Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/640

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��Popular Science Monthly

��Little Ways in Which You Can Save GasoUne

DO not use gasoline for washing or cleaning; use kerosene. Do not allow your automobile engine to run when car is standing. Have your carbureter adjusted to use leanest mixture. See that bearings run freely and are well lubricated. Keep tires fully inflated. Protect the radiator in cold weather. Change gears rather than climb hills with throttle wide open. Do not use your car needlessly or aimlessly. Do not do stunts.

Discovering a Card Chosen but Not Taken from the Pack

FIRST notice the bottom card, then take the pack in the left hand, hold- ing it with the fingers on one side and the thumb on the other. Secretly draw down the bottom card about ^ 2 i^^- Let the right hand approach the pack, and with the first and second fingers draw down the cards, one by one, }/2 in., be- ginning with the top card and so on, invit- ing your audience to stop you at any

card they ^7x choose. This

j^-^^Si:^^ is clearly

shown in the illustration. The thumb of the right hand has remained beneath the pack in con- tact with the bottom card. The thumb should have been previously moistened slightly so as to adhere to the bottom card. When your audience has indicated the card at which they desire you to stop, draw all the cards so far selected com- pletely away from the pack, drawing with them also, unknown to the audience, the bottom card. If this is done quickly it is impossible to detect that the bottom card is drawn away with the upper cards. Since, however, you know the bottom card, you can disclose it at your leisure by some means or other. It is needless to say that the bottom card is really supposed to be the last card at which you stopped in going through the pack.

���Secretly draw out the bot- tom card a short distance

��The effect of the foregoing trick may be greatly enhanced by shuffling the pack after having noticed (secretly, of course) the bottom card. This apparently does away with any previous arrange- ment. The object of the shuffles is to leave the pack, or certain cards in it, exactly in the same position as they were before. Shuffles of this kind, which leave certain cards undisturbed, are known as false shuffles. There are many ingenious methods for shuffling a pack in this manner; but for this purpose two methods are described which leave the bottom card still at the bottom, or the top card at the top.

Take the pack in the left hand in the ordinary way and shuffle it with the right, leaving a number of cards alternately at the front and rear of the pack; that is, leave some at the top, then some at the bottom, again some at the top, and so on, taking care that the last batch shall always be at the bottom of the pack. This will always leave the bottom card at all times in its original place.

Another method is to divide the pack into two equal parts, being careful that the card known to you is on the bottom of one of these packs, and keeping in mind which pack has this card. Lift the corners of the two packs and let the cards fall alternately as nearly as possi- ble, the corners overlapping, so that, when the shuffle is finished the two packs form one pack. The only thing to watch closely is to see that the card known to you falls on the table first. This leaves that particular card at the bottom of the pack. — Hereward Carrington.

Rejuvenating the Ribbon on an Adding Machine

THE writer was unable to secure, without considerable delay, theproper bichrome ribbon for an adding machine. The one in use, though not badly worn, was too dry to give a satisfactory impres- sion. As the fresh color of the ribbon indicated that the pigment was still in the fabric, it was decided to see if an ap- plication of oil would not loosen it up. This was tried, and after two or three applications of machine oil the ribbon worked as well as ever and continued to render good service for several months.

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