Popular Science Monthly 



889 



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The animated clown assumes ridiculous poses as long as the string which 

 controls him is pulled. The clowns illustrated are suspended from a pulley 



4/^ 



Toy Clowns That Perform 

 Acrobatic Feats 



THE inventors of toys today 

 are at their wits' end to 

 devise toys of excessive activity 

 and laugh-producing antics at the behest 

 of the up-to-date youngster. The most 

 effective of these toys are usually the sim- 

 plest in principle. 



The illustration shows an exces- 

 sively active clown, or two of them, 

 suspended from a pulley, over which 

 they may be made to dance and 

 perform any number of feats. 

 The figures are flat, but 

 with various indenta- 

 tions and angles, so 

 that they are capable 

 of assuming many 

 ridiculous poses, in- 

 terlocking occasion- 

 ally, and balancing 

 one another in ap- 

 proved clown style. 

 The contortions are 

 kept up just as long 

 as the string which 

 controls their action 

 is manipulated. 



The inventor of the 

 daring acrobats is Henry 

 A. Hart, of Flushing, 

 New York. 



The colored wax is 

 hoi flame and then 



Decorating Pottery with 

 Sealing Wax 



POTTERY can be decorated with sealing 

 wax. A ready-made vase is cleaned 

 thoroughly. Then the colored wax you 

 have selected is softened in an alcohol flame. 

 Holding the vase upside down, apply a 

 daub of the wax. Move the vase verti- 

 cally up and down in front of the flame to 

 spread the wax. Apply additional 

 daubs to the surface and spread them 

 out in the same way until the entire 

 surface of the vase is covered. 

 The heat from the flame thins 

 out the wax and glazes it. 

 Thus a one-colored coat- 

 ing is obtained. 



More pretentious 

 effects are made by 

 "flowing" a wax of 

 one color into an- 

 other of a different 

 hue. After the tonal 

 color has been ap- 

 plied over a portion 

 of the vase, a daub 

 of another color is, 

 allowed to flow into 

 the first color in such 

 a way that no line of join- 

 ing is formed. The secret 

 of success lies in manip- 

 ulating the flame. 



heated over an alco- 

 applied to the vase 



Why Do Rifle and Shotgun 

 Barrels Burst? 



ALTHOUGH shotguns and rifles are 

 tested with loads which give pres- 

 sures far above those produced by ordinary 

 ammunition, swollen or burst gun barrels 

 are not uncommon. The cause is either 

 attributed to defective ammunition or to 

 an obstruction in the bore, such as snow 

 or dirt. The pressure of the powder gases 

 themselves are not to blame, for investiga- 

 tion has proved that the swelling or rupture 

 is caused by the compression of the air 

 between the bullet and the obstruction. 



Queer Rivers Which Are Natural 

 Curiosities 



AMONG the natural curiosities may 

 . be mentioned several rivers. There 

 is a river of pure black ink in Algeria, 

 formed by the union of two streams, the 

 water of one being impregnated with iron 

 and the other with gallic acid, drained 

 from a great swamp. Kentucky has its 

 Hidden River, the origin of which no one 

 knows. It vanishes into a deep cave and 

 is thereafter lost. In Siberia a tributary 

 of the Lena River runs over soil deposited 

 on a layer of ice nine feet thick. 



