Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/343

 Popular Science Monthly

��327

��0>

��Inflating Huge "Pillows" as Targets for Airplane Practice

TN the days when balloons

��Taking Photographs with a Concealed Buttonhole Camera

lNE of the quaintest and #

most ingenious detective A^^gg&m^' mn l - fh< \T ^ were more °f a novelty- cameras ever devised has been / jfjUBBm*! ICf>ae tnan the Y are now, gas-bags invented by A. A. Ciani, of East (dm y\ were often made in the form

Orange, New Jersey. It resem- J^ SpVffV Wk* °f animals and human beings. bles other cameras in only one J- -U B^ The "pillows" which are shown

feature, the lens, but even .that Wff in the photograph below may be

feature is distinctive, so that it \ %W regarded as a relic of that time;

might be said Mr. Ciani 's camera <S ^JL ^ J \^ S but they are used for a far

is without a counterpart. It is, f~ ~**\ , more practical purpose than

designed to be worn concealed / •. were the old man and animal-

under the coat, in the manner AW Bl shaped balloons,

shown in the illustration. The fl j Nowadays, the heaviest naval

protruding lens can be H * ^B guns are the only weapons

placed in the top button- ^^^,^K - : /*-^fc aD ^ e to decide battles.

hole of the coat and photo- 4(RHP ^^B m^r ^P^P ^ there were no airplanes, graphs taken without any- ^-xm^***^ these guns, too, would be

one knowing it, by pulling Ja J^^ <*mm\XL powerless; they could not

a string hidden in the Mw M V mmX. ^ * 4l\ direct their fire tellingly

pocket. ^^S^A Mm \ J | without aid from a watch-

Look carefully at the mm\jmv' feb~ a& ^ man m an airplane,

illustration showing the Ml W— Hence, the fortunes of

interior of the camera and ■ I H H modern battles rest not

you will see the shutter, H Sr m5 B only with sixteen-inch

partly operated, in a ^Hy|M V" B guns but in the last

sector shape. The shut- ^B ^ jB B^ analysis with airplanes.

ter appears on either side \nm\ H H H* That explains the stern

of the lens, in the opening Th e detective camera is worn struggle which is being

just below the stem. Over concealed under the coat It is wa ^ f supremacy of

•;,, , . operated by pulling a cord which jt °. ^ J

the brass centerpiece, but is led fron; *£ into the pocket the air.

not visible in the photo- The "pillows" shown

graph, are two rubber bands which come herewith are really balloons roughly shaped

into contact with the sensitized plate, like rectangular wings. Fighting in the air

By operating a knob on the front side of requires so much skill in an entirely new

the camera, the centerpiece is turned and sort of marksmanship that the practical

with it the plate. Four photographs can be British have hit upon the scheme of

taken on a plate, as there are only four systematically training their air fighters

teeth on the centerpiece. Every time a in shooting from speedy airplanes at these

picture is taken the plate is revolved one- odd-shaped balloons. The balloons are

quarter turn. The shutter is operated by not inflated with gas, as they rest on the

pulling the floor, but

string con- + - with air from

cealed in the a big electric

pocket. blower in the

The coat 9 A 71 center of the

can be but- room. Such

toned over "im^-i -•#• • # ' - # & a blower 1S

without in- ft*2feA2l »* J -mvCmnVl' \ every balloon

convenien- fvT^ll mm mm^m\ factory for

c i n g the 1 ( nk/^ -A^T jft| ** l ^*dfli Ik*- use * n var "

wearer and Blta^SL*-— -v^.W- ^' nishing; for

without ox- 9v^^^^^3K only dis-

citing the tended bag

suspicion of ) ™ e "" - ■ - ' _J can be var-

the one to The balloons are inflated and floated at the end of ropes. nished or in-

be snapped. British aviators fire down upon them with machine guns Spected.

�� �