Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/366

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��Popular Science Monthly

���The latest fashion in helmets — the screen-like visor which protects the eyes. It can be raised and lowered

��A Screen Visor Is Added to the French Helmet of Steel

A REVERSION to primitive methods has been one of the remarkable fea- tures of this war. In our school days we learned that soldiers gave up the use of armor because they could fight better without it, and because it afforded no ade- quate protection after firearms became available. Now we must change our minds all over again, for trench helmets of steel are considered absolutely indispensable and even chain armor is used.

The French were perhaps the first of the warring nations to actually equip their men with bullet-proof headgear, and they are the first to attach a screen-like visor of steel to the helmet for the protection of the eyes, as the photographs above show. The visor can be raised and lowered and when in the latter position it af- fords the eyes protection against shrap- nel and shell splinters. Judging by the size of the-perf orations, the visor would hinder rather than assist the soldier when he is required to take accurate aim in firing.

��Creating a Vacuum to Induce Artificial Respiration

ANEW type of resuscitating device which commands attention because of its novelty if for nothing else, has been in- vented by H. E. Acklen, of Memphis, Tenn. A rubber cup which creates a vacuum when operated after the fashion of a pump is the inventor's method of methodically raising and lowering the patient's diaphragm to induce breathing. Whether the rubber cup is strong enough to raise the chest and lower it, is the question upon which the practicability of the apparatus rests. At first thought it would seem as if the cup would have all it could do to raise the leather pad and the skin, to say nothing about the chest. But if there is a question regarding the raising capabili- ties of the device, there is no question but what it is suffi- ciently strong to depress the chest. The handle enables the operator to exert a considerable pressure on the in- strument. The vacuum device is secured against the chest by straps which are held to the floor under the operator's feet, as the illustration shows. The up and down movement of the device may be regulated by the straps under the feet of the operator. They also hold the patient down.

If the apparatus proves practicable it will doubtless be the quickest method yet devised for resuscitating the all-but-drowned. The pressure on the abdominal walls will force the water out of the stomach.

���Raising and lowering the chest with the rubber cup

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