HANDY BOOT CLEANER.
Up-to-Date Contrivance for Removing
Mud from Soles of Shoes.
One of the most interesting of re
cent inventions is a boot cleaner which
is designed to take the place of the
old-fashioned shoe scrapers, usually
placed alongside of the steps.
As shown in the illustration, it con
sists of a metal casing constructed to
support two brushes. The latter are
Journaled in open bearings at each
end, there being but little open space
between the brushes and the casing.
The front and back upper edges of the
casing are sharpened to provide
scrapers for removing mud.
As the foot is forced against the
brushes, explains the Detroit Free
Press, the latter revolve, removing
the dirt from the shoes and forcing
r
i
The Boot Cleaner.
I
J
it down into the interior of the easing.
The device is 'easily cleaned, the
brushes being readily removed.
SIMPLE SLOPE INDICATOR.
Device Which Shows Grade of Road
Over Which Auto Is Traveling.
A knowledge of tlje actual slope of
a road is otten of |ftisiderable impor
tance to autorno
bilists, because it
affords an explan
ation of the vary
ing action of the
motor, and a
means of quickly
adjusting the
mechanism. One
of the simplest slope indicators re
cently invented in France has a ver
tical tube fixed on the front of a
graduated scale like a thermometer,
and containing a column of liquid,
which is so adjusted as to stand at
zero, in the middle of the tube, when
the road is level, and to indicate either
an upward or downward slope by its
rise or fall along the scale. The
liquid in the tube is connected with a
reservoir placed behind the scale,
and rises or falls as the automobile
ascends or descends a slope, showing
both the fact and the degree of in
clination.
CULTIVATION CF BACILLI.
Workroom Where Prof. Behring Car
ries on Scientific Investigations.
Hundreds of scientists are engaged
in the work of searching for the at
present unknown germ which will kill
some oth>r deadly germ. Only the few
privileged favorites ever see the se
cret workroom where the cultivation
Prof, vcn Behring in His Laboratory.
of the germs is carried on year after
year.
in one of the illustrations is seen
the eminent scientist, Prof, von Beh
ring, seated in his bacilli breeding
laboratory. The vessels on the shelves
contain enough deadly germs to de
populate a big city. The other illus
tration shows his assistants at work
Inoculating a Horse.
experimenting on a living animal in
the Institute for Hygiene and Thera
peutic Experiment, of which he is the
director.
WATERWALKING SHOES.
Novel Footgear by Aid of Which One
Can Skim the Water.
Frederick A. Oldfield, of Memphis,
Tenn., has invented a pair of water
Inventor Walking on the Water.
walking shoes with which he hopes
to cross the English channel some
time during the present summer. Each
shoe consists of a beechwood box four
feet in length, 18 inches in depth, and
one foot in width. In order that the
shoes may skim easily over the sur
face, five planes are secured to the
bottom of each shoe. The shoes are
fastened to the foot by means of
clamps such as those used on roller
skates, the foot being inserted through
a hole in the top of the shoe, and the
ordinary leather boot being clamped
in place. A covering of rubber around
the opening protects the wearer of the
shoe from splashing of water. The
shoes weigh five pounds each.
Mr. Oldfield has just completed a
trip from Cincinnati to New Orleans,
which consumed 41 days, 24 more than
the time in which he expected to ful
fill the task. In the photographs here
presented, Mr. Oldfield is pictured in
The Water Shces, Showing Top and
Bottom.
the Mississippi river off Memphis. He
has just completed the feat of turning
a circle.
A USEFUL NEW METAL.
Makes the Production of Hydrogen an
Easy Matter.
Chemical substances known hither
to only as scientific curiosities are dai
ly being put to uses sufficiently valua
ble to warrant their preparation in
commercial quantities. In this sense
the metal calcium is “new,” for al
though long registered among the
elements, its uses in the arts have
only recently been discovered. A re
cent article by J. Escard in L'Eclai
rage Electrique says:
“This curious metal, light, combus
tible, silver-colered, and forming ordi
nary lime by oxidation, is now obtained
by divers chemical processes, common
ly electrolysis of its melted salts.
