Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/137

 �FOR PRACTICAL WORKERS

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��A Small Backyard Searchlight Operated from a Window

IN most suburban towns the houses are well lighted in front by street lights and porch lights, but usually the rear is dark and in shadow. It frequently occurs that strangers and tramps prowl around — look- ing for a place to sleep and sometimes look- ing for an occasional chicken. They may even go prospecting to see how easily a house or barn can be broken into. A small but efficient searchlight can be ver>' cheaply made — provided one has electricity on the premises.

A small wooden bracket with a base 2 in. wide and i in. thick having a quadrant bolted at the end is fasten- ed to the side of the window as shown. On this is fasten- ed an electric- light socket with a metal reflector painted white inside and green out- side. This is connected and adjusted as shown by means of screwey es and a cord, and it is so ar- ranged that when the lever is pushed forw^ard the light turns to the left, and when drawn backward it swings to the right. The current is turned on from the inside by a key socket. If de- ired the cords may be brought inside and he le\er so arranged that instead of pushing forward and backward it is thrown to the right or left, to operate the light.

The bracket can be tilted downward if the light is set high on the house, so that the

���The swinging of the electric lamp directs the rays to every part of the yard within its scope

��light rays will sweep the entire ground. A 45 -watt lamp will throw sufficient light loo or more feet. The quadrant is the only thing that needs particular construction and it is best made of three pieces of )^-ih. board in the shape of the letter D. Two are the same size, about lo in. long on the base of the arc and 6 in. the narrow way. The third piece is of the same shape but about 3^-in. smaller all around. These should be placed with the small piece be- tween the two larger pieces so as to form a groove for the cord. There should be but one staple fastening the cord in the center of the outside cursed part. The arrange- ment pictured will sweep through an arc of

i8o deg., but if the bracket is placed on a corner, it can be made to sweep two sides of the house or through an arc of 2 70 deg. by simply crossing the cords and widening the distance be- tween screw- eyes.

If the elec- tric wire is given enough play, that is, if it is left swinging with one attachment near the house, there will be no fear of loosening the connections. — Ronald F. Riblet.

��A Mixture for Cleaning the Lighter Colors of Paint

A CLEANER for white paint, linoleum and parquetry floors may be made as follows: Boil together J^ oz. of white soap in % pt. of water. Add ]/2 pt. of turpentine to the soap and water, thoroughly stirring it.

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