Popular Science Monthly 1917-11: Vol 91 Iss 5

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place a — stamp on th : pony hand sam postal e = and it will at . ened in the ceoae r) ers or sailors at aN fron’

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i} 4 HH] i ii | | | iH | i i SENECA (CAMERAS Are Favorites at the Training Camps. Has Your Boy a Seneca Vest Pocket? Get him one and he can send you pictures of his new friends—illustrate his stories of camp life—prove to you he is well and happy with every letter. Get one yourself and send him pictures of the family and home happenings. It will help keep him contented and make him a better soldier. i Vest Pocket Negatives enlafge to any size. Ask the Senéca Dealer or write for Catalog SENECA CAMERA MFG. COMPANY 163 State Street Rochester, N. Y.

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The Popular Science Monthly in the Schools The modern teacher vitalizes his subject. He tries to show the applications of a scientific principle to daily life. The new machines and the new wonders of science are based on the fundamental principles ex- plained to pupils. The Poputar Sctence Monruty has aided teachers of Science and Manual Training in showing how the fundamental principles are applied in new discoveries and inventions. Over 1,500 schools are now using the PopuLaR ScrencE Montuzy for classroom instruction. Here are extracts from letters chosen from hundreds sent in by teachers. They are only a few of the many ex- pressions of appreciation received: I believe every teacher of mechanical science or manual training should use the PoPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY as a service book. My students take a great interest in the lectures taken from it. T. W. Kerley, Teacher of Manual Training, Estherville High School, Estherville, Ia. The magazine was read more by the boys than any other on our reading table. Ralph E. Roycroft, Detroit, Mich. For use in supplementing a high school physics or chemistry course I think PoprpuLAR SCIENCE MONTHLY has no superior in the line of current literature. George E. Davis, Teacher of Physics and Chemistry, High School Institute, Mishawaka, Ind. PoPpuULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY is very popular with our boys, in fact so much so we find they prefer reading the magazine to studying their regular school work. Personally I find the magazine helpful and _ interesting. New ideas are continually coming up within its covers, and suggestions for rearrangement of work. L. D. Whiting, Supervisor, Manual and Physical Military Training, Fal- mouth, Mass. We use the POPULAR SCIENCE MonrTHLY regularly in our depart- ment of the school, and many of the boys I notice bring in copies of it almost every month, and figure and work on some of the projects. C. R. Bernard, Supervisor of Man- ual Arts, Salida High School, Salida, Colo. Science is a living, vital subject. If one teacher more than another should be up to date it is the science teacher. I think that PopuLarR SCIENCE MONTHLY is the best magazine on the market for supplementary science material. Albert Early, Principal, High School, N. Plainfield, N. J. The PoruLArR ScrlENCE MONTHLY taken by the school is literally read to pieces by the first year and third year pupils. It is referred to very fre- quently in class, and is of material help. C. B. Roote, Headmaster, High School, Northampton, Mass. The PoPpuLaR SCIENCE MONTHLY is the most popular of all magazines, especially with the boys of the 8th- gth-1oth years (highest grade and first two high school years) in school. Burt W. Alverson, Principal, High School, Dexter, N. Y. | { | | ; |

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Fighting Off Submarines with Armed Buoys 7 =x =x == Tx =x rx x == =x =x _ = — | a ae ora ST Te “= Electric light Wireless and wireless mast - ; Mast folds down with closing of hatch Gasoline engine andair compressor in water-tight Water-tight am nunition locker Valve to let outs ompressed & Bir in subme: alve and compressed air intet to force water in submerging tank out ‘to trunk line;tele- phone cable to_ shore base ——~ peers Signal flags Towing ling, drum Mooring’cable _/ 7 meat Light bamboo rods tek j: ae J . 3 4 fe Net support Weights on bottom - rods .. The Submersible Buoy and How It Works As soon as the submarine strikes a light net, held in the water by bamboo rods, a telltale flag appears on a little float by day and an electric light flashes by night. The lookout on the deck of the buoy knows that a submarine is near. At once the wireless outfit is brought into play to notify a patrol. If the buoy should be attacked, the crew go below, open the sea-valve, sink out of sight and telephone to shore 642

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Popular Science Monthly 239 Fourth Avenue, New York City November, 1917 Vol. 91 No. 5 $1.50 Annually The Gun-Buoy for Repelling Submarines It has living quarters for four, telephone connections, periscopes and a rapid-fire gun—all the modern marine conveniences which carries a gun and on each of which four men can live for many days, is the latest solution which has been offered to cope with the submarine menace. As the picture on the opposite page shows, each buoy has an upper deck on which a three-inch rapid-fire gun is mounted, living quarters below the gun- deck, a tank below the living quarters, which tank is to be filled with water in order to sink the buoy, and finally, a cylindrical compressed-air tank at the bottom. The buoy itself is about sixteen feet in diameter and about twenty feet deep from the gundeck to the top of the compressed-air tank. At the bottom of the compressed-air tank is a cable drum and winding gear. The anchoring cable is wound around this drum. When the buoy is to be rapidly submerged, its sinking can be hastened by winding up on the drum gear, the extra downward pull assist- ing the water admitted into the submer- gence tank. A hand gear is provided in the living quarters to facilitate the winding up of the mooring cable. The buoy is equipped as completely as a boat or as a submarine itself. It has a periscope, which can be used when the gun deck is just awash; a wireless outfit; telephone connections with a land station; a microphone for picking up the hum of a submarine’s motors under water, and a small gasoline engine with attached air compressor, which is stored in a watertight compartment and which serves the purpose of filling the compressed-air tank. A whole series of these buoys is to be used. They are connected by a telltale net of very light construction, the meshes of which are about twenty feet square. The nets are to be made in units measuring forty feet by two hundred. Light bamboo A SERIES of huge buoys, each of poles suspend the nets in the water, the bottom pole being weighted so as to keep the unit upright. The upper bamboo pole is connected with a little float which is shown in the detail drawing on the opposite page. The float carries a telltale flag and’ an incandescent lamp, the one to be used by day and the other by night. As soon as a submarine strikes the net, the flag is thrown up and the light flashes. Each little float is attached to the top of each net unit. The connection between the float and the net is such that the slightest tension upon the part of the net will destroy the connection. A line leads from the net unit to the little float through a watertight tube and to a drum on which it is reeled. As soon as the submarine strikes the net unit, the float rises and the line is unreeled. When the whole line is unreeled a latch attached to the drum is released and that, in turn, unlocks the flag, which is forced up by a spring. The pole of the flag throws a knife switch so that the battery is simultaneously placed in circuit with the electric light. The buoys are in direct communication with one another as well as with the main- land and the patrol fleets so that they are able to give instant warning of the presence of a submarine within their radius of action. Normally each buoy would float: just above the surface with its hatch open. One man would be stationed on deck as a lookout; another would operate the wireless apparatus; a third would stand ready to perform any necessary operation; a fourth man would be sleeping. The cost of making the buoys, and net units is small compared with the building of destroyers and submarine chasers and steel nets. Moreover, they can remain at their stations for a far longer period than a patrol fleet can remain at seai: 643

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| | . | - -by the Germans ‘help solve the war problems. In the 644 Popular Science Monthly A Merry-Go-Round with Which Ger- man Soldiers Amused Themselves ““ MK ROUND the world in forty days,” is part of the legend which appears over ‘a ramshackle merry-go-round made The Suitcase Talking-Machine. Take It Along on Your Travels HAT to do with the talking-machine when you leave the city for the summer has been solved by Arthur Stech- on French soil. Forall we know, this may have been the Ger- man slogan at the beginning of the war. The merry-go-round is now in the possession of the French. Two cast-off wheels with the axle form the main part of the makeshift affair. The elaborate structure on top is agiant spoked bart,of Chicago, Illinois. Like the dog, the cat, the pet parrot and your wife’s new hats, you take it along with the rest of the hand _ bag- gage. Being a portable ma- chine in the shape of a small suitcase, it can be carried from place to place without injur- ing the mechan- ism or destroy- x] ing the records, French Official Photo wheel placed over the ordi- nary wagon wheel. The seats are suspended by wire— rope being as scarce as copper. Keep Livestock Away from Railroad Tracks and Conserve the Meat Supply URING the twelve months ending June 30, 1917, the Southern Rail- way system alone paid out more than $200,000 in judgments to farmers for animals killed on the railroad’s right of way. President Harrison, of that system, points out that if the farmers would prevent their animals from straying over the tracks they would first place, the animals killed are a total loss as far as the food supply is concerned. Then, the sum paid by the railroad in recompense even at the present prices of equipment, would buy more than one hundred standard box cars capable of handling at a single load more than 3,000 tons of freight, thus tending to relieve the freight congestion. Here, then, is a chance not only for the chuck- ling farmer but for the comic artist and the jokester to relinquish a source of income for patriotism. A German merry-go-round made out of odds and ends on French territory and later abandoned which do _ not have to be car- ried separately but are packed away within the machine itself. Brass knobs protect the corners and add to the suitcase appearance of the closed machine. The handle of strong padded leather is placed just exactly as it would be on a regulation suitcase. But the interior is exactly like that of the small-sized talking machines. The record chamber is on the under side of the hinged cover of the machine casing. A recess is cut into the top board of the casing to hold the needles and needle-carrier. Record storage compartment The talking-machine is a small- sized suitcase, with a chamber in the cover to hold records

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ew eee, we Popular Science Monthly A Perfect Bread Slicing Machine for the Commissariat NEW bread-slicing machine re- cently devised by two Washing- ton men—W. H. Garlock and W. J. Stubbe, of Seattle, slices an entire loaf at one operation without crush- ing, tearing, or breaking the slices. A number of knives, supported in two frames, are operated vertically and simultaneously but in opposite directions. When one set of knives is traveling up, the other set is travel- ing down. By this arrangement the friction in the slicing operation is counteracted and the softest and hardest baked loaf can be sliced equally well. The workman operates the knives’ by pressing on a treadle. A second operator at the rear or side of the machine then moves a lever that operates a mechanism that ejects the slices of bread. Meanwhile a release of pressure on the treadle permits a weight to restore the carriage of the machine to its initial position, and a plate is automatically drawn from under the slices, allowing them to roll into a recep- tacle beneath. When delicate cakes are cut theslices are lifted out by hand. ‘ag PRE ’ Tt ia os ' ® The bread slicer is operated by a treadle. A whole loaf is cut at one operation To a submarine a few miles distant, the ship above seems to fade away into a glittering, shimmering haze! SSphoaberunnthy A Leopard Ship of the Sea—Even the Masts Are Spotted OOLING the enemy is a remunerative and interesting pastime with the Allies. They have their camouflage on land; now comes the camouflage of the sea: A ship is painted with spots which fade out into a glittering and shimmering haze in the sunlight. A submarine commander one or two miles distant might look straight at the ship and never see her. The spots are of light gray and navy blue, which, even on a sunless day blend with the waves of the ocean. The indistinct outline which this gives makes the ship a poor target. Fat People Are Unpatriotic. Give Up Your Fat to the Nation CCORDING to statistics compiled by the Life In- surance companies, there are, between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-five years, a vast number of people who are hoarding and accumulating fat enough to supply energy equivalent to that of 690,355,533 loaves of bread, enough to supply an army of 3,000,000 men for sixty days. A man who is forty pounds overweight is carrying on his body the equivalent in fuel value of 135 one-pound loaves of bread. If the guilty ones would cease this accumulation (which they are willing enough to do) it would release much-needed fuel foods, such as wheat, corn, oats, barley and rye. There are two ways of surrendering this fat. One is by judicious exercise and the other is by substituting other foods for the fat-building kinds. *) Te Le EE

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enemas =e 1 | | Ne aa HY it / 1 See oS aes Your campaign hat serves as a lining for the steel helmet shown at right. It can be removed and used as a tool in an emergency A Versatile Helmet. Take It Off and You’ll Have a Shovel HEN Leonard D. Mahon, of the Washington, D. C., Detective Bu- reau, designed a helmet with a detachable lining he had more than a helmet in mind. Unfasten his helmet from its lining and take it off. Behold! You are still wearing a hat—the regulation campaign hat, upon your head. The campaign hat is itself the lining! The steel shell you may put to any of four unusual uses. If you should be pressed hard by the enemy, you can, as a last extremity, employ it as a hand spade and intrench yourself in a rifle pit. If you are on the march, on the other hand, it will serve you as a wash basin for face and hands or for your tired and aching feet. Especially will this im- provised basin be nec- essary when you come to a stream where you may take a much- wanted drink. In camp, the versa- tile helmet will make a good water bucket, or it may beused for bailing. You can make a per- fect cigarette in a blow- ing gale with this de- vice without spilling a particle of tobacco 646 Popular Science Monthly Cowards in the Army Are Rare. Some Are Merely ‘Deficient’ ANY a man is mentally unfitted to stand the strain of war.. In ordi- nary civil life he would be able to do his duties successfully but under the stress of modern warfare he would col- lapse. Considered a coward he would not in reality be responsi- ble for his actions. In order to weed out men who areunfit for the work of the war a unit of thirty beds will be attached to each base hospital in the training camps. The men assigned to these beds will be those accused of cowardice by their mates. They will be under the watch- ful eyes of physicians trained to detect signs of mental weak- ness. Those who show such signs will be rejected. This will save many men from _ severe punishment for cowardice and weed out the unfit. The Mechanical Cigarette-Filler. It Supplies Its Own ‘‘Makings”’ OT since the first safety razor has there been any novelty invented which gets so close to the heart of a man as this mechanical cigarette-filler, invented by Dr. Edward P. Delevanti, of New York city. The device is a pouch made of nickeled steel or strong leather, in which rice paper, tobacco (your favorite brand) and matches may be kept. At the bottom of the pouch is a groove-like arrangement into which just the proper amount of tobacco slides down into the rolled paper, which you hold in position to be filled. A metal plunger, or ram- mer, packs the tobacco in the paper roll. Cutter 4 isk aS.

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. sections of human skulls, and ‘small metal object at His Drum Is Made of Human Skin and His Trumpet of.a Thighbone AMA, meaning ‘a su- perior one,” is the name given by the Chinese and foreigners generally to the Buddhist monastic order in Tibet. In Tibet, however, the word is reserved for the monks who have not only taken the highest theological degrees, but who have led saintly lives and become famous for knowledge. Lamaism is a form of Bud- dhism practiced by the peo- ple of Tibet. In lamaism, magic and mysticism play such a commanding part that its relation to Buddhism can be recognized only with difficulty. The monks of Tibet are believers in the efficacy of prayer. They use a rosary such as that worn by the lama in the photograph. The rosaries are made of various kinds of wood, shell, various kinds of odd seeds. The drum and small trumpet shown in this picture are used in ceremonies connected with the exorcising of evil spirits. The drum is usually made by joining at the tops the domes of two human skulls, the drumhead being made of human skin. The beaters are suspended from cords and the drum is sounded by smartly rapping the beaters with the hand against the drumhead. The small trumpet is made from a human thighbone. Among the most important objects used by the lama in church ceremonies is the vajra, or thunder- Fe a 4s The lama with his ceremonial outfit which he uses in exorcising evil spirits Popular Science Montitiy 647 of power, the vajra, or thunderbolt, which was appropriated as a trophy by the victor, and has ever since been adopted by his follow- ers. The usual dress of the lamas consists of a kilt reaching down to the ankles, a close-fitting waistcoat, and a shawl passed around the bcdy leaving the right shoulder and arm uncovered. The head is shaved, and no head- covering is worn except in church ceremonies, when a high yellow hat with a fringe such as that shown in the photograph, is.worn. The Favorite Pocket- Knife of the Jackies. It Isa Century Old CCASIONALLY we come across some article of manu- facture which has been im- proved upon year after year, only to return again to its origi- nal state as the most desirable. This is true of the pocket-knife. You will find it in all de- grees of perfection and ornamentation, but the style most approved at the present moment is that of the old navy knife—in- vented no one knows how long ago. This knife is shown in the accompanying illustrations. It is the instant action, drop- out type, and is made in two styles, either of which the jackie prefers above all modern pull-out and push-button types. The blade simply slides in a groove so that it is opened by the same movement which jerks it out of the pocket. bolt, which is the the left elbow of the lama in the photo- graph. The Napa- lese scriptures say that a contest once occurred between Buddha and Indra, in which the latter was defeated, and When it has been fouled from long usage, the entire blade can be taken out and cleaned. The jackie prizes its simplicity when he is up aloft, with only one hand free, and when his fingers are stiff and numb. had wrested from him his chief and peculiar instrument Two types of old-fashioned knives which are more popular with the sailors than any modern specimens At such times any other kind would be useless. = LS eT Ae RT am? REE EMEP TY SLIT = ee ieee a eee ak neato we tan Micaitaaiakoei ed FAP oD A ASE AONRET 5 perme esateapcerr ree Eas EE LE See RRR I RES RI ME 9 RA AM BO

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The National Champion LL ce ttldttdtdddeeddldddEX dddeecé This figure, the one- -arm back lever, is easy for James Gleason, the national champion on the flying rings. But you’d better not try it until you’ve practiced Below: Here we have the one arm hand stand. Both rings are used and the weight is thrown on the arm that grasps the rings The front rest. Both arms Thisis a graceful pose, but difficult. Gleason is supporting his weight on his spread arms. This is harder to do than the straight hand stand 648, iv are used and the body is : raised and held perfectly rigid ; on the Flying Rings 2 a aT LE, The two-arm front lever. The weight is borne on one ring with both arms. The trick lies in balancing the body with the arms at the angle shown here Below: Gleason is looking pleased, prob- ably because he knows he can do the back lever so much better than the rest of us can yyw Wildly ets Uittzyy

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OMMOONBB SS WAVY MOA WANK AHHH "Ue tldtllUi tills Here is one you'll have to _ practice hard to master. One man is sup- porting himself on two rings through which he has thrust hisarm. The other man is doing a hand stand on his arm When you get to the point where you can do easily the shoulder stand shown below you will know you are getting on. In this you can’t depend on your hands SAW WWWWwDwWW DD UMMM Mlb This is the difficult double lever. Onc performer does the usual back lever while another suspends himself from a towel around the first one’s neck Poses Obligingly for Our Admiring Readers This trick, which is thehand stand, calls for fine poise. The rings and ropes are likely to move at any moment. Itis only by clever bal- ancing .that this pose can be held even momentarily ¢ Ps x bs - s : Sy SQMMAA AAAS SSNANA ASANO

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There Are Many Ways of Picking Up a Living Like the vendor of Seville pic- tured on page 654, the milkman in Chili doesn’t bother about a wagon to deliver his milk. The milk cans are carried in sacks over the horse’s back and the milk is measured out with a dipper straight from the can to the consumer. In some parts of Chili the donkey takes the place of the horse. as a milk-carrier When W. C. Grant lost his arms braking freight in the West Buffalo freight yards he forgot about misfortune and became a street musician. He had a special instrument made for him, consisting of pipes mounted on a metal support. By binding the stumps of his arms with cloth and by rubbing rosin on the cloth, he was able to extract music from the pipes. He has played in the streets of all the big towns from coast to coast » “ Two Massachusetts boys wash- ing out riches, but the mineral is lead instead of gold. A guf club shoots over the mud flat and the boys collect the shot from mud When a steamer heaves in sight near Jamaica it is be- sieged by native traders who are anxious to dispose of young monkeys that have been trained and birds of brilliant plumage for a little silver. They approach the ship in canoes and small boats 650 _——_——- ~

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Without Actually Working—Take Your Choice e ee eee ote cal Pe Ee ee ed te alae) —_ =F o Negro divers of the West Indies. Throw fifty centsintothe water and they will dive down and get it out of the glistening sand into which it falls, swim- ming clear under the ship and coming up on the other side to inveigle you into throwing another In Caraccas they sell lot- tery tickets like postage stamps. Once in a while somebody is allowed to win See John B. Riley, of Lancaster, Pa., playing on two instruments at the same time. He is 75 years old and makes a good living 651 Steeple jacks will tell you that they don’t take chances; they let the other fellows do that. Here one is disentangling a flag twenty-one _ stories above the street. Be- cause their work in- volves such danger their pay is high The portable oven vendor of the east side, New York, who can sell you a hot meal for a few cents ac LE LO! Se RE TE Seinen art ener 7a : - earner ee aT oC DU i a eee ae

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652 Popular Science Monthly “Poor chapi You can’t see very far?” A printed card was shown him, twenty feet away. “I can read only the first j line.” They moved him up within i ten feet of a mirror and placed the printed card just over his chest as shown ow. “How many lines can you see distinctly?’’ He could read a number of letters now. ‘You are taken,” was the verdict. He read the reflected type at exactly the same distance from which he said he could not read in the first test, for- tting that the re- Reation doubled his reading distance Ye eeecccdddddledddddedddéa : He is trying hard to be deaf. A careful record is made of where and how he can hear the tuning fork. Then they blindfold him and expect him to give the same answers when asked again. Hard lines! He can’t do it ppp: WOM ES WANT MAA “Arm hurts?” says the doctor. He blindfolds the slacker, marks the supposed sensitive spot with a pencil and then squeezes the arm in several spots. Never a whimper. Where there is no pain, the only way for Algie to tell when to scream is by looking at the doctor when the supposed sore spot is touched. Blindfolding him took away his only chance The Way of the Slacker He Is Beset with Ingen- Which He Is Sure to Be | Couldn’t see with his right eye at all, said “I’ve got sciatica something tertible."" They made him take } Willie. | The doctor befuddled him so with off his shoe and sock and stretch out his leg. That was enough. j a two-color glass that before he realized it he No man suffering from sciatica could do it. He literally put was reading a card with his poor blind eye his foot in it and is now marking time to the music { ’

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Popular Science Monthly He said that he couldn't - hold anything in his fingers. ‘‘We’ll take you,”’ was the doctor's verdict. ‘Look at the nicotine Stain. You can hold cigarettes, and so you can hold a rifle’ Bes One arm and one side com- i —— paralyzed—so he said. e did not know that there are ‘ electric reactions of the mus- \ cles. The little electric battery on the table in the pic- ture below betrayed him “I’m lame in one foot. Can't walk without a cane,” he pro- . tested. The doctor boosted s him up on a chair and looked at his heels. They were both worn down exactly alike prov- ing that both feet were normal EN “I'm deaf in the left ear." The doctor plugged up the right tube of a stethoscope and asked Ctto if he could hear the watch ticking. He could. “You hear it with your deaf ear,” said the doctor. Andsothe army got him Is Hard. Everywhere ious Medical Traps in Ensnared and Betrayed “Something’s the matter with my heart,” protests the He said he was deaf. They dropped an iron chair. slacker. The doctor takes his blood pressure. The He never moved. ‘‘You are faking,” said they. heart action is perfect. Another slacker goes to France “A deaf man would twmp from the vibration” RRL ERT TN en een EIEC eT LT ree eames cra marine arenes mee ae

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A 0 nn A be-soaped Ceylon youngster getting the bath that has probably been promised him for fully Baths Without Bathtubs and Milk Without Dairies The mother takes a bucket of water and a cake of soap and does the job quickly and thoroughly right in the middle of the road five months or more a In Seville, Spain, they never bother about certified milk when they can get it delivered to their doors, warm and fresh from the cow herself. After she has yielded her daily quota of milk the cow is led to pasture for the remainder of the day. The milk is sold by the glass, pint or quart. Note the measuring cup behind the ears 654°

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Ancient Cliff Dwellings Near Santa Fé pe a IER peace Recent excavations in the Canyon del Rito de los Frijoles show us how cliff dwellers lived. Quanti- ties of curious specimens of pottery were found A village excavated in the Canyon del Rito de los Frijoles near Santa Fé. The dwellings are arranged in the form of a horseshoe about 115 feet in diameter

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Modern Russia’s Joans of Arc. All Classes Are Represented in the Regiment of Women, “From the Colonel’s Lady to Judy O’Grady” Amazons of the Battalion of Death re- ceiving caps. Each girl carries potas- sium cyanide which she will take at the last moment rather than be captured SEX SSS Photos © Int. Film Serv. Like their brothers in arms Russian girl soldiers must have mascots. Short hair and masculine clothes can’t eliminate a feminine fond- ness for cats and birds Women warriors learning the business of warfare under drill-masters from the Guards. Their stoic bravery under fire is one of the wonders of the war SSSSSSSSS

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Photos © Int. Film Serv. A sharpshooter wearing a water jacket used by British Tommies when fording streams. He is able to use his rifle without getting it wet. If he can tread water one man wearing this life preserver can easily support six men Shooting Irons and Buoys to Save Your Life A soldier who cannot swim may still be happy in the water if he wears this new life preserver. He can shoot with both hands and smoke besides. He knows he won’t drown Blowing up the water jacket. When deflated it- takes up very little room and weighs only one pound. It will keep a man afloat indefinitely Aelia RE DNC a Se aE NEE TF led ag aan mapped nant | : La BE IN ee oe

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Making the Phonograph Work Below: Music history at Ann Arbor was always a pretty dry subject until the instructors hit upon the happy idea of illustrat- ing their lectures by phono- graph. Now noone cuts that class Above: An English army officer dis- covered that in- corrigible horses may be made tract- able by music. The photograph shows a group of “‘bad uns”’ getting in good humor by listening to the phonograph se cc ccd As for recruiting, that’s where the phonograph plays a star part. Just look at the crowds listening to the phonograph—and the orator—of the Below: Dumb-bell exercises get under way with lots more vim when the phono- graph plays. This picture shows modern ideas in prac- tice at Waynesboro, Pa.

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OE EE The Inspiration of Canned Music Out in Rutland, Vt., they teach stenographers to typewrite to music. They get up more speed to the tune of a popular song than they ever did to an unpopular; dictation lecture a UMMM ddd LLL coli: Recruiting Station at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, New York. ‘When the boys heard those patriotic airs , they just couldn’t help joining . piri emia d Do At a recruiting meeting in charge of Captain Rees, of the Royal Fusi- liers, held at Trafalgar Square, London, a pho- nograph uttered all the Cows enjoy light opera. Play their favorite selections at words of command milking time and you’ll get a freer flow of milk as a reward 659

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woe ee ee ed. Some Astonishing Exploits Recently Mr. Philip Gibbs reported a thrilling fight between a German airplane and a British tank. Of course, the airplane had the worst of it, for the tank was armored and impregnable to machine-gun bullets That the tanks are irresistible is demonstrated by Mr. Gibbs’ account of the calm way in which one of them knocked from its rails a small locomo- tive which happened to be in the way 660 of Tanks and ee —

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Airplanes in This War of Terrible Wonders “There was a boy of eighteen in one of our airdromes,”’ writes Mr. Philip Gibbs, the war correspondent. ‘‘His first adventure was with a German motor car with two officers. He gave chase, ... and followed. Then he came low and used his machine gun. One of the officers fired an automatic pistol at him, so the boy pulled out his own revolver. There followed the strangest duel between the boy in the air and the man in the car. The airplane was fifty feet high then, but dropped to twenty just as the car pulled up outside a house. The young pilot shot past, but turned and saw the body of one officer being dragged indoors”

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Who’s Who and What’s What in the Army 1—Infantry Insignia 2—Cav. 3—Field Artillery 4—Coast Artillery 5—Engineer Corps 6—Signal Corps 7—Aviation Section 8—Ordnance Department 9—Quartermaster Corps 10—Medical Corps ale 11—Dental Corps 12—Veterinary Corps: 13—General Officers of the Line 14—General Staff Officers 15—Adjutant General’s Department =e es ws j —— lon a i 2 3 \ 2 3 > >T T \ Z > ss Infantry Divisions Infantry Divisions Infantry Divisions Ist Army Corps and Army Corps 379 Army Corps te Army Companies Companies 2 3 Battalions Infantry Regiment We now come to the subdivision upon which the entire theory of army organization is based. It is the infantry regiment which advances and wrests contested territory from the enemy. The other arms are subordinate to the infantry and are built up only with an eye to assisting the infantry in these tactics in any way circumstances may suggest. The battal- ions making up the infantry regiment are in charge of a major pssdssesecasssslessaeesdsssdesseisssslsssalssedsssalsssalsssalssssis The War Department an- nounced recently that a change was to take place in our army organization. The large units of the old organization were too un- wieldy for trench warfare and they have been broken up into smaller ones, more flexible and easier to command. This explains the new army corps unit in the present system 2 > 3 ' 2 eile. ee aa a ee ‘ 4 1% Platoon . | 2*° Platoon 34 Platoon | 4™ Platoon a T t~ Company At the bottom of every army is the private, and the group of six or eight privates which make up the squad. No group of men can be together without one of them being responsible. The corporal, who is simply some designated soldier in the squad, is a general leading a small army. He in turn is subject to the orders of the platoons commanders, who are lieutenants and sergeants. A captain commands the company The automobile has had a tremendous influence in making present-day warfare as mighty as it is. Supplies are now brought up in great motor-trucks four times faster than they could be with army mules 662 4, Brigadier General; \ 2 3 + 5 Shoulder straps which commissioned Officers wear: 1. General; 2, Lieu- tenant General; 3, Major General; 5, Colonel;

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6 7 18 1B » 8 16—Inspector General’s Department 17—Judge Advocate General’s Dept. 18—Detached Officers 19—Additional Officers 20—West Point Cadets a 20 21—Philippine Scouts 22—Indian Scouts 23—Recruiting Service 24—Recruiting Depot 25—All Army Troops Who’s Who and What’s What in the Army eneese9 GQO@AAM 26—Service School 27—Disciplinary Barracks 28—Disciplinary N. C. O. Instructors 29—Sergeants (Corporals, two stripes) 30—Reserve Officers Training Corps

le ae pl by l >I lie < | a 2" 3. lrench 1°" 2 "|Machine) § °° 2 Machine ee 5. ,| Mortar Gun ,| Gun Regiments Battalion) Regiments Battalion) Regin.znts Battalion Companies

Field Artillery Brigade \Stinfantry Brigade and Infantry brigade

Machine Gun Battalion

The former infantry division of nine regiments of infantry and three of artillery has undergone the most change. Five infantry regiments have been cut out and machine gun and trench mortar battalions have been added, so that the artillery strength has been increasedconsiderably. The division, which once consisted of twenty-eight thousand men, has been reduced over thirty per cent. The Army General’s Staff control brigades and regiments Infantry Division

iii insinaie —

10

6, Lieutenant Colonel (in silver); 7, Major (in gold); 8, Captain; 9, First Lieutenant; 10, Second Lieutenant; 11, The Chaplain

The work of the signal corps is ex- ceedingly important. The men of the wireless service follow the infantry in their advances and keep up the com- munication with the army headquarters Modern armies are complex organisms, not so much because of the large organi- zation of field forces, as on account of their many needs. Hence the necessity for a reliable transportation system No matter of what service or what rank, every Ameri- can soldier has an equal chance of winning the Medal of Honor. It is awarded by Con- gress for distin- guished personal bravery or self-sac- rifice that involved the risk of life. It is even more diffi- cult to obtain than is the Victoria Cross

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“664 The glass-lined, st€el laundry chute for use in hospitals and hotels. At right is shown the ventilator at the top, the plateglass-covered openings on each floor, and the cellar exit Sending the Wash to the Laundry Through a Glass-Lined Chute NEW type of laundry chute has been designed for the use of hospitals, hotels and other institutions where large quantities of soiled linen are handled. It is constructed of steel with a fused-in lining of glassenamel. This lining is particularly de- sirable because it is rust proof and will not absorb substances or odors. The chute is supplied with a flushing ring at the top so it may be thoroughly and easily cleansed by a shower of hot water. An outlet through the roof permits ven- tilation. The chute . may be aired by opening the bottom door which allows a strong draft to blow through it and out through the ventila- tor. Plate glass and nickel doors open out Automatic ball float A machine that keeps the air in the house as moist in winter as the outdoor air in summer Popular Science Monthly on each floor. They are so fitted that they are airtight and prevent the escape of odors and infections while the chute is in use. A Machine that Moistens the Indoor Air NE of the greatest objec- tions to artificial heat is the fact that it tends to make the atmosphere very dry. A certain amount of moisture is necessary to maintain health- ful living conditions. When the atmosphere is sufficiently moist a temperature of 65 de- grees is more comfortable than one of 70 degrees, and at night, when the heat is off, the house will not become as cold as it will when the air is dry. A device has been perfected which will keep the house air moist. This is a receptacle which holds and evaporates water in such a manner that the moisture will be diffused into the air without condensing. The apparatus measures about 20 inches in length and nine inches in height. It will evaporate three and one-half gallons of water during a day and an evening. This quantity of water maintains a humidity of 45 per cent in an ordinary residence. The device may be connected with the water pipes and heating pipes of a house. The water supply is automatically regu- lated and the water is heated by the heating system. The apparatus may be used with steam heat, hot water or hot air. The heating and water supply pipes are provided with valves so the moisture may be turned off at will. If the air is sufficiently humid so that it is not nec- essary to supply it with moisture,. the machine may be used pipe as a small radiator. This is accomplished by turning off the water supply valve. It will then give otf heat without releas- ing moisture.

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\v Ce eS eS ee eo mm (yp Or & weer] mT Ne fe ee). = e OO — The inventor fails to tell how this man could inhale enough air to raise a snore if the strap were tight enough to hold the ballin place NFORTUNATE — because innocent —is the person who snores. Science is on the job. The activities of the geniuses who would silence the snore have been wide- spread; their devices for restoring peace on him take heart! earth and sleep to men take many forms. The amount of thought that has been given to the subject is amazing, and we may infer that many a midnight watt has been consumed in the search for a snore-silencer. As the poet might put it, the triumphs by these workers scored were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions snored, were toiling onward through the night—obviously not the oft-mentioned stilly night, else the incentive to work would have been missing. The specimens of anti- snore devices shown here are separated into two classes. The first principle em- ployed, as the scientific foes of the snore would apply it, may be described as suffo- cation in varying degrees. Exhibit A in the center of this page is the simplest type. It is a modification of the idea that if a man can’t breathe, he can’t snore. Specifically desig- nated, it is a plug for the mouth. It consists of two Filtering the Snores Out of Sleep How our inventors are wrestling with the problem of silencing the nasal nightingale By E. B. Breuer soft rubber flanges connected by a thin rubber strip, which is to be held between the teeth. One of the flanges is to be placed behind the lips. The other remains outside. The flanges are bigger than the mouth, and the device when in place thus constitutes an effective stopper. As mouths differ greatly in size, we assume that this is essentially a tailor-made device. The inventor leaves us in the dark on that But let a lost art. Valve Any snorer who defied this anti- snoring plug clamped in_ his mouth would do so over his own dead body, so to speak; that is, he would be suffocated in the attempt This apparatus has a tether which prevents it from get- ting lost in case of a blow-out 665 point. We must agree with him, however, that to the man who consents to wear one of the appliances, nasal music will become The inventor of the similar device in the center of page 667 is more lenient. His ap- paratus also is a stopper for the mouth, but it has a one-way valve. The valve, opening outward only, permits the expul- sion of air from the lungs. Should the wearer at- tempt to inhale through the mouth, he will find himself surrounded by an utter lack of facilities for such an operation. In such a case the valve closes instantly, the sleeper is obliged to inhale through the nose and another shat- tering of the silence is averted, or, as the inventor scientifically puts it, there is an absence of “‘the harsh nasal sounds commonly called ‘snoring.’ ”’ It remained for a Wis- consin investigator, whose device is illustrated at the bottom of this page, thor- oughly to tame or domesti- cate the anti-snoring shield. His apparatus is supplied with flanges—to fit under the upper and lower lips. They are to keep the device from wandering from side to side. But the striking feature is a ring which pro- trudes from between the See Ee SEs oe ae eee

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666 Popular Science Monthly lips when the device is in place. A string attached to the ring can be tied around the neck. This will enable the wearer to recover the shield in the dark in case he has a blowout. It will also keep him from swallowing or inhaling the apparatus should he overcome its resistance by a determined effort to break into nasal rhapsodies. In the second class, the anti- snore devices are intended to keep a person from sleeping on his back, in which position the nasal soloist makes the welkin and adjacent hardware ring. Apparently the inventors who work along this line never slept on lumpy mattresses. If they had, they probably would have directed their thoughts to- ward some method of fastening the snorer, face up, on any one of the inani- mate deformities of the bed. \ In one of the illus- trations at the bot- tom of this page is a simple application of this principle. <A pad, either round or elliptical, is strapped to the small of the back by means of a belt. The idea is to keep the sleeper off an even keel and thus prevent his useless sounding of the fog siren. The pad, it is said by the inventor, will keep him listed either to port or to starboard. The ball-and-strap device opposite is almost a duplicate of the one described. The inventor, however, believes more pun- ishment can be inflicted by strapping the back-breaking object directly between the The idea of this de- vice is to keep the sleeper off an even keel. The pad, says the inventor, will keep him always listed either to port or to starboard

a?

It may be confidently stated that the wearer of this device would not snore for the simple : reason that snores accompany sleep and for but it becomes so him sleep is altogether out of the question Here some mercy is shown. The ball is pneumatic. But the in- i ventor emphasizes the importance shoulders. He advocates the use of a rubber pneumatic ball to be fastened to the belt in such a manner that it will be neither punctured nor displaced. He fails to explain how a person with the belt strapped around his chest tightly enough to hold the ball in place could in- hale enough air to raise a snore. In that, however, may lie one of the subtle and fundamental excel- lencies of his invention. The genius responsible for the device illustrated at the bottom of page 667 goes his fellow scientists one better. He doesn’t believe in half-way measures and is not afraid to say so. His : scheme is to make life ‘\. on the flat of the back so miserable thata snorer assuming such a position will wake up at least long enough to wish he had never been born. Incidentally, he combines a shoul- v der brace with the snore dispeller. The connection between snoring and shoulder braces is not imme- diately apparent, when one reflects that if a shoulder brace won’t keep a person awake, nothing will. The refinement of torture, however, so far as this public benefactor could apply it to snoring, is embodied in the attachment to be fastened to the shoulder brace at the back. The attachment is a metal casting having several projections. Though spikes camel of protecting it from puncture

ee ee ' ‘

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a Se en aS aS = to be tipped with balls or knobs ‘‘to prevent them from injuring anything they come into contact with.”’ He frankly admits that the attachment is a “prodding device,” and declares it will prevent snoring ‘‘by prodding the wearer in the event of ly- ing on the back.” The combined brace and prodder could be used by day, as well as by night. “The prodding device could be worn with the inventor ex- plains, ‘‘and would serve to remind the wearer to straighten up in case of a ten- dency to lean forward, thus pre- ’ the brace at all times,’ venting too great dependence upon the brace itself for sup- port.” On this point there seems to be no room for argument. In addition to these many advantages, this appliance might have another use, on which a tip is offered to the inventor free of charge. In the privacy of his home, if the metal pro- jections were a little longer than indicated Popular Science Monthly undoubtedly would be more effective, the inventor seems to have been overcome bv a feeling of pity at the last moment, for he directs that the projections are Here is a real masterpiece. The device, turned one way, will completely silence the snorer. Reversed, it allows him a little musical leeway Flap valve Through this one-way valve the snorer exhales through the mouth if he wishes, but there mouth- breathing option ends in the patent application, the wearer might use the prodding device as a hat rack and clothes hanger when he is not in bed. A California man has invented what may be called the anti-snoring shield deluxe. It is illustrated at the top of this page. Ade- quately to set forth its many special features, ex- tra attachments and added attractions would be no mean job for a circus press agent. It seems doubtful, however, whether anybody except an engineer ever could learn to wear the thing successfully, because of the complicated valve system by which it filters the snores out of slumber— or graduates them to suit the ear in the event that limited special privileges The man who devised this apparatus has probably suf- fered many things in Pullman sleepers or elsewhere. He has not the least compas- sion on anybody who snores are accorded to the wearer by his victims. Despite this, the inventor, with the in- consistency common to genius, contends that ‘‘the object of the invention is to im- prove, simplify and cheapen the con- struction of the device by providing the flexible mouth- piece with a plurality of valves for controlling the vol- ume of air expelled from the lungs through the mouth and for controlling the admission of air through the opening in said mouthpiece when the latter is reversed.” A technical description of the device is beyond the power of the writer. It seems, though, that the inventor has tried to puta new interest into life for the snorer by adding to the valve scheme a means of regulat- ing the size of the opening through which air is inhaled or ex- pelled, according to whether the shield is being used as a snore sentry or as a safety valve. The regulating is done by means of a little metal clip which is slipped over the edge of the valve seat and raised or lowered like the floodgate of a dam. We assume that instruc- tions as to how to operate the mechanism will be given with each device sold.

