Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/47

 Popular Science Monthly

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��Giving a Personal Touch to Circvilars and Form Letters

A\'ERY efficient device for writing circulars and form letters which it is desired to make personal and individual by the use of names, phrases, and other slight changes is operated by an electric motor. A record is first made by means of a per- forator; this record looks something like the record used on a piano-player. The operator then puts a sheet of paper into the typewriter as usual, and writes the name of the person addressed. Then the perforated record turns out the form letter about five times as fast as the most rapid operator could write it and without making a mistake. If at any point it is desired to make some part of the letter individual, the machine can be automatic- ally stopped at that point so that the operator may write in that portion on the typewriter. The letters written with this device are in excellent form and cannot be detected from letters written in the usual way. An operator is needed to address envelopes and to fold and in- sert the letters.

���Putting the Bicycle to Work for Twelve Months of a Year

BICYCLES and winter weather do not go well together — unless one converts his bicycle into a bicycle-

����The bicycle can be used both winter and summer. For snow and ice, re- move the front wheel and attach a small sled to the forks with steel rods

��The perforator mechanism is attached to the bottom of the typewriter and is concealed in- side the desk by a drop section

��sled, in order to make it glide smoothly ov^er slippery pavements. This is what A. Tainer, of ^lontreal, Canada, has done, as is shown in the accompanying photograph.

He removed the front wheel of his bicycle and attached the forks to four steel support- ing-rods leading to a small sled. The rods look fragile in the photograph, as indeed they are, but they are none the less ser\dceable and adaptable for the purpose; for the rider's weight falls on the rear wheel and there is little or no pressure on the sled and its sup- ports.

The bicycle sled is a little more difficult to propel than an ordinary bicycle but it is much easier to ride under the conditions which it is designed to meet, since the sled prevents the rider from losing his balance.

Heavy cord is wound around the rear wheel to give it a grip on the snow and ice. A chain might also be used such as is used on automobile tires. Evidently the originator of this snow-combating bicycle makes con- siderable speed, for he has a horn attached to the handlebars.

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