THE WOULD' S ADVANCE 



227 



To Anneal Steel Quickly 



Tempered tool steel, such as files or 

 drills, may be quickly annealed by heat- 

 ing the object to a dark red in a slow 

 fire, cooling it in the air until the red 

 color has almost disappeared, and plung- 

 ing it into cold water. A few trials will 

 be necessary before the correct cooling 

 point is found. 



Contributed by 



F. M. A'HEARN. 



Whites of Eggs for Pasting Labels 



A good adhesive for fastening labels 

 on bottles is fresh egg albumen. When 

 dried, the label will not come off even in 

 water. 



Contributed by 



A HANDYMAN. 



Index Wheel for Ruling Pens 



If an index wheel of the following 

 description is attached to a ruling pen, 

 greater uniformity will result in the fin- 

 ished drawing. The wheel may be cut 

 from sheet copper or brass. The index 

 finger is also made of the same material. 

 To assemble, the pen points should be 

 removed from the handle and the regu- 

 lating screw passed through the hole in 

 the end of the index finger. The screw 

 of the thumb wheel should be inserted 

 through the central hole of the index 

 finger and the pointer bent up over the 

 index wheel as shown. 



Contributed by C. H. PATTERSON. 



Parcel Post Mailer for Small Tubes 



Small phials can be safely mailed if 

 they are placed in holes bored in soft 

 wood and packed with cotton batting or 

 sawdust. It should be remembered that 

 liquids and explosives are barred from 

 the mails. 



Contributed by 



FRANCIS W. NUNENMACHER. 



A. C. Motor Troubles 



An experience is cited here that may 

 save amateur experimenters considerable 

 trouble in doing welding on the rotors 

 of alternating current motors. An arma- 

 ture of the "squirrel cage" type, having 

 about 83 copper bars, had been welded 

 on the resistance rings, using brass sput- 

 ter and borax as a flux. When current 

 was sent through the motor it failed to 

 rotate, owing to the fact that the flux 

 had flown under the bars and had in- 

 sulated them from the rings. It was 

 necessary to apply an extremely high 

 heat to the brazing metal to run it out. 

 Then the rings were turned up in a lathe 

 and the bars filed to make contact. After 

 this they were tinned and soldered to 

 the rings, thus completely curing the 

 trouble. 



Contributed by F. W. LEHR. 



