Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/218

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Drying the Family Wash- ing around the Stove

��'Popular Science Monthly

���The cage is placed around the stove but far enough away to prevent scorching the articles draped upon it to dry. The clothes dry quickly

WHEN the weather prophet or the almanac predicts storms or bad weather, the up-to-date housewife does not postpone her washing. Neither does she order the clothesline strung up in the kitchen where it is an eyesore and in every- body's way, nor outdoors where the clothes might flop dejectedly for days in the rain.

Instead she sets up — if she is fortunate enough to have one — the clothes-drying apparatus which Benjamin Gallsworthy, of Port Arthur, Texas, recently invent- ed. This is in the form of a latticed frame joined together in sections, upon which the clothes are hung. The ends of the vertical rods of the frame con- verge at the top forming a kind of cage. This cage is placed around a stove.

The heat from the stove dries the clothes quickly and makes it possible for the laun- dress or housewife to finish up the work regardless of the weather.

The sections of the cage are disconnected simply by removing the pins which join them, so that it is an easy matter to set it up or take it down. It can be easily stored away until needed.

��A Machine Which Takes the Backache Out of Carpet- Beating

HOW would you like to beat your carpets with the same ease with which you push the lawn-mower over your grass or the baby carriage on the sidewalk? You can do it. You don't need to bend over until your back seems to be breaking in two, and your carpet will be cleaned just as, thoroughly as if you pounded it with beaters in your own hands.

All this is possible with a new carpet- beater devised by Edward Smith, of Newark, New Jersey. Its operation resem- bles that of the lawn-mower. You run it back and forth over the carpet, which motion actuates a number of paddles that strike the carpet. The paddles are operated by teeth on a drum or cylinder which moves with the wheels of the apparatus.

The paddles extend in front of the machine and their upward movement is . opposed by springs, these springs producing the beating movement. As the machine is moved forward the drum revolves, and its teeth come in contact with the paddles, lifting them up about four inches above the carpet when the springs force them to descend. This is the beating motion. The faster the machine is moved the faster the paddles hit the carpet.

���Running the device over th© carpet operates a number of paddles connected with the wheels. The faster the machine is moved the faster and harder the paddles beat the carpet

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