Moissan, on the one hand, and Mes
srs. Gin and Leleux on the other, have
also prepared metallic calcium from
the calicum carbid that is used to
make acetylene gas. The high tem
perature of the electric furnace, which
is utilized to make the carbid by syn
thesis, may also dissociate this com
pound; the carbon alone remains in
the crucible, while the calcium distils
off and is condensed.
"Calcium, either pure or in combina
tion, is certainly destined to a brilliant
future. More tractable than sodium
and less violent in its reactions, it
would appear to be specifically adapt
ed to applications in metallurgy that
require the use of reducing substances
to purify molten metals at the moment
of casting.
As found in commerce, this metal
is sold in the form of small bars con
sisting of 98 per cent, pure calcium.
Its mean density is 1.72; that is it is
almost twice as light as aluminum. It
alters slowly in dry air, but very rap
idly in moisture. It burns with a very
bright white flame. Its hardness is
greater than that of sodium, lead, or
tin. and is comparable to that of alu
minum, though slightly less than that
of zinc or magnesium.
"Calcium hydrid was shown to the
academy last year by George Jau
bert, under the name of hydrolith (hy
drogen-stone).Under the ac
tion of water at ordinary tempera
tures, the hydrid decomposes like cal
cium carbid, giving off, not acetylene,
but hydrogen.
“To make the new- product indus
trially, metallic calcium is heated in
horizontal retorts, kept at a high tem
perature, in which a current of gase
ous hydrogen circulates; after some
hours all the calcium is changed into
hydrid. The hydrolith then appears
as irregular, porous, white or gray
fragments, of considerable hardness,
insoluble in ordinary solvents, but in
stantly decomposed by cold water. It
contains 90 per cent, of the pure com
pound; in these conditions a kilogram
(2 1-5 pounds) of hydrolith gives off a
cubic meter of pure hydrogen. The
importance of the new product for the
preparation of gas in aeronautics has
been noted; the process has already
been utilized la the inflation of bal
FAULT IN ROADBEDS
TOO FLEXIBLE AND YIELDING,
SAYS ENGINEER.
J. W. Schaub, of Chicago, Has Plan
Which He Thinks Will Remedy
This Defect—Outline of Fu
ture Railway Track.
That modern railway tracks, espe
cially in this country, are much too
flexible and yielding, and that im
provement lies in the direction of
making the roadbed as rigid and un
yielding as possible, are the assertions
made by J. W. Schaub in a paper read
recently before the Western Society of
Engineers in Chicago. To quote an
abstract printed in The Railway Age
(Chicago) Mr. Schaub says:
“If yo« have ever noticed the ap
proach of a heavy train on a modern
railway, bv keeping your eye down
near the track, you could not have
failed to notice the extraordinary
wave in the track which is formed in
front of the engine. This wave ap
pears to be about twice the height
It actually is, as it is formed not only
r
than a lighter rail does. Something
must be left for fies, ballast and sub
structure to do. He writes:
“If the original form of railway
track, with its strap rails laid on longi
tudinal timbers resting on crossties,
had been developed along these lines
to its logical conclusion, the present
form of railway track would have been
unknown. I„et us see what are some
of the defects of the present crosstie
system of rail support: In the first
place it is not mechanical. Given a
line of rails which have to carry mov
ing loads reaching 20,000 or 30,000
pounds more per wheel, the loads
which they carry must be distributed
over large areas. The crosstie system
accomplishes this by inserting 16 to
20 independent supports under each
80 feet of rail, and upon the track de
partment is placed the impossible task
of so adjusting these supports that
each shall bear an equal part of the
load. This is the real secret of the
enorous amount of labor spent on sur
facing a track, in order to carry trains
at high speed, and it is a work that
goes on forever. Moreover, assuming
a joint has not been kept up to sur
face, what happens when a wheel
passes over it? Within certain limits
the ends of the rail will deflect until
1
The Future Railway Track.
