Popular Science Monthly 



31 



Giving a Personal Touch to Circvilars 

 and Form Letters 



A\'ERY efficient device for writing 

 circulars and form letters which it is 

 desired to make personal and individual by 

 the use of names, phrases, and other slight 

 changes is operated by an electric motor. 

 A record is first made by means of a per- 

 forator; this record looks something like 

 the record used on a piano-player. The 

 operator then puts a sheet of paper into 

 the typewriter as usual, and writes the 

 name of the person addressed. Then the 

 perforated record turns out the form letter 

 about five times as fast as the most rapid 

 operator could write it and without making a 

 mistake. If at any point it is desired to 

 make some part of the letter individual, 

 the machine can be automatic- 

 ally stopped at that point so 

 that the operator may write in 

 that portion on the typewriter. 

 The letters written with this 

 device are in excellent form and 

 cannot be detected from letters 

 written in the usual way. An 

 operator is needed to address 

 envelopes and to fold and in- 

 sert the letters. 



Putting the Bicycle to Work for 

 Twelve Months of a Year 



BICYCLES and winter weather 

 do not go well together — unless 

 one converts his bicycle into a bicycle- 



The bicycle can be used both winter 

 and summer. For snow and ice, re- 

 move the front wheel and attach a 

 small sled to the forks with steel rods 



The perforator 

 mechanism is 

 attached to the 

 bottom of the 

 typewriter and 

 is concealed in- 

 side the desk by 

 a drop section 



sled, in order to make it glide smoothly 

 ov^er slippery pavements. This is what 

 A. Tainer, of ^lontreal, Canada, has done, 

 as is shown in the accompanying photograph. 



He removed the front wheel of his bicycle 

 and attached the forks to four steel support- 

 ing-rods leading to a small sled. The rods 

 look fragile in the photograph, as indeed they 

 are, but they are none the less ser\dceable 

 and adaptable for the purpose; for the rider's 

 weight falls on the rear wheel and there is 

 little or no pressure on the sled and its sup- 

 ports. 



The bicycle sled is a little more difficult to 

 propel than an ordinary bicycle but it is much 

 easier to ride under the conditions which it 

 is designed to meet, since the sled prevents 

 the rider from losing his balance. 



Heavy cord is wound around the rear wheel 

 to give it a grip on the snow and ice. A 

 chain might also be used such as is used on 

 automobile tires. Evidently the originator 

 of this snow-combating bicycle makes con- 

 siderable speed, for he has a horn attached 

 to the handlebars. 



