Popular Science Monthly 



8.5 



Things Weigh. Then Why Not Let Them 

 Drop Where They Are Wanted? 



THE priiuiple of potential power which 

 Newton in\"estigatcd and which the 

 baggage-man puts into practice with your 

 trunks, is being utilized in a recently per- 

 fected gravit\-rollcr conve>-cr in ware- 

 houses, factories and other industrial 

 establishments where man\- large packages 

 are handled. In other words, because things 

 weigh, why not let them drop to their 

 destination? 



The contrivance consists of a runway of 

 successive rollers on an inclined plane. 

 The great advantages of the gravity method 

 of transportation are that it requires little 

 attention and is extremeh' tlcxible. There 

 are switches and other appliances, by means 

 of which the goods may be diverted around 

 corners or shunted wherever desired. 



Besides its cheapness of construction and 

 maintenance, it is always ready to accom- 

 modate a load and to handle goods as rap- 

 idly as they can be put on the runwa>-. 

 Also, breakage is reduced considerably in 

 comparison with hand-trucking. 



The gravity 

 conveyer re- 

 verses the 

 conditions of 

 the bicycle 

 traveling 

 down a 

 smooth road; 

 it contains 

 within itself 

 the wheels 



One of these gra\it>--conveyer systems 

 is in operation in a Boston warehouse, 

 where it transports goods of any regular 

 shape from the third floor to an elevator on 



the second. 



Corns — What They Are 

 and Why They Hurt 



CORNS, like corsets, boarding-houses 

 and late hours, are a menace to one's 

 sweet disposition. 



Corns are hard growths which occur on 

 the toes or some other part of the feet. 

 They are generally the result of wearing 

 a shoe too small for the foot. They are 

 thickenings of the outer layer of the skin 

 in the center of which is a nail-like peg 

 which projects downward and hurts when 

 pressed upon. Soft corns form between 

 the toes and are onh" different from others 

 in that they are soaked with perspiration all 

 the time. The corn itself is composed of 

 a lump of the outer part of the skin which 

 is caused by the pressure of the shoe at that 

 spot. Howe\-er, the corn v^ould not result 

 unless the pressure were taken off at inter- 

 vals, and this, of course, is done when 

 you take the shoe off. It stands to 

 reason that if the pressure were con- 

 tinuously applied to this spot, the 

 skin, instead of overgrowing at that 

 precise point, would waste away. The 

 overgrowth of the skin is due to 

 the irritation produced by the pres- 

 sure. 



Shoes play an important "part in the 

 comfort of feet and consequently in 

 contributing to the health and genera' 

 happiness of the iiidi\idual. 



