Popular Science Monihhi 



59 



You Aren't Spilled Out With This 

 Life-Boat Launching Device 



HERE is one of those "do-it-with-a- 

 t\vist-of-the-wrist" inventions, 

 which, though not at all complicated, 

 seems capable of solving an exceedingly 

 troublesome problem. To launch a life- 

 boat right side up, is the special mission 

 of the invention. Dr. Charles Hunt of 

 New York conceived it. Having crossed 

 the ocean many times, he naturally be- 

 came interested in life-boat problems. 

 And the machine he produced has been 

 proven by Government tests to be one of 

 the most successful thus far devised. 



The trouble with life-boat launching de- 

 vices at present, is that it is difficult to 

 unhook the tackle blocks, once the boat 

 reaches the water, especially in a heavy 

 sea. Dr. Hunt's contrivance consists of 

 the mechanism which he is shown holding 

 in his hand, one of which is fastened at 

 each end of a life-boat. Ropes run from 

 these to a lever centrally located. 

 If a man in control of the boat 

 pulls this lever even 

 when the boat is but 

 a few feet above the 

 water, the tackle 

 blocks are quickly and 

 safely released, and 

 the craft launches 

 itself right side up, 

 even in a rough sea. 



Photos { 

 f 



I Int. Film Serv. 



This cylindrical barricade can be rolled 

 over but it cannot easily be surmounted 



A New Barbed -Wire Fence to Hold 

 the Germans in Check 



THE latest barbed-wire fence which the 

 French have designed to check the 

 advance of the enemy, employs a series of 

 immense barrel hoops, on which barbed 

 wire is strung. The hoops are securely 

 fastened to a wooden fence-form — 

 hoops to a section of fence — so 

 that it is possible for 

 each entanglement sec- 

 tion to roll over and over 

 like a string of lopsided 

 pushballs joined together 

 to form a solid unit. 



When the sections are 

 to be set up, they are 

 dragged out under cover 

 of darkness and so ar- 

 ranged that the natural 

 land formations of the 

 vicinity conceals them 

 from advancing troops. 



Pulling a lever in the center of the craft 

 releases this life-boat upon reaching water 



Walls Are Suspended from the Roof 

 of This Building 



ONE of the queerest structures in the 

 world is an electric-station building 

 at Cristobal, in the Panama Canal Zone. 

 The roof is supported by powerful central 

 columns and the side walls bear no weight 

 whatsoever but are suspended from the 

 eaves by means of cantilever beams. On 

 one side of the building, the wall is made 

 fast to the foundation with anchor bolts. 

 This unique construction was adopted to 

 prevent the building from settling at a 

 dangerous angle, should an earthquake 

 tremor shift the foundation. 



