ' - ee veaches. Taken from the of the Lincoln Highway, which gives shores and plastered over a road, th that commonwealth a roadway con- “shale” loses its offensive character. structed almost entirely ot supposedly This is perhaps one of the cheapest waste material. Instead of asphalt or stretches of speedway ever constructed, cement, resort was had to the “shale” of Great Salt Lake. This so-called shale is in reality the decomposed matter thrown up by the waters of America’s Dead Sea Millions of tons line the shores of the great inland salt lake. In seasons when the level of the lake rises to the overflow point, this waste matter is carried out into wide stretches until great areas be- come veritable* sloughs. Not since Brigham Young’s pioneers began the slow work of re- claiming the lands of this semiarid state did ] any- dream that this material could be utilized, until two years one waste y wl 1 ~onet actor iyo wWwhel t contractor} engaged in smoothing the drivewav to Saltair the { reat beach resort on Salt Lak An experimenting with it. He found that it could be used for a coating for roads. A trial stretch of roadwav was plastered x shale, then subjected to a rolling-out over with thi process. The shale was soft and pliable when taken from the shore beds. Smoothed out and exposed i ri) Steam Shovel at Work on The Material Is White, and since the “cement” was to be had for the trouble of digging it out and carting it to desired points on the 14 miles of roadway. Nearly 65,000 tons of the shale have been used in surfacing the speedway to a depth of 8 in. All this enormous quantity of covering matter was secured at no cost whatever beyond that required to get it on the ground. Preliminary work con- the Shores of Great Salt Deposited Shale into Flat Cars to be Carried to the Road Builders Lake, Loading the Resembles Snow sisted in leveling the earth and preparing it for the coating.

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teats = ee ee ee POPULAR MECHANICS The so-called shale, which, as men- tioned above, is very pliable when taken from the shore beds, was dumped at con- venient points on the roadway, then spread over the smooth earth course and sub- ected to rolling proc- esses, subsequent layers being added when the previously laid shale had dried out. The shale, when spread, was of the . consistency of soft clay. It hardens very rapidly and assumes a cement- like quality. Phe utilization of the deposits of Great Salt Lake to roadbuilding in Utah and neighboring states, as a result of the speedway demonstration, , is expected to become = —— extensive. The deposits are immense, and are to be found in large areas LILY EMBARGO TO BE AVOIDED BY REPACKING BULBS A new and curious industry, it is pre- dicted, is soon to be born in Vancouver, B. C., because of the embargo placed this year by the U. S. Department of Agricul- ture on all Japanese nursery stock packed in Japanese soil. This decree was in- tended to stop the importation from the island of Formosa of lily bulbs, ordinarily hrought into this country at the rate of 25,000,000 dollars’ worth a year. But the trade will not be suspended, nurserymen of Vancouver declare. The bulb traffic will be deflected northward to this sea- port, just above the boundary; and here the bulbs will be removed from the soil in which they crossed the Pacific. They will then be repacked in Canadian loam, and so, free from “Japanese soil,” will be qualified for entrance into the United States. MACHINE STUCCOES MANHOLE FORTY FEET DEEP The work of stuccoing the exterior of a 40-ft. manhole was made easy, recently, by the use of an electric stucco-projecting machine. The engineer in charge had first tried to place the material upon the vitrified-brick surface with trowels, but had found that the stuff would not stick. Thrown against the brick at high velocity A Section of the Completed Highway, Surfaced with the White Shale Material, Now Hardened like Cement by the Action of the Sun: There Is 14 Miles of This Type of Highway Already Completed in Utah, and More ~—> 2 in the vast region formerly covered by Lake Bonneville, which once covered practically all the territory embraced in the boundaries of the state of Utah. is to be Built by the machine, however, the material kept its place. Five hours were required to complete the job, only one machine being used. This was of the type having io This 40-Foot Sewer Manhole of Vitrified Brick was Stuccoed in Five Hours by the Little Machine at the Right blades which are revolved at 1,500 r.p.m. by an electric motor. Encountering these blades, the surfacing mixture from the hopper is discharged at high speed. The machine is catried by a laborer.

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78 POPULAR PRESSED TIN CANS ARE CORES OF MARBLE LAMP-POSTS Tin-can lamp-posts, made by the local parks and sanitation department, are now MECHANICS jack. When locked into a rigid mass by this compression, the cans are taken from the mold, and are trussed with wire. This core is then placed in a second, larger mold, where it is coated, and fur- - ape eer Se oe, bP eae Ts: "* ther bound together, by the application of con- crete. Given a surfacing of mica, finally, the pillar assumes the appearance of granite, and becomes impervious to moisture. lhe average cost of such a “marble” lamp-post is $17.73, including fittings. PHILIPPINE SECT PRACTICES VOLUNTARY FLAGELLATION Among the Tagal, or Tagalog, people of the Philippine Islands, it is surprising to learn, there flourishes a religious sect which still practices the Two of the Tin-Can Lamp-Posts are Seen, ai the Rigat, before Receiving ancient ritual of volun- Their Coatings of Concrete. The Centrai Pipe for the Wires Projects tary fla ge llation : from the Top of Each. Four Finished Columns Stand at the Left ornamenting the parks and boulevards ot San Antonio, Tex. Formerly used to fill in waste land, or for similar purposes, the old cans are now delivered to a special department of the city’s incinerating plant. Here the cans are placed, a load at a time, in a long, octagonal- section mold, and are com- pressed around a 1'4-in. pipe with the aid of a common house Or scourging. Once a year, unhindered by the authorities, these pious natives assemble upon a field out- side the city of Manila. The crowd of witnesses, which often includes a number of tourists, stands behind a crucifix at one end of the field. At the other end gather the flagellants, each armed with a scourge. The lash of this scourge is a bundle of broken glass. After an impassioned ex- hortation by their priest, the fanatics walk slowly toward the cross. At every step they swing their scourges rearward, and the glass~ bundles macerate the flesh. These Photographs were Taken Just outside the City of Manila at the Annual Assembly of a Fanatical Native Sect. Two Flagellants are Nearing Their Goal, at the Right. This is Seen to Be a Crucifix NG, a | OL, gnats

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|e — POPULAR MECHANICS ce Policewomen of the London Force, Supplied with Motorcycles to Add to Their High Efficiency in the Enforcement of Law: The Motorcycles Have Sidecars, and the Policewomen Work in Pairs, Displaying Great Proficiency in Handling the Speedy Machines POLICEWOMEN ON CYCLES GUARD LONDON STREETS Policewomen have become an estab lished factor of municipal-law enforce- ment in recent years, but motorcycle policewomen still are quite a novelty. London now has a squad of them, how- ever, and they are doing very effective work. The women have been members of the police force for some time, but have only recently acquired their ma- chines. Each of the motorcycles they use is equipped with a sidecar, so that they may work in pairs. ODD BOAST IS SIGN WRITER’S WINDOW ADVERTISEMENT A clever sign adorns the office window of one busy American sign writer. Speak- —— —— ing for the writer, the sign an- nounces: “I Made Signs Before | could Talk.” While such a_ perform- ance is really noth- ing to boast of, the statement al- ways draws a smile from the passer- by, and in the course of the year probably induces many to sample the wares so wittily and so strikingly advertised. FEED CART IN COW STABLE FACILITATES DIETING The cow-stable “tea wagon” makes its bow. It comes in answer to the need ot the scientific dairyman who feeds each The Division of the Cart into Many Compartments, with a Scale Conveniently Hung Above, Makes It Easy to Feed the Cows According to Schedule cow differently from the rest, in con- formity to its dietic requirements. The feed cart, to name it more exactly, 1s mounted on two small wagon wheels, and is divided by partitions into five or six compartments, containing bran, ground corn, etc. A scale and measuring pail are suspended by a frame above the middle compartment. As the cart is rolled from stall to stall, the attendant scoops, weighs and distributes the various foods as di rected by placards above the mangers.

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80 POPULAR MECHANICS THOUSANDS OF BUTTONS ADORN CURIOUS BALL COSTUME During the course of a fancy-dress ball, held not long ago in England, the prize for novelty of costume went without dissent to a man dressed in ordinary business clothes. Unlike any suit ever seen before, however, this suit was covered with buttons. Thousands of the lit- tle disks hid every por- tion of trousers, vest, and coat. So adorned, the garments weighed approximately 20 pounds. The work of sewing the buttons on, it was explained, took 114% days. CHLORINE GAS MAY PREVENT “FLU,” TESTS INDICATE Breathing air impregnated with chlo- rine gas may prove to be a real preventive of influenza. During the recent epi- demic, 184 volunteers were subjected to a total of more than 800 treatments at the University of Arkansas. Several children and a nurse engaged in caring for “flu” patients were among the sub- jects, of whom only one developed a new case,. and that evidently had _ been previously contracted. The treatment consisted merely of confinement in the chlorine room for five minutes a day, the gas content varying from 43 to 273 parts in 1,000,000 of air. The tests followed a theoretical study of the disease, and while not wholly conclusive, are regarded as promising. FUEL FOR MOTORBOATS SOLD FROM SIGHT-FEED TANK To satisfy west-coast motorboat fisher- men that they get all the fuel they pay for, an interesting type of sight-feed dis- tillate tank has been installed at a number of fill- ing stations. A 50-gal. vertical tank, with a full- length gauge tube along one side, receives the fuel from under- ground contain- ers by way of an electric rotary pump. When the quantity. re- quested is in- dicated by the gauge, the _ at- tendant turns a by-pass. valve. Then he con- nects the supply hose with the motorboat tank, and shuts off the electric pump. The fuel is trans- ferred by gravity, the gauge showing when the tank is empty. Any distillate pumped in excess of 50 gal. returns through an overflow pipe at the top. GOVERNMENT HAY FARMS ESTABLISHED IN INDIA By ROBERT H. MOULTON Haymaking on government farms is, for various reasons, one of the manifold services to the community undertaken by the British government in India. Hay farms are usually established near large military cantonments, often under the charge of a British warrant officer, in erder to insure a sufficient supply of hay for the stock. This is a very important precaution im a country where the bul- lock is the principal motive power for cultivation, and where failures of the monsoon rains formerly caused disastrous fodder famines. When Bombay was in the grip of such a famine this winter, for example, great benefit was derived from the fodder reserves created under the di- rection of the imperial agricultural de- partment. Experience on the government farms has shown that the primitive methods of hay cultivation employed by the small farm- ers can be greatly improved. There is no difficulty in getting the land into order for mowing machines; and it has been found that, with machines and rakes, hay can be cut and stored remarkably cheap. The-returns are high; in famine ‘times the market vaine of hay has gone as high as $40 a ton. a: sammaneasstnssioemaneney eins atest Ie a eis ne Adee: gn

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The Four Photographs on This Page Give an Intimate Glimpse into the Activities of Haying Time ona British Government Farm in India. The Work of a Team and Wagon is being Done, Above, by a Camel Native Men and Boys are Working at the Elevator, at the Left. Machinery and Modern Methods are Introduced bythe Govern- ment Wherever Possible ES a nae | = 4 Turning the Windlass, the Oxen are Furnishing Motive Power to the Elevator, Seen in the — S§maller Photograph Above. In Many Districts of India the Heavy Work of the Farm is Done by These Plodding Beasts Exclusively. The Animals Pictured Here Are of the Famil- ——— iar Humped Species, Which Though Divided into Many Varieties, is Known Everywhere -——— throughout the Land £4 Sf ee % ————————————— = eee Where Modern Rakes have Not been Introduced, the Hay is Still Gathered in This Primitive . Way. The Indian Farmers, and That Classification Includes Nine Natives Out of Every Ten, are Learning from the Example of the Government Farm That Methods of This Sort = Are Wasteful of Time and Labor. The Humped Cattle, Seen at the Windlass Above, Are in Evidence Here Again

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82 POPULAR MECHANICS OXYGEN-SUPPLY TESTER MEETS AIRPLANE CONDITIONS Because of the possible disastrous fail- ure’ of an airman’s oxygen-supply appa- ratus at great altitudes, the U. S. Bureau Apparatus for Subjecting Aerial Oxygen-Supply Equipment to the Vibration, Rarefaction, and Temperature Conditions of Actual Use of Standards has devised a reliable method of testing the equipment in the labora- tory. All the conditions of high-altitude flight" are accurately reproduced. .De- creased pressure is obtained by inclosing thesequipment in a bell jar connecfed to an air pump. The temperature “is™ re- duced to as low as —45° F. by fhe use. of carbon dioxide. Vibration’ is accom- plished by mounting an unbalanced fan motor on the same base with the instru- ment. DEVELOP SWISS WATER POWER BECAUSE OF COAL TROUBLE Increasing difficulty in getting coal into Switzerland is leading to rapid develop- ment of the country’s magnificent water powers. In the region of the Bernese Oberland particularly, one 210,000-hp. in- stallation already is prepared as far as the completion of a huge dam at the foot of a glacier, giving the district a new scenic lake. In the vicinity of Grimsel Pass, a dam 320 ft. high is to be built, forming a large lake where now are two smaller ones. The River Aar also is to be developed with two power stations, one at Guttannen and the other at In- nertkirchet, all piping being buried to preserve the scenic value. The plan in- . volves building a short railroad across the river gorge. The cost of the project is estimated at $20,000,000, and the con- struction time at six years. COMBINE BRICK AND CONCRETE IN BOULEVARD WALLS Uncommonly attractive walls, in which brick and concrete are incorporated in a novel manner, separate a deep railroad cut, located in the center of a boulevard in Cleveland, Ohio, from the two flank- ing thoroughfares that parallel the exca- vation. Square brick posts, spaced about 15 ft. apart, rest on buried concrete foun- dations, which extend about 4 ft. into the ground. Connecting the posts just above the ground are reinforced-concrete sills, which support brick panels. The lat- ter are covered with concrete rails, 13 in. wide, and the posts, excepting those in which light poles are inserted, are capped with neat slabs of concrete. The cost of the barriers is declared to have been com- paratively low. Combine Brick and Concrete in Boulevard Walls: At the Left, the Brick Posts and Concrete Sills and Rails Seen from the Boulevard; at the Right the Fence and Retaining Wall Seen from the Railroad Cut, Which is Located in the Center of the Double Boulevard eee WARE Dens, taaiimnctame om A

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ro ete Pee beeen POPULAR MECHANICS 83 [This Wooden Bridge Collapsed Just as the Front Wheels of the Truck Cleared the Structure. The Tru Lies on Its Side, at the Left. The Canal at This Point Is Usually Five Feet Deep, but, Fortunately, This Section had been Drained a Few Days Before BRIDGE FAILURE DROPS TRUCK INTO DRAINED CANAL ] he wooden pony-truss bridge across the Schuylkill Canal, north of Reading Pa., collapsed recently beneath the weight of a large auto truck. Marks on the road later proved, curiously enough, that the front’ wheels had cleared the bridge. Be- fore the rear wheels could follow, how- ever, the big timbers cracked, sagged, and fell, dropping the truck 15 ft. to the canal hottom. The 11 occupants of the vehicle were all injured: but none was drowned, is, fortunately, the water had been drawn i few days before to expedite repair work. Usually the water flows five feet deep at this point. If any lesson can be drawn from the mishap, it is that it is unwise to protect wooden timbers from the atmosphere by covering them with tin. The tin sheets were found to have concealed from the eve of the inspectors several thoroughly rotten spots. I oft NEW ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENT HELD IN RACK WHILE PLAYED A scarcely recognizable, but truly lineal, descendant of the humble cigar-box fiddle has made its maiden appearance on the American vaudeville stage. It resembles in shape an overgrown banjo, but is con- structed throughout like a violin. Only one string is used. The instrument is not held between the knees like the cigar- box fiddle, nor under the chin like the violin, but is supported at about 35° from the horizontal, and four feet from the floor, by an ornate brass rack. Standing beside his instrument, in this position, This Odd Instrument Recently Made Its First Appearance on the Vaudeville Stage. It is Played Somewhat like a Cello the inventor-musician plays it with a mod- ified cello bow. @ Coinage of 500,000 half dollars to com memorate the 300th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, and of 100,000 each to commemorate the centennials of the states of Maine and Alabama, would be authorized if bills passed by the Hous are approved by the Senate.

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84 POPULAR GLASS-WALLED BOX TEACHES FREE-HAND DRAWING To teach her class in free-hand draw- ing the rudiments of perspective, one high-school teacher now uses an odd MECHANICS wide at the back, and only 14 in. wide at the front. A removable pane of glass forms the front. To instruct a pupil, the teacher places a cube, cylinder, or other simple solid, upon a mark on the bottom of the box. The outlines of the solid are SS then brought into sharp contrast with the black surfaces of the interior by one or two electric bulbs on the side. These bulbs are so placed that they cast shadows at dif- ferent angles. When the pupil has completed his free-hand drawing of the solid, he draws it a sec- ond time on the glass pane, viewing it, of course, from the same position as before. As The Side View at the Left Shows the Backs of the Reflectors for the Two this chalk drawing on the Electric Bulbs. In the Middle a Pupil is Working on Her Free-Hand Drawing. The Lines bave been Chalked on the Pane, at the Right wooden box of her own conception. It is 42 in. long, about half as high, 36 in. SAILORS CHARGED WITH THEFT ARE TRIED AT SHIP’S RAIL A trial at sea by a civilian magistrate, with the court on one vessel and the pris- oners on another, is an unusual judicial glass is compared with the free-hand sketch, the pupil's errors in observation are revealed, line for line. ORCHIDS CAGED TO PREVENT THEFT OF POLLEN Visitors to the flower show held recently in the Royal Horticultural Hall at West- minster, England, were surprised to find a number of rare orchids confined, like so many wild animals in the zoo, within a heavy wire cage. It was explained that as the flowers represented a new addition to the or- chid family, the grower was naturally anxious that his fellow dealers should not share his triumph. Had it not been for the cage, an un- scrupulous competitor might have stolen some of the powdery - pollen frem the blooms, and A Curious Trial-at Sea: Tne Magistrate is Holding Court onthe Motor- of boat, While the Prisoners ‘‘at the Bar” Stand at the Ship’s Rail arrangement, but it operated soveffectively at a Tasmanian port recently that two sailors were sentenced to nine and six months’ imprisonment. The seamen, em- ployed on a British: troop transport, were accused of stealing from the ‘troopers. They «could not be landed for trial be- cause: of.influenza quarantine, so the mag- istrate held court at the ship’s rail. used it to fertilize. plants his own. Normally adhering to: the bodies of visiting insects, the pollen might easily have adheredto the tip of the thief’s finger. @ France now hopes to reduce ‘her debt to the United States, according to report, by the sale of potash deposits, recently discovered in Morocco. | The value: of the deposits is said to be 20 times the ex- peeted German indemnity to France. ep, ae ere wt et POR NEN AE he os 2 item eo elder ees

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POPULAR MECHANICS 85 This Naval Scouting Plane Rises from the Deck of a Battleship with Flotation Bags Folded Tightly again the Fuselage, as Illustrated at the Left. When a Descent to the Water must be Made the Pil Bags by Turning the Valve of a Compressed-Air Tank. »t Inflates t The Bags will Now Keep the Plane Afloat Almost Indefinitely AIR BAGS KEEP LAND PLANES AFLOAT ON WATER llotation recently applied’ to many of the scout planes of the Britis! navy, are now in use, also, by the Amer- ican forces. From Guantanamo, in fact, comes the report that during fleet maneu- vers one of the little planes rose from the deck of a battleship, was forced to the water when far from help, and was not picked up for 48 hours. The pilot owes his life, of course, to the flotation bags with which his plane was equipped. \s usually installed, two of these are fixed beneath the forward end of the fuselage. They are made of heavy water- proofed canvas, and are connected by short lengths of hose to a compressed- air cylinder. In front of the undercar- riage is placed an abbreviated water-plan- ing surface with which the pilot, if skill- ful, can lessen considerably the shock of landing. Normally the bags are folded tightly against the fuselage to lessen wind resistance; when the pilot sees that a drop to the water will be necessary he inflates them by turning the tank valve. COSTA RICANS GET RARE DYE FROM SHELLFISH A U. S. consular agent in Costa Rica calls the attention of American dye mak- ers to the existence, on the western coast of the little country, of a shellfish called the “nacascol.” From this mollusk the natives obtain a greenish liquor in which they dip their rude cloths. Exposed, then, to the sunlight, the cloths take on a beautiful and permanent purple color. At present the dye can be used only as gathered. It is thought, however, that bags, the liquid could be preserved indefinitel if kept in containers excluding the lhe “nacascol,” it is interesting to no of the mollusk Pheenicians ob lyrian purple. is probably a descendant from which the ancient tained the famous SPRAYING MACHINE DOES WORK OF TEN MEN For spraying English orchards there i now being used an interesting motor- propelled vehicle, which does its work with thoroughness and speed, and almost without attention. This performance is made possible by the provision of 10 in- dividual sprays, in place of the one or two hand-directed sprays usually found on machines of the sort. These 10 sprays are not movable; instead, they are fixed to a transverse frame in such position that every part of the tops and sides of the ae ss Mel __- ee - — The 10 Fixed Sprays of This Motor-Propelled Machine Reach Every Part of the Trees on Right and Left trees are reached. The spraying solutio: is forced from the capacious reservoir by a pump geared to the engine.

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86 POPULAR RELEASING SMALL TRIGGER LAUNCHES BIG SHIP Starting a big ship down the ways for its launching, always a breathless per- formance, has been greatly simplified in MECHANICS SHORT CIRCUIT MAKES HONEST MAN OF REFRACTORY HAITIAN One citizen of Haiti, the little “Black Republic,” now outdoes his fellows in his worshipful fear of the American marines. Some months ago, as the Ship of 9,800 Tons Leaving the Ways, Launched by Dropping a Small Weight and Releasing a Trigger story is told by a ser- geant fresh from the is- land, the native was be- ing held for examination in a little village of the interior. He was known to be familiar with the location of rebel arms and ammunition, cached in the vicinity. The American officer in charge, knowing from experience that the truth was not to be got in any usual way, made unusual preparations for the ex- amination. The seat and arms of his and the wit- ness’ chair he covered with metal; then he made the chairs the terminals of a powerful electric circuit. The trembling native was ushered in, and to his When the Weight at the Right is Released and Falls, It Throws the seat. The expected lies Trigger, and the Arm at the Left Swings Down. a California yard. A little trigger, only a few inches in length, frees the great mass of steel, when it is tripped by drop- ping a weight. The function of the trig- ger is to hold a weighted arm, pivoted at one end, in a horizontal position. The arm is hung to one end of a heavy timber, inserted endways between parts of the sliding ways and the stationary ways. On the pivot end is an eccentric cam. When the trigger is released, the arm swings down, the eccentric forces the timber out of place, and the ship is free to slide into its element. A 9,800-ton steel ship was successfully launched with this ingenious labor-saving arrangement a short time ago. @ English interest in tidewater turbines, several of which are now beimg mstalled on the western coast, is increased by the announcement of an invention which makes possible the production of max- mum energy through an almost contin- uous period. The invention can be used, it is known, only where there ‘is a great variation # ‘the hour of the trde. at neigh- boring estuaries. The Cam Forces the Timber Out of Place, and the Ship Moves down the Ways having been told, the of- ficer announced that the witness would now be proved a liar. In obedience to a command the native pro- truded his tongue. As a switch was closed, the officer's right hand approached the black man’s face. When about to touch, hand and tongue were linked by a crackling spark. Unharmed by the shock, but terrified and howling, the negro flung himself upon the ground — and shortly volunteered the truth. SURPLUS MILITARY EXPLOSIVE FIT FOR PEACE-TIME USE Investigations conducted recently by the Bureau of Mines have demonstrated that TNT can safely be cartridged and handled for land clearing. This announce- ment means that a peace-time use has at last been found for the explosive so much used during the war, and of which such a large surplus was on hand at the time of the armistice. Moisture encountered in ordinary land-clearing operations, the bureau finds, does not affect the explo- sive; "neither do daily variations im tem- perature. The health of the workers, too, is wnaffected by the gases released. ce ctor A

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POPULAR MECHANICS 87 ee Se ep ee a - eee —————e The Blocks of Ice in the peteeend Alone Supported the Long Roof When the Peon. and Rear Walls of This Brick Ice Plant were Overthrown by an Explosion of Ammonia Pipes. While Firemen Fight the Resulting Flames, Rescuers can be Seen at Work in the Foreground WHEN WALLS ARE BLOWN AWAY ICE SUPPORTS ROOF The front wall of a three-story ice plant, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, was blown entirely across the street, recently, when ammonia pipes ex- ploded. The rear wall fell, also. The roof and the remaining walls were found, when the débris had settled, to be up- held by the blocks of ice, more than 20,000 of which had been piled in the interior, Flames followed the blast. Most trouble was caused, however, by the fumes of escaping ammonia. One employe was killed, and three were in- jured as they inhaled the gas, while many girls in a near-by factory were seriously affected. Rescuers at first were forced to don oxygen helmets. COSTLY POCKETKNIFE HAS 75 BLADES The most costly pocketknife in Shef- field, England—and that means the most costly knife in the world—is a sportsman’s weapon with 75 blades. The knife was made in two years’ time by a master work- man whose fathers for generations before him have been Sheffield cutlers. His em- ployers value the oddity for this reason, of course, but even more for its intrinsic value. Each blade is of finest steel, and is firmly mounted. In addition many of the blades are ornamented with design This Pocketknife, Made by a Master Cutler of Shefheld, England, Has 75 Blades, Many of Them Curiously Ornamented which are said to be the most perfect ever worked on steel. @ Any American citizen, business firm, or press association can use the navy’s ra- dio system at rates fixed by the secretary of the department, according to a resolu- tion recently reported favorably by the Merchant Marine Committee of the House of Representatives. '

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88 POPULAR TOWN’S MAIL CARRIER MAKES HER OWN UNIFORM a - The news tha le maiul- man at Wil- lits Call 1s noy earing rorm I ie) 4 d S12 ind hoi mant Tac takes ( real S £4 & call l S ysed T il nN i] t won ’ () inality hnecessafy th 00k tf reg tions . Wisel mut Bi tine s ) ect tr wome- an’s wear for the postal service Che costume resembles an army unitorm 1n that it consists of a roll-collar blouse, ind breeches worn with leggings. Blouse and breeches are made of olive drab. CIRCUS FOLKS FLEE AS RIVER FLOODS SHOW GROUNDS As a result of a recent experience at Newport, Ky., just across the river from Cincinnati, one itinerant carnival com- pany will never again choose for a “lo- cation” a low piece of bottom land. When the fickle river commenced to pour its flood into the basin, the “World’s Fat- test Woman” shamefully outdistanced the “Wild Man from Borneo” and the rest of the troupe in the race for the neighboring heights. Expensive ward- robes, forgotten in the rush for safety, MECHANICS were ruined by the turbid waters Ch menagerie was salved, luckily, by desper ate effort, though not until the near-)y residential districts were touched wit! panic by the rumor of wholesale escape from the cages. The water receded, at length, leaving behind much bedraggled canvas and mud-crusted equipment. e ALARM TELLS WHERE FIRE IS IN PLAIN LANGUAGE \ mechanical fire alarm that liits telephone receiver and tells the operator, ind then the fi department, ju small phonograph inclosed in a Cas Carries a record containing all tl] necessary infor mation. In case of fire a fusible connection actu ates an electro magnet, and a we ight is released This starts th phonograph and lifts the telephone receiver, and the message is repeat ed for 15 minutes. @ Although situated some 50 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, Houston, Tex., is to be made an ocean port, at an esti mated cost of $1,855,000. An existing ship canal, 25 ft. deep and 150 ft. wide, through Galveston Bay, San Jacinto River, and buffalo Bayou, is to be increased to 3) ft. deep and 250 ft. wide by the removal of about 16,000,000 cu. yd. of earth. Several of the Wagons were Pulled Out of the Flooded Bottom Land in the Fas'on Depicted at the Left. he Tents and Booths of the Ill-Fated Circus are Emerging from the Flood, at the Right. In the Background is Seen One of the Railroad Bridges over the Ohio River |