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668 This Electric Heating Faucet Has No A Space-Saving Display Fixture Which Switch or Coils N electric water-heating faucet, just placed on the market in California, differs from other devices of this kind in having neither electric switch nor coils, the water __ Graphite itself serving to close the rod circuit and to supply the resistance for heating. The device is so made that cold, warm or hot water, depend- ing on the position of the handle, issupplied instantly. The heating element, housed in the cylindrical casing that forms the top of the device, consists of an upright hollow car- bon cylinder enclosing a space in which is a graphite rod. These parts are insulated from the remainder of the device, and each is connected by an in- sulated wire with one pole of an ordinary lighting circuit. When the handle is turned to the ‘‘cold’’ position, the water flows through a by-pass without entering the heating element. When it is turned to the “warm” position, the by-pass is closed and the water passes upward between the cylinder and post, overflows at the top and passes downward in the space between the cylinder and cover. The cir- cuit is closed by the water, thus doing away with the neces- sity for a_ switch, since no current can flow unless the heat- ing element of the faucet is filled with water. When hot water is wanted, the , = is turned to such a position that only a small flow of water is admitted — just enough to allow it to be thoroughly heated before it reaches the outlet. In this electric heating faucet the water closes the circuit and sup- plies the resist- ance for heating PSR) Sage | spttine ieee pane eel mre eee h\ practically sell themselves. Popular Science Monthly Also Saves Clerk Hire flag display fixture shown in the photo- graph below will prove a money-saver -as well as a convenience to the shop-keeper. It consists of a framework having a number of inclined drawers which may be drawn forward to hori- zontal position or sloped back- ward and up, so as to dis- play every article to the passerby. The drawers may be provided with hinged glass covers or left open as desired. When covered, they are opened by simply raising and sliding forward the front part of the drawer. Customers may examine at leisure all the articles in the various drawers without special attention from the clerk, so that one clerk may attend to several customers at a time. As the framework stands on a twenty - seven - inch base, two cases can be placed back to back so that articles can be dis- played to customers in two aisles at the same time. One clerk can serve two cases. In the drawers underneath the frame, heavier articles or surplus supplies are kept. In this way every available inch of floor space can be utilized. Moreover, the clerk, having his stock plainly marked as to prices and always before him becomes thoroughly familiar with it in little time. 72) 22) =e | | ens eee hide) == on | \ saaininiyine | eeeees| Sa Soecee MNS \Vebaanian - . . * With prices plainly marked, the articles in this compact display case Surplus stock is kept in the drawers below

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Popular Science Monthly The Full Dinner Pail. It’s Built Like a Fireless Cooker THERMOS bottle will keep your coffee hot, so why not the thermos pail to keep your entire dinner at the proper temperature, whether cold or hot? By- ron Bruegger, of Wisconsin, thinks such a pail will be in so great a demand that he has taken out a patent on a design for one. The bottom of an ordinary lunch pail has an extra wall in it, around the outside of which the air has been ex- hausted. In preparing for the day’s picnic, the desserts, the butter and the other victuals that are to be kept cold are placed in the very lowest chamber. A rather shallow chamber from which the air has been practically removed is provided on top of this cold chamber, and into this ‘‘vacuum”’ chamber the meats, vegetables and the other hot dishes are placed. Over this chamber is a layer of asbestos. Then comes another hot food ' a chamber. We have, there- AN 4 fore, a poor heat-conducting medium surrounding the hot fee and the cold chamber and 4 separating the one from the ng é other. Little heat can pass , ol either in or out of the cham- bers and the cold dishes will stay cold and the hot ones will keep hot for a reasonable length of time. Other dishes that are to remain at ordinary |) temperaturesoccupy the \ remainder of the pail. Ef A neck is even provided At on the cover of this pail to provide a place for a drinking cup. With such an arrangement The turntable is 14 feet in diameter. The motor operating it is mounted in a pit at the edge of the turntable pit Electrically Operated Turntables for Automobiles TURNTABLE that is operated by an electric motor, by means of a push button, is very valuable where the confines of the yard are so narrow that an auto- mobile cannot be backed out without risk of sidewiping the house or fence. The motor is controlled by means of a push-button hanging down from an arm so that it is within the reach of the driver of a car when it is driven on to the turntable. The table is supported by wheels with roller bearings traveling on an iron track, within a pit. This iron track is placed out near the edge of the turntable. This arrange- ment keeps the turntable from tipping when a car is driven on or off of it. The motor is connected with a sprocket wheel by Normal : temperature means of worm drive. chambers A sprocket chain driven by this sprocket wheel extends around an an- gle-iron ring which is se- cured to the underside of Hot food the table near the per- chamber iphery. This wcerm drive keeps the turn- table from skidding. 4jVacuum chamber false bottom an entire family on an outing could be sup- plied with a dinner com- o a ns so Wastes eer The advantages of Separating wail ivan such a device in a small Vacuum chamber plete from soup to ice : cream and everything at the most desirable temperature. Asbestos layer Everything from hot soup to ice cream can be put into this picnic dinner pail Cold food chamber Vacuum chamber private garage and even in public garages where space is usually at a premium, are numerous and obvious.

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_ an ordinary gas stove 670 : Popular Science Monthly An Accommodating Gas Stove. It Boils the Coffee and Then Wakes You GAS stove which arises at dawn, boils the coffee and wakes you up when it is ready, has been invented by Gemaro Rosa, of Brooklyn, New York. In order to describe the workings of this accommodating stove it would be necessary to use at least fifteen diagrams and seven- teen pages of this magazine crammed with text. For our busy readers we have boiled Gem- aro’s invention down to its essentials. It is having a pilot-light to which is attached a clock mechanism. A dial over the clock- works serves to tell the time. A smaller dial is used toset the alarm, igniting and ex- tinguishing devices. When properly set, the burner under the coffee pot will automatically ignite at a pre-determined hour and boil the coffee for four or five minutes. The flame will then lower of its own accord for slow boiling for another five minutes, after which it will shut itself off entirely. The coffee is now ready for you and if you are not aware of it the trusty alarm will notify you of the fact. There is no possibility of the coffee boiling over unless you disregard the alarm and go to sleep again.

The burner under the coffee pot will light automatically at a pre-determined hour An Electric Wire in the Street Ignites a Balloon PECULIAR accident’ occurred re- cently when six students training for aviation work attempted toland a balloon in East St. Louis. The gas-bag came into contact with a high tension wire and im- mediately burst into flames. Luckily the basket was_ brushing the ground at the time. All the students were able to leap out of the basket unharmed. Prompt action in put- ting in a fire alarm brought fire fighters in time to preventthe bas- ket from being burned. The American Boy’s Wagon. It Is Equal to Any Emergency HE ordinary American boy makes strong demands on his wagon. The one shown in the illustration is equal to any emergency. It can be a common freight carrier when necessary, or a passenger Car in which lady friends may be given a ride, occasionally. But first of all it is a coaster and scooter, with a first-class steering rod and wooden wheels which never get out of order. It is close to the ground so that when it is used merely as a scooter the posi- tion with one foot on the floor-boards and the other on the ground is not uncom- fortable. A strongly built combination wagon which is equal to any emergency in which a wagon, coaster or scooter can figure. Here we have three of the most important uses illustrated

:

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eS fer iat si- ds 1er nd

a

Exterior Decoration N the front of the only store at Point Isabel, Texas, on the Gulf Coast, a local artist has painted in colors a representation of some of the fish that he has seen caught in the Gulf near by. their natural Most of these are well-known varieties, but there are some strange ones, as for example the large monster to the left of one door. This animal, of which the name is un- known, was washed ashore some

a < OF THE CULE rr Vi VTP a canoes. Popular Science Monthly This Store Sets a New Style in 671 Volcanoes are necessarily exempt. It is possible to collect this sulphurous gas and make sulphuric acid out of it, but some plants are so located that trans- portation costs forbid. other hand, may be stored out of doors as long as desired and sold whenever there is a good price available for it. Sulphur, on the Two methods are known, a wet one and a ne ge RLESC c% vr Vivi

HAMPION PROPRIETOR a a) “ye PI Te: dry one, but both depend primarily upon the yrs French leave which sul- phur invaria- bly takes of its oxygen content in the presence of certain other bodies.

years ago ina storm.

Getting Sulphur Without Liberating the Fumes Hand-painted representations of different kinds of fish caught in the Gulf Stream off the coast near by decorate this store front —ELLWOOD HENDRICK.

What to Do With That Dripping Um- brellaWhen You Come in out of the Rain N regard to getting the sulphur fumes out of smelter gas, Professor S. W. Young, of the Leland Stanford University, lately presented to the American Institute of Chem- ical Engineersa paper on pro- posed methods of procuring crude sulphur. When copper and other ores are smelted they must also be roasted to get the sulphur away from the metal. This is easy enough to do, but the fumes that escape into the air are the fumes of sul- phurous acid, and if there is anything that disposes a farmer to carry a pitchfork and a double-bar’l shotgun along with him when he goes to make his protest, it is the stifling smell of these very sulphurous fumes in the air. In fact in some states the laws now forbid the liberation of the gases of burning sulphur in nearly every activity except that of vol-

N order to properly dry out an umbrella it should be suspended by its tip so

The umbrella-holder suspends the umbrella, handle-downward, so that the water drains off into a pan beneath that the water will drain off toward the handle. This prevents the accumulation of water at the point where the ribs are joined, which results in rust at that point—and the pur- chase of a new umbrella. An umbrella - holder has been patented by Hermenia Bocker, of Buffalo, N. Y., which is designed to suspend the umbrella in the correct position for drying without causing unnecessary incon- venience. The tip of the umbrella is held in a clasp arranged at the top of a vertical bar. This clasp is adjustable in height so that umbrellas of dif- ferent lengths may be accommodated. A drip-pan is arranged beneath. Into this the water runs and is held until the pan is emp- tied. Rubber blocks are shoved under the umbrella handles.

SS

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Popular Science Monthly How to Store Flour to Prevent It from Molding PECIALISTS in the United States Department of Agriculture have studied the best means of storing flour in the home so that it will not be con- taminated by cdors or become musty. Flour should never be stored in the cellar even though a bin has been built in the cellar for-that purpose. A cellar is usually damp and odors: aa2 generally found there which the flour will absorb. The attic is as bad a place to store flour as the cellar. . In the summer the temperature of the attic is too high and as the venti- The electric heater which dries the glue when the weather is damp Using an Electric Heater to Dry the Glue on Envelopes NVELOPE making today is an excep- tionally rapid process in which a single machine neatly cuts the paper stock, folds and glues, the envelopes, and then carries these on a conveyor to the boxes waiting for them. In dry weather this process goes on uninterruptedly; the glue dries in the time it takes the machine to fold the envelope flaps back. In rainy weather, however, the process does not go on so smoothly. The glue does not dry quickly enough and hun- pletely sealed and therefore wasted. A manufacturer Chicago, Ill., places a~- simple electric heater under the conveyors of his machines. On very damp days a heavy current is sent through the resis- tances of the heater, and the hot air currents set up quickly dry the glue. The strength of the current de- pends upon the dampness. in case. After the envelopes are cut, folded and gummed they are passed over a conveyor to tie packing boxes The combination necktie presser and It is like a four-leaved book lation is usually poor the flour jis likely to acquire a musty odor. Ex- cept in very. small quantitiesflour should not be stored in the pantry or kitchen be- cause the tempera- ture is too uneven and there are too many cdors which the flour is likely to ac- should possess a Every house quire. small, well ventilated store room where non- odorous food should be kept. The temper- ature in this room should be so regulated that it will not fluctuate more than a very few degrees. Always clean the flour con- tainer before putting in new stock. If flour is kept in the barrel in which it was purchased, boards should be placed under it to keep it off the floor. One of the Newest Wrinkles for Keep- ing Your Neckties Smooth . y= they get wrinkled in a drawer, or even when hung on.a cord strung from the chiffonier to the electric light. But here’s a solution. A Florida inven- tor now is market- ing a combined case and presser for men’s ties that is proving satisfactory. The device consists simply of several leaves, between which the ties are placed. A locking mechanism gives any degree of pressing ten- sion desired.

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— ae ets aS S”lULh Cl wm — — Se no eee ae a . Fastening Motors to Ceilings Without Scaffolding or Tackle T is hard to attach motors to ceilings or overhead beams in factory rooms. Here is a mechanism or de- vice which is said to do this with great ease. It is a portable elevator or tiering machine, and it is employed to elevate and hold the motor in position until it is fas- tened to the ceiling, thus eliminating scaffolding, tackle and hoisting ar- rangements. Four to six motors can be in- stalled in the time for- merly required for the mounting of one. Of course the machine can also be used for inspect- ing the motors, for tak- ing them down to be re- paired, for renewing pulleys, and for putting up shafting. The machine itself consists essentially of an elevating platform with two uprights or guides and a revolving base with a ball-bearing centeron which it swings like a turntable. The whole unit is mounted on a.wheeled truck equipped with a floor lock. designed for the piling or tiering of bales, cases, barrels, etc., in storerooms and warehouses, thus enabling the entire space up to the ceiling to be utilized. Two sets of elevating gears are provided. Popular Science Monthly It was primarily You sit in this chair, strap yourself in, grasp the hand] if you like and as long as you like. The Portable Elevator or Tiering Machine The machine was primarily designed for piling bales, cases, barrels, etc., in warehouses, so that space up to the ceiling could be utilized. Two sets of elevating gears are provided, one operating at high speed and handling loads up to 800 pounds, and the other at a lower rate of speed for handling from 800 to 1,800 pounds. It will elevate loads from six to twenty feet. The frame is hinged so that the top section can be folded over to facilitate the passage of the machine through doorways tion. ] art rocking, turning cart-wheels, To bring the chair to a stop you reverse the motion 673 Looping the Loop in a Rocking Chair —for Exercise and Diversion LANCE at this rocking chair. Imagine yourself resting in it, strapped in, too, around chest and loins. It seems restful enough. But why the straps? Just for safety, friend. For this chair aspires to demonstrate perpetual motion, once it gets started. As you rock, it gathers momentum until finally—hold your breath—it turns you over and over and over like a cart-wheel. The skeleton frame- work of the chair is composed of two ver- tical, parallel elliptical hoops fastened together by a number of hori- zontal ' tie-bars. To these tie-bars the seat and back of the chair are attached, and also the straps which hold you while you are cart- wheeling. A bar at about shoulder-height acts as a hand-grasp. You seat yourself in the chair, strap your- self in, grasp the hand- bar and give yourself a swing in the usual man- ner. You start off gently enough, but your progress depends upon your own physical exer- Before you become seasick, it is best to reverse the direction of the motion and thus bring the chair to its normal vosi- tion, letting it gradually subside.

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: oS oe Steam vaporizer attachment for cylinders to in- crease power X aN \ \ S Unit tire chains attached toa wheel by a bracket or strip of metal fastened to the rim with projecting hooked-over ends to receive the rings on the ends of the chains . + sadlciaededsttaddidibddaiitildlide” New Duties and Efficiency Devices for One way to reduce the cost of coal is to reduce the cost of ‘delivery. This may be effected by motor-trucks equip- ped with quick-un- loading bodies like the one at left. It can discharge a 5- ton load in less than 5 minutes A power-driven valve seat grinder attached to a bench with special holding devices for Ford engines O74 A new use for the old-fashioned Here the automobile is drawing an enfire kitchen, side-saddle. It takes the place although on a diminutive scale. It carries hot coffee of the rear seat on a motorcycle and soup to the fighters and travels night and day

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the Up-to-the-Minute Motor-Vehicles } The auto-horse—a one-wheel tractor which takes the place of a horse for pulling unusual 4 loads. Putting in a_ short tongue is the only change necessary in the wagon This tire rim is hinged at four points so that it can be packed in the tool box or easily slipped in the tire A piece of metal curved like a tile shovel is gradually slipped under the tire of a mired wheel to lift it out a, 604; : ’ CLL Mdijusiugiilduypgyy 19 8 wc ig ‘4 a = ZA ; : S ' MUM Ul A new type of coil spring in horizontal position A narrow strip of cement walk is ap- under the automobile frame takes up shocks preciated when the ground is muddy 675

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“Versatility” Is the Watchword Among the cesaillededccdddcddeachdddcetldddlddlddddddddedddddldddadddddddadddddddddddddddddus

AX

ty - 8 # A SSS WWII A truck, with one rear wheel jacked up and-belted to a centrifugal pump, furnished enough power to pump out Below: A freak car a flooded basement body designed on the lines of a very speedy motor-boat A lock that releases the steering wheel so that the wheel spins like a top

WWW An auxiliary cooling sys- tem placed in the false door of a Ford car. It takes care of steam gen- erated by the radiator ENN

i At left: A canteen that — cS 2 fits on the running board ° (4 y ° tincie = : of the car is useful for “<caidaiedeilimataaiaaamssaaaimaaatiiaiiniin dda cross-country trips

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Above: A humane device for turning headlights easily to one side or down- ward so as to avoid blinding pedestrians At right: The tele- graph poles seem to be taking a ride. So they are, but it is the result of an ac- cident which snap- ped them off short s {\ “FT [729498 Manufacturers and Owners of Automobiles At left: In this new type of body, the rear seat is re- moved to obtain ac- cess to a storage compartment con- cealed behind it One Vd MMlldllldldddldblddi Above: A nickel- in-the-slot machine for vending air to automobiles. The hose is reeled up and locked when it is not in use ddd Middl wheel peeping through reveals the fact that this is an automobile in carnival dress MOMMA MND

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iN ,! 678 To take the picture the camera is held tight against the finger print and a lever is pressed A Special Finger-Print Camera for the Modern Sherlock Holmes OR police officers and others who have need of getting finger-print evidence from material that cannot be preserved or removed from its environment, a special camera has been perfected. It takes a photograph of the finger print wherever it may be. In operating the camera no photographic skill or experience, nor even a tripod is necessary. The camera is held tight against the surface of the door, ceiling, wall paper, or wherever the finger print has been made. The shutter release lever is then pressed down; this automatically carr tte ses oe closes the circuit to the four lamps inside ; Ss the camera and thus =... © +... lights them, provid- = i “.y--2cssee--- ing the illumination for the exposure. The necessary cur- rent is provided by storage batteries in- side the camera. 23-7" 5 MP we >: “ss "eat, Details of the combination ink-bottle holder, ink-feeder and stopper, for the artist’s use Popular Science Monthly Rivers That Flow in Two Different Directions HILE making meas- urements of river flow in the upper Mississippi River ba- sins and in the Hud- son Bay recently, the United States Geo- logical Survey dis- covered that some of the rivers under investigation empty into the Arctic Ocean during certain seasons and into the Atlantic Ocean at other times. Efficiency as Applied to an Ink-Bottle Holder HE accommodating bottle holder shown in the accompanying illus- tration is designed principally for the convenience of the pen-and-ink artist. The device does a great deal more than simply to provide a stand for the inkwell. It has a top section as well as a base, and this top section contains two disks to cover the bottles used, thus doing away with cork bottle- stoppers. Each of these disks is pro- vided with a quill which dips down into the bottle when pressure is exerted on the finger-piece of an attached arm which is led from,the outer surface of each disk to the base of the stand. Additional pressure causes the quill to rise out of the bottle, bringing with it a drop of ink which it feeds to the point of the pen held to receive it. In this way the evaporation of the ink is prevented. Different colors of ink may be kept in the separate bottles. A small basin is provided at one side of the wells to hold a supply of water, and cleaning cloths for the pen points. Complicated as the con- trivance seems to be, it requires only a slight pressure of the finger on one of the arms to raise the top and elevate the drop of ink for the pen. The economy of time and of ink is apparent, since there is no clogging of the ink from dust, no evaporation, and no cork stopper tobe removed each time the bottle is used. POTENT SS

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ee Fuel From Waste Paper—A War- Time Economy GROUP of Long Island women have devised a means of cutting down their coal bills by using waste paper for fuel. The waste paper—old newspapers, wrapping paper, and card-board which may accumulate about a house is torn into small pieces and put into a watertight receptacle. Boiling water is poured over it and it is set aside until the mass becomes soft. If it is put to soak in the evening it will be ready to handle the following morning. The mass is then formed into balls about four inches in diameter. The balls may be dried in the sun or in the oven. As soon as they are thoroughly dry they are ready to use. These paper briquets are said to be a very satis- factory substitute for coal. At any rate, they are capable of augmenting the regular coal supply to an appreciable extent. They catch quickly and burn more slowly than might be expected. A Fountain Ink-Eradicator. Like a Pen VERYBODY carries a fountain pen. Why not fountain ink-eradicator also? That is the underlying idea of an invention patented by Robert G. Mason, of Brooklyn, New York. Two thin tubes holding eradicating solutions, fit in the rubber holder. To make an erasure, the cap on the lower end of the holder must be removed. Then the feeding valves in both tubes are released allowing drops of the solutions (chloride of lime and citric acid, each in its own tube) to moisten the spot and wipe out the ink. The two tubes for the ink-eradicating solutions fit into the thin holder which is about the size of a fountain-pen case Popular Science Monthly It Works When the solder is melted, the lifter is inserted in the puncture in the cap of the can, and ring and cap are lifted off together. At left is the hot ring for melting the solder A. New Can-Opener Which Does Not Destroy the Can HE high cost of cans for preserving fruits and vegetables can be materially reduced by the use of a simple device which unseals the cans so that they can be used again and again. You first melt the solder around Cork the cap on the can with the heated ring as shown in the small circular 4 _ photograph above. Before i Non-corroding applying the hot ring, you rs must puncture the cap; for, unless a hole is made in the cap, the atmospheric pres- sure of fifteen pounds to the square inch would hold the cap to the can as if by suc- tion. When the solder is melted, the pick, or lifter, (shown held in the right hand above) is inserted in the puncture made in the cap, and the ring and cap are lifted off together. The cans should be scalded and well washed with soda. Liquid- container

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a SAPO Mo Fighting at Night with Searchlight Torpedoes The torpedoes carry searchlights which are lighted by means of a time fuse when the enemy ships are almost reached « One by one the torpedoes are launched, They curve and glide about, revealing the enemy’s position but not that of the home fleet. FLEET A which could illuminate the battleships of its enemy and be itself unseen would stand in a good way to whip the best navy afloat. Torpedoes for carrying out such tactics have already been developed by Alphonse Fernandez, a Spanish inventor. Not gunpowder, but a brilliant searchlight is the charge of these torpedoes. Imagine yourself on a fleet whose search- lights have just flashed upon several hostile craft in the distant darkness. Out go your lights, your stationary searchlights also, for you do not wish to give your next maneuvers away. As your ships start at once to detour, the torpedoes are made ready. These are constructed and propelled like the regulation, high-explosive Below is shown the plan of the torpedo in detail torpedo. The gyro- scopes in them are set to steer the torpedoes on a cir- cuitous path to- wards the enemy. The timing gear is also adjusted to trip the electric switch and to turn on the arc- lights after the torpedoes have gone a sufficient distance from you. Everything being now ready, the signal is given and one after another the torpedoes are launched ! They curve round and finally glide straight towards the ships of the enemy without revealing your own position. The enemy may try to dodge the beams, but before they can run out of the brilliant light of the entire school of torpedoes your gunners will have a chance at sinking, or at least, disabling their shins. 680

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1e nd he ut int yur or {t Has Both a Pneumatic and a Solid Tire—This New Truck Wheel OZENS of inventors have patented wheels which are intended to have all the buoyancy of the pneumatic tire and which are blowout- and puncture-proof. The problem is difficult to solve for the ordinary pleasure vehicle, but still more so for the motor- truck. Asa result, nearly all motor-trucks are equipped with the solid type of tires. A new motor- truck tire has been invented in which both the solid tire and the pneumatic principle are ingen- iously combined. aes spindle Popular Science Monthly 681 ing come into contact with the wide upper edges of the casing that hold the tube. The side thrust of the wheel when in motion is taken up by means of small thrust bearings between the inner and outer wheel parts as shown. Why Do Salmon Go HE rocks of the earth are having their sodium con- tents washed out continually, there- fore the rivers of today have less salt than the streams of former years. This is the reason ad- vanced for the regu- Ball bearing to take side thrust Contact casing - The drive is trans- mitted directly to the rim instead of to the hub section. This re- lieves the pneumatic part of the wheel from the driving strains. The wheel consists of two main parts, a hub carried on ball-bearings, with a U-shaped steel casing embracing a rub- ber air tube, and an outer part driven by the regular chain and sprocket and carrying the dual tires, as shown. The outer part has a convex-shaped cas- ing which encircles the pneumatic tube and comes into contact with it, thus providing a narrow track upon which the tire rolls when the wheel revolves. By this means the cushioning effect of the pneumatic tire is retained, with none of its disad- vantages such as punctures or blowouts. Should the pneumatic tube become deflated for any reason, the truck may still run with- out damaging the wheel because two rings of rubber on each end of the contact cas- Although it is opened witha simple twist, the bottle is sealed and leak-proof dw | ag? e. | eer” Dual truck tires The drive is transmitted directly to the rim instead of to the hub section. This relieves the pneumatic part of the ~ wheel from the heavy driving strain The slightest movement of » the hand will cause the ball to cut off the flow of the ink = lar trips which schools of salmon make every year to the deep sea. The river having become too fresh for it, the salmon must needs go out to the ocean for the saltness necessary for its best develop- ment and comfort. Salmon are content in the rivers all the sum- mer and fall, during which time they spawn. The young make their first trip to the sea when they are about one year old. You Can’t Spill Ink When Pouring From This Bottle i ink bottle which works somewhat on the principle of the non-refillable bottle, and which prevents waste and smearing of the hands, has been invented by Frank H. Silverthorne, of New York city. There is a small ball in the neck portion of the bottle so that the flowing ink can be cut off in an instant. As a further precaution a seal is provided in- stead of acork. With the seal in position the bottle will stand any amount of shak- ing without leaking. SOE LE ——

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anne a AE What’s Wroné with the Submarine? A submarine boat is not perfect. Two sets of motors are needed—one to drive it on the surface and the other under water. Why not use one set only? By Frank Shuman | (A submarine boat must be driven under water by storage batteries for reasons given in this article. As a result, even the larger submarines are literally packed with machinery. Some of this could be dispensed with if one set of engines could be used for surface and under-water propulsion. Moreover, the dangers attending the use of storage batteries would be avoided. Mr. Frank Shuman, a distinguished mechanical engineer, famous for his wool-degreasing ma- chinery, his sun-power plant, his corrugated glass, his method of making concrete piles, has in- vented a very ingenious method of obtaining this desired end by utilizing liquid cxygen.—Editor.) YI seems very wonderful that, after - centuries of efiort, men have succeeded in building boats which can dive be- neath the surface of the water and come up again almost as readily as dolphins. Indeed, it is so wonderful that those who have only a general conception of the con- struction and operation of the submarine are apt to believe that the millenium in naval architecture has come. The truth is that for all its deadliness, the submarine is a very crude piece of machinery. The submarine serves the very useful purpose of Lonning tower Hydroplane How Liquefied Oxygen Is Turned into Gas under High Pressure to Generate Power Power generated from liquefied oxygen is utilized to operate first an expansion engine and then the regular explosion engine of the submarine. Liquid oxygen is intensely cold—so cold that it boils when exposed to the much hotter atmosphere. On shipboard it is kept in a container which prevents it from boiling away as much as possible. To convert it into a gas under pressure, it is pumped from the container through three successive coils before it reaches the expansion engine. In the first coil the liquefied oxygen is turned 682 Officers quarters = ~~ Escapehatches Torpedoes \ ae | taking the conceit out of mechanical en- gineers; it reveals to them how very much they have to learn about the generation of energy. Every submarine in the world is driven on the surface by what are known as in- ternal combustion engines—engines which, in a general way, are similar to those by means of which automobiles are propelled. Such an engine is curiously human. It breathes air, just as you and I must breathe if we would live. A certain amount of air must be mixed with the liquid fuel of the mc — —_ Ventilators ~~ quarters into gaseous oxygen under high pressure; the necessary heat is supplied by ordinary sea water running around the coil. In other words, heat is absorbed from the sea water, which heat furnishes the main power to drive the expansion engine. The gaseous oxygen is next superheated by passing through the second coil, r the superheating being produced by using the cooling water which has been used to jacket the explosion engine of the submarine, around the coil. The now gaseous oxygen is still further superheated as it passes

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4 i er rapid combustion which makes the piston move up and down in its cylinder. And so mechanism is provided which enables the engine to inhale a measured quantity of air to be mixed with a measured quantity of fuel. Now the air within a submarine is limited in quantity. When the ship is sub- merged, the crew must breathe as well as the engines. Moreover, there is the problem of disposing of the gases exhausted by the engine. They cannot be ejected into the sea carelessly. They would rise to’ the surface of the water in the form of bubbles and would inevitably betray the course taken by the submarine. Moreover, en- gines are very hot, and the living quarters in a submarine are at best none too com- fortable. Because the air supply within a sub- marine is so limited and because of the very nature of the propelling engines, in- ventors of submarines have had to resort to the very awkward expedient of driving their craft under water by means of storage batteries. The batteries are heavy, cum- bersome, and not always safe; they must “eriscopes Operating compartment Escape hatch ageixing chamber fxpansionengine \ ~ Oxygen’ Carbureter | Formerly storage batteries _... Sa ale BERD ME AS path ee Sufficient to Drive the Submarine under Water at High Speed and for Long Distances through the third coil, which is bathed by the hot exhaust gases from the explosion engine. Still under pressure, but highly superheated, the oxygen passes into the expansion engine where it helps to drive the vessel and where it is expanded to a pressure equal to that which is required to force it into the explosion engine. In order that no visible wake may be left, the gases ex- hausted from the explosion engine are forced out through a sieve having many small holes. Thus the carbonic acid gas, of which the exhaust is largely composed, is finely Self-bailing superstructure Popular Science Monthly 683 engine in order to produce that explosively’ be recharged at the surface—a noisy busi- ness which takes from six to eight hours and which imperils the safety of the craft for the time being. It is said that the newest German submarines can travel un- der water for nearly a hundred hours. That must mean a very sparing use of the stored power. According to Lieutenant Hinkamp of our Navy, ‘‘the submarine of the present day can operate submerged at its maximum speed for about an hour. At about one-third of this maximum speed, she can operate practically twenty-four hours.” - Is it not evident, as I maintain, that the submarine, mechanically speaking, is a very crude contrivance, something of which mechanical engineers should be ashamed rather than proud ? Needless to say the inconvenience and danger resulting from the necessity of using storage batteries for sub-surface propulsion have long been recognized. Inventors have made many efforts to do away with the storage battery entirely and to devise a way of using the regular internal combus- tion engines of.the craft for under-water as well as for surface propulsion. Here, I wish to add my own contribution to the solution of the problem. It is very evident that if the engines are to be used for under-water propulsion a large supply of air must be stored in Explosion engine : :' Steering rudder Feedpump cooling water : Diving rudder - Propellers sept RIE LION AE 6° 5 si seth i BSR subdivided so that it can be readily absorbed by the sea water. This absorption is aided by the propeller which thoroughly beats up the exhaust gases with large volumes of water. If small cruising radius and quick action alone are required rather than economy, the expansion engine and the three coiis through which the oxygen passes can all be cut out and the. liquefied oxygen can be forced directly into the mixing tank and mingled with the proper amount of hot exhaust gases from the engine

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il} ‘have designed the 684 Popular Science Monthly tanks and fed to the cylinders. Compressed air has been experimented with more or less successfully. But that does not seem to be economical. Why not liquid air, or, better still, liquid oxygen? Four-fifths of the air that we breathe is composed of nitrogen which serves the very useful pur- pose of diluting the oxygen that we really need and preventing us from literally burn- ing up. Since an engine is an inanimate piece of machinery which can be con- structed to meet certain operating condi- tions, there seems no reason why liquefied oxygen could not ‘chanical energy stored up in the liquid oxygen serves to supply additional power for driving the vessel and the oxygen itself to furnish the medium without which there can be no combustion. The captions ap- pearing beneath the illustrations describe the actual invention in such detail that it is unnecessary to dwell further upon its construction here. I have said that the exhaust gases of an engine when discharged into the water appear as bubbles on the surface and not only betray the presence of the craft but indicate the exact

be used effective- course. In order

ly. And so, I machinery which is disclosed in the accompanying il- lustrations and which, I am sure, will drive a sub- marine under water at high speed and for long distances. An engine is driven by heat, converted into mechanical en- Liguid oxygen in coll

heated by used cooling water to dispose of these gases, I discharge them through an exhaust device of special typé. They are sifted through millions of small holes. After that they strike the pro- peller, by which they are beaten up with the sea water. Since these exhaust Gasojine meter feed pu , ee ee Oe Liquid oxygen in coil heated by sea water

gases are com- ergy. Liquid oxygen is very cold. When it vaporizes and be- comes a gas again Diluting the Oxygen with Hot Exhaust Gases Before it can be fed to the explosion engine after having been exhausted from the expansion engine, the oxygen must be diluted; otherwise it would simply destroy the explosion engine. Hence, the oxygen after it leaves the expansion engine passes into a tank where it is mixed with a certain quantity of the hot exhaust gases (dried carbon dioxide and steam) from the posed chiefly of steam and carbon dioxide, they will be entirely ab- sorbed by the sea it absorbs heat, or energy, from theheatingagent, which combines in this case sea water and other means. To ‘make the most of our liquid oxygen, then, this stored energy ought to be used for propelling the vessel. Hence, in the de- sign which I here present, the gas given off by the liquefied oxygen is fed to an expan- sion engine, which is an engine very much like a steam engine in principle, the differ- ence being that a compressed gas is the motive agent instead of steam. It is evi- dent that after the oxygen has expended its energy in driving the piston of that expansion engine, it is just as fit to breathe as it ever was before. In other words, it can be fed to the internal combustion engines of the submarine to be mixed with fuel as if it had never been utilized in the ex- pansion engine at all. This is what I have done. The result is that the me- explosion engine. That quantity is carefully measured by a meter pump and forced through a pipe into the mixing tank as here shown. <A certain amount of fuel (oil or gasoline) is forced through a carbureter and supplied to the mixing tank of a submarine under water. water after hav- ing been thus mi- nutely = sub- divided. No be- traying wake will be visible. Compressed air in strong, steel tanks, could no doubt be used to drive the engines Indeed, the experiments which have been made with what is known as the Neff system, described some time ago in the pages of the POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, have been encouraging. Officers of the navy have criticised the use of compressed air because of the wake. My objection to the system is chiefly to the nitrogen contained in the compressed air. Nitrogen is not easily absorbed by sea water; it resists combination with all elements. The whole difficulty of avoiding a wake is more easily solved, to my mind, by utilizing pure liquid oxygen. Moreover, no matter how highly air may be compressed in tanks, a liquefied gas is even more compact.

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we Trew «aw awl ai a A i gg Ws fa ae TM MN Bee mS h th Popular Science Monthly Medical Men in the Army—Thous- ands of Them Are Needed HEN Uncle Sam sends his fighting forces to the front he will require the services of 24,000 officers and 129,000 enlisted men for the Army Medical and Sanitary Corps. It has been estimated that the army will need two out of every nine physicians in the country. The average number of physicians receiving orders has been about two hundred a day. As fast as accommoda- tions are ready these medical officers are sent to training camps. They go ahead of the troops in order that sanitary preparations may be made for the men. The medical training camps at Fort Riley, Fort Benjamin Harrison and Fort Oglethorpe take care of 1,000 student of- ficers and 1,800 enlisted men. Besides these each camp has four ambulance companies, four field hospitals and one evacuation company. That colored troops may have their own medical officers there is a training camp for colored medi- cal and sanitary detachments. Packing Chocolate in Sausage-Links for Italian Soldiers XPERIENCE has proved that the most economical and _ convenient method of preparing chocolate for the use of soldiers is to pack it in sausage-links. The chocolate, mixed with sugar, is poured directly from the crusher-mill in which the cocoa bean is crushed, into the pendant sausage casing and tied up so that it looks exactly like a small sau- sage. It soon hardens and may be carried in the pocket or stored for almost any length of time without becoming stale. The chocolate sausage is: considered by the Italians as an essen- tial when campaign- ing. It is used either for the purpose of making instantly a nutritious beverage or for eating, like candy, on a long, dinnerless march. Dietitians give chocolate a high rank for its nutrition. This is how it is prepared for the Italian soldiers so that it will not melt The gasoline engine drives the machine ahead and_ the forked spades work the ground, while you simply take the plow handles and steer A Spading Machine Which Makes Patriotic Gardening Worth While HE average man who works during the day finds the home garden a big undertaking, unless he has a gasoline spading machine like the one recently rigged up in New Jersey by Raymond D. Jamesson. With it the plow- ing and spading are done in one-fifth the usual time and without the usual backache. A small gasoline engine is mounted on a light framework, and this is geared up with the two spurred driving wheels. Another gearing is connected with the pivoted fork spades so that the prongs of these are given a reciprocating motion. All you have to do, therefore, is to take the plow handles and steer the machine; the eight horse- power engine will drive it; the spades will dig up the ground; the forks will break up the clods of earth, and a special device will open up the furrow. On the return trip this same device will cover over the seeds and the center wheel will press them down. The hand _ spade method is ancient compared with this.

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686 Popular Science Monthly seg ward at the base of the shell. The fuse is made in the ordi- nary way and behind it is a chamber for the explosive charge. The projectile is fired just as any shell is fired. The explosion re- leases the cutting arms and they cut through any object with devastating force. The chain shell is constructed similarly except that short chains are wound around the gaine and separated by disks which keep them in place until the projectile isemptied. Sometimes the chains are weighted heavily at the ends. When the explosion takes place the chains fly out with fearful force and in addition to their high-speed forward movement they rotate rapidly. Needless to say, where they hit something, A chain shell exploding. Theheavy chains weighted at the ends tear through the heaviest wire entan- glements as though they were spider webs. The shell at the left shows how the chains are wrapped around the gaine ready to spread out at the time of explosion. The shell at the right has a pair I : of cutting arms _ (Chains : which cut through Ac PCylinders entanglements as Gcine-(esp easily as you can cut a thread with scissors Hooked arms Shells with Scissors Attachments That Cut Wire Entanglements HERE seems no limit to what the new shells can do. One of the latest shells has a sort of scissors attachment which, when released by the explosion, will cut through the strongest wire entangle- ments. Another releases a number of short chains when it explodes. These chains are sure to wreck anything they touch. The scissors shell has an opening in the casing through which the cutting arms project. They are slightly recessed in order to avoid wind resistance. The arms are attached near the nose of the projectile. They are mounted on steel studs in such a manner that they can rock and expand in order to throw the free ends out- read in there is nothing left. Weighing Your Coal by the Ounce or the Pound OMETHING new in shovels has been invented by David Moffatt Myers, of New York. Perhaps the inventor thought that the soaring price of coal meant that hereafter it would be weigh- ed by the pound. His shovel weighs every ounce of coal. This paragon among shovels looks like any other iron shovel except for some embellishments on its handle. It has a sliding hand-grip near its pan. The grip is held by levers and a spring. When the stoker grips the handle and loads the shovel the load nat- urally shifts to his left hand. The spring allows his grip to move upward in pro- portion to the weight of the coal. Links transmit the motion to a toothed bar, which turns a counting mechanism As the coal is shoveled, the total weight may be the exact number of pounds and ounces

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SS ee EE I Ve : Ne A Oe Se OU ee CF ae Popular Science Monthly 687 . Open Your Mouth and Let the Doctor prsasnoniiec ee —_ peactien a : : constant circulation, so that when the en- SRR Sey Sere gine is working under a heavier load than N interesting little de- usual, and therefore requires a vice recently invented greater circulation, it does not get for the convenience of physi- it. This lack causes over- cians and dentists, is an heating. automatic mouth in- specting lamp. A small electric bulb is fitted into a short tube which is itself hinged to a larger cylin- der containing the stan- dard flashlight batteries. A wooden tongue-de- presser is attached to the tube. When the surgeon presses down your tongue with this, the tube is swung slight- ly on its hinge. This ac- tion produces the light. Preventing the Ford Engine from Over- heating—A Simple Pump Does It HE engine of the Ford car often over- heats in the hot weather when driving fast or work- When the surgeon depresses your tongue, the action closes an electric circuit and illuminates your mouth This deficiency is overcome by the simple pump shown below. It consists of a screw- like blade working in a short barrel inserted in the regular Ford water line between the radi- ator and the engine. The blade is revolved by means of a small belt and pulley driven by the big radiator fan- shaft. The faster the engine revolves the more wateriscirculated. Lucky and Unlucky Telephone Num- bers—In Japan They Affect Your Bill UR only unlucky number is 13. In Japan they have two unlucky num- bers—-42 and ing under a hard pull be- cause of the thermo-sy- phon water cooling sys- tem em- ployed. In this system the water cir- culates from the radiator to the cylin- ders and back again in ac- cordance with law which causes hot water to rise to the top while cold water drops W the natural aren 49. Nobody wants either of these num- bers for a tele- phone call, simply be- cause the for- mer is pro- nounced “‘shini,’ which means ‘‘to die’’ and the latter is pro- nounced ‘shin, which means ‘“‘death.”’ The luckiest _ tel- phone num- ber in theesti- mation of the Japanese business man tothe bottom. After the en- gine is once The water circulates continuously from the radiator to the cylinders and back, forced at times by a screw- like blade which is revolved by a belt and pulley perity. iseight, which suggests pros- All the specialized knowledge and information of the editorial staff of the Popular Science Monthly is at your disposal. Write to the editor if you think he can help you.

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Photo Bernard Levy The shock of landing is tremendous. HE PopuLar SCIENCE MONTHLY has already devoted space to the huge Sikorsky biplane used by Russia early in the war—a machine which had a body almost as big and comfortable as a Pullman car. German observers called it slow and cumbrous. In spite of the disadvantages of such huge machines, all the Powers have experimented with them. Their chief merit is their load- carrying capacity. Now comes Italy with the Caproni type. According to Major R. Perfetti, head of the Italian Aeronautical Commission in the United States, the Caproni climbs 3,250 feet in thirteen minutes, 6,500 feet in twenty-seven minutes, 10,000 feet in sixty-seven minutes. It carries three men, three shell guns, 7,500 pounds of bombs and fuel for six hours. Its 900-horsepower engines drive it at a maximum speed of eighty miles an hour. The Italians regard this huge bombing plane optimistically as the equivalent, or rather the superior of the long-range can- non. To be sure, it can drop explosives far beyond the range of the heaviest artillery; but it must not be overlooked that bombs cannot be dropped with the accuracy of shells without exposing the machine. The Caproni is an object lesson. To lift an enormous load, great wing surface must be depended upon. A biplane is impossible, because the span would be too great. Hence, the Caproni is a triplane, and even then the span is no less than one hundred and ten feet. Carrying surface is Italy’s Huge Bombing Triplane 688 A machine which is intended to do the work of heavy guns Notice how solid are the wheels on which the machine alights, how substantial is their frame and how carefully they have been placed to distribute the shock thus obtained in a small compass and with deeper and stronger trussing than would be possible in a biplane. But that advantage is purchased at the expense of head re- sistance. Surface cannot be piled on sur- face without paying the price in power. The distribution of the planes in three decks was not enough. In order that the immense structure might be solid as a whole and yet not too heavy, power must be generated by three engines, because three engines can be distributed. Each of these engines is of three hundred horse- power. The distribution of the engines over a full third of the wing span lowers by that much the leverage of the weight on the truss. Since irregularly shaped masses as they move through the air exert a con- siderable retarding effect, each engine is, of course, enclosed in a long steamline body. The middle body is the shortest; hence its three-bladed propeller is mounted in the rear. The two outer bodies have two- bladed front propellers. These two outer bodies hold the tail between them far more rigidly than would be possible in single-fuselage construction. Curtiss in his small fast triplane in- geniously showed that it was possible to use only three struts on account of their in- herent strength and that the head resistance increases with the number of struts. The latest warplanes with their high land- ing speeds, are plainly expected to land only at carefully prepared grounds. That policy removes a grave objection to mere size. ARIES

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—~ | MN 1 aT oS h 6 2) ——) \e . — 1 The Portable Army Bread-Mixer It makes six thousand loaves an hour © Underwood and Underwood The bread-making outfit is mounted on a specially constructed motor-truck so that it can fol- low the troops. It is operated by current from the truck engine or from a separate motor GAIN has one of the necessities of this great war proved itself the mother of invention and produced a machine to do work that previously had only been done by hand or by expensive and cumbersome installed machinery. This time it is a portable army bread-mixing machine capable of mixing the ingredients into dough; molding the dough into any shape desired and dividing it into pre- determined weights which can be regulated by the simple movement of a hand-wheel. With a crew of five men, the machine will make six thousand loaves of any size, weight or charged from the machine directly into baking pans ready for the ovens. The mixer dumps the dough into troughs, where it rises. It is then removed to the machine proper where it is divided and molded after being rolled and kneaded as it passes through on chain-driven belt con- veyors. The entire outfit is mounted on a “specially long wheelbase motor-truck so that it can move forward and follow the troops or change its position as required. The bread-making machinery is carried wholly within the motor-truck body. This has low sides’ shape in one hour. This 1s the same amountof work which now re- quires the serv- ices of 112 sol- diers mixing bread in the field by hand work. In ad- dition, the dough is ma- chined in a sanitary man- ner, the fin- to fold down as platforms on which the men can stand, and canvas __ side- walls which are extended to form a tent twenty-four feet wide and twenty-eight feet long when the outfit is set up in the field for operation. Current is pro- ished loaves being dis- The bread is mixed, kneaded, weighed, formed into loaves and discharged into baking pans—all by machinery 689 vided from the truck engine.

