THE YACHT ALVINA, WHICH BORE THE BENEDICT EXPLORING PARTY FROM NEW YORK CITY TO THE UPPER AMAZON. It is hoped that important zoological and geographical information may be discovered by this expedition. CRANKING WITH DANGER ELIMINATED THE next best thing to a self cranking device for an automobile engine is a means of cranking the motor by hand with the usual labor lessened and the danger from backfiring of the engine removed. Such a device has just been produced by a manufacturer of a shock absorbing mechanism and to some extent the new cranking apparatus operates along the same lines. In order to reduce the labor of turning the engine, over gearing is arranged so as to give about a two to one reduction of the power usually required for the operation. Beside this the device is so constructed that a rachet holds the crank from backing in case of a premature explosion in one of the cylinders of the engine. In case such an explosion occurs only the larger of the two reducing gears which holds to the shaft of the engine, turns, the smaller one being connected to the crank through a friction mechanism permitting the crank to remain stationary. The apparatus can be fitted to any car without a change in its construction and in view of the fact that many of the socalled self-cranking devices are not altogether satisfactory the new safety crank is likely to meet with a ready sale. This device should keep the novice out of danger, who too frequently receives bruises or even a broken arm from backfiring of the engine, while he is straining, with might and main, to get the perverse engine to start. POPULAR SCIENCE 113 MACHINE FOR CREOSOTING POLES T is at or near the ground line that a pole is most subject to decay, for here it is exposed to moisture of the ground. and to the air as well and hence provides an excellent place for destructive insect life. In order to preserve the pole against decay, it is unnecessary to treat more than a limited zone in the neighborhood of the ground line. Recently a machine. has been perfected with creosoted oil, or other preservatives. The oil is forced into the wood by means of air pressure. The machine, as shown in the accompanying illustrations, is provided with a boiler for generating steam with which the air compressor is operated and with which steam coils are heated to warm the oil that is stored in a reservoir in the middle of the machine. A pair of iron. skids will be observed extending crosswise of the machine, and upon these the poles are supported. Two iron rings, as shown in the illustrations, may be opened to admit the pole, after which they are closed by operating a OFFICIAL WASTE BASKET SEARCHERS. Miss Kate Shea (left), and Mrs. Mary Warren (right). hold these peculiar positions at the Treasury Department in Washington. Mrs. Warren has been so employed for 40 years. She has rescued in this time nearly $1.000.000 in money and bonds. She once found $10.000 worth of bills in a package. Miss Shea has been her assistant for 10 years. hand wheel. A spool bearing a canvas band three feet wide is then revolved by a hand wheel so as to wrap the cloth A REMARKABLE BOLT OF CHAIN LIGHTNING. This photo, snapped at Perth, North Dakota, shows the lightning breaking from clouds to earth in two outlets. The picture had clearly caught the appearance of trees and water in the distance, but on approaching to this line of trees it was found to be merely a mirage. These mirages are often found in Arizona and the South west, generally on very flat surfaces of sand and alkali, on extremely hot days. this unique specimen is that it presents a complete cast, with absolute distinctness, of the hitherto practically unknown outer covering of these herbivorous dinosaurs. belonging to the closing period of the age of reptiles. During the upper cretaceous period, according to geological reckoning, about three millions of years ago, these huge kangaroo shaped, waterinhabiting creatures were very abundant in western North America. They were from fifteen to sixteen feet or more in height, and measured some thirty feet in length. The skeletons, or hard parts, have been known for a number of years, having been found by Prof. Cope, the pioneer fossil explorer and scientist, and by others. The Museum has mounted in its striking trachodon group a fine Cope specimen, represented in feeding posture. Trachodons lived near the close of the Age of Reptiles in the Upper Cretaceous and had a wide geographical distribution, their remains having been found from New Jersey to Montana. A suggestion of the great antiquity of these specimens is given by the fact that since the animals died, layers of rock aggregating many thousand feet in vertical thickness have been slowly deposited along the Atlantic coast. COMBINED CHURCH AND Y. M. C. A. HOUSE ON A BOAT. Where the lowly fishermen of San Pedro Bay, Cal., may keep in touch with the better life. called a bolt bar at one end of which is located a false bolt which fits into the lock-plate in the door jam in such a position that the bolt bar will lie flat against the jam and come between it and the door when the latter is closed. Along the bolt bar near the opposite end of the false bolt are cut a number of slots. The door is shut holding the plate between it and the jam and a lock so made that it slips over the bolt bar, is fitted snugly against the edge of the door and the key in the lock turned. The cylinder of the lock carries a disc which fits into the slot in the bolt bar nearest the edge of the door and holds it securely, as shown in one of the illustrations. The device is small and can be readily carried in the pocket. |