Popular Science Monthly 



205 



Eliminating the Waiter 

 in the Restaurant 



A DETROIT man, John F. Daschner, 

 has a plan for eHminating the restau- 

 rant waiter and putting in his place some- 

 thing which doesn't talk, or hold out its 

 two hands for tips, 

 or spill the soup. 

 His invention is a 

 dumb waiter in more 

 than one sense. The 

 system is said to 

 embody the luxuries 

 of a select dining- 

 room equipped with 

 conveniently ar- 

 ranged tables and 

 comfortable seating 

 facilities wherein pa- 

 trons may dine with 

 ease and privacy, 

 receiving prompt, 

 efficient and sani- 

 tary" service at rea- 

 sonable prices. 



While the system 

 eliminates the wait- 

 er in the dining room 

 it utilizes him as a 

 ser\-ing department 

 attendant, where his 

 duties are less ardu- 

 ous and where he is 

 not subjected to the 

 whims and caprices 

 of critical patrons. 

 No money is wasted 

 on waiters' uniforms 

 or dress suits, nor is 

 there any scurrying 

 of waiters. 



The table at which 

 you sit is the top of 

 an elevator shaft 

 leading to the kitch- 

 en below. The ele- 

 vator is operated by 

 a cable passing over 

 a series of pulleys to 

 a motor-driven 

 drum. Simply by 

 manipulating a 

 pushbutton in the 

 table top the eleva- 

 tor descends to the 

 kitchen, where it is 

 loaded and sent up again. A tripping 

 finger automatically arrests the elevator at 

 the top or bottom of the shaft. 



Check off on the menu card the dishes you 

 want, press a button in the table-top and the 

 dumb-waiter descends from the center of the 

 table to the kitchen below, where the order 

 is filled and then sent up by the same route 



We Don't Eat This Fish Because 

 It Is Unfashionable 



IT seems as if there are fashions in fish 

 just as there are in wearing-apparel. A 

 fish that brings in German markets nearly 

 four times as much per pound as our fresh 

 mackerel, and con- 

 siderably more than 

 haddock, is thrown 

 away by our fisher- 

 men because no one 

 wants to eat it. And 

 it is might>- good 

 fish, too. Those 

 who eat it praise it 

 for its delicate flavpr. 

 Even the English like 

 it. Ever>" year they 

 consume three thou- 

 sand tons of it. Yet 

 we will have none 

 of it. 



This fish is known 

 as the goose-fish, 

 angler-fish, devil- 

 fish and monk-fish. 

 True, its appearance 

 is against it, but 

 still the epicures in 

 England and Ger- 

 many demand it be- 

 cause it is delicious. 

 Analyses made by 

 the Bureau of Fish- 

 eries on samples 

 show that goose-fish 

 contains consider- 

 ably more protein 

 than flounder, slight- 

 ly more than a cod, 

 a little less than 

 halibut, and consid- 

 erably less than sir- 

 loin steak. The 

 goose - fish has an 

 average length of 

 three feet and is 

 broad and flat, some- 

 what resembling the 

 flounder in general 

 outline. The only 

 way to get it, sa>*s 

 a Philadelphia wo- 

 man, is for the 

 housewives to club 

 together and demand 

 it. At the present time fi ;hermen do not 

 take the trouble to bring it home, but dis- 

 card it from their nets. 



