THE WORLD'S ADVANCE 



53 



A New Type of Sledge Hammer in which the Danger of a 

 Loosened Head is Entirely Eliminated. 



is slipped over the wedges and connected 

 to the sledge by two rivets. When the 

 lock is in place, it is impossible for the 

 head of the sledge to fly off. The sledge 

 may break into two pieces at the eye, but 

 the lock will hold them together. As may 

 be seen in the accompanying illustration 

 which clearly shows the various parts as 

 well as the complete hammer, the design 

 is quite simple and ingenious. 



PORTABLE ELECTRIC SHADE 

 WASHER 



The invention of a portable electric 

 shade washer by William A. Richardson, 

 chief electrician of the Chicago Post Of- 

 fice has solved the problem of 

 cleaning the 14,000 lamps and 

 shades used in this building. 

 Formerly it required a man about 

 six months to make the rounds, 

 at the end of which time the first 

 lamps had become very much 

 soiled again. With the aid of 

 the new device, however, all of 

 the lamps can be cleaned once 

 each month. 



The lamp and shade washing 

 machine, which has now been in 

 use three or four years and is 

 said to be the only one of its 

 kind, consists of two galvanized 

 iron tanks, the one appearing at 

 the left in the illustration being 

 the washer and the one at the 

 right the rinser. The washer 



a propeller such as is used on a 

 motor boat, which serves to 

 throw the water against veins 

 attached to the inner surface of 

 the tank. These veins direct the 

 flow of the water so as to throw 

 it up through the shades and 

 down over them again. The 

 shades are placed sixty at a time 

 in a wire basket, which is then 

 lowered into the washer. The 

 water is heated electrically by 

 means of an electric immersion 

 coil placed at the bottom of the 

 tank. It requires from three to 

 five minutes to clean one basket- 

 ful of shades. 

 In the rinsing tank ammonia is added 

 to the water, which serves to give a 

 lustre to the shades. After rinsing 

 they are left on a shelf in the second 

 tank, where the water on most of the 

 lamps drains -off, saving the necessity of 

 drying them with a cloth. 



On the end of the motor a buffer can 

 be placed to clean and polish any lamps. 

 The buffer enables the glassware to be 

 cleaned in much less time than would be 

 possible by hand. This is especially the 

 case when cleaning fancy pressed glass 

 shades that have many ridges in which 

 dirt accumulates and can only be dis- 

 lodged by a very vigorous and lengthy 

 application of a brush and soap. 



pnnirrAr1 of 

 equipped at 



^ Complete Outfit for Cleaning and Polishing Electric Shades, 

 which is Being Used in One of Chicago's Public Buildings. 