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By Joseph Brinker OW comes the cast-steel ship. The | \ purpose behind its proposed con- struction is to enable a large ocean- going tonnage to be built rapidly without further straining the much-overtaxed steel rolling mills of this country. According to its inventor, Myron F. Hill, a New York city patent attorney, standardized cast- steel ships can be built in much less time and at a much smaller cost than the ordi- nary fabricated steel-plate type. He fur- ther predicts that 6,000,000 tons of such ships could be turned out in one year if built according to a standard plan. While the use of cast-steel in ship con- struction is entirely new so far as merchant vessels in any part of the world are con- cerned, it has been stated by Lord Yarrow of the British Admiralty that the latest U-boats are being rushed to completion at a surprising rate by the use of standardized cast-steel sections put together in much the same fashion as Mr. Hill proposes for the cast-steel cargo boat. According to the present plans, which have been recommended for trial by the ranking naval architect of the Shipping Board and are now being drawn up for a rating by the Lloyds, the standard cast- steel cargo steamer will be a vessel four hundred and two feet long, fifty-three feet beam and thirty-four feet molded depth. She will have a displacement of approxi- mately twelve thousand two hundred tons when fully loaded and a cargo capacity of nine thousand, one hundred been repaired. Building Ships of Cast-Steel Six million tons of such vessels could be turned out in a year Before and After the Welding At the left, a cracked bell with the crack cut into the form of a V to admit the welding material. At the right, the same bell after the crack has Note the laminations . of the welded material and its rough surface. The roughness may be ground almost entirely away. In the center above, is the Wilson welding tool showing the bar of manganese alloy which-. is welded 690 Employing the Electrical Welding Process The inventor proposes to use the Wilson electric process for welding together the various sections of the cast- steel ship. Above is shown a workman with the weld-. ing tool, used in this process, in one hand, and qi wire screen guard to protect his eyes from the: *% intense light and heat in the other. He is welding,” - the tubes of a locomotive into the boiler headsheet " ,: tons. She will not differ from the ordinary cargo steamer in shape, propelling engines” or other machinery but simply in the hull and the bulkheads, all of which will be made of cast-steel sections welded together by the special Wilson process, which has proved very successful in commercial work and,is now being extensively employed in restor- ing the damaged and broken parts of the many German ships taken over by our Government. The straight-sided portion of the cast- . steel ships, or that central three-fifths of the length of the vessel amidships, will be made up of sections from ten to twelve feet wide in the lengthwise dimension of the ship. For an ordinary two-decked vessel, each of these sections will be formed of five steel castings welded together at six points in the same transverse plane in addition to the welding required to join one section to those in. the grooves +

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y $3 ll e + immediately adjacent on each side. The five steel castings consist of one extending clear across the vessel at the bottom and forming the inner bottom for water ballast or-fuel oil; two identical side castings, each extending from the top of the double- Popular Science Monthly 691 pieces, rudder posts, etc., have been success- fully turned out for many years past. Cast steel has driven out the riveted forms of locomotive tender bed-frames, car truck frames, vestibule ends for steel cars and Pull- man coaches, etc., where excessive vibration bottom unit to has caused the the upper deck, and twocast-steel deck- beam _ sec- tions, one for each deck. The six welds in each transverse sec- tion are made be- tween the two deck beams and the vertical side casting and be- tween it and the double-bottom rivets to loosen and where abnor- mal strains, such . as must be en- | countered by ships in a heavy sea, have bent the rolled steel frames and necessitated costly repairs and overhauling. The cast-steel ship will have no ae ee | on each side, giv- ing three welds to each of the trans- verse sections, a total of six in each of the five castings. The thirty-foot ship side castings and the fifty-five-foot double-bottom unit may seem unwieldy, but equally large and more diffi- cult castings, such as battleship stem Examples of Electric Welding Note the V-shaped groove cut in the rectangular piece in the foreground. Note also in the piece of steel in the left back- ground, how the roughness of the weld may be ground off so that the position of the welded place will not be noticeable rivets, liners, lap or butt joints in the shell-plating, bulkheads, double bottoms, etc., and no frames, reverse frames or the usual great number of angle irons and brackets which go to make up the ordinary fabricated ship. Some of the weight of these various parts will be used to increase riransverse section welds and grooves Rolled-steel deck plates welded =| deck beam sections « Rolled plates for top of double- bottom/welded in place \V-welding acriir= : Midway solid ) open stiffeners casting ‘tiffener off close to solid transverse member casting stiffener side of one section / : ntermediate open stiffeners shown cut A Perspective Transverse Cross-Section of the Cast-Iron Ship The five major castings from which the ship will be made are the double-bottom casting, the two vertical side castings, one on either side, and the two cast-iron deck sections. Note the strengthening ribs in the side castings, somewhat similar to those used in the longitudinal method of ship construction, and the manner in which the rolled plates welded on tlie top of the double-bottom and deck sections are employed. to provide thoroughly water-tight floors

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692 the thickness of the shell portion of the castings for greater rigidity, but the greater part will be eliminated, thereby reducing the dead weight of the vessel to below that of the,ordinary fabricated type. Besides, there will be no interstices between the plates of the ordinary ship to permit of corrosion. The outer or . J Top of stiftener skin side of — Rolied-steel double-bottom y¥ Plates welded to tops of st ifieners — Weld groove Popular Science Monthly for a joint to be made which has a strength of one hundred and twenty-five per cent of the casting itself or a joint actually stronger than the parts joined. As Mr. Hill has laid out his plans, he would have big foundry-shipyards at deep water where castings could be made and then placed directly on the launch- ing ways by means of the the castings , in contact Gone with the wa- =) ter will be smoothed off ‘by means of Stiffeners between ‘transverse castinas welded here usual travel- ing crane outfits. After the various i ° ° i ° liquid cement sections were and finally set up in or- painted. pe | “a der and According se ie welded to- 11? ae S : en a ‘ i to Mr. Hill's Weld groove” oe 7 Water ballast or fuel oil get her, — the Pp l ans, t h e€ Bottom of ships carried here - ship could be castings will shell casting launched be made by A Longitudinal Cross-Sectional View and out- the machine This was taken in the double-bottom of the cast-iron ship looking toward fitted with the centerline and showing the transverse I-beam members and the manner : method of in which the stiffeners cast integral with one I-beam section are welded engines and block mold- ing which does not re- quire any great amount ’ Transverse stiffener of skilled ‘aig atic help and in we which the casting loss is said to be only two and one-half per cent. Of course the castings will to those adjacent to it. Note also the lightening hole in the stiffeners and the manner in which the rolled-steel plates are welded to the tops of the stiffeners to provide a water-tight floor. bottom of each section forms the shell or hull of the ship with V-shaped welding grooves at the ends of each section as shown. There are no inter- spaces. Fuel oil or water ballast may be carried in the double-bottom . *. ‘3 % & ' ge “ f ee” $ - boilers ac- cording to present - day practice. The yards would have open-hearth furnaces capable of turning out five-hundred . thousand » tons of ships It is also seen that the 5 a Welded blast fur- have ribs, as required in the molding process, but these ribs will serve the dual purpose of providing for the longitudi- nal and transverse strength of the hull itself. The inventor plans to weld the castings together by the Wilson process in which special V-shaped grooves along the welding edges will be filled with a manganese alloy by means of an electric arc across the end of the alloy rod held by the welder, and the casting itself. The method of keeping the melting current uniform as secured by the Wilson process is said to make it possible Ship's side r tas ahtinng ronees —— Looking Down on the Top of One of the Side Sections of the Ship This view shows two of the transverse stiffeners corresponding to the ribs of a wooden vessel. Note also how each section is welded to that adjacent to it, and the special V-shaped welding grooves in the ship’s side. These grooves will be filled with a specially prepared manganese alloy naces are to be used until the open- hearth type are ready, the supply of pig iron can be drawn upon. According to the inventor’s further plans, one gang can build an open-hearth furnace in forty-five days; two blast furnaces have just been built by the Cambria Steel Co. in fifty-seven days, the electric crane outfits can be built in two months; the launching ways in from four to five months, and the welders and the workmen trained to handle machine mold- ing in from two to three months. The plants could be located at launching points readily accessible to railways. . a month. If - 8 y i 3) A 2

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Pe S&S @ thew ¢ he wm tC mer oa IU thle GT tl ee eee lV ilt he \d- he Holding the Crowd Before Your Show Windows INCE it is next to impossible to get all the passers-by to come inside your store, the next best thing is to talk to them as they pass. The electric moving display sign shown in the illustration below is de- signed for this purpose. It has a mov- ing tape across its display surface, on which as much as five hundred feet of reading matter can be brought to the attention of the passing crowd. This tape is of cloth and moves con- tinuously in one direction as long as the current is turned on. The motor which furnishes the power is concéaled inside the cabi- net of the device, with the tape box. Either direct or alternating current may be used. The tape can be changed as often as desired. The Jae advertisements are made as newsy { as possible and are interspersed SaRiPaer: with appropriate witticisms. Sometimes prizes are offered for finding a misspelled word or a word purposely omitted. In charge of an ingenious operator this device ought to keep a crowd in front of the home and leave it still talking convincingly to the passers-by, electric lights, shielded and hidden by a reflector, illuminating the reading matter. Naturally, the people who stop to watch the sign will also take notice of the mer- chandise on display in the window. Popular Science Monthly 693 A. silk manufacturer’s doll. . He does not play with her. : - store window all day long, She is gowned in the latest doll’s dress. In _ this and at night you could go silks to try their effect manner the doll is made Dolls That Proclaim What the Fashions in Silk Shall Be OU would not think that serious- minded business men would have dolls made just for their especial benefit. But they do. However, these dolls are not for purposes of amusement. Since the war the fine silks from France have been diffi- cult to obtain. This has put the American silk manufacturers on their mettle and they have been producing some splendid silks which rival those made in the French mills. Above all things a new silk must lend itself to the making of clothes. A silk manufac- turer hit upon the happy idea of dressing dolls in the new fabrics to get the effect which the silks would produce if made up into gowns. The silk is woven and dyed. If it has a pattern, a piece of it in plain color is used for the doll’s dress. Then the large pattern is carefully drawn to scale and painted on the silk to be used for the to represent a fashion- able lady clad in the newest silks. Although the doll is only twelve inches tall the pro- portions are so perfect that the silk can be studied and passed upon by the examiners exactly as though it were made up into a woman’s garment. Roller. SE EEsI Es eEEEttEe Display case? } Tapered roller Detail of the the crowds. continuous The device is display sign. simple but As long as much de- the current is pends upon turned on the catchiness the moving of the print- tape talks to ed matter — Continuous adver- tising tape Roller xe.)

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Housekeeping Made Easy imal. See An adjustable handle for the dustpan. A special paper bag into which the It can be used short and with a side- table refuse may be scraped. It keeps grasp, or with a long wooden handle the garbage can clean and odorless You may cook two things at the same time on this miniature electric stove The hair on this joke- ster’s head is composed of matches. His mouth will hold the match-box i The oil stove in. the center picture above has a reversible glass reser- voir to measure the oil A kitchen table con- verted into a sewing ma- chine by set- ting the ma- chine head and treadle An umbrella bag with a pocket for rubbers Sete SR IER ee aaa

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Housekeeping Made Easy a ak This drainer in the bottom of the boiler An electric water heater with a con- makes it possible to lift the clothes out troller to regulate the strength of the cur- without splashing or danger of a scald rent according to the amount of water With this metal fruit jar cap and its reciprocating rack engaging a pinion on the end of a shaft carrying a whip- per, cream canbe whipped in the jar By drawing this scraper across the prints of butter, little cone-shaped pats are formed A hinged brush which clamps over the clothes- line and cleans it This device Ca sifts the ashes Ka and throws , the unburned A new card index cabinet. When cinders back closed it is a flat wall-drawer into the pail 695

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Catapulting Seaplanes from U-Boats Solving the difficult problem of launch- ing a flying machine over rough water A little elevated railway is built on the after-deck of the ship. On the track runs a little car which carries the seaplane, projecting it into the air when the end of the track is reached ONG before the engagements of the German and British fleets in the North Sea focused the eyes of the world upon the possibilities of scouting in the air, the officers of our Navy had foreseen the part that the flying machine would play in battle. But they were prevented from carrying their vision into reality by the difficulties of launching a seaplane. When the water is rough a flying boat is so bat- tered about by the waves that it is unable to make that preliminary run without which it cannot fly. In the earliest experi- ments a platform was built over the decks of one of our warships, and a flying ma- chine actually succeeded not only in launch- ing itself from that platform, but even in alighting upon it. But a platform is ob- viously an encumbrance. When a ship is to be cleared for action it is in the way. For some years Capt. Washington I. Chambers of our Navy has been working on this launching problem. He has at last de- vised an ingenious catapult with which some of our ships are provided and which seems to meet the technical requirements of those who must fight on the seas. Capt. Chambers’ launching device is in reality a little elevated railway built on the after-deck. On the track runs a little car 696 which carries the seaplane. The car shoots forward, carrying with it the seaplane. When the end of the track is reached, the seaplane is projected into the air, its motor having been started before the run. The car re- turns automatically to the starting position after having struck a buffer. What propels the car? Not the screw of the flying machine, as might be supposed at first blush, but a simple piece of machinery consisting of cable, tackle, and a com- pressed-air cylinder. One end of the wire cable is attached to the cor and the other to the piston of the cylinder. The tackle in between serves to magnify to 60 feet the push of the piston, which is about 4) feet. The function of the tackle is not unlike that performed by the pulleys that hoist a safe from the sidewalk to a fourth or fifth story window. By the time the seaplane has reached the end of the track, it will have a speed of at least forty miles an hour, which, in normal conditions, keeps it aloft if the propellers are in motion. Of course, the seaplane must be automatically unlatched from the car. The elevated structure upon which the track is carried, is so designed that it can be removed very quickly when the ship is to be cleared for action. ry AF Th FF 4645 —— AR MO eee LULU

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Touring the Country in a House-Mobile How a Ford touring car was transformed into an attractive living apartment A . WOW °° ™ hi» nwW WUVVVW "»eF WwW, *°e"'° Fe "> 't'e' isi 3 6»§éeaFBEAFEFBDBB FM ETA WwDwWwWWooe»»?FdFdjEXKqMqMqW]WWWW 6 F"”F"FéF°b"b8»h"?"™»l.’'’F"FwwNn. RTL - . * a a ‘ We ge > The quarters are small but not cramped. The tables and chairs and other furniture pieces fold up and are stored away when not in use They followed the Old National Trail to Chicago and the Lincoln Highway to New York where they are now taking a rest. The house-mobile was originally a Ford Touring car with truck attachment and is ital geared to 15 miles an hour. It weighs 5000 Serv. pounds. The interior has been covered with wall board. The driving seat makes up into a bed; a SS OS The equipment includes a small print- q ing outfit with which the travelers t earn pocket money on their journey water tank furnishes > running water; there 7 is a tiny kitchenette, 5 N May, 1916, Mr. a choice of gas or 4 and Mrs. A. W. electric lights, a long ij Robins started case of books, a e from San Francisco, “~““*P _- writing table and a e California, in a a ae é victrola with many d house-motor- truck, records, a folding and they have been table and chairs. e on the road_ ever As the weather ye since, stopping a few S grows colder, Mr. e days here and a few From coast to coast and from Canada to the and Mrs. Robins are days there. Gulf they will travel in their house-mobile | going on to Florida. 697 aT —

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The. pig with his individual pen can rove all over the farm but he can’t root under fences This Little Pig Went to Market—and Carried Its Pen Along HE photograph above shows the con- struction of a pen made for the individ- ual use of a pig afflicted with Wanderlust. It was effective in keeping the pig out of the enclosed places and yet left him free to wan- der anywhere he pleased. The rub came when he tried to get under a fence or into the chicken coops. It is the invention of S. L. and J. A. Hirst, of Arkansas Pass, Tex. A Portable Alfalfa Mill Grinds Hay for the Allies’ Cavalry ALED al- — Science Monthly stationary mills;. but the labor and cost of hauling, and the loss of fine leafage in handling, held back the industry The portable mill did away with all that. The mill can be operated with steam or electricity. A traction engine is preferred because after a job is done, the engine can hook on to the mill and haul it to the next field. Three or four horses can haul it, where no engine is used. Two men can fold the machine up for traveling and can set it up again in twenty minutes. When folded, it is compact enough to pass beneath telephone lines or trees, and to pass over irrigation ditches, etc. The mill can be adjusted to sack the meal, to blow it into silos, into barns, or on the ground. An engineer, stacker, feeder, sacker, sack sewer, water boy, and horse fork boy are required to run the outfit. Alfalfa meal is a valuable concentrate alone, but it‘is usually fed in conjunction with coarser ground feeds. When desired, the mill can be adjusted to mix corn or oat hay or other mixture. The meal is shipped at the grain rate, which is from one-third to one-fourth less than the hay rate. A ton of loose alfalfa will occupy approximately 500 cubic feet; baled alfalfa, from,215 to 225 cubic feet The meal takes up only 100 cubic feet. falfa hay is shipped from Califor- nia to. all parts of the world where cattle or horsesare fed. Yet this, added to the immense The portable alfalfa mill. It is drawn by engine power from field to field and converts the hay into meal ata fraction of the usual milling cost home con- sumption, could not use up all of the tremen- dous crop. The problem was solved a few years ago by the invention of a machine, now proved suc- cessful, which travels from field to field and converts alfalfa hay into alfalfa meal, using stems and all. It is known as the portable mill. The meal, itself, is not a new product. Alfalfa meal has been made for years in

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RPE, $e TO Identification Rings and Neck Tags for Our Soldiers Popular Science Monthly 699 Show You the Rug at the Bottom of the Pile? Why, Certainly IVES, mothers, doting relatives and . a indeed, is the rug sales- best girls are busy these days getting things together to give to the boys who are going to war. A very popular and a very use- ful gift is a silver identifica- These rings are so made that the wearer tion ring. may have his mono- gram engraved on the outside and his name and military connection on the inside. While the soldier boy has his hand, this is an ex- cellent means of identification. Uncle Sam has provided a means for identifying his soldiers which never can fail. A small metal tag is in- scribed with the sol- dier’s name, rank, company and regi- ment. This is sus- pended on a tape which the soldier wears around his neck. The Navy has arranged for the identifi- cation of all Navy officers by means of finger prints and metal tags. | duction of the finger print of the right index finger will be etched on the metal tags. A record of the finger prints will be kept in the bureau of navigation. These records and means of personal identification will serve to facilitate communication be- tween the soldiers and the folks at home, as well as to complete the reports of the newspapers and their lists of casualties after a great battle or im- portant engagement at the front. ©Underwood and Underwood The identification tags and rings for our boys of the Army and Navy ratchet and lever. A repro- The rug is rolled on the tube by means of a ratchet and lever. Then it is extracted and unrolled on top of the pile for display man who has the knack of selecting the most desirable and easily sold rugs for the top of the pile in his dis- play! Usually, it is the rug at the bottom of the pile, or at least one below the center, that appeals most of all to the prospective pur- chaser. Andto make a sale he myst. smil- ingly get it out so that its beauty can be enlarged upon. But getting it out —there’s the rub. However, relief is in sight. A rug ex- tractor has been in- vented and market- ed which does the work with magical ease, eliminating the back - bending and tugging. The device is very simple in construc- tion. It consists merely of a long tube which the sales- man attaches to the designated rug and which rolls up the rug by means of a The rolling-up opera- tion is accomplished without disturbing the arrangement of the other rugs in the pile. When completely rolled, the rug is out from under the pile. It can then be unrolled and spread out on the top. Only a minute is required for the entire rolling and unrolling operation. The salesman can operate it alone in an emergency, but two men, one at each end of the tube, are usually required to get it started. Once started, the rug is rolled without fur- ther trouble by the man originally con- ducting the sale. as — eG AE ESET

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Popular Science Monthly ° * MASSACHUSETTS. a NATIONAL GUARD trimming workbenches. system. The What Does an Army Need Most? **Shoes,”’ said Napoleon HE first traveling shoe-repairing equip- ment to be used by any of the armies Repair Shop In the truck are units for stitching the outsole, nailing soles and heels, edges, stitching patches. finishing and There are four All of the machines are run by power from the truck engine, which also charges the storage batteries for the lighting trailer serves as a warehouse, as a clearing house for the shoes and as comfortable sleep- ing quarters for the eight men work of the motor-truck outfit has one great advan- tage over the present method of sending the shoes to shops far in the rear, in that the soldier will always be sure to get his own par- ticular pair of shoes back after they have been re- paired. A soldier is as fussy about his shoes as he is about his tooth brush. When a pair is returned to him that does not fit, which is often the case under the present method, his fighting efficiency is greatly reduced and his marching ability impaired. Since the truck and its trailer are like thousands of others used for hauling am- munition, men and food to the trenches, the shoe outfit is assured of getting as near the lines as is desirable in order to serve the troops effi- ciently. Again, the mobility of the truck will enable the outfit to be withdrawn to safety quickly. The motor truck part of the outfit carries all of the shoe-repairing machinery and the of the world has been presented to the Massachusetts’ troops of the United States Army by the United Shoe Machinery Com- pany, of Boston, Mass. which consists of a motor-truck and a trailer, is fitted with special shoe machinery to permit a crew of six men to repair from four hundred to six hundred pairs of shoes a day. It is designed to go forward with the army as far as practicable and repair the shoes of the troops on the spot and thus elim- inate the cost of main- taining huge shops back of the lines and the cost of getting the shoes there and back again to the front line trenches after they have been repaired. The quick machine The spout at the bottom of the pouch serves as a trough down which the to- bacco slides di- rectly into the bowl of the pipe The equipment, trailer serves as a warehouse, as a clearing house and as sleeping quarters. A Pouch Which Will Not Spill Your Tobacco HE combined tobacco pouch and pipe filler il- lustrated at left will prevent you losing even a little of your precious “‘fillings.”’ The pouch has a spout at the bottom which serves as a trough, and then doubles up again and fastens over the pouch opening. When the pouch is opened and slightly squeezed the tobacco slides down the trough into the pipe. This pouch serves equally well, of course, for making cigarettes. In either case the operations are simplified and you will make a neat job of the filling. RP agers. ena .

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The man in the air, circling be- tween home battery and enemy target, gives the signals to fire a EGLAGE,” or fire-control, is the most difficult and the most dan- gerous work performed by the Fly- ing Corps at the front. The machines used are large and unwieldy, built to carry the weight of two men and all sorts of equip- ment. They are fairly fast, but their spread of wing is so large that it is almost impossible for them to make a turn quickly when attacked. They are armed with a machine gun, it is true, but they are always at a great disadvantage in the presence of an enemy fighting-machine which can out- maneuver them at every turn. In a very interesting little volume entitled ‘‘With the French Flying Corps” and published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, the author, Carroll Dana Winslow says: The first duty to which I was assigned was “réglage,”’ and this, I found, involves many compli- cations. The chief source of trouble usually is the wireless apparatus, which has to be maintained in perfect working order. Before leaving the home field you usually circle over it, while your observer tests his sending apparatus. The receiving operator then answers by visual signals. Usually tnese are large white sheets laid on the ground in different formations, which have a prearranged meaning. When the radio is found to be in perfect order you are off to the battery you have been ordered to co- operate with. By wireless your observer then reports to the battery commander, and receives his orders by means of the same visual signals. You then head in the direction indicated to you before leaving, and, hovering over the position to be bom- barded, the observer signals back “fire.” The moment the shells have landed you turn quickly about and inform the artillery just how many metres their fire was long, short, or to the right or left. Your message is once more answered with the sheets. Again you fly back toward the enemy’s position, circling in this way backward and forward between the battery and the target until the réglage is com- pleted. Naturally every care must be taken not to disclose the position of your own guns to the enemy, or retaliation—“‘strafe,” the English call it—follows. Sometimes it is the battery which interrupts the work with the signal, ‘‘Avion ennemi,”’ when the fire instantly ceases until the German airplane has dis- appeared or been driven off. With such occasional interruptions the work continues until the observer can send back the signal ‘‘fire correct,’ which is generally answered by the ‘‘sheet signal”’ Directing Big Gun Fire from Airplanes with the information that the machine may return home. Until this dismissal occurs, however, the ground below wholly en- grosses the attention of the observer. The pilot is forced to keep a close watch for German fighting-machines so as not to be caught unawares by one of them. This is often a very trying task, as the models of some of the French and German airplanes are so very much alike that they cannot be distinguished until they are within range. The novelty of airplane fire-control is thus dwelt upon: It is a curious fact that in the first months of the war many artillery officers refused to follow the directions of their aerial observers. A colonel of artillery who has been firing big guns all his life can- not be blamed for not thinking that a young observa- tion officer and a mere aviator know enough about the work of batteries to tell him where his shells are falling. Orders, consequently, had to be issued placing the artillery absolutely under the direction of the observers and calling upon the pilots to report any case where a battery refused to be guided by the signals it received. That put an end to the trouble. The sensations of the pilot are then described: At first I felt a strong aversion to flying over batteries in action. You are bound to get in close proximity to the trajectory of the shells, and the constant sensation and sound of the passing projec- tiles is none too pleasant. You get them béth coming and going, and, no matter which you are trying to avoid, you are always taking a chance with the other. It is a question of choosing between the devil and the deep sea, with the devil constantly stepping into your path. The December issue of Popular Science Monthly will be on sale on. all news-stands Saturday, November tenth (West of the Rocky Mountains, November twenty-fifth). 701 eo

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French Official Photo The street carts of the sanitary service now in use in Paris are hauled by teams of dogs The Horses Have Gone to the Front, So Paris Drives Dogs OT only are large numbers of dogs in training for Red Cross rescue work on the battlefields, but in the industrial world also, dogs are being utilized, espe- cially in Paris. There the city officials have assigned to the dogs the work of Popular Science Monthly We Are Now Getting Natural Indigo From Michigan DVICES from Midland, Michigan, tell us of the first production of indigo from coal tar in the United States. _One thousand pounds of 20% paste are produced daily despite the fact that in the last tariff bill the duty on dyestuffs was removed from indigo. The annual con- sumption of indigo in normal times is in the neighborhood of 10,000,000 pounds. By 1912, the German makers of the coal tar indigo, which is chemically the same as the product of the tropical indigo plants, had driven the natural product from the world’s markets. The artificial is consid- ered better and more reliable than the natural dye-——ELLWoop HENDRICK. Where’s That Collar Button ?—Why, in the Button Rack, of Course O longer need the bachelor fume and the benedict distress the ears of his household over a lost collar button. If he is a really up-to-the-minute specimen of American manhood ‘he will simply reach up to a convenient slab hanging on the the horses of the street cleaning and . wall beside his chiffonier and get an- sanitary departments. They are driven in teams, and draw small carts, somewhat larger than or- dinary handcarts. Into these carts the collected refuse is placed in covered cans, and an oilcloth cover- ing is fitted over cans and cart. The whiffle- tree is attached to the cart in such a manner that the dogs may lie down to rest without inconvenience while the carts are being loaded or unloaded. The dogs make their rounds in as good time as the horses did for- merly. The carts are smaller than the old horse carts; but there are more of them. The upkeep of the dog- teams is considerably less expensive than that of the horses. on the wall The combination tie-rack, collar-but- ton-holder and pincushion which hangs beside the chiffonier other button out of the button-rack which the slab carries. This little temper-saver is a com- bination tie-rack, button- holder and_ pincushion. Its construction is sim- plicity exemplified. A central slab of wood has a buttonhole groove at- - tached to it into which six or more collar buttons slide and are held ready for use. At the bottom of the wooden slab a pincushion is glued on securely. Into this, stick- pins may be thrust. Fin- ally, at the sides of the center slab are arms up- on which an assortment of ties may be kept in plain view so that a choice may be made readily. _. The device might rea- sonably be called the silent and ever-ready valet.

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we eH Fy FF \y s s pees ee a ee ae Se He Transporting a Precious Mirror Up a Mountain by Motor-Truck HE hope of astronomers the world over, the largest tele- scopic mirror in existence, one hun- dred inches in diameter and worth over one hundred thousand dol- lars, was recently sa‘ely trans- ported up the winding nine and one-half mile trail from Pasa- dena, Cal., to the top of Mount Wilson, by motor-truck. It is said to be the most expensive load ever carried by a motor-truck and its safe arrival at the top, i one of the great- és est feats contri- : buted to science by the motor- Popular Science Monthly Mirror Air-tight paraffin lined case truck. The truck in which B)~ Springs the 100,000-dollar The mirror is priceless, since it cannot now be mirror was carried r\ up the mountain. At left is shown the details of duplicated, and is ground so accu- rately that its Qf] Gam \ or the construction surface changes from the heat of a man’s body three feet away. For this reason, it was carried on the truck in a special air-tight box lined with paraffin, with layers of carded wool to protect it against breakage and to maintain it at an even temperature. In turn, the box itself was mounted on powerful but delicately-adjusted coil springs to prevent any possibility of breakage due to the uneven road surface up the steep trail. The trail has fifty turns in it with an uphili grade of not less than twelve per cent at any point. A special brakeman on the truck did nothing but apply the brakes so that the driver might give all his attention to steering. Another man on the top of the truck, gave his entire at- / tention to the cov- erings and strappings around the precious load. Still another part of the load to slip or become dis- arranged. The trip was made slowly, so that the man walking behind had no difficulty in keeping up with the truck. Keeping Your Pencil Where You Can Find It Ga ering and scribes of every description will appreciate this new pencil - holder, invented by George W. i Paulus, of Grand Rapids, Mich., which can be at- tached to any kind of a note-book. It is in the form of an open-sided cylinder, of a diameter about equal to that of an ordinary pencil. At the back of the cylinder is a bead extending the full length of the device. This serves the double purpose of strengthening the holder and of provid- ing a means for affixing a stiff piece of paper to it. walked behind thetruck in order io observe the least tendency of any The paper strips are fastened one on each side of the cover to keep the holder in place The paper is used to glue the pencil-holding device to the cover of the pad.

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704 Popular Science Monthly Submerging billets of wood. The water dis- placed and forced out into the graduated pail will be equal to the solid contents of the wood Here Is the Xylometer. It Measures the Waste in Wood Products HERE has always been a large amount of waste in converting a tree into lumber and other products. The first logical step in the reduction of this waste is an accurate determination of the amount of waste and a careful study of the process of manufacture and remanufacture. A xylometer offers the most practical means of determining the percentage of waste and may be of inestimable value to the forester, woodsman and mill operator at- tempting a closer utilization of forest products. The xylometer is an instrument which is not well-known in America but which has been in use for years in European countries. The type here shown was improvised from an ordi- nary round- end galva- nized steel storage tank The automatic engine. Its speed is adjustable. unnecessary top cross-braces and attaching an overflow spout near the top of one end. The operation of this instrument is very simple, being based upon the principle that a submerged body displaces a volume of water equal to its own solid contents. The tank is filled with water to the overflow spout; then the wood material to be meas- ured is submerged. The displaced volume of water escaping through the opening or overflow represents the exact volume of the submerged material. Some of the results concerning wood waste secured by the use of this instru- rent are almost incredible. For example: a white pine tree, which in its original condition comprised 25.05 cubic feet of wood and bark, was converted into shingles. It yielded 603 shingles (4 x 21 inches) which displaced 11.86 cubic feet of water, showing that only 47.3 per cent of the wood originally in the tree remained in the finished product. The exact percentage of waste would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain by other means.—J. S. ILLIcK. The Simplified Gasoline Engine. It’s the Hired Girl of the Country HIS miniature motor is the house- wife’s faithful laundress, churner, etc. It can be operated with as much success by a child as by an adult. One turn of the light flywheel and the engine starts off. By simply turning the thumbscrew over the main bearing, its speed is adjusted. The cylinder of the motor is inverted. This allows the gasoline to flow from its tank directly into contact with the electric spark caused by the spark coil of the igni- tion system. The result is that some gas will immedi- atelyexplode and the en- gine can be quickly started even in the cold- est weathers The inver- sion of the cylinder, moreover, makes it a simple mat- ter to enclose its hot end in an iron housing, out of by removing a number of Even the cooling is automatic, the flywheel whirling air into the engine base like a centrifugal fan the way of the children’s fingers.

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eS a oo, we s = * ve . Se . saow-.Uu . Pm eewwe te OS8UlUmUCUEUCCUM Throwing You Out of the Automobile’s Way Popular Science Monthly F your car is equipped with the new life-saving device invented by Jos. M. Crichrion, of Monterey, California, you need not fear that you will injure the careless pedes- trian who gets in your path. You may knock him down, but you can not run over him. This safety device consists of two arms which are attached to the front of the machine. When these arms come into contact with anything, they are released auto- matically and fling the object which they encounter out of the path of the machine. Thearms are padded so as to be easy on the pedestrian. This invention has been tried out in California and is said to be The marking machines simply melt the natural wax on the very successful. A car traveling ‘ the second at the rate of twenty-five miles an outer skin of the fruit and make the inked imprint on skin. This does not injure the fruit hour ran into a man for a test. The man A Machine Which Stamps. Oranges was not hurt. Since he knew what was coming he was not even shocked. We don’t think that the four million A automobile owners in the country will with a Trademark LONG-STANDING problem in the fruit merchandising business may soon scramble over one another in their efforts be solved by a patented marking machine to buy this safety device. It may be operative and useful— but look at it! Imagine the arms protruding from the latest type of trim roadster! © Int. Film Serv. Two arms attached to the front of the automobile are. released automatically to clear the car’s path invented by Frank Ahlburg, of San Francisco, which stamps the trade name on the fruit before it is shipped to the dealer. The marking machine consistsof a revolving wheel carrying the marking dies across the fruit which passes beneath it in an endless conveyor. The eighteen ‘plungers on the wheel are so arranged that they have a play of two and one-half inches toward the center of the wheel, this being the extreme range of marketable oranges or lemons. Pressure for the marking is furnished partly by the weight of one and one- half pounds and an added spring pressure. The plunger head consists of two parts, the electric heating ele- ment lying between them. Current is supplied from a set of brass rings on the axis of the wheel, by means of sliding contact rods. Each. of the eighteen dies is inked at every revolution. of the wheel.

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— eae . airman. 706 | Popular Science Monthly How Italian Sharpshooters Guard Venice from Aerial Attack VERY little while an Austrian air- plane attempts to make.a raid on A teaspoonful of this solution should be added to every two gallons of the water to be drunk. After being well mixed in with the water, it should be allowed to stand for about twenty minutes, off its chlorine Venice. As soon as an enemy aircraft is During this time, the lime will be giving sighted the sharpshooters | pEEETSTSSaT TT ee m™i and of the Italian || army sta- tioned at Venice are as- sembled for a concentrated attack on the . Pavilions for the crack shots have been set up at points of vantage all over the city. this {| chlorine will kill any germs that may be present. The bottle of sterilizing solution will keep its pur- ifying quali- ties for a week. It isa good plan to pre- pare it in rather small These are pro- quantities of vided with not more than beams _ which one week’s are positioned Italian sharpshooters attacking the aerial invaders. supply at a just over the The best crack shots of the army are always employed time. heads of the men and serve as rifle rests which make aiming much more certain than it would be if-the soldier simply rested his rifle against his shoulder. Frequently as many as thirty of the best shots in Venice are gathered together in one Of these little pavilions. The in- vader invariably retreats or comes to grief. Prevent Typhoid. Sterilize Your Drinking Water! MPURE drinking water means typhoid. It is therefore wise to sterilize all water which may possibly be contam- inated. Ordinary boiling will help, but a much more certain treatment is the following: Take a level teaspoonful of pure chloride of lime and mix it with a little of the water in a cup. When a thin paste has been made, add another teaspoonful of the lime, and thin that down with water also. When nearly a cupful of the lime and water has been made, three more cupfuls of water should be added slowly. After the paste has be- come well mixed and no lumps are to be found, the solution should be placed in- a dark bottle and tightly corked. A Homemade Hand Plow Built from an Old Bicycle FARMER out in California had no hand plow so he proceeded to im- provise one. The body of the plow he made is an old bicycle frame. The bicycle handle- bar was taken off, turned backward and set solidly in the frame. taken from a large gate valve. The plow share is attached to the frame by a U-bolt. The frame of an old bicycle with handlebars turned backwards was used for this hand plow The wheel was

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1e I e Ig 1e ill as ye 1e ) f g ill r * C- I n- le e- id as WwW -One-foot squares are marked on the board, -and these are numbered, starting with the ‘ structure on the board. Popular Science Monthly A Measuring Board Which Saves Time and Calculations on Structural Work BOARD which is the invention of Otto Nielsen, of Brooklyn, New York, contains two large scales, marked off in feet and inches, which are pivoted to it. point of pivot. These large squares are subdivided into square inches, and again into square eighth-inches, very accurately. If the vertical and horizontal distances between any two points on a com- plex slanting member are desired, it is necessary only to turn the pivoted scale to the cor- responding angle shown by the board protractor. The required distances are ob-' tainable at once by read- ing the squares up‘ to the point on the pivoted scale which corresponds to the distance between the two points. Distances intricate to com- pute can be readily found by laying off the outlines of the A placard supplied by the Navy to hang in the window of a house from which a man has gone to the war P ‘A Man from This House Is Now Serving His Country”’ AVE you seen a new flag lately? You will find it flying from the windows of the homes of both the rich and the poor. It is a red flag with a white panel in the center. Sometimes the white panel has one blue star, sometimes more. The flag means that a man’ from the house it decorates has gone to the war. If it has one star you will know that one man from that family is serving, if two stars, two men have gone to the front. It is unusual to see a service flag displaying three stars as does the one in.the photograph, but there are families entitled to more than three. One house, from which five sons enlisted, waves two two-star flags and one with one star. Another method of announcing that a man from a certain house is serving in the Navy is to hang a placard in the window which states, ‘‘A man from this house By using the principal dimensions in laying off. the out- is now serving his country at the of an intricate structure, any distances can be read front in the United States Navy.”