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POPULAR MECHANICS 89 The Radiator, Injured by Freezing, is Filled with Water to Determine the Location of the Leaks and Mark Then Can Punched Full of Holes, Mended wit! Liquid Solder, Filled wit! Kerosene, and Heated for a Test At the Left, Complste Soldering Outfit, Consisting of Bottle of Liquid, Box of Powder Capsules, and Squirt Gun. AUTO-RADIATOR LEAKS FIXED BY LIQUID IN SQUIRT GUN \ strange fluid compound, made by dissolving a capsule of powder in a tea- spoontul of liquid, and applied with a small squirt gun, is thermewest successful means for curing leaks in.an auto radiator. The radiator is first filled with water and the leaks marked with wood :plugs, then it isudrained and dried, and a thin coat of the fluid applied to each ‘leak. In 20 to 30:minutes it may be filled again as a final test. As many as 122:tiny leaks in one ‘radiator, caused by freezing, have been repaired in 20 :minutes (by ‘this method, using but one capsule of pow- der. As a test, a tin can: punched fullvof holes and repaired with the compound was filled with kerosene and heated. Or- dinary solder,;gave way under this :treat- ment, but the compound was unaffected. At the Right, the Leaky Radiator after Treatment, Completely Restored WALL-SOCKET WARNING LIGHT PREVENTS CURRENT LOSS \ little wall-socket signal light, now made by an eastern manufacturer of electrical equipment, aes burns steadily while current flows to toaster, percolator, iron, or other imple ment. In conse- quence, current is al- ways turned off when no more needed, and the housewife is never annoyed ‘to find that her ‘forgetfulness has added ‘to ‘the monthly bill. The light can be placed upon any wall fixture now.in use, as‘the two line wires ate easily attached to the two terminals

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90 POPULAR ELECTRICALLY HEATED KNIFE CUTS BATTERY COMPOUND Opening l sealed storage battery is a tedious task because ot the dithcultv ot cutting the viscous compounds used. The work is made easy and rapid, however, by Cutting the Sealing Com- pound from a Storage Bat- - tery with an Electrically Heated Knife, Which Re- ceives Its Heating Current from the Battery Cell Itself an electrically heated knife of peculiar construction, just brought out by a Mich- igan concern. The blade, of a nonoxidiz- ing alloy, is slotted nearly to the end, making a loop that is heated by the cur- rent from a two-volt cell. By clip termi- nals on its cord, it may be connected to the cell that is being opened, or any other. The blade stays hot as long as the current flows. By interposing a small transformer, it may be used in connection with a regu- lar alternating-current lighting circuit. These Two Scenes in the Lumber ¥ard Illustrate the Use of the Telescoping Coupling Pole. The Load is being Brought to Horizontal at the Left. MECHANICS GLASS MILK BOTTLES PROVE SUPERIOR TO PAPER So many arguments have been ad- vanced in favor of paper milk bottles that a large New York dairy concern recently ilopted the paraftined containers on tentative basis, reducing the price of milk two cents a quart because of the expected It was found, however, that cus- saving. tomers were made quite uneasy by thei inability to inspect the contents or to see the cream line. Furthermore, ¢lass bot tles at five cents each, lasting in average of 25 trips, proved actually cheaper than paper, quite as sanitary when sterilized b modern machinery, and superior for keep- ig and refrigerating milk. So the paper- bottle experiment lasted three weeks. TELESCOPING COUPLING POLE FITTED TO LUMBER WAGON Thanks to the use of an ingeniously contrived coupling pole, the wagons of a western lumber company move stock in remarkable time. Lumber is not loaded directly upon the wagons; instead, it is so balanced on the rack between the rear wheels that the rear end of the load rests upon the ground. Having estimated the length of the load, the teamster telescopes the coupling pole to the proper length, and drives the front wheels into place. The trailing end of the pole is supported during.this maneuver by a small wheel, or caster. The teamster then hooks the rear end of the pole to the rear-wheel unit, and, stepping on the elevated end of the load, brings it to the horizontal. \rriving at his destination, he reverses the operation. The Rear End of the Pole with the Supporting Wheel is Seen at the Right ee re 4

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LIST a A Che me Oo CRT ~ selene POPULAR MECHANICS 91 The Steaming Outfit Is in Use in This Photograph. Above Are the Water Tank and Condenser; Below, the Boiler and a Storage Battery NEW OUTFIT INJECTS STEAM INTO STORAGE BATTERIES \ compact steaming outfit is now made which softens the sealing compound around the covers of storage batteries by injecting steam through the vents. The equipment consists of a water tank, a condensing tank, if desired, and a boiler to which heat is applied in any conven- ient way. Water from the tank enters the boiler through a float valve which keeps the water at a constant, low level. Steam generated in the boiler passes through six valve-controlled outlets to the vents of one or more storage bat- teries. Here the live steam quickly sof- tens the seals. As the outfit is usually handled, though, steam from one of the outlets is conducted to the water-cooled copper vessel in the condenser. Filled in this routine way, the condenser is al- ways ready to supply distilled water for filling batteries or making electrolyte. SPEAKING TUBES LESSEN WOE OF SHIP-CONFINED SAILORS The dreariest hours of a sailor's life are those spent in the home port, with all shore leave withheld. If the ship is tied to a public dock, the situation becomes still more tantalizing. Small though the distance may be from dock to deck, .it ordinarily halts like an intervening chasm the intimate word of welcome or fare- well. On board many ships of the British navy, however, the sailor is given private Steaming having been Com- pleted, Above, the Cover of —— the Battery has been Lifted Off to Permit the Removal of the Cells This Special Workbench is Conveniently Used with the Steaming Outfit. Here the Plugs can be Bored Out speech with his sweetheart in an inter- esting way. Portable speaking tubes, usually used for controlling the fire of the big guns, are stretched from rail to dock. By this means conversations can be carried on with comparative privacy. ee = — i Tube the Youngster is Giving a Few Words of Private Advice te His Sailor-Father, Confined on Board H. M. S. “Renown”’

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; 92 POPULAR MECHANICS HINGED BOARDS MAKE ENGINE sservice officer, has already proved its : ACCESSIBLE DURING FLIGHT value in the work of the Mexican borde: patrol. Its function is to give the me- chanic-passenger access to the engine while the plane is in the air. It consists of two boards so hinged together that they may be stowed awa) \ collapsible “running board” for air- planes, invented by an American air- mn e within the fuselage. When en ? gine trouble develops during ? flight, the mechanic carries tl > boards past the pilot’s cockpit to the nose of the plane. Here h: unfolds them ty a right angle rests one end of the horizonta » board upon the leading edge of the lower wing, and hangs the vertical board to the engine ex- haust manifold by means of a large iron hook. Stepping out upon the horizontal board, he ad- justs valves, oil feeds, or other $$$ —— —— ~ ——_— ngine parts, while the pilot keep This Photograph, Taken on the Ground, Shows How the the plane in steady horizontal Mechanic Steps Out upon the Folding Platform When It ; : Becomes Necessary to Adjust the Engine during Flight flight. LETTER-OPENING MACHINE so slender that the cutting edges do not Is MOTOR DRIVEN injure the contents of the letter. For the business office receiving a large daily mail there is now made a letter opener that is operated by electricity. Measuring 21 in. long by 11 in. wide, and weighing only 21 lb., the little machine is easily carried from one desk to an- other. The steel cylinder bearing the cutting edges is turned by the motor through worm gears, and is kept covered 9 .————— with oil by an automatic oiler. The This Letter-Opening Machine is Driven by the Motor ; ° i at the Left. The Revolving Cylinder Removes Thin shearing removed from each envelope is Shearings from the Ends of 100 Letters a Minute PLUMBER WITH AUTO SHOP FORGETS NO TOOLS There is a_ standing joke to the effect that a plumber called out on a job invariably has to go back to the shop for some forgotten tool. To give the quietus to this base canard, a plumber in an Illinois town has fitted up a complete shop ” in the body of a light motor truck, and takes all his tools with him to every job. This novel enterprise has given him a great advantage over his competitors, and he has built up a large busi- ness in a short time. A Complete Plumber’s Shop in an Automobile with a Special Body, Ena- bling the Proprietor to Dispel the Old Idea That Workers of His Profession must Always Go Back for Some Forgotten Implement aD nanccsinitiitis

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ACETYLENE TORCH USED TO WRECK 4 > The Veteran Acetylene-Torch Expert Made a Single Cut, with the Metal-Eating Flame, in a Circle about the Base of the Big Stack. The Cut was Completed in Iwo Hours, and the Tall Tube, Guided by a Rope, Toppled Over (The Stack at the Right Is the One Wrecked. It Was about 200 Feet High, and Lined with Brick, Which was Removed by a Steeple- jack ~ és IATELE Uy Up ve) Y 4 ths Vif WY Nh shi /4) "ea /// My iy VM i, » ’ After the Acetylene- TorchCut was Made, the Stackwas Pulled Over by Sys the Steeplejac d At- tached to Its Top. The The Base of the Stack, Impact with the und at the Point Where It Was Sufficient to Crush was Cut Off by the the Big Steel Tube Acetylene Torch, Was Almost Flat ever 15 Feet in Diam- ] eter PHOTOS COPYRIGHT UNDERWOOD 4 UN EKWwOoo - 3 TALL STACK

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of POPULAR

he reg qe or J <a Model of the Automatic Lifeboat-Launching Dev Ship’s Side, in the Position of Launching. The R HOLE GROUND IN THREE-INCH WALL OF STUBBORN SAFE A job of “sate crackin; 4 ”’ that is perhaps unique, was done in Louisville, Ky., not long ago, at the urgent request of a bar in a small town near by. The bank off cials explained that the lock had set whe one of the tumblers was bent. Drilling had been tried, but had failed because o the extraordinary hardness of the steel. So the safe, of the spherical type and about 36 in. in diameter, was rushed by fast train to a Louisville machine shop. Here the safe was blocked in position upon the floor, while a motor-driven grinder was swung from a jib crane, and placed beside For eight hours and a half, the grinder ate into the tough steel at a vital spot indicated by an expert from the factory. At the end of that period the 3-in. wall was pierced by a_ hole measuring 12 by 3 in. at the top, and 2 by 3 in. at the bottom. Through this

This Sketch Shows in Front and Side Views Hew a Hole was Ground in the Wall of the Safe. Two Grinding Wheels were Consumed aperture the safe was gag wd emptied. Two grinding wheels, is interesting to note, were consumed in << course of the job.

MECHANICS

e: The Left-Hand View Shows a Boat Swung Down from the ight View Indicates the Normal Position on a Ship MAKES LIFEBOAT LAUNCHING AUTOMATIC AND SAFE The hurried launching of lifeboats fro disabled vessels is usually attended by contusion and danger. An eastern ship- yard worker has devised a new method ot lowering the boats that carries them 4 ft. away from the ship's side, lays them on an even keel, and gives them a for ward impulse. The small boat, instead of hanging in davits, rests in a cradle supported by three parallel inclined arms which are pivoted near the water line and guyed by cables attached above. W hen released by a lever, the boat swings out- ward and down, and is moving forward at some five miles an hour when it reaches the surface. The arm then swings back, and another boat automatically enters the cradle. FILMS OF HUDSON BAY WILDS REVEAL ROMANCE OF TRAPS \ll the mystery, adventure, and thrill of the unknown Hudson Bay country, made famous by the ancient British fur- trading company that is now celebrating its 250th anniversary, have finally been condensed into some thousands of feet of extraordinary motion-picture film. From the Labrador coast to the Great Slave Lake region two camera expeditions journeyed, from June to January, filming the incidents and dangers of the wild- animal hunt and the ceaseless strife with wilderness hardship. The result is a most remarkable series of pictures, now being shown free in Canada, and revealing the actual life of the Hudson Bay posts and their tributary forests, lakes, and turbu- lent streams. ionme—£) Welt me acs

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POPULAR MECHANICS 95 TOOL TAKES DENTS OUT OF AUTO FENDERS Automobile fenders that are dented, but not badly smashed, may be straightened out almost as good as new by a sim- ple hand tool now of- fered as a useful piece ol garage equipment. The Squeezing Out a instrument is essentially Large Dent with the 7 Block Attachments a pair of tongs, opened and closed by a sliding bar operated by a screw handle. A crossbar with a flat wood block at each end is fitted to one arm of the tongs, and a block placed at either side of the dent, while the other arm applies pressure at a central point underneath, the blocks being adjusted as the dent diminishes. The job is fin- the tongs, ironing out the last wrinkles ished with a pair of suitable rollers on without damaging the enamel. Left, Finishing the Job with a Pair of Rollers; Right, the Tool Complete with Blocks and Rollers of Various Shapes, to Fit All Fenders ADJUSTABLE COPPER FEATURES 4 valve button is pressed. When pressure GAS-HEATED SOLDERING IRON _ *‘ ‘leased, the valve is closed by a spring A gas-heated soldering iron now manu factured is featured by the adjustability of the copper point. Carried on a rod that parallels the gas-and-air mixing tube, the copper can be moved back and forth, or turned. to either one of two —— _ - —— ——__— — The*Dotted Lines at the [Right Indicate the Positions angular positions. In all cases the flame to Which the Copper Point can be Turned. strikes the thick end of the copper, and Gas is Admitted at the Left not the point. The tool is provided with The tool can be used as a_ blowtorch a pilot which ignites the gas flow when obviously, when the copper is removed ARCHITECT DISCARDS DRAWINGS FOR CLAY MODELS Clay models of prospective structures, furnished to his clients by one architect. instead of sketches or drawings, are now’ These little models, made by the archi- tect’s sculptor-associate, are correct in all impor tant details, including their coatings of paint, and give the client an ex cellent conception of the intended appearance oO} his home, apartment building, or whatever it is to be. When they have served their purpose, the models are de stroyed, but not until photograph have been taken for the architect's files for com This Small Clay Modei of a Rural Home Is Typical of the Work Done parison with the con by the Architect’s Sculptor-Assistant. The Average Client Gains More , j oe from Inspection of Such a Model than from Study of Plans or Drawings pleted structure.

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96 POPULAR MECHANICS PARIS BUTCHER SELLS LION MEAT FOR LESS THAN BEEF Few commentaries upon the appalling shortage of foodstuffs in Europe have been more striking than the recent ap- OPYRIGHT, KADEL & HERGERT Steaks from the Lioness were Sold in This Parisian Butcher Shop for Less than Half the Price of Similar Cuts of Beef pearance in a Parisian butcher shop of a lioness’ carcass. The steaks were costly, but were actually sold at less than half the price of good beef and lamb. The appearance of the lone animal is of little economic significance, however, as pros- pects for a continued supply of such meat are poor. Lions have now practically dis- appeared from French territory in north- ern Africa, where once they were so plentiful. “AUTOMATIC” TYPEWRITER HUMANLY CONTROLLED An automatic typewriter, which takes dictation and writes it on paper without being touched, caused much astonishment at the recent electrical show in Colum- bus, Ohio. Hundreds of visitors are still dumfounded at the performance of what they believe to be the most marvelous in- vention of the age Che device, to all appearances, consists merely of an ordinary typewriter, mount- ed on a box about a foot and a half square. From this box runs an ordinary telephone cord to a transmitter. Visttors were informed that by speaking distinctly into the transmitter the typewriter would catch the sounds and write the words on paper. And seemingly that is just what happened. The keys struck the paper in the usual way as the dictation proceeded, and when the writing was submitted, it was found to agree with what had been dictated. In case of error or indistinct- ness, the contrivance showed uncanny power by flashing a red light. Repetition of the words caused the machine to re- sume its tapping against the paper. However, a_ skeptical newspaper re- porter insisted quietly that he be let in on the secret, and it was revealed to him that the telephone cord led to another part of the building, where a typist sat with a receiver on his head, listening to the dictation. Before him was a type- writer, equipped with contacts beneath the keys. As each key was struck, the re- sulting contact energized a_ solenoid under the corresponding key of the type- writer on display, causing it to write. A button on his desk controlled the red light, which he flashed in case he mis- understood the dictation. LITTLE MOTORCYCLE MODEL IS INCH AND A HALF HIGH A motorcycle model, claimed to be the smallest in the world, has recently been completed by a skilled mechanic of St. Joseph, Mo. Friends who inspect the little object can easily under- Comparison with the Watch in the Background Emphasizes the Smaliness of This Motorcycle Model, Said to Be the World’s Smallest stand why its construction required five months of diligent evening toil. For though the height is only one and a half inches, and the wheelbase two and a half the motorcycle is complete in every es- sential detail, including a stand, pedals, chains, and mudguards. nena ea Rf nn ed = anti eats OS

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aeeune v a eee, Parallcling the Nearer Shore of the Middle Loup River is Seen the Government Nursery at Haisey, near the Geographical Center of Nebraska. From This Station, Since 1912, More than 1,000,000 Trees have been Shipped to Homesteaders in the Great Kinkaid District in the Western Part of the State A MILLION TREES FOR NEBRASKAN HOMESTEADERS By ALLEN P. CHILD URING the eight years since 1912 the residents of the enlarged Kinkaid homestead district of Nebraska have been given over a million trees by the govern- ment from its: station at Halsey, Neb. hey were not just donated promiscu- ously here and there, but were only sent to persons who really intended to plant and care for them. Reports coming in from those ee who received the trees show that an average survival of from 35 per cent in the exception- ally dry season of 1914 up to 70 per cent for the excessively wet sea- son of 1915 was accom plished. The Kinkaid district comprises practically the entire western half of the state. Scattered over the northwestern third are the most ag gravating areas of the many conditions conspire against even this, that something else must be done to produce sufficient revenue. For sum mer range, not saying anything about winter and spring feeding, every animal needs from 10 to 25 acres. Consequently, the hills bring a return of about a half dollar to the stockman and the government gets enough for grazing privile ges to buy a two- cent stamp, from every acre. So the Forest Service saw where it was needed, and as a result it has been dem- onstrated that the sand hills mav be rood for the production of timber. There is still a ques- tion whether forestry will bring a higher re turn on this land than well-planned = grazing but it is certain that sensible and _ insistent famous Nebraska sand hills. The problem of making worth while of this des- olate tract has manv vears been one which could not be idly set aside by saving that since the ground was not suitable for crops, it might be suitable as a desert for sight-seeing Euro- pean tourists. Cattle raising is the one big industry of the sand hills, but so A Section of the Government Nursery is sible , being Planted, Above, to Jack Pine. The ‘ - something Lead Team Plows a Furrow; the Second tensive agriculture. Team Slits the Furrow with a Trench Plow, This will and the Men Plant the Trees in the Slits forestry will make po much more ex be accom plished by forming windbreaks and changing steadily the character of the soil by adding humus «> that it will not blow onto other 111¢ bel With proper care wood lots plat t« ad } these hills should begin in 15 vears to vield firewood and fence posts. Besides

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98 POPULAR the commercial advantages of getting value out of an agriculturally uninviting area, the planting of tree plots adds to the pleasantness of living conditions. The trees best suited for planting in — These Jack Pines, Planted on the Sand Hills in 1903, Now Vary in Height from 20 to 30 Feet the district are the popularly so-called “evergreen” trees. Western yellow pine, Chinese arbor vitz, and jack pine are also suitable. Among the hard woods Ameri- can elm, cottonwood, honey locust, hack- berry, and green ash are also favorable for sand-hill conditions. Trees are shipped from the nursery of the Forest Service at Halsey by parcel post or ex- MECHANICS press in bundles which allow free circu- lation of the air for the tops. The roots are packed in damp moss to prevent dry- ing out. Every care is used in order that the homesteader may have real material to work with, and after the planting is done, a complete report is returned to the nursery on a card supplied with the trees, which describes the method of planting and conditions under which it was ac- complished. New applicants are supplied with not to exceed 200 trees, and upon certain condi- tions, those individuals who have made particularly good use of trees in the past may receive up to 500 trees. So a real start has been made toward bringing a forest to the desert, and in eight years 5,080 persons, mostly home- steaders, have made a direct contribution to the necessary task of afforestation that the sand-hill country must go through before it can reach its ultimate useful- ness. ELECTRIC CABLES CROSS TWO RIVERS ON STEEL TOWERS Shipping that enters either the Provi- dence or the Seekonk River at Providence, R. I., now passes under electric con- ductors carrying alternating current at 66,000 volts. To make these crossings, and provide for all kinds of ship traffic, five steel towers were necessary. The first one, 120 ft. high, is located near the elec- tric plant in the heart of the city. At the Providence River are two towers, each 220 ft. high, and at the Seekonk two, 177 ft. high. The wires at the dis- tributing end of the Providence River span are brought down to street-pole level by means of a skeleton platform Here is Seen a Section of Morton Nursery, on the Niobrara River in the Northern Part of the State. This Nursery was Established in 1915 and is Now being Developed. The Sand Hills in the Background Are Typical of Those in the Kinkaid District

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POPULAR The Two 177-Foot Steel Towers That Support the Span of Wires across the Seekonk River, at a Distance of 145 Feet above the Surface ; at the proper height, carrying the nec- essary number of insulators. From the top of the tower the conductors com« straight down to the platform, held by strain insulators, and pass to the steel poles along the street. The foundations of the towers are of reinforced concrete and wood piling, extending down into the ground from 9) ft. Allowing sag, the towers give a minimum clearance , the river OD tO tor 1 Ol 145 It. above surtace, SHADE HOLDER FOR ELECTRIC BULB IS VIBRATION-PROOF A new shade for tl electric bulb, developed manufacturer electrical equipment, is designed for use in factories and show windows, wher vibration induced by machinery and traf- fic constantly tends to unseat and demolish the shades reflect- ors. With the neck of the shade in place, the adjust- ment of the screw at the lower right holder by le a Ol OT ’ tightens the band, and so compresses the : four gripping segments of the holder. By means of the two screws at the top, the holder is clamped to any brass-shell, por- » celain, or waterproof socket. 2 —____—- TWO RARE STAMPS REACH U. S. FROM HUNGARY and valuable postage ere recently received by chanics Magazine from an advertiser. resi- dent in Budapest. Hungary. lor and bears the Tate . , oun Popular ore (Ine stam] li} eness .. Sa TEG if CC RO 0 Ahan ene MECHANICS One of the 220-Foot Towers, on Which the Wires, after Spanning the River, are Brought Down to Distributing Level and Carried to Street Poles the last emperor-king of Austria-Hun gary; the other is purple and displays a likeness of the queen. Stamps of these two series were solid only on Coronation Day, Dec. 30, 1916. They were canceled with a special stamp, too, bearing the in scription, “On the Coronation Day o King Karoly IV, 1916, Dec. 30.”% Th cancellation stamp was destroyed on th following day. SESE EHR RHEE HHH eee a mere -, Sass —7 doiasan eee eew eee eater a 4s These Rare Hungarian Postage Stamps were Issued Only on Coronation Day. December 30, 1916. A Special Starp was Used to Cancel Ther, Als«

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100 POPULAR CURIOUS NEW CABLE RAILWAY CLIMBS SPANISH MOUNTAIN A railway which climbs 813 ft. in a length of 1,650 ft. has just been completed One of the 25-Passenger Coaches Ascending the Steep Grade on Its Steel Trestle, Drawn by a Cable MECHANICS from 40 to 66°, and the coaches, seating 25 passengers, are hauled up by a cable on an electrically driven drum in the up- per station. A three-phase, 110-volt, 32- hp. motor is used, running at 725 r.p.m. An automatic brake on the drum is sup- ported by an electromagnet which re- leases it when the current fails or the speed becomes too high. The engineer, to whom the whole line is visible, has a mechanical brake and a circuit breaker at his hand, and the coaches are pro- vided with automatic and hand brakes. WIRELESS TELEPHONE USED TO MAKE PHONOGRAPH RECORD A phonograph record was made by means of the wireless telephone in Lon don, a few weeks ago. The voice, at Chelmsford, 40 miles from the metropolis, was caught by a high-power instrument. The receiver, at London, was attached to a recorder which engraved the message in soft wax. The resulting record quite audible. was FLESH FROM SOLDIER’S CHEST MAKES USEFUL FINGER From his own chest and chin came the materials with which surgeons of a New York hospital recently constructed a finger for a disabled soldier. The veteran had lost all but the thumb from his right hand, and in consequence could grasp nothing with the member. In order to _ restore its usefulness, the surgeons obtained a rec- tangular flap of flesh, in the form of a finger, from the chest wall. One end of this flap was left attached to the chest, the other was joined to the desired bone in the mutilated hand. After four weeks this boneless finger was cut away from the chest wall. It was then tun- neled, and a_é wedge- shaped mortise made in the bone of the hand. Into this mortise was driven a strip of bone from the chin. A silver reinforcement was put in The Upper Terminal and Power House of the Montserrat Inclined Rail- way: The Electrical Equipment is Installed Here to the top of Montserrat, 25 west of Barcelona, Spain. The grade runs t - > mil -s nort place, and the skin, final- ly, brought together over all. Five weeks later the patient was ible to flex his new digit Pate } erry 1 ‘ use the hand for many normal purpo

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POPULAR MECHANICS 101 SHEDS OVER PEGS PROTECT HORSESHOE PITCHERS

After a few weeks’ ex- perience with the “mists” which periodically drench the locality, a visitor to Portland, Ore., can un- derstand why two wood- en shelters confront each other on a vacant lot in an east-side residence dis- trict. The lot is each afternoon — the field of hattle for a group of horseshoe pitchers. The shelters are placed over the pegs. Beneath the ; , : shelters, also, are several ee at ; henches for players and Thanks to These Two Shelters, the Players Meet Each Afternoon, Ra‘n or Shine, for Their Game of *‘Horseshocs.”’ The Pegs are onlookers, and a locker Placed near the Front of the Structures in which the horseshoes are kept when not in use. Protected by the shelters,

ilie contestants play on ( ious ¢ weather. HINGED PLATE ON GAS-STOVE the MANIFOLD INSURES SAFETY “ in tl . OcK, n nis position it presses against The gas cooking range becomes a much all the kev more desirable piece of domestic furni- ture when equipped with a newly introduced safe- ty attachment. This con- sists of a plate, about a foot and a half in length, which is clamped to the manifold in front of the keys, or cocks. The clamps are hinged to Ne Rs ae! . : Roe . = = — — — : - aero ¢ eh ‘yey he The Safety Attachments have been Raised, in the Upper Photograph. In This Position They Press against the Keys, and So Prevent Their range is in use. When being Turned Accidentally. Below, the Plates are Lowered cooking is done, the piate 1s tilted to ertical, where it is held by a bayonet vs, and prevents their being turned accidentally, or by childish fingers.

