Popular Science Moutiily 



357 



deemable are cast out upon the scrap 

 heap or dump. 



This general scrap pile, with its mass 

 of broken and twisted chassis frames, 

 axles, motors, wheels and what not, does 

 not present a beautiful or cheerful 

 picture. It is as a battlefield after a 

 terrific battle, covered with the victims 

 of the struggle. To think of the past 

 glory of the 

 racers and 

 roadsters, 

 limousines and 

 runabouts, the 

 disinembered 

 parts of which 

 now lie in a con- 

 fused mass, 

 rusting and 

 rotting in 

 every kind of 

 weather, might 

 inspire a poat 

 to write an 

 "Elegy of the 

 Scrap Pile." 



As a result 

 of the higher 

 prices paid for 



metals during the last year, there are 

 now many junk organizations which buy 

 a car too old to run or just able to 

 wheeze, for from fifty to two hundred 

 dollars, with no intention of ever letting 

 the machine run another yard. By the 

 time the parts are melted up you may 

 find some of your old car in that new 

 one you just bought. 



Upholstered parts contain horsehair, wool and other 

 valuable material which may be used again 



mass of broken and tangled metal 

 about the sight presented by this junk 



The Open Grate Fires We Love 

 Are Very Wasteful 



THERE is something so cheerful and 

 companionable in an open grate 

 fire that even prosaic folk succumb to 

 its charm. For many centuries, the open 

 hearth or grate was the only means of 

 heating dwellings during the inclement 



season, but 

 times and con- 

 ditions have 

 changed and 

 to-day grate 

 fires are not 

 taken seriously 

 as a heating 

 method. They 

 still survive in 

 that capacity 

 in the somno- 

 lent backwoods 

 and are pre- 

 served for or- 

 namental o r 

 sentimental 

 purposes even 

 in modern 

 apartments. 

 But they have outlived their usefulness, 

 and are doomed like other institutions 

 of a remote past that do not fit into 

 present conditions. 



From a sentimental point of view open 

 grate fires may be desirable, but practical 

 and economical business sense must con- 

 demn them as the most wasteful and in- 

 o3icient method of heating. This would 

 hold true even under more favorable con- 

 ditions, but in the present day, when the 

 most stringent economy of fuel is obliga- 

 tory, the continuance of open grate fires 

 for the purpose of heating would mean 

 criminal wastefulness. 



Into the grate one puts fuel that has 

 the power of producing a great deal of 

 heat, but the useful heat obtained from 

 the fuel by that method is extremely 

 small. Most of the warmth produced goes 

 up the chimney, with a large quantity of 

 air from the room. This air is replaced 

 by cold air drawn in through the cracks 

 in the windward side of the house. Such 

 a method of ventilating is altogether too 

 expensive and wasteful. A stove would 

 be far more economical, and to-day econ- 

 omy is the first consideration. 