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Snipping the Flames From a Natural Gas Well Two streams of water were played in such a way that they formed a pair of water-shears moned. He had never seen a gas fire before. He amazed the local gas en- gineers by setting about to put it out with water. Men protected by sheet - iron shields played the hose on the fire from opposite direc- tions. The streams met at the base of the flame and the force of the contact caused the water to be flattened out in the form of a horizontal fan. This sheet of water was edged in under the flame, thus shut- ting off the supply of gas from the point of ignition. The water was raised rapid- ly after the retreating flame to prevent back firing. By this method the fire was ex- tinguished in ten minutes. Special Cars for Per- sons Carrying Parcels NYONE who has ever had his knees bruised by bulky parcels carried by passengers in street cars will hope to see a plan re- cently adopted in Paris carried out in his home town. The Metropoli- tan, the Paris under- ground railway, hasin- troduced a number of second-class compart- ments without seats for the special con- venience of passengers with bulky parcels. The compartments are on theorder of those p ovided for freight on ordinary trains. This ex- periment has resulted in far greater comfort for all the The men who played the hose on the flames were protected by great sheet-iron shields A sheet of water was edged in under the flame, completely shutting it off as at right HE largest natural gas well in’ the world, near Monroe, La., burned for five and a half days and wasted 264,000- 000, cubic ‘feet of natural gas. Men who had had experience in fighting such fires were baffled by the pasSengers. *Qccasionally a passenger magnitude of the blaze and the fierce heat. __will object to being compelled to board After all the known methods of fighting gas the special car with his bundles, but as fires failed, William Guerin, formerly deputy a general rule no trouble is encount- fire chief of New York city, was sum-_ ered. 708 PEI TEAST INS. EARS . e . es

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t- The New Gun-Tunnel Airplane It has removed the airplane’s “‘blind spot’’ so that all the vital parts of an eennne machine are exposed to its fire ‘ ‘ i Os pursuer. which he trains his gun to meet a tail attack. HE latest development in military | flying machines seems to be the German three-seated ‘‘Gotha.”’ The design and construction are interesting be- cause an effort has been made to give the passengers a fighting chance for. their lives when they are placed in such a position that they cannot return the machine-gun fire of an aggressive adversary. A flying machine moves in three direc- tions. Therefore its guns should be able to fire up and down, from side to side, and fore and .aft. Suppose that one ma- chine is being pursued by another and suppose that the pursuer maintains a posi- tion somewhat below the tail of the pursued: Clearly, the advantage is all with the pursuer; the intervening tail of the pursued machine pre- vents his being fired up- on from above. The new Gotha is de- A “Gotha” engaging an ordinary airplane and, by means of its end-on, underneath fire, bafhing the The gunner is shown lying in the fuselage vault below the plane, along the tunnel of In no other type of airplane is this possible signed to improve this precarious position of ‘the pursued. Hence the fuselage or body of the machine is vaulted below like a tunnel, and along that tunnel a gun can be trained to meet a tail attack. The accompanying illustrations: show the pos- sibilities of the new construction so clearly that extended comments seem unnecessary. It is evident that the military airplane is rapidly becoming distinctive in désign. Hitherto there was no way of telling a military from a sporting machine, just as there was a time when a man-o’-war on the seas could not be distinguished from a merchantman at a distance. The day is surely approaching when the construction of a fighting airplane will. be as un- mistakable as is that of ~The dotted lines show the direction of fire between the two types of machines 709 a battleship. The great difficulty of mounting guns on warships so that their fire can not be im-

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710 peded has had its influence on naval archi- tecture. Who can forget the warships of twenty-five years ago, bulging masses of sponsons as they were? All these eccentric curves, which almost con- cealed the true lines of the hull, were intended to increase the firing efficiency of the guns. The Gotha marks a similar step in the evolu- tion of the airplane. Be- cause of the difficulty of mounting guns on a flying machine, odd shapes are beginning to appear in the air. The need for an inverted channel through which a three-inch rapid- fire gun could fire with ease was most imperative in the two-motored Gotha bombing machine, relatively the slowest of all German airplanes. Such a craft is likely to be. called upon to engage in a running fight. Fir- ing to the rear is not a new idea itself; but it has always been done over the top of the fuselage from the cockpit. There was left below the fuse- lage an jmmense dead angle in which a pursuing machine might securely attack. No doubt the Gotha’s tunneled tail will be imitated by the Allies; for their big bombing planes are even larger and ‘slower than the Gotha. The number of guns that an air plane can carry are Two straps held apart by adjust- able metal struts keep the outline of the trouser leg always straight Popular Science Monthly Trousered Legs Are Not Always What They Seem ERE is a boon for the bow-legged man. It is a light, flexible structure which can be strapped around the leg above the knee to preserve the straight line of the trouser leg. The strap would take the place of his garter, the lower end of the brace device being fastened to the sock with an ordinary garter- clasp. To the con- necting strap a number of short lead struts are hinged. These are held projecting outward more or less horizontally from the leg: By adjusting the slope of these struts, the distance of the outer strap from the leg can be ad- justed at the different points and this regulates the “bulge.’’ The struts ‘“‘give’”’ sufficiently to prevent discomfort. Sidewalks Flushed Without Disturbing Parked Cars HICAGO has discov- ered a way to flush her sidewalks without dis- turbing the automobiles and other vehicles which are parked along the curbing. Two automobile tank trucks are used to clean the downtown section of the city every night through a pipe ex- tention to the discharge line as shown in the photograph below. so limited by considerations of weight, that each must necessarily be so mounted as to secure the maximum efficiency. This is the point on which the Gotha shows its superi- ority. By the adoption of a similar firing tunnel or vault for Zeppelins it is possible that the giant rigid dirigible which has dropped so low, recently, in the estimation of the German au- thorities, may be restored to military favor despite its vastly greater bulk and vulnerability when pitted against fast, elusive, fighting airplanes of later date, firing inflammatory bullets from machine guns. Flushing the sidewalk from an overhead pipe leading from the tank truck in the street

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meme WI RN ort YS DO CD mh CD bate CD La oe ke nA DODOAN. a ER, . Testing the Fighting Aviator Applicants for the aviation corps are converted into human gyroscopes in a special revolving chair in order to test their sense of equilibrium @ By Dr. William F. Patten, Captain, M. R. C., U. S. A., in charge of Physical Examining Unit, Aviation Service, Episcopal Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, Washington, D. C. ROM a military standpoint, a flight Fk through the air brings into play the greatest anatomical, physiological and psychological functions of man. The guid- ing of an airplane is not the work of a weakling, a child, or a fool, but of a man in the most superlative sense. Hence it is that the experts of the Surgeon General’s ‘office have fixed the medical standards which must be met by applicants, standard- ized the methods of examination, and seen to it that only the physically fit are accepted. The men who wish to become flyers are tested by physical examining units, of which there are now some twenty in the United States. Each unit comprises a group of volunteer The Aviator Must Be a Physically Perfect Man But even if he is sound of heart and sound of lung, he may still be rejected. His acuteness of vision must be exceptional. specialists. Experts on internal medicine examine the appli- cant physically; eye specialists test his vision; laryngolo- gists determine whether there is any defect of the ear, nose and throat. The examination for the determina- tion of the blood pressure and the ex- amination of the heart, lungs, blood vessels, bones, joints, muscles, skin and nervous system are exceedinglyrigorous. The man who flies at a height of ten Hence the eye ex- pert makes a thor- ough examination to determine if the eye movements are nor- mal and if stereo- scopic vision is be- yond question. The pupil of the eye must react normally to light and distance. The color sense must be perfect. Every test is conducted painstakingly with the most modern ap- paratus. Thus, the color sense is tested with what is known ' as the Jennings’ self- recording equip- ment. A chart on which confusion thousand, fifteen thousand, even twenty thousand feet (heights at which even skilled balloonists experience difficulty in maintaining physical poise) can be no weakling. . Every Applicant Must Be.a Perfect Specimen The blood pressure is determined and the heart, lungs, . « . blood vessels, bones, joints, muscles, skin and nervous ’ system are carefully examined with the finest instruments. Flying cannot be the sport of weaklings 711 colors appear on a perforated card- board is exhibited to the applicant: One perforation corresponds with each color and shade. Some shade of red or green is shown, and the applicant is asked’ to name

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712 Jennings’ Self-Recording Color Test A perforated cardboard ex- hibiting confusion colors is placed before the applicant, one perforation corresponding with each color and shade. Some shade of red or green is placed in front of the applicant and he is asked-to name it and to select by punching through the perforations anything in the chart which contains red or green, as the case may be. These punches are recorded on a blank beneath the chart so arranged as to show whether or not they were punched correctly Testing the Muscle Balance of the Eye The muscle balance of the eye must be in perfect alinement. In other words, there must be no latent tendency for the eye to turn up or down orin er out. If there is, the aviator may see double and thus endanger his life at a critical moment Popular Science Monthly The Effect ofthe Different Head Positions The position thirty degrees forward for purposes of whirling tests, brings the horizontal or external canal of the ear into the plane of the turning. This is the position used for the routine examinations for nys- tagmus and pass-pointing, Nystagmus is the term used to designate the visual disturbance set up by the whirling. It may be described as a rhythmic to and fro motion of the eyes con- sisting of two specific move- ments—a slow movement in one direction, followed immediately »by a rapid movement in the opposite direction. This con. dition lasts only so long as the fluid within the canal tested continues to flow artificially, Placing the head ninety degrees forward would have the same effect upon this external canal as a superior canal running directly from ear to ear THE Tg See HAMMER STIRRUP Malleusd (Stapey WE. * CANALS (Ladyrinth) r ann. » Uncug} a ‘ ; : ; tt From a drawing by Prof. and Mrs. Winfield Scott Hall in Pictured Knowledge. (Compton-Johnson Co.) The Sixth Sense, the Sense of Balance, Lies in the Labyrinth of the Internal Ear The internal ear or labyrinth consists of a bony and a membranous part, the latter contained in the former. The bony labyrinth is composed of the vestibule, the semi-circular canals and the cochlea. These three canals constitute what is known as the static labyrinth upon which we depend for our sense of balance. The bony canals contain the membranous canal, and the membranous canal, in turn, contains the endolymph, which is a fluid that fills the mem- branous canal. The flowing of the endolymph in the semicir~ular canals is absolutely essential to man’s normal station in space with eyes closed or in any situation in which he cannot judge his position by sight. Without a perfect labyrinth, a man could not fly safely for the simple reason that he would have no sense of balance

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Popular Science Monthly

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Can He Pilot a Battleplane ? - To find out if his sense of balance is good he is whirled around in a special chair. The object of the whirling is to displace the fluid in the labyrinth of the ear, the fluid that controls your sense of balance and tells you whether you are standing on your feet or your head. The examiners then note how long it takes him to recover poise it and to select, by punching through the whether or not the selections were correct. perforations, anything in the chart which The eyes must be in perfect alinement. appears red or green, as the case may be. To determine whether they are or not, These punches are recorded on a blank their muscle-balance, as it is called, is beneath the chart, so arranged as te show taken. In other words, they must show

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714 no latent tendency to turn up or down, in or out. The test is important. If there were any such: latent tendency, it would manifest itself under Popular Setence Monthly that man first discovered the possibilities of travel over the waters and hoisted his first sail over a log, down to the time when he navigated great great strain; the ge aviator would see : ocean liners, this little organ of bal- double and thus en- danger his life. And now the ear, nose and throat are examined. The hearing must be per- fect; there must be neither diseased ton- sils nor adenoids; both sides of the nose must be free, which means that there must be noth- ing present to pre- vent. the automatic equalization of air pressure through the Eustachian tubes (the little tubes lead- ing into the middle ance has been the one thing that has made the sailing of the seas unpleasant. Not the stomach or liver, but the lab- yrinth is the cause of seasickness. Is it not singular that the organ which upsets us on the ocean sta- bilizes us in the air? Were it not for the constant intelligence flashed by the lab- yrinth to the brain, the aviator might actually find him- self soaring upside down! His move- ear). -A_ military aviator is subjected to’ a’ wide range of variation in temper- . ature and atmos- pheric pressure. If his nose and throat are not normally ventilated these rapid changes might produce dizziness, vertigo and nausea. He might not be able to control his machine, with the result that he would wreck it and lose his life. Your Sense of Balance Is in Your Ears We have been taught that we have five senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. A sixth should be added—that of equilibrium.. It is as much a separate sense as touch or sight, and that it is en- titled to consideration as such, the develop- ment of aviation is fast driving home. Balance, or equilibrium, is maintained through the eyes, the skin, the joints and muscles, and, much as it may surprise you, the ears. Just as the end organ of sight is in the eye and the end organ of feeling. in the fingers, so the end organ of equilib- rium is to be found in the ears. As the accompanying diagram shows, the inner ear is made up of two parts—a cochlea, which contains the end organ of hearing, and the labyrinth, which contains the end organ of balance. In other words, the labyrinth of. the ear is the human stabilizer. Nevertheless, from the time How Long Did It Take Him to Recover? After having been revolved with eyes closed in the chair, the applicant is told to look at a distant object. There will be a rhythmic to and fro movement of the It lasts as long as the fluid within a particu- lar canal in the ear continues to flow artificially ments in the air up and down, right and left, in and out, are constantly regis- tered by this won- derful little piece of mechanism within The Test for Pass-Pointing The applicant extends his right arm and touches the examiner’s hand. Then he raises hig arm vertically and is toid to bring his finger back and touch the ex- aminer’s hand ag2in. Another picture shows the result ree GE

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.Maintain an even keel. Popular Science Monthly The Result of the Pass-Point Test The applicant is turned ten times in ten seconds to the left or right with eyes closed. The chair is brought to a sudden stop and his hand is seized by the examiner. He is told to raise his arm and to come back and touch the examiner’s finger.- This he cannot do for several seconds if the static labyrinth of his ear is normal his skull. Hence it is that the applicant is carefully tested to ascertain whether or not he has a normally reacting laby- rinth. Study the diagram on page 712 and you will see that the labyrinth is made up of three semicircular canals. Each canal presides over the movement of the head in the plane in which jit runs. The Wonderful Spirit Level in Your Head Like the spirit level of a carpenter, these canals contain a fluid, which is known as the endolymph. Move the head in one direction and the endolymph moves in the opposite direction, thus acquainting you with your movements even though your eyes are closed. This telegraphing is done by way of the cerebellum (the codrdinating center of the brain) to the muscles, the eyes and the higher centers of the brain. Thus, if you are normal, you are able to Only a very few drops of endolymph are provided—so small Putting Him Through the Falling Test The applicant is placed in a chair with his head for- ward approximately ninety degrees to bring the superior canal of the labyrinth of his ear on the level plane of turning. After having been turned five times in ten seconds to the left, for example, he feels that he is falling to the right when he sits up with his eyes closed are the canals. But, these few drops are vitally essential to a man in maintaining a normal station in space, with eyes closed, or in any situation in which he cannot judge his position by sight. You may gather from, what you have thus far read that the Government considers the static labyrinth of the utmost im- portance in the examination of men who want to join the aviation corps. The function of the static labyrinth will be readily understood if we remember that it is made up of canals containing fluid and that each canal runs in a different direction and presides over the movements of the head in the plane in which it runs. If you move your head around the neck as a pivot, the fluid in the horizontal or external canal moves in the opposite direction. If you move your head from side to side, the fluid in the superior canal moves in the opposite direction. If the head is moved backward or forward, the fluid in the posterior canal moves in the opposite

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716 Popular Science Monthly direction. Andso it is that the flowing of the endolymph within these canals acquaints us with the direction of our head movements. Testing Ears to See If You Can Fly Now since the testing of the , static labyrinth is obviously de- Cor pendent upon the movement of ‘== the fluid or endolymph within the canal, some means must be em- ployed for causing the endolymph to flow within the canal. Hence, a special kind of re- volving chair is used which is known as the “Jones’ modifi- cation of the Barany chair.” The appli- cant is seated ir the chair and directed to incline his head thirty degrees for- ward. That brings the horizontal canal within the level plane of turning. With eyes closed, the applicant is whirled ten times in twenty seconds in this position. Then the chair is stopped, and the applicant is told to look at a dis- tant object. The visual disturbance result- ing from the experiment is known as the nystagmus. The duration of his nystagmus is noted with astop watch; it should last in a normal person about twenty-six seconds. The nystagmus may be described as a rhythmic to and fro motion of the eyes, consisting of two move- -ments—a slow movement in one direction which is followed at once by a rapid move- ment in the opposite direction. This nystag- mus lasts only so long as the fluid within the canal tested continues to flow artificially. The applicant is now turned in the -op- posite direction and tested in like manner. Still seated in the revolving chair, un- changed in position and with eyes closed, the applicant is tested for ‘‘pass-pointing.” He extends his right arm and touches the examiner’s hand with his forefinger. From this position he raises his arm to a vertical ye f\ I ee ." ay LW ~~ ik a 3% The Result of the Falling Test iner, After having been turned five times in ten seconds to the right or left, with eyes closed, the applicant feels that he is falling to the right when he sits up with his eyes closed. He tries to overcome this and actually falls to the left position and attempts to bring his finger back and touch the examiner’s hand again.. He is iow turned ten times in ten seconds to the left or right. The chair is stopped and his hand is seized by. the examiner. He is told to raise his arm and come back and touch theexaminer’s finger as before. He cannot do it if his static labyrinth is normal. The underlying principle of the fore- going test is not dif- ficult to understand. Since the applicant was turned to the right, in this case, and the chair stopped, the fluid in the horizontal canal continued to move Y may. to the right after the a a chair was stopped— ae | continued to move, in other words, in the direction of turn- ing. Hence, the applicant feels that he is being turned to the left, and in trying to locate the finger of the exam- he naturally pass-points to the right. r @ i 7 a" “~earn - owe vy Wee & a Hi YY A ¥ t h t t ‘ fh The Three Testing Positions The whirling tests are made with the aprlicant seated with his head either at an angle of thirty degrees forward or at ninety degrees. The position sixty degrees backward is usually used for a douche or caloric test when the whirling tests are unsatisfactory |

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Popular Science Monthly © Underwood and Underwood The man in the foreground is setting the firing-pin. Those working at the tail of the torpedo are adjusting the powerful little air turbine prior to mounting the gyroscope in place Assembling a Torpedo—It Requires Almost Every Type of Workman TORPEDO which will soon find its way into the hold of a United States warrior of the sea is interestingly depicted in the photograph on this page. The pro- pelling machinery, the compressed-air valves and the firing mechanism have just arrived from the factories. These parts are being assembled in the torpedo on a naval barge “‘Somewhere”’ along our coast. Note the men working at the tail of the torpedo. In the small space but twenty inches in diameter they have placed the powerful little air turbine which will drive the twenty-five-hundred-pound projectile at a speed of forty-five miles an hour! They are adjusting this turbine, prior to mounting the gyroscope in place at the very end of the tail. = The compressed-air tank is already in its place in the center of the three compart- ments of the torpedo. The tank will hold air under the enormous pres- sure of two and a quarter tons per square inch. No wonder this air can propel the tor- pedo at such great speed when fed into the turbine. There is little time lost in the as- Removable stopper The self-feeding magazine attachment for a pipe. It makes a “smoke” an all-day affair sembling after the interior ‘‘fine work’’ is done. One man does not perform his task and make way for the next. As is seen in the photograph above, while the man in the foreground is setting in the firing - pin mechanism, the finishers and adjusters are busy on the other portions and the painter is polishing off the nose. A Self-Filling Pipe—It Works Like a Self-Feeding Stove F you are tired of filling that pipe of yours so often you may be glad to know that a self-filling pipe has been invented. James H. Hoefler, of Kentucky, has devised a pipe which has a tobacco magazine and which fills itself without troubling the smoker. The great difficulty in making magazine pipes is to prevent the tobacco from clog- ging. This Mr. Hoefler has prevented by a clever arrangement of the mag- Collapsible azine in telescopic sections, tobacco tube each section holding its own tobacco. All sections are collaps- ible. The magazine may be attached to any pipe. So, on a fishing trip, for in- stance, all you need do is to fill the maga- smoke all day long. zine and you can

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are Do It with Tools and Machinery Below: An automatic saw file in operation. There is no guesswork. Each tooth files to ar exact slope and length masini g Shop stools hung on a swivel joint. When not in use they swing back under the workbench At left and below: An electric etching machine for factory use. It marks for identification costly steel milling cut- ters, drills, etc. At left: A one-piece ex- pansion joint that requires no packing. It has a sweep of two inches in high _temperatures At right: An- other type of expansion joint ina large size, for pressure 718 SANUS CSS ESN A hammer with a wire-cutting attach- ment. It is operated by a thumbnut onthe handleend. The space between the attachment and the inside surface of the claw is utilized for a pipe wrench

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en * work of adozen men The ring on the bot- tom of this oil gun makes it possible for you to pull out the indentation caused by the pres- sure on the bottom Do It With Tools and Machinery i, A post-hole digger operated from the engine of an auto- mobile. It did the Auniversal counter- bore which can be used for boring holes, countersink- ing, hollow milling, drilling and facing The center picture above showsa direct connected electric motor drive grinder in which one end of the arbor takes a wet wheel and the other adry one. It also has a con- venient catch basin Truing a journal on the shaft of a car truck without removing it from the car or tracks. The machine that did the work was run by compressed air At left: An orange juice extractor made from a cast alumi- num tea ket- tle. The reamer turns inside of the kettle 719 At right: An ° adjustable step form for concrete steps. It is easily set at §, the proper pitch and can be used by an amateur

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sti ni ila ec an RANT IE IES CTT ET LEE TELE

Henry Ford’s Kerosene Farm Tractor It is being manufactured at the rate of fifty a day and with it Ford hopes to aid in solving the food problem a a5 Kerosene tank, Kerosene-heating manifold gs

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The tractor in use. The kerosene system requires a special manifold. The engine, transmission and fear axle housing are bolted together to form one piece which acts as the backbone of the machine ': which is expected to revolutionize the small tractor industry both in this country and abroad, will be produced at the rate of fifty per day at the Fort Dearborn, Mich., plant H ‘vnich FORD’S new farm tractor, Long top radiator tank the machine. In this way, parts which ordinarily perform but one function have been made to do the work of two or more. As the most notable example, the crank- case, gearbox and rear axle housing serve their regular purposes but also form the frame of the unit. This

by the time Direct- this appears in - . oF ’ Air-washing de- vice or tank) serves to re- duce the trac-

print. Thenew **Q) WP mbeiacrable unit will run

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though .it may later be driven by alcohol as Crank eo. outlined in one abl of the first de- scriptions of the tractor, published ex- clusively in the August, 1917, issue of the PoPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. As outlined in that issue, the first few thousand tractors produced will be ab- sorbed by Great Britain. Like the Ford passenger car and truck, the new tractor is characterized by the use of a large amount of high-grade ma- terial of the lightest weight and greatest strength. From the technical standpoint, the tractor differs from all others in that it has no frame but is built up on what might be called a unit plan in which the engine, transmission and rear axle hous- ing are bolted together so as to form one solid piece which acts as the backbone of Flywheel Disk clutch ‘a worm 42" dia. driving wheels # Diagram of the interior mechanism and driv- ing system of the kerosene farm tractor eod and rset : tor weight, “e While the P worm flywheel mag- ha i \ neto type of ~ ‘ |} the Ford car _ > fy has been re- - <a tained in the eS ‘e new tractor, the planetary gearset has been replaced by a three- speed and re- verse gearbox of conventional design and the bevel final drive by a worm mounted under the axle instead of above it, as in most cases, for better lubrication of the worm and wheel assembly. The motor used on the tractor is exactly similar to that used on the present Ford passenger automobile, except that it is larger and heavier. As now fitted, the tractor will be started by gasoline and driven by kerosene. The kerosene system includes a special manifold for better fuel vaporization in which the intake passes through a coil surrounded by the exhaust gases. ‘ 720

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da ave ore. nk- rve also This re- rac- the ag- i ; ' ; i PRP P ARATE A Sere ORTH ATI A Thirty-Five Acre Island of Mud Near Memphis HE Mississippi River rises every year. Sometimes the overflow causes a great deal of damage and _ occasionally creates very unusual conditions. After the overflow of I911 the citizens of Memphis, Tenn., noticed a small place in the harbor where mud rose above the water. No attention was paid to this condition until 1915 when the river again overflowed. After the water subsided Memphis found a thirty-five acre island in her harbor. This large tract of land threatened to cut off the city from the river trade. Dipper dredges are now at work removing the unwel- come land acquisition. A Temporary Tombstone for the Unexploded Shell HEN unexploded shells are found on the battlefield they are generally left alone. The soldiers have no desire to pick them up and carry them to camp, or even to examine them. But the shells are not entirely ignored. They are given part of the ceremony of a burial, in the way of a tombstone warning those who may pass by to keep on going and not to pay any atten- tion to what lies under the ground. Very few shells fail to explode. However, it is often impos- sible for a gunner or a range finder to know at all times whether every shell sent over the enemy’s lines is exploding. In Russia’s great Ga- lician campaign of 1916, when General Brusiloff captured more than one hundred thousand pris- oners, several hundred Russian shells did not explode when they fell on enemy ground. It was not until the Rus- sians captured these ad- vanced positions that they found the defec- tive shells, which are said to have been sold to the Russians by the Japanese themselves. Popular Science Monthly 1a V FT. _ DO. e@ oT The danger sign, which marks the spot where lies buried an unexploded shell The combination heater- cooker. Details of the device are shown at left. Above: Eggs being cooked over the flame Cook Over the Gas Lamp with This Combination Heater-Cooker LITTLE device has been invented which will permit hall room boys and girls to cook their evening meal without incurring the displeasure of their land- ladies. This miniature stove consists of clamps which may be fastened to either a ceiling or wail fixture, and two supports on which rests a disk of sheet iron strong enough to bear the weight of a small cooking utensil. You can easily fry eggs or cook a “rabbit’’ with it. In case the room is not warm enough, the temperature may be raised by using the device asa heater. The heat from the gas light will make the iron disk so hot that it will raise the tem- perature considerably in the chilliest room. Of course it will not thor- oughly heat a large room or even a medium-sized one, but it will help out between seasons before the janitor sends up steam, or later on when the fire in the furnace is low. This convenient heater was invented by Will- iam H. Ketler of Cam- den, N. J. The entire heater weighs a little less than one pound.

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ARSE EAE EGET EI LEE OT The broad strip of film used in the machine equals the 75 feet of standard film shown above. At right is shown the combination ma- chine using the broad strip Making Pictures and Projecting Them with the Same Machine MACHINE that will not only take motion pictures but will also project them is the invention of Kasimir de Pro- szynski., It is about the size of a folding typewriter. Its weight is four pounds. Instead of using the ordinary standard film, on which the pictures are the size of a postage stamp, it has its own film, which is about the width of an envelope. On this negative the pictures are exposed, each one about the size of a baby’s finger 122 Popular Science Monthly sary. In the photograph on the left, the inventor is shown with a piece of his own broad film in his hand, barely a foot long, and to the right a strip of standard film. It takes seventy-five feet of the standard film to equal the foot of broad film. The machine is intended for amateurs, It will be appreciated also by parents who wish to preserve picture records of their growing children. Building a Park Around the Debris of a Burned-Down Schoolhouse OME time ago the beautiful,* two- story, Polytechnic High School of Fullerton, Cal., was completely gutted by fire. When the city decided to erect a new high school on a larger scale than the one which had been destroyed it was found necessary to select a new building site. In consequence the old grounds were aban- doned and lay as a “white elephant” on the hands of the city until an enterprising member of the city board of trustees conceived the plan of converting the plot into a park at a minimum expenditure of money. The plan was adopted. The debris from the fire was cleared off the ground, with the exception of the stately arch of concrete and the front foundation of the old building. These told a story and were ornamental so they were incorporated into the new park. nail. From the negative a print is made and this in turn is placed in the machine and used to project the picture on the wall. The lens used in taking the pic- tures is used again in projecting them. This is done by the aid of a small lamp, the light for which may be secured from any socket. ; Instead of taking the pictures lengthwise of the film, the pic- tures are exposed across, as in reading. The diminutive size of the pictures makes only a small amount of film neces- The concrete arch of the entrance and foundations of the school were left standing for park ornaments > )6)—h m-«A Aw 0 ~*~ LL) 24

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Lis ot rd he rs. ho ir he O- il., ed ity ew yer ich ing ees lot ‘he the ely ion ind ted + OME ORR eer or ee Loading Cattle on Trains in a New Way The cattle enter through the rear door of the end car and walk through the train to the first car, each front car being shut off as it is filled tried to relieve the trials and tribula- tions of railroads by inventing a new way of loading cattle on freight-trains. The present-day method is long and tedious. As the loading is done from one spot and as there are no connections between cars, only one car can be filled at a time. When one car is full the train is moved on until the next car is in the loading position—and so on. According to the new method, all the cars can be loaded through one opening. This is accomplished by placing the doors of each car at the rear and front ends () ‘tied t has produced a man who has . Door swung out to Hinge which attaches form side of bridge door to adjacent car Rod which supports floor and holds sides of bridge in place Platform which is lowered ta form floor of bridge. Attendants keep the line of cattle moving until the forward cars are reached, the hinged doors being shut again as the cars are filled The hinged doors at the rear of each car swing back and are attached to the next | car behind, forming 1 | a kind of ‘‘Bridge of Sighs” over which the cattle pass ir.stead of at the sides. When the train is to be loaded the door of each car is swung out to form the side of a bridge between the car itself and the adjacent car. The doors of two adjacent cars are hinged on opposite sides so that when both doors are swung out both sides of the bridge will be formed. Two platforms which fit behind the doors are lowered to form the floor of the bridge. The cattle are loaded from the rear end of the last car and are made to keep moving until they reach the first one. When the train is full the bridge-like connections are put back in place and the train starts for the slaughter- house. In this way not only is a con- siderable amount of time saved, but the panic which is so often experienced by the animals herded together in the paddock waiting to be driven into the cars is avoided. Indirectly this may affect the market price of the cattle for they will be likely to lose less ' «weight on the trip. a — 2g emertamcenttortia

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Popular Science Monthly The windmill causes the bright-colored yarn which is used as bait to dance continually over the water like “flies,” luring the fish Fishing for Herring with Bits of Yarn and a Windmill ISHING for herring with a windmill may sound strange, yet this is pre- cisely .what may be seen most any day at Ocean Park, California. The herring are fished for without any bait. They are lured by what is commonly known as a ‘‘Japanese hook’’; that is, a small hook baited with bits of brightly colored yarn, which are dangled over the.water by the fisherman. The fish snap at the bits of yarn apparently mistaking them for insects. The idea of the wind- milloriginated with Frank Volk, a salty old pier fisherman. The constant shaking of the fish pole became irksome to him Warnings and good advice display- ed so that he who runs may read so he conceived the idea of letting the wind do the work for him. He whittled out a little windmill and fastened his herring line to it in such a manner that the turning of the mill twists the line and causes his hooks to spin about over the surface of the water, or just under the surface, with all the vigor of a lively insect. “‘When the herring are running,” says Volk, ‘‘they get on the windmill line just about as fast as I can pull them There is always plenty of wind on the pier to make the windmills spin. Volk’s success with the mill has been so great that other people have adopted the idea, and now you may see windmills all along the pleasure viers of Southern California. Iron Signs Give Good Advice to Washington Tourists ISITORS to the National Capital have an opportunity to receive much whole- some advice as to how they and the local police force can co-operate to mutual advantage. The advice is conveyed by iron signs placed at various prominent corners in Washington, where it is not possible to avoid them. One sign, for instance, tells the traveler that ‘“‘The policeman is your best friend’’ and in general terms ex- plains how he is trained to do his duty. On the reverse side of the same sign is another message, which warns pedestrians not to expose their money in public. ‘‘Pickpock- ets would have to go out of business if men became careful in handling their money,’ says one sign. Placed oppo- site the Union sta- tion, is a sign which advises house owners not to leave their homes unguarded. The idea was originated by the head of the Washing- ton police department and the messages have been widely read because of the many visitors who daily come to the Capi- tal, even in wartime.

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1e ad ‘is ve le- ial by nt ot ler st X= se ful eir ne ich ive use rho pi- lS DEL Le s oN MRE . RESON AS MEE Popular Science Monthly Making a Window Seat Out of the Radiator HE ordinary steam radia- tor is concededly ugly. That is why a Chicago in- ventor has patented the radi- ator cover shown in the ac- companying illustration. It is intended to convert the radiator into a window seat, while preserving its general lines and increasing its orna- mental properties. The cover is made of heavy sheet metal, fastened to the radiator at intervals to pre- vent slipping or rattling noises. Its special feature is a trough for holding water to supply moisture to the air. This trough is carried at the back of the radiator and under the cover, so that the water is hidden from view and kept free from dust and from danger of being upset. Perhaps the best service which the cover performs is to deflect the heated moistened air to the floor, so that the floor is warmed somewhat before the air rises, as it naturally will. The cover is made in adjustable sections. ° Water com- Radiator Details of the device for cover- ing the radiator. It has a concealed water-trough for supplying moisture to the air In summer, when there is no heat in the radia- tor, it still does duty as an ornamental shelf The diving board, which is the principal attraction of this pool, is simply a board one foot wide, supported on horses Making the Swimming Pool Attrac- tive as Well as Efficient T is not enough that the ocean should be brought indoors for the benefit of the patrons of a swimming pool. The trend of the times is to make that particular bit of ocean or clear water as attractive for its setting as for the benefits and pleasure derived from the swim- ming. The accompanying photo- graph shows a swimming pool de luxe. It has tiled paths surround- ing it and latticed effects on the walls, where flowers and vines are used as decorations. Palms and growing plants are used in every available spot to add to the out- door impression. But while the appeal of the beautiful in the decorative scheme is insistent, that of the diving board shown in the foreground is most noticeable. Showing House Numbers on Street Signs at Corners A new type of street sign has appeared in Cincinnati, Ohio, which shows the number of the corner house as well as the name or number of the avenue and street. The idea of putting the number of the corner house on the street sign is a happy one, for.by looking for the number of the house on the corner, a person need never go more than one block beyond his destination.

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_ A shoe made of shark skin. It seems a good deal like any other shoe, doesn’t it? And it is, except in cheapness “4 NHIS is a new kind of shark story. Heretofore, all we have heard of sharks are harrowing tales of their vicious attacks on man. We now can sit back and smile with satisfaction at the sight of these tigers of the sea expiating their crimes by cutting down the cost of living. The shark is no longer our implac- ableenemy. It isaservant that will supply us with uncountable millions of feet of leather. As soon as they are caught the sharks are skinned by slitting the hide up the back. All the flesh is trimmed from the hide. Then the skins are laid on the floor, skin side down, and the flesh side covered with a layer of salt. Skins are piled in stacks three or four feet high. In Juneau, Alaska, the fishermen place shark skins in a brine bath for eight days before packing them. When they are taken out of the brine tanks they are dried and salted just as fresh skins are treated. All skins must be salted from three to five days before they are packed for shipment. Thick skins require a longer period of salt- ing than do thin ones. The skins are packed in any serviceable way. Second-hand sugar or flour barrels answer admirably. If the hides are torn by nail points their value is greatly les- sened. For this reason fishermen have to | be careful in removing the flesh from the skin. A single slip of the knife may ruin a fine skin. Tanning fish skins is a slow and compli- cated process, as in fact, is all tanning. Leather from the Sea Our old enemy the shark helps to reduce the cost of living 726 By A. M. Jungmann The method now being used was invented and patented by Kristian Bendixen, of Denmark. Bendixen soaks the salted skins in fresh water until the salt is removed. Shark skins are stretched on frames and dried. The scales or spikes are scraped off with a tanner’s knife. Next the skins are softened in lukewarm water and worked over a beam. The hides are then ready for a three-day bath in another special solutjon. When that is finished they get another three-day bath in a solution of water and slaked lime. Now comes a short bath of water and hydrochloric acid. This is followed by bating the skins in a mill containing water, poultry dung anda chemical bating compound. Once more they get a lukewarm water bath followed by another bath in a solution of hydro- chloric acid and water. Next they are treated with a solution of salt and tanning material. Finally they receive a six-hour bath of sumach and water. The next step in making fish-hide leather is to color the skins, smear them with oil, dry them, damp them again, smooth them After rubbed well with out well, polish and bleach them. this they are The shark hides are laid over a beam and scraped with knives to remove all bits.of flesh

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ce il, er th seeehaniaiaion “lnsemneteenetaiemianieen > RRS SRR We Re RR IT BR ORR PNT ylides Vddldbiidea The skin is laid over a rounded board and thor- oughly buffed with a buffer which slips over the hand like a loose mitten albumen and water or skim- med milk, which makes them very supple. They are then glazed and grained. Experiments which have been made with it indicate that shark leather may be used for practically every- thing now made of cattle leather. Shark hides have one great advantage over cow hides in that the “splits” are amazingly strong. A ‘“‘split’’ is simply a peeling of the hide—something like the veneer cut from a slab of wood. All the leather that you see is not made of the whole skin. Hides are split, and each split is finished to resemble, as closely Popular Science Monthly At various stages of the tanning process the skins must be dried. Here are two on drying SS Ss WHA Wished PLL, cg A thoroughly cured shark skin being glazed by elec- tricity. The skin is held taut and the glazing ma> chine is passed over it as possible, the skin of the hide. If all leather were made of the skin side there would not be nearly enough to go around. Present de- : F mands for leather are so heavy that even with the use of splits leather is grow- ing alarmingly scarce. frames No matter how carefully a cow-hide split is treated it will not wear as well as the first, or skin layer. If the split is creased it immediately roughens, and the surface cracks. This is due to the grain of the skin. Shark hide is not grained like cow hide. In the shark hide the grain runs in such a way as to form what might be termed a sects web, which prevents the splits from cracking. A split of shark hide may be creased, folded, flattened and pressed down, yet it will retain all the smoothness of the outer layer. Shark leather costs less per foot than cow leather. Therefore articles made from it will be cheaper than those manufactured from cow hide. In these days of high-priced leather the family’s shoes are no longer a small item of expense. Let worried fathers take hope for the future. Next year they may be able to purchase shoes for themselves, their wives and their children at about three dollars a pair for the grown- is done with an electric buffing machine On the grain side of the skin the buffing ups, and somewhat less for the children, all made from shark hide. —

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"728 Providing a Treat for the Birds in Cold Weather HERE is nothing which birds appreci- ate more during cold weather than bits of suet placed conveniently on a tree or other outdoor support. Usually the suet is tied to a tree with a string. But this is not the most satisfactory method, by any means. It entails too much fussing with the string in the cold, and the string does not al- ways hold the suet se- curely enough to pre- vent its being wasted. Catch Position of basket when ee al closed birds. The best device for the purpose is one which has been designed by Beecher S. Bowdish, of Demarest, New Jersey. It consists ‘of a concave basket fastened to a base having legs which clutch the tree and turn up at the ends to form bearings on which the frame of the basket is pivoted. To fill the basket, you simply unhook it at the top by pressing the two legs to- gether. You can then draw the basket down to horizontal position. After it is filled you tilt it up again and snap the frame over the hooked portion at the top. Paper Uniforms the Latest Style for German Soldiers HE clothing of some German prisoners recently taken by the British was of such a peculiar appearance that the Englishmen decided to analyze it. The uniforms the officers wore were found to have been made of cloth woven from leather fiber, while the enlisted men wore uniforms made from paper fiber. The fabrics resemble the reg- ulation army cloth used for uniforms. Placing the suet in the basket for the When it is filled it is tilted up against the tree and held fast there. At left is shown the basket in detail Popular Science Monthly A New Map-Holder for the Aviator, It Holds the Map in a Scroll APS are to the aviator what charts are to the navigator. Not only are they used to keep a pilot going on the most direct course; but also, as the charts enable a ship to keep off dangerous shoals, so do the maps assist in warning an aeronaut of dangerous landing places. To keep in plain sight the portions of the map which correspond with the territory over which a pilot is flying is there- fore of first importance. A special map- holder had therefore to be in- vented. A photograph of it is given in the illustration below. The holder is less than a foot square and is placed on the _ instru- ment board directly in front of the aviator. The long map is wound upon two rollers. By simply turning the proper roller, which is within easy reach, the territory which the airplane is approaching can be located. At night, this map can be easily seen by turning on the electric lights placed in back of it. The map is wound on a roller, and is unwound gradually to reveal the exact location over which the airplane is passing in its flight $a ERE EE TORT ABSORP . ACRES

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Emitting a stream of sparks, it informs its senders of its direction and point of impact ET the good rifle shot, or the officer in ' charge of a company, see the flight and strike of the first bullet or so— and those that follow will strike the mark because immediate correction in the sight-setting can be made. It is embarrass- ing when the enemy selects a ground that will not show bullet impact, such as turf or low weeds or damp soil from which no puff of dust will rise. Wherefore the tracer shell for field guns and smallarms. If you can make a shell or bullet display a trail of smoke by day or of fire by night like a comet, you can easily trace it to its ultimate destination and alter the sights accordingly. The shell of the field gun lends itself most readily to the installation of smoke and_fire-making machinery. The trouble is that the weight and the weight distribution and the | balance of such shells are quite likely to be different from the high explosive or shrapgel missile, and so the tale told by the tracer missile does not necessarily apply to the real deadly missiles you want to fire. An Englishman, George T. Revill, patents what he terms an “incendiary bullet’”’ for this purpose—the term has nothing to do with setting fire to the barn of a man you don’t like, but merely to a bullet to display fire during flight. This tell-tale missile has a compart- ment with a narrow bottle-neck pas- sage filled with gasoline or gunpowder. As a lighting device the inventor uses a coiled spring and a wheel with projec- Cross-section of the tions to rub over a flint and produce fire-display bullet. A Bullet That Flies Like a Comet “Sair chamber The bullet contains a pow- der chamber in which the powder burns slow- ly as in a sky-rocket burner to light up the course of the missile. The inventor terms these projectiles bullets, but as bullets are missiles for small arms and not over .30 inch across, the installation mentioned seems cumber- some for a bullet of this size. To in- sert all this mechanism in place is a job of microscopy worse than engraving the Lord’s Prayer on a ten-cent piece. The inventor probably N Compressed N N Air inlet means shells for artillery. What several inventors have turned out, and what is petrol really needed, is a practical smoke-trail bullet for rifles, to show its point of impact. The puff of smoke from shrapnel does away in day- time with any necessity for a device to show its flight; the patent referred to here is for night-firing alone. sparks hot enough to ignite the powder Asalightingdevice, The Best Night Light for i . sd jn the inventor uses a or gasoline. The powder, confined in a ae ane its chamber, is arranged to burn slowly the missile. The gasoline is backed up by compressed air contained in a compart- ment ahead of it. The air drives out the gasoline in spray, which in turn takes fire and forms a comet-tail. Another modification has an incandescent . ae wheel with projec- a la sky-rocket, emitting a stream of tions torub on flint sparks for the instruction of the firersof to make sparks the Sick Room Is a Salted Candle OR a light to be burned all night, there is noth- ing superior to the old-fashioned candle especially if it is salted. The salting process consists simply in pouring a little salt into the hollow place around the wick after the candle has been lighted. Those of us interested in science, engineering, invention form a kind of guild. We to answer questions. 729 should help one another. The editor of the POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY is willing

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730 The Robber Crab. It Prefers Coconuts, But Will Carry Away Anything HE robber- or Popular Science Monthly runs over sprocket-teeth affixed to the rear of a cylinder, which in turn is operated by the pressure of the finger on the trigger or hammer. coconut-crab has been known for some centuries, but until lately doubts have existed as to whether or not they actually climb trees to reach the coco- nut. The _ photo- graph shown here, taken on Christmas Island, should dis- pel all uncertainty on ‘the point. Al- though the giant creatures seem hor- rible as they crawl through the woods, they are easily frightened and scut- tle off backwards at As the cylinder is revolved, the chain is brought up link by link, passing un- der rollers in the frame above the cyl- inder, the holders dropping into seats cut in the periphery of the cylinder, into which they are firm- ly held by the roll- ers. The shock of discharge is taken by the frame to the rear of the holder as it lies in position. So here we have it, our cylinder of old-time days stretched out into the slightest alarm. large claws. The Machine-Gun Principle Applied to the Revolver W. McHAVEN, of Birmingham, . Alabama, feels that the revolver can be crossed with the machine-gun, with profit to the breed thus produced. He has taken the ordinary revolver principle, which involves a cylinder containing a number of chambers for cartridges and which is revolved by the action of the trigger or hammer, and for the fixed cylinder has substituted a chain of cartridge holders or chambers, to be made any length desired, so as to afford bullet carriage an increased number of shots snap wl without reloading. Each link of the chain carries a steel cart- ridge-holder, similar to the chamber in the cylinder of the re- volver, and presum- ably heavy enough to stand a pressure of around ten thousand pounds per square inch, which is the pressure developed by the average revolver : cartridge. The chain “Ay Cylinder with ) flange The crab clings to the tree with the sharp points of its walking legs, scarcely using its It lives on coconuts and carrion carriage advancing the form of a chain, and that chain made any length you fan- cy. You can have a little leather regl-case strapped to the right wrist, or else a flat box, a la Maxim gun, with the chain arranged therein—and the duration of your fire is limited only by the size of the box. Scientifically speaking, the revolver is a rough-and-ready sort of weapon anyhow, with the cartridges carried in a cylinder separate from the barrel, with the bullet leaping a gap between the two, and with the powder gases sizzing out the passage ’twixt barrel and cylinder. Hence this chain invention is not so improbable as it sounds at first. But a revolver is not a very ac- curate weapon at best, and this one with its dangling chain seems clumsy. The machine- gun revolver. The cylinder has concave surfaces for the reception of the chain which contains the cartridges ROE ds fa ONAN RR eee . _— ee a

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a Popular Science Monthly Eliminating the Periscope from the Submarine HE terror of the German U-boats 7... beincreased greatly since they have been constructed without peri- scopes. The sighting of the periscopes has saved many ships from. destruc- tion. Without a periscope the sub- marine may approach unseen. The new German submarines are built with two lenses, one on either side of the boat, co-acting with other lenses and reflectors. The disadvantage of this method of constructing submarines is that the boat must be much nearer the surface of the water than it would have to be with a periscope. A Medical Battery No Bigger Than an Ordinary Flashlight Sl. ssi . ee Se The pollen of the orchid is blown against the wires, and is held there and nourished by the dust Orchids That Grow on Telegraph Wires Over the Streets OST medical batteries are as large as small-size suitcases and are therefore difficult to carry about. The battery illus- trated is no bigger than a flashlight, yet it gives sufficient current to afford a shock and operate the vibrator. A miniature battery is provided in one of the han- dles or containers, and in the other are carried the switch, the starter, the pin which regu- lates the current and the vibrator. 2 Sg N Porto Rico it is not unusual to have an orchid garden hanging over your house, suspended from telegraph wires. So heavy do the wires become when supporting the plants that it frequently becomes necessary ‘for the telegraph companies to have them scraped to remove the growth. Tropical orchids usually cling to the trunks or branches of large trees or ferns, where they produce aerial roots which absorb moisture from This type of battery will be found useful for mas- sage and wherever slight electrical stimulation is re- quired. It takes up very little space in the physician’s hand-bag; or it can be car- ried in the pocket without inconvenience. the atmosphere. Some are climbers and others grow head downwards. One very beautiful species grows in moss. ‘ The one thing necessary for them is abundance of air.' The plants shown in the pho- tograph above are evidently satisfied with their supply. Why Anthracite Coal Lands Differ in Price HE prices of anthracite coal lands vary from $200 to $1,000 an acre, the smaller values being for lands containing rela- tively thin coal or practically exhausted veins. The medium values are paid for relatively small, unopened areas. The ex- treme values are for going con- cerns or for lands so located strategically that they have a special value for the purchaser. , Vibrator control Sponge Switch for sponge The miniature battery gives sufficient cur- rent to operate the vibrator Details of the battery showing the complete- ness of its equip- ment for medi- cal purposes A a . ro Nee ee Regulating switch