CHEMICAL TRUCK FIGHTS GRAIN-FIELD FIRES An automobile ~~ eee 7% equipped with buckets, shovels, and a 30-gal. tank full of fire-extin- guishing chemicals, last - a e- summer paid for itself - 1 i 4 | many times over in serv- TTT Maa ice rendered to. grain ; a | ’ farmers living about a DAC TT a small western town. As <4) a each farmer has his tele- he phone, the first sign of fire in a grain field re- = sulted in a request for Stationed in a Western Town, This Automobile Responds lennetincely. the chemical truck. It pith Its Chemicale and Other Extinguishing. Equipment, to Requests fe never failed to respond promptly, nor to conquer the blaze on ar- this and future seasons, as a substitute rival. The service is certain to be continued for back-firing and other costly methods ~

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102 POPULAR AUTOMATIC WIRELESS SENDER GIVES CONTINUOUS SIGNAL Details are now available of the auto- matic wireless transmitter used for send- ing the bell-ringing distress signals de- BY COURTESY OF THE SHIPPING WORLD The Spiral Spring Oscillates the Balance Wheel, Causing a Rapid Make-and-Break of the Circuit scribed in this magazine last March. The sender consists merely of a small balance wheel with a spiral spring fixed to its spindle. Two electromagnetic poles face the periphery of the wheel at opposite points, and cause it to oscillate by alter- nately attracting and releasing an arma- ture across one of its diameters. At. each oscillation, a flat spring on the spindle makes contact with the top of a post, making and breaking the transmitting cir- cuit at rapid intervals and actuating all the special receivers attuned to it that are within range. THREE NATIONS COOPERATE TO DEVELOP WATER POWER Lower South America is to. benefit within a few years by the development of a great hydroelectric project, in which three nations will cooperate, if present plans are carried out. The Uruguay River, which forms the boundary between Argentina on the west, and Brazil and Uruguay on the east, is to be improved by these three countries with a plant utilizing a fall of 77 ft., employing a fixed and a movable dam. A total output of 2,500,000,000 kw.-hr. a year is declared available, which will take the place of 3,000,000 tons of coal, and arrangements will be made for its proper division be- tween the three countries. Further ad- vantage will accrue in the addition of 419 miles to the navigable length of the river, and in the availability of the back water for new irrigation projects. MECHANICS ELECTRIC FURNACES TO TREAT BRITISH COLUMBIA ORES Though for several years prospectors have known of the existence in British Columbia of large deposits of iron ore and the other metals essential to the steel industry, exploitation has been checked by the problem of economy in production and marketing. But it is now reported that this difficulty is to be removed by the establishment of furnaces in these new fields and in Vancouver Island near by. Conditions for extraction will then be almost ideal, as the ore often assays 50 per cent, or better, of metallic iron, with only small percentages of impurities. It is believed, too, that these rich British Columbian ores, chiefly magnetite and hematite, can be commercially smelted into pig iron, and refined to pig steel in one continuous operation. Electric fur- naces of the hearth type, operating on the resistance principle, will almost certainly be used as the result of experiments now being carried on. A small plant of this type is already being operated in Van- couver by a Canadian organization. SIMPLE MACHINE DISINFECTS SMUT-THREATENED GRAIN Heretofore the progressive cereal farmer has tried to avoid loss from smutting of his harvest by utilizing tubs, barrels, and similar containers, in which he has mixed his formaldehyde solution, and soaked his sacks of grain. This process is necessarily slow and is often unsatisfactory. Now, however, the farmer can fight this parasitic _ The Wheat or Other Grain Falls from the Hopper at the Left into the Mixer, Where It is Disin- fected by a Solution from the Tank —

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— POPULAK MECHANICS 103 General View ofthe | Iron Flume as It Crosses the Gorge on Concrete-Bedded Steel Legs fungus with the aid of a simple machine which quickly disinfects each grain without soaking it, ot wasting a drop —" of the solution. The machine consists of a conical grain hopper and a solution reservoir. As the two outlet valves are turned, grain and solution are fed by gravity to the conical mixer, where they are rapidly mixed by a _ whirling cone. As this cone is revolved by the weight of the down-pouring grain, the machine requires no attention other than the occasional filling of the hopper and reservoir. The disinfected grain pours out of the bottom of the mixer. Attended by two men, the machine has a capacity of about 100 to 120 bu. an hour. HUGE IRON IRRIGATION FLUME CROSSES COLORADO GORGE To insure an unfailing supply of water at the intake of a large irrigation reser- voir in southeastern Colorado, an old wooden flume recently has been replaced by one of iron, of unusual size and ar- rangement. The huge duct, 160 ft. long, is of semicylindrical section, 18 ft. across, and 9 ft. deep. This gives it a capacity of 1,000 cu. ft. of water per second, used in an irrigation system serving 56,000 acres of land. The flume constitutes one link in the intake canal of the reservoir, necessitated by the crossing of a deep gorge, normally dry but carrying consid- erable flood water in the rainy season. To guard against possible flood damage the big tube is supported on steel le set in concrete foundations, rs. 5 ; nd ha : las | The Ends of the Big Duct are Supported by Walls of Reinforced ane eS ao Concrete. At the Far End Are the Sluice Gates case Of ice oF for Draining into the Gorge The Flume Is18 Feet Wide and Nine Feet Deep, Big Enough to Drive a Car Through heavy concrete abutment wall at each end Sluice gates in the flume allow the water to be emptied into = the gorge in other trouble in the canal. The duct has already car- ried a considerable amount of ice without anv difficulty. POWERFUL COMPOUND-LEVER TIRE PUMP IS COLLAPSIBLE There is now sold a tire pump which inflates a 30 by 3-in. tire to 60 Ib. in 60 seconds, vet collapses to such small compass that it may easily Collapsed, as Shown Above, the Tire Pump can be Carried in the Ordinary Tool Box. It is Seen in Working Order at the Right be carried in the ordinary tool box. Op erating on the compound-lever principle by means of a cam slot and secondary lever, it increases the autoist’s strength approximately 10 times. Although hig pressures are possible, no stuffing bos employed niv a heavv cup nluncver. Pressed steel is used thro lung 1 g 7 + " steers yr?

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104 POPULAR BALED HAY IN ONE BIG PILE EQUALS EIGHT CAR LOADS Out of one little South Dakota town of 1,000 population or less, 200 car loads of hay have been shipped during the past MECHANICS TENT HOTELS HOUSE OIL MEN IN TEXAS BOOM TOWNS Many a pyramidal army tent that two years ago was sheltering soldiers in a southern army camp is now doing duty as tus BOCGL “FG0M or “an- nex” in some boom town in the oil regions of northwestern Texas. ‘Ilundreds of these tents were bought by hotel men when the endless inrush of fortune-seekers swamped hotels and lodging houses. In Wich- Enough Baled Hay to Make Eight Car Loads, Stacked in One Pile outside ita Falls, for example, a Little Town in South Dakota, Ready for Shipment to the Drought-Stricken Sections of Montana season. On one recent occasion suffi- cient baled hay to make eight car loads was stacked in a single pile in the field, making a wall long and high and thick enough to barricade an army camp. All the hay was shipped to the drought- stricken sections of Montana. GAUGE FOR METAL HARDNESS TESTS VARIOUS SHAPES Metal parts of various shapes, as used in manufacturing, may be tested directly for hardness by a new form of instrument manufactured in the East. The piece to be tested is placed on the flat horizontal face of a chuck, or, if it is round, in a notch in the face. Just above is a ver- tical plunger, sharp - pointed at the lower end and con- nected at the upper with a series of levers leading to an adjustable weight. At the top, actuated by the move- ment of the plunger and levers, is a sensi- tive measuring gauge. The chuck, carry- ing the test piece, is raised by means of a handwheel until contact is made with the plunger point at a certain initial pressure. The weight is then adjusted and the read- ing taken. From six to 12 tests a minute may be made. one of the leading hotels maintains an annex of 50 tents arranged, in military style, on a va- cant lot near by. Each tent is equipped with every possible convenience. HOME SPECIAL TRAINS TEACH HOOSIERS CONVENIENCES The State of Indiana wants every home within it to have some of the conveniences of the city household. To this end, a home special train is used, in which are conducted educational classes with the aid of modern equipment exhibits. There is a complete farm light-and-power plant with a set of storage batteries, as well as a water plant with automatic pump. \mong the laundry equipment are shown double stationary laundry tubs, electric washing machine, electric ironer—the iron can be heated with gasoline or kero- sene. As one of the essentials ofa good dairv farm, a special milk room has been fitted out. In this room can be seen electri- cally driven cream separator, electric churn, a special milk cooler, stationary washtub and drain boards, equipped with running water and directly connected with the sewage system. A regular city bathroom is also shown, equipped with running water, washbowl, bathtub, elec- tric heater, etc. This exhibit makes use of a septic tank. The entire home special is composed of four cars, the various equipment being shown in three of them, while the fourth serves as a lecture room. No problem of the home has been left unsolved. A living room with fireplace and_ built-in hookeases has also been provided. The rural stations form the most important stops on this specialized train, and the school children at these points are espe- cially interested in the exhibition. om i

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ee — Win ive eee r The Milk-Room Equip- Special Train, Consisting of Electric Cream Separator and a Milk Cooler, Washtub with Running Water the Indiana At the Left Is the Septic-Tank System Installed on the Train, and Used in room, with Which One of the Cars is Equipped. At the Right I is Equipped with a Full Set of Storage Cells, and the Water-Supply Automatic Pump is U A Full View of the Indiana Home Special Train, and of a Typical Group of School Children Visiting The Lecture Room, to Which One Whole Car is Devoted, for Explaining the Method of Modernizing the Rural Home It during a Rural Stop is ne The Laundry Baxie- | ment, Including Double Stationary Tubs, Elec- tric Washing Machine and Ironer, and Provi- sion for Heating the Iron with Gasoline or Kerosene

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106 POPULAR PLOW FOR WEEDING GARDENS IS ADJUSTABLE Designed especially for the work of weeding, a new hand wheel plow, invented in \rkansas, is pre neg a uset l ad O1 t t r gardeners collec- tion of tools. 1 S1 ill ad¢ Ss iste ied to t he the wheel, and the two handlebat are adjustable for height. lo facili- tate working in hard ground, an iron rod fixed to the plow _ blade, and extending up and back, termi- nates in a breast- plate, by means of which the user can exert considerable pressure. PHONOGRAPH RECORD IS FACE OF PECULIAR CLOCK A phonograph record forms the face ot an odd clock recently displayed in Tren- ton, N, J. The owner conceived the idea of con- structing the timepiece, it is ex- plained, when he chanced to place an alarm clock, face down, upon a record which lay near the phono- graph. The record he substituted for the face of a large wall clock, after marking it~ with 12 numerals which he purchased at a local ten-cent store The smaller clock he used as a pendulum for the larger. SIXTY FOSSIL FISHES ADDED TO SCHOOL’S COLLECTION One of the world’s best collections of fossil fishes is now the property of Leland Stanford University. thanks to the labors ofa staff scientist. His latest contribution from the deposit areas of southern Cali- fornia, where most of his research } MECHANICS been conducted, comprises 60 fossil fishes of the Miocene Age. This is six times'the number previously known of Miocene hony fishes in America. All told, the Stanford collection now totals about 400 specimens. The most interesting of these, perhaps, is the largest single slab of fossil fishes ever obtained. Measuring 8 by 4 ft. in plan, the big slab was taken from the Lompoc deposit, near Santa Barbara. [his particular area, once a shallow bay, is covered to an average depth of 1,400 ft. by beds of diatoms, interlarded with fos- silized layers of herring, mackerel, bass and unknown species ENVELOPE HAS RETURN CARD CONCEALED UNDER FLAP Many persons do not care to place their return address conspicuously on private letters, with the re- sult that thousands are lost every year. \ Missouri inven- tor has designed an envelope in which the flap is pasted down over the return card, but carries a per- forated portion bearing printed in- structions to the postmaster to tear it out if the sender’s name is needed. INDICATORS TELL CONDITION OF BURIED WATER PIPE When things go wrong in a_ buried water pipe, the location of the fault is generally a mys- tery, and much labor is lost. \long the pipe lines of Coronado, Calif., indicators have been in- stalled in the shape of short standpipes, with a window at the top in which a sign appears, telling whether that sec- tion of the pipe is open or. closed. When trouble oc- curs, its location IS apparent at once, and the work of ex- cavating for repairs is confined to a small vell-defined area. mae, le ae a . eal vw

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~e POPULAR MECHANICS 107 Above, Oil and Gasoline Tanks Weighted Down to Keep Them from Breaking and Floating Streams of Fire through the Flooded Streets. At the Right, One of the Inundated Business Streets WEIGHTS ON OIL TANKS AVERT DANGER IN FLOODED CITY \ deep and wide crevasse in a state road along the Mississippi River allowed flood water from the swollen stream to ush into Muscatine, Iowa, recently, un- til street-car service had to be abandoned One of the curious sights of the flood was what appeared to be a large raft, loaded with barrels, bags, and _ miscel- laneous articles, and buoved up by three enormous cylindrical tanks. The purpose of the queer structure, however, was not to navigate the streets, but to keep the tanks from that very performance. Two of them contained gasoline and the kerosene, and the danger of their ‘ t breaking. and floating streams of flam through the city, caused the fire depart- ment to weight them down with any ma terial that was available Thus burdened thev passed the crisis in fet Lila > blk SA The 18-Foot Breach in the Highway through Which the Waters of the Mississippi River Tumbled So Rapidly That the City was Flooded in an Hour, and 70,000 Acres Inundated ee FOUR-POUND PHONOGRAPH PLAYS LARGEST RECORDS One of the most successful of the at- tempts that have been made to reduce the phonograph to lowest terms is represented by a little instrument now on the market. The metal “case,” if such it may be ca l ] e d, con- tains the mo- tor,.and meas- ures roughly 14 in. long, 10 in. wide, and 3in. deep. The 11 - Yi — — turntable is 10 is liameter, and is ered with felt. The horn is mounted tly upon the reproducer. Simplit tion has b -arried so far, in fa the machine ymplete weicl

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CONCRETE, TILE, AND BRICK, SKILLFULLY USED TO — = al —— for the Brick or Stucco Residence Is a Concrete Fence of the Type Seen Here. The Long Arches are Reinforced with Gas Piping. The Uprights are Topped with Flower Boxes *{ Bricks were Omitted Occa- sional’y in the Construction of \ - - This Pergola Pillar in hire nis + aa ¥ to Provide Pockets in hich b \| This Wall was Built of | Earth could be Placed. From 1s Interlocking Tile in Order | These Pockets Now Grow | to Give Abundant Grow- } Flowers, Vines, and Ferns ing Surtace for English Ivy Vines. At the Base Is a Trough Which Holds Earth for the Roots er | Box might Harmonize with Se acme = |; the Stucco Ranch House, The Appearance of This Brick-Retaining Wall is Improved Rather ) This Cattle Man Covered than Marred by the Semicircular Curves Introduced to Save the Base, Pedestal, and Box Large Trees Which Border the Property. Weathering of the Top is with Concrete. The Roof Prevented by the Neat Concrete Coping of the Box is Painted Green

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ADORN GROUNDS OF URBAN AND RURAL HOMES Failing in Repeated Attempts to Grow a Box Hedge, One City Resi- dent Built This Concrete Substitute. Flowers are Cultivated in the Troughlike Top RAR AARRETA CUUETL eRe eiea * ae: : : iiiis juni | 355 on = ‘ ; | ; SN eg | epeigraceanenil - i “a ar 4 be .- y The Street Gate is Given an Air of \ = P . ; Dignity by These Simple Gateposts. }~ rs ‘ An The Severity of the Stuccoed Exterior : a = % is Relieved by the Addition of Old- This Concrete Replica of the “Old Oaken Bucket” Fashioned Lanterns with Panes of and Its Sheltered Well Adorns the Front Yard of a Colored Glass Fashionable Residence. The Bucket Is Always Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Water. The Plaque Below Displays the First Stanza of the Familiar Poem Just a Few Paces from the Well Pictured at the Top of the Page, and Bordering a Tumbling Brook, Stand These Structures of Concrete At the Left Is a Monster Toadstool, upon Which ‘ is Seen a Grotesque Frog of Stone. At the Right Is a Bridge I *‘Lozs”

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110 POPULAR MECHANICS ELECTRIC DESK LAMP MADE much better thawing medium iil than either } OF MANY WAR SOUVENIRS steam or hot water. This seeming paradox s explained by the fact that the super Miscellaneous souvenirs of the World abundant heat units of steam rise rapidly : ; ‘ : . ‘aor . - War, presented to hin a son-in-law around the pipe, and are wasted, while and nephew hoth vet- the few heat units car- erans of the fig] ting I ried the cold water | rance¢ ha e latelv beet ethall ¢ TO id transformed ind do ( I vork \merica it CICK ow ( ig} ly tric desk ] in one tes e Nom«e pedestal f ( strict, a 2 ‘ S (serman ae? ertec ( drilled a mahogai c. { ol | ‘ it! 20 the bod ( “ ( Cl nutea sola red a 1 ad i tem] T < oO! 52 by the cit oO! ( d | ¢ or ‘ , ; Var1o Red ( < 28 } 26, ‘ n & Liberty 1_o t < [ ( drica l i are fixed to tf h « nmns, eC n ice the core ota ihe lamp s] ice is Cal lav gy il doughboy helmet, whi avs of the less effec- has been perforated tive nverted - conical the insertion of mat form. In some soils no small sphe res oO! drill hole was made, the colored glass water pipe being al lowed to sink of its own COLD WATER weight as the thawing

THAWS FROZEN proceeded, and being GROUND BETTER a THAN HOT , For years steam has ~ sia (ae laa Sa @ The lack of stand- been used for thawing Bullets, War Medals, Lapel Buttons, an ards characterizing the the frozen soil of min- Aerial Bomb, and a Helmet Compose \mericat leather in- This Desk Lamp : ing claims in Alaska, in dustry is attributed by spite of difficulties. Now it has been dis- a leather chemist to the failure of the covered that cold surface water, which of tanneries ti analy ze tne ngredients ¢ course 1 varmer than the groun S 4 the tanning bath. MAN-POWER SWING REQUIRES ONLY ONE ATTENDANT With little exertion, one person can op- nvention of a Nebraskan, and act as an erate a novel amusement-park swing, the attendant, selling and taking tickets when : the device is not in motion. An L awning covered platform 16 ft in diameter, 1 suspe nded by tour cables from a vertical shaft, to which is geared an’ operating shaft that extends under the platform, and terminates in a wheel. By turning the lat- ter, the platform is caused to re- volve and move up and down as the cables are wound on and un- wound from the vertical shaft. The wheel is held stationary after the cables are wound the first time, and momentum keeps the swing in operation for several

; : c [} ceatc r slaced This Odd Merry-Go-Round is Suspended by Cables from a minute 2 hice ae ae lac — Vertical Shaft Which is Turned by a Wheel around the edge ot the platiorm.

Senet elgeeret einen! Aieeineeniendinel Hi

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neue ete POPULAR MECHANICS 111 A et — as a | & 77 21 MACARONI & CHEESE FRONT j J SIDE VIEW OF FOOD BOX In This View of the Odd Lunchroom the Route of the Three Conveyors can be Traced from the Kitchen at a! i 2) co 24 ial FOOD hii Sz BOX 4a 59 Gi “booe U)™ Gas zee 9D, A A. | | wo Ff | y the Rear, Past One Lunch Counter after Another, to the Small Tables in the Foreground. At Left and Right are Shown, in Diagram, One cf the Food Boxes, and a Heating and Cooling Section of the Conveyor System CONVEYOR IS BASIS OF NEW LUNCHROOM SERVING SYSTEM \ lunchroom serving system which en ibles the customer to help himself with- ut stirring from his seat, is a recent in- ention which may solve the noon-hour feeding problem encountered in ever) ongested business district. The basis o! the system is the motor-propelled con- veyor which carries the food portions, in ndividual boxes, from the serving kitchen to the dining hall, and past the various ‘ounters and tables at which sit the diners. These individual food boxes are provided with glass doors, in the lock slots of which the customers insert the proper slugs, ol- tained previously from the cashier at the door. The boxes open at the rear, also to permit replenishment at smaller serv- ing stations, distributed along the cir- cuit. Three conveyors are provided for by the inventor, one above the other. The lowest, carrying ice cream, salads, etc., travels occasionally past refrigerating coils. The middle conveyor is at room temperature. The topmost conveyor, carrying the hot dishes, is surrounded at intervals by steam coils. WHEELBARROW AND HAND PLOW IN USEFUL COMBINATION To save the gardener the trouble of buying and caring for two necessary im- plements where Qgne would do as well, a Virginia leveator tne devised a combina- \\ An “X-Ray” View Showing How the Hand Plow is Made Available by Loosening Thumbscrews under- neath the Barrow, and Removing the Body tion in which the wheel of a hand plow serves also as the running gear of a wheelbarrow. The barrow and its han- dles and legs form a separate part, which

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112 POPULAR MECHANICS is attached for use by simply turning the plow upside down and clamping its handles to the bottom of the body. This takes only a minute and requires no tools, as thumb nuts are used. OIL-BURNING WATER HEATER MADE FOR GASLESS HOMES A kerosene-burning water heater is now made for the country home, barber shop, restaurant, etc., not piped for gas. Connections to the hot-water tank are made just as for the ordinary gas-burning coil heater. Heater and kerosene res- ervoir are mounted on a single stand, but are well sepa- rated to minimize fire danger. The oil from the reser- voir flows through the supporting ; pipe to the base of the burner, where it is mixed with air to give a hot flame. One gallon of fuel is sufficient for 24 hours’ operation. AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT COINS LEATHER i0-HELLER PIECES Perhaps it will soon be unlawful in Austria to admonish one’s departing friend not to accept “flannel money.” For the government, des- titute of gold and sil- ver, has now issued coins made of leather. The httle disks seem to have been stamped from the finished hide. There is no inscrip- tion, only the = nu- merals “10” signifying 10 hellers. This value is normally the equivalent of two American pennies. COPYRIGHT, KEYSTONE VIEW CO. GARDEN SLUG FOUND TO BE POISON-GAS “WATCH DOG” To the large and growing group of people and things who would have helped to win the World War “if only it hadn’t stopped,” must now be added the com- mon garden slug. For in the course of much experiment in the laboratories of the War Department, according to a re- port, these shell-less brothers of the snail were proved to be more reliable and far more sensitive than canaries or mice as detectors of poison gases. The mollusks are unaffected by harmless, or “camou- flage,”’ gases, too. But the most remark- able part of the report is the statement that the little creatures announce, not only the presence of deadly gases, but even the approximate extent of the air’s pollu- tion. Thus when one part of a specified gas was released in 10,000,000 parts of air, the animal would retract its horns only slightly. When the strength of the solu- tion was increased to one part in 4,000,000, the horns almost disappeared. “HAMMERTOES” CORRECTED BY METAL SPLINT The annoying condition known as “hammertoe,” or permanent contraction of the member, may now be corrected —— gradually by the use at night of a special splint. This splint consists of a felt- covered metal strip, about four inches long, which is placed beneath the toe affected. In rear it is held by a soft strap, which is adjusted over the in- step. A second, smaller strap passes un- der the front end of the splint, and over the flexed toe. This strap is pulled tighter as the toe straightens in response to the treatment. A smaller splint is provided for wear in the shoe during the day. HOLDER FOR BORING TOOLS ADJUSTED WITH SINGLE NUT For lathe work the machinist may now equip himself with a small tool holder of ingenious construction and easy adjust- ment. The boring tool is held in a metal block, which, with another, is free to move in the collar of the holder. Between the two blocks is a knurled nut. Rotation of this nut not only adjusts the holder to a boring tool of any ordinary size, but in addition forces the two blocks against the collar, and so immovably centers the cutting tool. — fo a

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ee ~ - 0 on seat tart eronlwertrall Cia Maprt wn 5 POPULAR MECHANICS 113 DESPERATE RATTLESNAKE-BITE CURE PROVES EFFICIENT Exploding a charge of smokeless pow- der in the wound as a means of cauter- izing a rattlesnake bite, can't remember anything that happened during the next few minutes. At last he managed to get astride one of his burros, and made his way to Blythe, on the Colo- rado .River, and from that point got a was the method used which saved the life of . desert prospector who recently applied for treat- ment at the Los Angeles Receiving Hospital. The victim, according to his story, was pros- pecting about 50 miles north of Potholes in the Imperial Desert when he was bitten by a five-foot rattler. The serpent struck him on the left foot, the fangs piercing his shoe and tearing the flesh. The nearest doctor was more than 100 miles away, and having no means of emergency treatment at hand, the Ys injured man realized that t a" he must devise some Whi ba means of cauterizing the ™ wound or die inthe most ™ J ee, vy : y * os horrible agony alone in : After Killing the Rattlesnake, the Miner Removed His Shoe and Slashed the desert. He promptly the Spot with His Pocketknife. When the Wound had Bled for a Time, shot the head off the He Poured into It the Powder Charge of a Shotgun Shell. To This He rattlesnake, and then de- voted his attention to treating the wound. After removing his shoe the miner slashed his foot with his pocketknife, inflicting quite a large wound that bled freely. After allowing the wound to bleed for a time to get rid of as much of the snake poison as possible, he opened a shotgun cartridge, poured 34% dr. of smokeless powder into the wound, and calmly touched a match to it. The resulting puff of fire seared the flesh for several inches about the wound and cauterized it thoroughly. The prospector says he thinks he fainted when the powder went off, because he Touched a Match train to Los Angeles, where he arrived about 24 hours aiter being bitten. The surgeons who treated the case at the receiving hospital declared that his desperate treatment had unquestionably saved his life. Providing one has the nerve to do it, no more effective cauteri- zation of the wound could have been used, they say. The patient was made rather ill, due chiefly to the nervous shock of his experience, but he is now well on the road to complete recovery, and with only an ugly scar on his foot as a re- minder of it for the future. APPLIANCE ALLOWS CONTINUED USE OF BROKEN SAW BLADES The mechanic’s tool kit may now be pro- vided with a little appliance the use of which makes possible the continued serv- ice of broken hacksaw blades. It con- sists of two pieces of steel: the first a frame that takes the place of the miss- ing blade end; the second a sliding, ser- rated check that engages with the teeth of the broken blade. To employ the saw- blade “saver,” it is slipped upon the broken end. The check is then pushed into contact with the blade teeth, and the saw is again readv for use. When Slipped upon the Saw Blade, the Appliance Grips It in the Manner Illustrated

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112 POPULAR is attached for use by simply turning the plow upside down and clamping its handles to the bottom of the body. This takes only a minute and requires no tools, as thumb nuts are used. OIL-BURNING WATER HEATER MADE FOR GASLESS HOMES A kerosene-burning water heater is now made for the country home, barber shop, restaurant, etc., not piped for gas. Connections to the hot-water tank are made just as for the ordinary gas-burning coil heater. Heater and kerosene res- ervoir are mounted on a single stand, but are well sepa- rated to minimize fire danger. The oil from the reser- voir flows through the supporting =e pipe to the base of the burner, where it is mixed with air to give a hot flame. One gallon of fuel is sufficient for 24 hours’ operation, AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT COINS LEATHER i0-HELLER PIECES Perhaps it will soon be unlawful in Austria to admonish one’s departing friend not to accept “flannel money.” For the government, des- titute of gold and sil- ver, has now issued coins made of leather. The httle disks seem to have been stamped from the finished hide. There is no inscrip- tion, only the = nu- merals “10” signifying 10 hellers. This value is normally the equivalent of two American pennies. COPYRIGHT, KEYSTONE VIEW CO. GARDEN SLUG FOUND TO BE POISON-GAS “WATCH DOG” To the large and growing group of people and things who would have helped to win the World War “if only it hadn’t stopped,” must now be added the com- mon garden slug. For in the course of much experiment in the laboratories of MECHANICS the War Department, according to a re- port, these shell-less brothers of the snail were proved to be more reliable and far more sensitive than canaries or mice as detectors of poison gases. The mollusks are unaffected by harmless, or “camou- flage,” gases, too. But the most remark- able part of the report is the statement that the little creatures announce, not only the presence of deadly gases, but even the approximate extent of the air’s pollu- tion. Thus when one part of a specified gas was released in 10,000,000 parts of air, the animal would retract its horns only slightly. When the strength of the solu- tion was increased to one part in 4,000,000, the horns almost disappeared. “HAMMERTOES” CORRECTED BY METAL SPLINT The annoying condition known as “hammertoe,’ or permanent contraction of the member, may now be corrected —________——_ gradually by the use at night of a special splint. This splint consists of a felt- covered metal strip, about four inches long, which : is placed beneath the toe affected. In rear it is held by a soft strap, which is adjusted over the in- step. A second, smaller strap passes un- der the front end of the splint, and over the flexed toe. This strap is pulled tighter as the toe straightens in response to the treatment. A smaller splint is provided for wear in the shoe during the day. HOLDER FOR BORING TOOLS ADJUSTED WITH SINGLE NUT For lathe work the machinist may now equip himself with a small tool holder of ingenious construction and easy adjust- ment. The boring tool is held in a metal block, which, with another, is free to move in the collar of the holder. Between the two blocks is a knurled nut. Rotation of this nut not only adjusts the holder to a boring tool of any ordinary size, but in addition forces the two blocks against the collar, and so immovably centers the cutting tool. ee, ee ee oe ee

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el i oe A Bt bes Ne POPULAR MECHANICS 113 DESPERATE RATTLESNAKE-BITE CURE PROVES EFFICIENT Exploding a charge of smokeless pow- ler in the wound as a means of cauter- izing a rattlesnake bite, can't remember anything that happened during the next few minutes. At last he managed to get astride one of his burros, and made his way to Blythe, on the Colo- rado River, and from that point got a

was the method used which saved the life of . desert prospector who recently applied for treat- ment at the Los Angeles teceiving Hospital. The victim, according to his story, was pros- pecting about 50 miles north of Potholes in the [Imperial Desert when he was bitten by a five-foot rattler. The serpent struck him on the left foot, the fangs piercing his shoe and tearing the flesh. The nearest doctor was more than 100 miles way, and having no means of emergency treatment at hand, the ’ injured man realized that , he must devise some {e994 means of cauterizing the ™ wound or die inthe most ™ — ; , -

horrible agony alone in the dece . ; After Killing the Rattlesnake, the Miner Removed His Shoe and Slashed he desert. He promptly the Spot with His Pocketknife. When the Wound had Bled for a Time, shot the head off the He Poured into It the Powder Charge of a Shotgun Shell. To This He rattlesnake, and then de- voted his attention to treating the wound. After removing his shoe the miner slashed his foot with his pocketknife, inflicting quite a large wound that bled freely. After allowing the wound to bleed for a time to get rid of as much of the snake poison as possible, he opened a shotgun cartridge, poured 3% dr. of smokeless powder into the wound, and calmiy touched a match to it. The resulting puff of fire seared the flesh for several inches about the wound and cauterized it thoroughly. The prospector says he thinks he fainted when the powder went off, because he Touched a Match train to Los Angeles, where he arrived about 24 hours after being bitten. The surgeons who treated the case at the receiving hospital declared that his desperate treatment had unquestionably saved his life. Providing one has the nerve to do it, no more effective cauteri zation of the wound could have been used, they say. The patient was made rather ill, due chiefly to the nervous shock of his experience, but he is now well on the road to complete recovery, and with only an ugly scar on his foot as a re- minder of it for the future.

