Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/710

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����Youngsters are safe on the beaches with this round float

Swimming Harness Will Keep the Kiddies Afloat

TO the numerous devices for the protection of children and grown persons against the danger of drowning a new one has recently been added, which offers some notable advantages. It consists of an inflated circular tube or tire which is fastened to the body of the person using it by a harness arranged in such a manner that it prevents the buoyant tube from slipping down or over the head. The device has considerable buoyancy and will prevent the sinking of any person wear- \ng it. The harness is strong and simple and cannot get out of order. It is a boon to youngsters who are just learning to swim.

��fuel can reach it at bottom and sides, is a

boiler for making coffee. On top of that

boiler is another boiler which receives its

heat from the steam of the boiling liquid

below and which is intended for heating

soup, vegetables or any other kind of food,

A shallow pan forms the top and may

either be used for warming some food

which does not require much cook-

/* ing, or may be turned over and

used as a cover. When nested,

the kit makes a compact parcel,

nearly seven inches in diameter

and less than four inches high, held

together by a strap which serves as a

handle.

��Cook Soup, Coffee, and Beans in One Vessel

AN unusually compact . and practical mess kit, suitable for soldiers, camp- ers, automobilists and hunt- ers has recently been placed on the market. The kit con- sists of ten pieces, cleverly nested. It weighs less than two pounds. Alcohol in solid cubes is used as fuel. A glance at the accompany- ing illustration shows that the lowest two sections oi the kit, set up ready for uso, form the stove. Set into the upper part of the stove, so that the heat of the l)Lirning

���When closed is seven by

��The Large Amount of Food That Goes Up in Smoke

HAVE you ever thought how much of the country's food is consumed by fire rather than by human beings? One fire which occurred recently in a grain elevator destroyed 700,000 bushels of corn and 300,000 bushels of oats. Frequent explosions in grain sepa- rators also cause an enormous loss of foodstuffs. The United States Depart- ment of Agriculture investigated such ex- plosions and found that as many as ten a day occur in the Big Bend country of the Northwest. Barns which have faulty ventilation are another source of food loss by fire because spontaneous combus- tion of hay and grain is a common occur- rence in such places. Sparks from loco- motives cause innumerable fires in grain fields resulting in an incalculable amount of damage every season. Much damage is also caused by dropping glowing ashes from cigarettes or pipes, the real cause of more fires, in . both city and country, than most people think. Gro- cery stores which carry in- flammable merchandise, such as kerosene, are another fire hazard. Many of these burn each year, de- stroying a large amount of food. Stable fires which de- stroy cattle affect the meat this cooker «upply of the country,— an

four inches important item at present.

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