262 



Popular Science Monthly 



A Lovely View of this Thermometer 

 May Be Had Through a Periscope 



SUB-STATION operators are like 

 waterworks engineers — generally with 

 plenty of time on their 

 hands and always devising 

 short-cuts and ingenious 

 devices of one kind and 

 another about their respec- 

 tive domains to do their 

 work with more dispatch. 

 These improvements are of 

 great value in emergencies, 

 not to mention everyday 

 routine. 



Here we have an indoor 

 periscope devised by em- 

 ployees at a Walla Walla, 

 Wash., sub-station. It is 

 for the purpose of reading a 

 thermometer high up on 

 the side of a transformer. 

 The line of sight goes from 

 the thermometer to a mir- 

 ror tilted toward it at the 

 upper end of a metal tube, 

 then down the tube to an- 

 other mirror which faces 

 the operator. Now the 

 operator need not hustle 

 around to find a stool or a stepladder 

 whenever the thermometer needs reading. 

 It may be said in passing, that ther- 

 mometers are put on transformers in order 

 that an eye may be kept on the tempera- 

 ture of the insulating oil inside. 



T 



Feeding Cattle from Railway 

 Cars to Fatten Them 



HE desert cattle ranchers of Arizona 

 and New Mexico have learned that 

 to raise cattle is one busi- 

 ness, and to fatten them 

 is another. For this rea- 

 son, they ship their cattle 

 to California, where sugar 

 beet pulp is obtained in 

 abundance. One factory 

 is located near the fields 

 where the beets are grown. 

 The cattle are turned into 

 this field after the beets are 

 harvested. 



Under the fence is placed 

 a trough which projects 

 outside of the 

 fence just enough 

 to allow the 

 beet pulp to be 

 thrown into it 

 from the cars. 

 The cars run on 

 tracks from the 

 factory to the 

 field and follow 

 the fences around 

 the corral. More 

 space is thus obtained for the beef cattle to 

 feed, and there is but little waste of fodder. 

 In these war days the cattlemen are learn- 

 ing to conserve stock food, as the cattle 

 themselves are conserved for our use. 



A periscope for reading a thermometer 

 high up on the side of a transformer 



If Coal Is Too Expensive, 



Burn Sawdust, as They 



Do in France 



IN some portions of France 

 where coal is so scarce and 

 consequently so expensive 

 that it is altogether un- 

 obtainable by the poorer class 

 of people, sawdust is being 

 used as a substitute. The 

 sawdust is rammed down 

 tightly in cylindrical metal 

 boxes, and a few drops of 

 petroleum are poured over it. 

 The fire thus made can be 

 used for cooking and all 

 domestic purposes, and will 

 burn for several hours. 



Cars which run Iroin the factory to the fields throw the 

 beet pulp into the troughs whicn run along the fence 



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