Page:Popular Mechanics 1928 01.pdf/153

 

The older Ford closed cars with the windows controlled by straps have no method of locking the windows. The doors can be locked by the use of locking handles but the window can be opened from the outside by prying the lower edge up from the iron strip on which it rests. A good lock for such windows can be made by drilling a $3/16$-in. hole through the wood under the window frame, and into the space in which the windows are lowered. When leaving the car, large nails are inserted into the holes and the windows then cannot be dropped. The holes through the upholstery can be given a neat finish by using the parts of curtain fasteners that are clinched into the cloth of side curtains. The ball-headed screws are not used. These fasteners are attached to the cloth either by clinching them into it like an open-car side curtain, or by drilling two small holes, and using two fine wood screws.—E. T. Gunderson, Jr., Humboldt, Iowa.

 



A good moth-proof garment hanger can easily be made from an ordinary wooden hanger by tacking a mothball receptacle on the underpart, as shown in the illustration. This will in no way interfere with the use of the hanger. A sheet of heavy cardboard is cut to a disk. the size of which depends on the size of the hanger. It is bent at the bottom, and a 1-in. hole is cut in one side to insert the mothballs. A number of small holes also are punched in the disk, so that the fumes of the balls will more easily penetrate the garment.

¶ Spots on varnished surfaces often can be removed by rubbing them well with a soft rag saturated in boiled linseed oil.

 



A barrel-stave sled that requires considerable skill to manage and provides great sport is made by attaching a seat well back of the center of the barrel stave as shown in the drawing. On such a sled there is naturally no method of controlling it other than by movements of the body or feet, but once the trick of managing it is mastered, it is controlled as easily as a bicycle when riding without steering.

 



Slamming doors are very annoying to sick persons. The trouble can readily be remedied in a simple manner by means of a heavy rubber band or a section, cut from an old inner tube, that is slipped over the door handles as shown in the drawing. This makes a good silencer and shock absorber, which will be highly appreciated by the patients.—Frank N. Coakley, Buffalo, N. Y.

