Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/944

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916

��Popular Science Monthly

��An Umbrella with an Electric Fan

ERE

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��IS an umbrella with an electric fan to keep you cool on a hot day. Within the hollow handle of the um- brella are con- cealed both a dry battery and a motor. A shaft extends through the umbrella casing from the motor to the axis of the fan, which is so constructed that the blades open and close with the umbrella. By pressing a small push-button at the side of the handle, the fan blades are made to revolve as long as pressure on the button is maintained.

Convenient Holder for Toilet Articles

A CLAMP, fas- tened to a wall, has a notched lug for gripping a tooth- brush, shaving- brush, and other toilet article. A glass, placed over the top to keep the dust oflf, is readily removed at any time. In the hollow of the arm back of the glass a shaving stick may be de- posited, thus making the whole a compact and convenient fitting for crowded bathrooms.

The Mechanical Fly Swatter

TWO mesh screens such asareusedonordi- nary fly killers are pivoted so that when a trigger is pulled, a spring causes the two screens to come to- gether like the jaws of a trap, thus catching the fly between the two screens and crushing it. The handle of the device is shaped like a pistol stock, and the spring mechanism is actuated by a trigger, as in a pistol. If desired, the two screens may be locked together, and the device used as an ordinary fly "swatter."

�����Two Kitchen-Forks in One

AD O U B L E kitchen fork that meets one of the housewife's troublesome problems is shown in the cut. In taking vege- tables, tender meats, and other similar foods from the pan it is custom- ary to use two forks, one in each hand, in order to prevent breaking the food into small pieces. The double fork enables one to make the transfer with only one hand, leaving the other hand free for handling the utensils and for other purposes.

Cord Reel Is Telephone Convenience

TO take up loose tele- phone cord and prevent it from getting entangled with desk materi- als, a reel is actu- ated by a spring, having just enough tension to keep the cord wound up but not sufficient to move the telephone. The attachment will fit any ordinary desk-telephone. The spring is the lowest of the three coils shown in the illustraticjn, the cord being the others.

A Sanitary Butter Dish

A SANITARY butter dish protects the butter from dirt, dust, and flies, and at the same time keeps it cool and solid. The butter is contained in the tray of crys- tal glass; beneath _ is an ice chamber in which ice may be placed in warm weather. The cover is turned over the butter to protect it when the dish is not in use; when the butter is needed the cover easily swings in- to place underneath the glass. This dish is not only convenient and useful, but ornamental as well.

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