APPLIANCE ALLOWS CONTINUED USE OF BROKEN SAW BLADES The mechanic’s tool kit may now be pro- vided with a little appliance the use of which makes possible the continued serv- ice of broken hacksaw blades. It con- sists of two pieces of steel: the first a frame that takes the place of the miss- ing blade end; the second a sliding, ser- rated check that engages with the teeth oi the broken blade. To employ the saw-

blade “saver,” it is slipped upon the broken end. The check is then pushed into contact with the blade teeth, and the saw is again ready for use.

<—~ ngs enn nner ene reer ene etree += When Slipped upon the Saw Blade, the Appliance Grips It in the Manner Illustrated

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SOME NOVEL AND LITTLE-KNOWN ACCESSORIES This Folding - Handle Frying Pan is Meant for the Camper or Auto Tourist. The Change from Folded to Extend- ed Position Is Almost Instantaneous This Electric Blower will Quickly Cool or Warm the Air in a Small Room. One Switch Controls the Motor-Driven Fan; a Second, the Fan and Heating Coils To- 3 gether Regulated bythe Foot Rheostat,and Rotated by the Little Motor, This Brush Removes the Dust in Quick Time This New Market Bas- ket Defies Custom by Beingas Deep as It Is Long. It Holds More than the Old-Style Con- line “Den” or Bedroom tainer, and is Far More Easily Carried in a d This Little Electric Candle- stick Is Also an Ash Tray. The Combination Recom- mends Itself for the Mascu- Crow Mountedon AnySmall Plate by Means of Its Three Flexible Legs, ones ee The Candle Socket Match-Box Container ——- het ag os Vip on the Right is Fixed to the Cap Transforms se, ine S the Crank is Turned and the by Putting It ia Place and ee = Paring Knives Revolve. The Fwisting. The Cylinder has Raléhe ave Cameeaio’ Gem been Removed, at the Left, to View by the Metal Disk Show the Socket Shelland Switch ‘ =~ = - 114

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INTENDED FOR THE HOME AND ITS MEMBERS Held between the Lea- ther-Faced Jaws of This Diminutive Sharpener, the Safety-Razor Blade is Withdrawn Five or Six Times, and So Sharpened The Reading Table is Lent an Air of Distinc- tion by These Graceful Electric.Lamps. They are Incorporated with the Book Ends, and Use Bulbs of Standard Size a P The Hook, Shown in Detail above the Tub, is Clamped to the Edge of the Tub When the Clothes are to be Wrung Dry. The Wet Arti- cles are Looped around the Hook and Twisted by the Laundress This New Mouse trap, Shown Closed Above, and Open Below, Is Les Mussy than the Or- dinary Apparatus. The Trigger is Seen between the Two Jaws, Below The Movable Reflec- tor on This Slender Oil Lamp Makes It Valuable as a Spot- light in the Rural or Suburban Home a At & ‘ Using the Combination Ball and Tee, Below, the DiffidentGolfer may Practice His Swing in the Privacy of His Bed- room. Hollow, and Made of the Softest Rubber, the Object will Damage Nothing Fastened to the Hand by a Strap and Three Metal Finger Pieces, the New Potato-Peeling Knife is Used Much like a Safety Razor. The Second Blade is Used, as Above, to Dig Out the Eyes Instead of Shaking This Salt Cellar, One Simply Presses the Plunger at the Top. Salt Then Falls in Regulated Flow from the Perforations in the Bottom

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114 116 TILTING FLAPS ARE PLAYERS IN PARLOR FOOTBALL GAME A new indoor game, now enjoying a vogue in England, is called “finger foot- POPULAR MECHANICS COMPOSITION AIR PROPELLER PUT TO SEVERE TEST No test can be imagined more severe than that applied recently, quite by acci- With the Ball in the Middle of the Playing Field, the Players are Waiting The Semicircular Flaps will Tilt Up and Propel the Ball as the Proper Keys are Pressed the Referee’s Whistle. ball.” It is played on a special table top, 5 ft. 6 in. or 7 ft. 2 in. long, and 2 ft. 8 in. wide. This surface is composed chiefly of 13 disks, each of which is divided and hinged along a diameter. The 26 semi- disks, or flaps, are tilted by piano keys, arranged, keyboard-fashion, 13 at one end and 13 at the other. To play the game, the two contestants decide on a time limit, and select a referee. This official places a rubber ball in the center of the central disk, and the game starts. Each player, by rapid depression of the keys, attempts to hit the ball with one and tHen another of the tipping flaps, and so propels it toward the opponent's goal. The goals are formed by the terminal uprights of the net that* borders the play- ing “field.” TRIPOD MADE OF PIPING AIDS IN SETTING MACHINERY In locations where no overhead attach- ment of block and tackle is possible, work- men sometimes labor awkwardly for a considerable time to set machinery, man- hole covers, or other heavy objects in place. An English engineer has simpli- fied the process by designing a tripod of iron pipe, 4 to 8-in. size, the three legs fastened together by large -U-bolts through holes drilled in the pipe coup- lings. The pulley block is swung from the junction point, and the tripod is readily adjusted over any desired location. - dent, to one of the new, composition airplane propellers described last December by this maga- zine. Bolling Field, near Washington, D. C., was the scene of the in- structive mishap. Com- pleting a cross-country flight, a DH-4 touched its wheels to the boggy mud which covered one part of the field. It nosed over immediately — be- fore the pilot had time to cut out the engine, in fact. The _ propeller churned the soft ground for an instant, then, somehow, threw the plane back into position. \ wooden prop would have been broken into toothpicks. The composition prop was not even chipped. ELECTRIC DOORBELL GIVES THREE DIFFERENT TONES Three different signal tones from an electric bell of ordinary appearance, call- ing the householder to the front, the rear, or the side door with unerring precision, are now made possible by the ingenious device of an Ohio manufacturer. The two electromagnetic coils of the bell have separate armatures, one of which carries the bell clapper, while the other consti- TO HO V.A.C.CIRCUIT Oo FRONT DOOR SIDEDOOR REAR DOOR (RING) (BUZZ) (RING- BUZZ) Left, Connection Diagram of the Bell, Transformer, and Three Push Buttons. Right, the Three-Tone Bell Itself

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Bes eer oo Someta eye: DER rk we a ae POPULAR MECHANICS 117 tutes a buzzer. Four binding posts are provided for connecting the bell to three push buttons and a bell-ringing trans- former. The bell itself gives one sig- nal tone, the buzzer another, and the two combined give the third tone. A special model is also made for battery use. MOTOR SPEED VARIES MIXTURE PRODUCED BY CARBURETOR As engine speed increases, an ingenious carburetor, recently devised by an Eng- lish inventor, automatically reduces the richness of the mixture. For this pur- pose is employed a floating tube, inclosed in the mixing chamber, and held down, when the motor is stationary, by a spiral spring. In this position the tube allows only a small volume of air to enter the chamber. Consequently, when started, the engine draws a large quantity of fuel through the spraying nozzle, and a very rich mixture is produced. As the engine gains momentum, the tube is sucked up- ward, and, as it rises, admits an increas- 4 * THE MOTOR Yc.ue LONDON The Choke Is in Starting Position, at the Left. It has been Sucked Up, in the Middle, to Normal Run- ning Position. At the Right It is Lifted Fully ing amount of air, with the result that i comparatively small quantity of fuel is drawn through the nozzle, and the mix- ture loses its richness. CANVAS WATER TANK PREVENTS ROTTING OF FODDER IN SILO The rotting and molding of fodder in the top of the silo, accepted as inevitable by the average farmer, can now be pre- vented by the use of a patented water seal. This is simply a tank of canvas. which has been waterproofed with as- phalt, and which measures about two feet high and three inches wider than the silo interior. When the ensilage is all in place and leveled off, this canvas tank is spread upon the top. The sides are raised, and are kept erect before filling by wooden strips which are stuck into the fodder, and are tied to the tank by twine through eyes along the edge. Water is As the Windmill Raises Water to the Top of the Silo, the Canvas Tank Grows Heavy, Packs the Fodder, and Makes Air Tight Contact with the Walls then pumped into the tank by the wind- mill, engine pump, or other means. As the tank grows heavy, it settles down upon the fodder, packing it, and sealing the top so that air cannot enter to pre- vent the fermentation, or curing, of the top layer. PATENTED METAL-BOUND BOXES ARE STRONG AND LIGHT The search for a strong, lightweight box has led the owners of many southern cotton mills to the use of a metal-bound container of recent patent. These boxes come to the mills in knockdown form. They are assembled by attaching the thin “filling” pieces to stout cleats by means of wire stitches. The cleats are matched, and are notched at the ends for the metal strips which hold them together. Nails The Patented, Metal-Bound Box is Shown, at the Left, as Used. At the Right It is Seen in the Process of Construction used in this operation are so small that the cleats are seldom split, and the boxes, consequently, can be reused many times at a small cost for reassembling.

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EVERY HOME A GARDEN OF EDEN By DAVID LANSON HE rapidly increasing number of home owners and the widespread in- terest in making the most not only of the home but of its surroundings makes it imperative that people be furnished with practical help. Every home can be made a beautiful land- are the bush fruits: red currants, goose- berries, raspberries, blackberries, one cherry tree, and one crabapple tree. Around my kitchen porch I have a bor- der of the varying shades of purple iris. At the extreme rear of the lot, shutting off the alley, is a

scape and a minia- ALLEY screen of tall Per- ture farm. — > ~ ———— sian lilacs and mock It is generally PERSIAN LILAC MOCK ORANGE + PERSIAN LUAC orange. Just inside thought that there Beast a j these lilacs and on is little use trying = GRASS WALK ab either side of the to make anything g )\ &k : yard inside the bush of a small city lot & F i q 42% fruits runs a 3-ft. 50 by 100 ft. It is RY a e €} grass walk which : rs O10|3/4 % ) S | , sii . my purpose to show Eka [Re = q| }- incloses the vege- what can be done CeY ISOC ~ S au table garden. with even so small a my Seisie 3 MN tr} ke This leaves my lot. My home is sit- S Riki €) Ebey kitchen garden 32 uated on a lot this FHL ; $4 ft. across the lot and size. It is 30 ft. wide “\ S} 25 ft. deep. My and 38 ft. deep and Aaa: sf &§ rows run the short stands 20 ft. from & XS “ $q way of the garden, the sidewalk. N 5] making them 25 ft. Across the front S % ~ long. At the left of the lawn and on 2 Sy end of the garden I either side to the wu Sy have two rows of line of the house I Q fe zs tomatoes staked, have an Amur which are fol- privet hedge which Ne wOuUsEe lowed by black- is hardy and there- Perkine Possibilities for Cultivation of Flowers, Ornamental Doroth y Perkin Shrubbery, Fruits, and Truck Produce roses climb to the roof. The rose gives the midsummer flower effect, and the woodbine furnishes the most beautiful and varied fall foliage. Planted around my porch I have two rows of shrubs: tall high-bush cranber- ries in the rear and dwarf hydrangeas in front. In the early spring the tall Darwin _and cottage tulips come up against this background of green. And when these tulips are gone I plant the border with an annual such as sweet alyssum or petunia, and these bloom until frost. Continuing where the hedge leaves off 118 is a row of rhubarb. The rhubarb takes up a little more than 3 ft. This leaves an average of 2 ft. between the rows, which is ample space for cultivation and full de- velopment of the plants. This garden supplies us—a family of five—with fresh vegetables and fruit throughout the sea- son, and it is not uncommon for us to prepare jellies and vegetables for winter use. I consider that the importance of my garden cannot be overemphasized. The only permanent and real solution of the high cost of food is to increase the pro-

a

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* Cg ee ee orn POPULAR duction of food. The shortage of labor and its high cost diminishes the acreage devoted to food production, and this nec- essarily increases the cost of food. The way out of this vicious circle is for every family, in so far as it is possible, to become independent by producing its own food. Aside from the delight which I have in the beauty of my grounds and the satis- faction of picking fresh vegetables at my kitchen door, I cannot estimate the bene- fit which I derive from the outdoor rec- reation which it affords me and all my family. This may be the experience of every man who interests himself inten- sively in making his home a “Garden of Eden.” ARM-LENGTH GLOVES PROTECT CLOTHING OF AUTOISTS Many an autoist’s coat sleeve or shirt cuff is ruined because he will not trouble to put on a full suit of overalls for a little handwork. Now overalls for the arms alone are provided by an Indiana concern, in the shape of arm-length The Canvas Glove Extends to the Autoist’s Shoulder, Protecting His Clothing While Making Repairs gloves made of khaki canvas, oil and grease-proof. They slip easily over the sleeve, and amply protect the wearer's clothing. MOVIE CAMERA SPEEDED UP BY SMALL GEAR BOX Increasing the speed of a motion- picture camera not only multiplies the number of exposures per second, but shortens each exposure. In making close-up studies of the wear on shoes, and similar work, a government operator found the ordinary rate of 16 pictures a second entirely too slow, the relatively long exposures blurring the image. So he devised an attachment to fit any standard camera, by which the operation is readily speeded up to as high as 128 pictures a second. It is simply a small gear box screwed to the camera, having two mul- tiplying gears turned by the usual crank, and a pinion fixed to the camera shaft, MECHANICS 119 which projects to permit the ordinary drive to be used without removing the attachment. This and the British govern- + DH FOR PICTURES A’ THE RATE OF ifs PER SECON cme? MANODLE SHAFT FOR PICTURES AT THE RATE OF 16 PER SECOND The Gear Box is Mounted on the Camera as at the Left, the End View at the Right Showing Its Gears ments both used it during the war. The patent is released to the public for free and unrestricted use. STARS STRUNG ON RODS KEEP CATTLE OFF RIGHT OF WAY A cattle guard of a new sort is now being tried out at several rural crossings along a western railroad. Each guard consists of nine iron rods which are held parallel with the rails by plates bolted to the ties. Along each rod is strung a num- ber of iron stars. These cannot move back and forth, but are free to revolve. Unfailingly, cattle retreat from the guard The Stars Strung along the Rods of This New Cattle Guard will Revolve beneath the Weight of the Cow, and So Frighten It Away when the first tentative step causes one or more of the stars to revolve and prick the foot.

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118 CHILDREN’S PICTURE-STORY DEPARTMENT As This Little Roller Coaster Meas- ys | ures Less than Four Feet Long, ey | It can be Transferred, during 7 — Rainy Weather, from the Yard to bee | the — It may be Collapsed, y Ges Shown, for Storage in the Closet Though This Polish Boy Is Only ) € Eight Years Old, He Recently Outwitted Simultaneously 20 of Germany's Best Chess Players He has Given Many Exhibitions during the Last Three Years i. a a . 2 Te The “Mother” of a | Large Family of Dolls | will Find This Piece of Toy Furniture a Fascinating Conven- ience. It QOscillates Slowly for 20 Minutes After the Spring has been Tightened by | Means of the Crank A \ “The Smallest Human | Being in Existence” | Doctors Called This Baby at Her Birth. SheWeighed Just Halfa Pound. When This Photograph was Taken, Seven Weeks , Later, the Young Miss | had Gained a Pound, but Still Was Small Enough to Curl Up inside an | Easter Egg. Her Doll is Seen at the Left eS jC “3 cot 2 = , \ > WiDE WORLD PROTO Se

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| | OF MODERN ACTIVITIES AND INTERESTS fe ? —., Skis Take the Place of Runners on This New, Steerable Sled. As They will Slide over the Merest Film of Snow, This Sled : can be Enjoyed When Others | Are Altogether Useless ; | , Gone are the Days of the “Big Circus in the Barn; Admission Five Pins.’ The / Modern Youngster Entertains His Audi- Ls ence with This Electric Motion-Picture a "4 Projector. The ‘‘Regular’’ Tickets are yf Supplied by the Maker of the Machine | T = = The Car at the Left Puzzles and Delights the Small Boy Because It Is in Running Position No Matte How It is Thrown to the Floor This is Made Possible by the Prov sion of EightInstead of Four Wheels {This Graceful Phonograph Cabinet Is the Work of the Manual-Training Class at the Giens Falls, New York, High School. The Motor-Driven Phonograph is Concealed 4 beneath the Table Top at the Left. Records are Kept in the Drawer and in the Two Racks

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lee POPULAR AUTO BATTERY GAUGE GIVES WARNING IN PLAIN WORDS The average automobile owner is not an electrical expert, and a new form of battery gauge for the dash takes cognizance of that fact. It is an accurate voltmeter, but instead of confining its read- ings to figures, it tells also in plain words whether the battery is in good, doubtful, or dangerous condition. The dial is marked in three divi- sions, labeled “empty,” “danger, low,” and “full.” When the needle creeps from the right into the center division, the owner is warned to “recharge or repair at once.” The left division in- o) WAT INDICATOR — ” WiDE WORLD PROTO MECHANICS miles south of Halifax, or about due east from Boston, Mass. The propelling equip- ment had been rendered useless in the course of a violent storm. ‘The ship’s dy- namos were put out of commission, it may be remembered, early in the Struggle with the gale. The storage batteries held out until wireless calls brought passing vessels to the rescue. Then they played out, too, leaving the ship without electric current. Yet nighttime communication with the relief ships, kept at a dis- BEFORE tance by the still furious storm, was vitally neces- sary. As darkness fell, the captain of the “Powhatan” solved the problem. He se- cured several flashlights from dicates that “starter can’t be pial of the Auto Battery his cabin, and dealt them out used. Gauge That,Gives the Driver ELECTRIC FLASHLIGHT HELPS IN RESCUE OF NAVY SHIP The humble electric flashlight, it has recently been disclosed, played an all-im- portant part in the recent dramatic relief of the U. S. transport “Powhatan,” 200 Waning of Coming Trouble to’ the signalmen on the bridge. Flashlights in hand, these sailors were able to communicate in Morse code to the ships on either side. They were answered in similar fashion. @ An airplane, manned by a crew of four, will patrol the coast of Newfoundland this summer in search of seals. WIRELESS SET FOR LIFEBOATS ADDS TO SAFETY AT SEA However well-equipped with wireless a ship may be, an accident that results in its sinking puts an end to its distress sig- nals, and may not even allow time to begin them, leaving its hurriedly manned lifeboats without any means of com- munication with each other or with a rescue ship. An eastern inventor has designed a simple and compact radio sys- Sectional View Showing Location of Wireless Outfit in_the Stern of a Lifeboat, the Floating Antenna Cable being Payed Out Behind tem intended as permanent equipment for one or more lifeboats on each vessel. The wireless apparatus, used for both tele- graphing and telephoning, is inclosed in a water-tight box at the stern, and grounded through a metal plate on the bottom of the boat. To shut out ex- traneous sounds and add to the sensi- tiveness of\ the set, the operator is equipped with a helmet containing the telephone receivers. For code signaling, a telegraph key is used. The antenna consists of a special cable wound on an insulated drum at the stern. The metal as _ core of the cable is in- closed in insuiation, and then covered with a buoyant material, so that when it is payed out it floats on the sea. By ad- justing the length payed out to sending condi- tions, the set is usable over a_ considerable range. In the boat it oc- cupies only space ordi- narily wasted. — en PRA ae orale

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es oak —— i ‘ i HN bf | ) | ye Intormation as to where to obtamm any specinea materials or parts for making objects described in the following pages may be had, on request, from our Bureau of Information.—Editor. Water-Spray Air Cooler for the Shop ~ By HE problem of keeping the tempera- ture of a small shop at working level during the summer months is not diff- cult to solve with materials usually at hand. A little planning, and a few hours’ work, will suffice to provide an air cooler that will make work pleasant and more efficient, even in an upper room under a tin roof. The expense should not be pro- hibitive, for the device is simple, and can be made right in the shop. Evaporation of water, by passing a cur- rent of air through a fine spray, furnishes the cooling principle of the device. The air current is obtained by placing an elec- tric fan in an air duct extending from an opening in the wall, or a window, to a point about midway of one wall, near the ceiling. This directs the cooled air to a point whence it circulates downward, and outward, thus changing the temperature of the whole shop. For a small shop, an air shaft, 2 ft. square, will suffice. It should be made of galvanized iron, light-gauge sheet being satisfactory if the air duct is supported STRAP-IRON HANGERS | \g S t —NaiR OUTLET __!) x \ CONDENSED - = s \ SPRAY RETURN | ta f . \_GALVANIZED-NETTING Li = = i SPRAY NOZZLE \wwaTeER TANK - SWITCH TO START FAN J. HORACE VAN NICe properly. The length of the duct, and the position of the opening, will depend on the size and shape of the shop. In any case, direct the opening out into the room, and not downward. Support the air duct by bending strap-iron bands around it, screwing the ends of the bands to the ceiling. Two types of water spray may be used, either of which is efficient. The simplest method is to place a hose nozzle about 1 ft. in front of the place provided for the fan. The nozzle must be regulated to give a very fine spray when the water is turned on full force. This nozzle is then connected to the shop water supply by either pipe or hose, with a valve for closing the line. The second method, il- lustrated in the detail drawing, is perhaps a little more efficient, especially for the larger cooling systems, and is almost nec essary where a pressure water supply is not avaijlable. This second type of sprayer is really an atomizer, operated from a water tank and from the shop compressed-air supply. The air is sup- | = | | | SCREENS . | \ cue - _/S & PIPE SJ NOZZLE WATER TANK COMPRESSED-AIR PIPE DETAIL OF SPRAY CONNECTION PETES Ten | — — j| Pipe) | ===> WATER PIPE -=| \| : \ l | | Pee | — 7 ee AIR OUTLET PLAN OF AIR SHAFT The Shop Which Has Electric Current need Not Be without Means of Providing Cool, Moist Air. In This Arrangement, the Cooling Power of the Fan is Supplemented by the Effect of Evaporation of ater, Resalting in a Supply, at Low Cost, of Comfortable Air for Hot-Weather Work

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eas eas “een Vw”? toa a Eee 121 POPULAR MECHANICS plied to a nozzle in the air duct, placed as directed above. The water tank is connected to this nozzle by a %-in. pipe, which enters the tee connection, and is flattened out slightly in the nozzle itself. When the air is turned on, it creates a vacuum in the water pipe, which draws water from the tank to the nozzle. It is then blown out in an exceedingly fine spray. This is in turn blown down the shaft by the current from an electric fan, placed about a foot from the nozzle. The air evaporates the water, and the current emitted at the outlet will be many degrees cooler than the air sucked in from the window, or other opening. An ordinary 12 or 16-in. electric fan is Cool Water for Farm Workers A jug that will keep water cool and fresh all day long in hot weather will be particularly appreciated by farm workers away from. their usual water supply. A leather carry- ing strap is first put through the jug handle. From burlap, or other coarse material, a bag such as shown in the drawing is dsawoust} Made; the bottom FILLING | is made to fit the jug, and the upper part is larger and longer. Ship the jug into the bot- tom part, and tie it tightly around the neck with a piece of stout cord, taking care that the strap is on the outside. The larger part of the bag is then turned down over the jug, and filled with tightly packed sawdust. After the sawdust filling has been put in, the bag is tied at the bottom of the jug. To use this outfit, the jug is filled with cold water, and enough cold water is poured over the sawdust to keep it wet—Warner H. Ellis, Mt. Vernon, Illinois. STRING Thumb Tacks Easily Removed To remove an ordinary thumb tack with the finger nails is a painful process. Those draftsmen who prefer to use the finger nails, rather than keep handy a metal tool for the purpose, may avoid much of the discomfort by. making two cuts toward the center on each side of the tack. The strips of metal between two pairs of cuts sufficient for the small system described here. For a large shop, a regular ven- tilating fan should be used, and the size of the shaft increased. Two screens of galvanized-wire netting, placed about 2 ft. apart in the air shaft, will aid in breaking up the spray, and thus in cooling the air current. Whether the ordinary nozzle spray, or the compressed-air spray is used, the duct should slope slightly toward the air out- let, to allow the spray to collect, and to drain off. In the case of the compressed- air spray, the condensed water is re- turned to the tank for re-use. If water is used under pressure, the drain pipe should lead outside the building. should be bent up slightly, and they will thus form tabs by which the thumb tack can easily be pulled out. If round-head thumb tacks are used, the tabs need not stand any higher from the paper than the center of the tack head, and will still give room for inserting the thumb nail under- neath—L. B. Robbins, Harwich, Mass. Restoring a Micrometer to Accuracy Micrometers usually wear out at the face of the anvil and the spindle; that is, these parts lose their accuracy before the thread in the handle wears loose. All good micrometers are provided with an adjusting screw to take up wear on the faces, but without a_ true File, “ne plane to start from, one can ©: | never be sure of \ \—"/ having plane sur- — faces. To provide a true plane on the end of the spindle, I made a fixture, as illustrated, to fit over the spindle. The broad face of the fixture should be faced off exactly perpendicular tc the hole, which should be made a tight sliding fit on the spindle—ordinarily .250 in. The center of this circular broad face is under- cut, and the hole ts tapped for a short dis- tance, so as to insert a plug. Then; mounting the fixture on the spindle as shown, a cast-iron lap is laid on the broad face, and used to true off the surface of the anvil. The lap may be about 14 by 1 by 4 in. in size, and should be charged with diamond dust or emery powder, on one ADJUSTING SCREW BROAD FACE— HOLE .250” DIAM ; 4 a

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SS a ee = ee ‘Water, Resalting in a Supply, at Low Cost, of Comfortable Air for Hot-Weather Work POPULAR MECHANICS 125 side only. A drop of oil is placed on the other side to keep the broad face from wearing away, and to provide easy slid- ing. After the anvil is lapped true in this way, it is not difficult to lap the spindle true against the anvil. The ad- justing screw is then taken up to provide a correct zero reading.—Carl H. Spatz, Nutley, N. J. Clip for Hanging Prints A quick-acting clip for hanging up blue- prints or photo prints is shown in the ania: _-— HOLE FOR S k etc h ° These |! | Dy x Mie \ sTRincina clips can be made 9% IX \ curs HAA ETT up rapidly in pat- aap terns shaped by \\ To reese «4SAWing a thick = PRESS> block on a band- “a saw to the proper = outline, and then slicing off pieces : y about %4 in. thick. {—t i The main advan- 1} J\\ 6 tage of such a 1—~L | clip is that the cups’ 4—L paper can be very quickly removed; to insert it, merely press up on the tongue between the prongs of the larger piece—G. A. Luers, Washington, D. C. ‘ BLUEPRINTS d OR PHOTO PRINTS Fruit Press Made from a Jack \ lot of fruit was left on my hands, I and could not be shipped, so I wished to yuICcé | had AUTO 2°K4 | no press, but found an ole automobile jack. which |] used to build a press, as follows: I pla ced _ the jack on top ot an old wood- en box. The top was cut so as tO move up and down inside of the box and a heavy wood trame was built to take the pressure from the top of the jack. The press was then filled with fruit, the jack was operated as usual, and the juice caught as it flowed out of an opening at the bottom of the box into a pan pre- pared for it—J. Nolan, Oakley, Calif. Reinforcing Boiler Tubes The point where steam boiler tubes first begin to leak on account of rust and exposure is near the boiler head, where Boiler Tubes Repaired by Driving In Short Pieces of Pipe have Given Service without Trouble for Over One Year they are beaded over it. The illustration shows a repairman reinforcing the ends of several tubes that had begun to leak. A piece of steam pipe, 1 ft. long, the out side diameter of which was. slightly greater than the inside diameter .of the flues, was dri l ‘ ven into the protruding end of each tube, and crimped over it. These pipe cuttings were tight enough to be a drive fit, and strengthened considerabl) the defective tube ends. \ maximum iressure of steam has been held on the boiler ever since the rep was made, and bl no blow-outs have occurred. Trousers Holder for Stencil To prevent slipping of stencils whil being used, and daubing of ink on the fin gers, clip the end of the stencil in a ordinary trousers holder, using the hool on the holder for a handle. If neces the holder can be made to grip mor strongly by bending the wires slightl 1 or by gluing strips of pasteboard to jaws.—Archie Klingbeil, Ashtabula, Ohio €A novel swing for the youngster is made by suspending an old automobil tire casing, by a rope, from a tree ort other support. The child sits in_ the hanging tire, which affords a comfort able seat.

