Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/638

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��Popular Science Monthly

��An Electric Alarm Operated by a Clock

A GOOD electric alarm-clock is sug- gested in the accompanying illustra- tion. A small fibre pin is inserted be- tween two bent springs and attached by a cord to the hammer of an alarm-clock.

���When the alarm goes off the fibre pin is

pulled out, the wires make a circuit, and

the electric bell starts

When the alarm goes off, the fibre pin is jerked out from between the springs. They close like teeth and complete an electric circuit which consists of dry bat- teries and a door bell. A switch, SW, opens the circuit. — J. W. Klaus.

Protecting Labels on Bottles

INSTEAD of coating the labels of chemical bottles with paraffin, the usual rule, a better plan is to coat them with a mixture of candle wax and petrol. After this is applied, a high luster can be obtained by painting the surface with a solution of "white lac" in methylated spirits. The result is a brightly varnished label which is impervious to most chem- icals. — G. E. Welch.

Workbench Made From Old Piano

OLD square pianos that have outlived their musical usefulness can be bought very cheaply, and the solidness with which they are constructed fits them ad- mirably — after a few important altera- tions have been made — for workbenches. All of the mechanism should be removed, including the keyboard, and the piano body sawed to the desired height. The top may be replaced when the height has

��been shortened, and it makes a substan- tial table. The exact type of the piano and the tools which are available to the workman will decide the details of the reconstruction.

The piano from which the writer con- structed a workbench has proved a source of other value. About fifty feet of well seasoned lumber were secured, several gross of screws from the action, several pounds of lead and a basketful of good ivory. The strings and felt will also find future use. — T. E. White.

��A Library Paste Which Does Not Dry

AJAR of library paste can be pre- vented from drying out by the following procedure :

Break off a piece of glass tubing just long enough to reach to the bottom of the jar. In one end of this tubing place a wad of cotton and push the end con- taining the cotton down through the paste. In the open end pour a little water which will gradually seep through, moistening the paste. The paste will be moist but not watery.

— LoREN Thoreau Ward.

Handling Small Bolts Easily

A TOOL for turning small bolts can be made from a discarded socket wrench. The handle of the wrench should be cut off, and the protruding spindle machined, as shown in the ac- companying illustration. The finished spindle will readily fit an ordinary "Yan- kee" screwdriver. — B. G. McIntyre.

���Small bolts are easily handled with this rebuilt socket wrench

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