364 



Popular Science Monthly 



Let Em Come— This Outpost Will 

 Account for Itself 



IT is innocent-looking country, isn't it — 

 that shown in the illustration on the 

 right? Might 

 be New Jersey 

 flats, or a sec- 

 tion of North- 

 ern Indiana, or 

 a piece of Mid- 

 dle-western 

 prairie. Yet a 

 few hundred 

 yards ofif to- 

 ward the hori- 

 zon are the 

 enemy lines, 

 and the Ger- 

 mans are in 

 them. The 

 country isn't as 

 benevolent- 

 looking or as calm and peaceful as it 

 seems. Such outposts as this may soon 

 be occupied by our boys in great number. 

 Because the country is flat, a machine gun 

 is effective over a wide area. 



IQ) Kadol and Herbert 



A French outpost close to the German Unes. 

 Mud- soaked sandbags form the low parapet 



the button, this electromagnet pulls down 

 a lever. The lever winds up a coil spring. 

 The coil spring runs a clockwork. The 

 clockwork runs until the spring is un- 

 wound again, meanwhile permitting the 



lever slowly to 

 move back to 

 its old posi- 

 tion. This 

 takes about 

 three minutes, 

 and during 

 that interval 

 a switch, 

 mounted at the 

 lower end of 

 the lever, has 

 been "o n." 

 This switch 

 caused the elec- 

 tric lights to 

 light, and the 

 three- minute 



Weep No More, Landladies. The 

 Light-Wasting Roomer Is Checked 



THE reason land- 

 ladies are wary 

 about having lights 

 in the halls is, of 

 course, that it costs 

 money to burn lights. 

 Now John H. Jor- 

 dan, of Scranton, 

 Pa., would come to 

 the rescue. Land- 

 ladies need worry no 

 longer about what 

 the meter is doing. 

 Moreover roomers 

 may have light any 

 time they want it. 



The how of his 

 plan is this. The 

 contrivance consists 

 in part of an electro- 

 magnet connected in 

 series with a push- 

 button lamp-switch. 

 When the roomer 

 comes in and pushes 



interval they stay lit is sufficient for the 

 roomer to get upstairs or wherever else he 

 is going. Simple, isn't it? The land- 

 lady knows that the roomer will have to 

 get up at three-minute intervals and 

 punch that switch if the hall light stays 

 lighted permanently. This is unlikely. 

 Therefore she rests in peace. 



The contrivance may 

 may be applied equal- 

 ly well to attic or base- 

 ment lights. Forgetting 

 to turn these off is a com- 

 mon habit and a machine 

 that will do it automati- 

 cally saves on the month- 

 ly lighting bill. Closets 

 and storerooms also need 

 the device. 



Clock workr, 



No longer need the roomer come 

 in'and fumble for the socket this 

 way. He simply pushes a but- 

 ton in the wall. The lamp is 

 lighted for just three minutes. 

 The push button energizes the 

 solenoid. It pulls down the 

 core, winding the spring, closing 

 the lamp circuit. It later opens 



Solenoid 



