Popular Science Monthly 



105 



Helping the Deaf Mute to 

 Talk in the Dark 



IX THE Court of Domestic Rela- 

 tions, in New York City, a deaf 

 mute couple aired their troubles 

 recently. The man's complaint was 

 that his wife quarreled incessantly and 

 would not allow him any peace until 

 darkness came and he could no longer 

 see her fingers. When asked by the 

 judge why he did not look in another 

 direction, the man replied that the 

 deaf mute's desire for conversa 

 tion is so great that he cannot 

 tear himself away from such 

 communication, however 

 unpleasant it may be. 

 Anything is better than 

 the silence. 



Here is an invention that 

 makes it possible for deaf 

 mutes to talk (or quarrel) 

 right on after the lights are 

 out. It consists of tiny electric 

 light bulbs fitted into small rings 

 which fit over the fingers of the deaf 

 mute and enable him to talk in the dark. 

 A small battery fits across the palm of the 

 hand and is operated by means of a push- 

 button switch convenient to the thumb. 

 The connections extending from the finger- 

 rings to the battery are flexible so that the 

 fingers may bend easily to conceal the lights 

 not in use and to reveal them as desired. 



A Machine Which Makes Change and 

 Keeps the Books 



WHAT might be described as an auto- 

 matic bookkeeper is a new device 

 which combines the cash register, credit 

 register and adding 

 machine in compact 

 form. As the photo- 

 graph indicates, thert * 

 is a series of compart- ''-"■ * 



The machine re- 

 cords all credit, 

 cash and other 

 transaction s 



Each finger is fitted with a ring 

 containing a tiny light-bulb op- 

 erated from the battery by a 

 push-button close to the thumb 



ments set above the keyboard 

 of the machine, each of which 

 contains a credit customer's account. 

 This part of the device is built on the unit 

 system so that it can be added to as 

 the business expands and new accounts are 

 opened. 



In a credit transaction the clerk must 

 make a record of certain details by operat- 

 ing the keys before the credit compartment 

 of a customer can be unlocked. When the 

 handle is pulled forward, this compartment 

 is automatically locked, and a complete and 

 permanent record is printed upon the 

 detail strip. 



Provisions are made by this device to 

 record all credit, cash and supplementary 

 transactions. It is said to simplify and 

 expedite the accounting system of a re- 

 tailer who does a credit business. The 

 machine contains five totaling devices, 

 steel type, ribbon and detail strip to 

 record all business. Each clerk has a 

 number or initial corresponding to cer- 

 tain keys to identify him in each of his 

 transactions. 



Customers' credit accounts are also 

 indicated by certain numbered 

 keys; this key numlicr also serves 

 to establish their identity. At the 

 end of the day's bu.siness the totals 

 shown on the five totaling devices 

 are transformed automatically to 

 the detail strip and a permanent 

 record is thus obtained of each 

 transaction. 



