Rope Armor
This short news item describes an innovative use of rope to armor the ship bridge against bullets.
Armor Of Rope Guards Ship From Chinese Bullets (original article)
Homemade Refrigeration
John Gorrell describes how to build a homemade refrigeration machine.
A Homemade Refrigerating Machine (original article)
Early Oil Skimming Device
A short description of an oil skimming device for Baltimore harbor.
Fuel-Oil Skimming Device For Baltimore Harbor (original article)
Innovative Toothbrush
Here is a better design for a toothbrush than what we now use. The replaceable toothbrush pad is made of “vegetable matter” and the holder “is small enough to be carried conveniently in a hand bag or vest pocket and is made of cellulose material”.
Ultra-Sanitary Toothbrush Has Removable Bristles
Sep 302010
Cable Slide
Here is an idea shared by R. F. Starzl of Le Mars, Iowa – a self-retrieving cable slide for bathers. Perhaps someone will build something along these lines and share a photo or two.
Self-Retrieving Cable Slide For Bathers
Lighting Fixture
You may not be modernizing your lighting fixtures but you may get good ideas for your projects.
Modernize Your Lighting Fixtures
Bird Bath
Here is a simple idea of using ordinary roof gutter to build a very nice bird bath. Ten foot section of gutter and two five foot long boards is the material needed. You’d want to use rot resistant wood or pressure treated wood for longer lasting bird bath.
Chicken Guillotine
This short new item describes a handy device to behead chickens invented by Mr. Frank S. Rece of Dallas Texas. The editor adds, “the guillotine method seems to us more accurate and humane than the ax method.”
Voting Machine
In this article Raymond Francis Yates explains the benefits of a mechanical voting machine over the more traditional methods which were susceptible to more voting fraud. The author goes into detail of the built-in integrity of the voting machine. I suppose there is only a short step from this machine to the modern computerized voting machines which are infinitely more vulnerable to tempering through the code.
Chainsaw
This short article describes a portable two-man chain saw originally designed by German engineer A. von Westfeld. The description of the cutting chain sounds very familiar to the one in a modern chain saw. I’ve searched for more information on this engineer but could not find much.
