French Mail Auto THE accompanying illustration shows

a new type of French automobile constructed for the postal and telegraph departments of the City of Paris. The officials of this department have been experimenting with autos for several years for this service, and it is stated that they have found exactly what they have. been seeking for in this type of construction. It is maintained that alcohol, steam and electricity have been tried successively for power in operating these autos, and the latter was finally decided upon as being the most satisfactory. There are fifteen cars in operation, a fact which assures constant service between the depots and the various substations. The accompanying view shows very well the general form and appearance of the vehicle and the method of operation. There are two comfortable seats provided, one for the chauffeur as well as for an assistant, and the seats are sufficiently raised to allow the road to be seen for a considerable distance ahead.

The batteries of these automobiles are charged in the post office at certain hours, and they last for five hours without recharging. There are eight forward speeds provided, and two backward speeds, by the controlling apparatus. The accumulators are located in the rear.

The French Government, unlike that of

Machine Sets Ads PRINTERS are likely to undergo a

AUTO FOR FRENCH POSTAL SERVICE.

repetition of the hardship they endured a few years ago when the introduction of the Mergentraler type-casting machine temporarily threw so large a number of them out of work. But it is the man who sets advertisements that is threatened this time. Hitherto, owing to the varied styles of types used in the advertising columns, hand work in this department has been relied upon almost absolutely. On the Mergenthaler and similar machines, only one style of type can be set in each line, and this line is set solid; if the slightest error be made in the first casting, to rectify the mistake the whole line. must be reset.

These defects in the Mergenthaler and similar machines have long exercised the mechanical faculties of inventors, without, however, practical results being thereby secured. However, two New York men have solved the problem. Their invention casts individual types, assembles them in words, and then, when the line is completed, transfers them to the galley: A type-setting machine is operated much like a type-writer, a keyboard being employed. In the new device, on the matrix of each key the operator controls four different fonts or styles of type. The use of a lever brings the font desired into service. The number of fonts may be indefinitely increased by multiplying the number of faces on the matrix bar, though for most purposes four fonts will. be ample. The operator can run through his copy, inserting here a word in italics, there a word in full-faced Roman, etc., as desired. The mold for each letter, as has been implied, is independent. The various matrices of the bar are brought to position over the mold by a spring, which slides the bar until it is arrested against one of a series of stops set by a key of the keyboard.

For Trapping Thugs

down. Meantime the intruder, all unconscious that an alarm has been rung in, virtually walks into a trap; and if the call is promptly responded to, is soon in the lock-up.

Boat that Fumigates

THE German East African Colony, last

year, were exposed to special danger of plague infection from Zanzibar, and though no accidents occurred, the Colonial Department decided to take special

FUMIGATING AND FIRE-FIGHTING BOAT.

measures of precaution against this dangerous epidemic. Orders were therefore placed for a completely equipped disinfecting and fire-extinguishing vessel.

call the police by telephone, adds a new hazard to the ever-increasing dangers of the burglar's profession. When an attempt is made to force a window or door with which the proper connections have been made, an electric current operates a phonograph in the garret. The machine calls up central and asks for the police station. The phonograph then informs the officers of the robbery, giving street and number, and repeats this information as long as the receiver is

The

Salaam by the Steamer "Prinzessin" of the German East African Line. boat has the type of a lighter and is about 50 feet in length, 13 feet in width and 3 feet 4 inches deep. Outside of a large disinfecting, rat-destroying and fire-extinguishing apparatus on the Clayton system the boat contains a tubular boiler for the operation of the system, and a fire engine of an output of about 150 tons water per hour. In the middle part (where the general fumigating ap

paratus, boiler and fire engine are installed) the vessel is open. Beside the boiler, placed at the rear of the vessel,

there are located coal bunkers for four tons, and in the center of the boat, sulphur tanks for two tons of sulphur, in addition to the hose for conveying the gas into the vessels to be fumigated. In front of the disinfecting apparatus there is installed the fire engine, while in the fore part of the boat will be found the boiler-feeding tank and the box containing chains and accessories. The rudder apparatus is located on the fore deck, and an undulated-sheet roof to protect the whole of the machinery extends throughout the length of the boat.

It is a special advantage of Clayton gas that not only rats, which are known to play an important part in the transmission of the plague, but any other agents propagating the disease are destroyed by it, as well. It may be said that the use of carbonic acid for the destruction of rats is being gradually abandoned, as rats have been found to stand a relatively high percentage of this gas; viz., up to thirty per cent, without being destroyed. Nor has producer gas been generally adopted for the purpose in question, owing to its toxic effect on man, in conjunction with absence of any smell, which gives no warning of peril.

