64 



Popular Science MontJily 



The Official City Fly-Catcher of 

 Redlands, California 



WHEN A. E. Chapman, an inventor, 

 offered his first patent fly-trap for 

 sale in Redlands, California, he did not 

 have the least idea that he was taking 

 the first step in 

 creating a new city 

 office, the only one 

 of the kind in the 

 entire country. 



W'itli the inven- 

 tion of his new 

 death-trap for Hies 

 came the new offi- 

 cial position of city 

 fly-catcher. Chap- 

 man, the inventor, 

 was appointed at a 

 salary of $io a 

 week, the office 

 being in existence 

 nine months each 

 year. Chapman 

 began work by 

 placing scores of 

 traps at street in- 

 tersections, around 

 reistaurants, and in 

 the rear of li\'ery- 

 stal)les. 



The bait placed 

 in the traps was 

 fresh canned fruit, 

 syrup, sugared 

 water, sprinkled 



ASM ALL boy who was 

 designing mechanical noN'cllies pro- 

 duced a five-wheel velocipede tandem 

 from the parts of two machines. 



One of the \elocipedes met with an 

 accident which put its front wheel out 

 of use bc\ond repair. 

 The other machine 

 was sound, however, 

 and the problem was 

 how to construct a 

 \ehi(Ii- which woukl 

 jiermit IkjIIi the boys 

 to ride. 



The connection 

 lictween the front 

 fork of each machine 

 was loosened, the 

 Ijolts reino\e(i with a 



A professional fiy-catcher who extermi- 

 nates millions of flies each year 



The Five-Wheeled Velocipede 

 clever at 



with cinnamon, watermelon, or fresh 



meals. Tlie flies crowded into the cages 



— and to their deaths. 



The carcasses of the flies are removed 



each morning by the official fly-catcher. 



He decided that he would estimate their 

 number by enum- 

 erating them in 

 units of liquid 

 measure. During 

 the first year be- 

 tween two hundred 

 and forty and two 

 hundred and forty- 

 five gallons were 

 gathered, on the 

 basis of fifty thou- 

 sand to seventy- 

 five thousand car- 

 casses to the gallon. 

 Taking an average 

 of sixty thousand 

 to the gallon, be- 

 tween 14,400,000 

 and 14,700,000 

 were coaxed to their 

 deaths in a year. 



Mr. C h a p m a n 

 built a "jumbo" 

 trap, which he had 

 in a "Made in Red- 

 lands" (lay parafle, 

 inside of which are 

 two small traps and 

 a monster home- 

 made fly. 



The loss of a velocipede's front 



wheel suggested this combination of 



two machines 



monkey-wrench and the connection made 

 again with the rear of each velocijX'de 

 turned ui)side down. This made it neces- 

 sary to remove the saddles, and the>- 

 were placed on the rear forks close to the 

 rear axle. Then the prolilem was how 

 to connect the two 

 machines to form a 

 tandem. It was ac- 

 complished by ro- 

 mo\ing the rear axle 

 of the leading m,i- 

 cliine and sliiiping it 

 through the openings 

 in the front h)rk of 

 machine number 

 two. The axle was 

 then replaced and 

 (he wheels ixilted on. 



