Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/478

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��Popular Science Monthly

��Utilizing Empty Cartridges

VERY good binding posts can be made from empty .32, .38 and .44 caliber cartridges and stove bolts in the follow- ing manner : Grease the stove bolts with

���Many useful devices, from bind- ing posts to alcohol torches, may be made from empty cartridges

tallow or vaseline, place the threaded end in the empty cartridge, and hold it in place with the U-shaped strip of tin, as shown in the diagram. Now fill the space between the bolt and the cartridge with melted lead or babbitt metal. When the lead has hardened, re- move the strip of tin, and unscrew the bolt from the lead. By drilling a small hole through the cartridge, and solder- ing a small strip of brass to the bottom to permit its being fastened to the de- sired base, an inexpensive and hand- some binding post is ready for use.

A good alcohol torch can be made from a vaseline bottle and a rim-fire cartridge as follows : Make a hole through the screw cap of the bottle large enough to admit the cartridge. File ofif the closed end of the cartridge, so as to produce a short tube with a flange at one end. Insert this through the cap, to which it should be soldered. The wick is led through the tube from the bottle, and the entire outfit forms a serviceable torch.

The Thermos Bottle as a Stove

IT is perhaps not generally known that the smallest fireless cook-stove is any one of the numerous vacuum bottles

��which have been on the market so long. In most families these are regarded as a convenience or luxury for picnic pur- poses. They really make a very useful fireless stove.

Heat soup, beans, peas, or any other vegetable that will go through the rather small opening of the bottle, leave them there for several hours, and they will come out completely cooked. The many uses of vacuum bot- tles are by no means ex- hausted by the one just men- tioned.

To Adjust a Light-Cord

IT is often difiicult to ad- just the electric drop- wire quickly and at the right height by tying knots in the cord, and worse still to un- tie these knots and put new ones in, when the light is to be moved. The wires also become dirty after they have been up some time, and if one undertakes to change the light

the result is a pair of

soiled hands.

A piece of good

stiff cardboard, about

the size of a calling

card, and a sharp pen

knife complete the

list of necessaries to

make a cure for this

evil. Cut a diamond- shaped hole in the

cardboard and draw

the wire through the

middle of the hole.

AVhen you have the

light at the proper

place, push the twist- ed wire towards the

bottom and top of the

slit, and the weight

of the fixture and

globe will prevent

further slipping.

There is no knot here

and if it is desirable to move the light

again you can do so, without any trouble,

and in a minimum time.

���A piece of card- board and a knife make ty- ing knots un- necessary

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