Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/45

 Fo'pular Science Monthly

Unaccommodating Wells —

They Yield Water Only

at Night

IN the desert of western Aus- tralia there are wells which yield water only at night. Be- fore the water begins to flow, weird hissings and the sound of rushing air may be heard. The phenomenon is believed to be due to a change in the form of the rocky channel through which the water flows, and to the extreme change in tempera- ture between day and night whichoccursin this region. The hissing is due to the escape of air before the advance of the water.

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���Cold water supply

��At Each Turn of the Crank, a Cartridge Slips Into Place

AN automatic machine-gun can dis- . charge the two hundred and fifty cartridges of a fully loaded belt in less than twenty-five seconds. The loading of the cartridge belts is, in comparison, a leisurely occupation. To slip two hundred and fifty separate cartridges, by hand, into their individual loops in the cartridge belt, is tedious and expensive. To expedite matters, the little loading device, here illustrated has been evolved.

Layers of cartridges, as they are removed from the standard box of cartridges, are slipped into the vertical guide, the beic entered between the feed-wheels of the loading de\dce and the crank turned, just as one would operate the handle of an ice- cream machine. The cartridge belt issiles on the near side with a cartridge properly inserted in each suc- cessive belt loop. In a very few minutes the belt is fitted v/ith its complement of two hundred and fifty cartridges, and is ready for imme- diate use.

����What is the man doing — sharpening pencils? He is not. He is loading a machine gun cartridge belt with rapidity

��Using an old hot-water tank, pieces of pipe and other scrap metal, plumber-soldiers in the Eighth Pennsylvania constructed a shower-bath for themselves

��Plumbers Will Plumb- Even in Army

IN the Eighth Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, there are plumbers. Plumbers will plumb even if they are in the army and can't go back to the shop for tools. Ingenuity always takes the place of imple- ments, as it did in this Eighth Regiment. A few old pieces of pipe, some brick, a tank, and odds and ends, were all that was needed to rig up a shower bath for fellow soldiers. How the parts are put together is shown in the illustration. Hot or cold water may be had as desired. Real mortar is used in the furnace's con- struction, and over the whole is a coating of mud to help keep in the heat. Fresh water enters through the coils next to the fire and is made hot as fast as drawn out through the pipe leading to the bath. The soldiers may retire to this impro- vised bath room at any time and enjoy a hot shower. A fire of old fagots, pieces of coal, or anything available, will keep the water warm for a long period.

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