IV 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1913 



tienrnow 



A Noiseless 



Water Closet 



that eliminates ft 



your troubles in toilet plan- «| 



rung. It enables you to place 1|| 



this room in the most convenient location. The absence of noise when |1| 



the closet is flushed, MAKES POSSIBLE the B 



Much Desired Toilets Off the Hallway ■ 



and Convenient to the Parlor or Living Room m 



"Silentflow" Water Closets are the result of years of study m 



you will be quick to see the durability of a 

 closet that flushes without noise. 



Wolff "Silentflow" has been the outcome of years 

 of study on noiseless closets, and like all other Wolff's products, 

 was not put on the market until it was perfect in design, 

 construction and workmanship. 



"No noise you know, 

 It's a Silentflow." 



L. Wolff Manufacturing Co 



Manufacturers of Plumbing Goods Exclusively 

 The one line that's complete — completely made by one 

 General Offices: Showrooms: 



60 1-627 West Lake St. Ill N. Dearborn St., Chicago 



Branch Offices: 



Denver, Col. Trenton, N. J. Omaha, Neb. 



t Minneapolis, Minn. Dallas, Texas 



IlldMs*- Rochester, N. Y. St. Louis, Missouri 



i\\™§iy///, San Francisco, Cal. Washington, D. C. 

 Cincinnati, O. Cleveland, O. 



Kansas City, Mo. ^1 



BUILD FOR THE FUTURE 



USE 



Lane Steel Beam Hangers 



and your walls will never crack. Don't cut away the timber or depend on flimsy 

 spiking. We make hangers adapted to all conditions. 



Lane "D" Hanger 



We will cheerfully send you gratis an - 

 aluminum model and a catalog. Lane "B" Hanger 



Lane Brothers Company 



Wilson Avenue 

 Poughkeepsie, New York 



CLEANING AND RESTORING OLD 



BOOKS. DOCUMENTS AND 



ENGRAVINGS 



By MARIE E. CAMP 



IN almost every home, if not in the effects 

 of almost every individual, many old and 

 possibly valuable autograph letters, manu- 

 scripts and books, because of their delapi- 

 dated condition have been regarded as 

 worthless and been cast aside, when they 

 could have been restored to an indestructi- 

 ble condition by a process, comparatively 

 new, known as the silk process. 



The fabric used in this work, which is a 

 transparent silk gauze of the finest quality, 

 is pasted, by the expert in this process, over 

 the face of the paper to be repaired and if 

 badly mutilated over the back as well and 

 is so delicate and transparent that even used 

 as a complete covering can hardly be de- 

 tected except by the touch. By carefully 

 drawing the finger across the surface a 

 slight roughness such as that of linen paper 

 is noticeable, but which does not affect the 

 value of the article or of the process which 

 is now accepted as the best and most en- 

 during way to preserve material for 

 archives, public records, and libraries. 



Many years have been spent by the in- 

 ventor experimenting and in developing this 

 process in order to reduce it to the neces- 

 sary exactness required in the preserva- 

 tion of articles of great importance and 

 value such, for example, as letters offered 

 for sale. The silk in no way impairs their 

 value, but rather contributes to it. This is 

 especially applicable to those so old and torn 

 that they could not be handled and which, 

 from their contents and signatures, are 

 much to be desired, also in cases where en- 

 dorsements on the back of the document 

 are of great importance and are necessary 

 to be preserved. 



Still another use for the silk process is 

 in the preservation of charred or badlv 

 burned documents. Paper burned and even 

 charred to a crumbling condition can. in 

 the hands of the expert, be so restored by 

 silk that the original can be deciphered and 

 if onlv scorched can be restored perfectly. 

 This is the most difficult achievement of all 

 silk restoration, however, a* one can rea- 

 lize by attempting to carry in the hand a 

 scorched piece of paper without it breaking 

 or crumbling. The greatest obstacle in the 

 success of this process is the fact that the 

 material has often been exposed to the air 

 before the expert receives it, and by so 

 doing is allowed to crumble and crack. A 

 few simple suggestions may therefore be 

 of use in this connection and may save val- 

 uable papers in the case of a fire in which 

 they are to be removed from a safe, which 

 has been subjected to great heat. 



When the safe is opened and the docu- 

 ments are exposed to view, have at once a 

 soft newspaper ready (preferably news- 

 paper as it adheres and is more impervious 

 to air), slip this gentlv under the docu- 

 ments, wrap and seal them, being careful 

 not to let the air reach them more than is 

 necessary as the burned paper having no 

 water now in its composition has become 

 friable and will easily crumble. With tb : s 

 treatment carefully carried out, the paoers 

 can readily be handled by the restorer. On? 

 thousand pages of charred material, taken 

 from safes in the great Paterson fire of 

 1902 were restored by this process by one 

 expert who has used thousands of yards of 

 silk during the interval of a few years, in 

 silk restoration. 



If for some reason it is desired that the 

 silk be removed after its application, it can 

 readily be done by the delicate hand of the 

 expert, but as the silk can be written upon 