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Phas UF MMICtal DELWEOET CWO PdallsS OF CULS GIaA@IMONU UUSst UL CiIety PUWUCT, Oll OF 126 POPULAR MEGHANICS Detachable Boom Converts Pile Driver into Derrick The photographs show how a pile driver in a Pacific-coast city was fitted up to be used as a crane for moving piles, preparatory to driving them. In the large aN a When the Boom is Not in Use, It is Tied Fast to the Pile Driver, in Such a Manner That It does Not Interfere with the Operation of the Hammer photograph a pile is being lifted by a boom, merely set into the framework. This method of attaching it was found to be tedious, and the improved method afterward installed consisted, as shown in the small photograph, in attaching the bottom of the boom directly to the ham- mer, or ram, by a metal fitting. The fitting permits a rotating movement, so that the derrick is given a wider range of operation. When the lifting work is done, and piles are to be driven, the boom is removed from the hammer by detaching the nut from the heavy bolt, which fits into a heavy metal pin, fastened through the hammer. The boom, loos- ened from the hammer, is attached to the side of the runners by means of a rope, until it is again needed. The arrange- ment has greatly increased the usefulness of the pile driver to which it was applied. —C. W. Geiger, San Francisco, Calif. Safety First with a Scythe The scythe, either of the grass or brush type, is a heavy unwieldy instrument and should be handled caretully if accidents from its long sharp blade are to be avoided. There is no better way of carrying a scythe than that employed before the advent of the mowing machine and binder, when the scythe was the universal tool for harvesting crops. The handles

of a scythe snath which are grasped by the hands when cutting grass, are termed “nibs.” To carry a scythe safely, the right arm is crooked around the second or lower nib, which rests in the crook of the elbow, the hand holding the snath sev- eral inches higher. The blade of the sevthe is behind the man and to his right, with the sharp edge about parallel with the ground and facing to the front. Thus held the likelihood of accident is reduced. Old-time farmers had one or two other scythe rules worth knowing. It was’an unpardonable error to leave a scythe on the ground unless the blade was run under the grass and well covered. The proper thing to do, unless there was spe- cial reason for different practice, was to hang the scythe in a tree where it could be seen.—John T. Bartlett, Boulder, Colo, Powder Can for Draftsman’s Use In stea d of FELT WASHER au v0 yo - sprinkling powder \- nou

on tracing cloth, and rubbing it in afterward with a rag, it will save time to glue a large felt washer to the lid -of the powder can; the powder is then spread around as it is sprinkled, thus saving som valuable time.

Catching Telephone-Wire Thieves Because of the high prices paid for junk copper, thieves found that they could make “easy money” by going into the country at night and cutting down miles of copper telephone wire. We were almost frantic; the cost of the copper was a small item compared with the labor

LOCAL OFFICE LINE : DISTANT OFFICE TO TELEPHONE i= 2-MICROFARAD | TO TELEPHONE APPARATUS, | CONDENSERS = APPARATUS ae £* 4 === 500-OHM IMPEDANCE. COIL?

ipl pl gt INF ~48-VOLT BATTERY a ‘ si 4-vour BATTERY 1000 -OHM RELAY, ARRANGED TC OPEN CIRCUIT . WHEN ENERGIZED LOCAL CIRCUIT An Alarm Circuit Operates over Telephone Wires without Interfering with the High-Frequency, Sound-Producing Currents ln

: : : - : 5 : &

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pared for it.—-J. NOlan, Vakiey, Cali, POPULAR of replacing it, and the loss of traffic. The toll lines radiated from our exchange in different directions, so that we never knew’ what lead to watch, as the depredations occurred first on one and then another. Finally we equipped one circuit on each lead as shown in the diagram, and about two nights later, with prompt assistance and a fast automobile, we caught the thieves “with the goods on.” The circuit is explained as follows: The current used for telephone trans- mission is alternating and of high fre- quency, so we placed a condenser on each end of the line, as shown. These allowed the alternating voice currents to pass easily, so that the alarm system would not interfere with the use of the line, but they kept the direct current, used to op- erate the alarm, from entering the tele- phone apparatus. Impedance coils were cut in, as shown, to keep the telephonic currents out of the alarm system. The relay winding, impedance coils, and line wires composed a loop which kept the relay armature pulled up to the core as long as the circuit was closed. As soon as one of the line wires was cut, the re- lay armature dropped back, closing a local circuit and ringing the alarm bell.—C. M. Crouch, Minneapolis, Minn, Steam Valve in Pot Lid The butterfly valve illustrated will serve to retain just the right amount of steam in a vessel in which food is be- — ing boiled. A OPEWED center hole and two large holes are cut in the pot L de wou lid, and the valve, CUT IN made of .heavy —_ galvanized sheet iron or of sheet aluminum, is at- tached to the handle by a screw and nut. ty oa slight twist to the left or right, the large holes in the cover may be covered, or opened to any desired point. SECTION Mixing Paints with an Egg Beater In mixing paints which are so old that it is difficult to get a good paint, an ordi- nary rotating egg beater is an effective tool to use. Not only will it cut up all the lumps, but it will also clean out all particles of paint skin—Samuel Ridlon. Cumberland Center, Maine. MECHANICS able seat. Folding Automobile Runway In cases where it is inconvenient to construct a permanent sloping driveway from the street to the sidewalk level, the — 80° Folding Automobile Runway will Serve In- 48] 1 > | gke"rar A xe) ‘ON OETAIL OF HINGE stead of a Permanent Inclined Drive folding runway illustrated can be utilized. Cypress or yellow-pine boards are suit- able for the inclines. The latter are joined together by crossed iron bars, as indicated, and attached to bent hinges, the opposite ends of which are buried in the ground next to the curb. The free ends of the boards are beveled on the underside. When not needed, the run- way can be folded back to leave the gut- ter unobstructed. If the device is to be used by heavy trucks, it should be made stronger.—P. P. Avery, Garfield, N. J. Fiber Pliers for Electricians A pair of fiber pliers will be found very convenient for extracting cartridge fuses, especially when the switch or cut-out is mounted in the usual sheet-iron FIBER box. They are \ o A also very useful in other instances, as they protect the workman from shock when work- ing with high- tension circuits. An ordinary pair of combination pliers can be taken apart, and the two pieces used as templates for sawing out the two parts for the fiber pliers. The fiber stock should be not less than “6 in. thick. When fitted together, the fiber parts are drilled for a rivet—Frank W. Gross, San Antonio, Tex. RIVET ) J ‘a MADE TO FIT CARTRIDGE FUSE.

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i28 POPULAR Rear of Covered Auto Forms Bed for Camping The system of camping by automobile shown in the drawing has many of the ROPE OR wirE ) ( CANVAS COVER ff ly, The Back of a Closed Car Used for Touring can be Made to Open Out So as to Forma Jery Com- fortable Open-Air Sleeping Compartment advantages to be obtained by using a trailer, without the trailer’s disadvantages. Unlike the trailer, it is not found covered with dust after a hard day’s travel, yet it is comfortable and roomy. A light truck body is mounted on the automobile chassis. A spacious hinged back swings down to form a sleeping porch, which is made secure by chains. Upon the inside surface of this top is built a shallow box: the forward end of it opens out flat, and the top side swings up to form the back end of the sleeping compartment. A canvas cover can be at- tached, as shown, preferably with auto- mobile-curtain fasteners. Bedding is laid cut on the hinged floor, extending some little distance into the body of the car. In the morning the bedding is quickly put away in the flat box, and the whole rear compartment is readily folded up into the body under the roof of the car body. —F. F. McClintock, New York, N. Y. Protecting Faucet on Gasoline Pump At a gasoline-filling station some trou- ble was experienced from ice collect- ing on the end of the gasoline hose. This caused water to drop into the gasoline tank of the car. The proprietor reme- died the situation by cutting a notch in the lower edge of the pump door, so that, in bad weather, he could run the hose through it, and keep the faucet end entirely within the pump casing.—R. H. Smith, Belleville, N. J. MECHANICS Ship Provided with Boiler Water While at Sea Some trouble had been experienced with the evaporator on a_ passenger steamer plying in tropical waters, and the expense of making fresh water for the boilers was heavy. At the time, this ves- sel was passing through an area of un- usual rainfall and it was decided to en- deavor to fill the ship’s tanks with rain water. All scuppers in the midship deck, with the exception of the two drains at the after end, were blocked. Consequent- ly, all water falling on this deck ran into the drains aft. To these drains fire hose was attached, extending through the en- gine room into the hot-well tank. A strainer was provided to prevent entrance of foreign matter into the tank. From 50 to 70 tons of fine boiler feed water were obtained in this manner, and had the plan been adopted sooner, the vessel would have had full tanks at all times.— Edward F. O'Connor, Clinton, Mass. The Pocketknife as a Planimeter The planimeter, which is used by engi- neers and mechanics to measure irregu- lar areas, is quite an expensive instru- ment. Few people are aware that almost the same results can be obtained with an ordinary two-biaded pocketknife. To measure an area with the knife, proceed as follows: First, draw on paper a square of ex- actly 1 or 2-in. length of side, and open the large blade of the jackknife, which should be quite sharp for best results. The smaller blade is opened halfway, so as to be at right angles to the handle and large blade. The end of the small blade is then grasped between the thumb and POINTS FIRST nae J — ; ‘TITT | | a 10 1s / SQUARE INCHES 2o | GAUGE FOR MEASURING AREA ON ARC HOLD SMALL BLADE BETWEEN THUMB AND FOREFINGER ) The Mechanic or Draftsman need Not Invest a Small Fortune in a Planimeter, if He Has an Ordinary Two-Bladed Pocketknife ee) 1 RE te 6 wes

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POPULAR MECHANICS 129 forefinger of the right hand, and placed at the left-hand corner of the square, nearest the user. The rest of the knife should now be swung around like a com- pass on the point of the small blade as a center; the large blade will thus mark out an arc, distances along which are to rep- resent areas. Make a pencil mark across this arc, for the starting point of the large blade. Place the point of the small blade again at its starting point, and set the large blade at the point on the arc. Trace with the point of the small blade around the edges of the square, thus outlining an area of exactly 1 or 4 sq. in., accord- ing to the size of the square, as it has been drawn. When the blade point has been brought back to the starting place, make a mark at the point on the arc where the large blade rests. The distance from this point to the first point on the are represents 1 sq. in. of area, or 4 sq. in. if the 2-in. square is used, in which case the distance should be divided into four equal parts. Having found in this way the distance along the arc to represent 1 sq. in., suc- ceeding points, to mark off larger num- bers of square inches, can be found by going around the square again and again. Then proceed to measure any irregular area of reasonable size, in the same way. Start at a corresponding point on the outline of this area, moving around it in the same direction. On arriving at the starting point, measure the distance on the arc, which the large blade has trav- eled, and compare it with the distance which has been found to represent 1 sq. in. This measures the irregular area in square inches. It is easy to construct on a card a scale which, when laid on the arc, will enable the operator to read di- rectly the area in square inches. Such a scale will hold good for the same pocket- knife, whenever the small blade is opened to exactly the same point as in the test, or calibration. While absolutely accurate results are not to be expected with this instrument, it is surprising how closely the measure- ments will agree with those made by an expensive planimeter.—Frank L. Brittin, Chicago, Il. Handles for Carrying Saws Very often, around lumber mills and in the bush, a man has to carry a circular saw or long saw, which is not only an awkward load, but one likely to inflict ugly cuts if not handled carefully. By making a handle, such as the one shown in the drawing, any such saw may be car- ried with greater case and safety. The WOOD MANDLE Rx X16} IRON VAAN Y. at - NWI. AN ANU wii FOR CIRCULAR SAW FOR CROSSCUT saw A Simply Made Handle Diminishes the Danger of Torn Clothing and Injured Hands, Incident to Carrying Crosscut or Circular Saws clamp is readily attached or detached by tightening or loosening the wing nuts. When the handle is clamped to the end of a one-man saw, the latter may be used by two men, like an ordinary two-man cross- cut saw.—Neil D. Cameron, Athelstan, Quebec. Dust Protector for Burette To prevent dust from entering a bu- rette or other vertical tube in the labora- tory, and at the same time permit the liquid within it to flow freely, uninfluenced — by air pressure, the device illustrated is very practical, as it can be made in a few minutes from common materials. A single-holed rubber stopper is fitted with a piece of glass tubing worked into the form of a “T.”” In the downward-curved ends of the “T,” wads of glass wool are inserted, thus plugging the holes so that no air can enter except by filtering through thx glass wool. @A mirror, mounted at an angle on casters, allows the auto salesman to show his “prospect” the under part of the ma- chine.

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An Electric Induction Water Heater Bry ARTHMAN CAPRON

SHORT-CIRCUITING (7 FUSE

HOLES

i WATER TANK | As - ~ |

PRIMARY LEAD, l10- JS NOT Mains i

4 LAYERS ASBESTOS PAPER, ) \ PRIMARY, # 14 ENAMELD WIRE, 550 T THREAD BETWEEN TURNS, 1 THICKNESS |_ ASBESTOS PAPER BETWEEN LAYERS

MICANITE, 2LAVERS

Form a Heating Element, the Electrical ' Heat is Generated by This Transformer in the Metal of the Tubing through Which

the Water Flows =

Instead of Having Resistance Wire to |

Y experience with ordinary electric water heaters of the resistance type was unsatisfactory, as the wire burned out frequently and had to be replaced. This difficulty was solved by the use of a heater, homemade like the ones I had previously used, but employing no high- resistance material, and having practically nothing to burn out. In short, it is built on the principle of a welding transformer: The coil of copper tubing through which the water circulates also carries the cur- rent which heats the tubing and the water inside. This current, flowing in a circuit of such low resistance, depends on the production of a low voltage by induction, as in any ordinary transformer. The transformer core is of the shell type, having the windings around the cen- tral member. The instrument is mounted at the side of the water heater, and the water is piped from the bottom of the tank to the lower end of the coil of cop- per tubing. On emerging from the upper end of this coil it flows back into the tank, entering at the top, so that what- ever water is heated ready for use will remain for some time at the top of the tank, not mixing with the cold water below. The.coil of copper tubing, besides con- ducting the water, forms the secondary, or low-voltage, coil of the step-down transformer, developing about two volts. This amount is sufficient to send only a 130 small current through the coil of tubing when the circuit includes the water tank and the iron piping to and from it. When, however, the two ends of the tub- ing coil are short-circuited by connecting across them a piece of heavy fuse wire, the resistance of the secondary coil be- comes very low, and a heavy current flows through it, heating the tubing, and hence the water flowing through it. The short- circuiting conductor should be made of such a size of fuse wire that, should the system go dry or overheat, the fuse will blow, thus leaving only the circuit of higher resistance through the iron piping and tank, While a transformer of this type can- not be expected to attain a very high elec- trical efficiency, still the heat is trans- ferred very directly from the tubing in which it is developed to the water flow- ing through it. Hence, the heater wastes hardly more heat than one which is sub- merged in the water to be heated, and has the advantage of containing no resistarce element which is likely to burn out. The material required for building the induction heater is enumerated below, and the construction is shown in the draw- ing. The core may be made of any soft sheet iron, though best results can be ex- pected with high-quality transformer iron of the thickness given. The vertical pieces may be cut to length at the be- ginning of the work, but the horizontal

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Se een POPULAR pieces should be cut to length only after the coil has been built up, so that the shell will be just long enough to go around the coil, but no longer. All the sheet iron should be given a coat of japan varnish to reduce eddy-current losses. When the central member of the core has been built up of 14-in. sheets alter- nating with 10-in. ones, the insulation and primary winding are wound directly upon it. The four layers of asbestos paper out- side of the primary winding may be re- placed with two layers of micanite, if plenty of the latter material is available. When the core is ready for the layer of tubing, make a wooden mandrel of its exact shape, and just slightly larger; wind the coil of tubing upon this, and then transfer it to the core. The spaces in and around the copper tubing are filled with a paste made of a mixture of magnesia and plaster of Paris. This is worked in between the turns, to keep them from touching each other, and also covers the entire coil to a thickness of % in. When the coil has been completed, the core on which it is wound is set up and fitted into the trans- former, and the horizontal pieces are trimmed to a proper length so that the outer legs of the coil will fit around the coil without coming in contact with the plaster coating. The primary is connected in the ordi- nary way to wires carrying 110-volt al- ternating current, using a suitable switch so that the heat can be turned on and off as desired. A piece of heavy fuse wire or sheet lead should be connected across, MECHANICS 131 as in the drawing, and care should be taken that this makes good contact with both ends of the tube, as these junctions must be able to carry a high current with- out developing much heat. Some extra fuse wire must be provided and kept handy, so that if the transformer over- heats and blows the fuse, another can be mounted. This is not likely to happen, of course, unless the tank runs dry, or the heater is left on too long. A heavy clamp, as illustrated, will be necessary to pro- vide against damage by expansion. The heater described uses from 500 to 1,500 watts, depending chiefly on the re- sistance of the short-circuiting fuse. The tank is heated to the boiling point in about 15 minutes. MATERIAL REQUIRED 210 pieces of No. 29 gauge, soft iron, 2 by in. 210 pieces of No. 29 gauge, soft iron, 2 by 10 in. 140 pieces of No. 29 gauge, soft iron, about 12 in. 280 pieces of No. 29 gauge, soft iron, about 6 in. (The 6 and 12-in. strips to be cut after the coil is completed.) 7 Ib. No. 14 gauge enameled copper wire (5500 turns). 22 ft., %-in. outside diameter by No. 14 gauge (%e-in.) wall, annealed seamless brass or coppet tubing (10 turns), 2 union couplings, to fit %-in. tubing and size of water pipe used. 1 piece of micanite, .026 by 10 by 18 in. 1,200 ft. asbestos thread. 1 can japan varnish. 20 sq. ft. asbestos paper. 2 pieces of asbestos, 4% by 8 by 8 in. \% Ib. magnesia. 1 Ib. plaster of Paris. 1 piece of iron, 2% by % by about 9 in. 2 pieces of iron, %& by % by 2% in 4 bolts, 4% by 1% in. : e by 2 by A Finish for Plaster Casts Plaster casts, plaster ornaments, and even designs worked into the plastering of a room, quickly become dirty and un- sightly. A coat of shellac, then two coats or more of flat. white wall finish, and two of white enamel, renew their fine appear- ance at once. The great advantage is that the enamel can be washed. Corrugated Board as Pencil Holder A piece of ordinary single-faced corru- gated board, such as used for packing, is very effective in a tray or desk drawer for keeping lead pencils in order and pre- venting them from rattling. The corru- gated board is readily bent to conform to the curved tray or compartment, and is readily fastened with a little glue or mu- cilage.—Otto Kney, Chicago, IIl. Pliers Made from Clothespin A handy little pair of pliers, or tweezers, is easily made from an ordinary spring clothespin by re- versing the CLoTHEsPIN~, +> spring. The spring di is removed from worcn the clothespin and \ reversed, so that its ends will bear against the oppo- ZG site ‘ends of the clothespin and hold them together, notches being cut into the wood to furnish a seat for the spring. Such a pair of pliers is quite a convenience for picking up small ob- jects around the home or shop. ~ SPRING REVERSED @Old negatives are easily cleaned with warm water and sodium fluoride.

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A Gas Soldering Iron A gas soldering iron, which will elimi- nate the need of a gasoline blowtorch or ix pREDUCER BURNER TUBE, 3” IRON PIPE 4 AIR- INTAKE HOLES,§ "DRILL STEEL PLUG POPULAR MECHANICS has a short steel plug forced into one end, and then drilled through. The plugged end of the pipe is screwed into the reducer. A suitable wooden handle, bored through length- wise, should be forced over the feed pipe, and a small shut-off cock, screwed up against a washer, will hold it SHUT-OFF cocK firmly, in place. An- SAW OFF OLD HANDLE ee Es. = > — WOODEN HANDLE-——~ k'IRON PIPE ~ By Combining a Bunsen Burner and a Soldering Iron, a Soldering Tool is Produced Which is Heated While It is Working gas furnace, can be made quickly and cheaply from material picked up around the average workshop. As can be seen from the sketch, it consists of a 1-lb. soldering copper attached to a Bunsen- type gas burner, made of iron pipe and fittings. The burner proper consists of a short length of *s-in. iron pipe, with one end split and formed into a fork, to take the copper. In forming the fork, the split end of the pipe should first be heated to a straw color and worked to shape while hot, to prevent it from breaking. The other end should be threaded to take a reducer, drilled as shown. A short length of \\-in. iron pipe, threaded at both ends, . other shorter length of § RON NIPPLE 1-in. pipe is fitted into the open end of the shut-off cock, to which a 4 or 5-ft. length of rubber hose is attached. A 1-lb. soldering copper should have the handle cut off with a hacksaw, at the point indicated in the sketch. It should then be bored out as shown, and riveted to the forked end of the burner pipe. The iron operates in the following man- ner: Connect the rubber tube to a con- venient gas jet, and turn on the gas. The gas, flowing through the small pipe in the handle into the burner pipe, will draw air through the four holes in the reducer. When the gas is lighted, it will burn with an intensely hot, blue flame, quickly heat- ing the soldering copper to the correct working temperature.—F. D. Burke, Lisle, Illinois. Hot Flame without Air Blast An emergency job of hard soldering, or brazing, was made necessary, In a busy shop, by the METAL TUBE breakage of a qunenn fi piece of equip- ¢/ ment. As com- pressed air was unavailable, the arrangement shown in _ the drawing was rigged up and at- tached to an ordi- nary Bunsen burner. A glass tee was attached to _ the gas-supply line, and the burner was connected to one arm with a short length of rubber tubing. A small metal tube was connected to the remaining arm of the tee by a short piece of rubber tubing, and at- BUNSEN BURNER tached to the burner, in the manner shown, with a piece of wire. With the tube inserted into the flame of the burner. as shown, a strong, hot flame, sufficient to fuse the brazing spelter, was obtained. To File Thin Metal Pieces Thinner If often happens in the repair shop that a thin shim or washer must be still fur- ther reduced in thickness. The difficulty is encountered in holding the work for filing. A very handy method for doing this is to place the part to be filed on a small block of wood, then put a piece of flat metal over the part, and squeeze in a vise until the part to be filed is imbed- ded in the block to a depth equal to half its thickness. The block is then set in the vise with the thin metal piece on top resting in the cavity, where it will remain secure while being filed. @Commutators of small electric motors can be readily cleaned by: holding an ordinary rubber eraser against the com- mutator, while the motor is running.

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POPULAR MECHANICS Spokes Form Screen-Door Brace Two spokes from an old bicycle wheel, properly attached to a screen door, will prevent it from sagging. A stout screw eye is inserted in the bottom of the door, and another in its side. Through these the spokes are thrust, the nipples catch- ing in the screw eyes, and the hub ends of the spokes coming together across the lower angle of the door. These ends are twisted together securely; when the nip- ples are tightened with a screwdriver, the door is drawn up tight; it can be further tightened if it begins to sag—J. P. Bur- bank, Boston, Mass. Stubborn Joints Made Steam-Tight The sketch shows a method by which a leaky steam-pipe joint can be made ab- solutely tight. A dovetail groove is cut in the flanges indicated, and in this is fitted a copper ring, which protrudes slightly. After the bolts have been tight- ened, the exposed copper is ham- mered until the metal completely fills the groove. Care should be exercised in hammering the copper, as there is danger of break- ing the bolts if the blows are too heavy, or unevenly distributed. as DOVETAIL GROOVE CUT IN FLANGES soit Self-Locking Nut A nut which turns freely on a bolt tends to work loose if subjected to vi- bration. This may be overcome by using a lock washer or castellated nut, but these are often trouble- some. The ac- companying sketch shows a nut which turns freely on the bolt, but which auto- matically tightens itself when it reaches the bearing surface. A slot is sawed tiirough the center for about two-thirds the height of the nut. The underside is filed, as shown. On tightening, the nut grips the bolt* very tightly, but if loosened a part of a turn with a wrench, it can be removed with the fingers. 133 Laying the Porch Covering Smooth Porch roofs, which must be waterproof, besides being flat and tough enough to Porch Roofing, when Laid So as to Avoid Ridges Where the Strips Overlap, will Be Much More Durable serve as a floor for an upper porch or baleony, are ordinarily made of composi- tion material, which comes about 1 yd. or more wide. If the material is merely lapped, as shown at the upper right in the sketch, ridges are produced which are uncomfortable to walk on, hard to keep clean, and likely to collect water. It involves only a little extra labor to mark the location of each lap on the porch floor before laying the material; then, with a rabbet plane, cut out a dado or shallow groove, corresponding in width to the desired lap, and in depth to the thickness of the roofing. Such grooves will be ordinarily about “46 in. deep and 1% in. wide. The material is then laid as shown in the lower sketch, the lower edge being tacked lightly into the groove, and the edge of the upper piece being nailed usual. The resulting floor is much more durable than one which has the ridges. as Brake Does Work of Lost Tire Chain A rural visitor to town lost one of the tire chains from his automobile, but all went well until he encountered a slippery, muddy hill on the homeward journey. The wheel wearing the remaining chain re- mained stationary in the mud, while the other spun around, sinking the car deeper. To overcome this, the driver loosened the emergency-brake rod on the wheel with the chain. When he drew up on the emergency brake the chainless wheel was prevented from spinning, but the other was allowed to turn, permitting the car to extricate itself.

