For Practical Workers 



A Useful Gage for Motorists 



AVERY simple but useful attach- 

 ment for the automobiHst's key- 

 ring is shown in the accompanying illus- 

 tration. It can be made of spring steel 



■^047 THICK ^010 THICK 



The little piece of steel illustrated can be 

 used in the ways shown and in many others 



or hard brass, steel being preferred , how- 

 ever, since it can be hardened and 

 tempered. It is made from a piece of 

 stock about .050-in. thick, i3^-ins. long 

 and ^-in. wide. Before hardening, a 

 iVinch hole is drilled in the end and the 

 corners rounded off to make it easily in- 

 serted on a key-ring. The piece is 

 then ground down to about .046 in. to 

 .047-in. thick for about half its length, 

 and to about .oio-in. thick for the 

 remainder. 



The thick end will be found valuable 

 for setting the gap between the elec- 

 trodes of the ignition spark-plug; the 

 thin end will be useful when adjusting 

 the clearance between the valve stems 

 and adjusting nuts on valve-lift plungers. 

 The gage can be easily made and will be 

 found very useful whenever such a tool 

 is needed. — Victor Page. 



How Betsy Ross Made a Five-pointed 

 Star with One Cut 



WHEN George Washington and 

 two other Revolutionary leaders 

 called on Betsy Ross to bestow upon 

 her the honor of making the first flag, 

 they expressed a desire to use a star of 

 five points. She immediately folded up 

 a bit of paper and, with one cut, formed 

 a perfect five-pointed star. This is the 

 way to do it : 



Fold a perfect paper square diagonally, 

 as in Fig. i. Then make another fold, 

 as in Fig. 2, X being the middle of the 

 line T U. The fold must give an angle 

 R, Fig. 3, of about 36 deg. This is 

 approximately half the angle S. A little 

 practice will enable anyone to make this 

 fold. 



The point D of Fig. 3 is folded over as 

 in Fig. 4, angles E and F being equal. 

 The two points A and B, which are 

 together, are then folded over, as in 

 Fig. 5. If the edges are all together, a 

 diagonal cut, shown in Fig. 5, will make 

 ajperfect star, having five points. 



Making a Five-pointed Star with One Cut 



Fii;. I . Fold in square of paper. Fir. 2. X. middle of 



TU. Fig. 3. Angle /I is half angle S. Fig. 4. Angle 



£ is equal to angle F. Fig. 5. Ready to cut. Fig. 6. 



Completed star 



597 



