Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/106

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��Popular Science Monthly

��An Adjustable Rake for the "Land Patriots"

��Eliminating the Noise from

��ALL contributions to l\ the cause of agri- cultural preparedness will be gratefully re- ceived! Especially when they are as good as the adjustable garden rake that is shown in the accompanying illustra- tions. Instead of hav- ing to use a number of different sized rakes to fit between rows of diff- erent kinds of vegetables, you can adjust this one rake to suit all purposes. All the teeth of the rake, excepting the central one, are riveted to two rectangular side-frames pivoted to an iron socket on the end of the rake handle. When weeding,

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��When the central tooth is re- moved the rake will straddle the small shoots. Then both sides of the row can be worked at one time

��Above: The side teeth adjusted to a narrow row. At right : The rake opened out

or when loosening the ground between rows of potatoes, for instance, the side bars are swung around until they aline. The rake, thus opened to its fullest width, is then locked in this position by the wing nuts shown. When cultivating onions, on the other hand, the angle between the side bars can be reduced to adjust the rake to the smaller width.

When the sprouts are young, this rake can be used for cultivating both sides of the row at one time. The central tooth may be unscrewed and taken out making it possible for the rake to operate on both sides of the small shoots.

���Railroad Traveling

NE railroad at least has solved the noise problem. Much to the delight of the passengers, the "Bur- lington Route" has rooted out the grinding of wheels, the creaking of axles, and the other noises usually attendant upon traveling. They have accomplished this by installing a sound-, proof flooring in their new steel cars. A layer of hair felt one inch thick, a layer of spec- ially prepared paper, and a half-inch air space separate the steel floor of the car from the steel sub-floor nearer the ground. The sounds coming from the wheels are practically all ab- sorbed by the insulating layers. Especially in traversing the loosely packed felt, the sound vibrations are readily lost in the loosely connected fibers, so that they will never reach the ears of the travelers.

��Combining a Strainer with the Bung of a Barrel

A BARREL attachment which serves as a bung and a strainer in one has been devised by William R. Brison, of Tompkinsville, New York. Screw the at- j^^^^^^^^ tachment into the

barrel and contents can be drawn through an exceptionally fine strainer, without re- tarding, the flow.

The attachment consists of a hollow steel head that sup- ports the cheese-cloth The cheese-cloth strainer extends back covered wire frame-

into the barrel like a long, hojlow tube work of the strainer.

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