Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/607

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���For Practical _ Workers

��How to Make an Alcohol Lamp and Blow-Torch from an Oil- Can

THE spout of the can is cut off so that about 232 '"■ remain above the thread. This portion of the tube is then filled with a wick the same as for ..^^ the ordinary torch. A

piece of brass tubing, bent as shown and soldered to one side of the spout, pro- vides a means of attaching a small rubber tube for a blow- pipe. Wood or denatured alco- hol is used for the fuel. A torch made up in this manner can be used for solder- ing in very diffi- cult places as the flame may be easily directed into places that cannot be reached with a soldering iron or with the flame from the ordinary kind of alcohol lamp. — L.wvRENCE V. Greenhaus.

���The piece of brass tubing carries a rubber blow-pipe

��Two Good Calking Compounds for Boats

THE best calking compound used is made of equal parts, by measure, of white lead ground in linseed oil ancl paraffin. Put the white lead in an iron pot and heat it, then stir in the paratifin. While still hot appl\- to the seams with a seam brush. This mi.xture will make any boat water-tight and will not contract and fall out of the seams as some com- pounds do.

Another good compound is one part Portland cement to si.x parts coal-t.ir. Boil and brush over the entire boat bottom while hot. This mi.xture is generally used as an extra heavy calking for old boats. — J. J. Sturmer.

��Making Automobile Wheels Track Correctly

MOTORISTS are often puzzled be^ cause one tire will wear out faster than the others and give considerably less than the required mileage. General- ly the trouble is always experienced with the same wheel and the tread appears to have been ground away by a coarse emery wheel. If this condition exists, it is time to check the alinement of the wheels to make sure they track correctly. The recently invented device illustrated makes it possible to do this in an accurate manner.

It consists of a base-piece of pipe resting on cast-iron feet or pads and having sliding heads in the pillars at

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��LATE.HALLY SMIFTABLL^ ^^ T RULER "

���The base-piece rests on cast-iron pillars with sliding heads which are graduated rulers

each end. These are graduated, one of the rulers having a vertical move- ment whereas the horizontal one can be moved laterally and both can be set when the measurements have been as-

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