Popular Science Monthly 



601 



A Piece of Furniture with Many Uses 

 ACK of space in business offices or 

 dwellings makes it difficult to use 

 many pieces of furniture, such, for in- 

 '^tance, as a writing desk, drawing table, 

 cupboard or blacklxiard. In some cases the 

 professional requirements of engineers 

 and draftsmen make a number of pieces 

 of furniture necessary, but these take up 

 much space, and may even require sev- 

 eral rooms to 

 contain them. A 

 great economy 

 of space is ef- 

 f e c t e d in the 

 combination i 1 - 

 lustrated. It can 

 be converted in- 

 to a desk either 

 horizontal or in- 

 clined, for the 

 transaction o f 

 ordinary busi- 

 ness ; a drawing 

 t a i) 1 e whose 

 height and slant 

 can be regulated for a standing person ; 

 a blackboard of good height ; and lastly, 

 a closet. The whole is not more than 

 ten inches thick when folded. 



The main box part, which serves to 

 liold drawing instruments and the like, is 

 rrovided with a top portion containing 



The desk closed 



The desk extended and raised serves as a 

 fine drawing board 



drawers, adjustable at various heights. 

 This holds the large drawing board 

 hinged to it, the base of the board rest- 

 ing on a pair of legs with adjustable top. 

 The legs can be folded back into the 

 main box when the drawing board is let 

 down. By turning up the drawing board 

 so that it mounts straight in the air and 

 exposes the under side, we have a black- 

 board, located at a convenient height. 



Washing Blueprints and Bromide 

 Enlargements 



TllE difficulty of washing blueprints 

 and bromide enlargements (espec- 

 ially of the larger sizes) often makes 



Cork floats easily attached to large sheets 

 make the washing of bromide enlarge- 

 ments an easy task 



one hesitate to attempt much work of 

 this kind. 



The difficulty of washing large en- 

 largements and blueprints can readily 

 be overcome in the following manner : 



Procure some large corks, and in 

 each cut a groove around the cork near 

 the smaller end, to serve as a retainer 

 for a rubber band. Then cut the cork 

 lengthwise through the center, and cut 

 a wedge-shaped piece from the top, or 

 widest part of the cork, as shown in 

 the illustration. Place a rubber band in 

 the groove to form a sort of clamp. At- 

 tach several of these cork floats to the 

 edges of the prints to be washed, and 

 place them in the washing receptacle, 

 which must be deep enough to enable 

 the prints to hang vertically. As hypo 

 and l)lueprint chemicals always sink, the 

 jirintJ are thoroughly washed in the 

 shortest possible time. — C. I. Reid. 



