194 



Popular Science Monthly 



r 



Faithful women workers learning how to operate a knitting 

 machine which turns out ninety-six pairs of socks daily 



Ejiit, and Let the Red Cross 

 Machine Knit Too 



EVEN with the women knitting on 

 every permissible occasion, as well as 

 on many unpermissible ones, the supply 

 of knitted articles for the soldiers already 

 in France and the many thousands in the 

 large cantonments never equals the 

 demand. Socks are especially needed. 

 But, even if the click of knitting needles 

 invades our dreams, and during our 

 waking hours disturbs us at the theater or 

 even at church, the average woman 

 worker, be she ever so assiduous, can 

 produce only one sock a day. 



To meet the demand which the hand 

 knitters are unable 



to supply, the Cin- 

 cinnati Red Cross 

 has had the first 

 mechanical Red 

 Cross knitter set 

 up in its workroom. 

 This machine turns 

 out one hundred 

 and ninety-two 

 socks, or ninety-six 

 pairs, in an eight 

 hour day. In spite 

 of its complicated 

 appearance, it is 

 comparatively sim- 

 ple to operate and 

 it never drops 

 a stitch. 



■Signal light 



Wire connection to 

 other side of light 

 socket and ground 



Connection with drain 

 plug hole under 

 crank casa 



How the engine is automatically stopped 

 when the oil supply becomes too low 



No Oil? Your Car Will 

 Stop Automatically 



F the engine of an auto- 

 mobile is not properly 

 lubricated, the piston will 

 in mechanical parlance 

 "seize" the cylinder walls. 

 The interior of an engine 

 cylinder is highly poRshed, 

 and so is the piston that fits 

 within it. Between the 

 piston and the cylinder wall 

 is a clear space of about 

 three-one-thousandths of an 

 inch, which is about the 

 thickness of the paper on 

 which the Popular Science 

 Monthly is printed. This 

 minute space is filled with a 

 film of oil. If that film 

 should be destroyed, the piston would 

 become locked to the wall, and an ex- 

 pensive repair bill would show the extent 

 of the damage. 



H. M. Dickerson, an automobile me- 

 chanic of Evansville, Ind., has invented 

 an automatic device which keeps a check 

 on the oil supply and takes the place of a 

 faulty memory. The driver may be 

 careless and negligent — but not Dicker- 

 son's automatic gage. 



Within the gage is a float connected by 

 a rod with a small disk above which is a 

 large disk. As the float rises and falls the 

 large and small disks rise and fall with t he 

 float. As the oil is consumed, the float 

 descends. When the danger point is 

 reached, the large 

 disk touches the 

 first of two sets of 

 electrical contacts. 

 A warning signal 

 light flashes up on 

 the dash; the driver 

 is told that the oil 

 is low. If the 



supply is not re- 

 plenished, the float 

 descends still fur- 

 ther. The small 

 disk then touches 

 with the second set 

 of contacts and the 

 engine is automati- 

 cally stopped be- 

 fore trouble results. 



Binding 

 post 



I 



Wire attached to main 

 ignition from binding post 



