106 



Popular Science Monthly 



A Watch-Like Coin-Case 



A novel coin-holder winch is made to be 

 carried like an ordinary watch 



THE market offers so many coin- 

 cases, embodying every kind of 

 advantage, that it seems impossible to 

 make any improvements. For all that 



a new one has been invented, which has 

 the shape of a watch so that it may be 

 carried on a chain. It holds eight 

 coins of the same de- 

 nomination. A central 

 disk, its periphery cut 

 to form eight ratchet- 

 teeth, rotates about a 

 short shaft secured in 

 the watch-like casing. 

 A spring is fastened at 

 one end to the shaft 

 aljout which it is wound, 

 and at the other end to 

 a pin in the disk. The 

 disk has eight radial flanges. Four 

 flanges project from one side of the 

 disk and four from the opposite side, 

 alternately. 



The casing has two lateral, bulging 

 parts to accommodate two pawls which 

 operate the disk. Each pawl consists of 

 two fingers projecting in opposite direc- 

 tions from a central shaft. The one is 

 held against the ratchet-tooth by a tiny 

 spring, and the other acts as a stop to 

 the adjacent tooth. The shorter one 

 has a finger-button which projects 

 through a slot in the case. On the under 

 side of the outer case is a wide slot for 

 receiving and discharging coins. The 

 coins are alternately inserted one at 

 a time at opposite sides of the disk, this 

 action automatically winding the .spring. 



Mosquitoes on Snow Banks 



IN both the Rocky Mountains and 

 Alaska the geologists and engineers of 

 the United States Geological Surve\' 

 have as part of their regular eciuii)ment 

 mosquito-nets for their heads. Even 

 when working in deep snow, head nets 

 and gauntlets are necessary to protect 

 the field men from the blood-thirstiness 

 of the pests. The mosciuito does not 

 vanish with inc-rcasing altitude. At 

 eleven thousand feet, or timberline, he is 

 as pnjlific as at sea-level, and smoke, no 

 matter how dense and [)Uiigent it may 

 be, will not eradicate him. The onl>' 

 sure relief lies in the net. In some sec- 

 tions of Colorado the mountain natives 

 let mosquitoes bite them until their 

 systems become thoroughly inoculated 

 with their poisf)n. After this they arc 

 bothered no more. The first advice 



given to the "tenderfoot" b\' the old- 

 timer is, "Let 'em bite; they won't 

 keep it up long." 



Fi^Iiling mosquitoes is a man's job and the 

 mosqiiito-nct is the most effective weapon 