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Men Who Ought to Make Good Rifle Shots Not the Kentucky ‘‘Moonshiner,’’ not the *‘Bad Man” of the West, but the city dentist and the surveyor make the will be the job of some million— mayhap five million—Americans, it is interesting to note the effect previous training in civil pursuits has on the ability to shoot the rifle straight and fast. It does not make a romantic feature best shots By Edward C. Crossman Ni that learning to shoot the rifle Successful shooting depends first of all on the story, I know, but the cold fact remains that the peaceful gentlemen about the country, chiefly in the large cities where feuds are unknown, who haveacquired the mastery of the .22- caliber rifle indoors, are far better shots than the legendary “bad men” of the West, who shoot on sight in the moving pictures. Successful shooting depends primarily on the accurate laying of the sights shot after shot to keep the dis- persion of the fire as small as possible; secondly on the abil- ity to make muscles respond instantly and Sometimes the man who is stubborn enough to persevere gets the training of muscle and eye from ordinary target practice The surveyor who can run out a series of accurate levels for twenty miles is not likely to get care- less with rifle sights accurate laying of the sights, shot after shot smoothly to the commands of the nerves, Riflemen describe this more or less loosely by the term ‘‘coor- dination.” _Particu- larly is this true in rapid-fire and snap shooting, where great accuracy and _ high speed are called for. A charge on your own trench calls for about fifteen rounds “rapid,” according to my British friends; which means fifteen shots fired in about one minute. By this time the Teutons are either in the trench with you, preceded by a shower of hand grenades and more immediately by sharp bayonet, or else the gray ranks are broken, and the Teu- tons are on their way back—some of them. What “‘ Coérdination” Means in Shooting Now fifteen rounds rapid cannot even be fired out of the rifle by a man not skilled in its use, while fifteen rounds rapid fire in a minute with accuracy calls for perfect co- ordination — perfect command of the trig- ger-finger to the end that the shot may go a a er ae de ee ee ee ee od ee ed) ee De Oe ee ee

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r— ww L 7 t 1 ) want REN OTS instantly as the sights are alined on the run- ning mark and yet go smoothly and accurately, not with the convulsive jerk on the trigger by which the untrained man fires the rifle Popular Science Monthly 733 careless with rifle sights; the matter of care is a habit. Moreover, the use of the transit and the tape and the stadia rod -make for delicacy of touch and training of the muscles. hurriedly. This sort of shooting forms the greater part of rifle shooting in trench warfare, outside the highly _ special- ized pursuit of sniping which calls for the highest skill of the trained shot. Wherefore we find by theory, which is borne Why the Den- tist and the Sur- geon Ought to Be Crack Shots Surgeons and dentists make fine rifle shots. More of them than of any other one pro- fession, are found in the ranks of skilled marksmen and some of the out by practice, , that the men with highly trained hands and eyes make the best rifle shots, or else they make good rifle shots more quickly than the untrained, un- skilled man from civilian life. Sometimes the man who is stubborn enough to per- severe, gets the training of muscle and eye he needs with the rifle itself, and turns out to be a fine shot, but his path is always more difficult. Surveyors make good rifle shots. One of the best rifle shots I ever saw, a man who practiced but little but still shot on the American Pan-American rifle team of 1913, was a surveyor. Considering the amount of rifle shooting he did, he came near being under the mythical classifica- tion, ‘‘born rifle shots,”’ but a study of his work in civil life removed the time-worn legend as ex- planation for his skill. The surveyor possesses to a high degree the ability to aline the sights accurately and to repeat the process from shot to shot. Care- fulness is acquired by him by long practice. The man Some of the who can run out a series of levels for twenty miles for a canal is not likely to get Here is the trained eye, the trained hand and the perfect command over the muscles which the rifleman needs finest shots in the army were formerly dentists finest shots in the country wield scalpel or the various electrical dental instruments during their business hours. Here is the trained eye, the trained hand, and the per- fect command over the muscles that have to do with alining the rifle and letting it off. No man able to work neatly around the exposed nerve in the back of a tooth*is lacking in hand-training and Co- ordination. No man who can cut skillfully around a pulsat- ing tube carrying the life stream is going to be both- ered long in mastering the quick but smooth release of the trigger when the eye says that the mark is perched on the front sight. The mechanic (the skilled mechanic, not the butcher) has the ad- vantage over the man whe has used the pick and shovel to make his daily bread. Here again is eye training, the care- ful use of accurate tools, and the ability to make the hands do what the mind tells them to do. One of the best “natural born” woman pistol shots of my acquaintance was a girl who had done china painting for years and who had acquired the smooth, certain

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734 Popular Science Monthly How About that Third Cup of Coffee for Breakfast le the matter of cutting down the daily food consumption to’a reasonable minimum, why not be- gin with coffee? Although coffee is a true stimulant, it is essentially a drug and has in itself no food value. Its effects in the main are due to an alkaloid, caffeine, which, it is believed, is a heart stimulant. In a sound, healthy individual, doses of caffeine equivalent to that obtained from one cup of strong coffee produce no noticeable effect except a slight nervousness. Doses The skilled mechanic or electrician has the advan- tage over the pick-and-shovel man in rifle shooting command of the hands by her work that made her good with the pistol the first day. The trained gymnast has the edge on the untrained man. He may require a little time to get used to sighting accurately, but he has command of his body, he has learned to make any set of muscles respond when desired. The man of untrained hands, the “working man,” regardless of his hard biceps and triceps and del- toid, will have more trouble mastering rifle shooting in all its phases. Such men find little trouble in holding the rifle like,a rock in the prone position by the aid of the sling, because mus- cular strength and a little knack in sling adjust- ment are all that are required. But when it comes to rapid fire and snap shooting, they lack the command of eye and nerve and muscle. This is the story in theory. The way to learn how to shoot the rifle is to shoot the rifle—doing the preliminary work with the empty gun, and then with the humble .22, which shows bullet strike, but does not cover up by heavy recoil the sin of “‘yanking the trigger,’’ which is un- doubtedly the cardinal fault of the beginner. equivalent to one and _ one-half cups produce marked unsteadiness in muscular and mental work. Doses sufficient to produce any real stimu- lative effect raise the blood pressure, some- times dangerously, and stimulate the action of the kidneys in a manner considered by physicians to be harmful. The Most Ornamental Smokestack in the World i LAKE CITY has perhaps the most ornamental smoke- stack in the world. Since it adorns the top of a building in which smokeless fuel is burned, A minaret of a Turkish mosque? No; a power-house smokestack in beautiful Salt Lake City no one unacquainted with the plant and the purpose of the stack would belikely to suspect its function. It resembles the minaret of some Turkish mosque, but it belongs to a power- house. It stands six feet high, the lower half being of stone construc- tion with the smoke vent through the center. The upper half is extended as a tubular steel chimney surmounting a crown; shaped dome of metal. This dome serves as a roof for the observation plat- form for visitors, greatly adding to the appearance of the tower and complet- ing the illusion. The entire city and landscape for miles around can be seen from the platform. Fou arri eigl it. tair stat sev ten: tior ‘win the had mir and aro spr mir oth gro of bei the nin cra: the

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Hauling a Seven-Ton Truck Out of the Mud A special wrecking truck did the trick after four other trucks working together had failed MIRED truck had backed off the A edge of a back-fill pile at a swamp and half buried itself in the mud. Four other trucks working as a unit arrived on the scene and broke a seven- eighths-inch chain in trying to extricate it. Then a special wrecking truck main- tained by one of the New York city service stations appeared. It pulled the mired seven-ton truck out of the marsh and up a ten-foot embankment. The wrecker, which consists of a conven- tional truck chassis with a worm-driven ‘winch and crane boom mounted in place of the body, backed up to the edge of the pile, had its rear wheels chocked and pulled the mired truck out alone by means of a block and tackle. One block was attached to a chain drawn around the front the free ends were snubbed around two other anchors. In this way the mired truck was hauled up the embankment without further delay and without subjecting it to further dam- age. The entire operation took up less than an hour—after .the wrecker was put ‘on the job. spring horns of the mired truck and the other toa baranchor driven in the ground, the free end of the block rope being attached to the chain cable run- ning over the truck crane and then to the winch drum. The seven-ton truck backed off the edge of a swamp and _half- buried itself in the mud At left: Attaching the chain to the mired truck so that the en- gine can draw it up ; Pulling the mired truck up the embankment. Note the curved blocks behind the wrecker’s rear wheels to prevent it from slipping The truck engine was then started, the winch revolved and the cable wound up, thus bringing the truck out of its marshy resting place. As a precautionary measure to keep the mired truck from twisting around, a second rope was tied to each of its rear wheels and 735 Trees in the Forest One Week— Houses the Next HO would think that trees growing in the forest could be converted into houses within the space of a week? Yet, that is exactly what happened in the cantonment at Louisville, Kentucky. The administration buildings were constructed from lumber which was felled in a Missis- sippi pine forest on Saturday, kiln dried on Sunday, transported on Monday and Tues- day, delivered at Louisville on Wednesday and converted into houses on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, just one week from the day the trees were cut down, the houses were completed.

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736 Popular Science Monthly Dry Your Fruit and Vegetables at Home with an Evaporator HE evaporator method of canning fruits and vegetables takes from one and one half to five hours. Peas, corn, beans, cherries and strawberries can be dried on the evaporator in from A curious feature of the great volume of business which has been done in horses and mules is the fact that the extraordinary de- mand made by the war has not caused the prices of these animals to rise. Indeed, horses sold at an average of $109 per head on January Ist, 1914, and at $103 per head on January I, 1917. two to three hours. Apples cut with parer, corer, and slicer will dry in one and one © half hours. The water chamber is filled about half full of water to generate steam, and heat the surface upon which the fruit and vegetables are placed. Or you may accomplish the same result by slicing your fruit and _ vegetables and forcing air at room. tem- perature across them with an electric fan. This process is slower than the one described above, but it is equally as successful. A home-made evaporator can be made similar to the one shown. Five or more racks of wood with wire bottoms can be placed on top of each other and the wind forced against them. Business Is Booming in War , Horses and Mules ESPITE the fact that the great war is being waged largely by means of mechanical devices, horses and mules have played an important part in it. Up to the present time 920,000 horses and 330,000 mules have been sent to the theater of war from the United States. The value of the horses which have been exported is $194,000,000 and of mules $66,000,000. The number of mules being sent to the war is increasing from year to year. The sagacity of the mule makes him very valuable in war work. Most of the horses and mules shipped from this country go directly to France. Others are sent to Great Britain and Canada and a few to some of the other European countries. Steam is generated in a water chamber and heats the pan in which the fruit is placed This is the effect the war has had on the prices of farm animals. There are in the world 100,- 000,000 _ horses, one fifth of which are in the United States, which accounts for the great number of horses this country has exported since the war began. a Russia has 30,000,000 », horses while the United » States numbers its : available horses at 22,000,000. Carry Your House Key in Its Own Private Mesh Bag MESH bag for the door key has been invented by Mrs.Olga Berghorn, of Jer- sey City, N. J., so that the key need not get lost among the contents of the pocket book. The bag may be made of any size to conform with any shape of key. When it is desired to use the key, the bag is turned upside down, exposing the key to view. The inventor made her key-bag to correspond with her purse. The mesh bag for the door- key. It fastens on the usual purse as if a part of it, and keeps the key separate — ee _— wt ak ae . 6 a Te eT

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ere = ee eg OT ry. hh ‘ jaad thet tt i 3 i | ) Popular Science Monthly At the left of the picture the five-passenger arrangement is shown. At right two transverse hinged covers completely conceal the rear seat Changing a Roadster Into a Five- Passenger Car HE automobile body shown in the ac- companying illustrations is a_ real novelty. You can convert it from a five- passenger touring model into a speedy- looking two-seated roadster or vice versa in a few minutes’ time. It differs from the ordinary type of con- How Plants Accommodate Them- selves to the Climate HAT plants breathe and absorb mois- ture is a well known fact. But that some of them breathe faster at intervals in order to generate heat is not so generally known. The soldanellas, which may be found in the lower Alps, are a good example. These delicate bell- Closed or road- osition vertible bodies, in that it looks equally well in either form in- stead of pleasing in one position and poor in the other. When in the roadster form the full-width rear seat of the touring car is completely hidden by two transverse hinged covers which provide an unbroken rear deck line. Upholstered panel in floor which closes space between seats. y shaped flowers grow up through solid crusts of ice, looking as if they had been stuck there by hand. When the snow covering is very deep and the stalks are not able to reach the surface, the plantimmediately sets to work generating enough heat to melt the snow immediately ~ sone The two hinged covers are attached to patented sliding hinges as shown. The forward cover is upholstered on the bottom and is swung backward and turned completely over to form the cushion of the rear seat. Sim- ilarly the rear cover, also upholstered on the bottom, is swung around as shown to form the back of the rear seat. Playing Patriotic Tunes on the Air-Brake CHICAGO motorman has discovered that an air-brake is a musical instru- ment. He makes his air-brake give forth “sweet sounds” (he is responsible for the “sweet,’’ not we) by placing his finger over the exhaust. The notes become more shrill when he presses hard. He can play simple melodies. In the interests of pa- triotism he is now learning how to play the Star-Spangled Banner in this way. The forward cover when swung back forms the cushion of the rear seat. bowl Similarly the rear cover forms the back surrounding it, mak- ing a little crater-like in which the purple flowers look like bouquets held in crystal vases. Going to the other extreme, we find the Mexican cactus reducing its temperature and that of the sand touching it, and keep- ing comfortably cool even when the heat in the rocks and sand is great enough to blister the hands and feet of the natives. If the cactus is cut and a thermometer is inserted the temperature of the plant will be found to be at least thirty degrees lower than the surrounding atmosphere. Just how this is accomplished is one of the secrets which Nature still keeps. It is perhaps partly because the thick leathery skin of the cactus, which is usually covered with hairs and spines, retains the moisture gathered from the infrequent rains and heavy night- dews, drawing it into the interior of the skin and keeping it cool by protecting it from the sun, thus furnishing its own refrigerat- ing system,

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738 Popular Science Monthly

ed

an a couplings consisting of heavy rods seven or eight feet in length with a hook at each end, fasten into the coupler | bars of each car, resulting in about a three-yard spacing ¥: 4| between successive cars when A: *

they are connected. This spacing is necessary =e because the lumber being =| transported overhangs each ¥ - | qa © =F" @Q 0 ee ae ee eee. ee ee. a, en ee

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Popular Science Monthly The lion was lifted out of the top of his cage with grappling hooks and a derrick Harnessing a Fighting Lion for the Films HE photographs above were taken during the filming of an-adventure-in- the-jungle photo play, when a lion was to be pictured running. The ‘jungle’ was mere painted canvas, but the lion—he was very much the real thing! With mighty struggles and protests, he was lifted by a derrick right over the top of his cage and on to a stationary, split platform on the stage. His feet rested upon two boards which were alternately given a back and forward motion. The result was a furious struggling lion. Three Shots with a Single Shell. It’s Intended for Airships KIND-FACED Britisher, not sat- isfied with having one try at a Zeppelin or an airplane with each shot from an anti-aircraft gun, has designed and pat- ented a progressively explod- ing shell which has_ three exploder charges in three sep- arate compartments, arranged to burst at different time in- tervals. If the first explosion is too early the second or Powder To hold the animal steady he was strapped to this heavy iron sup- port on the stationary platform yy S x» TY . The three compartments of the shell are connected by a tube with the charge Two boards were shift- ed back and forth to give the lion the ap- pearance of running the third may find the mark. Each compartment charge gives off a different colored light for the in- formation of the gunner, who knows the time inter- val between the charges and the. time for which the first com- partment is set to burst. By comparing the position of the red or blue or white flare with the position of the airship, the gunner corrects his range. This performance is made possible by a shell having three separate and heavy com- partments, each with its load of shrapnel and bursting charge. They are con- nected only by a small fuse passage extending from one to the other. A time fuse which is carried in the head, connected by a tube through the shell with the charge in the com- partment at the base of the shell, fires this base charge at what the gunner | hopes is the psychological moment Fuse for obtaining the desired re- passage sult. But if this happens to be a poor choice of time, the fuse crawls up to compart- ment two, and sets off that YA Time also, with its different colored | fuse light. If nothing decisive happens then, the gunner finally lets the third charge go in the shell head. C) > ® -_ ST SQ ©60,%eeeee Z

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—— err rea SE eS TT 740 Popular Science Monthly Announcing the Election Returns by Telephone EWSPAPERS, clubs and private indi- viduals want the election returns while they are coming in. To get them they use the telephone. The headquarters of a tele- phone company is thus called upon to act as a public informa- tion bureau. The telephone com- panies have responded graciously, and each election sees them or- ganizing a huge force of men who collect and distribute the returns to every subscriber who calls up, whether he be in the center of a large city or in a small country town. This task, especially for the companies within great centers of population, isenormous. A staff of collectors at the political and at the polling headquarters all over the entire country constantly report the latest counts over direct wires leading to the tabu- lating room. Here a corps of men compile the statisticsas they The shut-off handle come in. Other men arrange the returns into convenient bulletins. Once edited, the bulletins are typewritten upon a lantern slide for ‘the sending room. A projection machine throws the bulletin upon a sheet. Each operator immediately telephones the in- formation thus projected to a group of sub- sending stations. These in turn relay it to sub-sub-sending stations. makes it possible to change the nozzle with- out waste of water How the Fireman’s Cellar Shut-Off Nozzle Originated ECAUSE John Hurie, a fireman, was ambitious to earn more money to secure comforts for his sick wife, he was constantly on the look-out for “Opportunity” (Capital O). He found it. It hap- pened at a fire in a building where the cellar was filled with bales of tarred hemp which had caught fire, Owing to the dense smoke the only way the firemen could get into the cellar was by chopping a hole in the floor and using a cellar nozzle which threw nine thirty-foot streams of water. There was just one hitch on the job. A second line of hose had to be used because the cellar nozzle had no shut- off and could not be used unless the engine or the hy- drant was shut down. This necessitated delay and waste of water. So Hurie set to work to plan out a cellar nozzle with a shut-off. He finally worked out the one shown in the illustration, which can be used without a separate line of hose and does not necessitate shutting down the engine. The nozzle throws a powerful circular spray and has a shut-off handle by means of which the water from the hose can be shut off in- stantly so that the nozzle can be changed. Reports from all over the country are thrown on a sheet in the front of the sending room. The operators distribute it in bulletin form to various sub- and sub-sub-sending stations TH ~~ -_ ie ee ee | ee | e (

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San Salvador’s Terrible Quake In a twinkling of an eye a beautiful, flourishing city became a rubbish heap By M. Toeplitz before seven o'clock, the first indica- tion of the coming catastrophe was felt. Very soon after the first rumbling the mortar crumbled from the walls, chairs and tables started to dance and the electric lights went out. The upper stairs of our hotel crashed down and we were barely able to reach the street. Here I was swept along by a crazed mob bound for the park. People fell on their knees and prayed aloud for mercy. Houses collapsed on all sides like paper boxes and the ground undulated like the sea. The statue of Victory on the Plaza was twisted about oddly, while the shocks increased in strength and frequency. The church towers of the cathedral seemed to be shaken by a gigantic hand and the huge cross of the right steeple crashed down, shattering the stone saints below. All the bells clanged un- Or the 7th of June, 1917, seven minutes The Statue of Victory in a very Pisa-like attitude an hour later real rain fell, and everything became covered with a horrible sticky mud. During the 8th and goth of June the population suffered cannily. Of all high edifices the concrete building of the Teatro Colon alone remained un- scathed. From the Plazuella del Teatro opposite the Teatro Nacional there was a wonderful view of the volcano. The last shock had ripped open the mountain side, and the sky had turned scarlet. At the same time the acids in the Phar- macia de la Cruz Roja exploded, and soon the entire sec- tion was a sea of flames. Towards 110’clock it began to rain ashes, first in a fine shower and then ina a greatly from lack of food and water. The shocks continued and terrible thunder- storms broke loose. Torrents of water entered the cracks in the broken walls and finished the destruc- tion. The Government took charge from the first and deserves great praise for promptness and ef- ficiency. Martial law was declared and ina short time perfect order was restored. For many miles the railroad tracks to Ajacuntal were cov- ered with lava so that traffic was blocked for many weeks. thick downpour so that walking was most difficult. Half For many miles the railroad tracks were covered with lava, thus completely shut- ting off the city from the rest of the world 74) Thousands left the city, but many camped on the ruins.

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Popular Science Monthly which slide in grooves so that they open out and at a slight angle. Under the bins is a storage space in which the larger and . heavier pots and preserving ket- tles are kept. The table section is a special feature. The board top is covered over with oilcloth and over this a glass cover is fitted. This makes it easy to keep spotlessly clean. At the same time, it may be used as a bread board on which dough may be kneaded, or for any other purpose for which separate trays or boards would have to be used, This Furnace Practically Takes Care of Itself HEATER which serves equally well forsteam, vapor, or hot water heating systems has a magazine and sloping grates, so that it requires little care. By filling the magazine and removing the ashes from the sloping grates the heater can be made to run it- The built-in kitchen cabinet extends from ceiling to self with attention only once or floor, with a glass-covered table section in the center twice a day. The coal in the magazine is surrounded by a The Kitchen Cabinet Up-to-Date. It water-jacket so that the coal inside is not Utilizes the Whole Side Wall turned into coke before reaching the burn- ing portion. This is the special feature of FFICIENCY in the kitchen, almost the device in which it difiers from other more,than anywhere else, demands’ types of self-feeding heaters. The coal conservation of space, so that steps are saved from table to stove or cupboard and_ back. In the kitchen cabinet illustrated above, the kitchen table is in one with the cupboard. In fact, it is the top board of the bottom section of the cabinet. ~ The top section con- sists of a closet for dishes, jars and cook- ing utensils. It ex- tends clear up to the ceiling, the top shelves being occupied by the articles not frequently required. The closet underneath the table section is fitted with threesemi-circular bins drops gradually into the fire-bed. Because of its auto- matic action the heater is especially adapted for use in households where the fire must go for a long time without attention, but it is also useful in large buildings where interruption of the janitor at his other duties is undesirable. On account of the sim- plicity of its construc- the private house can be operated by a mere noviceand the fire kept Diagram of the automatic heater which BONE continually with- serves equally well for either large or outemployingar egular small steam, vapor, or hot water systems furnace man. tion, the heater for - eee

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By Reginald Trautschold, M. E. Will a Projectile Fly True? The uniformity in the balance of the shell deter- mines its accuracy and ultimate destructiveness is to strike its mark miles from the muzzle of the gun from which it is fired, more is required than accurate range finding, ac- cura e gaging of the propelling charge and ac- curate aiming. The projectile must be well bal- anced. Otherwise it can not be counted upon to fly true. In other words, the pro- [' a projectile A shell balanced on the knife edges of the weighing appa- jectilemust weigh just so much; its dimensions must not vary; and it must be properly balanced, both about its axis and lengthwise. Accurate tests must therefore be made to discover whether a certain, very slight all6wable variation (human fallibility cannot be entirely over- come) has been exceeded. In France, the shell to be tested for balance about its axis is laid at right angles across two level and parallel steel bars. Since the weight of the projectile can never be evenly distributed, the shell will obviously roll until it comes to rest, heavy side down. Is it too unbalanced? To find out, a contrivance known as an ‘‘eccen- tricity weight” is clamped to the base of the shell. This eccen- tricity weight, as its ballistic properties. Testing the French 120 m.m. shell for weight and The man is holding a small weight showing the allowable tolerance in weight ratus to ascer- tain the point of its length- wise balance The exact weight of this fixture is known and also the exact distance from its center of the point at which it would balance if laid across a knife-edge. The fixture is clamped to the base of the shell, perpendic- ularly, with its heavier end up, i.e, opposite the heavier side of the shell. The shell, with attached eccentricity weight, is rolled along the parallelj bars until the fixture is horizontal, and then released. Should the shell and weight re- main in this position, the surplus weight on the heavier side of the shell exactly balances the offset weight of the fixture. Such a state of equilibrium rarely occurs. The shell usu- ally rocks in one direc- tion or the other until a position of exact bal- name implies, is not evenly balanced about its center; one end is heavier than the other. An eccentricity weight is attached to the shell on the bars. weighted end points downward when it comes to rest the shell is approved 743 ance is found, when it comes to rest. Should the weighted end now point toward the If the

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744 Popular Science Monthly ground, no matter how obliquely; the tester knows that the eccentricity of the fixture, due to its unbalanced distribution of weight, is greater than that of the shell, due to its uneven distribution of metal about its axis. Should it, however, point upward, the reverse is true. The weight and offset of the eccentricity weight are proportioned to agree with the maximum allowable variation from perfect balance of the shell, so that, if the weighted end of the fix- A French ‘75”’ Anti-Airplane Gun with a Camouflage Dressing HE French have found still another use for the versatile ‘75.’ They have mounted it on a motor-truck chassis, heavily armored, and have sent it close to the front to pepper German airplanes. The accompanying illustration shows the new combination of motor-truck and big gun and the crew of three that operate each unit. The ture points upward the shell fails to pass the test, while if the weighted end points toward the ground on coming to rest, the shell passes mus- ter. How far off balance may the shell be? Ina120-milli- meter French shell—a_pro- jectile slightly less than 434 truck is painted and covered with boughs to hide it from the eagle eye of the enemy air scout. Look.close- ly at the pho- tograph and you will see that the truck is pro- vided with stabilizers in the form of iron legs or * secns’* which actual- ° ° . French Official Photo inches in di- ameter and weighing, un- loaded, close to 40 pounds—about the dis- tance between two pin scratches placed as close together as possible without touching. The balance of the shell lengthwise is more easily found. All that is necessary is to balance the shell on knife edges, much as one would balance a pencil on one’s finger. The point of balance must be at a definite distance from the base of the shell. A variation of more than one per cent. in the length is sufficient to disqualify the shell. Train Your Skin So That It Will Not Be Sensitive to Cold T is pretty generally believed that ex- posure to cold and wet weather will bring on the disorder known as a “cold.” But sensitiveness to cold is usually due to the fact that the nerve centers controlling the circulation of blood through the skin are over-delicate, and exhibit a sort of hair- trigger reaction toexposure. By accustom- ing the body gradually to cool and later to cold baths, resistance to cold is set up. What the French have in store for German airmen—the famous French ‘75’ mounted on a motor-truck chassis ly anchor the truck body to the ground. These stabilizers are located one behind each rear wheel, one on each side of the truck in front of the rear wheels, and one behind each front wheel. When the truck is moving, the stabilizers are carried in an inoperative position, but as soon as the truck stops and the command to attack an enemy squadron of airplanes is given, the six stabilizers are forced into the ground, giving the big gun a firm foundation to fire from. Sixty Miles an Hour Is the Climbing Speed of Flying-Machines MODERN airplane weighing as much as a small touring car without any passengers can climb at the rate of sixty miles an hour. The aviator would say that his machine’s rate of ascension is 1,300 feet a minute. Such an airplane would have an engine of a brake horse- power of 180. The airplane climbing at sixty miles an hour ascends a gradient of 1 in 3% to I in 4.

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Popular Science Monthly Making Telephones and Pho- nographs Speak Perfectly TELEPHONE receiver for reproducing the sounds of the talking voice without any of the hissing, spitting and scratch- ing that now accompany tele- phone conversation, is an. in- vention of Erik Christian Bayer, of Denmark. This receiver works on an en- tirely new principle. Instead of a single sound-producing dia- phragm, his device uses a num- ber of wires. These wires vary in length much like those of a piano, and each wire produces itsown fundamental tone. And like the wires of a piano, they vibrate with different strengths and thus produce other complex sounds. In this way, the reproduction of voices is obtained. By _ eliminating those wires which would produce the sing- ing and other noises in the telephone line, these foreign sounds are entirely excluded from the transmission. By connecting the ordinary phonograph, through a telephone transmitter, with this novel receiver, Bayer hopes to strain out all impure secondary sounds—even the scratching of the needle itself. This application of the idea although simple, does not seem practical, however; for itis only reasonable to infer that the impure sounds that might possibly be in- troduced by the transmitter would be almost if not equally as annoying as those weeded out. The photographs below show the diagram and application of the device. Source of direct currents, A a x a. Stuak.3 The form is moved along from section to section of the wall. There is no waiting for the concrete to set. It is possible to erect three or four ten-inch courses during a day Any Boy Can Build a Concrete Wall with This New Metal Form WISCONSIN man has invented a new type of metal concrete form for constructing hollow or solid concrete walls. The supporting frames of the form are rigid while the arms supporting the mold boards are of flexible spring steel which prevent the form from bending out of shape. The rigidity of the form makes it possible to erect walls true and straight. Fresh concrete is spread into the mold and tamped down until the mold is com- pletely filled. Then a lever is raised which releases the machine from the wall. The form is moved along and another section of the wall is formed. There is no waiting for 43 ii the concrete to set. It is possible to erect Telephone transmitter , three or four ten- inch coufses in a day. The expense and waste of lumber in building forms is done away with. By theaid The electric current going through the wires, vibrates them and produces the voice sounds. up other sound vibrations are inactive of this form any novice can erect cement walls for buildings or partitions. All wires that would set

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746 Popular Science Monthly Grooming the Horse with a Vacuum- Why a Sidewalk Was Built on the Cleaner Mitten Top of a Storm-Sewer Tunnel HE latest application of ECAUSEa Pasadena the vacuum -cleaning ' ea storm-sewer could not be principle is to the grooming ot “Gg @ o > built low enough to avoid con- horses. Walter B. Guild, 7 ; 4 flict with the sidewalk above of Roxbury, Mass., has $5 Te * ™ it and still retain a down invented a kind of glove ie 6 7. i} grade to insure a flow, the which takes the place of j Se ie | sidewalk was placed on the the old curry comb A ae =F yaaa ~=s top of the tunnel. and brush and cleans lr 4. The top of the the hide thoroughly A: au ——-. ) & sewer projected above and quickly. .) Sw us i sidewalk would nat- stiff brushes are set. ; a ‘ay i iit urally begin. Hence These stir up the dust ” _ Wad \ i’ Ae the contractors de- in the hide. The 3 a ey: ro cided that the easiest brushes are separated win. as * remedy for the situa- from the walls of the “a ~< Pe \ “: tion was to build the . , , sidewalk on the top of the tunnel and as an integral portion of it. Now hundreds of The vacuum-cleaner mitten persons daily walk Goi! springs / f a y i which takes the place of the \Branch air / fo ie duct curry comb for grooming over the sidewalk 0 horses. It is a time-saver without the slightest knowledge that they The brushes between the are traversing the top fingers stir up the dust which of a sewer. Only if is sucked up through the you chanced to be un- hose at the back of the glove usually observing and reached the end of the channels into which they are set, so that walk, would you be likely to discover the there is a free-air space around them. Into details of the construction. At the end this free-air space the dust is sucked up, to there is a concrete abutment to prevent be drawn into a main air-duct attached to you from absent-mindedly walking off into the back of the glove. This main air-duct the open portion of the big drain. is connected with a suction hose and pump. The brushes are simply sets of bristles wrapped about a flexible rub- ber core so as to bend with the fingers and conform with any irregularities of surface. Such a cleaning mitten is believed to be a means of pre- serving the health of the grooms, since the dust which is invariably imbedded in the hide is not allowed to escape into the air of the close stall to be breathed into the lungs of the workmen. With such a mitten it is claimed that one man can do the work of three The top of the sewer projected above the point where the without loss of time. sidewalk began, so the sidewalk was built directly over it

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Popular Science Monthly How Old Is the Earth? As Old as re | i the Salt of the Sea HE salt of the ocean has been made to give an answer to the question of the age of the earth. The general idea seems simple enough to be worked out by anyone with a plentiful supply of good long pencils and sufficient paper. Salt is carried down year after year into the sea, where it accumulates. If, then, we can divide the entire amount of salt at present in the ocean by the amount carried down in a year, the quotient will be the probable age of the earth. Simple? Oh yes. Pro- fessor Joly has worked it out to ninety- nine million years, but to be on the safe side he reduces that number to | ninety million. A little matter of nine Pa. Pee Ca ee "i ‘li ’ ie tn eotettaiide le ‘} The steam shovel moved along | y its own power on million years 1s negligible to those who its self-laid track at the rate of about four blocks can think in such numbers. a day through the side streets of the city The Temperature Alarm. It Tells You How a Railroad Steam-Shovel Whether You Are Too Warm or Too Cold Traveled Through New York City HE burglar alarm now has a rival in the N excavating the site for a new hospital in temperature alarm. A bell rings to New York city a contractor made use of a inform you that you are too warm, or too gigantic steam-shovel mounted on a stan- cold, as the case may be. dard railroad flat-car. Upon the comple- Let us assume that the damper on your _ tion of the work the shovel had to be trans- furnace is open, which, of course, causes the ported to the next scene of operations, in fire to burn fiercely. A chain isattached to — this case several miles away, the route being the damper at one end, ene tesinanibove entirely through city and at the other to a contact points streets. metallic ring. The ring Hightemperature No alternative pre- is part of an electric cir- contact points ue Contact sented itself to the mind cuit in which the bell is a of the contractor toa plan located. A thermostat (a (ey Open ‘to lay tracks for this kind of thermometer) is position self-propelled steam- inserted in the circuit shovel and to pick them near the contact point, up again after the shovel and swells when the house had passed on. So, mak- becomes too hot. This . ing use of three short sec- causes the contact points ijt oas tions of track consisting of the thermostat to t eas ~ Switch rs of standard rails held touch, and the circuit is Thermostat a PLL the required distance thus closed, so that the ies apart by iron rods, the bell rings. pe en a steam-shovel started on Upon hearing the bell (a kind of Ls its queer journey. As it ring, you realize that you —_—‘ thermometer) passed, under its own are toowarm. Youmove _ imserted in a bell circuit q r power, from the: last sec- the metallic ring down to Gauses__tthe tion to the second sec- another position which bell to ring tion, a team of horses breaks the circuit,causes when the hauled the last section the bell to stop ringing, own 4 around to the front of the closes the damper and ¢& too low shovel to form a new cools the house. : length of track.

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Popular Science Monthly The flexible shaft from the motor rotates the cam. The bearings of the scis- sors shanks, on running in the cam groove, operate ae the blades of the scissors — £ Rollers — 4 & Click! Click! Go These Electric- ally Operated Scissors N large factories where clothing and uniforms are made by the thousands, the cutting of the miles of cloth required is a tremendous job. Much of the tediousness of this work has been eliminated by the power-operated scissors invented by John Schultz, of Chicago. A rotating groove-cam works the shanks of the scissors back and forth just as the cutter’s hand would ply them. The cam, however, rotates so fast that the shank-bear- ings, traveling in the turning 8-shaped groove, are moved many times faster than a man could operate them. More- over, the strokes are more powerful, since the electric motor which turns the cam by means of the flexible shaft con- nected with it is several times strong a man’s hand. The scissors therefore can cut several thick- nesses of cloth where a man would cut but one. as as ett i —— a] bh ae Finger piece aA, _—— : ———= A Simple Cylinder Re-Boring Machine for the Car-Owner HE mechanically inclined automobile owner can rebore his engine cylinders in from one-third to one-tenth the usual time and without the services of an expert mechanic, if he uses a simple machine recently brought out in Iowa. Although hand-operated ordinarily, the device can be power driven when much work is to be done in a garage. It will rebore cylinders from 234 to 5-1/16 inches in diameter on engines of either the de- mountable or solid - head types. In the former, the de- vice is bolted to the cylinder after the head is removed, and in the latter to the base of the cylinders when the cy]- inder block is turned upside down. The reboring machine con- sists of a top guide block, with a clamp and bolts to at- tach it to the cylinder, and a threaded feed- bar carrying at its lower end a circular cut- ter head slotted for four cutters. The head is threaded inside for the adjustment of the cutters and is tapered on the outside at the bottom to keep the cutting tools straight. { Turning handle Flexible vinaediiel Handle Threaded feed bar Threaded guide block ylinder The re-boring machine attached to the bottom of a solid-head cylinder. The cutters and head are revolved through the feed bar

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Whirling Concrete Polesinto Shape Centrifugal action is set up and the liquid concrete is thrown against the tubular frame HE principle of centrifugal action utilized in a machine invented by Walter H. Lienesch, of Chicago, makes possible the production of substan- tial, attractive and inexpensive lamp poles, telegraph poles and sign posts from re- inforced concrete. The machine consists of an outer cylin- drical frame which carries the mold and which is constructed of sheet metal, formed from two half-cylinders hinged together. Within this carrier-frame is a smaller mold- cylinder, of tapering, rather than of true cylindrical form. This mold is likewise constructed from two half-cylinders of sheet metal, hinged together. The inner mold is supported by braces carried within the outer carrier-frame or cylinder. Both frames are opened and concrete is poured into the inner mold cylin- der to partly fillit, reinforcing wire netting having been placed in the mold first. The mold and the outer carrier - cylinder are then bolted or latched together. The concrete lamp posts are unusually attractive and are made in different styles A motor which is connected with the carrier-frame by a flexible shaft is started up, and carrier-frame and mold are rapidly rotated axially. The resulting centrifugal action whirls the concrete compactly against the cylindrical mold sides to form a tubular pole. The operation is continued long enough to allow the concrete to harden. The m chine is then stopped and the newly forme concrete pole is removed. Poles of almost every type can be thus formed. A telegraph pole of concrete recently erected in Milwaukee. It will probably be doing as good service as now one hundred years from today after the pole has been completed and is The mold is constructed of comparatively thin metal and is light in weight so that it can be readily removed from the carrier-frame ready to set up

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REET PS a Popular Science Monthly lk Alice is pointing to the waxen seal which melts as soon as the heat becomes intense. melting of the wax re- leases the fire doors, sprinkler system and callsthe fire department. At right, the roof of the film stor- The huge ventilators furnish an exit for the cumbusti- starts the age room. ble celluloid Fire Doors That Close Themselves When the Temperature Rises N a certain film storage vault in Culver California, motion-picture films worth at times five million dollars are stored. provided protection against fire. The walls of the building are of special fire brick, plastered on the outside for the A four-inch layer of asbestos lines the interior, and this in turn City, vault is sake of appearance. is covered with a layer of one quar ter -inch boiler plate. The most inter- esting features of the protec- tive plan are four steel doors which close automatically when an exces- sive heat is reached. Suppose that a fire breaksout. The heat melts highly with Secueomemtnanaeeed GEE ise ke ote sre roe h ] ms. inflammable Naturally, the every known’ the plowed ground. on the on a tiny wax seal which con- trols the mechanism of each door. The moment the wax is melted the springs release the latches that hold the open doors, and the doors, mounted on a sloping pul- ley, close by gravity and latch automatically. The closing of any one of the doors makes an electrical contact which turns in a fire alarm. The sprinkler system is so arranged that the entire outside walls of the build- ing are drenched the moment the water Showers also send their con- tents down the ventilators roof. A similar sprinkler system sprays the interior of the building, the water being directed so that it falls woodwork but not on the being is turned on, the walls and This Is the Way They Plow in Porto Rico HE prize for queer ways of plowing a field goes to Porto Rico. of the sugar cane it takes two engines to run a plow, yet the engines do not travel over In this land The engine seen at the right in the photograph below remains How they plow in Porto Rico. The plowing ma- chine is drawn back and forth across the field by two traction engines, one on each side of the furrows idle, while a similar engine to the left, but not visible in the photograph, is pulling the plowing machine in its direction by means of a steel cable which is shown attached to the lower part of the machine. There are eight plows to the machine, four on an end. When the ma- chine has been pulled all the way across the field the end which now ap- pears in the air willbe loweredto plow the next furrow in the op- posite direction. JS pea e EN P of de

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con- 1 of nent the ches ors, ing pul- and The the rical ina m is itire uild- nent on, con- tors ilar the the that and the liga land run Over n at ains but ‘ the eans d to part line. are s to ine, end. ma- been the the end ap- e air edto next e Op- tion. This Kerosene Lamp Hasa Horizontal Wick O the thousands of people still obliged to rely upon kerosene as their means of illumination, this new angle-lamp will be decidedly welcome. The outstanding fea- Oil flows from thetankthrough a vent until the level of the oil about the wick covers the vent Oil cannot rise higher than vent ture is the position of the wick and burner, which, instead of being vertical, is almost hor- izontal. This shape not only permits a separa- tion of the burner and the tank for oil, but also gives a much better dis- tribution of the light. The old style oil lamp cuts off entirely the rays directed vertically downward, which are the very best for illuminating purposes. In the angle-lamp the flame is at one side of the support, instead of above, so that the downward rays are not interrupted. Whether a wall lamp or a hanging lamp is used, a good light thus falls on the work or paper underneath. Popular Science Monthly As the tank is at some distance from the burn- er,itcan be lifted out for refilling without dis- mantling 751 The oil travels to the flame through the wick easily. The supply at the base of the wick is kept constant by a device much like that inthe student lamp. Oil flows from the tank through a vent until the level of the oil about the wick covers the vent; then no more can escape until the supply about the wick has been nearly used up and the level falls below the vent. As the tank is at some distance from the burner, and not underneath it, it can be lifted out for refilling without dismantling the lamp, or even extinguishing the flame. This assures safety, and also means much less work for the caretaker. The lamp is lighted by swinging the globe-holder on its hinge; this eliminates removing the globe. The air enters through the burner at right angles to the direc- tion of escape through the globe. This com- pels it to eddy back through the flame before it escapes. A Bungalow Takes a Sail Across San Francisco Bay CALIFORNIA millionaire purchased a plot of ground on the opposite side of the bay from his residence. A moving contractor took the contract to move the house across the bay, and the bungalow is shown below on the scow, ready for the trip. A small tug-boat hauled it. the lamp The bungalow taking its trip across the bay in preference to a long detour by land. loaded on a scow and hauled by a_ tug-boat, It was reaching its destination in a few hours

