334 



Popular Science Monthly 



Bagging Rivet Heads with a 

 Butterfly Net 



The Metal Chips and Heads of Rivets When Cut Off 

 Are Caught in Wire Baskets with Wooden Handles 



CUTTING off rivet heads is a strenu- 

 ous occupation. Bits of metal are 

 likely to fly in unlooked-for directions, 

 sometimes injuring bystanders very 

 severely. 



Safety engineers on the Southern 

 Pacific Railroad figure that loose rivet 

 heads flying around with the speed of 

 bullets are not conducive to the general 

 good health and well-being of em- 

 ployees or of the public. 



Hence they have equipped all 

 their rivet-cutting gangs with wire 

 baskets mounted on long wooden 

 handles. When using one of these 

 devices, a rivet-cutter angles for 

 the head when it comes off in much 

 the same way as entomologists 

 and youngsters seek to capture 

 moths wilh butterfly nets — in fact, 

 the rivet baskets and a professor's 

 butterfly net look a good deal 

 alike. 



At any rate, the baskets have 

 proved themseKes to be a sure pre- 

 ventative of flying rivets; for they 

 catch their prey before it has flown 

 six inches — thus effectually stopping 

 tlu-m in liieir dangerous flight. 



Hungarian Nectar Still in Which 

 Rhubarb Brandy is Made 



IN the Pittsburgh ofifice 

 of the Federal Revenue 

 Department there is an 

 apparatus which might be 

 called a home-made moon- 

 shine whiskey outfit if it 

 had not been designed to 

 distil drop by drop the 

 Hungarian nectar known 

 as "rhubarb brandy." The 

 Hungarians drink rhubarb 

 brandy with as much pride 

 and genuine enjoyment as 

 the Italians display when 

 wrestling with spaghetti. 



As the rhubarb brandy 

 is supposed to be possessed 

 of medicinal and health- 

 building qualities, being 

 laxative in its action rather 

 than abnormally stimulat- 

 ing in its effects, those who 

 hold it in high regard may 

 object to its being classified 

 with whiskies in general. 

 However, it is made in much the same way. 

 The still by means of which the brandy 

 is made is a copper kettle sealed at the 

 top with the customary "goose neck," 

 and it was confiscated as illicit. 



The Copptr Kettle Outfit Which Distils 

 the Rhubarb Brandy Drop by Drop 