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134 POPULAR MECHANICS Patternmaker’s Spokeshave The spokeshave illustrated is a_ tool which, although quite small, is found very useful in the daily work of a pattern- | an TOP VIEW rie T\ 410-24 A } TAP lo ae 1 } a | ‘ 7 J #41DRI ea “be DRILL SECTION A-B, ENLARGED FRONT VIEW ° BRASS CASTING #6 DRILL. ae LF 7 \ ae WASHER 7 } 16 SOLDERED van ne = Foes | ae ° - Slim = : - S| 6 # 10-24 b MACHINE BIT SCREW ADJUSTING LEVER SS Q #15 STEEL WIRE \) : } a0- ra STEEL ROD @ * @ STEEL WIRE 1} " Z it és it 1 8 BI t) 2 1 > 7 = J Py © a oe” aaa REST #42DRiLL) PIN: FILE TO FIT MAKE 2 DETAIL OF PARTS FINISHED TOOL Full Working Drawings are Given for the Construc- tion of a Small Spokeshave, Which a Skilled Pattern- maker has Found to Be One of the Most Useful Tools in His Outfit maker. It consists of a brass casting, the pattern for which may be made in the workman’s spare time, and a few pieces of steel, made and assembled as shown. The tool is held in the usual manner, the thumbs engaging the two handles, and the forefingers resting on the pins which project from the rest. In this way the adjusting lever is between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand, and by moving it up and down, the thickness of shaving can be varied without stopping work. The lever ro- tates the circular rest through an angle of about 30°, and the rest can be ground after assembly, so that this adjustment gives the proper range of thickness for the shaving. The great advantage of this little tool is its usefulness on irregular and curved work, where a larger spokeshave would not fit the job—M. E. Duggan, Kenosha, Wisconsin. €A good curbing for trees and plants is an old demountable automobile rim. Half buried in the ground, the rim holds enough water to prevent the trees from drying up. Emergency Stretcher For carrying an injured person, a very good stretcher may be made out of a coat and two poles. Button up the coat and thrust the poles, one on either side, through the arms and lower part. If the coat is only a short one, and a longer stretcher is needed, two garments may be used in the manner described. Winding Telescope Springs The winding of telescope or collap- sible springs requires an arbor of great taper, with a spiral groove cut in it to guide the _ wire when being wound. Many improper rigs for doing this work are to be seen in steam plants, where these springs are used a er. to hold down the MADE LOW-CARBON valves in the wa- wae ter ends of steam pumps of a number of different makes. The arbor illustrated is made of low- carbon steel, with a groove in it of the same general shape that the spring is to have. This groove is best cut by turn- ing the tool upside down in the tool- post, and running the lathe backward. The tool can thus be made to cut a good groove by careful use of the cross-feed. The arbor is fitted with a screw and pin, as shown, the latter having a small hole in which the end of the spring wire is clamped by tightening the screw. The diameter of the arbor must be some- what smaller at all points than the de- sired diameter of the spring, as the lat- ter will spring out somewhat when re- leased. Burning Out Concrete Reinforcement The writer, while running a 4-in. con- duit through a reinforced-concrete floor, discovered sev- tSS-VELT OC. eral pieces of FUSES heavy steel rein- forcement cross- ing a hole being bored for the conduit. It is + C ne very difficult to GROUND CARBON chisel out steel in a concrete base, and a weary job at best, so I finally decided to burn it out. As there was no

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POPULAR arc burner available, I pressed into serv- ice a grid starter designed for a 25-hp., direct-current motor. Connecting it to the 125-volt, direct-current mains, as shown in the diagram, I grounded, on the concrete floor, one side of the cir- cuit. To the end of the wire from the starter rheostat, I connected a _ heavy electric arc carbon to serve as the flame electrode. Using a pair of chipping goggles, smoked on the outside to fur- nish the necessary protection for the eyes, I applied the carbon electrode’ to the reinforcing rods, which were burned out after a short time. The current drawn from the mains was about 125 amperes, and the motor starter was not danger- ously overheated. The expense involved was very slight, as the current was used for only a short time, and the odd lengths of wire required can be found around al- most any plant—William Morton, Wheel- ing, W. Va. Circle Swing Amuses Many Children In a park in a western city is a circle swing, of a type that is easy to make, and would be a popular device in many neighborhoods, for building up youthful muscles. The swing is not difficult to build, the materials required being a stout pole, a pin of about 14-in, round iron, four pieces of iron, each about 15 by 1 by 15 in., eight lengths of rope, about as long as the pole, and some wooden handles at the lower loops of the rope, to which the little ones hang. The iron bars are welded together at the cen- ter, so that they form a sort of eight-point- ed star, and are bent downward at all ends; in each end, also, a while the bars are still The welded iron support then has a hole drilled through the center, to be a sliding fit on the iron pin, which is driven firmly into the top of the post—preferably with a metal plate or ferrule to reinforce the wood at that point. Eight youngsters can play at once on the swing, and there is an unusually small element of danger. — hole is punched, hot, large enough to take the rope. MECHANICS 135 Bed from Pipe and Fittings A construction company found it nec essary to provide a number of beds for its employes on the job. As _ bedsteads IRON RODS \ Substantial Bedstead Produced from Standard Iron Pipe and Fittings were unobtainable at the time and place, one of the pipe fitters was set to work making beds from pipe and fittings, as shown in the drawing. Unions must be provided in both side and end rails to fit into the right-hand threaded fittings at the corners. For the same _ reason unions are provided in the cross members which support the springs. Holes were drilled in the top and bottom of the head and footboards, and pieces of iron rod sprung into place as indicated. Wobbler Tests Lathe Alinement The alinement of the centers of a lathe can be accurately tested with an easily made tool that is sometimes called a “wobbler.” The wobbler consists simply of a piece WOBBLER of iron—or any | metal, for 7 CALIPER HERE, | other that matter— shaped about as shown. A hole is drilled clear through the broad FACEPLATE end and counter sunk a little on both sides. The lathe centers are brought up and entered. one in each end of the hole, just tight enough so there will be no shake. If the alinement is correct, the bar, when swung around, will be the same distanc: from the faceplate at all points. If not it indicates the direction and the extent of the lack of alinement.—Howard Greene, New York City, N. Y. @The leg of an old cookstove makes a good ladle for melting babbitt metal.

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136 POPULAR MECHANICS Cutting Threads in Wood The cutting of accurate threads in wood, both external and internal, is a problem with which machinists are fre- quently confronted, especially in powder- mill work, where, on account of the danger of explosions, many parts are made of wood, which in other places would be made of metal. A material in which almost perfect \V-threads may be mG cs. .- J ae I The cap screw is therefore interesting only in showing that it is possible to cut wood threads of great accuracy in Aus- tralian ironwood., The two types of threads for the wood screws which are in common use, are the square thread and the half-V thread. More clearance is necessary in the wood threads, as the material swells and shrinks with changes in atmospheric humidity. The tool must have more top _ rake, and when cutting a square thread, a pilot cutter must be provided at each side of the tool, similar to that on a carpenter's bit. Such a tool is illustrated at the right; in the center is one for cutting a small half-V thread. This differs from the ordinary tool for cutting U. S. standard threads, chiefly in the amount of top and side rake. By Selecting Carefully the Kinds of Wood to be Used, and Internal half-V threads can be Grinding the Tools to Appropriate Shapes, Good Accurate Wood Threads can be Cut cut is Australian ironwood. Hard maple and beech are also suitable for this work. At the left in the photograph is illus- rated a small cap screw and nut, which are an almost perfect imitation of these parts as ordinarily cut in metal The screw has a full U. S. standard thread, which is, however, not a practical form of thread for actual use in the wood. Furnace Keeps House Cool in Summer Most people can find use for their pipe- less hot-air furnace only during the cold part of the year, but one householder has arranged his to work the year round; when the furnace is not required for providing warmth, it helps keep the house cool in summer. Ac- complishm ent of this arrange- ment requires a hole, about 1 ft. square, through the outer casing, at SHEET-IRON SLIDE), SS _-* GROOVE FORMED By 4 Qe BENDING EoGE the bottom of t he furnace. The side edges are turned back to form grooves for a slide made of sheet metal. The slide is curved, to conform to the cut in these woods with an ordi- nary tap, if it is new and sharp. The nut should be drilled out a little larger than the diameter necessary for a full thread, and the sharp tap can then be run in just as with metal. Some woods require oil to cut well, and some do not. Should a new sharp tap not be avail- able, an old one can be sharpened by erinding the face of the threads in the flutes of the tap. furnace, and the sides are turned under to fit into the grooves provided, as shown in the drawing. When the furnace is to be used for reducing the temperature of the house, an electric fan is set in front of the opening at the bottom of the fur- nace; the current is turned on, and the cool air of the basement is forced into the upper rooms, making the reduction in temperature quite noticeable. When the furnace is to be used for heating, the opening is covered by the slide, or it may be employed for increasing the furnace draft.—Richard Newbecker, Tonawanda, New York. Hand Drill as a Speed Counter \ short time ago a new electric motor was installed in a shop department. It soon became apparent to the foreman that the line shaft speed was much slower than it had been with the old motor. The electrician who installed it had no speed counter with him, but he picked up a hand drill which was on the bench, counted the teeth in the gear and pinion, DO

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= seen aaa — POPULAR and found that there were five times as many teeth in the large gear as in the pinion. He then put a twist drill in the chuck, and inserted the end of the drill in the center of the shaft. With his watch in his left hand, and the handle of the drill in the right, in such a position that the handle on the gear would just touch his hand at every revolution, he counted the revolutions made by the handle in a minute. Multiplying this by five gave him the number of revolutions made by the twist drill, this being there- fore the speed of the shaft. Stove Damper for Grain-Bag Filler An ordinary stovepipe and damper may be used to make a grain-bag filler, if the hole in the center of the damper is closed up. The pipe is inserted in the bottom ot the grain bin, extending through the ceiling of the floor below. Here it ter- minates in a sturdy grain-bag support, on which the bag is hung. The damper is turned on, allowing the grain to flow until the bag is full, when the damper is turned oft. Grinding Attachment for Lathe A grinding head can be made in a little spare time for the shop which is not equipped with such a head, the materials consisting of a 12-in. pipe tee, two plugs, a pulley, and a few scraps of metal. The bearings are brass-pipe plugs screwed in at the opposite ends of the tee. In the branch end of the tee is screwed a plug, which is formed at the end to fit into the tool post of the lathe. The pulley and grinding wheel are mounted on a 14-in. spindle, and a belt can be run to the countershaft of the lathe. 63 - —— 4 Spat wall] "7 COLLAR wi oan gh {pre tee 7 oy DOWN FROM Z ROUND Many Jobs of Grinding can be Handled in the Lathe, if a Grinding Attachment is Made with a Pipe Tee as Its Basis lil 4 i ote te 4} | . es AP 4 a FLANGE BER WASHER DIPE ; FLANGED THREA DRIVE a PULLEY WHEEL es SPACE 5 SHAFT oe Ws Yprass > PIPE PLUG $xZ SHANK MACHINED J MECHANICS 137 Newspaper Bulletin Board Pasting bulletin sheets to a_ bulletin board, or window, with the consequent SCREW EYES LIGHT ROD ~ OR WIRE SMOOTH BOARD PARTITION CRANK This Improved Newspaper Bulletin Board Has a Number of Advantages over the Old Method cf Pasting Sheets to a Board or Window loss of time and unnecessary work, is eliminated with the board shown in the drawing. The bulletins are painted on the paper strip, and a turn or two of the crank takes the oldest bulletins out of sight and brings the latest ones into view of the readers. The board is simple, and consists merely of a suitable wooden support, the distance between the uprights being determined by the width of the paper roll used. While no definite dimensions are possible, the height should be from 8 to 10 ft., or more, according to requirements. It will be observed that a smooth board partition is built between the sides; this serves as a support for the strip of paper and is of great assistance when lettering. A piece of smooth pipe, or rod, is provided at the top, over which the paper passes to the receiving roll at the rear; this is merely a pipe shaft with a crank at one end, mounted on brackets as shown. Screw eyes are placed at intervals on both sides of the partition, and wires, or rods, are run from side to side, to prevent the paper from fluttering, or blowing loose. At night the bulletins are illuminated by two or three lights in a reflector across the top, as indicated. By reversing the paper roll, both sides can be used; a rather thick paper is therefore desirable.

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138 POPULAR Winding Springs with Brace A uniform coil spring, of a size gov- erned by the size of the rod, can be wound COIL OF SPRING WIRE vad TO WIND CLOSE FASTEN WIRE IN TO WIND, BRACE WITH ROD OPEN 2 BLOCKS F / OF WOOD / a ROD: INSIDE DIAM. OF SPRING REQUIRED Good Coil Springs are Made by Clamping between Wooden Blocks in a Vise, No Lathe being Required with the arrangement shown. If a tight, or expansion, spring is required, feed the wire in at right angles; for an open or compression spring, any pitch can be obtained by slanting the wire. I find a more uniform spring can be wound by this method than by the use of a lathe or other revolving machine—John C., Smith, Tacoma, Wash. Growing Strawberries in a Barrel This small strawberry garden is easily and cheaply made and kept, requiring no cultivation of the plants and but lit- tle attention other than an_ occasional watering of the plants after set- ting them. It is an ordinary 50- gal. coal-oil bar- rel, having a number of holes bored in its sides; it is filled with soil and compost, and the plants are set in the soil. with their stems and foliage extending through the holes on the out- side. A con- venient means of watering the roots of the plants is pro- vided by making a square box of 1% by 3-in. strips, long enough to stand on the bottom of the barrel inside at the cen- 1 ids rn ea vere — IECHANICS ter, and reach to the top. It is drilled with small auger holes all around, and through its entire length. This box stands in the soil in the center of the barrel, and the water is poured in its end protruding out of the soil at the top. The upper end of the barrel is left open. Several holes are bored in the bottom head, to drain off surplus water. The holes for the plants are bored in diagonal rows, 6 in. apart. In boring these holes, the auger is held in a diagonal position, which in- clines the plants to a natural upward growth, and also helps prevent the soil from sifting out through the holes when dry. A surprisingly large number of plants can be grown in a single barrel in this way, and one barrel of plants will supply the home needs of a moderate-sized fam- ily. The plants grow well, and bear fruit as heavily as when cultivated in open ground, and the fruit is free from grit and soil. The barrel shown in the illus- tration has 72 plants in its side, one in each hole, and 12 growing in the top of the soil around the watering tube. Miter Box for Cutting Tubing The mechanic often finds that he must cut metal tubing at certain angles in or- der to make joints. This is difficult to do unless a guiding form is used. For this reason a mi- ter block should be used, just as a miter box is used DIAGONAL curs A ee by carpenters in iJ cutting wood. \ is suck Choose a suitable HOLE FOR TUBING b | e¢ k of hard TUBING wood, and drill a hole a little larger than the tubing through the center of the block. Then mark lines across the top surface at the required angles, and saw down vertically below the bottom of the hole. The tubing is then run through the hole, and the cut made with the hack- saw. Smaller tubing than -that provided for can be sawed by wedging it in the hole with splinters of wood. Testing for Piston Leaks When an automobile engine is turned over with the starting crank, and there is evidence of a lack of compression in one or more cylinders, the condition is usually attributed to leaky valves. This defect is, however, very frequently the result of too tla ocsemeoneieaet eo teen ae me ee

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.o POPULAR MECHANICS 139 much clearance between the piston rings and cylinder walls. To detect leakage due to wear, and loose or worn rings, a 3-ft. length of rubber hose is placed over the breather pipe, or oil-filler tube. One end of the hose is placed against the ear of the tester and the leakage past the pis- ton is clearly evidenced by a pronounced hiss when the engine is turned over slow- ly by hand. The piston at fault is located, and the obvious remedy applied, which is usually new piston rings or oversize pis- tons. In case the valves are the cause of the lost compression, the hiss is not heard. Spring Washer for Door Knobs The screw holes for fastening the knob to the shank of a common type of door lock do not always bring the knob into such position that endwise motion of the shank is taken up. Instead of using thin washers to fill up the space, an effective means of taking up the lost motion is to substitute for the washers two or three coils of wire spring, of suitable size to go over the shank of the knob. Music wire, about .025 in. in diameter, is preferable, wound in an open coil and cut off as needed. A washer should be used at one end of the spring, to prevent it from go- ing through the hole in the plate—Chas. F, Merrill, Hopedale, Mass. How to Drill a Curved Hole To drill a hole with a curve in it might not be considered possible with ordinary tools and hand processes, yet, like many other things which appear diffi- cult at first glance, Sere it is easy to do. First make a bend in the piece in the opposite direction from the bend which is desired in the hole. This is shown in Fig. 1. Then drill a hole straight through with an ordinary drill, as in Fig. 2, It remains only to heat the piece of metal again and bend it back to its original shape. as shown in Fig. 3, and the hole will then be curved. The metal, if finished nicely, will offer no evidence as to how the curved hole was made. Fie.1: BEND @Small emery wheels may be dressed by using an old glass cutter of the type em- bodying a small hard-steel wheel. Pipe and Conduit Threads Cleaned by Guided Reamer Insulated wires which are run through metal conduits may often be injured by A Combination of Guided Reamer and Thread Chaser, Allin One Tool, Adds to the Convenience of the Conduit Layer and Plumber burs remaining on the ends of the con- duit. To prevent this, it is good practice to ream out the end of the conduit in order to remove any bur which may exist. A combination tool which does this, and at the same time cleans out the threads of the coupling, is illustrated in the draw- ing. The tool can be made by grinding down a standard tap, and forming, by means of the grinding wheel, the cutting edges at the end of the tap and at the forward end of the threaded portion. The tool is held in an ordinary bit brace by means of a shank, which can be welded onto the tap. As the reamer is fed in, the bur-removing edge at the end first does its work. The ground-down portion then runs on into the conduit, forming a guide, while the thread-cutting portion runs through the threads in the coupling, clean- ing them out and straightening them, ready to take the next section of conduit. One size of reamer handles only one size of conduit and coupling, but it will pay the electrical worker to make and keep on hand tools of this tvpe for whatever size of conduit he uses—Eugene F. Gard- ner, Chicago, Il. Waterproofing Dry Batteries Remove the cardboard casing and dip the cell into melted pitch, or asphalt. Coal tar may be used, either by dipping the cells or applying with a brush, and replacing the cell in the casings. Melted paraffin will also serve for this purpose. The coating, besides protecting the bat- teries from moisture, prevents the zinc from becoming oxidized, thus reducing deterioration—A. A. Lobrovick, Brook- lyn, N. Y.

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11) A Turret-Lathe Job Done on an Engine Lathe The drawings illustrate how a job ordi- narily handled on a turret lathe, or hand NEE PB FIRST OPERATION FACING OFF THIRD OPERATION THREADING SECOND OPERATION: BORING A Special Tool, Forged for the Job of Making Brass Packing Nuts, Completes at One Setting the Opera- tions of Facing, Boring, Counterboring, and Threading screw machine, was done on a common engine lathe in the absence of any turret machine. The work was that of making a number of hexagon packing nuts, l'ig in. in diameter. The material used was brass castings, the flats being after- ward finished in the milling machine. The device which made it possible to turn out these parts almost as rapidly as would have been possible with a turret lathe was a special tool forged to the shape illustrated. The rough brass cast- ing was held in a universal chuck, and a drill slightly smaller than the hole, held in the tailstock spindle, was run through. The tailstock was then pulled back, and the special tool brought into action. The casting was first faced off with the front of the tool. Then, running the lathe backward, the small hole was bored to size by the upper part of the tool, which was ground to a round point. The cast- ing was then counterbored with the same part of the tool to the size of the root of the thread. When this was done, the lathe was again reversed, and the thread cut in the usual manner with the lower side of the tool, ground to the ordinary 60° angle. All these operations were completed without changing the setting of the tool. The first nut was made to calipers and gauges, noting the reading of the dial on the cross-feed screw when boring the small hole, and setting stops to give the proper depth and diameter to the counter- bore: also for the threading operation. After this no calipering was done except POPULAR MECHANICS to try a part occasionally to see that the tool had not worn too much, or the ad- justment changed. After this operation the nuts were screwed onto an arbor, the other side faced, and the hexagon milled, according to the ordinary practice. The operations covered at one setting in the engine lathe comprise all of those which would be done at one chucking in a turret lathe, and the time required was not more than would have been required with the more expensive machine. There was no turret to swing three times for each nut. The only loss of time was in reversing the lathe for the boring operation—M. L. Lowrey, Livermore, Calif. Vise Attachment for Filing Bevels When filing beveled edges on work held in the common type of vise, it is necessary for the worker to assume an awkward position, = as the file must be * held at an angle. The accompany- ing sketch shows ‘Senne an attach- ment which makes it possible to hold the file in a hori- zontal position, the bevel being produced by hold- P ing the work at x anangle. The two » parts of the at- — tachment are cut from old pieces of shaft- ing, the dotted lines showing the portions removed. The vise must of course be screwed up rather tighter than when holding the work in the jaws directly — R. H. Kasper, Philadelphia, Pa. ae VISE JAWS Carpenter’s Centering Gauge A very useful tool to the carpenter is one which can be made from some scraps of wood in a few moments of spare time. A strip of hard wood, of about the di- mensions shown in the drawing, is fitted — i ng BOARD 3g DOWEL — le { 10” ' STEEL- pont, / CENTER — —. SS METHOD OF = “eens \ te USING GAUGE A Tool Made from Scraps of Hard Wood and Dowel Stock Makes Easy the Job of Scribing a Center Line

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POPULAR with two hardwood dowels. At a point exactly central between the two dowels, a pointed pin is fitted, similar to the scratch pins commonly used in marking gauges. To mark a line down the center of a board, it is only necessary to place the gauge on the work, spring it until the dowels are in contact with the edges, and slide it along, the sharp pin scribing the center line. The gauge, as dimensioned, will handle anything up to 6-in. stock. It can, how- ever, readily be made long enough to handle boards 12 in. or more wide. A long gauge is applicable to narrow boards, except when they are curved, or a center mark is wanted near the end of the board, in which case it will be advisable to use a shorter centering gauge. How to Keep Air Dry For keeping the air dry in rooms where fruit is stored, calcium chloride is placed in a slightly slanting metal tray, resting on a table or stand. The tray is pro- vided with a lip at the lowest point so that any liquid will flow into a_ vessel placed underneath. When a_ sufficient quantity of the salt has liquefied, the moisture may be removed by heating, which restores it to its original condi- tion, so that it may be used repeatedly. Calcium chloride will absorb about double its own weight of moisture. Too! for Putting on Belts Putting a belt on a high pulley is some- times a dangerous job, and often a nui- sance, because some one has to get a ladder and do a good deal of fussing about it.; The appliance il- lustrated has been used in machine shops for years, and deserves to be better known than it seems to be. A disk of heavy sheet metal is mounted so that it turns easily at the end of the belt pole, and a tapered horn projects from its center. The horn is used to lift the belt into place, and is kept inside the pulley rim while the belt is running on. If it is allowed to get be- tween the belt and the pulley it may cause trouble, but its conical form makes this unlikely. MECHANICS 141 Garage Floor as Trouble Guide The car owner will find it a good plan to watch the garage floor for evidence of ey 7 \ }! H bn q : He F ; 3 ie * = ao eee |DRIVE SHAFT | UNIVERSAL CONNECTION (PETCOCKS DIFFERENTIAL Laue ANSMISSION | me" ( GEAR MOUSING | HOUSING —-—- —— = L hement Stains on a Garage Floor Where a Car has been ——. Overnight Provide a Reliable ethod of Locating Leaks leakage, whether of grease, oil, gasoline, or water. A small puddle of water found on the floor in the morning, after the car has been standing overnight, may indi- cate a leak in the pump packing, radiator hose, or some other part of the cooling system; but the loss is not likely to be of much consequence, unless an anti- freezing solution is used. A leak in the carburetor or fuel pipe is of more impor- tance, and can generally be located by in- specting the floor before moving the car. Oil leakage from a loose petcock, defec- tive gasket, or felt washer can generally be detected in the same way, and the cause remedied. Grease beneath the transmission, differential housing, or a universal joint, is often caused by loos- ened bolts in these parts. When the evi- dence is observed on the floor, the loose bolts can be tightened before they get a chance to come out entirely and cause serious trouble. Removing Tight Bottle Stoppers The stoppers of bottles holding certain chemicals often become tightly fixed, and it is not always an easy matter to get them loose. Application of heat to the neck is not always effective, but by apply- ing a freezing mixture to the stopper, it usually loosens without difficulty. Make a mixture of crushed ice and calcium chloride, and put the stopper in this, taking care that the freezing mixture does not touch the neck of the bottle. After a few minutes of this treatment, the stopper will come out easily, owing to contraction of the stopper.—S. Leonard 3astin, Bournemouth, England.

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142 POPULAR Opening in Fence Prevents Accidents At a corner where a high fence around an industrial plant created danger of traffic collisions, the owner of the fence The Possibility ae een at a Street Crossing was Greatl educed by Substituting Wire Screen- ing for Wood in the Upper Part of the Fence was prevailed upon to install an open section in it, covered with heavy screen wire. This enabled motorists to look through, and see the approaching vehicles on the crossing street. Moreover, the peculiar appearance of the fence acted to call the attention of drivers to the cross- ing, and the necessity for caution, *Drawing Centerless Circle Arcs A problem which is fairly frequent in the draftsman’s daily work is to draw a circular arc through three given points. When the points are such that the center of the arc falls out- side the board or table, it is incon- venient to draw the mark with compass or string, and the irregular , / curve is often re- rd sorted to as an ap- Fig.I:yOiINING POINTS proximate method, BY AN ARC Such an are can | be drawn as here described; the so- lution is geomet- rically correct, or, in other words, the accuracy to be at- tained depends solely on the care with which the work is done. Assuming A, B, and C, in Fig. 1, to be the three points through which a circular are is to be drawn, the lines AB and BC are drawn, and are prolonged as shown. A piece of stiff cardboard is employed; a broad notch is cut in one side, the angle of which is equal to the angle ABC. Fach side of this angle in the card is fig.2: CONTINUING THE ARC MECHANICS shifted along, its angle B traveling from A to C on the paper, while the card re- mains in contact with pins inserted at A and C. The pencil held at the corner B in the card will then trace a circular are, passing through all three points. The process is merely a practical application of the geometrical principle that “all angles inscribed in the same are are equal.” If it is necessary to continue the arc on past the points A and C, this can be done by cutting a notch in a card with the angle equal to the angle BCA, as in Fig. 2, and another notch with the angle BAC. The first of the two cards is em- ployed for extending the are beyond C, as illustrated, and the other may be em- ployed for extending it beyond A, though it is often possible to get just as accurate results by using the first card alone. If it is desired to determine the length in degrees of the arc ABC, measure the angle ABC with protractor. Double this angle and subtract from 360°; the re- mainder will be the angular length of the arc. To strike an are a certain number of degrees in length between two points, sub- tract the desired number of degrees from 360°, divide the remainder by two, and cut the notch in the card to the number of degrees given. Using it as in Fig. 1 draw the are required. , A Common Refrigerator Trouble Many good refrigerators are con- demned and discarded every year for their deficiency in keeping cold, regard- less of how much ice is kept in them. A frequent cause of this deficiency is that explained here, and its cure is very simple. The ice rack in the bottom of the ice chamber rests on brackets of various con- struction, just over the cold-air down vent, this rack being a sheet of galvanized steel. Even if it is corrugated, which it usually is, it will in course of time be bent down until it rests on the flange sur- rounding the vent hole, thereby prevent- ing the cold air from sinking inio the food chambers. There should never be less than 1 in. of space between this rack and the top of the flange around the vent hole. When the rack becomes bent, take it out and straighten it, even making it a little convex if necessary to get re- quired space. If the supporting brackets under the rack are broken or damaged, a small piece of wood may be used to keep it properly elevated. = tt A mee

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es Mae eur Mei ei har Information as to where to obtain any a_i | materials or parts for making objects described in the following pages may 4 —Tr) from our Bureau of Information.—Editor.

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Mt \ if ¥ ay) e had, on request, A Wooden Key-and Ring-Puzzle By E. K. WEHRY A PUZZLE which will baffle the in- genuity of many a skilled mechanic is illustrated by the drawing. The mys- tery of course is as to how the two blocks ire put together. The small block, or key, may be made to slide very tightly in the hole in the larger one; it is thus ap- parent that it could not have been fitted in by any cutting process. The frame, or ring, should be made of good straight- grained soft wood, and the key of hard wood, both of about the same thickness. The surface of both blocks may be planed smooth, so that the blocks can be in- spected all over for glued joints; there are no joints in either block. The method of making the puzzle is as follows: Cut the two blocks to shape outside, and cut notches in the sides of the key so that dimension A, in the draw- ing, will be just slightly less than dimen- sion B. Now caliper the diagonal of this smaller section, this giving the di- mension C. Cut a rectangular hole in the center of the large block, of a width E, just slightly greater than this diag- onal, and a length greater than the width D of the smaller block. Some notches can be made in the sides of the rectangular hole, as illustrated: these have nothing to do with the puzzle except that they are

quite likely to lead the victim astray in guessing at its solution. If the hole is made according to these directions, the small block can be thrust through it, and

— __s APPLY : PRESSURE

INITIAL LU WIDTH

| ND = SL = KEY, HARD wooo RING, SOFT _wooo

Not Only the Amateur but Even the Skilled Mechanic may be Mystified by a Puzzle Which Any Boy can Make Out of Two Wooden Blocks turned upon its side, so as to occupy the position it will have in the completed puzzle. The ring block is now thoroughly steamed or boiled in water, for one hour. It is then gripped in a good bench vise. with the key fitted into it, and screwed up as tightly as possible. When the wood has yielded a little, the vise is screwed up again, and so on until the 7

Various Wooden Animals are Shown Held in Wooden Frames or ‘“‘Traps.’’ All Made on the Same Principle as the Simple Puzzle. In the Center Is a Rather More Complicated Specimen, but Also Made without Joints of Any Kind

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144 POPULAR MECHANICS ring is compressed to grip the key tightly between its two sides. Then let the puzzle stand in the vise until the next day, when it will be dry, and can be re- moved. Two stout, hard clamps can be used instead of a vise. After one’s friends have been sufficient- ly mystified by the question of how the two blocks were ever put together in this fashion, it is a simple matter to place the puzzle in boiling water again for about 20 minutes, when the ring block will swell to its original dimensions, and the key can be taken out quite easily. The photograph shows a number of modifications of the puzzle. All of them involve the same principle as the simple key-and-ring puzzle. Such a collection will form a curious ornament to the craftsman’s shop or home.