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Popular Science Monthly Sorting Letters with Gravity Chutes in the Post Office N a large city post office where millions of letters a day are received, the problem of sorting them usually requires a staff of men nearly as large as_ that necessary to deliver the letters about the city. To reduce the expense of sorting, William G. Axworthy, of Montclair, New Jersey, has designed a sorting case by which the letters can be sorted in about one-half the time usually required. The case con- sists of five horizontal rows of very narrow compartments, all close together. The pile of letters to be sorted is placed in a hori- zontal position at the level of the middle row of slots. The prac- A touch of an electric button ignites the powder. It flares up and lights up the surrounding country Making a Safe Landing at Night From an Airplane An aviator so unfortu- nate as to have his engine go back on him while flying along at night is in a precarious position. Until recently, there was nothing for him to do but to trust to luck and de- scend. By the invention of Har- old E. S. Holt, of England, however, the extreme danger of such a posi- tion is mitigated. The principal feature of his device is a long steel arm which hangsdown from the airplane. This is a flood-lighting arrangement. You press an electric but- ton; the powder held at the end of the steel arm is thus ignited. This powder is the sort of stuff which mariners use in signal- ing in stormy weather; a powder which burns long and with an intense flame. Thus the landscape below the airplane is lighted up so that you can see plainly to choose a landing place which promises a fair degree of safety. cylinder Fuse Details of the device for flood- lighting the land directly beneath the airplane ticed eye of the sorter can recog- nize the town where the top letters are to go just as quickly as the letters can be uncovered. Due to the close proximity of the slots, the letters can be thrown into the respective compartments assigned to them at the same high speed. How different is the old system where the slots are deep and must be built over five vertical feet of wall space! No longer is motion lost in reaching down to the slots near the floor. This operation is effected by little chutes in back of each slot. The letters fall down these chutes into the larger storage compartments below. The letters for the lower compartments are dropped into slots and carried down by gravity

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vity e here are ting Hf of that ters the : aS, New ‘ting n be time con- s of all (ters ori- the rac- COg- top ly as . the can ents eed. here over nger slots cted The the nged op are vity A Valveless Pump for Gearset Grease It sucks out the old grease, pumps it into an- Filling a transmission gear- set with new grease which is carried in the valveless pump ILLING the transmission gearbox or removing the grease from it or from the rear axle of an automobile is zenerally an operation which re- cjlires a man to put on overalls and glovesif heis to be at all pre- sentable when he finishes the job. This drudgery can now be done away with by using the other receptacle and feeds in fresh lubricant Below: the valveless pump. The horizontal flange at the bot- tom of the cylinder forms practically a double bottom oar Details of ~ } Cylinder turn handle | Plunger handle\ “.icking old grease out of a rear axle housing. Notadrop is spilled on the woodwork bottom of the bucket through holes in the hori- zontal casting flange. In the latter case a charge of the grease in the bucket is sucked into the brass tube by the upward stroke of a small piston inside of the tube, operated through a small finger grip on the simple valveless bucket shown Grease channel plunger outer and upper end of the in the accompanying illustra- piston rod, tions. This can be used to fill the gearset The brass tube is then turned one- or axle with grease or oil carried in the bucket itself; to feed in a different lubricant instead of that in the bucket, or to suck old grease out of either part and pump it into some other receptacle for use elsewhere. The device consists of a heavy sheet-iron receptacle in the shape of an ordinary bucket and fitted with a central brass tube inserted in a cast cylinder at the bottom of the bucket. This cylinder has a horizontal flange at the bottom which forms prac- tically a double bottom, the space between the ‘real and false bottom opening to the lower end of a flexible metal hose. The brass tube may be turned one- quarter turn either way to bring a rect- angular hole near its bottom into register with the passage to the hose or with the quarter way around and the piston forced down by an easy downward pumping stroke of the lever handle with one hand, leaving the other free to guide the free end of the hose, the grease meantime being forced out as the piston descends. Similarly, closing the bottom of the bucket and opening the passage to the hose by turning the tube another quarter revolu- tion sets the device so that an upward. stroke of the piston will suck old grease out of the gearset or rear axle. The next downward stroke will force it into another receptacle. There is no dirt or muss, and the old greasy overalls may be discarded without any regrets from the list of indispensable around the automobile. Maybe you have special needs. of the magazine. Write to the editor abou. anything within the scope He will be glad to help you. wero fov

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Powder Gases Wash Away Steel Guns The process is the same as that by which a river cuts away its banks By Edward C. Crossman Y HEN a modern infantry-rifle cart- \ ridge is fired in a rifle-barrel, the heat generated by the powder gases is measured by some 4000 degrees Fahren- heit. One shot does not mattermuch, two shots in rapid succes- sion raise the temperature of this steel a bit more, three shots are still worse, but twenty, fired at machine- gun speed, raise an or- dinary _ bar- rel toasteak- broiling tem- perature. The gases pushing be- hind the bul- let and trav- eling at high speed with the pressure of 50,000 pounds to the square inch, literally wash away the softened steel just ahead of the chamber as fast as it is heated by the high temperature of dis- charge. The process is known as erosion— a washing away. When a river sets in to cut away its banks, it also erodes. Because machine-guns are fired at high speed and are used for a comparatively long series of shots without a pause, their chief foe is this erosion. If machine-guns were fired as the average layman supposes—one continuous blast of bullets while the argu- ment lasts, they would be out of commission in a couple of thousand shots, which means an actual firing life measured by a few minutes. No cooling system ever invented 2,000 to 3,000 times. These are American machine guns which have been nrea irom Ahead of the chamber, which is the por- tion where the cartridge rests when the gun is loaded, the barrels are washed away on either side until the bore is larger than the neck of the chamber. gases rush past the bullet, which does not seal the gap, and wash still more steel away, and so on, around the circle will keep down the temperature on the in- side of the barrel with such usage. Because of this, because of the necessity for re-laying the gun on the mark every twenty shots or so, and because of the slight de- lay in insert- ing a new belt or drum or clip of am munition, the guns are fired in short bursts, each followed by a pause. The Germans use two guns at detached points, alter- nating their fire to avoid over-heating and to avoid the delays incurred by inserting new clips or belts. Even used in this way, machine guns show erosion very quickly. The photograph shows the barrels of types of American machine guns, fired 2,000 and 3,000 shots. As the photographs plainly show, ahead of the chamber, which is the portion where the cartridge rests when the gun is loaded, the barrels are washed away on either side until the bore is larger than the neck of the chamber. The result is that the hot gases rush past the bullet which does not seal the gap, and wash still more steel away, and so on, around the vicious circle of damage. The barrels shown in the photographs are sectioned lengthwise, showing only one half of the bore of the guns. The result is that the hot

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Popular Science Monthly An Iron ‘‘Flag’’ for Protecting the Railroad Car Inspector Against Injury AST year a single railroad killed four men and injured nearly four hundred others who were underneath the cars in- specting and making repairs. The blue flag which they had stuck in the ground a short way off to warn locomotive engineers of their dangerous position had fallen down or had perhaps been knocked down by some careless workman. In an effort to put an end to such need- less and pitiful slaughter, a_ railroad equipment company has developed a fool- proof flagging device. A blue “‘flag’’ .of iron is placed on the track in front of the car to be repaired. The repair inspector locks this to the track and only he can re- move it. Little chance now for an engineer to plead ignorance and to back his train into the other car. This iron flag can be planted on the track, winter or summer, in a few seconds. The flag standard is an iron pipe inside which \ two clamp arms slide. When the === ~~~. B arms drop down, they can be placed over the sides of one of the car rails. The inspector then shoves the pipe down. The arms come together and hug the rail securely. The inspector then pad- locks them to the rail. | fos Paes ’ ‘ "aed wee, feat & Padlocking the blue metal flag to the track to warn engineers against backing their trains into the car that is being repaired When the flag standard is the arms clamp the rail. When it is locked, only the inspector remove shoved down, himself can The tree stood in the pathway. Rather than chop it down a path was cut through it ‘*Woodman, Spare That Tree,”’ Said the People to the Roadmaker EST of the Rocky Mountains, trees of enormous size are numerous. Many of them are supposed to be “\,, hundreds of years old and are con- sequently revered. Tocut down a tree which has taken so many years to reach devel- opment seems a crime. Therefore when the West- erners find one of them blocking the path of progress they resort to various expedients to give it the right of way without sacrificing the public needs. The accompanying photograph shows a tree which completely blocked the foot-path of a new street in Everett, Washing- ton. The tree was a fir and was in full foliage. Rather than cut it down or compel people to make a detour around it, a pathway was cut directly through it, wide enough for two people to pass abreast. It was finished off at the top in an arch, which enhanced the orna- mental effect. The cutting did not harm the tree. In some of the redwood trees of California paths have been cut wide enough for horses and wagons to pass through. it

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Telegraphing by Typewriter How one telegraph company doubled its facilities without adding a single wire r | ‘XO provide adequately for the handling of its enormously increased business, the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany was recent- ly confronted with the problem of doubling its serv- ice facilities. To double the number of telegraph lines, and therefore, to increase the num- ber of employees, was too costly for serious considera- tion. Automatic telegraph oper- ators were in- stalled. Their speed is so great that more than twice the number of telegrams formerly handled can now be sent over the same lines. This is how it was made possible. Typists take the place of key operators. As they operate special typewriters, they perforate a narrow strip of paper with a number of holes, the arrangement of which varies with each letter of the alphabet. A strip of paper is to the new system of telegraphy what the music roll is to the player-piano. As a given perforation in the music roll determines the note to be played, so a tape perfora- The device by means of which four messages come and four go over the same wire at the same time five percent, without the addition of a single new line! It did not stop at that, however. Key operatérs can work ‘‘quadruplex”— that is, four of them can send their messages over a single wire, two in one direc- tion and two in the other direction at the same time. The typewriters were made to do the same. We thus come to the second improvement, a device which al- lows four messages to be transmitted from the sending to the receiving station and four in the opposite direction from the receiving to the sending station at the same time and over the same wire! Two brushes, one at each station, rotate over four segments at the same speed and come in contact with corresponding seg- ments at all times. At one station, the four segments connect with the four tape transmitters; at the other, they connect with the four printing machines. While one transmitter is sending a letter to its corresponding printer, the brushes will be moving toward the next segment. The tion determines the letter to be printed at the receiving sta- tion. A tape is type- written and drawn through the electric transmitter so quick- lv that one thou- sand, six hundred and fifty words can be sent in the time required by one typ- ist to send a thou- sand words with the regular key. Thusthecompany printer levers will select the letter and will print it on the regular telegram blank while the brushes are rotating over the three re- maining segments. The first printing set is then ready for the next letter. This happens with every segment, so that with each complete revolution of the brushes, one letter has increased the amount of business it handles by sixty- Typists operate special machines which make records of the messages in perfor- ations on paper like player-piano records will have been sent and received by four operators. 756

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tion tion rire ! tate and seg- the tape nect hile ) its l be The will and the ‘am the iting . re- ents. g set r the This very that plete the etter sent. four _ been invented by John L. L. Popular Science Monthly Cutting Sheet Metal with a New Machine ERE is a new machine which cuts sheet metal satisfactorily for pattern making purposes and which turns sharp corners: It has Krook, of Proctor, Vermont. The primary use of the machine is the cutting of patterns required by a mar- ble company in Vermont. But the machine is equally useful for cutting metal sten- cils and other patterns and for heavier sheet metal work. The machine has a fixed cutter and a reciprocating cutter operated like a sewing machine needle. The driving-shaft is ad- justed to the desired position by means of an eccentric collar which is mounted for rotary adjustment in a ring-shaped groove of the shaft. The machine operates without making much noise. The several incan- descent lamps shown are used instead of a rheostat to vary the speed. The sheet metal-cutting machine. It is patterned after an ordinary sewing machine and is run by electricity An endless chain fitted with pushers pulls the cotton bales across an A-shaped trestle to the high level railroad track Handling Cotton Bales with an Over- head Trolley System MONORAIL system which carries cotton bales over a mile at the rate of six hundred an hour has been put into operation in Texas City, Tex. The com- press is located that distance from the waterfront docks and a railway line inter- venes. In order to get the cotton bales to the ships quickly, the operators of the plant erected a trestle work thirty-five feet high. By means of high and low level lines, the cotton is carried across the tracks and thence to the side of the ships. The trolleys which carry the bales are equipped with hooks, the stems of which are fastened to two ball-bearing rollers that fit the overhead rail. An ordinary chain with two hooks is suspended in equilibrium from a hole on the under part of the trolley. An endless chain fitted with pushers every ten feet pulls the bales across the long “‘A-” shaped trestle. From the ground it is possi- ble to see two hundred and fifty bales travel- ing along slowly. There are two lines of trolleys, the low lines running through the compress buildings for a mile as feeders to the main line on the outside, where by means of an inclined trackway, connection is made with the “‘high level” track.

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The Giant Crane of the Austrian Navy It has a three-hundred-foot jib and while handling a load maintains its equilibrium by means of water let into the rear ballast tanks T work in the Austrian Navy Yard at Pola is the largest floating crane in the world. A giant floating crane is this, with its normal lifting capacity of two hundred and forty tons. It thinks nothing of taking guns and turrets weighing sixty tons more than that and carrying them to the ships under construction about the yard. Nothing about the ship is nearly as im- portant as this busy crane. The other cranes of one hundred and one hundred and fifty tons capacity—wonderful cranes a few years ago!—have been relegated to the minor jobs of the yard. The barge crane is commanded by a captain who stands at the navigating bridge. From his point of vantage, he signals the engineer at the hoisting engine to run out the cable truck on the jib and to let down the cable to the wharf. When the load—gun, or whatever it may be—is secured upon the grappling hook, the captain has it raised to the top of the jib, one hundred and eighty-seven feet in the air. Before the load has ascended many feet, he will have signaled to the boiler room just below the deck, and the barge will be steaming away towards the ship it is to equip. There she drops anchor and “straightens to’’ on tightening her anchor cables by her modern steam capstans. With her mighty three-hundred-foot jib, the crane can run her burden far over the side of the largest battleship. While this is going on, water is let into the rear ballast tanks of the barge. Finally, when the load has been deposited on the battleship, this water will be forced out again with compressed air to restore the equilibrium of the barge. This diligent little ship keeps constantly in touch with the yard headquarters by means of the auxiliary patrol boat that is assigned to her. Instructions reach the barge captain through the wireless station on board the patrol. It is through these channels that orders come when a subma- rine meets with mishap during its opera- tions on the Adriatic Sea. If the submarine has foundered within any possible reach of the land, the barge is ordered to drop whatever work it is doing and to follow the fast patrol boat to the scene of the disaster. Expert divers put off from the yard to meet the barge on its way to the sea. Reaching the point where the submarine has been reported to have gone down, the divers at once descend, carrying the two lifting cables with them. If the divers are fortunate and find the submarine, the grappling hooks are at- tached to the emergency eyes at each end of the U-boat’s hull. Then, with the two lifting cables working together, the U-boat will be raised towards the surface at the rate of about three feet a minute. The rear cable, which goes through the hole built into the front deck of the ship, cannot lift its end of the submarine entirely out of the water. The front cable can, however, and it raises the boat until its conning- tower clears the water. In this way, the crew are enabled to escape. American cranes are of a more specialized type, and of an extraordinary efficiency. Revolving jibs take the place of the station- ary ones of the Austrian craft. Instead of having to maneuver to aline the barge in order that a load may be lowered into exact position, the American cranes maneuver the jib around. On our floating cranes, moreover, the driving machinery is electrical. The oper- ator is stationed in a house near the _ bot- tom of the jib. The house rotates with the jib so that the operator can overlook every motion. The electric motor controls, and even ‘the distant-controls for the electric capstans are mounted on _ the_ switch- boards in this cabin. By co-ordinating his movements, one man can handle his barge with marvelous facility. Hence, where Austria’s cranes exceed ours in size, the American cranes excel in dexterity. Furthermore, the use of water ballast to prevent a barge from tipping frontward when a load is on the jib seems absurd to American engineers. Our barges are inherently stable. The crane is mounted so near to the center of the ship that twice the capacity load would not overturn it. No, we do not use water ballast—the cables might break some day and as the load falls off in front the ballast might tip the barge over at the rear!

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It Lifts 240 Tons in One Load THE CRANE PROPER. F. FRONT TRUCK OR con.wincs. MOVES ON RAILS . LIFTING FORE END OF SUBMARINE. G. REAR CRAB LIFTING AFTER END. H.FIXED ENDS OF LIFTING RORESI. [7% FROM HERE THEY RUN OVER CRAB ae PULLEYS, DOWN TO LIFTING te HOOKS .UP & OVER GUIDE fo PULLEYS ,J. & DOWN TO DRUMS. K. TRAVERSING ROPES FOR By 7 HAULING FRONT CRAB. fae! L, TRAVERSING ROPES OF WY REAR CRAB. \ M. BRIDGE GIRDERS SUPPORTING TRAVERSING ROPES. r WINDING GEAR HOUSE. N. STEAM ENGINE OPERATING O. ENDLESS SCREW & WHEEL SETS WHICH TURN DRUMS. P. NAVIGATING BRIDGE. Q.TRAVERSING DRUM MOVING | FORWARD CRAB. ‘ R.SAME FOR REAR CRAB. : 5S. DRUMS WINDING LIFTING ROPES T .LIFTING DRUMS,ROUND WHICH ROVES WIND 9 TIMES & PASS To U.A LATTICED TOWER HAVING - V. COUNTER-WEIGHTS/ | WHICH MOVE UP; * & DOWN! Fy Vado ~~ er te ME tm * us e ‘ [3 ¥ DA 3 7 ei x AS VA v Sy SY a OR SAS aes) Poe , 2 Lys ——— ry YP r ~~ © Pw — = \4. LIFTING ROPE 2% IN. THICK. A. CORE OF TARRED HEM? ROPE, B.24 STRANDS OF GALVANISED STEEL WIRE . EACH STRAND IS COMPOSED OF 3 LAYERS OF “© INCH CAST-STEEL WIRE WOUND ROUND AN IRON CORE. THIS ROPE HAS A LENGTH OF 2625 FEET, WEIGHS 10 TONS.AND WILL NOT BREAK UNTIL A 230% WEIGHT IS HUNG UPON IT. * ieee TRAVERSING ROPE .1°5 sil ane THICK, OF SIMILAR MAKE. This largest of floating cranes is at work in the Austrian navy yard. It carries two-hundred-and-forty- ton loads of guns and machinery from the wharves to the battleships. In case of a submarine disaster near its station, however, it is the duty of the operators to answer the calls of distress. Under its own steam, the crane makes for the spot and sends down divers to find the submarine. Lifting the boat so the crew can escape, it deposits it on the barge to be carried to the repair dock 759

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760 A Jeweler’s Ruse for Making You Return His Watch F the watch you borrow from the jeweler while he fixes yours, stops at the end of a week or so, don’t take it back and bawl out the jeweler as a man not even able to make his own watches run. He may smile a slow sad smile and tell you that your watch has been finished for nearly a week and that the bill is $1.30. A man who is just “‘ornery”’ enough to be a jeweler has patented a simple little addi- tion to watches by which they will stop automatically, “never to run again,” until the man who sets the attach- ment turns it off and again lets the watch tick merrily. The jeweler in question sets forth that customers have the pleasant habit of borrowing watches while their own are being fixed and then wearing them for indefinite periods of time without returning to pay the little bill and take along the repaired watch. Apparently it peeves him, because he has designed a watch to act as before described—stop at the end of a predetermined time which The jeweler’s watch with stop-pins to keep it from running well indefinitely Popular Science Monthly the jeweler feels is long enough for the customer to be wearing a watch not his property. The trick depends upon a slow turning wheel with a stop-pin which bears against a sleeve on the second hand when the wheel has Stop pi completed its revolution, PPIns thus stopping the watch. A Thriving Fishing Village That Floats N the shadow of the huge Manhattan Bridge which connects New York proper with Brooklyn, nestles a ver- itable fishing village consisting of nine two-story houseboats moored side by side so as to form a solid row and shelter- ing the fishermen, and their families, on whom New York city is dependent for a good part of its fish supply. But unless you are familiar with the va- garies of fish and the localities in which they school in certain seasons you need not go in search of this village. Often it disappears from a locality overnight, without any farewells, reappearing as quietly a few months later. ey ~ a on ee \ Te New York’s floating fishing village consists of nine two-story houseboats moored side by side. Here the cargoes of the fishing boats from the surrounding waters are prepared for market

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we ———~ Flaps Used on Inner Tubes to Prevent Pinches IRE users do not generally realize the purpose of flaps and their influence in relation to the tire service. It is not customary to use flaps with clincher tires, not because it is unnecessary, but because of the difficulty in using a flap and stretching the tire on the rim so that it will fit properly. The beads of this type of tire are stretchable and are made approx- imately one inch less in diameter than the diameter of the rim, the object being to cause the tire to fit snugly to the rim, after being applied. Several years ago it was a practice to use rim strips—a strip of fabric stretched tightly on the rim. These strips caused the beads to fit very snugly to clinches of the rim and protected the tube from rust and other damage. This was discontinued some time ago. While it is not necessary to use flaps with clincher tires of small size, it is really the proper thing to do with this type in sizes above 4 in., unless clips or spreaders are: used to hold the beads tightly in the clinches of the rim so that the inner tubes will not be pinched or damaged. The beads of the quick detach- able clincher cases and cables of straight side cases are non-stretchable and are, therefore, made to the approximate diam- eter of the rim. In former years tire manufacturers ce- mented the flaps to one side of the cases. The heat of the tire caused the flap to loosen, slip out of position, work under the beads, wrinkle and chafe the tubes. The floating flap, i. e., the flap loose in the case, proved to be more efficient in many re- spects. It is easier to apply the tire to the rim, the flap adjusts itself to suit conditions and, with reasonable caution, it is an easy matter to apply the tire so that the flap will stay in its correct position. The loose endless flap was then improved by splitting, OR PRACTICAL notching the ends in such a manner as to make the flap adjustable in circum- ference to accommodate variations in the circumference of the tire. A Window Ventilator Which Eliminates Drafts T is often inconvenient or unwise to open a window from the bottom for ventila- tion, on account of the disagreeable draft created. The illustration shows a simple method of eliminating the draft while still securing a plentiful supply of air. It is especially recommended for the sick-room or for a bedroom. For each window, cut two pieces of 34-in. board asshown. These should be mounted A glass set on a slope to direct the air cur- rents upward as they enter the room on either side of the window and fastened to the casement or sill. A groove at 60 deg. angle is cut in the board for inserting a piece of glass, the length of the window and about 6% in. high. This allows the air to enter the room at an upward slant instead of directly —J. C. GRINDELL. 761

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Popular Science Monthly Keeping Insects Away from Lunch Boxes HE accompanying illustration explains a very efficient method for keeping ants and other insects out of lunch boxes. The oil cup consists of a one-pint tin soup can, cut off to the desired height. A piece of %-in. gal- vanized wire is pushed through the center of thebottom of the can, where it is well soldered. Turn up a hook on each end, pour in a small portion of ma- chine oil—any kind will do—and hang it on a nail in a cool place. Hang the lunch below it and it will be secure from insect invasion, for no insect will crawl farther than the oil.—L. M. DRAKE. = Wire with oil can for hanging lunch basket The Construction of an Automatic Centering Tool > most up-to-date shops there will be found some sort of a saw that will cut a bar of steel reasonably square. With the tool illustrated the centering can be done by the apprentice and you will be surprised at the amount of work he can do in this way. The bell piece is of tool steel, thoroughly hardened. The small screw on the bell piece holds the center drill in place and is adjusted to the drill to the desired depth. Vig w ie Nare Stop screw Set screw spring 9 © 4 al Morse taper Pg Centering tool to fit lathe spindle for starting the hole for the lathe center The end of the socket acts as a stop while the screw on the shank will keep the bell from sliding out of place. The shank is tapered to fit any lathe socket and works in conjunction with the bell center of the tail stock. It will center square bars as well as round stock providing the end is cut off perfectly square and at right angles to the length.—RoBERT J. SMITH. Caution in Turning Corners to Prevent Tire Injury E careful in making sharp turns that the wheels do not cause the treads to be rubbed by spring shackles or other sharp projecting objects. If a bumper or guard is applied to the car front, be sure that the ends have enough clearance to prevent the tires from being gouged. When the car is loaded heavily there is danger of tire treads being bumped or gouged by the fender when passing over rough places. Fenders that have been bent from accidents may be entirely too close to the tires and cause a great deal of injury, particularly if there are any sharp extending bolts underneath the fender. An inspection under fenders sometimes discloses bolts worn smooth and bright by continued buffing and rubbing by tires. Making a Cigar Stand on the Top or Side of a Hat HIS is an original pocket trick which may be performed anywhere and at any time. Borrow a hat—any kind, derby, soft felt, or straw—and a cigar. Place the cigar on the top or side of the hat and it will apparently stay there as if by your dexterous jug- gling or balancing. At command it will fall off and the cigar and hat can again be examined. All that is required to accomplish this clever conjuring feat is a common pin. Stick this pin in the thick flesh of your palm where it will stay unobserved. When the hat and cigar have been borrowed and examined place one hand beneath the hat (the hand containing the pin) and with the other hand steady the cigar as a juggler would when preparing to juggle some upright article. But while so doing stick the pin through the hat into the mouth end of the cigar. This will, of course, hold it upright. To cause it to fall, merely release the pin or pull it out and the cigar will topple over. the pin falls to the carpet. If not ‘‘over- done” you can always “get away’ with this stunt as a genuine feat of juggling and no one will suspect the ruse employed. The cigar stands on a pin run through the *at

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Smoke Your Own Fish Here is a simple method of constructing an inexpensive smoke- house suitable for smoking fish or meats By A. M. Jungmann the space to put up a small smoke- house. It will be an interesting experiment as well as the means of obtain- ing wholesome and palatable food at a very small price. There are many fishes of excellent food quality which ordinarily are discarded be- cause their texture or flavor is not approved or because they are too bony. Such fish as bowfins, buffalo-fish, carp, mooneyes or sturgeons, of the fresh water fish, while not popular fresh, are excellent smoked. Bony fish acquire a firmness through smoking that makes the removal of the bones quite easy. Fishermen frequently sell the less popular fish at from I to 3 cents a pound at the docks. A customer who might ordinarily buy only 2 or 3 pounds of the more ex- pensive fish could buy, if he had a place to smoke them, enough cheap fish to last for one or two weeks. Also pond owners who desire to rid their ponds of ordinary fish in order to make room for game fish will find a smokehouse invaluable. The United States Bureau of Fisheries constructed and operated a small experi- mental smokehouse on the Mississippi River. This house has proved most satis- factory in every way and its construction is so simple that anyone can build one along the same lines. The house measures 61% ft. in height at the front, 6 ft. at-the back, the roof having a single pitch, and 3 by 3% ft. inside measurements. If you build your house of plain boards it is necessary to prevent the ‘escape of smoke by covering the cracks with batten strips. If you can get yellow pine shiplap you can make your house smoke-tight without using battens. The 2 by 4-in. corner pieces may be on the out- , \RY smoking your own fish if you have side, the inside walls being perfectly smooth. Two doors are built in the upper half of the front of the house. They are hung on the corner pieces. The outer edge of the right door should be fitted with a batten that overlaps the other door. This holds it shut and prevents the escape of smoke. The doors may be fastened by two wooden thumb buttons, one above and one below the battened door, near where the two doors join and just beyond the batten. The inner walls have strips on which to place the trays holding the fish to be smoked Ventilation is provided by an opening in the roof over which a ventilator is placed. The ventilator is a box having a 3 by 4 in. opening front and back. This permits the

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764 escape of smoke and moisture. A slide damper controls the escape of smoke and as- sists in regulating the draft of the fire. The house is finished on the inside with 2-in. square strips nailed to the sides near the top, and rabbeted cleats or plain strips are nailed to the sides some 4 to 6 in. apart. These strips should not be leveled. They should have a slope of 6 in. toward the front of the house. When trays holding the fish are placed on them this slope will enable the fish to drain while smoking. Several removable wire trays should be made to slide on the rabbeted cleats. Fish not put on trays are hung from the horizontal rods of Popular Science Monthly elbow, earth should be banked carefully all around the bottom of the house to pre- vent outside drafts. Before smoking, fish should be split and the entrails removed. A fish having a dark abdominal lining should be scraped until the lining is removed. It is not necessary to do anything further with small fish before placing them in the brine. Large fish, however, if they are above 2 lb. in weight, should be split down the back from the inside, severing the ribs close to the backbone. They should be so split that they will lie flat. Very large fish should be cut in two or more lengths wood or iron which ex- tend across the house from side to side. To insure successful smoking it is most im- portant that the smoke spreader be properly con- structed. This is a rect- angular iron box 1 ft. square and 2 ft. long. Holes .34 in. in diameter should be punched in the sides and ends at frequent intervals to induce the smoke to spread evenly throughout the house. Dig a trench from the house 7 ft. long, 8 in. wide and 8 in. deep. Place in this trench three sections of ordinary stove- pipe, fitted at one end with an elbow. In the middle joint of the pipe place a stove- pipe damper. As the handle will be too short, fit it with an extension so the damper may be operated from above when the pipe is covered with earth. This damper is very important as it is the principal fire and smoke control. The pipe is lightly covered with earth. The elbow projects upward into the house under the smoke spreader extending about 2 in. above the surface of the ground. The firebox, which is at the other end of the pipe, is surhen. It is 14 in. wide, 14 in. deep and 24 i. long. It should be built of brick and covered with a heavy piece of sheet metal, which in turn is covered with earth. Firing is made easier by having a sloping trench in front of the firebox. After the firebox and flue are completed and the house is set over the open end of the To insure successful smoking it is important to have a properly constructed smoke spreader and split in the same way. This must be done to permit the salt to pene- trate and to make the fish smoke evenly. Brine is prepared by dissolving common barrel salt in fresh water until it will float an egg. Place the fish in the brine, scale side down, and leave them over night. When taken from the brine they should be washed in fresh water and placed on _ sloping ‘ trays or hung up to dry. Fish should be dried for a short time before smok- ing. Some fish are so soft that they cannot be hung by wires to smoke. These should be placed on trays, skin side down. Firmer fish are hung in wire slings from the rods at the top of the smokehouse. The best fuel for smoking is green hick- ory. It gives off a clear white smoke and colors the fish a rich, golden brown. The flavor imparted by hickory smoke is superior to that produced by any other wood. Next. to hickory come corn cobs. While they give off dense smoke which darkens the product too much, they impart a flavor which is very fine. Dry oak dis- colors the fish a little too much and gives it a mild acid flavor. Soft and hard maple are used, but these burn too freely. How- ever, the maple has a flavor much liked by some people. Green ash gives off a light smoke and the flavor is similar to that pro- duced by hickory. Green willow is excel- lent used with other woods as it gives an abundance of smoke. Sawdust may be

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used for dampening the fire, but does not burn freely enough alone to give the requisite heat. Under no circumstances use pine wood, because the smoke gives a resinous flavor to the fish.and renders it most unpleasant to the taste. A very small amount of pine wood may be used with other woods if no ‘better fuel is available. The smoking process is very simple, but it requires care and patience. Fish should be smoked from 24 to 36 hours, depending on their size. Some small fish need only 6 to 8 hours. Care should be taken not to allow the fire to get too hot as too much heat makes the product dry and unattrac- tive. At first it is well to test the fish by tearing off small pieces while they are smoking. When the fish are properly smoked they should be left in the smokehouse until cold. If they are taken out while hot they are almost sure to sweat. This causes molding. They should be kept in a cool, dry place as an insurance against mold. It is a good idea to dip them in melted paraffin as a protective measure. They should be handled very little after this. Simple Ejector for Removing Water from an Ash Pit ONSIDERABLE trouble was experi- enced in a boiler room with a leaky valve, the location of .which caused the water to run in the ash pit. This had to be bailed out, and the fireman mn had all he could do, until wi the repair was made, re- Toasideat moving the water with a__ boiler room bucket. Being gifted with some ingenuity he devised the ejector shown in the il- lustration. : A piece of 2%- in. pipe long enough to reach out of the boiler ZOU room was placed so that one enc’entered the pit while’the other remained in the water. A length of %¢-in. pipe 2¥2" Pipe was bent into a U-shape, This end to one end being introduced in extend to the large pipe in the water —_ bottom at] and the other attached to ash pit .a steam line. With this Ms appliance which only re- quired a few minutes to make, and which cost practically nothing, the water wassoon removed.—CHARLES LOoMISs. A simple and inexpensive ejector made of pipe Popular Science Monthly 765 Automobile Footboard Used as a Roller Board HE footboard of an automobile can be readily made into a roller board con- venient for making investigations under the car whether in the garage or on a country -ROLLER UNDERSIDE OF FOOT BOARD The footboard with rollers attached makes a good roller board for use under automobile road. It is only necessary to attach a ball- bearing roller or caster on the underside of the board at each corner where they will not be likely to interfere with any part of the motor.—Louis S. NIPER. A New Way to Make an Hydraulic Test for Steam Boilers OME time ago, the writer desired to test a small upright boiler that had frozen up during a cold snap. Having no force pump to give it the hydraulic test of 100 lb. pressure per square inch, he finally hit upon the following method which proved very effective: The boiler was filled completely with water, leaving no air space whatever; then a small fire was built so as to heat the water gradually. ‘This caused the water to ex- - pand and register pressure Steamhose On the gage. When the to boiler desired amount of 100 lb. was reached, a try-cock was aa opened and the water al- Ya Pipe lowed to reach the proper working level. Everything being found in good work- ing order, the fire was in- creased and the necessary amount of steam was then gotten up in the usual way. It is best always to thawa frozen boiler out completely i before trying any tests of : this kind, making sure that ak ines all of the pipes are free from ice, and everything in good condition; otherwise serious accidents may result.—W. S. STAUDIFORD.

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Some Common Abrasives By Professor William Noyes Late Director of the Department of Wood-Working, Teachers’ College, Columbia University, and author of ‘‘Hand Work in Wood”’ OOD may be either cut down with an edged tool or worn down by abra- etc.; (3) according to the manner of their ser- rations, into single-cut or “‘float’’ (having sives. steel, a hard The common abrasives are single, unbroken, parallel chisel cuts across the surface), mineral, or a mineral- like artifi- cial sub- stance. Steel is used for rubbing in two main forms: asa file or rasp, and in the shape of steel wool. The teeth of a file are cut when the metal is soft and cold. The tool is then double - cut, (having two sets of chisel cuts, crossing each other obliquely), open-cut, (having series of parallel cuts slightly staggered), and safe edge or safe side, having one or more uncut sur- faces; and (4) accord- ing to the highly tem- pered, so that the metal be- comes very hard and _brit- tle. At least three thou- sand varieties of files are made, each adapted to its particular pur- pose. They are used chiefly for scraping the sur- face of metal, but are also appli- cable to wood for certain purposes. Files are classi- fied (1) accord- ing to their out- lines into taper and blunt, (that is, havinga uniform cross-section through- out); (2) according to the shape of their cross-section, into flat, square, three- square or triangular, knife, roundor rat-tail, half-round, The coarse side of a carpenter’s rasp magnified showing the inden- tations cut with a triangular point of a hardened piece of steel fineness of the cut (rough, bastard, smooth, and dead smooth). The ‘‘mill file,’ a very common form, is a flat, ta- pered, single cut file. One of the two sides of a car- penter’s rasp is shown mag- nified in the il- lustration. The fine or flat side is composed of aseries of edges, made by cutting lines, whereas the rough, half round side is made by cutting indentations with a tri- angular point. Steel wool is shaved from thin disks of steel held together in a lathe. There are various grades of coarse- second cut, Steel wool shaved from the edges of thin steel disks 766

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Popular Science Monthly An abrasive made by fastening sharp sand, graded according to degrees of fineness, to paper with an elastic adhesive. ness, from No. 00 to No. 3, the latter being about equivalent to sandpaper No. 2. Steel wool has a number of uses. It is a substitute for sandpaper, especially on curved surfaces, and it is useful in rubbing down paint and shellac. Like sandpaper it should not be used until all the work with cutting tools is done. It can be manipu- lated until utterly worn out. Other steel abrasives are: steel emery and crushed steel, and highly tem- pered steel. Steel emery is the harder of the two, being nearly as hard as diamond. They are used in stone sawing, the grind- ing of glass, and in lithography. Sandpaper Sandpaper is made of two spe- cial kinds of pa- per—cylinder and Fourdrinier paper. Cylinder paper has a grain; that is, the fibers lie in one direc- tion, so that the paper tears easily in that direction. Fourdrinier paper will not tear readily in a_ straight line, because the fibers are distributed to give strength in every direction. The glue used to fasten the ‘‘sand’’ on the paper must be very elastic, Garnet-paper is made from natural rock crushed and sifted on glue-coated paper sand of sandpaper. The paper may have a grain or the fibers may be distributed generally and hence of a fine quality. It also serves to strengthen the paper. The “‘sand”’ of sandpaper is crushed flint or quartz rock, and each particle of it is hard and sharp. This sand is carefully sifted and graded, so that sandpaper can be made in various grades according to the coarseness of the sand. The standards of coarseness are Nos. 4-0, 3-0, 2-0, 0, 4, 1, 1%, 2, 2%, 3, 3% and 4. These grades are printed on the back of each sheet. The difference between fine and coarse may be seen in the illustrations. Sandpaper has a disadvantage. With use, the corners of the grains of sand soon wear smooth, so that it does not last long. For this reason, it has been displaced by garnet-paper in many instances. Garnet-Paper Garnetisa naturalrock, (garnet ore), which is largely quarried in the Adirondack Mountains in New York State. It is crushed, sifted and measured, like the It may be mounted, (glued) on a paper backing, for hand use, but

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768 when it is to be used in sanding machines, there is an additional backing of cloth. Garnet-paper is not so sharp as sandpaper, but it has the advantage that the edges and corners of the particles do not wear smooth, but break off at sharp angles. Hence it cuts satisfactorily just so long as it adheres to the paper. Popular Science Monthly Half-Soling Rubber Overshoes to Give Longer Wear S rubber overshoes are still in high favor as a necessary evil for keeping the feet dry in muddy or wet weather, any idea that promises to make the rubber give longer service should appeal to Emery Emery is a variety of corundum, and is sec- ond only to the dia- mond in hardness. When used for the abrasion of metals, it may be spread on the surface of paper, cloth, or wood. In thisshape . it is used mostly for smoothing and polish- ing metal. Emery mav also be mixed with a kind of earthenware, economical people. A friend of the writer gets more than double wear out of his rubber overshoes by half-soling them with rubber. He owns an automobile, and when the soles of his overshoes become thin, but are still watertight, he takes a torn and other- wise useless inner tube and cuts a half-sole from it. This half-sole is then cemented to the rubber shoe—after both sole and and then baked, to make ‘‘emery stone.” Emery wheels are thus made, and they are so hard and strong that they can be revolved at a high velocity, to cut very effectively. Emery in its powdered form is used to grind valves to their seats and to make them airtight. Whetstones are quarried and cut from natural rocks, found mostly in Arkansas. The best ones are found near Hot Springs, Ark. The coarser ones, such as are used for whetting scythes, etc., are called Washita stones, while the fine white ones are called Arkansas stones. Other natural abra- sives used in the arts are tripoli, made from a sili- cious sandstone, and used for polishing horn, shell and metal; rotten stone, an infusorial earth, used in rubbing down varnish; pumice, made from a volcanic ash, also used in rubbing down varnish; and rouge, made from sulphate of iron, and used for polishing glass. It will be observed that all of the abrasives mentioned ‘are mineral products except the steel wool. Whetstones are quarried and cut from natural rocks found mostly in Arkansas Emery is second only to the diamond in hardness. It is the strongest abrasive shoe have been cleaned thoroughly and roughened with sandpaper—u sin g ordinary rubber cement and clamping or holding both tightly together so that a secure union is obtained. The same kind of cement is used as for repairing bicycle tires, and if used according to the directions that accompany it, a satisfactory job will result. An attached sole of this kind will often give longer wear than the original. If the heels also areworn, they can be repaired in the same manner. If you can- not procure an old rubber inner tube, most any kind of pli- able sheet rubber will do, providing it is of the proper thickness. Halfsoles for arctics have been made from a piece of large-size rubber hose, split and straightened, and have given excellent service. The rubber used for this purpose must not be hardened from age. If it is not possible to procure an old piece of rubber, an extra half-sole or heel can be purchased from a rubber dealer. These come in different sizes and shapes.

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Simple Designs for Sheet Metal Working VI.— Method of developing patterns for elbows of various shapes By Arthur F. Payne Director of Vocational Education O the students who have been follow- ing and working out the problems in this series of articles, the six elbows drawn and described will be simple to develop. The first three—the square, oblong and oval elbows—are in common Pattern tom B. It will be necessary to develop.the pattern for one piece of the elbow, the same as in the round elbow. In this case the pattern is developed for the part marked A. The seam is indicated in the center of the short side of the elbow (see bottom view B). Moving clockwise around the bottom view, number each point I, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 as shown. Lay off the base line C-D, finding the correct length by taking the distance I to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, 4 to 5 and 5 to 6, from the bottom view B. Run these points up- ward from the base line as indicated by the faint lines, then from the joint line project Se ed Fig.| oe bee everyday use. The others are more uncommon, and are used in special cases for special pur- poses. These will make good exhibit pieces to place in shop windows as a proof of ability to develop and make _ unusual pieces. The patterns for all of these six elbows are developed Cc L .2.3.456769.10 Pattern 3 Fig.3 8 76 5* WAZA SICILY D 20. ” Pattern Fig.4 The square, the oblong and the oval elbows are in common everyday use and the method for their development is exactly the same as that for making the pattern for the ordinary round elbow in exactly the same way as the pattern for the ordinary round elbow illustrated in the first article of the series (June, 1917, issue). The square elbow, Fig. 1, is the simplest to make. First, draw a front view of the elbow shown at A and then draw the bot- the points of intersection to the pattern, marking each point with a cross where it intersects the similarly numbered line com- ing up from the base line C-D. Connect these crosses with straight lines and the result will be the pattern as shown. Allow- 769

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770 Popular Science Monthly ance must be made on the pattern for the locked seam on the seam edges and also for a lap seam where the two pieces of pipe meet at the joint line. The oblong pipe, Fig. 2, is worked out in The pattern for the | iy exactly the same way. = NN |_| $6 7.8 3® Pattern Pattern Seam mer Fig.6 These elbows are used only in special places and for making an exhibit of the shop’s work oval pipe, Fig. 3, is developed by a combina- tion of two simple methods that may prove to be somewhat confusing unless carefully worked out. One of the methods is used in developing the pattern for the round elbow in connection with the one just described for the oblong elbow. As usual draw the front view A; next the bottom view B. Make the seam as indicated, number it 1, then where the half-circle on the end begins, mark that point No. 2. Divide the half- circle into eight equal parts as indicated. Repeat this operation on the half-circle on the other end. Number all points con- secutively from 1 to 20. Transfer the distance between these points to the base line C-D. Project these points upward, then as usual project the points from the bottom view upward to the joint line on the front view and then over to the pattern until the line intersects with the similarly numbered line coming up from the base line. Make a cross at these points of inter- section and connect them with a free hand curve, which will give the complete pattern. Make allowance for seams and laps. The patterns for Fig. 4, 5 and 6 elbows are developed in exactly the same way. The steps are: (1) Draw elevation marked . (2) Draw the bottom view marked B. (3) Space the bottom view. (4) Draw the base line C-D. (5) Transfer the spaces from the bottom view B to the base line C-D. (6) Project upward the points from the base line. (7) Project points from the bottom view B upward until they intersect with the similarly numbered lines coming up from the base lines C-D. (8) Make al- lowance for the locked seam and for the lap seam where the two pieces of pipe meet. Table Leg Sliders Made of Shotgun Shell Wads OOD noiseless sliding casters or domes can be made for chairs and tables by taking some heavy felt or fiber shot- gun shell wads and securing one to the bottom of each chair or table leg, tacking through the side of it with carpet tacks, or small finishing nails—H. K. Cappo. Blue Print Drying Rack to Hang Over Sink NEAT and inexpensive blue print drying rack can be made as follows: First obtain two pieces of wood 1% in. square by 30 in. long and drill holes in them 4 in. apart and large enough to admit a No, Faucet Bhsscie \ y ' re, Drain [ 2A Staples. = \ = — = = bai == Pxie'x30" 1 4 O2 Bracket in pepe =] Wen F Jct Fig | Bracket y , A bracket for hold- ing wires from which blue. prints may be suspended over a sink 22-gage wire, as shown in Fig. 1. Two iron brackets fastened to the wall by wood screws hold the two pieces in place. The frame is now wired as indicated, and the ends of the wire fastened by staples as shown in Fig. 2. The clip, Fig. 3, is of spring phosphor bronze. Two of these are required for each wire for holding the prints.—FRANK HARAZIM.

