Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/468

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��Popular Science Monthly

��automatically with the closing of the door. This stop is clearly shown in the illustration.

A groove was cut lengthwise of the low- er rail in the door, so that the upper edge

III

Garage 'V.i.'nWliii,',.: door ■■■

���Spring lo

raise flao __, _, ^_ ,

to'lorce _ . _^ _^inposition

Concrete floor"-^

Snow flop

A swinging board at the bottom of a door. It drops automatically as the door is closed

of a board or flap would enter as shown. This flap was hinged to the door and fitted with coil springs back of it to raise the board clear of the floor. A cleat was nailed to the door jamb at an angle so that when the door was closed the flap was pushed down on the floor. — Harold V. Walsh.

��Exterminating Ground Hogs with Explosive Fumes

THERE are a good many ground hog dens in my locality. The animals are very bothersome to the farmers. I discovered a very quick, cheap and easy method of getting rid of them.

I take a pole about the size of the big end of a buggy whip and ten feet long. To the end, I tie a stick of 40% dynamite in which has been inserted a cap and two feet of fuse. I light the fuse, push the charge into the hole with the pole and then fill up the end of the hole with dirt. As it takes nearly a minute for two feet of fuse to burn down to the charge, this gives me enough time for the tamping.

The fumes of dynamite are very noxious. The explosion destroys the den and the fumes asphyxiate the animals that are in it. — Chas. P. Walters.

��Canvas Is Painted More Quickly When Wet

WHILE painting a heavy canvas screen, a painter was interrupted by a shower which lasted about a half hour. After the rain had stopped the work was resumed and the painter found that the wet fabric took the paint much more easily and quickly than did a dry surface. Now when he has canvas to paint, the material is first thoroughly wetted and much time is saved. If the canvas to be painted is large, he wets only about 10 or 12 square feet at a time. This is done to prevent the canvas from becoming dry again before it can be painted. — M. M. Clement.

��An Ingenious Carafe Used by the Eskimo

IN the north where it is almost always cold, a device for providing drinking water is made by hollowing out the top of a block of ice and putting in it a bit of moss, soaked in blubber and lighted. The moss floats on the water that soon is melted from the block. Then the Es- kimo, to avoid the film of oil produced

���A bit of oil -soaked moss burning on an ice cake provides the drinking water

��by this floating lamp, drinks through a hollow bone, used as we use a straw. This is a new way of combining the ele- ments of an iced drink— letting the ice hold the water. — Tudor Jenks.

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