Popular Science Monthly 



269 



If You Only Have a Rope 



SUPPOSE you are caught like a rat 

 in a trap in a house on fire. Your 

 only means of escape may be a dead 

 wire, a loose rope, or sheets and blan- 

 kets tied together to make a rope. 



Would you know 

 how to slide down 

 the rope or wire 

 like a fireman or 

 sailor? You will 

 very likely say, as 

 sixty odd univer- 

 s i t y students re- 

 plied when asked 

 that question : "Ah, 

 that is easy. Any- 

 body can slide 

 down a rope.'' 



But can they ? 

 Boys are usually as 

 agile as monkeys, 

 and more likely in 

 an emergency to 

 be able to rescue 

 themselves than 

 others, yet a recent 

 test of boy scouts 

 with a rope lower- 

 ed from the first 

 story of a suppos- 

 edly burning build- 

 only two or three 

 knew how to use a pole, a wire, twisted 

 sheets or a rope in order to reach the 

 ground safely. 



Sliding down a rope, like many other 

 things, is simple enough — if you know 

 how ! 



If you lower yourself by letting the 

 rope or wire slide and slip through your 

 hands or touch any part of the uncov- 

 ered flesh, the motion and friction will 

 sting and tear your skin beyond endur- 

 ance. This will cause you to let go and 

 may produce serious results. 



By holding on with your hands and 

 letting your weight go down, one hand 

 over the other, you will not go far be- 

 fore you are too tired to support your 

 own body. Disaster will be the price, 

 because you will drop like a shot. Nor 

 can you slide with the rope between 

 your legs, because the swaying will make 

 the rope slip or will jerk it from its clutch. 

 There is a right way, which secures 

 to you almost the safely of walking on 



The correct way to 

 slide down a rope 



ing, proved that 



solid ground. You stand upright and 

 put out your leg, say the right, and 

 give it a turn around the rope. Next 

 put the rope into the crook of xour 

 elbow and there hold it firmly. 



Your hands and skin do not now touch 

 the rough rope at any spot. You may 

 slip down slowly or rapidly, but under 

 complete control by bending or stifi^ening 

 the body, to the security below. \'our 

 garments act as a shield to your flesh, 

 and you have a fire-escape and rope-lad- 

 der fit for safety, stratagems or ad\en- 

 tures. 



A Bunsen Burner Flat Iron 



AN Illinois man- 

 . ufacturer has 

 placed on the mar- 

 ket a novel gas flat- 

 iron which employs 

 the principle of the 

 Bunsen burner to 

 keep it at an even 

 temperature and to 

 eliminate any out- 

 side heating. Essentially, it consists of a 

 hollow flat-iron, in the back of which is 

 inserted a modified form of the simple 

 and inexpensive burner. By its means 

 the gas flame is directed down towards 

 the point of the iron ; and the intensity 

 of the heat may be very easily regulated 

 bv the amount of air admitted to the 

 tube attached to the back of the iron. 



A 



A Hair-Drying Comb 



COMB with 



a hollow 

 back for receiv- 

 ing a hot iron is 

 the essential idea 

 contained in the 

 illustration. The 

 comb is the ex- 

 ception that the 

 back is hollow. A 

 handle with a heating iron is pro\'ided 

 as a part of the device. When it is do- 

 sired to use the comb for drying the 

 hair, the iron is heated in a gas flame 

 and inserted into the back of the comb. 

 Gradually the heat is conducted to the 

 teeth, which are made of steel. Strok- 

 ing the hair with the warm comb readiK' 

 dries it, and, the inventor claims, leaves 

 it in a lustrous, soft condition. 



