1 Fes., 1902 | QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 143 
A CLOCK DEVICE. 
Mr. H. R. Stephens, Toowoomba, sends the subjoined illustration and 
description of a very ingenious and useful device for opening or closing a gate, 
thus saving the trouble of attending to the wants of stock of any kind enclosed 
inayard. A patent has been applied for this novelty in the way of labour- 
saving appliances. Itis a device in which, by means of an ordinary alarm clock, 
which may be set to any hour or minute the user pleases, a gate or door will open 
at a corresponding time, so that stock could be admitted to feed or water by a pre- 
yious preparation of same without requiring the attendance of anyone to their 
requirements. Other applications are for releasing poultry from their houses at 
an early hour of. the morning or shutting up at night. For opening gates, &e., 
e 
A. Clock case. D. Weight. 
B. Lever releasing weight. : E. Ordinary hinge, 
C. Cord attached to hasp of gate. ¥. Crank hinge. 
the gate should be made with a crank hinge, so that it closes or opens of its own 
accord, the device pulling out a bolt or hasp to admit of this action. If a 
stronger pull is required, give the weight a greater fall The size of case 
enclosing clock from weather is about 14 inches by 9 inches, and is fastened to 
one post of gate or door. Other applications are obvious. 
[Mr. Stephens’s device comes rather close to an mgenious invention of Mr. 
Edison to enable him to avoid tedious and monotonous work. When the great 
inventor was fourteen years old he was engaged as a night telegraph clerk, and 
it was part of his duty to report himself every half-hour to the head office by 
telegraphing the word “six,” to show that he was not asleep. Now, although 
Edison had little desire to sleep, yet he liked taking open-air exercise at night, 
so he constructed a wheel in which he cut notches This he attached to the 
works of a common five-shilling clock, and so arranged it that the contrivance 
transmitted the signal regularly every half-hour for six hours. After this, one 
cannot doubt Mr. Stephens’s statement that by his device he can light the 
kitchen fire at any unearthly hour without waking from his sleep.—Ed. 
Q.A.J.] 
AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL SHOWS. 
The Editor will be glad if the secretaries of Agricultural and other Societies 
will, as early as possible after the fixture of their respective shows, notify him 
of the date, and also of any change in date which may have been decided on. 