Shelf Brackets from Old Bucksaw The rods and loops from an old buck- Saw were put to good use by a camping party, which was in need of an extra shelf in the camp. The turnbuckle it- self was removed, the threaded ends of the two rods were screwed into the wall, and the loops which had engaged the ends of the saw frame were now hooked over nails near the cor- ners of the shelf. Later the loops were sandpapered and enameled to improve their appearance—H. K. Capps, Stahl, Missouri. SCREW THREADED END O WALL

BUCKSAW ROD AND LOOP Drinking Cup Made from a Cow’s Horn A cow’s horn may be made into an odd and attractive drinking cup. <A _ good- size horn, having a decided curve, is se- lected and the butt is cut off square, to form the base. At the point determined for the top of the cup, saw the horn al- most through to the opposite side; then saw for the length of the horn, to form a strip for the handle, as shown in the p drawing. This ) strip should be 6 or 8 in. long and about 1 in. wide. Scrape the handle down until it is 4% woopven in. wide at the end. °°" Mix a strong solution of lime and water and boil it, soaking the handle in the solution until it is quite soft and pliable. Bend the strip of horn back into the form

—— STRIP FOR HANDLE “~ SAW THROUGH of a handle, as shown, and tie with a Stout cord. When dry, the handle will retain its shape with the cord removed. Scrape the inside of the horn thoroughly, and make a tight-fitting wood disk for the bottom, using fancy-headed tacks to hold it in place. Waterproof glue is used to close the seam between the horn and its bottom. Bicycle Hub Makes Belt Idler A ball-bearing idler, for a narrow belt, may be made from the hub of an old bicycle. The hub is removed from the bicycle frame and is attached to a substantial bracket, made by riveting two pieces of flat stock together near the center, and spreading the ends apart to accom- modate the hub. The lower ends of the bracket are also expanded, for attaching the idler to the floor with a hinged joint. Tension of the idler against the belt is furnished by a stiff spring, one end of which is attached to the idler bracket, and the other to an eyebolt in the wall—Frank Brunner, Richmond, Ind. f BELT y

MOTOR PULLEY )

Why Hammocks Wear Out Whether a hammock will wear out in one summer, or last for many years, de- pends largely on the amount of sag it has when in use. A hammock hung be- tween hooks very close together, so that the ropes supporting it are almost verti- cal, is subject to a strain of but little more than half the weight of itself and the person sitting in it. Thus, when holding a boy weighing 100 Ib., the pull on each hook may not be more than 55 or 60 Ib. On the other Aand, if the distance be-

eeniehietiemien cea a

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POPULAR tween the hooks is nearly as great as the length of the hammock, so that there is very little sag, the tension on the ham- mock may reach dangerously high figures. For example, if the hammock ropes sag only 5° from the horizontal, the 100-Ib. boy would cause the hammock to be stretched with a force of 572 lb.; if the hammock could be stretched so tight that there would be only 1° of sag, the tension would be 2,860 lb. Hammocks are not built to stand such strains, and the “moral” is that if a hammock is to last well, it must not be stretched between hooks too far apart. Fasteners for Ironing-Board Cover The metal clasps from discarded hose supporters may be used for fastening the cover to the family ironing board by at- taching a clasp to each end of a short piece of elastic. Several of these fasten- ers are prepared and applied to the edges of the cloth on the underside of the board. These fasteners can be removed almost instantly. Photo-Printing Frame from Old Magazines Having need to make some prints in a hurry, an amateur photographer impro- vised quite a serviceable substitute for his regular print- ing frame, that had become mislaid, from a f MAGAZINE BOUND TO GLASS PLATE, BOUND sheet of glass and a maga- zine. The magazine was laid flat on the and with a string in such a manner that the trimmed, or open, edge was bound to the glass, leaving the bound ‘ edge free. To use this printing frame, the glass was placed flat on a table and the magazine as shown in the drawing. Then the nega- tive and sensitized paper, in their proper order, were laid on the glass as in a reg- ular printing frame. Holding the sensi- tized paper with one finger, to prevent disarrangement, the magazine was rolled over parallel with the glass; the glass and magazine, held together by the hand, were lifted from the table, and the print ex- posed in the usual manner. sheet tied to it piece of glass SENSITIZED | PAPER 7 raise d, MECHANICS 145 Filing Cabinet Built into a Desk A compact home desk that combines filing cabinet, typewriter table, stationery | Lidhl | } ere ae Two Bookcase Sections, a Wide Board, and a Filing Cabinet are Here Combined to Make a Compact Desk and cases for the books most often needed, is easily made as shown in the photograph. A wide board is supported, at the right, by the bookcase sections and, at the left, by a cleat screwed to the side of the filing cabinet, the drawer at the top be- ing used for stationery. This latter de- tail may be omitted or elaborated upon, to meet individual requirements. The filing cabinet is 12 by 16 by 35 in. and contains three drawers.—Berenice Aiken, Roswell, N. M. drawer, Cuff Links from Uniform Buttons A substantial number of ex-service men have enough sentiment to wear some small memento of their recent military experi- and such a ences, souvenir, 1n the form of: pair of at- tractive cuff links, is easily made | oO small buttons from the old service uni form are put onto a small brass ring, as shown in the dr wing, to form each link. If preferred, the eyes of the buttons may be cut off, close to the back, and the buttons soldered to blank links, which may be obtained from a jewelry shop. ¢ Before attempting to cut a thread a piece of wood, wax it with beesw and apply enough heat to make soak into the scorch it. the \ x : | wood—not enough

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Pontoons for Stability in the Canoe By L. B. ROBBINS O sleep in a canoe has always been considered the equivalent of making an appointment with the coroner, because the craft is likely to capsize with a sud- den shifting of weight. However, one may sleep aboard a canoe in safety and also stand upright to “play” a gamey fish, or make a difficult landing, by equipping the craft with pontoons. Two false thwarts are first provided; these should make a snug fit between the inside of the gunwales, one at the posi- tion of the center thwart and the other at the rear of the forward seat. The length of these thwarts will depend upon the beam of the boat at those poiuts, and, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, should come flush with the top of the gunwales. Angle- iron braces underneath hold the thwarts in place and make them readily remov- able; the guides are attached down the exact center of each, with screws, the heads being countersunk. Eight iron straps are provided, made as shown in Fig. 3, and four are attached to each thwart, as in Figs. 1 and 2, the outer ones coming directly over the gunwales. A hole is drilled through each side of the center straps to accommodate pins. The slides, or outriggers, are made of good, straight-grained oak, about 6 in. longer than the outside width of the canoe at the point used. Four of these pieces will be required, and they should be smoothed down to slide easily under the straps without binding. Holes to co- incide with those in the center straps are drilled in each piece at intervals of 2 or 3 in., for holding the slides in either the extended or housed position. One end of each slide is mitered for fitting to the pontoon arms. The pontoon arms are cut out and smoothed down to suit, and one end is mitered to fit the mitered ends of the slides, to which they are attached with iron angle plates, sunk flush with the wood and fastened with countersunk screws. These plates must be flush so that they will not interfere with the operation of the slide in the straps. When the slides and pontoon arms are assem- bled, each will resemble a hockey stick in appearance, the pontoon arms being parallel with the sides of the canoe, as in Fig. 2. The pontoons are merely air-tight cylinders made from fairly heavy galvan- ized iron, and provided with conical ends. The pontoons are held to the ends of SCREWS GUIDE 3’sQ. — THWART 8” WIDE ~~ BOLTS | —+ it : = ht) Gee ——— —— —— | | PONTOON, VANIZED ? IRON 2&3 SLIDE PONTOON SLIDES ANGLE PLATE Fig.1: PLAN Fic. 2:mio-SECTION OF CANOE, SHOWING ARRANGEMENT OF PONTOON SLIDES Fig. 3:€ND SECTION OF THWART, SHOWING STRAPS, POSITION OF _SLIDES AND GUIDE £ x1 RON CLAMP § Ae Fie. 4: DETAIL OF PONTOONS. a the pontoon arms by means of iron clamps, as shown in lig. 4. A hole is drilled in each clamp between the pon- toon and the end of the arm to take a suitable clamping bolt, the tightening of which serves to hold the pontoons. As a final touch, for use when cruis- ing, a canvas cover may be added, as shown in Fig. 5; this drawing also shows the appearance of the canoe with the pontoons extended. A light, flexible wood strip is provided, a trifle longer ») STOVE — _ ~ Fig.'5: ASSEMBLED CANOE. PONTOONS,AND COVER By Equipping ga Ordinary Canoe with Pontoons and a Canvas Cover, the Canoeist is Enabled to Stand rect When a | a Gamey Fish or Making a Difficult Landing; He may so A 146 IAD ee ee ee eee Sleep Aboard in Safety and Comfort a 2 Ge we 2a . Ge a see a eee L) — vw

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2 eet lt ii, ll mnaiaeen td POPULAR than the distance between the bow and stern of the canoe, and a screw hook is turned into each end; a screw eye is in- serted at each end of the boat to take the hooks on the ends of the strip, as shown in the detail. For convenience in stowing, this strip is cut in two at the center, and the ends are rounded off for 2 or 3 in.; a coupling made from a short length of tub- ing is provided to slip over the rounded ends of the strip. A folding cradle, as shown in the drawing, supports the center of the strip; and notches in the ends of the legs fit over the gunwales of the canoe, as in the detail. Light canvas is used .for the cover, which fits over the whole canoe and buttons along the out- Cheap Soap for Mechanics Scraps of soap are put into a metal container with water and reduced to a paste by boiling. While the mass is in a semiliquid condition, a quantity of fine sawdust, or finely powdered pumice stone, is added and thoroughly mixed. When cool, this soap will be found excellent for removing grease and stains from the hands. Pouring Small Stream from Bottle In replenishing a storage battery with a small quantity of electrolyte, or for pour- ing small streams of any liquid, a bottle arranged as shown will prove quite con- venient. A_ piece of glass tubing is tightly fitted into the cork. A hole is drilled through the side of the bottle at the point where the fore- finger will rest when the bottle is held in a pouring position. For this hole a small cork is provided, which is tied by a string to the neck of the bottle. When the bottle is tipped to pour, the cork is removed and the finger placed over the hole. Raise the finger and the con- tents will pour out in a steady stream; replace the finger and the flow ceases. To prevent evaporation, the bottle should be corked when put away.—-L. B. Robbins, Harwich, Mass. @ For filing flat surfaces, it is convenient to have a file with the tang bent up at an angle, so that the handle can be gripped, and the hand will clear the work. N [ECHANICS 147 side, this being accomplished by inserting grommets and small brass screw eyes at intervals in the edge of the canvas and the outside of the boat. When under way and paddling along, the slides are pulled in and pinned in place so that the pontoons fit closely under the counter of the canoe, and as they clear the water they will not impede progress. When it is desired to use them for any purpose, simply slide out a pair at a time to the distance required, and secure them in place with the pins. Only a slight tipping motion of the canoe will then bring one or the other of them into contact with the water, making the craft entirely stable and safe. Vapor-Absorbing Power of Oils An interesting experiment, that shows the tremendous absorbing power of oils for the lighter vapors from gasoline, is easily made. A quart bottle is ~ a BOTTLE dried, and then slightly warmed. When warm to the touch, a spoonful, or less, of ordinary gaso- grad line is put into the THROUGH bottle and al- oe lowed to stand for a minute. A KEROSENE cork, having a dioos small hole drilled through its center and a short piece of glass tubing inserted through it, is placed in the neck of the bottle, which is now filled with gasoline vapor heavier than air. Then place the bottle upside down into a vessel containing some kerosene, or light lubricating oil, as shown in the drawing. Slowly at first, the oil in the outer vessel will rise in the tube and be drawn into the bottle, and when it over- flows, the absorbing surtace is increased so much and so quickly that there is formed a partial vacuum in the bottle, causing the kerosene or oil to rush in with a great deal of force so that the jet strikes the top of the bottle and con- tinues to play until the bottle is almost entirely filled. This fact that the lighter vapors are so readily absorbed in heavy oils, is made use of in the manufacture of gasoline from natural gas by the absorption proc- ess.—E. Stetson, Okmulgee, Okla.

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148 POPULAR MECHANICS Novel Hay Baling Rig Saves Much Time and Labor As a solution to the hired-help prob- lem, a farmer rigged up some of his farm machinery to get his hay baled. An extension, forming a sloping plat- form, was built to the left side of the baler, leading to the feeding chamber, or hopper. This platform was supported, at the outer end, on two caster wheels, and also guyed to the front of the baler. The hay loader was hooked up to dis- charge the hay onto the sloping plat- form, on which it slid directly into the baler. The baler, having a_ stationary engine mounted on its frame, was oper- ated in the usual manner. The whole arrangement was hitched to the tractor. The hay was gathered up from the swath and baled as the outfit was drawn across the field, at a great saving in time and labor. A sort of ground sledge, or stone boat, was attached be- ; IDS hind the baler, on which a man stood, to tie the bales. It also served to carry the bales to the end of the field. Three men were required to operate this combina- tion; one to drive the tractor and the others to place the blocks and tie = the bales, as they are With a Combination of Tractor, Hay Baler, and Hay Loader the Farmer finished. — Arnold P. Not Only Solved the Problem of Insufficient Hired Help, but Got His Hay Baled at a Great Saving of Time and Money Yerkes, Chicago, Il. Adjustable Revolving Garden Marker In transplanting it is very desirable that the plants be spaced a uniform dis- tance apart. The drawing shows an ad- = justable marker ee Af that can be pushed along the FLOCK sawen row as fast as a person can walk, making plainly visible marks the required distance apart. The wood- “- en wheel of the > marker may be made by sawing a 3-in. disk from a log, 1 ft. in diam- eter, or it may be built up from the bottoms of several old fruit baskets. A number of l-in. holes are bored around the circumference of the wheel, at inter- vals of 3 or 4 in., and six or eight wooden plugs are provided; these should pro- ject about 2in. A hole is bored through the center of the marking wheel for a bolt, which holds it to the handle. The marker shown in the drawing is pro- vided with holes for eight pegs which are spaced about 4 in. apart; therefore, if it is desired to make marks for set- iing out plants 4 in. apart, a peg is driven in each hole, and if a distance of 8 in. 150 POPULAR between plants is desired, alternate plugs are withdrawn. As the wheel revolves, the weight of the roller forces the pro- jecting pegs into the earth—H. F. Grin- stead, Columbia, Mo. Protecting Polished Floors The housewife who is the proud pos- sessor of nicely polished floors can protect them from many scratches by gluing pieces of felt, cut from an old felt hat, to the bottoms of the legs of tables and chairs —Kate R. Brower, Parshall, N. D. Minnow Trap Made from Keg An old keg and some wire netting are the materials required for making a satisfactory minnow trap. The heads are knocked from the keg; a piece of /NETTING /000R netting is rolled | ;NAw Kea 134 HOLE into the form of a cone to fit inside one end of the barrel, the ends being held together with fine wire or cord. The tip of the cone is cut off weiaut ano pait to make an open- entrance NETTING CONE ing into the trap. The outer edge is bent back over the edge of the barrel and held in place by fitting MECHANICS YY amine th tik 8p ~¢* re

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ae Pe POPULAR one of the hoops over it. The opposite end of the keg is covered, in the same manner, with a piece of netting. A small hinged door, with a hook to hold it shut, is provided for removing the catch when the trap is hauled from the water. To set the trap, a heavy stone is placed inside the keg, for a weight, to keep it beneath the surface. The trap is baited with a lump of dough, and some pieces are scattered on the cone and around the entrance. Minnows entering the small opening are unable to find their way out. The trap should be set in shallow water, where minnows are most likely to be found.—Chester Cooper, Glenville, W. Va. Ash Tray Made from Motor Piston The enthusiastic motorist who likes to have his surroundings reflect his hobby _ —__... can produce quite Jj an attractive and substantial cigar stand and ash tray from an old motor piston. The skirt of the piston is cut off on a line with the center of the piston-pin hole, and discarded, thus leaving the upper part of the piston with the _ piston- pin bosses cut in half, to form the cigar holders as shown. Three holes are drilled and tapped in the piston head, to accommodate 1% or 7%-in. spark plugs, as desired. Three spark plugs of the same length and make are screwed into the holes for legs. Such an ash tray is not easily overturned and, if made from an aluminum piston and pol- ished, it constitutes an attractive addi- tion to the furnishings of the den or of- fice.—C. C. Spreen, Warren, Ohio. CURVE OF ‘) f PISTON-PIN Stones Broken by Hot Water Any large stone whose presence is un- desirable in the field or yard, may be broken up without the aid of explosives. The earth is dug away around the stone until about three-fourths of it is exposed. A fire is built against the stone and al- lowed to burn until the latter is thor- oughly heated throughout. When a temperature approximating red-hot is reached, pails of cold water are thrown on the hot stone, which will crack open in pieces that one person will be able to remove without difficulty. —_—_— a wes ww ,— . adwkweesesirt. wwTwreaeeayr vr irt ce MECHANICS 149 A Simple Diving Raft _ Campers on the shores of a lake or river frequently discover to their dismay Springboard Mounted on a Heavy Raft Makes Div- ing Possible When the Water off Shore is Shallow that the water near the shore is too shal- low to permit diving. The answer to this is a floating springboard, such as shown in the drawing. Two logs, about 20 ft. long and 18 in. in diameter, are fastened, about 5 ft. apart, with heavy planks which form the platform. The springboard rests on a heavy wooden crosspiece, and the end underneath is attached to a similar crosspiece. To prevent the springboard from shifting its position, a wooden pin is driven into the front crosspiece on each side of the board. Instead of using one heavy plank for the diving board, two comparatively thin planks may be ar- ranged like the leaves of an elliptic spring, the longer board being on top. A stone anchor prevents the raft from drifting too far from the shore.—Harold E. Benson, Boulder, Colo. Paper Clip as Rubber-Type Holder Having some %4-in. rubber type but lacking a type holder, an ingenious in- dividual conceived the idea of holding the letters in a small spring paper clip, as shown in the drawing. A piece of round wood, about %6 in. in diameter, or a sec- tion of pencil, pre- vents the type from sliding back into the clip, and ~RuBBER TvPE keeps them prop- erly alined., Larger clips may be used for larger-size type, or for holding more than one line of smaller type, in which case a thin strip of metal will be required between the wood block and the type in order that the tvpe faces may be on the same plane.— Sinclair T. Roberts, Philadelphia. PAPER a Hl Me

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150 POPULAR Erecting Tents without Poles Though many a camper has observed and remarked upon the well-known fact KNOTS ON ROPE IN SIDE % OF TENT WILL HOLD TOP STRAIGHT The Disadvantage of Tent Poles Is Always Apparent to the Camper, but Poles Are Unnecessary Nuisances, as the Drawing Shows that tent poles are a nuisance, it has pos- sibly never occurred to many of them that it is quite pessible to erect a tent without poles, using ropes instead. The ridgepole is eliminated by a rope running through the inside of the tent. The ends of this rope are brought through the grommets provided at each end of the tent for the spikes of the end _ poles, and a knot is tied under each grommet, or eyelet, to prevent the tent from sag- ging in the center. The outer ends of the rope are attached, at the proper height, between two trees, as in the drawing. Should there be only one tree available one end of the tent rope is tied to the tree; the front end of the tent is supported by a rope running from a branch of the tree to a stake which is firmly driven into the ground somewhat in front of the tent and in line with its center—J. A. Bargquist, Chicago, Ill. Beads from Rose Petals Necklaces made from rose-petal beads are not only attractive in appearance but have a delightful rose odor. The petals are gathered, and chopped finely with a knife; if a food chopper is available, the results are better. The chopped petals are placed in an iron vessel of some sort. Should this be somewhat rusty it is really an advantage, since the rust (iron oxide) tends to make the beads a richer black in color. The petals should be allowed to stand for about a week after they have been chopped. Do not allow them to be- come dry; if there is any tendency toward this, a little water may be sprinkled over MECHANICS the mass. At the end of the week, suffi- cient water is stirred in with the petals to make a soft mass. The beads are made by rolling bits of this mass between the thumb and finger. While still soft, each bead is pushed onto a piece of wire or a hatpin and allowed to stand for several days until quite hard.—S, Leonard Bastin, sournemouth, Eng. Metal Lath in Boiler for Canning By cutting a piece of expanded-metal lath to fit loosely into an ordinary clothes boiler, an excellent false bottom is made for preserving by the cold-pack process. This false bottom does not spoil the flavor of fruits and vegetables being canned by this method, as occasionally happens when the. bottom is made of wood. The expanded-metal bottom also has the advantage of permitting freer cir- culation of the boiling water around the jars and cans—J. Hug, Ames, Ia. Simple Homemade Buzzer A small, though satisfactory buzzer can be easily made by the young elec- trician from a few odds and ends of metal and several yards of wire. A hardwood block is provided for the base, and a hole is drilled at one end for the post which supports the coil. The wire is wound around an ordinary bolt, as shown, the flanges at the ends being made from heavy cardboard or thin wood. A _ hole is drilled through the wooden post, and _the coil is attached to it by screwing a nut on the threaded end of the bolt core. The vibrator is a strip of tin, fastened to the base with a binding screw from an old dry cell. The circuit breaker, or inter- rupter, is bent from a piece of heavy copper wire, attached to the base by one of the binding posts, which have been CARDBOARD OR THIN WOOD VIBRATOR CIRCUIT BREAKER Simple Electric Buzzer for the Leva | Electrician, Made from Easily Obtainable Parts How to Build Small Electromagnets

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POPULAR taken from dry cells. The manner of connecting the wires is clearly shown in the drawing. The tone of the buzzer is regulated by moving the circuit breaker closer to or farther from the vibrator, and with a little experimenting a satisfy- ing buzz will be obtained—Chas, Martin, Warner, Alta. Barrel Hoops from Buggy Tires Sheet-iron barrel hoops speedily rust to pieces when the barrel is kept in a cellar, and painting them gives but little protec- tion. A substantial and more durable hoop can be made from old buggy tires by welding the ends together. At least one such heavy hoop should be driven over each end of the barrel. Bird House of Novel Design Every hatching season, the bird lover is appalled at the number of young birds killed by falling from the nest. It was to prevent these accidents that the bird house, shown in the drawing, was designed. This house has accom- modations for as many as six nests, which the birds can enter through the open court or passageway in the center. The sides and ends of the house are covered with wooden slats, 1 in. wide, spaced 1% in. apart. The entrance holes are cut well up from the bottom, to make it more difficult for the fledglings to escape before they are able to care for themselves. The open sides and ends provide light and ventilation, and at the same time give sufficient shelter against the elements. A Simple Monochrome Filter By using a simple monochrome filter, amateur photographers can determine, be- fore making an exposure, exactly how the finished picture will appear. Such a filter is made from a 2-in. square of clear pur- ple or dark blue glass, which can be pur- chased from any dealer in art glass. The edges of the square are ground, or bound with gummed-paper tape, so that the glass can be carried in the pocket and handled without danger. When this filter is held close to the eye, all objects seen through it appear to be of one color, as in a pho- tographic print—John E. Hogg, Los An- geles, Calif. ™m™ ~—™ wiwrwT i MECHANICS 151 Stanchion Built into Fence The photograph shows a covered calf stanchion that is built directly into the —- — A Covered Calf Stanchion, Built Directly into the ence, Is Always Dry and Occupies No Room in the Pasture fence, so that the farmer may call each calf into this frame and feed such grain as the animal needs, without going into the calf lot. Being covered, it is dry at all times, and occupies no room in the pasture field. —C. M. Baker, Wooster, Ohio. Camp Heater Made from Milk Can It isa common experience among camp- ers that, while the days may be hot, the nights become excessively cool in some parts of the country. The drawing shows one camper’s con- tribution to the comfort of the rest of his tribe. An old milk can was obtained — STOVEPIPE CLAY MILK CAN FiRE poor from a_ neighbor- wine ing farmhouse, and five or. six holes were drilled several inches from the bottom. Three-inch _ bolts were inserted through the holes, and secured by tightening the ASH DOOR TIN OR i SHEET IRON GRATE WITH Yo" PERFORATIONS —— nuts inside the can. The perforated sheet-metal grat: is supported by the protruding bolts in- side the can, as shown. Two doors, about 6 in. square, were cut for feeding the fire and removing the ashes. In the absence of hinges the doors were fas- tened to the can with wire loops run through holes punched in the tin. The stovepipe is inserted into the mouth of the can, and any surrounding space is stopped up with wet clay—Paul J. Kordes, Milwaukee, Wis. a ntwtewrneairriwwTrwwTrsae-aFTt? | “SOs a ack

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How to Build Small Electromagnets By JOHN A. PRIOR "THE first piece of electrical work to be attempted by most amateurs is the construction of some kind of electro- magnet, for such magnets, besides being Ss aa N MAGNET Lamp SIMPLE BAR MAGNET 110-VOLT D.C. cIRCUIT C N-POLE » WINONG a SPOLE IN SLOTS LAMPS FIELD-MAGNET CORE FOR TURBO-GENERATORS tig.l: LOW-VOLTAGE MAGNETS Fig. 2: BAR-TYPE MAGNETS CONNECTED THROUGH LAMP BANK LIFTING | t CHAIN Ss N ANNULAR TYPE OF LIFTING MAGNET Ficg.3 windINGs FOR HORSESHOE-TYPE MAGNETS Figs. 1, 2, and 3 Illustrate Diagrammatically the Way in Which Magnet Windings are Directed and Shaped DOUBLE-COIL fundamental to almost every kind of elec- trical apparatus, are interesting in them- selves. While almost any winding on any iron core constitutes a sort of magnet, far bet- ter results are to be had by correct pro- portioning. It is the purpose of this article to give an idea of what these pro- portions are, in the smaller sizes of mag- nets, for low voltages. These magnets can also be used on regular lighting cir- cuits; the making of small magnets wound especially for such high voltages is a tedious proposition. For use on a direct-current lighting cir- cuit, connect the magnet in series with a lamp of slightly greater normal amper- age. For example, the -%4-ampere sizes will operate well in series with a 40- watt lamp, on a 110-volt direct-current circuit, as diagrammed in the upper half of Fig. 1, or on a 220-volt circuit, with a pair of 40-watt lamps connected as shown below. Likewise for the 12-ampere sizes, use two 40-watt or three 25-watt lamps on a 110-volt circuit. All lamps should bé of regular circuit voltage. The general construction of electro- magnets is familiar to almost everyone. The essential parts are a soft-iron core, 152 POPULAR surrounded by a winding of insulated copper wire. The bar magnet is the sim- plest type and is diagrammed in Fig. 2. Here also is shown a_ turbogenerator rotor, which is also of the bar-magnet type. For increased power, a magnet core is more often bent into a “U,” or horseshoe shape, so that both poles are brought to the load. A few forms are shown, with method of winding indicated, in Fig. 3. The annular form is simply a modification of the horseshoe, often used in lifting magnets. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show three forms of core suitable for small magnets; the one in Fig. 6, although more difhcult to make than the others, gives complete protection to the winding, and is very suitable for a magnet to be used for practical purposes. A small current in a properly designed magnet will support a heavy weight. It will not, however, exert this force for any considerable distance from the pole faces. A great lifting magnet, capable of hand- ling a 10-ton casting, will not disturb a knife in a pocket 10 ft. away—though it may disturb a watch very seriously. Even the scale on a rough casting may inter- fere with the ability of a magnet to hold it, and has to be considered in design. Neither can a magnet exert as great a force on comparatively small objects as on larger ones. For instance, a magnet capable of lifting a 20,000-Ib. “skull- cracker” ball (such as is dropped some 20 ft. on a scrap pile, to break it up) can- not hold 1,000 lb. of scrap iron. It will be seen, then, that although a BOLT IRON PIPE STEEL OR eablitedicn J eg w.!. BOLT, 4 : eta," 4 j ‘ - maken : ' a\ 7 -~=> ' ; SS art Sees ee i) YT WINDING STRAP IRON Fic. 4:SINGLE-COIL, 4 HORSESHOE -T YPE oe =e BRASS _) SECTION PLATE te a gs j STRIPS OF PP SHEET IRON : # - \ --; OR TIN, \ ' VARNISHED ' a \ SEE LINE (4, TABLE | — | ———— tL = a BOTTOM VIEW Ficg.5: LAMINATED DOUBLE COIL FOR EITHER AC.OR D.C. DIMENSION t=% OR GREATER Figs. 4 5, and 6 Show Practical Methods of Construction for Small Electromagnets Operated from Batteries Fig. 6 ANNULAR LIFTING MAGNET MECHANICS

