Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/477

 Popular Science Monthly

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��To Prevent a T-Square from Slip- ping on a Drawing Board

TO KEEP a T-square from slipping on a sloping board, especially where the angle is 45 deg. or more, place

���The rubber bands on the blade of the square keeps it from slipping on the board

two ordinary rubber bands on the blade, one near the head and the other at the end. These bands will also keep the blade up from the drawing surface and well away from the freshly drawn ink lines. — ^Joseph Briscoe, Jr.

��A Home-Made Fireless Cooker for the Camp

ON a camping trip, any suggestion which will tend to reduce the labor of cooking meals is generally welcome. One of the easiest ways to cook meals in a satisfactory and thorough manner is with a fireless cooker. It is a simple matter to make such an article, the only mate- rials necessary being a barrel, a tin pail with cover holding about 8 quarts, some strips of asbestos paper, plenty of old newspapers, a few pieces of cloth, and some flour to make a paste similar to that used by paper-hangers. If the news- papers are lacking one can use hay or pine needles.

After collecting the necessary materials start the construction of the cooker by sawing the barrel in half. Cover the bot- tom with a 2-in. thickness of newspapers and lay a few sheets of asbestos paper on top. Then place the pail, after wrapping with several thicknesses of asbestos paper, in the center of the barrel. Pack newspapers all around the pail, pressing them down as tight as possible. It is advantageous to pour a little paste in with the newspapers from time to time in order to make a compact mass. When the packing reaches the level of the top of the pail, pour plenty of paste over the papers and let the whole harden.

��For a cover to the cooker, make a bag which will fit inside the barrel and which will completely cover the pail. Fill the bag with newspapers, making a compact pad of at least a 3-in. thickness. This pad can be nailed to the head end of the barrel.

After the paste has dried completely, remove the pail from the packing, taking care that the sheets of asbestos remain to form the lining for the mold in which the pail is set.

To use the outfit, start the food, which is to be cooked, boiling over the fire in the cooker pail. When it is boiling w^ell, put it into the mold of the cooker and place the padded cover over the pail. A large stone will keep the cover pressed firmly down onto the pail so that no heat will escape. Let the meal cook all night or all day, having no fear that the con- tents will be cooked too much. The most delicious boiled dinners, cereals, etc., can be cooked in this manner with the ex- penditure of little time and energy, so that one may enjoy the camping trip to the utmost.

��Portable Stove for Campers and Automobilists

A SIMPLE portable stove can be easily made out of an oil-stove top and four iron rods. The rods should be sharpened at one end, so that they may be easily driven into the ground when they are to be used. The other

���The top of an oil stove with four rods for legs makes a convenient stove for campers

ends are bent into a loop surrounding the metal of the stove-top and support- ing it when the stove is in use. All that is necessary in packing the stove is to fold the rods in. The stove then becomes a flat piece taking up very little room.

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