Design for permanent way, by W. J. Sehaub.
by depressing the track immediately
under the engine, but the track im
mediately in front is actually lifted,
thereby forming a true wave motion.
If the train is moving at a high rate
of speed as it passes, you will be im
pressed by the noise and the lack of
rigidity of the whole structure. The
dynamic action of the moving load
must be absorbed by the rails, the
ties, and the substructure underneath.
This tends to push the entire track in
front of the wave, and this yielding of
the track accounts largely for the
creeping of the rails. If the ballast
is hard and frozen, as well as the sub
structure. underneath the rails must
absorb the bulk of this energy; and
if the conditions are such as to pro
duce an uneven hardness, such as a
sudden frost in earth full of moisture,
when combined, perhaps, with a low
joint, the chances are that a broken
rail will result.”
The trouble Cannot be remedied
solely by strengthening the rail, Mr.
Schaub thinks. Increasing the weight
of the rail in a track, he says, does
not necessarily make a better track
I the tie receives a firm bearing; and all
track shows, more or less, the effect of
the lack of continuity in the rail By
the dip of the rail at every joint. This
happens in an iftstant, when the opera
tion is repeated by the next wheel,
and so on.”
The remedy, the author is sure, lies
in going back to the system of longi
tudinal support embodied in the aid
fashioned lengthwise “sleeper,” but
this must be combined with the cross
tie, not substituted for it. Steel sleep
ers without crossties are being tried
experimentally on the Pennsylvania
road, and, according to Mr. Schaub,
they are not successful, it being found
impossible to keep the track in sur
face. “The system of longitudinal sup
port will never prevail,” he asserts,
“unless combined with some trans
'--verse support.” The writer proposes
to accomplish this result by strength
ening the present form of track with
longitudinal steel beams and timbers,
between which the ballast is confined,
so that an arch action can take place,
with the thrust of the arch taken up
by tie-rods.—Literary Digest.
LIZARD GUARDS SLEEPERS.
Animal Kills Flies While Trainmen
Are Slumbering.
In the caboose of a freight train
which makes daily trips to New Hav
en, Conn., is a pet lizard, w-hich the
train crew declares is a substitute for
screens and blinds. When the ca
boose is laid by at the terminals or
other stopping places and the crew
lie down for a siesta they say the
lizard stands watch on the breasts
of the sleepers. Coolly waiting its
chance it snaps up flies or insects
which try to disturb the crew. The
lizard is said to be such a favorite
With' the men they would fight any
one who said a word against it.
The same crew say they have a rem
edy for bedbugs which infest their ca
boose after hoboes have paid it a visit.
They get a jar of black ants, which
they turn loose in the sleeping quar
ters. The ants seek out and destroy
the bedbugs industriously.
A Railroad University.
More than 10,000 men are in daily
attendance upon the largest railroad
university in the United States, which
is conducted by the Pennsylvania rail
road at Altoona, Pa. Altoona is a busy
little city of 50,000 persons, and for
the month of December, 1006, 13,000
men received at that point pay checks
aggregating $825,000 from the one cor
poration which practically controls the
destinies of the municipal population.
First of all, as Frederic Rlount War
ren points out in the Engineering
Magazine, Altoona is a railroad city,
where the industries, clubs, churches
and society exist in a railroad atmos
phere. It is the home of the largest
freight yard in the world, this being
seven miles long and from end to
end accommodating a total of 221
miles of track. In one month last
year 154,442 cars passed through the
town. The total movement of freight
cars through the Altoona yards in one
year was 2,004.603: the average a day
is about 6,000 cars. Ninety-nine freight
trains have been known to come in
from the west in a single day of 24
hours.
Was in a Quandary.
