430 Popular Science Monthly 



A Tin-Pan Orchestra to Scare the Birds 

 Away from the Garden 



A SCARECROW is often nothing more 

 than a place where the birds may 

 rest after enjoying a feast of delectable 

 sprouts. 



Therefore, the farmers of Imperial Valley, 

 California, have discarded it as a means 

 of keeping 

 pests out of 

 sprouting vege- 

 table gardens. 

 They have 

 found an ef- 

 fective substi- 

 tute which 

 keeps not only 

 birds, but dogs 

 and cats away. 

 The substitu- 

 tion is an im- 

 provised or- 

 chestra com- 

 posed of tin 

 pans strung on 



wires, shown in the accompanying photo- 

 graph. When the wind blows, the pans 

 clatter together and the music set up 

 causes the birds to move on to more har- 

 monious quarters. Threads are attached 

 from the wires to the branches of nearby 

 trees, so that when there is no wind, the pans 

 are rattled if the birds alight on the limbs. 

 Dr. J. B. Keller, of Banning, California, is 

 the originator of the garden orchestra. 



Tin pans strung on wires make a clatter in the wind 

 and scare the birds away from the garden or orchard 



Thrusting Spears for 

 Cavalry — Which Can- 

 not Thrust 



INSPIRED, per- 

 haps, by the 

 gallant use of 

 spears by the 

 knights of the 

 Middle Ages, an in- 

 ventor in Rock Island, 

 Illinois, has taken out - 

 patents on cavalry 

 spears which are to be 

 thrust into an enemy me- 

 chanically. His weapon 

 consists of a short, sharp- 

 pointed spear carried on an 

 extension tong on either 

 side of a horse. Each tong 

 hinges on a saddle arm so 

 that by moving a lever, 



the spears can be swung in any direction. 

 A troop of horses dashing onward with the 

 spears facing front would have a telling 

 effect on the enemy — in theory. 



For, you see, to thrust these spears for- 

 ward in the faces of the enemy would take 

 the strength of a giant. By pulling down on 

 the extension levers, the motion imparted 

 to the operating racks are supposed to ro- 

 tate the pin- 

 ioned arms, 

 and thus open 

 the tongs. But 

 unfortunately, 

 the pinioned 

 arm construc- 

 tion has been 

 made just the 

 inverse of the 

 lever! This, 

 together with 

 the enormous 

 friction which 

 would develop 

 by the mem- 

 bers guiding 

 the arms connected with the pinioned ones, 

 would make it necessary for a half ton 

 pull to thrust out the spears! Even if it 

 were possible to thrust them, this weapon 

 affords no protection from the opponents' 

 cold steel ! The device could hardly be ex- 

 pected to get further than the patent spec- 

 ification drawings. However, it is a 

 patriotic effort on the part of the inventor 

 and as such is deserving of consideration. 

 The flights of imagination of the inventive 

 genius of the day may result in many 

 impractical devices, but ideas are 

 being constantly advanced which 

 only need rounding off and 

 developing to make them 

 useful. 



Swinging lever' 

 Extension lever 



By operating the levers, 

 this device is supposed to 

 thrust its spears in any 

 direction upon the enemy 



