IN

SAVING THE OLD POLES

the days when timber was plentiful in this country the railroads and telephone companies did not hesitate to replace a pole when it had become decayed below the ground but now-a-days when every pole replaced means an expense of from eighteen to twenty-five dollars, depending upon the size of the pole and the amount of labor involved, they are looking about for some means to reduce this

expense.

A process for resetting partly decayed telephone poles has recently been devised

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inside diameter to a lesser degree at that point.

A filling of earth is placed inside the tube to the height of the ring, and the end of the pole is prepared for replacement in the tube, or socket, as it is called, by tapering the end with a draw-knife until it is of the right size to fit the ring in the socket.

A thick mixture of cement, sand and water is then poured into the socket and the end of the pole set into this. The cement mixture thus displaced fills up every portion of the socket about the pole and when hard makes a permanent re

by a Pittsburg man which promises to reduce the cost and labor involved in making the pole as good as new.

If, for example, the pole has become rotted away at the surface of the ground it is first of all sawn off even with the surface, then the upper portion is lifted by means of jacks and set to one side. All this without disturbing the wires at the top.

The decayed end of the pole is now pulled out of the ground and the hole enlarged to receive a steel tube having an inside diameter approximately that of the base of the pole.

The tube is from six to eight feet in length, depending upon the diameter, and has a ring formed in its surface about two feet from the top, thus bringing the

pair that will last for years. After setting the pole with its socket straight in the hole the earth is tamped in about the socket and the resetting process is complete.

The time required to reset the pole is about one hour and the cost from seven to nine dollars. A new pole would cost from eighteen to twenty-five dollars.

MODEL THAT SELLS
ELECTRICITY

THE model shown in the illustration represents a modern two-story factory with machine shop, pattern shop, drafting-room and office, and is complete

to the last detail in everything that makes up such a factory.

It was built by an American electric lighting and power company to advertise its electric motor service facilities, and has attracted considerable attention among manufacturers at the various industrial expositions where it has been shown.

Everything that is to be found in the modern factory is reproduced here in miniature. Machine tools of every variety, work benches equipped with vices and hand tools. The machinery runs and the workmen operate it in an almost lifelike manner.

In the drafting-room are drawing tables, filing cabinets, blue-prints scattered about in a confusion that indicates a rush of business, while the office has a baby typewriter, roll-top desk and files of the most up-to-date type.

Every department of the shop has its own electric motor suspended from the ceiling, which drives the machinery and the whole plant is lighted with tiny electric lights hanging above each bench or machine.

The model is about six feet long by three feet high and twenty-one inches deep. It took two months to build it and it cost more than three hundred dollars.

YOUNGEST OF MOTORISTS

PROBABLY the youngest motorist in

the world is Master F. Newman of Kensal Green, England, who, though only five years old, runs a perfectly constructed automobile of 12 horse power, in which he takes as his guest his little sister, aged 21⁄2 years. It is a gasoline car, fully equipped with a top and accessories, and accommodating four little passengers. Master Newman looks after it himself, in the garage and on the road, filling the tank with gasoline, adjusting the carburetor and all other details.

It steers from the right hand side and cranks up from the side, just forward of the front seat. It has light bicycle wheels with steel spokes, instead of the regulation artillery or automobile wheels, and is so light that the little owner can easily

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MUD-SPLASHING NUISANCE

OVERCOME

IT may be because the French women objected to having their beautiful gowns splashed with mud from the wheels of motor cars or because the Frenchman has always been a leader in improving the motor vehicle, at any rate an automobile club of Versailles recently arranged a competition among inventors for the best device to overcome the mudsplashing nuisance.

For testing the various devices a number of large white boards, divided into squares by vertical and horizontal lines, were set up on each side of a previously prepared mud track.

The cars with the fenders attached to the wheels were driven over the course in two directions at a minimum speed of fifteen miles an hour and a record established of the efficiency of the anti-splashing mechanism by the number of squares on the boards splashed as the car passed.

Later an examination was made by the judges to pass on the mechanical construction, ease of attachment, method of cleaning and general appearance of each device.

About half of the fenders entered in the contest were found inefficient and allowed mud to be scattered freely in all directions, while others were mechanically complicated and of crude appearance.

The winning fender consisted of a leather bound brush suspended from the hub cap of the wheel and held in place by two springs and an extension of the frame up to the mud guard of the car to prevent the brush from revolving with the wheel.

The price asked for each device was taken into consideration in determining its availability for general use. Some of the fenders were offered as low as sixteen dollars per set while others were priced as high as one hundred dollars.

ACROSS SEAS IN A SAIL BOAT

ON

NE of the most extraordinary sea trips ever made by a small sailing craft was made in the Sea Bird which

THE Sea Bird LEAVING FOR HER TRIP ACROSS THE

with a crew of four men, and two weeks and four days later the little yacht had completed a journey across the Atlantic.

One of the party stated, on his return, that the only inconvenience they suffered was that a can of kerosene on board leaked and flavored every potato they had aboard. They experienced only one storm during the trip and weathered it without incident other than a sleepless night.

The food on board would have lasted for a month and daily observations were taken of latitude and longitude during the voyage and an interesting log made of the entire trip. The

by sprocket and chain to the driving wheel. The driving wheel is set in the rear end of a movable frame pivoted on the corner shaft; it rises and falls readily to cover all road inequalities.

STEEL CAR PROVES ITS WORTH

SINCE the advent of this new type of

carrier, accidents upon the roads which have adopted it have been few, but a recent collision between two electric cars doing duty upon a branch line of one of the large railroads was of such a nature as to give exact knowledge of what might be expected of the all-steel car under such conditions.

Through a misunderstanding of orders the two cars shown in the illustration met at a high rate of speed on a curve. Both cars were filled with passengers. The

DESIGNING COSTUMES FOR THE STAGE

THE 'HE art of designing stage costumes is pursued by a New York woman. For the purpose of presenting the costumes for an entire play, after studying the playwright's manuscript, she makes paper-doll manikins, painted and dressed as they will appear in the production. These figures she displays on a miniature electrically lighted stage, with the special scenery designed for the piece.

The miniature stage is an exact reproduction of a real stage, with proscenium, wings, flies, back drop, shifts and cur

motormen jumped, the passengers were somewhat bruised by the shock but none was killed and there was not a bone broken. Beyond the point where the steel structure shows distortion the car frame and roof were found in perfect condition. The damage was confined to the portions. of the cars which came in contact in the collision and there was no tendency to telescope as would have been the case with wooden cars.

The pointed ends of the cars locked fast in each other's grip and the wheels. did not leave the track.

Evidently the all-steel car has fully proved its right to a place among traveling vehicles. It is about the safest device that man could devise to carry passengers at a high rate of speed over two rails.