The following letter was recently
received by the trouble department
of the M., K. & T. Railway company
from a section foreman:
Dear Sir—In Reply to your letter of
4-17 in Regard to that Old Black Bob
tail Cow that Cow Has lived on the
Right a Way for the last Six years &
She Walks Right over the Cattle gards
Just as there Was none there & there
is no guard that Will Stop Her. She
is in on the Rite of Way Every Day
& there is no train that Will Hit Hur
for She is all time on the look out i
Have notified the owner and he Says
She Will take car of Herself So 1
Dont no What to Doo With Her. Your*
truly.—Law Notes.
BIG SUIT OVER SMALL SUM.
Frenchman Piles Up Costs Against a
Railroad for an Overcharge.
A wealthy Frenchman recently
bought a ticket at a Paris railway
terminus but missed the train he in
tended to take. While waiting for
the next train, which left two hours
later, he studied the company's tariff
to pass away the time.
He then found, says the Railway
and Engineering Review, that he had
been charged 14 francs 45 centimes,
whereas the proper fare was only 14
francs 42 centimes. He asked for his
money back at the office, but without
result. An Interview with the station
master was also unsuccessful. He
afterward wrote a number of letters
to the company, but received no an
swer. He then commenced an action
to recover the three centimes.
He won the action in the lower
court, but the company took it to the
appeal court, afterward to the Cour
de Cassation. F.oth courts dismissed
the appeal and the company was
ordered to pay the plaintiff the three
centimes.
The cost of the company amounted
to $8,250 francs, or $1,650.
Newest Railroad Ties.
The latest improvement in railroad
ties is a combination of wood and
metal which, it is claimed, solves the
present difficulties. The amount of
wood employed is quite small as com
pared with that entering into a full
tie, and yet it is said to be sufficient
to impart the same elasticity to the
roadbed as is experienced when the
wooden ties are used. In addition to
this, the wood used in the combina
tion is so protected that its life is
greatly prolonged. This steel tie is
of the same length as the wooden one,
eight feet, and consists of steel chan
nels five inches deep. The wood made
use of is in the shape of bearings,
which are two feet long, eight feet
wide and six feet deep, and these
form a solid foundation for the rails.
The tracks are spiked in the usual
manner. The wooden bearings becon>
ing damaged by use or otherwise may
be replaced by the removal of one
bolt without disturbing the tie. Its
increased length of life as compared
with the tie is due to the fact that
it does not come in contact with the
ground.
Europe’s Top Railway Speed.
The German Railway Journal Claims
i that the greatest speed ever attained
in Europe by a steam-driven train has
been reached on several trips during
the past week between Munich and
Augsburg on the Bavarian State rail
way.
The express train locomotives pull
ed trains weighing 150 tons at a maxi
mum speed of 96*4 miles per hour,
which was maintained for a considera
ble period.
VILLAGE IN ITSELF
COMPLETENESS OF RICH MAN’S
COUNTRY HOME.
All the Necessities and Most of the
Luxuries of Life Are Afforded
Him Within His Own
Domain.
In buying land for a city house the
millionaire deals with square feet;
but for a country mansion he pur
chases a tract of so many square
miles. This extensive scale is car
ried through in all the arrangements.
When the estate is ready for occu
pancy the owner finds himself lord
of a beautiful acreage, contributing
to his ever luxurious want—all from
its own resources.
To plan a country house is almost
like planning to build a village. The
large estate is a very complete af
fair, indeed. Its center is the house,
which must be large enough to not
only properly accommodate the own
er and his family, but it must contain
suites of rooms for the numerous
guests with which it will be filled for
the week-ends and for longer periods.
