Popular Science Monthlij 



What Are Shooting Stars? Where 

 Do They Come From? 



OUR knowledge of shooting stars ex- 

 tends into the oldest history of 

 humanity, back into prehistoric times. 

 Yet to-day no one knows exactly what a 

 shooting star is, or from where it comes. 

 An hypothesis proposed in 1875 and 

 generally accepted to-day, is that meteor- 

 ites are fragments broken from small 

 planetary masses by volcanic explosions, 

 brought about by a sudden expansion of 

 gases, steam and probably hydrogen. The 

 broken bits, after their separation, are be- 

 lieved to arrange themselves in swarms 

 which cross the orbit of the earth in ac- 

 cordance with a definite law. Shooting 

 stars, then, undoubtedly come from 

 within our solar system and are 

 broken bits of a world body de- 

 stroyed by volcanic events. 

 Many meteorites have been 

 found in Arizona. 



Serrated wheel Bracket 



Steering 

 p05t 



Formidable Machine Gun for 

 Young America's Trenches 



THE most popular toys are 

 those with which real 

 fighting can be done. Cannons 

 must really roar; guns must really 

 crackle as they fire the imaginary 

 bullets, and machine guns must be 

 mounted on wheels, if Young America is 

 to be expected to approve them. 



Master M. Churchill Haenke, the 

 man behind the gun in the 

 company illustration, 

 is the proud possessor 

 of a father who can 

 make armored cars 

 that look just like the 

 real thing to the crit- 

 ical juvenile eye. The 

 car in the picture is 

 all the better looking 

 for being homemade. 

 It is equipped \\-ith a 

 miniature mortar and 

 a machine gun which 

 makes a racket like 

 the crackle of gun- 

 fire, when a crank is 

 turned. M aster 

 Haenke supplies his 

 own motive power. 



The stabilizer prevents any 

 serious disarrangement of the 

 steering wheel by keeping it 

 firmly fixed in a given position 



A Stabilizer for the Steering 

 Wheel Makes Driving Easier 



M' 



■15^ 



The homemade pushmobile converted 

 into a sputtering machine gun. It gives 

 the impression of being the real thing 



UCH^of the strain of driv- 

 ing an automobile or mo- 

 tor truck would be eliminated if every 

 motor vehicle were fitted with a new 

 steering wheel stabilizer. The device is 

 the invention of 0. Wm. G. Holmgren of 

 New York city. It is made to hold the 

 steering wheel in the position desired by 

 the driver, without obliging him to 

 keep one hand continually on the 

 wheel. A small wheel 

 with a serrated edge 

 is placed on the steer- 

 ing column beneath 

 the floor-boards, and 

 a spring-tension 

 plunger with a roller- 

 end, is fastened to a 

 bracket which bears 

 against the wheel ser- 

 rations, one at a time. 

 When the steering 

 wheel is turned, the 

 friction caused by the 

 spring tension be- 

 tween the roller and 

 the wheel must be 

 overcome before the 

 roller passes on. 



