Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/128

 112 Popular Science Monthly

Make the Collapsible Metal Telegraph The Soldier's Cobbler Kit. Pole an Ornament — Not an Eyesore

��He Car-

��AN innovation in telegraph pole con- . struction has been introduced by a Belgian inventor, Oscar Valenne, of New York city. It requires no skilled workmen to erect it, for there are no

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��-Cement base

�� ��intricate connections or adjustments to be made. The pole is shipped collapsed into a very small space; but it opens out into a structure of considerable height.

Three V-shaped irons are required to form the bodywork. These are held rigid by six triangular crossbars

The laborers take the three separate V-pieces, run them through the slots at the cor- ners of the largest triangular crossbar, and bury their ends in a block of newly made cement. The crossbar is slid into place, and the smallest one is tem- porarily placed on top. The top cross bar, or cap, is then re- moved and, beginning with the largest,

the other „. . ., , .^ . , ^.

, The cobbler kit is used to mend

croSSDars are Ic^Kings and saddle traps as

easily slid on. well as to repair worn shoes

��ries It in His Pocket

OUR soldier boys learn many things besides actual soldiering. When they return to their prosaic tasks after the war, there will be many a bank clerk, for in- stance, who will be eligible to join the cobblers' union. Of course there are shoe-repair stations all along the lines of battle, but so much depends upon the condition of his shoes and his conse- quent foot-comfort, that most of the boys carry the little cobbler's kit shown in the illustration, and make small re- pairs themselves.

The kit consists primarily of a hol- low handle, the top of which unscrews to disclose the awl, screwdriver, cob- blers' tacks, and other essentials for re- pair work. At the opposite end of the device is a spool of waxed twine, which threads immediately into the awl when the awl is screwed into place. When some other tool, such as a screwdriver or knifeblade, is to be used, it is screwed into place instead of the awl. In addi- tion to his shoes the soldier may mend his torn leggings and his saddle traps.

��The triangular crossbars hold the telescoping sections of this pole absolutely rigid and upright

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