Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/44

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��Popular Science Monthh)

���Strict accountability is enforced by the use of this machine

��Hearing Your Men at Work

THE manager of a machine shop or factory can know how much work is being done at benches by mechanics or by power-driven machines or tools by means of microphones or telephone transmitters connected with the working apparatus. By becoming famihar with the vibrations of the different machines he can tell at any given moment just how fast Pat is working the lathe, or how industriously Mike is operating the milling machine on one of his blue Mondays. In addition to this he can tell at a simple turn of the switch if tin- machines are running at normal speed and smoothly and properly, as they should.

Interchangeable Pressing and Steaming Device for Tailors

A RECENTLY patented ironing- board for pressing and steaming garments is composed of a receptacle having a flange ii around its open top. A hoop 13 presses Uwar(i against llu- gaskets 12 and downward against the short arms of several eccentric levers 14. This is shown in Fig. z. Numerous

��recesses 16 in the sides of the receptacle allow for the movement of the levers.

Two layers of fabric, the upper one air-tight and the lower one porous, are stretched over the top of the receptacle and secured under the flange 1)\- means of the hoop and gaskets. Within the receptacle is a longitu- dinally-placed conduit 19 having numerous openings. At one end steam may be admitted, and at the other end, air.

When pressing, air is ad- mitted and its flow con- trolled so that a slightly rounded surface is obtained. The main advantage lies in the fact that shiny seams are avoided.

\\"hen steaming garments, the upper air-tight fabric should be removed. Steam can then be admitted in- stead of air. The porous under layer allows the steam to pass through and the rounded surface affords very close contact for the garment, insuring a thorough steaming.

���Shiny seams cannot result because the pressure is evenly distributed

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