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_— a POPULAR magnet can be designed accurately for a specific purpose, it is impossible to give exact data for one to be used for gen- eral duty. Therefore, the data given in Tables I and II must be considered as suggestive, rather than hard and fast. It applies to magnets working under favor- able conditions, that is, liiting flat, smooth iron objects, of cross section at least equal to that of the core. Under these conditions, the rated holding power can be obtained. It will be noted that the smaller sizes are less economical of current than the larger, chiefly because of the resistance of the air gap between the poles and the load, which is about the same for all sizes. Theoretically, a holding magnet does no work, and therefore should consume no power at all. The power used in the actual direct-current electromagnet is all lost in overcoming the resistance of the winding. Therefore, by using sufficient wire of proper size, the current may be made very small indeed. In practice, a balance is struck, determined by prac- tical considerations. In the tables below, to avoid extremely heavy windings, a fairly high value of the current has been taken in the calculations; but it is not higher than can be drawn economically from a battery. If it is desired to use a different wind- ing and current on any size, it is only necessary that the product of the turns of wire times the current should be the same as that given as ampere turns in TABLE I. General Data for Small Electromagnets of Any Voltage | Pull, or Holding Force, in Lb. 2 5 10 20 no 100 Ampere Turns 75 | 225 | 300] 400 00 | R00 00 } Area of Core _ (Minimum) in Sq.) .04 eS 2 n. Diameter of Round Core in In.) \% 3% 4, 3% 1%/1% | to to | x v4 Note: Pull is calculated for a cast-iron armature of area equal to that of the core; the air gap is assumed, .005 in. for smallest size. Other core dimensions shoyld be determined to suit the form and size of the windings, making the core as short as convenient. Table I. can be For example, the 10-1b. magnet wound by POPTIT AR MBRCHANTCS. either of the two MECHANICS 153 methods in Table ITI. ampere turns; 1,200 turns; 900 turns. Both give 300 in one case, 4% ampere by in the other, 45 ampere by It would develop the same pull TABLE II. For Finding Dimensions of a Winding | oa | pr FL: w= Be nw | i o = | ele.g| es 2 | vf | ofge | stz Siseele Bg] SS | eSSs | te -_ —s3 | = co- a-RO c= ~ © | Soe] 5_é | & en gee | Rene >| tam | OFS | CS | AsFo | How = 2 % TOO 28 o2 , 105 5 14 900 25 O18 180 1% 1v % 1,200 23 O.2 | 300 | 40 Lin 900 23 022 225 2 | % THO 81 OOS | 100 | 5 1, 900 oR 12 170 3 10 1, 1,200 26 016 350 | 10 14 OO 26 016 } 225 2 % | 700 | 34 06 | 100 5 vA 900 31 | OOS 170 6 10 vA 1,200 20 OL | 30 10 1. 900 29 11 | 225 20 1, 1,200 26 016 | 425 oy % SOO 26 O16 280) a — —e 10 | 4 1,200 382 | O08 | 30 Ww 1% V0 32 | O08 | -~4 12] 20 | i 1,200 | 29 O1l =| 425 20 | &% &00 29 O11 i 2 280) no 1% 1,600 24 020 | go ; 100 1 1,500 21 028 1100 with 1 ampere and 300 turns, or .1 ampere and 3,000 turns. So one can suit himself in the matter of windings, given sufficient wire, and patience in winding it on. The core is the same in any given size, what- ever the winding. The windings are best made up of cot- ton-covered magnet wire; in fact, this is about the only form in which such small sizes of wire can be had in most places. Rather than wind directly on the core, it is better to make up the winding on a false core of wood or paper, wrapping it with tape before placing it on the iron core. The winding may be made up in two coils, if desired. The core may be of any shape of sec- tion, but where the coils rest upon it, it should be round or nearly so, or a waste of wire will result. In any case, its area should be at all points equal to, or greater than, that of the round core listed in the table. Other dimensions are made to suit the winding. These magnets will operate, after a fashion, on alternating current, if the voltage is high enough, but will heat up from core losses. This heating can be much reduced by making the core of iron

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154 POPULAR wire, or of a bundle of sheet-iron strips, insulated with paper or varnish, as shown in Fig. 5. To get sufficient voltage it will be necessary to connect through lamps to the lighting circuit, exactly as outlined above. It will be impossible to get as much holding power as can be had with direct current, without overheating. Closely allied with the subject of elec- tromagnets is that of solenoids, for use with a core which is to be pulled into the coil, thus operating some mechanism. Such cores necessarily have a large air gap; that is, there is no nearly complete magnetic circuit of iron, as in a horseshoe magnet. For this reason, it is hardly pos- MECHANICS sible to give very definite data for the pull to be expected from a certain wind- ing. The table will give suggestions for the windings of such solenoids, though the pull will of course be much less than that given for magnets. In general, the pull depends on the cross section of the core and the ampere turns of the coil, so that a greater pull can be obtained by increasing either factor. For best opera- tion, however, a reasonable proportion should be maintained between the two. With a solenoid and plunger, a motion of an inch or more is readily obtained, though this involves, of course, a corre- sponding reduction of the pulling force. Funnel for Watering Plants Slight results are obtained from water- ing plants in summer unless enough wa- ter is applied to reach the roots, which is particularly de- sirable with plants that have exten- sive root systems or long taproots. The funnel ar- rangement shown in the drawing is easily made and gets results witha minimum of wa- ter. The funnel spout is perforat- ed, as shown, and the lower end is provided with a point, so that it may be easily thrust into the ground. In operation, the spout is pushed into the earth, close to the root of the plant to be watered, and the funnel is filled with water, which flows through the holes in the perforated spout.—H. C. Crocker, Edwardsville, II. Removing Obstruction from Rifle Barrel It frequently happens that a cleaning rag, or perhaps a section of the clean- ing rod, becomes tightly jammed in a rifle barrel; if it is found impossible to get it out by ordinary means it will usu- ally yield to the method described. Procure a_ solid steel rod, slightly smaller than the bore of the rifle and a little longer than the barrel. Measure with this and mark on the outside of the barrel to indicate the location of the obstruction inside. Fill to the muzzle with thin lubricating oil and let stand for half a day, then reverse and repeat the operation from the breech end. Then place the barrel, at the point of the ob- struction, into.the flame of a gasoline torch, or Bunsen burner, and turn the barrel slowly to heat it evenly. Because of the lubrication of the barrel and patch, charring of the patch, and expansion of the barrel from the heat, it will almost always be found possible to force out the obstruction with the steel rod. After removing the obstruction, the barrel should be cooled gradually, and it may be rubbed with an oily rag while cool- ing. It is not necessary to’ bring the barrel to a red heat, and, carefully done, this method will injure neither the bar- rel nor its finish—Van Allen Lyman, Bal- boa, C. Z. Sickle Made from Steel Square A carpenter's steel square, whose use- fulness ended when the markings became WOODEN indistinguishable, was HANDLE ———— converted into a dur- able sickle. A _ two- piece wooden handle OLD STEEL was riveted to the ww: —— long side of the square, as shown, and the end of the short side was o—, ground off at an SHARP EDGE — angle. The inside angle of the square was bev- eled off by grinding, the bevel extending up the long side about 10 in. Such a sickle will be found quite useful for trimming hedges and cutting light brush, as well as for cut- ting grass.—C. A. Black, Jr., Hightstown, New Jersey.

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POPULAR Making Spark and Throttle Rods Excellent rods for connecting carbu- retor throttles or ignition timers with their operating levers can be made from steel spokes such as are used in wire wheels; motorcycle spokes are of a good size. The headed end is bent at right angles, if not already bent, to go into the eye of the operating lever; if the diameter of the spoke is less than that of the eye, a short section of tubing can be cut to make a bushing. For the other con- nection, the threaded end is bent at right angles and the nipple screwed in place. In some cases, the nipple will fill the hole or eye, and in other cases a thin section of tube will have to be used as a filler. It will be necessary to heat the spoke at the ends for bending, but the center should be left hard, as this adds much to its strength for the purpose. For long bends, such as may be required to allow the rods to clear obstacles, no heating is needed. —Howard Greene, New York, N. Y. Hinged Table Drawer The swinging drawer, as ordinarily con- structed, generally sags under the weight of its contents. <A remedy for this condi- tion is shown in the drawing. The front of the drawer is a board extending for a foot or more be- low the bottom, and hinged to the table leg. A longer bearing for the drawer to swing on is thus provided, which acts as a brace to support the weight. Such drawers never stick, and the entire drawer and its contents are exposed to view at a single movement.

DRAWERS House Numbers Made from Auto Tags Old automobile-license tags, which have the numbers pressed in the steel, can be used as molds for making house numbers. Melt some lead, zinc, or other soft metal, and pour it into the sunken side of the plate, the latter being set on a level surface. The heads of small nails may be molded into the metal, and these used later for attaching the numbers to the house. After the molds have cooled, they may be touched up with a file or sandpaper.—Leonard Stubbs, Noblesville, Indiana. MECHANICS 155 Screen Door for Tent While homes are provided with screen doors to prevent entrance of insects, the THIS SIDE TACKED TO POLE ~_ 4’¥o y 4 : A 4 #4 Vy 7 4 AN 7 , KH

4

2” || 1x } BOARDS”

1 FRAME MADE TO FIT ) \ HALF OF FRONT OF TENT STAKE A Screen Door for the Camper's Tent is Opened by Lifting, the Upper Edge being Hinged tent dweller unwillingly entertains a va- ricty of pestiferous insect life, and as- sumes that an enterprising colony of hornets in his tent is the thing to be expected. By equipping the tent with a screen door, the camper is enabled to show a light in his tent after dark with- out permitting insects to enter. A light wooden frame is made, and covered with wire cloth, or mosquito netting, as shown in the drawing. A stake is driven at one corner of the tent, to which a corner of the door is attached with screw eyes and a wire link, the upper corner being simi- larly attached to the end pole. Toy Dividers from Old Scissors The amateur mechanic frequently feels keenly the lack of a scribing compass, or dividers, without real- izing that a pair of old scissors—usually to be found in any house-

hold—would — dispose of the difficulty. pa nenren = The handles are cur or/ broken, or cut off, BREAK- well down toward the blades, and the latter are ground down to fine points, as shown. The screw, or rivet, holding the blades together, is tightened up to prevent the legs from moving from the position in which they are set. @A piece of good plate glass will make a satisfactory emergency surface plate.

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156 POPULAR MECHANICS Carbide Lamp Makes Gas Stove A carbide bicycle lamp, or automobile acetylene tank or generator, may be easily arranged to make a convenient stove for CARBIDE LAMP Acetylene Headlamp Provides the Camper or Tourist with a Ready and Convenient Means of Preparing His Food the tourist or camper. A piece of small gas pipe, about 1 ft. long, is plugged at one end, and a small hole is drilled about at the center, as shown. The pipe is held above the ground by heavy wire legs, sol- dered to the pipe. A tin cylinder, of the size desired, is made, and slots are cut in opposite sides, that it may fit over the pipe. To use the stove, the burner tip is removed from the headlamp, and a piece of rubber tubing is connected to the lamp and the open end of the pipe. When the tin cylinder is placed in position and the gas has been lighted, at the hole in the pipe, the coffeepot or frying pan is placed on top of the cylinder, and the food is cooked, or heated, in a very short time.— Wm. J. Barry, Huntington, W. Va. Portable Back Rest for Beach Use A convenient and readily portable head and back rest, for use on beach or lawn, is made from several hardwood strips, and a length of canvas, combined as in the sketch. The long side strips are mortised at the center, and the cross- piece is pro- vided with a corresponding tenon at each end as in the drawing. The lower ends of the sidepieces are pointed. Near the upper end of each crosspiece, a hole is drilled for a piece of rope, which passes through them and through the hem provided at one edge of the canvas strip. The rope is secured to the outside of the strips with knots. In use, the rest is placed at an angle, as shown, and the pointed sidepieces are forced into the ground, the person sitting on the extended canvas. When not in use, the seat may be taken to pieces, and rolled into a small bundle—F. H. Mason, Victoria, B. C. Birds and Blue Paper Some interesting experiments that have been conducted show that seeds and crops may be protected from the attacks of birds by the use of blue paper. Strips of bright-blue paper tied to strings were stretched across seed beds, and no birds ventured near. Pieces of blue paper were also attached to fruit trees, and the feath- ered robbers carefully avoided the posi- tion. A Cheap Wet-Battery Cell The high cost of dry cells has encour- aged many to make and use homemade cells of various kinds, and the one de- scribed has the merit of cheap- ness and efii- ciency, as well as long life. For the battery jar, an old can, about 6 in. high and 4 in. in diameter, is used. A porous cup is required, and this is made by rolling a strip of blotting paper around a stick, 1% in. in diameter, and securing the ends with melted paraffin. The bottom of the cup is made by standing it on a smooth sur- face which has been greased with vaseline, and pouring in plaster of Paris, or melted paraffin, to a depth of about 14 in. When completed, the porous cup is stood in the center of the can, the outside space is filled with chips, borings, and turnings of iron, and a strip of zinc is placed in- side the cup, as shown in the drawing. The battery solution. is made by dissolv- ing caustic soda in water until it will take up no more; a saturated solution, in other words. The cell is filled with this solu- tion to within an inch of the top, and con- nection is made with the zinc strip and the can by means of binding posts, as shown. Owing to the caustic character -

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POPULAR of the battery solution it should not be allowed to come into contact with the skin or clothing. Such a cell has a volt- age of about 1.2, and will deliver approx- imately two amperes on short circuit, de- pending on the purity of the chemicals and the fineness of the borings and turn- ings. The internal resistance of these cells is high, and best results are obtamed by connecting a battery of them in par- allel, if a large amount of current is re- quired. However, one or two such cells will give good results for light service, such as a doorbell circuit. Grooved Pulleys from Ciock Wheels Every experimenter has need, at times, for one or more small grooved pulleys that will run true. A simple way of securing such pul- leys is to take clock gears of the proper size and bend = alternate teeth to opposite sides, somewhat in the same manner that “set” is given to the teeth of a saw. The teeth are bent so that a V-shaped groove of about 60° or 90° will be formed, as shown in the drawing. If a gear of sufficient size is unobtainable, a disk of heavy galvanized iron may be used by making a series of radial cuts around the edge and bending alternate teeth, as described. y\ CLOCK GEAR NX Vv PULLEY Corrugated-Steel Food Chopper An old saw blade is used to make the food chopper illus- trated. The metal is bent while red-hot, then tem- pered and sharp- ened before the handle is attached. Electric Lamp Raises Bread Dough To keep bread dough at a uniform tem- perature throughout the night, the vessel containing it is set underneath a box which has a hole cut in its top for the insertion of a 25-watt electric lamp. The heat from the burning lamp is slight, but sufficient to raise the dough nicely and prevent its “falling” with a drop in the outside temperature. I[ECHANICS 15 ~ Soldering and Brazing Seams In joining sheet-metal edges, instead of making a plain butt joint, it is much g \ ‘ AFTER TINNING, BEVEL OR SCARF J PIN THE JOINT EDGES OF PLATE | ie = BRASS ROD ( ; nal a . i" — = — in ¥ PUT IN THE SPELTER YY AND APPLY BLOWTORCH For Soldering and Brazing Sheet-Metal Seams, Brass ire and Rod can be Used Advantageously, as Shown in the Two Sketches better to make a beveled joint with auxil- lary pinning, as illustrated in the upper half of the sketch. After forming the bevels, each side is tinned, and the sur- plus solder wiped up. Several brass pins are placed in drilled holes, as_ illus- trated, and the parts are then sweated together. When the exterior surface is smoothed off, the joint is hardly notice- able, and the seam is much stronger than a plain soldered one. In making brazed joints, it has been found advantageous to chamfer the edges, as illustrated below. Place brass spelter in the V-shaped cavity, run a piece of brass wire along on top of it, and plac more spelter around the wire. When the blowpipe is applied, the brass wire assists in carrying the heat rapidly along the junction, fusing the spelter and making a close bond. The method aids in avoid- ing the presence of porous spelter, thus giving a joint which is air and water-tight and, besides, has greater strength.—G. A. Luers, Washington, D. C. Measuring Contents of Cans Do you get your money’s worth when gasoline, or other liquid commodities are bought “by the can”? Here is an easy method of determining the contents of cylindrical containers. Measure the diameter and the height in inches. Multiply the diameter by it- self and the product by the height; take ¥% of 1 per cent of that total and the re- sult is the number of gallons, correct to one-fiftieth. For more exact results 2 per cent is added to the total, or 1 gal. for every 50 obtained.

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158 POPULAR Scales without Springs or Bearings A pair of scales can be quickly fitted up with two nails, a piece of string, and F F lat ‘t CARDBOARD BALANCE PANS : Differing Entirely from the Conventional Scale, the Results Obtained with This Device Are Remarkably Accurate some pasteboard. Drive the two nails, about 2 ft. apart, into the edge of a shelf. Take a piece of cord, about 42 in. long, and tie a knot exactly in the middle of it and the ends to the nails, as shown. Cut two pieces of cardboard, of the same size, for the pans, and suspend them an equal distance on each side of the knot by threads. The threads holding the pans should be tied tightly, to prevent the pans from slipping down the cord. Just beyond the horizontal cord, a card. having a vertical line ruled on it, is placed in such position that the knot is exactly opposite the ruled line when the pans are still and balancing. To use thi§ scale, the article to be weighed is placed in one of the pans, when the knot will be pulled to one side of the vertical line on the card. Pile weights on the empty pan until the knot is drawn back to its first position in front of the mark. The amount of weight’ re- quired to make the knot line up with the ruled line indicates the article’s weight. Finishing Glossy Photographs Though the professional photographer knows better, many amateurs continue to struggle with the solution of benzol and paraffin on their ferrotype plates, to ob- tain glossy prints. Benzol in combination with paraffin, or other greases, is often unreliable and is the cause of many smudgy, dust-specked prints, unjustly blamed on unclean plates. The amount of paraffin is another bothersome matter, for should too much be used the print never will come off. MECHANICS A solution of plain commercial acetic acid will give good glossy prints, and is much more satisfactory to use than the old-time mixture mentioned. Plates that have been used with the old benzol solu- tion are cleaned by rubbing with a tuft of cotton soaked in alcohol or gasoline. A solution of 1 oz. acetic acid to 10 oz. of water is sprinkled on the plate, rubbed in with a piece of cotton, and wiped off with a cloth. The plate should then be pol- ished by rubbing with a piece of dry cotton. After the prints have been fixed and thoroughly washed, they should be placed in a bath composed of 1 oz. acetic acid to 16 oz. of water, and allowed to remain for about 10 minutes. Before placing the prints on the ferrotype plate, they should be wiped off with a tuft of cotton, under running water. By this method, prints dry before a fan, or in a draft, in less than five minutes, if well blotted, while 20 minutes is quick time for “peeling” a print when the benzol solution is used.—Edwin Kemp, Baltimore, Md. Steps Made from Tree Trunk Where lumber is scarce and steps are wanted to reach to the top of an embank- ment, or sharp incline, they can be made at trifling cost HAND RAIL from the trunk of a tree, and such steps will out- last the ordi- nary board ones. If the length of the steps is great, one or more logs, or tree trunks, may be laid end to end. The steps are cut out, as shown in the drawing, with an ax or saw, so they will be as nearly level as possible; the larger the tree trunk, the larger and more comfortable will be the steps. A handrail is provided by driving forked stakes into the ground, at intervals, on one side of the steps, and laying poles in the forks, as shown in the accompanying illustration. @ The man in charge of a filling station, in order to prevent pilfering from his cash drawer, built onto the side of it a sliding contact, which rings an eléctric bell whenever the drawer is opened. eo ed

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OPPORTUNE ANNOUNCEMENTS w henever prize competitions mentioned on this page are conducted by a ?—— institution, the name and address will appear with the announcement. Industrial addresses will not be published, but may be obtained from our Bureau of Information by request, mentioning the title of the article and date of publication. —Editor POWERS AGREE ON REGULATION OF INTERNATIONAL AIRWAYS ty the terms of a recent agreement now in force the governments of Great Britain, France, and Switzerland each grant free passage over land and sea, in time of peace, to the aircraft of the other This freedom of.the air is granted, however, only to aircraft operated according to the rules enumerated. Thus, while aircraft may transport passenger and freight from one country to another, air traffic by a foreign country is prohibited between points in any one country. The frontiers can be crossed, too, only at certain points. Having crossed the frontier, the plane or dirigible engaged in this international traffic must land in a specified airdrome for inspec- tion and certification. The agreement includes all aircraft, except those used for military purposes, and for the mail and certain other public services The agreement can be renounced by one or all of the countries on three months’ notice. GOVERNMENT BUREAU ADOPTS PLAN OF MARKING BIRDS WITH BANDS Large numbers of water fowl and other migratory birds are to be trapped, marked with a leg band, released, and_traced by the U. S Bureau of Biologi- cal Survey to determine their routes, speed, and motives of travel. The bureau has taken over the work formerly performed by the American Bird Randing Assoc‘ation, and is inviting the assistance of all persons who are in a position to set traps and visit dem two or three times a day. Many ques- tions .of interest to naturalists, including certain mating and nesting theories, are expected to be made clear as a result of these experiments. Volunteers who apply to the bureau, at the U. S. Department of Agriculture,” Washington, D. C., will be supplied with numbered aluminum bands for attaching to the captive birds, EASTERN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS MAY WORK SIX MONTHS IN SHOPS A large eastern university has just made arrange- ments with a total of 1,400 industrial, engineering, and public-service concerns in its state, whereby students in mechanical, electrical, civil, sanitary, and municipal engineering may spend. six months of their junior year in actual shop work. By dividing the time into three two-month periods, no regular class- room time will be lost. Students will receive wages at current rates while working, and are expected to derive much benefit from this preliminary association with real workaday problems, The shop period is, however, entirely optional with each student. GLACIER PEAK ELEVATOR PLAN DEFERRED Regrettable as it seems, the Glacier Peak ele- vator project described in April, 1920, Popular Me- chanics Magazine, has been deferred indefinitely. Mining engineers and elevator companies are agreed that the plan is perfectly practicable from an en- gineering standpoint, and the traveling public are united in feeling that the project is wholly desir- able. The elevator would permit thousands to reach the peak, where now only a few can do so, and that most toilsomely. As stated before, the view from Glacier Point 1s incomparable. It is greatly to be hoped that the plan is merely deierred, and that the park service will eventually be able to accommodate tourists in this way. ORDNANCE RESEARCH ENGINEER WANTED BY GOVERNMENT There is an opening at the LU. S. arsenal in Phila- delphia for an ordnance research engineer, at a sal ary of $4,000 to $5,000 a year, and a civil-service examination is to be held June 22 to fill it. » Appli- cants will be rated on their education and training, counting 25 per cent, and their preliminary and re- sponsible experience, 75 per cent, and need not re- port at any office for examination, but must submit a late photograph and the customary credentials To qualify they must be engineering graduates, with five or more years experience in metal products, pat ticularly copper alloys, or three years in actual am munition work. Those interested should apply imme- diately to the Civil Service Commission at Washington for Form No. 1312. BOXING, CRATING, AND KILN-DRYING TAUGHT IN SHORT COURSES The astonishing figure of $500,000 a day is set by authorities as the loss in this country from the use of poor and extravagant packing methods and ma- terials. So serious has this item become that the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., has established a short training course in boxing and packing. Tests of materials, nails, etc., and demon- strations of various right and wrong methods com prise the course, with particular attention to the specific problems’ of each student. The work takes but one week, and starts in July. A ten days’ course in kiln-drying, including a thorough study of the subject in actual practice, is given the same month TEAMS OF MINERS TO COMPETE IN MINE- RESCUE CONTESTS The national championship in mine-rescue and first-aid work is to be decided at Denver on August 20 and 21, and many picked teams of miners from all over the country are expected to compete for the honor. Mine workers of the West who were unable to enter the contests at Pittsburgh last year will be particularly interested in the coming event \ssociations of coal and metal miners will hold ses sions in connection with the meeting, and prizes, medals, and cups will be distributed to the winning teams, Mr. D. J. Parker, of the U. S. Bureau of Mines at Pittsburgh, is making the arrangements for the competition, and those desirous of entering teams should communicate with that office RIGHT WAY TO USE NATURAL GAS TOLD BY GOVERNMENT BOOKLET The statement has been made by an authority that 80 per cent of the natural gas used in homes is wasted. This not only affects the user's pocket book, but-furthers the dissipation of one of the coun- try’s most valuable resources. Three times the pres- ent efficiency can readily be obtained from the cook ing and heating appliances now used with natural gas, and a government bulletin just issued tells in plain language how to accomplish that saving. Draw ings, illustrating the correct arrangement and ad justment of burners and cooking utensils, aid the text in making the subiect clear and simple. The bulletin, Technical Paper No. 257, may be obtained for five cents from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C CHINESE REAL-ESTATE DEALS REQUIRE MANY SIGNATURES Chinese property deeds or leases often bear as many as 100 signatures, according to persons who have traveled in the Far East. This is made necessary by the fact that much of the land in the oriental coun try is owned by syndicates Agreements affecting such holdings must be signed by every member of the organization in possession Real-estate agents are employed to interview individuals interested in a transaction, and to obtain their written consent to its completion. These middlemen usually are to be found in a magistrate’s court In cases where one of the joint owners is absent from home, or is dead, some member of the same family can legally sign the document Foreigners are allowed to a chase property only through certain designated « $

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CONCRETE LOG HOUSE HAS MANY ADVANTAGES

8664246080

The Completed House, _ . , As the

Plan Indicates,

Made of Precast Con- = It is Laid Out, Bungalow crete Units in Natural- BEDROOM] 2 Style, for Six Rooms, —» 4 ITTLE as the ecorcom early builders of log homes may J have known about if length and from scientific architec- ene 3 foundation to roof. ture, no small- - The ingeniously house design ap- vet annie designed molds for peals more strongly BEDROOM @| these hollow logs even now to the | are arranged in esthetic sense than groups of four, and those picturesque the logs are cast bi lian ae a DINING } Variety of Ways hollow, providing free circulation of air along their

| 28 FT.

dwellings of pio- J aaa t face up, 8 ft. long, neer days. lo pre- | FRONT PORCH with a half inch of serve that appeal in a modern facing material rounded up at home, and to add to it advan- - the top, and finished in bark tages not ordinarily included in small- design with a trowel and thin mortar, house construction, embracing a high colored for any effect desired. The house, degree of economy and an extraor- just completed, cost the inventor of the dinary durability, is a distinct achieve- molds $2,700, which, it is asserted, is ment. lower than the cost of a frame house of In a little city of Ray County, Mo., a similar size, and the insurance, of course, worker. in concrete has accomplished just is far less. The adjustable molds, pro- that. He has erected a six-room house’ tected by patents, are to be made avail- that, to all appearances, is a well-built able to other builders. log cabin, faithful to tradition even to RE the log chimney at one end. But the (Copper deposits, said to be the richest logs he uses are more permanent than in the world, have been discovered on the the massive forest timbers of the original, island of Timor, Dutch East Indies. The for they are of concrete, and further- scarcity of native labor is the chief hin- more, in strictly modern style, they are <drange to development.

IX accordance with the editorial policy of this magazine never to accept compensation in any form for what appears in our reading pages, and also to avoid all appearance of doing so, we are obliged to omit the name of the maker or the seller of any article described. This information, however, is kept on file and will be furnished free, by addressing bureas of Information, Popular Mechanics Magazine, Chicago. [Editor.]

1)