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Simple Die Casting for the Home Shop SIMPLE and easily made mold for the use of the home mechanic is shown in the illustration. It consists of a length of tubing of any convenient material, cut longitudinally into two equal parts. Steel caps fit close over both ends of the two parts of the tubes, holding them firmly to- gether and in line. In use, one-half of the shell is first

Popular Science Monthly Painting on Cemented or Concrete Surfaces HEN paint is applied directly to cemented surfaces the free lime in the cement will saponify the oil of the paint and destroy its integrity so that finally the paint will peel off. After such a surface has been exposed to the elements for about a year, paint may be applied with little danger of deterioration. But this is not sure.

a filled with plas- “7 => 2 Dill <= —_bothends to One of the ter of Paris, a —[--7-"1 - & + SS tit caps early processes block of wood ._| _|: | Ae ; for neutralizing being used at ‘ie |: a a nae - the free lime ec ea — ; i. was by the use tain the plas- —*— |= 5 Drill of dilute muri- ter. The pat- .- ¥ | : atic acid of 7 tern, having ™ + Tobedritled : or 8 per cent of been oiled with in one only 24 concentration

lard, or with graphite-filled oil, is embedded halfway in the plaster. After ; the plaster is set, the surface D of the first half of the shell is carefully wiped over with

mixed with water. But it was soon found that the acid used to neutral- ize the lime

graphite, and then the second half is filled in the same way. The parts thus placed to- gether are all capped and put away to set. When the plaster has set and become dry the caps are removed, the tube taken apart, and the pattern removed. The core A is now set and the pouring gate B and riser C are cut in the plaster. The parts are then put together and the caps re- placed. The mold is then ready. The great advantage of this mold is that its alinement is positive and automatic. This mold is intended for white metal, pewter and metals fusing at low tempera- tures. The drawing shows how the gates and risers should be located with reference to the pattern in all castings. If the mold is well dusted with graphite before each cast, and a proper number of cores supplied, a number of castings can be made from it. This mold is especially adapted for mak- ing metal patterns to take the place of wood.—J. B. Murpuy.

_ Expansion Shield for Screws Made of Sheet Lead VERY good expansion shield is made from sheet lead rolled up to such a size as to srugly fit the hole.

Mold made in plaster to shape - metal castings converted it into calcium chloride, injuring the cement surface so that it crumbled or pitted badly. An- other and better method of pre- paring the surface consists in the application of carbonate of am- monia, 10 lb. to 45 gal. of water. Insoluble calcium carbonate was formed ard a large amount of ammonia was liberated. This preparation does not injure the surface of the cement. When used on a mortar plas- ter containing lime, as in building a stucco house, it is better to apply two weak solutions of this kind, rather than one strong solution. But the best treatment is with zinc sulphate, used with water of equal weight. This wash is put on with a brush having stiff bristles. The chemical effect is in changing the caustic lime into calcium sulphate or gypsum, and zinc oxide is formed in the pores of the cement. This treatment has no injurious effect on the cement surface; on the contrary it makes it fit to take and hold the paint. This method of preparing cement for paint has been well tried out and is reliable. The following formula for painting on concrete or cement may safely be followed: For the first or priming coat, after the sur- face has been sized with the zinc sulphate solution and is dry, mix 100 lb. pure car-

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772 bonate of lead, 4 gal. genuine kettle boiled linseed oil, or 9 gal. pure raw linseed oil, with 3% pt. of Japan dryer and 1 gal. of turpentine. The second coat consists of 100 lb. carbonate of lead, 4 gal. pure linseed oil (4% boiled and % raw) or 4 gal. pure raw linseed oil and 1 pt. of turpentine dryer. The finishing coat is prepared from 100 lb. carbonate of lead, 3% gal. pure linseed oil (144 boiled and % raw, or 3% gal. pure raw linseed oil and I pt. turpen- tine Japan dryer) and 1 pt. of pure gum turpentine. All these ingredients should be the purest and best of their kind. Inferior materials are likely to give un- satisfactory results. Zinc white is too hard for concrete painting. Red lead is a very good pigment for the first coat on cement. It is more impervious to water than white lead, is elastic, and dries well. But if light color is to be placed on it there is likelihood of the red staining the light coat, unless a heavy second coat is applied. As certain pigments are affected by an alkali, only those immune to lime should be used in painting over cement. For buff use yellow ochre; for a light yellow use for red use red ochre or bright iron oxide; for blue use ultramarine blue, preferably the sulphate ultramarine; for green use ultramarine green or oxide of chromium green; for white use zinc sulphite (lithopone), zinc white not being desirable on account of its hardness or lack of elasticity; for black use mineral black, black oxide of manganese, black oxide of iron; for gray use graphite and lithopone, or lithopone and mineral black. All earth pigments are safe with lime; Venetian red gives a pleasing color. In painting on cement it is customary to use plenty of turpentine, rather than much oil. Also very little dryer should be used. By using boiled oil we escape the use of dryers entirely. Some painters use all turpentine for the thinning of the first coat, or nearly all, with little oil, though the oil is increased with each successive coat of paint. If the finish is to be dead or with- out luster the first coat is thinned with turpentine only, making the paint very thin, adding a little varnish as a binder. The next coat is similar. The third coat should be thinned with 3 parts boiled linseed oil and 1 part turpentine. The finishing coat is thinned out with turpen- tine, with a little varnish as a binder. A number of special coatings for cement zinc yellow (zinc chromate); Popular Science Monthly are on the market, guaranteed by the makers to be proof against alkali. The waterproofing qualities of some of these preparations are overdrawn. To test such a liquid, take a fairly porous brick and apply to it as many coats as would be placed on the cemented surface; but two coats are better than one in any case, particularly where a very light color is to be used. Let the brick dry, then weigh it, make a note of the weight, then place the brick in a vessel with water just sufficient to cover the brick; after about one-half day remove brick, wipe off moisture, again weigh it, and compare with weight previously noted. The differ- ence in weights will show amount of water taken in through the paint. Try different paints. The one that shows the greatest water-resisting power is the one to use. Where concrete silos are used, a waterproof paint is useful. On the inside it prevents the liquid from the ensilage from soaking into the wall, and as silage is acid this would injure the coating of cement. Tar is often used as a coating for this purpose, and it does very well. Besides the colored coatings there are a number of so-called colorless waterproof cement coatings on the market. These are intended for use where the color of the cement is to be preserved. They are also largely used as a preservative for limestone, sandstone, etc. The oldest used preserva- tive for this purpose is paraffin, applied hot with a brush. Concerning the useful- ness of the colorless liquid coatings, some of them are of some value in retarding moisture, but all are found lacking in the following respects: They emphasize any defects in, or difference in, color of concrete construction; they impart to concrete a soggy, water-soaked appearance; they do not render it impervious to water for any great length of time; they do not decorate. The following process for painting ce- ment surfaces is favored by many expert painters. Slake a half-bushel of fresh stone lime in a barrel, and add in all 25 gal. of water; when cold, after slaking, add 6 gal. of pure cider vinegar and 5 lb. of the best dry Venetian red. Mix well and pass through a fine strainer. Thin to the con- sistency of thin cream. Apply a coat of this to the cement, and after a day or so, or when dry, apply a coat of red lead mixed in raw linseed oil. When the red lead paint has become dry any other colored paint may be applied, but care should

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— Se. See ee eae ow - be taken to keep the red lead from working up into the paint above it, if the latter is a light color; hence the coat next tothe red lead. should be rather stout. Or you may make the second coat of paint with plaster of Paris and boiled linseed oil to the con- sistency of buttermilk, added to a batch of white lead paint made of the same consistency as the plaster paint; mix well together, and thin out to a brushing con- sistency with turpentine. This coat should be made as heavy as you can well brush it out. The next or finishing coat should be ordinary oil paint, drying with a gloss, the same as used on outside woodwork. The reason for applying the plaster paint is that it prevents the subsequent coats of paint from wrinkling or running where much paint is to be applied. It must be made to dry quickly, by means of dryers, so that you will not make the mistake of applying the succeeding coat prematurely, . in which event there would be cracking of the paint. Observe particularly that no plaster is to be added to the last coat. It should be said, in conclusion, that no oil paint is really waterproof, because linseed oil is not proof against moisture. This can readily be demonstrated by sub- jecting a dry coating of linseed oil paint to the action of water. Note how the coat whitens and swells, showing that the oil has taken up water.—A. ASHMUN KELLY. Two-Speed and Reverse Countershaft for a Small Lathe HE countershaft illustrated was de- vised and built for a small screw cutting lathe which was used for a great variety of work, from turning hard steel to high-speed wood turning, thus requiring Countershatt High si Straight face pulley ; Tight ve ‘i Fingers —— Loose - : Loose Reversing Tight belt Loose Straight face pull Line shaft ” ants Countershaft cone Pulleys of different diameters with three ship- per levers to provide many different speeds a wide range of speed. Two forward speeds and one reverse were provided, and as the lathe was furnished with back gears, the arrangement gave twelve speeds for normal Popular Science Monthly 773 use and six for the reverse, the speed range running from 30 to 1000 r. p.m. The three shipper levers were arranged conveniently near the head of the lathe, one behind the other, the low-speed lever Countershaft f Showing position at shipper levers in relation to lathe head Shipper in Lathe cone Three levers to op- erate the belts for Lathe two-speed forward and one backward in front, next the high speed and then the reverse, which happened to be an iron lever. Had it not been of iron it would have been provided with a different shaped handle so that the operator would not be likely to throw it in by mistake. Tight and loose pulleys without friction clutches were used, those on the countershaft being of the same size, of iron, while the line shaft pulleys were of different diameters, and were of the straight face wooden type.—H. H. PARKER. The Damage Caused by Running Tires Deflated | grein a tire deflated for even a short distance is harmful to the tire and extravagant. When traveling at a very high rate.of speed it may of course require some time to bring the car toa stop. But a certain amount of damage is done every second of deflation. A soft or flat tire on a front wheel can always be noticed by the difficulty in steering the car in a straight course—the steering wheel naturally veers toward the side of the flat or soft tire. If there is a deflated tire on the rear wheel, pounding and bumping will be noticeable. A rear tire ridden flat very far will result in damage to the differential.

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774 Popular Science Monthly A Jack to Keep Automobile Weight from Tires SIMPLE jack for lifting the wheels of an automobile from the floor, to keep the weight from the tires while it is standing in the garage, is shown in the accom- panying illustration. It is made of 2by |= 5-in. material hinged together : with strips of I-in. stock fastened to the lower block. The lower block should be about 3 in. high and the second block should be long enough so that the ca ly Y) MESES TUES LULL focusing glass to examine the image. The three-legged type with adjustable glass can be purchased at reasonable cost from almost any dealer, and is preferable. Another way to do fine focusing is to get fine cover glasses used in mounting speci- mens for examination with a micro- scope and fasten them to the ground glass with Canada balsam. Since the balsam has the same index of refraction as glass, these fine spots will appear as clear glass. Now place the focusing glass partly over one of Fognenoeevaniiceatitity CTE combined length of the two will be about 1 in. longer than the distance from the underside of the - hub to the floor, The —) method of hinging the blocks together and the manner of using them are clearly shown. It is necessary to build four of these, one for each wheel.—ABNER B. SHAW. Camera Focusing Screen for Fine Detail Work HEN the amateur photographer is confronted with the need of making a picture of an object in which the detail is very fine, he may find the ordinary focusing methods not sufficiently exact. At a slight expense, any camera with a ground glass focusing arrangement can be equipped with a superior focusing screen equaling those employed in_ high-class photo-mi- PYF oe crography. Uy 7 oe fastened Take an yO veer unexposed y Gy i Qa Yfyyy yO Yécround glass Plate having Vy De surface a single Focusing ‘glass coated emulsion of the size used in the cam- era, and expose it for one second in the dark room to a candle at a distance of Io ft. Developing and fixing in the usual way will yield a plate with a slight tint of gray. The emulsion with its exceedingly fine particles of silver thrown down makes a focusing screen of much finer grain than the surface of the ground glass which comes with the camera. The class of work which calls for this kind of screen requires a Microscopic focusing through the clear places in a screen III ee An individual wheel jack to keep automobile weight from the tires the cover glasses and focus on the surface of the ground glass, paying no attention to the image of the object to be photo- graphed. Now focus the image on the screen, examining it not on the ground glass but in the clear space of the cover glass. The image being examined is within the clear glass and is not distorted by irregu- larities of surface, however, small. Such exact methods can yield proper results only when the sensitive plate at the time of exposure is in exact register with the image obtained on the screen.—C. E. DRAYER. AUTEUR ULCER EC CC Lathe Centers Used as a Clamp for Gluing a Box N the absence of a clamp large enough to hold a box I desired to glue, I used the centers of my lathe as shown. The cone centers were removed and a faceplate used in both head and tailstock. The box was The screw of the tailstock served the purpose of a carpenter’s clamp for gluing the work placed between these parts and the tail- stock screw tightened. This held the parts firmly together while the glue dried. It is necessary that a box have its sides and ends perfectly square for gluing in such a clamp, as the face-plate surfaces are perfectly true and will press the parts together in a straight line—JOsEPH PURDY.

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Applying a Change-Speed Device to an Automobile Clutch NVENTORS have made many efforts to provide a change-speed mechanism for automobiles in-order to dispense with the. unsatisfactory gears now universally used. A system, to be effective, should be so arranged as to avoid intermeshing gears. For availability of control the ratio of speed should be indefinite, the speed increased or decreased by the simple movement of a wheel or lever, and devoid of friction while in operation. The hydraulic system has been exploited in various ways, but the devices, as here- tofore constructed, showed certain dis- advantages, namely: the liability of the expansion of the oil to such an extent as to injure the device or greatly lessen its efficiency; the in- ability to make the device small enough for easy installation; the great weight in- volved; the necessity for using both pumps and motors, and the slip due to leakage past the working parts. The foregoing objections appear to be overcome by a new development of the hydraulic drive, which utilizes the clutch as one element in the change-speed mech- anism. The entire device occupies but a little more space than the male part of the standard clutch, which it displaces, as no clutch is necessary in using a car with this invention. The drawings give a comprehensive view of the device, as all of the elements are shown in the two views. The body of the device is a cylindrical shell, the perimeter of which fits the standard clutch element inside of the fly-wheel. This is held in place either by friction or by means of cap- screws, so that it is permanently fixed to the wheel. The rear side of the shell-has a removable plate, the mechanism for changing the speed being secured to the inner surface of the plate, while the reversing mechanism is on the outside of the plate. Within the shell are four radially- disposed cy! iders, each cylinder having within it a pi: suitably packed with rings, followin; » usual practice. The Popular Science Monthly The speed is changed by air pressure applied to the four cylinders used instead of the clutch 775 stub-shaft, which enters the rear plate of the shell, has a single crank to which the four connecting rods are secured, so that the pistons have a successive motion to and fro as the shell turns, provided, of course, that the oil is confined in the pistons. The head, or outer end of each cylinder, has ports on two opposite sides, the outer surface of each cylinder, along the ports, being planed flat and covered by slide valves which move axially, or parallel with the stub-shaft. The valves are L- shaped and provided with suitable openings to co-ordinate with the ports of the cylin- ' ders, each valve being designed to open or close the ports of two adjoining cylin- ders. ‘To effect this, each L-valve has a stem which passes through the remov- able plate of the shell, the outer ends of these stems being rigidly attached toa rim which, although it turns with the shell, is, neverthe- less, easily adapted to connect with an operating lever. It is obvious that, as the cylinders are rigidly attached to the shell, the stub-shaft will not turn if oil is permitted to freely pass in and out of the cylinders. The only effect in such a case would be to produce a reciprocating motion of the pistons. When, however, the driver of the car moves forward the lever which causes the L-valves to travel inwardly, and the ports of the cylinders are closed thereby, the pistons are restricted in their reciprocal motions, and the shaft turns, the rate of speed, relative to the engine speed, being dependent on the quantity of oil which is displaced at each revolution. If the ports are entirely closed, then the stub-shaft will travel at the same rate of speed as the engine-shaft. It will thus be seen that there is no appreciable loss of power, and the slight amount of oil which escapes past the valves imparts a resiliency, or flexibility, to the car comparable to the electric or magnetic drive. There is not a single gear in the entire mechanism for driving the car forward. For reversing, however, a train of gears is employed; or conical friction wheels may be used. A small bevel gear is fixed to the

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776 Popular Science Monthly removable plate, so that the stub-shaft turns therein freely. A similar gear is mounted on the stub-shaft so that it also revolves thereon. A pair of bevel gears between the aforementioned loose gears, are mounted on spindles attached to the journal-bearing plate, which cause the loose gear on the stub-shaft to travel in a direc- tion opposite to the cylindrical shell. The fork which is connected with the usual clutch-pedal is used in this device for reversing purposes. The fork engages with a grooved chuck which has radially- disposed tongues, designed to engage with suitable radial grooves in the hub of the loose gear. As the grooved chuck turns with the stub-shaft, although free to move to and fro a limited distance, it can be thrown readily into engagement with the gear, and thus be turned by the stub-shaft in a direction opposite to the fly-wheel or engine-shaft. Several features of interest may be noted in this device. The pump itself is also the motor, thus eliminating at least one half of the elements usually employed. The double pressure used with the pump and motor systems, is avoided, hence less heat is generated. Aside from this, the oil merely flows in and out of the cylinders, and the friction of movement through long and tortuous ducts is avoided, thereby greatly increasing the efficiency of the device. One of the most important advances, however, is in the provision for taking care of the oil expansion. In hydraulic systems the cases containing the mechanism must be entirely filled with oil, or with the liquid used to provide the transmission. In this invention the pistons are just as effective if the shell is half filled, for the reason that the ports are at the outer ends of the cylinders, and as the shell revolves the oil is thrown outwardly by centrifugal force so that the ports are always sub- merged with oil and are capable of taking a full charge without drawing in air. Fully half of the cubical contents of the shell may be devoted to air, or a partial vacuum may be formed therein, thus taking care of any undue expansion. It has been found that a large part of the heat de- veloped and maintained in the hydraulic systems was due to the expansive force exerted on the oil itself, so that large chambers were necessary for this purpose. In a system using two gallons of oil, the expansion of the oil has frequently meas- ured over two quarts. Softening Carbon with Steam in the Automobile Engine , ‘HE greatest enemy to the free running of an automobile is the carbon which ‘collects in the cylinders of the engine. The Injecting water in a small spray into a gasoline engine to soften and partly remove the carbon carbon may be softened and to a certain extent removed by running water through the cylinders with the gasoline. If a small rubber tube D is attached over the air-cock on the manifold A and run into a pail E of water set at about the level of the carburet- er B, the engine, when running, will suck in the water and then discharge it as steam with the exhaust. After the tube has been removed the engine should be run for a few minutes to make sure that no water remains in the carbureter. If this is done every thousand miles the car will run much easier. A more thorough job may be done by removing the cylinder head and scraping the carbon away. After the steaming the carbon will be found soft so that most of it can be wiped away with a cloth. The rest is easily scraped off.—WILLIAM H. LEAacu. An Easy Method of Testing Gasoline Engine Compression A important factor having material bearing upon the power output of the automobile engine is the amount of com- pression of the gas in the cylinders prior to ignition. If one cylinder has less compres- sion than the others, the engine will not pull smoothly under load, as the cylinders having the highest compression will have more power. An easy method of testing gas compression is outlined in the accom- panying illustration. An ordinary tire pressure gage either of the dial pattern or the plunger type may be used instead of the

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more accurate and expensive special pres- sure gage. The tire gages will register correctly in most cases, or at least will show closely the amount of pressure so that it may be compared in the different cylinders. An adapter fitting is necessary for use with a tire gage, and may be made without difficulty from cast-off parts found in any garage. A discarded spark-plug body forms the main portion of the adapter as shown at A. The inner tube valve-stem is orovided with a thread along its entire length for the check-nut used to keep it in place on the tube. A special washer of brass is filed out to fit the seat in the spark- plug body, against which the porcelain is clamped and the valve threaded into place. Of course, if the washer at the bottom of the valve-stem that fits inside the inner tube is large enough, this may be used. Other- wise, the valve-stem should be cut off and screwed into the special seat washer. The parts are assembled as shown at A and held together by pouring molten lead or babbit around the valve-stem. When the filling material cools, a tight joint is assured because the metal fills the threads in the spark-plug body and valve-stem. To use, the adapter-fitting is screwed into the spark-plug hole as shown at B. The engine may be cranked by the self-starter or turnea by hand and the tire gage will show Lead or Tire valve stem 4 Pressure babbit Spark plug body Cylinder A tire gage fitted in a discarded spark plug body to test the compression of a cylinder the compression in pounds per square inch existing in the cylinder interior if it is held in such a way as to depress the valve inside. A comparison may be made be- tween cylinders by testing each in turn. If the compression is weak, there is an opportunity for gas leakage somewhere, usually arond thc piston rings or through \verage «ompression in ien cold is 75 |b. Some the valves. ‘i. a gasoline eng: Popular Science Monthly 777 engines have less, others more. Compres- sion is determined by the volume of the engine combustion chamber as compared with the total cylinder contents. High compression engines are more apt to knock when carbonized than the low pressurc engines.—VIcToR W. PAGE. Preventing Hinge Rods from Loosen- ing on an Automobile Hood N most low priced cars there is no pro- vision made to hold the hood hinge rods in position, and they invariably be- Riveted cap Hinge rod ee =6 Cap = EO si Slot to receive cap A round nut turned on the end of the hinge rod keeps an automobile hood from rattling come loose, due to the vibration. The illustration shows a method of eliminating this trouble. Jt is only necessary to pro- vide two end caps for the rods, one of which is fastened permanently while the other is free to be removed by using threads. It is also necessary to remove a portion of the hood to provide suitable clearance for the caps. The rods in their new form are held securely in position.—ADOLPH KLEIN. The Proper Camber for the Front Automobile Wheels HERE is no specific standard for the camber or canting of front wheels outward at the top, but it is done or most of the cars, to make it easier to steer and turn the curves than would be possible if the wheels were perpendicular. This cam- ber of the front wheels of different cars varies from 14 in. to 1& in. between inside felloe measurements. If the wheels stand too far outward at the top, there is apt to be some binding effect at the axles, and the tires will not roll freely.

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778 Popular Science Monthly Making a Re-Winder for a Motion Picture Film FTER a motion picture film has been run through a projecting machine it is necessary to re-wind it upon another reel before it can be exhibited again. There are many devices on the market for doing this. For the amateur possessing a small machine and not wishing to purchase a re-winder, the device described herewith will be found adequate. The re-winder consists simply of two supports fitted with suitable shafts for the film reels to revolve upon, one of which is provided with a crank and ratio of gearing, to enable the speedy re-winding of films. The one described in this article is intended for the standard 1000-foot reels, which are about 10 in. in diameter, but the dimen- sions may be varied to accommodate larger reels, if desired. The supports are two posts, preferably of hard wood, 8 in. long and 2 in. square. At a point 1 in. from the top of each post a j-in. hole is bored through the center. From 1/16-in. sheet steel four plates are cut, two of them 2 in. square, and two 34 by 2 in. The two smaller plates are drilled as shown in the drawing with three 14-in. holes, and screwed to the sides of one of the posts so that the central hole coin- cides with the hole in the post. This forms the bearing for the shaft which sup- ports the reel. The two larger plates are drilled with’ four holes, and screwed to opposite sides of the other post so that the two central holes coincide with the two

Pg 7 x 3 1G) }

/ Ole JO @| & ™~ “

Sao Sil — A film must be reeled back before it can be run through the projecting lantern again

holes in the post. The reel supports are now completed. The shafts on which the film reels revolve are 4% in. long and are cut from 14-in. brass tubing. Ata point 134 in. from the end of one of these rods a 1/16-in. hole is drilled and a small brad driven into it and filed off, leaving a point about 3/16 in. long projecting. This is to fit into the corre- sponding slot in the reel so that it will revolve with the shaft. The shafts are slipped into their bearings in the posts and held in place with collars and set screws _ placed:on either side of the posts, The shaft to which the crank is screwed is 214 in. long. After the shaft is slip- ped through the i i i, 2 ° ' .| dn ee) @<1+ 4 TD 4 = —<

4

| Bi holewhichserves i 1A as a bearing, a i large spur-gear is fastened to it close to the post,

ree} Screw Shaft Screw Shaft q Screw a i / AY \ \ lg { ea i |

i ? eT — | Fit | | pci 2" = As} Fer sy" mice Dimensions of the parts, plates and shafts for making a convenient re-winder for films

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meshing with a smaller gear on the reel shaft. These gears may be of any con- venient size, but a good ratio is three to one, the smaller gear being 34 in. in diame- ter, and the larger one 2)4 in. The two supports now completed are screwed to a base consisting of a board 24 in. long, 6 in. wide and % in. thick. To allow an inspection of the film as it passes from one reel to the other, these should be placed about 20 in. apart. When it is desired to re-wind a reel of film, the collars on the protruding ends of the shafts are removed, the reels slipped in place, and the collars replaced.—Lucius E. WINCHESTER.

A Hard Finish for a Lunch Counter Top HE best finish for a bar or lunch coun- ter is linseed oil well rubbed into the wood when it is new, and often later on.

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A Storage House for Potatoes Use of pits, dugouts and masonry houses for the storage of potatoes as discussed by the U. S. Department of Agriculture stored satisfactorily throughout most of the United States in the dugout pit or potato cellar in some of its various forms of construction. No at- tempt should be made to store potatoes of the early crop, as they are usually sold for immediate consumption. While the dugout storage house is in most general use, concrete or masonry houses with frame superstructures are, perhaps, most satisfactory in cold climates. In some sec- tions,espe- cially in the South where drainage is poor, insu- lated frame structures built entirely above the ground must be depended. upon. The pri- mary pur- poses of stor- age are to protect the tubers from extremes of heat and cold and from light. Account also must be taken of conditions of hu- midity and ventilation and of the size of the storage pile. The temperature should be the highest at which potatoes will remain firm and un- germinated, and which will at the same time hold fungus diseases in check. Experi- ments with artificially refrigerated storage indicate that 36 deg. F. is sufficiently low for all practical purposes and that during the earlier portion of the storage season a temperature of 40 deg. F. is just as satis- factory as a lower one except where powdery dry rot infection occurs. All natural light should be excluded from potato ~ houses, because when ifs tubers | sed to even modified light, they * f°, te. | q ea —— | aS = S It is

—

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780 Popular Science Monthly with sod or dirt roof is in most general use. As a rule, the excavation for the cheaper structures of the dugout pit or cellar type when erected on a level or nearly level land does not exceed 3 ft. The soil removed from such an excavation, particularly if the dugout is of considerable size, is ample for banking the side and end walls and also for the roof. The cost of con- struction may be greatly modified according to the character of the location. In the cheaper dugouts, where the soil is of such a nature as to remain intact, it Earth 1g" Layer of str house is not to be recommended for north- ern locations, nor is it advocated for the South except where poor drainage condi- tions will not permit the use of the dugout Vent 18"x 18" ¥4" Joint bolt ~.to"Layer of earth

“Tey

st Bolt to extend into post aad

is allowed to form the side and end walls, the roof being supported on plates resting on the soil and held together by boards or joists. This form of construction involves a deeper excavation and a constant element of risk from acave-in. Inthe more expensive and substantial structures the side and end walls are built of concrete. Insulated frame potato storage houses are not used very extensively. As a rule they are better adapted to southern than to

2"xe" Plate bolted o- 6x6” Posts . Ye Boards \°apart 2°x4" s' 32" 0.0. 4’ Air space Panels made in sections 2o"high from 1'ks" material with i"space between. Each panel to be removable to regulate height of bin three sections high.

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— a Top View of panels |} Section of a potato storage cellar showing method of constructing the aerated bin northern climatic conditions. The con- struction feature of such houses is the thorough insulation of their walls, ceiling, doors and windows. This type of storage £ Hard wood pins coxa ke s Pd C<] A cross-section of an end elevation of a potato storage cellar successfully used on a western ranch =x] or cellar style of house for the purpose. While it appears that the dugout is more or less familiar, a general description of one will be considered. Generally speaking, the potato cellar should be located in a spot convenient to the dwelling house, be- cause in very cold weather it requires rather close attention to guard against the frost. Where side hills, or knolls, are available it is advisable to take advantage of them, because, as a rule, by their use better drainage and ground level entrance at either one or both ends of the house are secured. Where these conditions are not available and a central driveway is planned, an inclined drive, which should be carried back far enough to permit easy approach, is necessary. Where no wagon entrance is contemplated, provision is usually made for placing the potatoes in the cellar through an opening in the roof, in which chutes are inserted to convey the tubers. In this type of storage house a bulkhead entrance is provided in order to permit easy access for the removal of the stored crop. Occasionally, where the land is level and there is danger from irrigation seepage, the storage house is built entirely above the ground. In this case, while the construc- tion of the side and end walls and the roof is practically the same as the preceding, the cost is usually increased on account of the greater quantity of soil required to cover the roof and the side and end walls. Where a tough sod is available, such as that formed by flags or other wiry rooted plants, the side and end walls above the

JM Tae.

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| ground may be constructed entirely of blocks of sod 2 ft. or more in thickness. One of the most unusual storage houses seen in the course of these studies was built entirely above the ground with the side and end walls constructed of bales of alfalfa hay. a the more expensive and substantial structures the side and end walls are built of concrete. The roof of the dugout, or cellar storage house, in the region under discussion is generally of unsawed lumber. Usually the rafters are cut from small trees. The whole roof may be covered with poles and these poles covered with straw and soil, or the rafters may be covered with heavy woven-wire fence netting and then with straw and soil. In sections where rainfall is sufficiently heavy to render a straw or pole-covered roof undesirable, the potato storage cellar is constructed with a water-tight roof. Generally, the roof is covered with rough lumber and shingled. Occasionally a cellar is sheathed with matched lumber on the inside. This treatment provides a fairly well insulated roof, which requires but little further protection except in pro- tracted spells of cold weather, when a layer of straw or strawy manure is ad- visable. The water-tight roof type of the western potato cellar is admirably adapted to stor- age in the northwestern and middle- western United States wherever good drainage can be secured. Furthermore Cross-section of a potato pit with layers of straw and earth and a perforated ventilator it is one of the most economical types of natural storage. A ventilator should be so constructed that the opening at the top is protected by a cap, which may be rigid or hinged. It should extend through the roof and into the cellar {ar enough to permit a swivel damper to be ins:rted and operated by a Popular Science Monthly spring or lever, or else a slide damper which can be opened and closed at will. The ventilator should be of sufficient size to admit a reasonable volume of cool air and facilitate the egress of warm air. While the total exclusion of light is an ny, " i ja ‘ An insulated frame potato storage house used for storing the second crop of potatoes essential feature of the construction of a good potato storage house, it is necessary to have some light where workmen are engaged in sorting and preparing stock for the market or for seed purposes during the winter. Usually no provision is made for lighting the storage house by natural light except that which may filter through the ventilator shafts when lifting the ventilator caps, or which may be obtained by opening the doors. This method of admitting light can be employed in winter only during mild weather. Light is ad- mitted in some storage houses by inserting a movable window glass or hinged window in the ventilator shaft. Such an arrange- ment permits the removing of the ventilator cap in severe weather without endangering the stored potatoes by lowering the tem- perature below the safety point. But this does not provide a wholly satisfactory light- ing system, and reliance must still be placed in a lantern or lamp. A Paste Lubricant for Starting Screws and Nails EESWAX and tallow melted together and put into a box or mold make a very good lubricant for starting nails and screws. Owing to the nature of the materials, this paste also prevents rust.—JAMES M. KANE.

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782 Popular Science Monthly To Keep the Ends of Rafters from Spreading T frequently happens that ridge boards show a tendency to spread at the mitered joint. When they do, it is usually difficult to draw them and keep them together with nails. Even if they have been drawn together they may spread later under changed atmos- pheric —_condi- tions. A simple, un- failing and per- manent way to cure this defect is to take a strip of galvanized sheet iron 114 or 2 in. wide and from 18 in. to 2 ft. long, depending on the size of the ridge boards, and nail it over the top of the joint as shown in the sketch. Care should be taken to make it fit tight. This can be accomplished by nailing one side fast, then bending and hammering the other end down and pulling it by skewing some of the nails. It will be found that the boards can be drawn to- gether tighter this way than by merely spiking them together. Galvanized iron strip A strip of metal used to.tighten rafter ends Making a Substantial Cardboard -Pulley for Belts URN two metal washers of the re- quired diameter, having the center hole a tight fit on the shaft. Cut out enough cardboard disks to make the pulley of the required width. Soak these disks in hot beeswax and place them on the a Va I A number of cardboard disks clamped between metal washers to make a pulley shaft between the two washers. After carefully squaring them with the shaft, clamp them tightly together with three screw-clamps. Between the clamps drill three rivet holes. Rivet together as tightly Vea as possible, leaving the clamps in place until all three rivets are in. After removing the clamps place three more rivets between the first three. The set-screw is made by screwing a wood-screw into a previously drilled hole. While the beeswax is not absolutely necessary it aids greatly in solidifying the pulley and affords an excellent grip to the belt.—FRANK L. MATTER. An Insulator and Fire Protector for a Stovepipe ECENTLY when cutting through a stone wall preparatory to running a stovepipe, I found the pipe would be too close to a wood stud. Being without the proper chimney-pot, I made one from a small flower pot. I first made a saw cut all the way around, as in Fig. 1, then smeared the edge with cement, as in Fig. 2, and placed it in _7 GUT ON LINE A flower pot used to make an insulator for a stovepipe passing through a _ wall the opening as in Fig. 3. To cut a pot like this it is better to use a grindstone instead of asaw. There is much less chance of the pot breaking.—JAmEs M. KANE. A Solution for Electro-Plating with Aluminum ISSOLVE any desired quantity of an aluminum salt, such as the sulphate, acetate, or nitrate, in distilled water and concentrate these solutions to twenty Baumé in a suitable vessel to hold the arti- cles to be plated. The battery to be used should be three pairs of Bunsen cells with the wires coupled up for intensity and an anode of aluminum attached to the negative wires. The solu- tion should be slightly acidulated with its approximate acid heated to 140 deg. F. and kept at that temperature during the operation—HERMAN NEUHAUS. PRET TS cul res bri sist iod the sul the bat col ren dra bo riv the the enc

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A Lead Pencil Sharpener with Dust Collector Box HE pointer consists of a box in which T a wood cylinder is placed having a diameter almost the same as the box opening is wide. This roller is hung on a shaft, one end of which extends out for a thumb hold. Sand- paper is tacked to the surface of the roller. After pointing the pencil the roller is turned to deposit the dust in the box.—G. P. LEHMANN. Sandpaper Sandpaper covered rol- ler for pencil sharpener A Stain for Giving Wood a Brilliant Rose Color OOD and vegetable ivory can be colored rose-red without much diffi- culty by chemical precipitation. The color resulting from the following baths is very brilliant and uniform. The first bath con- sists of a solution of eight parts of potassium iodide added to a hundred parts of water; the second, two and a half parts of corrosive sublimate to a hundred parts of water. The wood is immersed for a few hours in the first bath, then placed in the second bath, where it acquires a beautiful rose-red color. After drying, it should be varnished. Both baths can be used repeatedly before renewing them.—HERMAN NEUHAUS. Repairing a Fast-Pin Hinge Where Riveting Is Impossible OME time ago, having lost the key to my toolbox, I had to file off and with- draw the pins of the hinges to open the box. The hinges themselves were all Cut off here a a An ordinary wire nail sharply bent and used for a hinge pin riveted on. When I attempted to replace the pins I fe und impossible to rivet them, because | cou'd not hit them hard enough to form the rivet. Popular Science Monthly 783 I used the box with loose pins until an easy solution occurred to me. This was to take long spikes, slip them through the hinges as far as they would go, and bend them sharply with strong pliers, as shown in the illustration, after which they were cut off half-way on the bend. ; This same method can with advantage be used in cases where it is desired to change a loose-pin butt into a fast-pin one, and where riveting is impracticable. Drawing Perspective Views by Moy- ing Paper on Board N the illustration is shown a method of drawing perspective views of machinery, buildings and the like. Instead of using a protractor it is only necessary to remove all the thumb tacks except the one shown at A, which is used as a fulcrum. When the sheet of paper is moved to the desired Ay C eee \ re e oe 8 Lee e : | Swing drawing paper on board to get the proper perspective lines with T-square angle of projection, proceed with the T- square and the triangles just as for plain horizontal and vertical lines. After the paper is set to the required angle the thumb tacks are replaced. While the paper is still set square with the drawing-board, the border lines should be drawn. The one marked B is used in connection with another marked C on the board for setting the paper, or a protractor may be used direct, if there is one at hand. The general layout should be penciled first. An angle of about 15 or 20 deg. is the greatest that is practicable with this method.—J. B. Murpuy. } | i | } |

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784 Removing the Point of a Broken Center Drill HEN centering shafts to be turned in a lathe it often happens that the center drill breaks off short. It is then very difficult to take out in most cases, but the following method over- comes the difficulty. Take a small pair of spring divi- ders and insert the points in the flutes of the drill end. Tighten the nut until you have a firm hold on the drill; then simply pull it out. Be- fore making the attempt to draw out the broken part it is quite necessary to see that the drill cutters are not stuck in the metal as some damage might result to the divid- ers if they should slip off when making the pull. —ALFRED W. Marpt.

Pulling on a broken center drill point A Safe Method of Joining Airplane Sections or Wings OINING together airplane sections or wings is not a matter to be lightly re- garded, when you consider the danger to the aviator if a brace wire should break . during the flight. The ordinary method at pres- ent in use is not absolutely _ reli- able; for, should a brace wire break, the strut holding the top and bottom planes in posi- tion may pull out of its socket and cause the airplane to be- come uncontrol- lable. A_ sure and safe way to overcome this danger is clearly shown in the illustration. A U-bolt is used, each leg passing through the ends of the horizontal pieces and through the vertical strut and_ socket, connecting the wing bars, socket and strut all in one unit. Eyebolts, as used in the present methods, will not hold the strut

U-bolt holding strut,socket and wings in one rigid unit. A U-bolt placed at the joint of three pieces Popular Science Monthly should a wire break. The U-bolt construc. é tion will not only hold the strut in position should a brace wire break during the flight, but it will also serve as wire terminals for the brace wires.—WMn. GROTZINGER.