Motor Boat for Freight

THE accompanying illustration shows

the sea-going motor barge Pickford's "Wasp," said to be the first English motor-propelled cargo boat. In its particular field the vessel parallels the work done on land by the motor truck. If practicable on sea such a craft should be eminently more so on lakes and rivers. The "Wasp" is equipped with a 26horsepower motor, and for fuel Russian petroleum is employed. She is built of steel. The mast and derrick are of pine, and the steering wheel of teakwood, and is so placed that the helmsman can handle the boat and engine from a strong shelter engine room is a space to be used for arranged around the wheel. Aft of the

stores.

Gives Diver Strength

THE difficulty a diver experiences in

lifting weights beneath the water is partly overcome by a new Italian invention. This is a device worked out by Signor Restucci, and which has been formally adopted by his government. The mechanism is a diving suit, the artificial arms of which are worked from the inside by the wearer. The leverage

Latest Torpedo Boat GASOLINE torpedo boat is the A latest addition to the British navy. The new craft is 60 feet in length and nine feet in beam, being much smaller than the average steam-propelled torpedo boat. The vessel has these advantages: It is small, light and fast. It will carry a load of three tons, is equipped with three propellers, and can make twentyfour knots an hour.

It is maintained by eminent naval engineers, that on account of the small size, the shallow draft and great radius of action, as well as the very great speed shown by this form of torpedo boat, success is assured for this type of craft for coast defense purposes, and it is claimed that it also has given excellent account of itself in rough seas, with very little wash when traveling at full speed. One of the important and interesting points in connection with this boat is that

the fuel tank forms no part of the structure of the hull itself, and in case there is any damage to the hull, the gasoline will not find its way into the interior of the vessel, and in this manner be a source of danger, but the fuel will pass outside, and all risk is thus avoided.

To Stop Runaway Car THE New Jersey and Hudson River

Railway, an electric line, has adopted an unusual kind of stopping device for the steep places on the Palisades, along the Hudson. The cars ascend the cliffs in a zigzag course at an average grade of 7 per cent. In the event of a car's running away, a siding track, with the switch point always in direct connection. with the main track, serves to draw off the car. The rails of this siding are always buried in sand.. The friction between the sand and the wheels, of course, brings the runaway at once to a stop. On each side of the switch rail is built a trough, which holds the sand. The rail is covered to a depth of two and one-half inches. Numerous tests have proved the efficiency of the apparatus.

The device should be of value in saving property and lives.

T frequently happens, in consequence of industrial development and the technical skill resulting therefrom, that a traditional industry disappears from the land of its birth, killed by outside competition. So, Venice-for example has long since ceased to be the center for the manufacture of mirrors; but it seems now, on the other hand, as though Persia would still continue to be the producer of carpets. In short, "Persian carpet" is not a mere name. The proof is that the customs reports of the Empire of the Shah, imperfect and incomplete as they are, show an annual exportation of from 3,000 to 4,000 bales of carpets, valued at not less than $350,000.

Carpet-making may be considered to be the true natural industry of Persia; and, being carried on in the most primitive fashion, it occupies thousands of hands. It is not only the fixed population that engage in it, but the nomads also. The whole world knows of the carpets of Shiraz, of Kirman, of Meshed, of Sultan-Abad and Tauris. A curious fact is that the industry has just received. a new impulse, by which it will be enabled to meet European competition, for new blood has been infused in the form of foreign capital, which has established large houses, without disturbing the natives in the most important of their national habits. There are a number of centers devoted to the manufacture of carpets, of a class and variety fixed by what is found in the district or the tribe, whose models and methods are identical. But everywhere, even in the region of Tauris and Sultan-Abad, where, as we have said, the European promoters and dealers have been most active, the native prefers to work at home, in order that he may be at perfect liberty in the matter

of the performance of his tasks, and where the monotonous discipline of the workshop may not be imposed. From time to time, even the most industrious worker will stop to smoke his water-pipe, drink his tea, and enjoy a siesta. It may be added that the climate is such that the continuous, uninterrupted toil of western workshops does not seem to be possible.

The

Hence the industry has been modified only within the limits of local customs. This statement is based principally upon the results at Sultan-Abad, where the two undertakings have been established along lines that will be appreciated in Europe. One of these houses belongs to a Manchester firm; and in spite of the opposition of the native merchants and courtiers, who feared the competition, they have succeeded in enlisting the services of a goodly portion of the population of Sultan-Abad and the surrounding villages. At present there are about 5,000 workers, producing an annual output valued at about $1,000,000. European house has offices at the gates of the city for its own employees, as well as warehouses for the storing of goods, and a dyeing establishment where the wool is prepared for the use of families working at home; for no worker is permitted to provide his own wools, since the chances are that they would be colored with anilines and thus be liable to a. rapid change of shade. We have said that the work is that of the family. Practically the man, the head of the family, acts as a contractor and agent with the European house, while his numerous wives first, and then his young daughters, work at the fabric by hand, which frequently requires the continuous labor of three months for a single piece.

The European house not only furnishes the wools; but every time an order is placed, it gives the contractor a