Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/541

 Popular Science Monthly

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��the current is sent through one or the other of them the shafts and the gears are moved in or out of mesh by magnetic attraction.

Each solenoid is wired to a numbered bottom in a small case attached to the steering column directly under the wheel, within easy reach of the driver. There are four buttons, one for each speed-change gear, and as these are pushed, the current is sent through the solenoids as desired, thus moving the gear into mesh. Two gears cannot be thrown into mesh at the same time, as the circuit be- tween each solenoid and its corresponding button is not closed until the clutch pedal is depressed. For this reason the gear into which the driver wishes to go may be selected some time in advance and the change made in an in- stant by simply depressing the clutch pedal and then letting it spring back again. The current necessary to operate the shifter is taken from the battery of the regular starting and lighting sys- tem .now used on most cars.

��temporary structure built around a home erected at Eastern Point, near New London, Conn., by Julius Fleischman. For a while the weather bothered the contractor and it looked as if the home wouldn't be finished at all, whereupon the owner, tak- ing the situation in his own hands, decided to elimi- nate the weather alto- gether by building a house to protect the house. Then the men were able to proceed.

���A simple stair-guard which prevents care- less people from fall- ing down stairs and into open shafts

��Building a House to Protect a House

— How One Wealthy Man Fooled

the Weather

YOU can even make the weather behave, if you are willing to spend the money. If your contractor is facing serious delays in the way of bad weather all you need do is to build an extra house to keep the weather out.

The accompanying illustration shows a

���The weather interfered with the workmen. So, a protecting structure was erected around the house

��A Simple Elevator Guard Which Makes You Watch Your Step

A GUARD invented by Harr>- Howe, of Rockford, Illinois, and illustrated above, acts both as a warning and as an obstruction to a person approaching an open elevator shaft or stairway.

The device, which may be readily attached to one side of the stairway in the home, consists of a bracket and a guard member. The bracket is equipped with guides which automatically keep the guard member in normal position when it is not being operated.

In going down the stairway or into the passageway, it is necessary only to raise the guard member above the stop portion on the guide, after which, by slight pressure, it follows the guide, swings to a raised position and returns to the normal position as soon as the person has passed. In coming out of a stairway, a slight pressure of the arm or body swings the guard to a raised position, out of the way.

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