A Closet Rod Which Will Accommo- date Several Suit Hangers ROD or pipe fastened lengthwise in your clothes closet will be found a convenience. You can hook over it several clothes hangers in such a way that the clothes will not touch and can be slid back and forth. Any narrow pipe will do, or a fine self-made attach- ment will be found in the ‘robe rails” sold to auto owners for fastening in the car tonneau.—CLARENCE F. HUBBARD. Repairing a Broken Link in a Motor- cycle Roller Chain A NOVEL yet very practical way of making an emergency repair on a motorcycle chain is illustrated. This link is easily made by bending two cotters of sufficient length and proper size to the shape shown. The bent end of the cotter is run through the chain parts, al- lowing the longer end with the eye for the side plate. As will be seen, the split end of the cotter enters the eye of the opposite one, where clinched. These pins are not hard enough to make a permanent repair, but they will help a rider out in a pinch and can be used until a more lasting link can be put in the chain.—J. R. SCHULTZz.

it is

Etching Photographs on the Surface of Glass HE following is a simple method of etching photographs on glass: Cover the glass surface with a solution of gum made sensitive with bichromate of potash and print it under a_ negative. After the image is thus produced, dust it over with minium or red lead. The red picture obtained is fixed and burnt in the usual way. The easily soluble red glass so obtained should be treated with strong sulphuric acid, to produce a white matt. The picture will appear by transmitted light as a positive——HERMAN NEUHAUS. SCORERS <0 er cpp Beem oe o +

lab but 101 foo the Vici bui am

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A Modest Home at a Modest Price General plans for the construction of an all-the-year-around residence or a camp By Charles A. King N comparison with the past the present does not seem a propitious time to enter upon a building proposition, but there is slight assurance that future conditions will be much better. Just how much of a house may be built for a given amount of money is a problem upon which many who contemplate build- ing will welcome light. By applying the cubage:method of estimating we can ap- proximate the size of house within which reasonable liberties may be taken with the plan, but it is not recommended as the basis of a contract. In the suburbs of the more important cities an expensive wooden building will cost about 17 cents per cubic foot at the present time. Concrete, stucco, and hollow tile will cost about 20 cents, while a brick dwelling of the better type will cost about 10 per cent more. In ordinary times a well built house of the type shown in the sketch may be put up for from 8 to 12 cents per cubic foot, depending upon the cost of labor and materials in different localities, but at present the cost would range from 10 to 15 cents. Probably 14 cents per cubic foot would pay all the bills connected with the erection of such a dwelling in the vicinity of most cities, while present building conditions prevail. We will say that $2500.00 is the maximum amount which can be expended in the 785 erection of such a house with the essential conveniences and some luxuries, finished, ready for occupancy. If we divide $2500.00 by the price per cubic foot, say 14 cents, we will find the cubic contents of a house which can be built for that sum; in this case, 17,857 cu. ft. The basis of an estimate of this sort is the area enclosed by the average outside dimensions, exclusive of the porches. By dividing this area by the distance from the cellar floor to a point which will include one half the average height of the roof from the plate line to the ridge, say 23 ft., we find 776 sq. ft. as the possible area of the ground floor, the size in this case, 24 ft. by 32 ft. 4 in., exclusive of all projections beyond the rectangle, as shown in the ac- companying floor plans. Allowing 120 sq. ft. for the area of the pantry, bathroom, stairway and chimney, we have 656 sq. ft. the area available for rooms. This may be divided into four rooms containing upon an average 164 sq. ft. each, including parti- tions, closet and back entrance. A kitchen with an area of 120 sq. ft., a dining-room of 144 sq. ft., and a bedroom of 140 sq. ft., would permit a living-room of about 12 ft. by 21 ft., or containing 252 sq. ft. There would also be a bedroom and trunkroom in the attic, a front piazza and back entrance and porch. With this data the planning of the house is reduced to a matter

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786 of adaptation, arrangement: and exterior design. There are several ways in which the initial cost of such a house may be reduced, or a better house built for the same money. It may be finished to the stage where the family can take possession and save paying rent elsewhere, and the family genius can do most. of the work of finishing the rooms himself. Pipes for hot air heating, steam, AITCHEN CHAMBER L/VING ROOM LININGROOM FIRST FLCOR Popular Science Monthly nailed directly upon the studding, or where it is not usual to build a cellar or to have more than a post or wood foundation, an appreciable saving may be effected. In localities where prepared or metal roofing has supplanted shingles, and where labor or building materials are exceptionally cheap a more commodious house may be built for the same money. A camp of the size and type of the sketch, CHAMBER TRUNKS SECOND FLOOR. A general floor plan of the first and second floors of a moderate priced home that can be built for an all-the-year-around residence or may be used with unfinished rooms as a camp in the woods hot water and gas, and wires for electric lights may. be placed in the walls without the fixtures, which may be put in later, or the pipes may be omitted, leaving openings for their future installation, heating the house with stoves and lighting with lamps in the meantime. The pipes for the com- plete bathroom equipment may be in- stalled and nothing but the seat put in at first, though the location of the bathroom upon the first floor makes it possible to omit everything but the seat connections if desired. Walls need not be papered until the house has thoroughly seasoned and the resulting plaster cracks treated. This is customary in expensive houses for the sake of the permanent condition of the walls and not for economy. The exterior of the house may receive a priming coat and another coat of paint which will protect it for a couple of years and allow the outside to shrink all it will; it may then be puttied and two coats given which will insure the best possible results. In sections of the country where the climate will permit the use of drop siding with unfinished rooms, without a cellar or the conveniences necessary for a year-round residence, can be built for from 5 to 7 cents per cu. ft. above ground in localities where supplies are easily obtainable. At this price economy must be used in the con- struction, though a piazza may be built the entire length of the front of the house. Grouping Sheet Music Into Books and Binding Them T will be found very convenient to have sheet music arranged in little books, each containing from six to ten selections. For instance, one book may be made up of a group of waltzes; a second may con- tain a group of songs; a third a group of classical selections; a fourth a group of popular music, and so on. Paper fasteners of the proper size may be used to staple the books, which should then be bound with strips of strong cloth tape. On the cover of each book may be written the names of the various selections it contains.—ALEXANDER V. BOLLERER. 1]

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‘ , =. —_ > Oooo Nn = a Increasing the Efficiency of the One-Inch Spark Coil HE more advanced amateur usually turns his attention to power transmit- ters, and consequently there isa lack of relia- ble data applying to the small spark-coil set. This necessarily works a hardship on the beginner, whose initial equipment gen- erally includes a spark coil. Therefore, a few practical an- Electrician FAnd Wireless Operator Amateur - transmitters become vastly more efficient when properly adjusted. I have visited many small stations that were not giving satisfaction, and usually located the trouble in the design or capacity of the trans- mitting condenser, or discovered that closed and open circuits were hopelessly out of resonance. In one instance a station was found to be using a condens>r consisting of sixteen 12 by 14-in. plates across the secondary swers to various problems — encoun- tered in the opera- tion of the popular I-in. coil transmitter should, prove help- ful not only to many newcomers, but also to more advanced operators who are troubled by inter- ference from badly- tuned small stations. The writer has raised the efficiency of his 1I-in. coil transmitter to a y Aaa ae “7 terminals of a little 1%-in. spark coil. The spark discharge was spectacular, yet the range of the sta-.- tion was less than two miles. The er- ror of regarding the oscillation -trans- former, or helix, as a device to raise the voltage of the high- frequency currents traversing the open circuit seemed espe- cially widespread. The owners of the point where he can consistently outdis- tance by more than two miles any 2-in. coil in his vicinity, ona power input of only 15 Watts. Specific working directions for duplicating this set will be given; but a few generalizations must first be considered. It is a fallacy to suppose that the prin- ciples governing the installation and tuning of large sets do not apply to spark-coil transmitters. The author is aware that many beginners possessing small coils have attempted to tune their stations but have abandoned condenser and helix in disgust after noting a considerable decrease in sending radius. Little, if any, advantage as to distance is to be gained by tuning sets using Coils smaller than 1% in., but larger The compact arrangement of the one-inch spark coil when set upon the operator’s table stations had tuned them by varying the positions of the helix clips until sparks 3 or 4 in. long jumped a gap inserted in the lead-in. Such evidence should convince the skeptic that haphazard application of the principle, not the princi- ple itself, is responsible for the poor results sometimes obtained by ‘‘tuning”’ a station of this type. Tests have convinced me that in con- nection with a spark-coil transmitter it is best to use a conductively-coupled pancake helix having a number of inductive turns in both the primary and the secondary. This necessitates the use of a transmitting aerial not more than 4o ft. in length (T- aerials excepted) with a lead-in not longer than 30 ft., and a very small condenser in - 187 °

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788 Popular Science Monthly the closed circuit across the secondary terminals of the spark coil. The advantage of this arrangement is in line with the idea that a transmitter operates best at a wave- length 14% times the natural period of the aerial. Many amateurs extend their an- tennas to greater lengths, use only one or two turns in the secondary of the oscillation- transformer, and then wonder why their SPRING CLIP \ ”\ NAS J i | .||_ LUG TINFOIL) 4 TINFOR GLASS NA * .7t JNPARAFFIN | | XQg + FIG.1 Transmitting condenser constructed of glass plates coated on both sides with tinfoil range is not all it should be. It may be interesting to note that the author uses a 4-wire inverted L aerial 55 ft. high and only 35 ft. long on the flat top portion. The aerial must be very carefully insulated. Use ball insulators on each wire in the flat top portion, electrose strain insulators on the spreader bridles, and porcelain cleats on the sway guys. The lead-in deserves as much attention as the aerial proper. Bunch the wires im- mediately beneath the aerial and connect with a No. 4 copper wire, insulated from the rod by large porcelain knobs. Unless already insulated, it is best to wrap the wire with electric tape where it comes into contact with the knobs. The wire should be passed through a porcelain tube when it enters the operating room. All joints must be securely soldered. The commonest cause of weak, swaying, fading signals is a loose, corroded connection in the aerial or lead-in. As the slate base of the ordinary light- ning switch is absolutely unfitted to prevent leakage into the ground of the high voltage currents, it is important that defective insulation at this point be remedied by raising the base on fiber strips. The saying that ‘‘a good ground is as essential as a good aerial” is true, for an indifferent ground connection severely crip- ples any station. One of the reasons why ship stations can transmit so much farther with a given amount of power than many land stations is that it is possible on ship- board to secure a perfect ground. The range of the writer’s station was increased thirty per cent. by running extra ground wires to the watertank up in the attic, to the gas-pipe in two places, and to the heating system as well. This was a great surprise, as I had been using a connection to the water pipe on the street side of the meter, that I considered excellent. Sta- tions situated on hilltops where there is little moisture in the ground due to down- hill drainage must take special pains to secure an efficient ground. Never forego an opportunity to reduce the resistance of any of the connecting wires, the lead-in, or ground connection. The greater their conductivity, the greater the radiation, and an increase in the sharp- ness and purity of the emitted wave will be noticed. Now for the set itself. We shall first consider the construction of the trans- mitting condenser. With hot water re- move the emulsion from five 344 in. by 44 in. photographic plates, and coat three of them on both sides with tinfoil, leaving a SAW CUTS § APART THIN WOODEN FOR COPPER’ RIBBON aves PS NAILED 7 ~ Dy FOR COPPER RIBBON __ 4 \ FIG.2 SSS —— —— —— 4 —— The helix has twelve turns of copper ribbon placed in notches sawed in cross sticks margin of 3 in. around the edges. As an adhesive use orange shellac, not white shellac. Next paint the two remaining plates with the liquid, and when it has become sufficiently dry to be very sticky, pile the five plates together as shown in Fig. — — fp = A> = = + ope = © = -F an = —- 4

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a ee. 1. Plates 2 and 4 have no tinfoil coatings. Press firmly together, and bind with friction tape. Connection with the lugs is made by the use of spring clips, which may be bent out of copper ribbon. The con- denser is sealed into a wooden case with paraffin so that it is entirely surrounded by the wax. The bottom of the container should first be covered with melted paraffin. When this cools, put in the con- denser and fill up to the brim. EXTRA 7 =S= COND e FIG 3 The instruments are arranged compactly and the hookups shown are used to tune the circuit Naa te _ BATT - “Brush discharges (the fine violet spray noticed around the edges of poorly built condensers) are thus eliminated, and this source of energy loss is done away with. The helix has twelve turns of 3-in. cop- per ribbon. Necessary dimensions are given in Fig. 2. Great care must be exercised in making the slits for the ribbon. Clamp pieces A and B side by side and cut them simultaneously with a fine scroll saw. In wiring up the set use heavily insulated rubber-covered copper wire not smaller than No. 12. While copper or brass ribbon is an efficient conductor of high tension, high-frequency currents, it will be found rather clumsy to handle. Arrange the instruments compactly, and use the hookups outlined in Fig. 3. Short leads are desirable, but do not jam the instru- ments too close together. To true the set to 200 meters, place clips I and 2 at the points indicated in Fig. 3. The closed circuit is then tuned to 200 meters. To bring the open circuit into resonance with it, place clip 3 as indicated and vary the position of clip 4 until a receiving station receives the emitted signals at maximum intensity. The wave- length of the set when tuned in this manner may be 2 or 3 meters out of the way, but this is near enough to the legal requirement for all practical purposes. It must be understood that these directions apply only to this particular set where the Popular Science Monthly 789 closed circuit has been calibrated in advance to 200 meters. If a condenser of different capacity or a helix of different dimensions or design than that described is used, these turning instructions become useless. Many experimenters experience con- siderable difficulty in adjusting the vibrator on the spark coil. Stiffening the vibrator- spring with a wad of paper placed just behind, but not attached to the soft iron button, is effective in producing a mod- erately high, musical tone. Sometimes the rapidity of make-and-break can be in- creased by demagnetizing the soft iron button. This is heated red hot and plunged into water, the process being repeated several times. Sparking at the contact points, which causes a ragged note, can be minimized by shunting an additional condenser having about 300 sq. in. of tin- foil, across the vibrator. Linen paper in- stead of glass is used for the dieiectric. Do not try to produce a 500-cycle pitch with the vibrator; you will only wear out the platinum contacts, and your range will fall off considerably. A clear-cut, solid note resembling that of Cape Cod will give the best results. Rotary-gaps cannot be used with spark coils. Good quenched gaps are efficient, but they do not give the spark a higher pitch than the ordinary straight gap, and their construction is much too difficult for the average experimenter to undertake with his limited workshop equipment. If not designed with exactness and built with great mechanical precision, very serious energy losses result. At the present time there is no moderately-priced quenched gap suitable for small spark coils on the market. Judging from his own experience and from general observation the author is con- vinced that owners of I-in. spark-coil trans- mitters who apply these principles to their equipments will save themselves much time and expense and may feel confident that their senders produce a minimum of interference—SUMNER B. YOUNG. Automatic Cut-Outs for Use in Charging Storage Cells i pen who charge storage batteries realize the need of some kind of protection for the batteries during the charge in case the voltage of the charging dynamo should fall below that of the

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790 Popular Science Monthly storage battery. As most charging gen- erators are wound with a very low re- sistance in the armature this would of course put ashort circuit across the battery and ruin it in a very short time. In some FIG.1 A low resistance electromagnet in series with a charging circuit to prevent a short circuit cases it would reverse the polarity of the dynamo. A very good way to prevent such occurrence is to insert a low resistance electromagnet in series. with the charging circuit that will attract an armature which forms a part of the charging circuit, as shown in Fig. 1. As seen in this diagram the armature, when against its front stop, forms the circuit from dynamo to the batteries. The magnet will hold the armature in contact as long as the voltage of the dynamo exceeds that of the battery, but as soon as the voltage becomes equal, the magnet be- comes de-magnetized and the battery cir- cuit is consequently broken by the armature being withdrawn with a spring against its back stop, which makes a _ second STORAGE BATTERIES FIG.2 Here we have one coil of low resistance wound with No. 12 wire in series and another coil wound with many turns of fine wire contact with a circuit having a local battery with a bell for giving the alarm. This arrangement, however, has one draw- back in that its armature has then to be re-set by hand to complete the circuit when the dynamo is again started, In Fig. 2 is shown another diagram whereby this function is performed automatically, It will be seen that another coil has been added. Here we have one coil of low resistance wound with No. 12 wire in series, and another coil wound with many turns of fine wire, No. 34 or 36, but con- nected in shunt. This shunt coil takes very little current and serves to draw the armature down to its front contact and close the battery circuit as soon as the generator has acquired sufficient speed to energize it. These diagrams are drawn simply to show the theory, but the finished article adapts itself admirably to the ordinary Morse telegraph relay, with only one change which will probably have to be made in relay. Procure a Morse telegraph relay from any electrical house. These’ FIG.3 A telegraph relay having both coils rewound and connected in the line for actual use are generally wound for 35 or 150 ohms. Rewind both coils, one with as much No. 34 or 36 wire as it will hold neatly, and the other with No. 12; or, if your charging current exceeds 30 amperes, wind it with No. 10 wire to avoid undue heating which would char the insulation. As most relays have a small piece of No. 30 wire, which forms a flexible connection between the armature and its bearing to preserve the contact, this will have to be removed, as it will not be able to carry the large current for which it will now be used. The plan is to remove this small piece of wire and insert a piece of No. 14 wire in such a manner as not to give the armature too stiff a movement. However, this may not be necessary if the trunnions of the armature fit snugly in their bearings and preserve a good contact at all times. When you have both coils wound make the connections as in Fig. 3, which shows the apparatus in service. You may be able by the use of these diagrams to construct this apparatus without a Morse relay.—W. A. POLING. \ f rr

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A Practical Electric Vacuum Cleaner II.—The construction of the motor was explained last month. Now comes the housing problem By L. E. Swindell HE shoe is constructed of black sheet iron 1/16 in. thick. The necessary dimensions are given in Fig. 10. The patterns should first be cut out of cardboard and then traced on the sheet iron to obtain the best results. The parts are cut out with a pair of tinner’ s snips. They are then as- sembled as in Fig. 11. A little study will show how they fit together. The holes shown indicate where the parts are riveted soldered to add to the rigidity and make the fan-case airtight. Where the edges of the shoe touch the floor, U-shaped pieces of thin iron are used to enclose them. These are soldered in place. If desired, a rotary brush may be placed inside the shoe, which will materially aid in picking up lint, thread, etc., from the floor. On each side of the fan-case is a projecting piece of 3¢-in. iron rod 34 in. long, which fits into together. After riveting, all the joints are a hole in the lower end of the handle. » Z oe EXHAUST [ / . pe erg * wy e —_— | + L INTAKE 45. a PASSAGE | . - “Tey 10 MAKE 3 | et 14 ——l he [o- o} . 1o” 4 Ri i || ‘0 + “ 3 2 74 ° ce aes ‘ * ol 75 FIG.10 BEND FAN BLADES AS SHOWN “yy yy y Z, SPRING S° Lr aie 4A A hela Ai fi a ry | F ii i “4 Patterns for cutting the sheet metal to form the airtight suction-box and shoe which inclose the fan of the motor, and the manner of shaping the fan blades and attaching the handle 791

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792 Popular Science Monthly These pieces are to be riveted to the under- side of the fan-case. A fiber wheel 2 in. in diameter is turned in a lathe and fitted toa U-shaped piece of strap iron 34 in. wide. Now rivet the wheel-support to the under side of the fan-case in such a position that the wheel will support about one-half of the weight, the other half resting on the shoe. The fan, Fig. 12, is cut out of sheet iron 1/32 in. thick. There are six blades, in pairs. The three pieces comprising the blades are to be firmly screwed to a brass hub, the dimensions of which are given. For added safety it is well to sweat the blades to the hub with solder to prevent them from becoming loose. The fan is secured to the shaft by means of one of the screws used to hold the yy blades to the hub, ] the screw being 1/16 in. longer than the others for this pur- pose. The handle is aor Pq -. . Making an Electric Furnace for the Laboratory T is often desirable to use a heat above that of the ordinary bunsen burner, for instance, to melt silver or gold or make calcium carbide or carborundum. To do this on a small scale, the electric furnace herein described will be found convenient. The material necessary consists of two standard-size fire bricks, two 3%-in. arc light carbons 6 in. or more in length, and four porcelain knobs for supports. At the center in the top of a 9 by 4% by 2)4-in. fire brick gouge out a hole 11% in. in diameter and 1 in. deep with a cold chisel, then cut grooves as shown at A and B._ These should extend from the surface % in. from either end to the hole at the cen- ter, where they are Y-in. deep and of sufficient width to al- about I in. in diame- ter and 2)4 ft. long. low the carbons to slide freely. Two pieces of strap iron are bent as The cover brick is shown and secured to the handle by means __'!0¥ about 41% by 4% by 24% in. This should be gouged out slight- of two small bolts. On the under side of the handle a groove is cut to receive the conductor cord. A small one-point switch should be mounted on the upper end of the handle to control the motor. The connecting cord should be 30 ft. long, so as to permit of a large radius of operation from one electric socket. The dust bag is of any closely woven material, 30 by 8 in., of the shape shown. On the smaller end a coiled spring is sewed. This fits over the end of the exhaust of the fan. The other end is closed by a 6-in. paper clip, the latter being supported by a small coiled spring fastened to the handle. The mechanical details of the machine are now complete. The motor and handle should receive two coats of black enamel, and the shoe two coats of aluminum enamel. If care has been exercised in the construc- tion of the vacuum cleaner it will present a very neat appearance and give as satis- factory service as ‘any electrically driven machine of its size. Small electrical furnace to melt the more precious metals and for experimental use jah 3 in making calcium carbide and carborundum which is over the ly concave at the place in the bottom melting pot. This is done to help reflect the heat into the melt- ing pot. The furnace is connected with a 110-volt circuit through a water rheostat. A water rheostat capable of keeping the furnace running for an hour and a half on 8 amperes can be made by immersing two copper strips in a vessel containing at least 1% gal. of water. Add enough ordinary table salt to allow sufficient current to pass through so an arc can be struck when the carbons are touched together. Then insert an ammeter in the circuit, strike an arc and then add more salt until the ammeter reads five or six amperes. If it is desired to run the furnace for a longer period the rheostat should be built accordingly. To make carborundum crystals, mix the following: 2 parts sand; 3 parts carbon, (coal or coke); 1 part sawdust and a little common salt. Heap this mixture up around the carbons in the melting pot of the furnace, strike an arc and allow it to run for four or five hours.—E. R. THOMAS.

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By John L. Pie complete international Morse code, including numerals and the more important punctuation marks, was given in preceding articles of this series. The second article, appearing in the September issue, explained the simpler methods of calling and answering by radio, as well as the plan usually followed in acknowledging the receipt of radiograms and in securing repetition of words or por- tions of messages not correctly received. The complete forms for sending official messages have not been discussed, however. Radio telegraphic transmission is for the most part carried on according to a series of regulations agreed upon at the London International Radiotelegraphic Convention of 1912. This convention and the set of rules there formulated are given in full in a pamphlet entitled ‘Radio Communication Laws of the United States,’’ which may be secured for fifteen cents from the Superin- ATTENTION Wireless Work in Wartime IV.—The complete forms for sending official messages Hogan, Jr. it is perhaps best for the student to give his attention to the methods approved by the Director of Naval Communications. These are given very fully in a ‘‘Handbook of Regulations” of the U.S. Naval Radio Service which was issued about four years ago and which is brought up to date by means of supplements issued from time to time. Additional information may be found in the Navy’s ‘“‘Commercial Traffic Regulations” of 1915. The scheme used is an elaboration of the London Convention and agrees with its rulings. In the first place, a station wishing to communicate with another, first sends out a radio call by making the attention signal (dash-dot-dash-dot-dash), the call letters of the desired station three times (KUR KUR KUR, for example), the word ‘‘de” (meaning ‘“‘from’’), and then its own call letters three times (for example: KSW KSW KSW). This is usually followed by FIG. 13 A station wishing to communicate with another first sends out a radio call by making the atten- tion signal, call letters of the desired station three times, then its own letters three times and a cross tendent of Documents at Washington, D. C. Every student of radio should get a copy of this booklet, since it contains, in addition to the report of the convention, much valuable information with regard to the licensing of radio stations, radio operators, the Department of Commerce Districts for the supervision of radiotelegraphy, etc. Although the London Convention is very specific as to certain of its rulings, it does not give in detail the methods to be fol- lowed in transmitting messages of various types. Each radio organization has certain peculiarities in this respect. One company will habitually use a system of symbols which are not entirely adopted by other radio administrations; but, fortunately, these variations are usually not serious enough to cause much difficulty. Inasmuch as the Navy Department is in entire charge of radio work during wartime, 793 the finish signal (dot-dash-dot-dash-dot), although such procedure is not strictly official in the call. The station called, on hearing the signals, replies by giving the attention signal, the call letters of the call- ing station three times, the word ‘‘de”, its own call letters three times, and, if ready to receive, the “Go ahead”’ signal (“K’”). If the station is not ready to re- ceive, instead of sending ‘‘Go ahead,” the operator signals ‘‘Wait’’ (dot-dash-dot-dot- dot) or some one of the official abbrevia- tions such as QRX (which means “Stand by; I will call you when required’’) or ORW (which means “I am busy; please do not interfere’). The list of abbrevia- tions is given in full on page 46 of the “Radio Communication Laws of the U. S.” above referred to, and forms a very im- portant supplement to Article XXII of the Convention regulations.

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794 Popular Science Monthly When stations calling each other are close by, or within easy communication distance, it is not necessary to repeat the call letters three times either in calling or acknowledging. For instance, a so-called “short call” might be as follows: “‘Dash-dot-dash-dot-dash KURde KSW”’ and the acknowledgment or reply simply dot). This “End of message” signal js written as a cross (+), and, as indicated before, is often used at the end of any transmission whether of a complete mes- sage or not. The double-dash (=) signal, dash-dot-dot-dot-dash, is used to separate the preamble from the address, the address from the text and the text from the FIG. 14 How the ‘“‘break” or double-dash is used to separate the preamble from the address. Note the extra space between the figures for the hour and those for the minutes in the space for time filing the letter “‘K,”’ meaning ‘“‘go ahead.”” Such shortening of the time used for calling and establishment of communication is very helpful in working radio where much traffic is to be handled, since every minute saved for actual messages increases the number of useful words which can be put through in a given time. The formal symbols should never be abbreviated to the point where uncertainty creeps in, however, for in such cases more time is lost in repeating than would have been taken for a complete transmission in the first place. The Authorized Message Form Assuming that the call and reply have been given, the acknowledging station indi- cating by ‘‘K”’ that it is ready to receive, the calling station may begin its transmis- sion of messages. According to the Naval system (which is similar to that in use else- signature and should never be omitted. The preamble referred to needs further explanation. It contains the necessary information for the operators’ records, and usually consists of seven parts, as follows: (1) prefix, (2) station of origin of the message, (3) number of the message, (4) the signature-letters of the sending or receiving operator, (5) the “check,” or number of words in the message, (6) the date and hour the message was filed for transmission, and (7) the route or ‘‘Via,” giving the call-letters or the stations which have relayed the message up to that point. The prefix is a code-letter symbol, such as “TR” for a position report giving the loca- tion of a ship at sea, “OFM” for an official message, ‘“SVC’”’ for a so-called “‘service message’’ (which is one sent between sta- tions and having to do with handling mes- sages, accounts, traffic regulations, etc.), FIG.IS The close of the specimen message, showing the double dash separating the text from the signa- ture, and the cross, or ‘‘end of the message” character, spelled out in the usual way where) the message transmission may be divided into six main parts, as follows: (1) Attention signal, (2) Preamble, (3) Address and route, (4) Text, (5) Signature, and (6) End of message (dot-dash-dot-dash- “MSG” for a private or unofficial message, or “RADIO” for a commercial message. The name of the station (2) is spelled out, as is the day of the month under (8)—the name of the month is omitted. The num- ee Bu eis

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-ber of the message, the ‘‘check’’ or number of words, and the hour in (8) are given in figures, the hour being followed by “‘am’”’ or “pm.” Sometimes the signature letters of the sending operator are merely written on the blank and not transmitted, but this omission may give rise to confusion be- tween the number of the message and the “check.” A Specimen Message Let us consider a typical message to be transmitted from Philadelphia (call letters NAI) to New York (call letters WHB), on commercial matters, and sent by an opera- tor at Philadelphia who has adopted the letters XM as his personal identification signature—letters or “sign.’’ This might be as follows: Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 3, 1917, Filed 11:03 a. m. To James Doherty, Equitable Building, New York. Express twelve thousand item seven drawing eight two. Duncan, As sent out by the Phila- delphia operator, assuming it to be the fifth message sent to New York that j day, it would be as given 3 below. Each section is / _ given separately, so that it ¢--77"~ may be compared with the list of parts just stated: - “Dash-dot-dash-dot-dash RADIO Philadelphia x M Radio waves sent 14 in all directions THIRD from several sta- 1103am tions may overlap Dash-dot-dot-dot-dash and create consider- James Doherty Equitable able ‘interference Building Newyork Dash-dot-dot-dot-dash Express twelve thousand item seven drawing eight-two Dash-dot-dot-dot-dash Duncan Dot-dash-dot-dash-dot Taking up these lines in sequence, we find first the attention signal and then the prefix. This is followed by the station’s name, spelled out, and by the number of the message (namely, 5). Next come the operator’s sign and the check, or number of words in the message. It is difficult to see just how the specimen message contains fourteen words until one knows that the Popular Science Monthly 795 check includes the words in tne address, text and signature (according to ‘‘cable count’) and notes that names of cities such as New York and New Orleans and states such as West Virginia are counted as single words in addresses but as two words when they appear in the text. The rest of the message should be perfectly clear without further explanation, though it may be noted that no relays or via’s, and no route for addressing appear in such a simple transmission as that assumed for this example. Sending Messages in Sequence When the sending sta- tion has several messages to transmit to the same receiver, the operator may follow with the second and third immediately after the first; it is not a good plan to send too many in se- quence without giving the receiving station an oppor- tunity to acknowledge and ask for any corrections or confirma- tions which may be necessary. . After sending one or two messages the sending operator should “‘sign off’ with his station call and make the ‘go ahead’’ signal (“‘K’’), after which the receiv- ing station will call and send “R R R” if he has received everything correctly or ‘‘? ? ?” to. indicate repetitions desired. The method of indicating partial repetitions necessary to fill in doubtful words or phrases was indicated in the September arti- cle, and need not be given again here. When all messages in both directions have been transmitted and satisfactorily received, the signal Dot-dot-dot-dash-dot-dash, which means ‘‘finished,’”’ is sent out by both stations. Complicated as all this may seem to the beginner, it is a system of communication which is quickly learned and which contains little or nothing that is not essential when many different stations are involved in the traffic system. Naturally enough, when two plants (such as Sayville and Nauen) communicate with each other exclusively it is possible to eliminate a large part of the preamble. Messages may be sent without confusion by giving nothing but the num-

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796 Popular Science Monthly ber, the check, the address, the text and the signature. Similarly, when a number of relaying stations or a complicated route is involved, the preamble will have to be even more extensive than that given in the sample message. All these matters will develop as practical operating is taken up, but it is essential that the student appre- ciate thoroughly as much as has been given of the routine of message handling. Interference in Radio Thus the matter of forms of transmitting may be disposed of for the time being. By following out the system as outlined, the student will soon become accustomed to the necessary formalities and will begin to recognize the portions which may be omitted under some particular circum- stances without causing confusion. Having this in mind, and remembering that the matter transmitted in addition to the mere address, text and signature is necessary to keep a proper record of the messages and to make a correct accounting of its costs of transmission, the learner may pass on to one of the most interesting and important branches of radio operating, namely, the reduction of interference. In radio telegraphy there are two main classes of interference, both of which tend to make it difficult to exchange messages without interruption. The first of these is that caused by other radio stations, and the second that set up by natural or non- radio electrical disturbances. The second type of interference may be subdivided to some extent, so as to separate troubles caused by lightning, by passing trolley- cars, by dust storms, etc., as will be ex- plained more fully in later articles of this series. The first type, or “station inter- ference” should probably be taken up first. Reducing Interference Between Radio — Stations Since all radio telegraph and radio tele- phone stations use the same basic medium of communication, namely, the hypothetical “ether” of space, it is only natural to expect that under some conditions there will be confusion if many messages are passing from station to station at the same time. Speaking very roughly, the use of this same ether by all the stations is somewhat like the use of the same air by a large number of people talking at once. We have all ex- perienced the difficulty of speaking in a noisy crowd. The person to whom we talk hears not only what we say, but also’ the voices of ten or a dozen other people who are near by. Unless we speak loudly, or in a tone different from that used by the others, we are not heard clearly. It igs much the same in radio. When one station sends its signals out, the waves spread in all directions, and some arrive at the de- sired receiving point. If a dozen other stations are sending at the same time in the same neighborhood, their waves also reach the receiving station in question. The re- sult is bound to be confusing unless the first mentioned plant sends its signals more strongly, or in a different tone or pitch from that used by the other installations. Thus the two fundamental ways of avoid- ing station interference are indicated: (1) by the use of large transmitting power, which corresponds to speaking loudly when in a crowd, and (2) by using signals of a character different from those common to the interfering stations. This second method has been developed to a great ex- tent in the technology of radio telegraphy, and is of course the preferable plan. Its advantages are apparent as soon as one considers that ‘‘talking loudly” may get a single set of messages through interference, but is certain at the same time to create still greater disturbance for other trans- missions which may be going on simul- taneously. On the other hand, reducing interference by making a distinction between the kinds or characters of signals used helps the other stations in their parallel problems of send- ing. In succeeding articles, both of these will be discussed in greater detail, and in the next issue experiments on the buzzer telegraph line (described in the earlier in- stallments) will be explained to illustrate various effects of interference and ways to reduce their troublesomeness. (To be continued) Testing for Trouble That Causes Poor Automobile Lights HE method of procedure for locating trouble in the lighting system of an automobile is as follows: Test the electro- lyte of the battery to see if it registers 1275 or 1300 specific gravity. See that the ammeter registers a charge when the engine is running, otherwise the battery may become discharged. The lamps may be out of focus. A set screw back of the reflector adjusts the focus.

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Testing Electric Wires for High Tension Currents EN who work on high tension lines of electric service must be certain that the current is turned off from them. Asan added precaution against the accidental throwing of the wrong switch they should securely ground the circuit until work on it is finished. Several types of more or less efficient ‘‘high tension’’ testers have been put on the market and most of these have been either of the “‘gold leaf” electro- scope or the more expensive quadrant types. All of these give negative results, because if they do not indicate the presence of high tension voltage, one of two condi- tions may exist. Either there is no current in the wire being tested, or the instrument does not work perfectly. In the first case the workman is safe, but in the second case, if he relies on the indications of his electroscope his life may be forfeited. We are not willing to recommend as safe any of the electrostatic types of voltage indicators unless they can be positively checked immediately before and after the proposed observation. I have handled high tension circuits for years and find that a person can make an electroscope for testing the presence of high voltage with no apparatus. This may sound paradoxical,

HIGH TENSION WIRE~ GOLD OR SIVER FOIL *

7 SILK FIBER a iw) ar y 4 = & oz a tw « es ow - | Fw e ~ > z =52 o go e wew g =| Ene EB = wt = 225 Fa 6 Shwe ws Dey Ya a] a >Zz=z < a Say) S 0 .*) oO A fine silk thread used to determine if a high voltage current is flowing in the wires but I use a very fine silk thread pulled from my necktie. If this fiber is sufficiently fine and is held by one end so that the other shall be very close to a high voltage line the free and finest end of this silk fiber will pulsate with the variations in an alternating current. In close proximity to a high tension direct Popular Science Monthly 797 current wire the free end of the fine fiber will be attracted toward it. If allowed to touch it, it will become charged and will be instantly repelled. Close and caeful observation is necessary in the use of so simple a device. It cannot be depended upon to work in the wind or rain, but as an emergency electroscope it may help some reader. However, we advise a workman to check results on a circuit known to be carrying high voltage and—results or no results—play safe-—T. B. LAMBERT.

Resistance in Circuit to Make Double Tone Automobile Horn ITH a small amount of. resistance placed in the circuit leading to an automobile horn or other electric signal — the tone may be lowered to some extent, the number

7 al Law RESISTANCE mi -_ Changing the tone of a horn with a double contact push-button with resistance in one line of sound waves being reduced to the amount of resistance used. A simple way to work out this problem is to make a double contact push-button, which is clearly shown in the diagram. About 3 ft. of No. 20-gage German silver wire will be about right for the average electric signal such as used on automobiles and motorboats. A very convenient place for the resistance can be made by cutting a groove around the base of the push-button. When the button is pressed slightly the signal will sound half-tone. Pushing the button all the way down will cause the full tone to be pro- duced.—Howarp W. PEACOCK.

A Strong Guy-Wire Anchor for Aerial Poles O mast is stronger than :ts weakest guying part, whether that be the guy- wire or the anchor. Only recently an amateur’s 60-ft. mast was broken to pieces in a 45-miles-an-hour gale because one of his guy-posts gave way. In this case the amateur used a 3-ft. length of 2 by 4-in. material driven in all but a few inches into the ground. This was easily uprooted by

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798 Popular Science Monthly the wind. Much better results can be had by using an anchor such as is shown in the illustration, which is practically — self-ex- plaining. In Fig. 1 is shown the cross- section of the L-shaped trench, which should be 5 ft. in length. A 4%-ft. length of 14-in. rod is threaded at one end and an FIRON R IGG ee 7 1,35)! Y U'3,,2, The trench and manner of placing the anchor for bracing and strengthening the guy-wire eye is formed on the other end, which is welded at the joint to strengthen it. The rod is then driven in the ground so that it will take the position as shown in Fig. 2. Then a 4-ft. length of 2 by 4-in. stock is bolted on and the trench filled. It is best to place guy-anchors the same distance from the base of the mast as the vertical height of the guy-wire, so that the guy- wire lies at an angle of 45 deg. with the mast.—E. R. THomas. A Magnetic Telegraph Key for the Wireless Operator HE magnetic key shown in the two accompanying drawings is easy to construct from material usually in pos- session of the experimenter. At the same time it fulfils all the requirements of an expensive magnetic key. It can be used where it is desired to operate the sending set at some distance from the receiving set, the small control key being at the receiver. This obviates the necessity of extending the power wires. This instrument comprises a regular wireless key (I used a Marconi key) and a 20-ohm telegraph set. The instru- ment can be constructed as follows: First remove the small key from the telegraph set. This is to be placed at the operating table, and used as the control key. Remove the arm, anvil, and support from the sounder, thus leaving nothing but the magnets M. Screw the armature A, from the arm of the sounder, on the under- side of the heavy wireless key-lever where the knob is attached. The knob may be left in place. The next thing is to make a large base about 1 ft. long and about 6 in. wide. Screw on it the base of the telegraph instrument, with the magnets M in the position shown in the drawings. the wooden block B, bore two holes through it for the lugs of the key, and fasten on the wires that connect the binding posts with the key. If the key you use has no lugs but is fastened down by screws and has the connections on top, it will of course be unnecessary to bore the holes in the block B. The key should, nevertheless, be fastened to block B as shown in the draw- ings. Now with the screws S fasten down the block B, with the key bolted to it. Place enough washers W under the block so that there will be a very small space (about 1/32 in.) left between the magnets M and the armature A when the contact points of the key are touching. The key is now ready for use. It will be found that it works easily and requires little current. . Amagnetic key for use where the sending set is at some distance from the receiving set It can be regulated so it will work accurate- ly at the highest speed any operator can send, and will handle currents as high as the capacity of the wireless key that is used with it.—R. H. Maxon. Fit out ° ST NAR SIRT rr

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Making a Selenium Cell for the Laboratory The resistance of the cell depends upon its size and the spacing of the wires By Charles BF xtenius: the electrical conductivity of selenium is dependent upon the strength of the light illuminating it, experiments with this substance are par- ticularly interesting. Selenium is not the only substance possessing this property, but it is by far the most sensitive of any yet E. Mullin specific gravity 4.5, soluble in carbon disulphide, from which it crystallizes in prismatic crystals. It melts at 217 deg. C. and boils at 700 deg. C. A third variety, specific gravity 4.26, is found in two forms, the one electro positive and insoluble in carbon disulphide, the other electro- discovered. A “‘selenium cell,” as the negative and soluble in carbon disulphide. apparatus utilizing — It fuses at 100 deg. this property is i Jar well C. and when sudden- called, may be con- uP HD a T ly cooled becomes structed in the shop We Taal vitreous. When or laboratory at very ¥ + s/lctel dk heated to 270 deg. little expense. FIG. oe C. and suddenly Two types of cells Fig. 2 cooled to 180 deg. are used, one of a \ |o C., at which tem- comparatively low MIAN, ens perature it is kept resistance, the other . si for several hours, it of a higher re- 4. is converted to the sistance. Both types a “A” selenium. On possess a_ certain Pt heating the ‘‘B”’ va- amount of inertia; riety to 150 deg. C. that is, they do not “tone + STRIPS it changes to the respond instantly to a slight change of illumination, and this characteristic is intensified with ex- cessive or over-il- lumination. It may be well to make a little study of the element sele- nium before building © the cell, as the cell . . EDGE must receive a care- ; sBedoassaass / WIRE [ne ~ es WASHERS ful heat treatment after assembling. Selenium is a non-metal of the sulphur group and is generally found associated with it in nature. Like sulphur it exists in several forms, the ‘‘A”’ selenium be- ing that used for the cell. The “A” selenium is a dark grayish-black, crys- talline solid, possessing a metallic luster. It is insoluble in carbon disulphide and has a specific gravity of 4.8. It begins to melt at 217 deg. C. and is a liquid at 250 deg. C. At higher temperatures in the air it is oxidized. The ‘B” selenium, which is the most stable form, is a dark reddish-brown, NOTCHED 799 “A” variety, with the evolution of heat. The chemical prop- erties of selenium are very similar to those of sulphur. These properties are given here that the experi- menter may better understand the heat treatment which the completed cell must receive in order to render it sensitive to light. The material needed for a fair-sized low . resistance type of cell is as follows: 15 ft. strip brass, 14 in. wide by 1-16 in. thick 2 brass or iron bolts, 4 in. long by 3-16 in., with 2 washers and 2 nuts each ¥ oz. selenium, stick preferred I piece mica, 8 by 12 in., very thin. FiG.4 FIG.5 Dimensions and patterns of the parts for making a selenium cell for laboratory use Cut from the brass §0 strips, 3 in. long, ¥ in. wide by 1/16 in. thick, as shown in Fig. 1, each with a 3/16 in. hole, 4 in. from theend. Fifty brass washers, 4% in. square, with a 3/16-in. hole in the center, should also be cut from the 1/16-in. brass, as shown in Fig. 2. Fifty strips and washers

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_ for connections. 800 will make a fair-sized cell, but the more strips and washers, the lower the resistance of the completed cell. From the mica cut 50 strips 2-9/16\in. long by % in. wide. One of these strips should be very lightly shellacked to each brass strip, as shown in Fig. 3, so that the end of the mica covers the end of the brass strip farthest away from the 3/16-in. hole. Twenty-five strips and 25 washers are then mounted alternately on each bolt, with the mica always on top, as shown in “ Fig. 4. The two sections are slipped together and the nuts tightened down, as shown in Fig. 5, so as to hold them securely. A clamp, as shown in Fig. 6, may be made to fit over the center if desired, but it must be insulated from both sections by mica, or fiber, etc. The top edge surface of the strips should be well smoothed down, with a file or other- wise, so as to be perfectly smooth. The two sections should then be tested with a voltage 5 to 10 times as high as that to be used in connection with the cell, so as to be sure that both sections are insulated from each other. If the insulation is perfect, the smoothed surface should be heated until the selenium melts freely when rubbed over it. Be careful not to get it too hot so as to oxidize the selenium; yet it should be hot enough to cause the selenium to adhere well. The parts of the cell where the brass strips overlap should be given a thin, even coating of selenium, and while hot, the excess may be removed with a spatula, so as to leave a smooth, even surface. The heat treatment is then given. The cell is placed in an oven and heated to about 260 or 270 deg. C. The temperature is then lowered to about 180 deg. C. at which point it is kept for about 2 hours. The cell is then removed and cooled in the air, the ““A”’ selenium resulting. The extra nut on each bolt may be used It is best to mount the cell in a small box with a glass lid, so as to protect it from injury, dust, etc. The higher resistance cell is made by winding two wires in parallel, or side by side, on a narrow strip of heavy mica, asbestos board, slate, or other suitable insulating material, as shown in Fig. 7. The edges of this insulating material may be notched before winding, so as to hold the coils in place. Holes should be bored in each end, through which the ends of the wires may pass, so as to secure them. A medium- sized cell is about 1 by 3 in., with the top Popular Science Monthly It should be wound with copper, brass, silver or side only coated with selenium. platinum wire of about No. 35 gage. The resistance of the cell depends upon its size and the spacing of the wires. It is best to have the wire as warm as possible when winding it on the form, so that as it contracts on cooling, it tightens, thus holding it more rigidly in place. A 1/16-in, spacing or less is very often used. The closer the wires, the lower the resistance. After winding, the selenium is applied in the same way, and the same heat treat- ment given, as in the construction of the low resistance cell. Ballast Weights for Antenna to Pre- vent Aerial from Overturning O prevent an aerial from turning over; even though the lower end is not fastened to a mast or tree, the following plan was found effective. Take a piece of 2-in. pipe about 8 in. long and place inside it a piece of wire bent as illustrated. Then fas- ys “ IN YS ti \ \ =: She Me \: \ \ ee RAN. “> 4) The weight hung to the ends of the spreader to keep the aerial from overturning ten this with a piece of fine wire so it will hang about 10 ft. below the aerial. Each end of the wire is fastened to the two ends of the spreader. If the pipe alone does not weigh enough fill in with some melted lead or babbit metal, fastening the wire securely in place.