778 



Popular Science Monthly 



A Locomotive Spring Rack Made 

 of Ties and Rails 



ON account of the weight and shape of 

 locomotive driving springs it is diffi- 

 cult to handle them, especially in removing 

 them from the stock- 

 house. The rack 

 shown in the illustra- 

 tion will simplify the 



Sills and scrap-rails 

 to make a rack for 

 locomotive springs 



problem of storing. Old 

 car sills and scrap-rails 

 were used in the construc- 

 tion. This rack can be 

 used to facilitate handling any kind of 

 bulky or unwieldy material of a similar 

 nature. — J. R. Minter. 



A Container for Small Safety 

 Match Boxes 



THOSE who buy safety matches in 

 packages of i doz. boxes will find the 

 rack shown to be very convenient. When 

 the matches are purchased, the packages are 

 opened and the boxes put into the container 

 through the opening at the top. They are 

 removed as needed through the slot A at 

 the bottom. On the front there is a holder 

 B for the box in use. This device may be 

 made of metal or thin packing box wood 



INSIDE MEASUREMENT 

 The match boxes are kept where they are 

 easily located without a light at night 



and painted or stained as desired. The one 

 illustrated was made for a standard match 

 box which measures 2^^ by ij^ by 11/16 

 in. Allowance must be made in the di- 

 mensions when making other sizes of 

 boxes. — H. T. Linthicum. 



A Good Marine Glue That Will 

 Not Become Brittle 



A GOOD marine glue, which should be 

 applied hot to crevices, etc., and 

 which becomes firm but not brittle when 

 cold, is composed as follows: 



Crude rubber i part by weight 



Shellac 2 parts by weight 



Pitch 3 parts by weight 



The rubber is first dissolved in carbon 

 disulphide or turpentine before mixing with 

 the heated (not super-heated) mixture of 

 the other two. 



To Locate the Center of a 

 Ceiling Readily 



SOMETIMES when it is desired to hang 

 a lamp or chandelier or do certain kinds 

 of decorating, it is necessary to find the 

 exact center of 

 the ceiling, and 

 when this is 

 attempted un- 

 looked-for diffi- 

 culties arise. 

 The best meth- 

 od to follow is 

 to first measure 

 the length and 

 width of the 

 floor of the 

 room and mark a 

 cross on a piece 

 of paper so that 

 its intersection 

 will be the cen- 

 ter. Without 

 permitting the 

 paper to be 

 moved, hold a 

 nail over the 



cross as accu- 

 rately as you 

 can and shove 

 a glass of 



The drop of water will 

 fall vertically if there 

 are no air currents 



water up around 

 it so that the 

 nail is wet. When the glass is withdrawn, 

 a drop will fall and if it falls directly on the 

 junction point of the lines, you have the 

 center. If it does not, you can shift the 

 nail about and keep on trying until you 

 make the drop fall true. This rule is useful 

 for finding a spot directly overhead of any 

 given point. It is always comparatively 

 easy to get the location on the floor; then 

 find the spot directly above. — H. Adlon. 



