Popular Science Monllth/ 897 



Holding the Screw to the Screw- Electric Sparks Peel the Tomatoes. 



Driver with a Vise- Grip 



Here's How It's Done 



C 



ARPENTERS, 



machinists and other 

 workers who use 

 screw-drivers fre- 

 quently have to do 

 their work under con- 

 ditions which make 

 it impossible to use 

 both hands at the 

 same time in starting 

 a screw. For many- 

 years the need was 

 felt for some device 

 that would hold the 

 screw firmly against 

 the edge of the screw- 

 driver, that could be 

 quickly put on and 

 taken off and that 

 would fit screw- 

 drivers and screws 

 of any size. 



The screw-holder 

 invented by David 

 H. Royer, of Hart- 

 ville, 0., fulfills these 

 requirements and is 



comparatively simple 

 in construction. The 



mere turning of a lever closes the jaws 



and clamps of the device, so as to hold 



the screw and the screw-driver securely. 



By merely throwing back the lever, which 



w^orks on the principle of an eccentric, 



the grip of the device is released so that it 



can be removed. To adapt the device for 



use with screws of 



different sizes, keys 



or wedges are used, 



which are inserted 



between the screw- 

 holding part and the 



yoke, opposite the 



eccentric-lever clamp. 



Where screws are to 



be inserted at heights 



beyond convenient 



reach, or where lack 



of space interferes 



with the workman, 



this device should 



prove especially use- -p^e 



ful. the 



WILLIAM H. 

 CHAI 



The man in the picture does not 

 have to hold the screw. The device 

 below does it, leaving his hands free 



PMAN, 

 of Portland, Me., dis- 

 covered that electric 

 sparks, if allowed to 

 strike the skin of a 

 tomato, will puncture 

 it and, by expanding 

 the air underneath 

 the skin, loosen it 

 from the pulp. He 

 thinks that he has 

 solved the tomato- 

 peeling problem for 

 canners. 



The tomato or fruit 

 to be treated is im- 

 paled upon a fork ro- 

 tated around its long 

 axis by a mechan- 

 ically or electrically 

 driven pulley. The 

 fork is connected with 

 an insulated wire 

 which leads to the 

 ground. A sliding 

 base, operated by a 

 handle, has, attached 

 to the vertical post 

 at its front end, a 

 curved part lined on the inside of the 

 curve wuth comb teeth of metal, through 

 which sparks of a high voltage alternating 

 current are allowed to pass to the impaled 

 tomato or fruit. It is claimed that the 

 device is very effective and does its work 

 quickly and choroughly. This invention 

 will undoubtedly be 

 of particular value 

 to canning factories, 

 where large quanti- 

 ties of tomatoes have 

 to be peeled. For 

 factory use, a modi- 

 fied form of the de- 

 vice is available. 



The accompanying 

 illustration conveys 

 an idea of the work- 

 ings of this device. 

 The power may be 

 obtained from an 

 electric or other form 

 of motor. 



high voltage sparks puncture 

 tomato's skin and loosen it 



