Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/897

 Popular Science Monthly

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��The hot air and gases circulate in the casing around the rider's foot

��Stirrup- Stoves Afford Comfort for Cold Horseback Riders

UNDOIBTED- LY the tratitic squad of the police can testify to the fact that all is not gold that glitters and that all is not com- fort and pleasure that seems so. Es- pecially is this true in very cold weather, when the gallant blue-coat seated on his beautiful charger is a worth>- subject for the camera-fiend, even though his blood may be con- gealing in his veins and his feet rapidly becoming like blocks of ice.

The general belief is that the easiest wav to keep the

entire body comfortable during the cold weather is to apply heat to the feet. Acting on this idea, William French, Clintwood, V'a., has invented a heater to be attached to the riding stirrups, so that policemen or other equestrians may be kept warm, however low the mer- cury in the thermom- eter may drop. The heater comprises an outer shell of metal, covered with leather so that it is incon- spicuous, and lined inside with asbestos, so as to eliminate danger and conserve all the heat. In this casing a drawer is arranged to slide in and out easily. In this drawer the fuel is placed. This may be a large lump of char- coal or coke. \'entila- tion holes arc pro- vided through which the heat may be The plank i

regulated at the the battery

���pleasure of the rider. These holes are so .irranped as to provide for a circulation of the heated air and the gases around the foot of the rider.

.^n ash-pan is also priAJded, which may be made to answer the additional pur- pose of a storage place for unused fuel so that the fire may be replenished at in- tervals.

���An Electrically

Heated Foot-Board

for the Policeman

IN Pittsburgh, Pa., the humane city ofticials have adopt- ed a plan for pro\id- ing for the comfort of the policemen while on duty. The post where the policeman is supposed to spend most of his time is provided with a small board or planking which is connected by wires with an ordinary electric battery in the call box on the corner or in any er available place. The urrent is regulated so that the heat generated will not exceed a comfortable de-

��gree. Bv

��connected with in the call box

��this arrangement the feet are kept off the cold streets dur- ing the ver\- severe weather, and when the sidewalks are dr\- a certain amount of solid comfort is available even for the policeman.

When he leaves his post he pushes a but- ton and turns off the current.

When he returns to his post it requires only a few mmutes to make the board just as comfortable as it was before the heat was temporarily turned off.

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