Popular Science Monthly 



A Hog-Pen That Counts Hogs 



\ 



A 



DOOR for 

 a hog-house 

 will admit 

 a predeter- 



V,- - \, only 



mined number of 

 animals has been 

 invented by a 

 Wisconsin farm- 

 e r . On many 

 stock- farms 

 where there 

 are a number of 

 i" "jr^iW B^^^E^^ animal houses 

 A"**iBffl ^St^^Bt^ difficulty often 

 arises when hogs 

 endeavor to fre- 

 quent one house instead of apportioning 

 their numbers to the various shelters. 

 This difficulty is overcome by the inven- 

 tion of a door which will admit a certain 

 number of animals, and then no more. 

 The door is hinged at the top. A lever 

 communicating with a rachet above the 

 door slips down one notch on the rachet 

 every time the door is opened. \Mien 

 the last spur of the rachet is reached, the 

 door cannot be opened. 



Erasing Attachment for Typewriters 



X erasing at- 

 tachment for 

 typewriters has 

 been brought out 

 which does away 

 Mr> r iTu--^' ^ with the time- 

 '^^g j' f-^-""^ worn practice of 



"■'•'^' searching for a 



lost eraser when a 

 typographical mistake is made. A key 

 projects from the body of the typewrit- 

 er, resembling the tabular key, back 

 spacer, and s'imilar refinements which 

 have found their way into typewriter 

 structure in recent years. Pressing the 

 key operates a series of levers and arms 

 which terminate in a rubber eraser, and 

 rub it upwards and downwards on the 

 paper, so that the particular error is re- 

 moved. Although an erasing attach- 

 ment of this kind would hardly prove 

 suitable for business correspondence, it 

 would probably find a wide field in news- 

 paper or other offices where absolute 

 neatness in typewritten matter is not so 

 essential. 



T 



105 



Soda Fountain in a Suitcase 



A SODA f oun- 

 t a i n which 

 can be carried 

 with reasonable 

 ease is the subject 

 of a patent of in- 

 terest to the men 

 who make a liv- 

 ing selling palat- 

 able beverages on the sidewalk. One of 

 the ingenious features of this invention 

 is that no one would ever suspect that 

 the innocent appearing hand case is real- 

 ly a soda fountain. The case contains 

 two separate compartments, in one of 

 which the carbonated water is contained, 

 and in the other, the glasses and various 

 syrups. An inconspicuous faucet pro- 

 jects from the soda water tank for the 

 purpose of replenishing the supply. 



A Finger-Knife for Egyptian Corn 



HERE has 

 recently been 

 patented anew 

 style of knife or 

 cutter for harvest- 

 ing Egyptian, 

 li r o o m, M i 1 o 

 Corn and similar 

 grains. It is now 

 in use in Cali- 

 fornia. 



The knife is strapped to the hand as 

 shown in the illustration. When the stalk 

 is grasped the fingers naturally close and 

 off goes the head of grain, to be tossed 

 into a wagon or bin immediately. The 

 implement is very sharp and strong, so 

 that it will cut practically any size stalk 

 which will enter between the knife and 

 guard. With an instrument on each hand 

 a person can do twice as much work, 

 thus saving half the cost of harvesting 

 the crop. Before this invention appeared 

 a cutter had to hold the stalk with one 

 hand and cut it off with a knife in the 

 other. It is now possible to cut the heads 

 off the grain as fast as the hands can be 

 opened and closed. 



The blade is! the part between the 

 fingers, the dull back of the knife blade 

 protruding rearwardly through the fin- 

 gers and being held there solid by a 

 small leather strap around the two cen- 

 ter fingers. 