The stable and the carriage-house are,
in their way, quite as necessary as
the dwelling. Many a great stable
vies with the residence in size and
elegance of equipment. If the estate
is a large one, covering many acres,
there is a farmhouse for the farmer,
a farmbarn and outbuildings in which
each particular industry of the farm
will have its own headquarters. If
the owner is addicted to polo, there
is a third and complete stable lor the
ponies. There is a chicken-house for
the chickens and other fowls, and,
if this feature is sufficiently devel
oped, a special residence for the per
son having this matter in charge.
Dogs, if kept in ample variety, will
have well appointed kennels and a
caretaker's house in close proximity.
There is a dairy, with* perhaps a
springhouse and cooling room for the
milk, and tiled-lined rooms in which
the butter will be made. The mar
ket garden has its array of hot-beds,
and the conservatories in which rare
plants are raised for the decoration
of the house are as extensive as those
in which plants are propagated for
the outdoor gardens. Nor should the
automobile house be overlooked, since
this popular vehicle competes with
the horse in meeting the needs of the
house transportation; and, as likely
as not a repair shop forms a neces
sary adjunct to it.
Buildings that minister to the phys
ical necessities of the estate are also
numerous. Every sequestrated es
tate—and almost all country estates
are sequestrated, since that is an
item of value in living in the country
—requires its own water supply. It
is needless to say that it is often a
most expensive feature, calling not
only for steam pumps and elaborate
piping, but for special reservoirs
which in their developed form will be
lined with enameled brick.—Broad
way Magazine.
To Balance.
For more than a week the teacher
had been giving lessons on the dog,
and so when the inspector came
down and chose that very subject
there seemed every prospect of the
class distinguishing itself on brilliant
essays about our canine friend.
Things were progressing quite satis
factorily, ahd the master was con
gratulating himself on the trouble he
had taken, when, alas! a question was
asked which made him tremble for
the reputation of his scholars.
"Why does a dog hang his tongue
out of his mouth?” asked the in
spector.
"Yes, my boy?" he said, to a bright
looking lad who held up his hand,
wdiile the light of genius was in his
eye.
“Please, sir,” cried the pupil, "it’s
to balance his tail!"
And the teacher groaned in an
guish.
Peculiarity of Hair.
A woman leading two children
stepped into a barber shop with her
charges.
"I want their hair trimmed,” she
said, “but not all the way round. I
only want it trimmed off even. It is
just the right length on the right
side, but too long on the left side. I
had their hair trimmed only a little
while ago, and here it is noticeably
longer on the left side. I don't be
lieve it was trimmed evenly in the
first place.”
’ Oh, yes, It was," the barber as
sured her. "It grows faster on the
left side, that is all. Most people's
hair does grow faster on that side,
but it is on children's heads that we
are most likely to notice it.”
Survivors of Seminole War.
The Seminole war was put down 76
years ago. At Watrous, N. M., there
is a venerable and worthy patriarch
named .Madison Horn, whose neigh
bors boast that he is the sole survivor
of the Florida war. He is 88 and as
spry as a cricket. At West Palm
Beach, Fla., there is a certain Judge
Andrew Jackson Lewis—born in
South Carolina, by the way—who
bears honorable scars as the result of
wounds received while he was fight
ing as a private in the ranks of a
South Carolina regiment against the
Seminoles. Judge Lewis is 89, and
although he fought four years in the
confederate army he looks strong and
active enough to shoulder his gun
again and keep step to the drum's
tap.
LEFT IT TO THTi^Ti^
Amateur Fancier Thought His
sponsibility Had Ended.
An Indiana man tells of the -ffnH
of an author belonging to the HoZ
school of historical novelists to '
m his leisure time as a “hen V
er” in that state. The ‘ litera"^
sons venture afforded his agricuitw
neighbors no end of amusement
During the first year the amateu
farmer discovered that all his m.
chickens, which were confined !
coops, were languishing at the
of death. The novelist went ovefn
“hen literature” to locate the cause!
the trouble, but to no avail. °
Finally he called upon an old cha.
named Rawlins, to whom he But th
question: lul
“What do you suppose is the mat
ter with those chickens?”
