84G 



Popular Science Monthly 



Flags Made of Wire. They Wave Even 

 When There Is No Breeze 



Flags made of wire mesh 

 mounted on a round iron- 

 rod frame wave forever 

 without becoming tattered 



W1II-:N' a flag has bec-n 

 tattered in battles its 

 dilapidation bears witness to 

 heroic service. It calls up 

 pictures of brave deeds and 

 \ictories won. But the flags that 

 flutter in the breeze over our 

 public buildings arc anything but 

 insignia of glory when they become 

 ragged after a period of service. 



F. C. Wardell of Boone, Iowa, has con- 

 ceived a plan to banish the perishable 

 bunting and silk flags except for special 

 occasions, by substituting one made of wire 

 mesh mounted on a round iron-rod frame. 

 The one in the accomi)aining [ihotograph 

 was modeled from a composite picture f)f 

 about fifty photographs of a cloth flag in 

 \arious degrees of wind. It has been 

 mounted on Knsign Peak, Salt Lake Cit\-, 

 Utah, as shown in the oval picture. 



In position the flag seems to be floating 

 in the breeze, but the undulations are on!\- 

 imitations. The wire mesh is practicalK- in- 

 destructible, and it 

 can be painted again 

 and again. 



To those who an- 

 really patriotic suili 

 a flag .seems a boon. 

 It not only olTers a 

 means wiierei)y the 

 appearance of a loc.iii- 

 ty is distinctly im- 

 prf>ve<l i)Ul it ini|)Iii-^ 

 a desire to keep the 

 symbol of natiuti.il 

 loyalty fresh and wcll- 



pnMrv.-<l. Its cost is One hundred 



I iiHlp.ir.iliv ely .sm.ill. motive |>owrr 



A Caterpillar Three Hundred 

 Feet Long 



Till-- Ferracute Machine Company of 

 Hridgeton, New Jersey, on being 

 asked to take part in a local parade, put 

 the matter up to its employees, who con- 

 <ii\c(l the idea of constructing the giant 

 (■ater[)illar, shown in the accompanying 

 usiration. 



Works on I.epidoptera were searched in 

 \ain for models, and being thrown on 

 their own resources they took a living 

 specimen and magnified its hideous- 

 less. The caterpillar they made is 

 tliri-e hundri'd feet long and nearly 

 li\e feet in diameter, with a head 

 containing features hitherto un- 

 known. 



The inoti\e power was sup- 

 plied by a hundred men wearing 

 jjointcd caps, ranged three feet 

 apart, the heads and caps pro- 

 jecting through the back. Four 

 hundred yards of green muslin 

 Composed the skin, the head con- 

 sisting of a light framework covered 

 with paper and ajipropriately painted. 

 Tile eyes were made of new tin dish- 

 l)ans, iincrtcd, which reflected rays of light 

 ill a striking manner. 



There were a number of unique features 

 in the parade, but the caterpillar, as it 

 wended its sinuous way through the streets 

 and up-and-ilown hill, cau.scd the greatest 

 sensation and amusement, so that the 

 participants were gi\en first honor. 



The photograph was taken directly in 

 front of the attractive oflice of the Ferra- 

 cute Works. 



No, the parade was not a feature celebra- 

 ting the seventeenth of March, allhougit 

 the good St. Patrick would probabK- not 

 h.ive qu.iilf(l e\i-n before such a monster. 



men. weiiriiiK |xiinted riips. suppheti the 

 foi this tlircc hundred foot long cutcn>illur 



