Popular Science Monthly 



71 



Cutting Forty Soldiers' Uniforms 

 At One Time 



WITH the aid of an electric cutting 

 machine one tailor can cut forty 

 soldiers' uniforms at one time, and in one 

 day do the work of one hundred men work- 

 ing with shears. Were it not for the many 

 labor-saving machines in the tailoring 

 business our soldiers might 

 be obliged to wait long for 

 their uniforms. 



At the present time there 

 are many big tailoring estab- 

 lishments filling rush orders 

 for suits for the 

 Government. 

 They are working 

 twenty-four hours 

 a day, with two 

 shifts of workmen, 

 in order to turn 

 out the work on 

 time. The suits 

 are made accord- 

 ing to standard 



measurements and there is no chance to 

 deviate from the regular sizes. 



A tailor operating the electric cloth cutter which cuts 

 out the pattern of forty uniforms at one time 



It resembles the crude weapons used in 

 the early days of gunpowder and is operated 

 from the shoulder. It has a barrel in the 

 form of a tube about five inches in diameter, 

 at the t base of which an incandescent 

 electric light is located. It is fitted with 

 a stock and there is a trigger which con- 

 nects with a switch that 

 flashes on and off the cur- 

 rent. Current is supplied to 

 the signal gun by means of 

 a cable that enters the 

 stock. On the top of 

 the barrel are sights for 

 aiming the gun. 

 Signals are flash- 

 ed by the dot and 

 dash system, 

 short flashes in- 

 dicatingdotsand 

 longer ones, 

 dashes. 



Visual signaling 

 between ships at 

 night is usually 

 done by means of lights hung from the 

 masthead, but their operation betrays the 

 presence of the fleet to enemy ships that 

 may be near by. The flashes from the signal 

 gun are only visible to the ship at which 

 the device is aimed or one that maybe in line 

 with it either closer or further away from 

 the ship from which the signals are sent. 

 Even though no lights may be showing, 

 one ship knows the approximate location 

 of every other ship when they are in fleet 

 formation and the signal gun may be aimed 

 in the direction of any one of them. 



When the signal gun is used it is not 

 necessary to "call" a vessel before 

 sending a message. Knowing that 

 the flashes are not visible to any 

 other ship in the fleet, the men 

 on watch on the bridge of the 

 vessel at which the gun is 

 aimed are in readiness to record 

 the message as soon as they per- 

 ceive the flashes. The very fact 

 that they see them proves that 

 the signal light is directed at 

 them and that their ship is the 

 one for which the message is 

 intended. 



The light located within the 

 barrel of the gun is one of great 

 power and its flashes can be 

 *«StaSg" signals with the signal gun. The flashes are seen for a number of miles at sea, 

 visible only to the ship at which the device is aimed even in cloudy weather. 



Flashing Signals from Electric- 

 Light Guns 



A NOVEL signal gun has been devised 

 by the United States Navy to trans- 

 mit visual signals between ships in a fleet 

 of war vessels that are running without 

 lights, and yet not betray their presence 

 to the enemy. Signals flashed by it are 

 visible only to the ship at which it has been 

 aimed or one in line with it. 



