Popular Science Monthly 



U-:washed Sponges Are Fifty 

 Per Cent Dirt 



M 



quantities of sponges have found that 

 in buying them at a fixed rate per pound, 

 they were paying too much for plain earth. 

 They now require every carload of sponges 

 to be analyzed. Samples are taken from 

 each car and weighed. They are then put 

 through a standard washing process and 

 weighed again. Fifty per cent impurities 

 have been found in many cases. 



Using Live Steam or Vapor to 

 Save Gasoline 



THE device shown below is designed to 

 reduce the consumption of gasoline 

 by introducing live steam or vapor into the 

 intake manifold of an automobile engine, 

 especially on -those carburetors which are 

 difficult to adjust properly. The apparatus 

 consists of a small cylindrical chamber 

 screwed into the exhaust manifold, which 

 contains a rotary valve controlled by a 

 cable from the driver's seat. Hot exhaust 

 gas is introduced into the chamber through 

 a port in the rotary valve, where it meets 

 a small amount of water drawn through a 

 pipe tapped into the water-circulating sys- 

 tem. Meeting the hot gas, the water is 

 turned into steam and thence fed to the in- 

 take manifold through another pipe where 

 it mixes with the fuel from the carburetor 

 to form a more economical mixture. The 

 amount of v.a- „ ,. 



Cooling 



ter entering 

 the rotary 

 valve is con- 

 trolled by a 

 small needle 

 valve at the 

 top. 



Besides pro- 

 ducing a more 

 econom ic al 

 mixture, the 

 presence of a 

 small amount 

 of water vapor 

 in the cylinders 

 tends to soften 

 the deposit of 

 carbon and 

 retard addi- 

 tional forma- 

 tion. 



ater circulation 



The evaporation-cooled refrigerator is the Cali- 

 fornian's answer to the desert's blistering heat 



The Imperial Valley Is Off the Ice-Man's 

 Route: Hence the Burlap Cooler 



YOU can fry an egg on a rock in the 

 Imperial Valley of California by 

 letting the sun do the cooking, but a 

 Rockefeller couldn't afford the price of a 

 tumbler of cracked ice. But this does not 

 mean that the Californians have to do 

 without food refrigerators and various 

 cooling devices. J. G. Hill, of Mecca, near 

 the Salton Sea, has contrived an evapora- 

 tion-cooled 



Control wire to steering 

 column 



The principle of the gas-saver involves moist air heated 

 from exhaust gases and introduced into the manifold 



re- 



frigerator 

 which requires 

 no ice. 



It has a 

 wooden frame- 

 work, and in- 

 cludes numer- 

 ous shelves. 

 Several layers 

 of burlap cover 

 it. A perfo- 

 rated tin can 

 at the top is 

 connected with 

 hose which 

 sprinkles water 

 over the entire 

 burlap surface. 

 The evapora- 

 tion keeps the 

 interior cool. 



