Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/714

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��Popular Science Monthly

Insulating a

���Gulls, which have been fed from a submarine, get the habit of watching for the underwater craft, and thus reveal their presence to the watchful eye of the enemy

��Training Sea-Gulls to Become "Spotters" of Submarines

NAVAL officers have frequently had the opportunity to observe that swarms of sea-gulls follow in the wake of sub- marines. The birds are attracted by the unusual spectacle of a whalelike monster moving through the water, and are eager to pick up garbage.

This observation which, in a few in- stances during the present war, is said to have led to the timely discovery of the dreaded proximity of a U-boat, suggested to Dr. A. D. Pentz, Jr., of New Brighton, N. Y., the plan of training the gulls to follow in flocks in the wake of subma- rines. He suggests the use of a hopper, fifty-four inches long, made of sheet steel. It is securely bolted to the top of a submarine and filled with chopped fish. This bait is released from time to time by the turning of a crank operated from the inside of the sub- marine used for training the gulls. The bait, which would naturally rise to the surface of the water, would attract the gulls and cause them to follow the submarine.

��Hot Rifle for Bayonet Use

APPRECIATING the fact £\. that a rifle barrel, heated with much rapid fire, is not a particularly inviting article to handle, and that neverthe- less it must be handled when it is required to use the bayonet, Mr. Henry Brewer, of Connecticut, has invented an insulating device.

The insulator consists of a perforated metal shield, a little more than semi-circular in cross-section, and suffi- ciently larger in diameter than the barrel to form an insulating space. It is not at all in the way of the user of the rifle, and as it is merely attached with two or three screws, it does not in- terfere with the proper clean- ing and care of the rifle. The inventor asserts that in view of the perforations in the plate it will give a much better grip than it was possible to obtain before, as manifestly the hand will not slip on the rough plate the way it would on the smooth, hot, rifle barrel.

��This insulating shield will enable a man to grasp a hot rifle barrel without discomfort or slip- ping when he makes use of his bayonet

��Bavonet-mountvi™,

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Clamping screws-

��Ventilating openings

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