Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/609

 Small Racing Automobiles for Boys

���A boy can now have an automobile just suited to his size

��TO supply the demand for small run- abouts for boys, a factory has been built in Culver City, Cali- fornia, where one-passenger cars are made with a simple mechanism easily mastered by a young driver. They are good for a speed of twenty miles an hour and can carry a weight of five hundred pounds.

The selected ash frame is three by one and one-half inches, with bolted angle-iron joints. The suspension is on four springs. A two-cycle engine is used, air-cooled, governor control, and the ignition is by coil and batter- ies. Power is trans- mitted by a flat belt.

Every needless feature is omitted in order to make a car which the small boy can learn to run, without too many complicated attachments to puzzle him. It was de- signed by Pendleton, the inventor of the electrical timing system of recording speeds — a man who has always taken a great interest in miniature racers.

Watering the Oyster

SOME fish dealers add fresh water to oysters to increase their size. The

���Kvcry uiincccs^u;> 1

so that a boy can take

out the aid of a

��oyster when put in fresh water will "drink" or absorb considerable water and will increase in size in proportion. As oysters are usually sold by the pint or quart, any increase in their size due to the addition of water enables the dealer to fill the measure with a smaller number of oysters.

If four quarts of oysters and one quart of fresh water are placed in a con- tainer and the mix- ture allowed to stand for several hours, there will appear to be five quarts of dry oys- ters, for the con- tainer will be full and there will be little or no water in sight, as it is on the inside of the plump, succulent looking oyster. The a\'erage purchaser has no meqns of detecting the addition <,f water. The chemist, however, by de- termining the amount of water in the oyster and comparing it with the amount that an oyster normally contains, can readily detect the adulteration.

Increasing the bulk with water is not confined to shucked oysters. Some deal- ers float the oysters for several hours while vet in the shell in fresh water.

��.^.u.^ L.. eliminated care of his car with- garage-keeper

��581

�� �