I 



THE PROGRESS OF INVENTION 



A NEW machine for making cans turns 

 out 120 a minute, or 72,000 every ten 

 hours, with one man and five boys to attend 

 it. The cost is but a trifle in addition to 

 the first cost of the tin. 



ELECTRIC locomotives have shown them- 

 selves to be fifty-five per cent cheaper in 

 coal consumption than steam locomotives. 



TESLA claims that his phosphorescent 

 light is so closely a duplicate of sunlight 

 that it can scarcely be distinguished from 

 it. It possesses all the health-giving qual- 

 ities and drives away dampness. The 

 light is already an acomplished fact. 



A NEW JERSEY man raising vegetables 

 for the New York market has spent $25,000 

 in electric culture and facilities, and it is 

 said he has increased his production from 

 40 to 60 per cent. 



THE latest design for a fire extinguisher 

 is a quadricycle, or two tandems coupled 

 together. They carry the extinguishing 

 liquid and a supply of hose between the 

 two and are operated, including the run to 

 the fire by four men. It can beat a horse 

 outfit getting there. 



SANTA BARBARA, California, is trying a 

 new form of street paving for which it has 

 all the materials at hand. They have an 

 asphalt mixer that uses wet sand. A 

 crusher, on the other side of an oil-burning 

 engine, crushes the rock from the beach. 

 A compound of crude and refined asphal- 

 tum is spread one and a half inches thick, 

 and while it is hot a coating of crushed 

 rock and sand is spread over and rolled in, 

 making a total thickness of two and a half 

 inches. 



BOTH Edison and Tesla have been closely 

 engaged in studying the Roentgen X-ray 

 discoveries with the result of adding many 

 important discoveries to the original. By 

 the " fluorescent screen " Edison succeeded 

 in getting astonishing results without in- 

 creasing the electric intensity, saving time 

 in exposure and producing results which 

 might be seen by the naked eye. His in- 

 ventions are along the practical line, and it 

 is announced that his discoveries will not 

 be patented, but are given for the free use 



of the public. Tesla has worked in the 

 direction of increasing the electric inten- 

 sity. . Where others have used voltage re- 

 coined in thousands or hundreds of thou- 

 sands, he has used millions. His object 

 was to secure vast power in the vacuum 

 tubes and he has succeeded. A news tele- 

 gram tells of his accomplishments in these 

 astonishing statements: 



' ' The skeleton of one of his assistants, 

 who stood at a distance of five or six feet 

 from the tube, which was giving off rays, 

 was seen plainly. But that was not all. 

 Tesla has finally perfected the X-ray tube 

 to such an extent that he saw completely 

 through skeleton as well as flesh. One of 

 his assistants held a brass plate in front of 

 his chest, moving it up and down. The 

 X-ray had penetrated the body, and 

 through the fluorescent screen Tesla could 

 distinctly see the brass plate as it moved. 



A NEW machine which bids fair to revo- 

 lutionize the cigar- making industry is re- 

 ported from Binghamton, N. Y. Ma- 

 chines are said to be on exhibition in 

 operation there now, which are turning out 

 smoothly bunched and neatly wrapped 

 cigars at the rate of three thousand per 

 day for each machine. This is about three 

 times as many as an expert can roll when 

 using moulds. The machine is of about 

 the size and appearance of a sewing ma- 

 chine and is as easily operated. The 

 essential mechanism consists of a metal 

 plate, a traveling rubber belt and two rub- 

 ber rollers. The plate has a beveled or 

 warped surface of varying sections, on 

 which cigars of all the approved shapes 

 can be made by a simple adjustment of a 

 clamp. A " bunch" of tobacco is inserted 

 between the rollers and the traveling band. 

 At the same time a wrapper is fed upon 

 the plate and automatically guided around 

 the bunch. The "tucking" and "past- 

 ing" are done while the next are being 

 rolled, so that two cigars are in process of 

 manufacture at the same time. It is esti- 

 mated that with these machines all shapes 

 and qualities of cigars can be made at a 

 labor cost of thirty cents per thousand.- 

 New Ideas. 



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