“Well, I dunno,” said Rawlia,
“What do you feed ’em?” B
“Feed them!” exclaimed the novel
isMarmer. “Why, I don't feed then
anything!” uren
Then, how d you suppose the<
was a-goin’ to live?”
'I presumed,” replied the literar
person, “that the old hens had mill
enough for them now.”-Lippincott’,
Magazine.
Used Ink for Bluing.
“One can never be too careful aboui
apparently harmless articles setting
about the house,” said a housewife the
other day. “Not long ago my husband
brought home one of those big tall hot
ties Of ink from the office, it had got
to be such a nuisance buying one ol
the small five-cent bottles every time
we ran out of ink, that he said he
would bring home a supply.
“About a week after that I got a
new maid, and when she did the wash
ing she took the big bottle of ink for
bluing. Of course every stitch of our
white clothes in the washing was
ruined.”
Rule cf Cornish Chapels.
In Cornish (Eng.) chapels the in
variable rule is for the men to sit
on one side of the building and the
women on the other.
A visitor and his fiancee, who are
staying in the district, went to chapel,
and just before the service began the
young man was greatly astonished
when the chapel steward, observing
that the couple were seated in the
same pew, came over to him and, in
an audible voice, said: "Come on out
of that, me son; we don't ’ave no
sweetheartin’ ’ere.”
Her Secret Sorrow.
“That woman over there has some
hidden sorrow,” declared the sym
pathetic one, as she came in and took
her seat at a table not far away. "J
have often noticed her. See. Her
companion orders everything she
could possibly want, and yet she sits
there silent with a face like a mask.
I am awfully sorry for her."
"Don't you worry,” advised her pes
simistic friend. "That’s her husband
with her. She’s bored, that's all.”
A Big Loser.
Mrs. Myles—I see the 24-yearold
son of a London dry goods man is a
bankrupt, having managed to get rid
of $2,100,000 since he came of age.
Mrs. Styles—Oh, well, boys will be
boys!
Mrs. Myles—Well, this looks as If
a boy had an ambition to be a
bridge whist player.
Cause for Resentment.
London Punch suggests as a reason
for Raisuli’s hatred for Caid McLean
that it was the latter who introduced
bagpipes in Morocco.
IIIIIIIIIU[llllumMnM.l.l.|»lll»ai.'IIIIIIMIIIIIIlllllllllUi:
FOOD
, FACTS
Grape-Nuts
FOOD
A Body Balance
People hesitate at the statemen
he famous food, Grape-Nuts, 511
Much nourishment from one P(iuni'
:an be absorbed by the system
ten pounds of meat, bread, w e
pats. Ten pounds of meat nng:
tain more nourishment than on
pf Grape-Nuts, but not in shape,
the system will absorb as larg up
portion of, as the body can
from one pound of Giape-Nats.
This food contains the selected
pf wheat and barley which ■ „
pared and by natural means. v rf
gested, transformed into®
sugar, ready for immediate ^
tion. People in all parts of
testify to the value of Grtpe^'#.
A Mo. man says: 1 have [45
pounds on Grape-Nuts foo ■ p,e;
truly recommend it to t etc.
He had been eating meat, or • ^
right along, but there ^ jjuu
pounds of added flesh unti
food was used. , trtH
One curious feature regaram^
salth food rs that its use ' fitk
ie weight of a corpulent P ^ th*
k OI tl 1 , 1 to
lhealthv flesh, and wiii a“
lhealtny nesn, mopf™
eight of a thin person 11 . „ce of
.urished. There is abundant
■idonce to prove this. h0(jv i® ‘
Grape-Nuts balances the
mdition of true health. - GripC
ctlon of food elements maK ^
iits rood and valuable. - ^
is goou anu -- , ,
-or and powerful nourish^ ,
have made frlencs
- v.,.tc fa*--.
n have made Grape-- ^
here's a Reason." Rettd
Wellville," in phgs.