Popular Science Monthly 217 



A New French War Word Which Means A Motor-Fan That Works 



"Fooling the Enemy" Without Electricity 



SINCE the war started the Popular A LL the benefits of the electric fan mayj 

 Science Monthly has published pho- 

 tographs of big British and French field 

 pieces covered with shrubbery, railway 

 trains "painted out" 



A L 



of the landscape, 

 and all kinds of de- 

 vices to hide the 

 guns, trains, and the 

 roads from the eyes 

 of enemy aircraft. 



Until recently 

 there was no one 

 word in any lan- 

 guage to explain this 

 war trick. Some- 

 times a whole para- 

 graph was required 

 to explain this mili- 

 tary practice. Here- 

 after one word, a 

 French word, will 

 save all this needless 

 writing and reading. 

 Camouflage is the 

 new word, and it 

 means "fooling the 

 enemy." Example: 

 — A dead horse lay between the British and 

 German lines on a bit of rising ground. 

 During the night the dead horse was re- 

 moved and an imitation, with a man inside, 

 was substituted. The men who constructed 

 and painted the fake horse practiced camou- 

 flage. They are known as camoufleurs. 



now be had in places where elec- 

 tricity is not available by using a fan driven 

 by a motor operated by alcohol, gas, or 

 kerosene. The mo- 

 tor is really an 

 adaptation of the 

 air engine. The al- 

 cohol lamp or other 

 source of heat is- 

 placed at one 

 end of the 

 cylinder. 

 This causes 

 the air in 

 the cylin- 

 der to ex- 

 Piston stem 

 Inner tube 

 Outer tube 



The motor of the fan is operated by 

 kerosene, alcohol or gas. At right is 

 shown a diagram of the equipment 



Gasoline tank 

 Kerosene lamp 

 Gas hose attachment 

 Gas burner 



French Official Photo 



Camoufleurs, members of an important camouflage detach- 

 ment, are here shown hanging mats of leaves on a frame- 

 work of tall poles, to prevent the enemy from seeing the road 



pand and to 

 exert pres- 

 sure on a sliding 

 piston at the other 

 end. This acts in such a 

 manner as to push on the crankshaft. 

 A second piston, called the transfer pis- 

 ton, at the proper time 

 forces the hot air from the 

 burner end to the cool end 

 of the cylinder, where it 

 cools and contracts. The 

 atmospheric pressure then 

 pushes back the sliding 

 piston, which pulls the 

 crankshaft. Thus power is- 

 exerted on both the upward 

 and downward strokes. The 

 same air is used over and 

 over again, obviating the 

 need for an exhaust and 

 preventing odors. 



The small fuel tank, 

 placed in the lower portion 

 of the stand, holds enough 

 fuel to last for a twenty- 

 four-hour run; it drives 

 the fan at 500 to 700 revo- 

 lution^ per minute. 



