116 



THE WORLD'S ADVANCE 



DIRIGIBLE HEADLIGHTS FOR AU- 

 TOMOBILES 



An American inventor has recently 

 patented a mounting for headlights which 

 serves to direct the beams of light ahead 

 of the automobile, whether driving 

 straight ahead or around a curve. 



The invention comprises pivoted 

 brackets, on which the headlights are 

 mounted in the usual manner. The 

 bracket arms are connected by means of 

 a cross shaft, so that they will turn in 

 unison. Another shaft connects the cross 

 shaft with the steering mechanism of the 

 motor car. Thus, when the steering 

 wheel is turned in order to cause the car 

 to turn a curve, the headlights are also 

 turned to a proportionate degree. The 

 advantage of such an arrangement is im- 

 mediately obvious; heretofore, when an 

 automobile fitted with the usual head- 

 lights turned a curve, the rays of light 

 were cast off the road, leaving the latter 

 in absolute darkness. 



COUNTERFEITING U. S. MONEY ON 

 TURKISH TOWELS 



The Secret Service Division of the 

 Treasury Department recently received 

 fac-similes of United States paper money, 

 printed on Turkish towels measuring 

 about four feet by two and a half feet. 

 These were sent in as counterfeit money, 

 despite their almost ludicrous size and 

 material, and the Secret Service at once 

 instigated an investigation to discover 

 the whereabouts of the counterfeiters, as 

 the making of spurious American money 

 is a violation of the law. The "towel 

 bills" are in denominations of five and 

 ten dollars, and it is believed that they 

 are manufactured as curios. 



GROWING GRAPES ON SAND 



A sand dune is about the last place on 

 earth one would expect to see as the base 

 for a vineyard, yet such an extraordi- 

 nary sight is presented in parts of south- 

 western France. In the neighborhood of 

 Biarritz there may be seen flourishing 



vineyards that grow on the dunes of 

 quartz sand cast up by the ocean and 

 driven by the winds. 



These vineyards are protected by pali- 

 sades, and produce great quantities of 

 excellent grapes. They are a modern 

 outgrowth of the ancient Brittany shore 

 vineyards, in which the plants were sim- 

 ply buried in the warm sand, and the 

 grapes were developed almost on the 

 surface of the soil. At that time no 

 means had been devised to protect the 

 vines, and when the wind overwhelmed 

 them with sand the plants were removed 

 to another locality, from which practice 

 arose a local law that treated vineyards 

 as movable property. 



A GRIDIRON LAMP 



A metal-filament lamp has been pro- 

 duced abroad that is said to afford a 

 more efficient light than the ordinary elec- 

 tric lamp. This is said to be due to the 

 fact that the filaments are arranged in 

 the form of a small square gridiron, 

 fixed horizontally in the center of the 

 globe, and capable of withstanding a con- 

 siderable amount of vibration. The light 

 is thrown downward, so that illumination 

 is concentrated directly underneath. 

 Tests have been made of the amount of 

 light distributed by this lamp, as com- 

 pared with the amount given by old-style 

 lamps of equal candlepower. The results 

 are claimed to show that the new-style 

 lamp gives half again as much light. 



THE ELECTRICAL ENTER- 

 TAINER'S PROGRAM 



(Continued from page 109) 



base in the assistant's hand, close to a rod 

 held in the hand of the performer. The 

 current slowly strikes through the glass 

 wall, and, as the fracture increases, the 

 air is let into the bulb. As the vacuum 

 lowers, the color of the glow in the bulb 

 changes from bluish white to red, then 

 to purple and finally it disappears as the 

 spark punctures the wall and finds its 

 way to the wires inside. 



