DETECTIVE fiction fans have always cherished the idea of the clue-finder who sees and notes everything and, at the close of his investigation, unerringly points out the culprit—who is, of course, then convicted at once in a manner unusually effective for judges, juries and prosecutors.
THE present method of representing simultaneous scenes on a motion-picture screen, in succession, may be supplanted by one in which details will appear on one screen, and the main body of the action on another, at the same time, according to a recent patent which contemplates the making and projecting of several films at once.
THE transmutation of elements, so long hoped for, has been accomplished in the laboratories, with very interesting results, so far as science is concerned; though its practical utility is yet in the future.
Up to a couple of hundred years ago, chemists had hopes of finding some cheap way of melting lead with some reagent, and making it into silver or gold.
For Land, Water and Air, to Make Exploring Safer and Easier, and Develop Rugged Country.
BEFORE the caterpillar truck came into extensive use, rubber feet had been in use on heavy vehicles, such as were used for artillery. The spreading of the rubber gave a wide area of contact, instead of the theoretical straight line only, in which a cylinder touches a flat surface. This saved the surface of the road, and made it possible to move much heavier weights. The caterpillar truck, distributing its weight over an even larger area of rolling iron plates, made it possible to move such huge structures as army "tanks" over rough country, and through a battlefield cut up by trenches, where wheels would be quite useless. Another combination has front steering wheels and
By "DUNNINGER"
AN electric lamp, consisting of a tubular fixture, containing a battery, with a switch operable from the bottom, and a small globe, socketed beneath an inverted glass hood (such as illustrated) has recently been placed upon the market, and is securable at every large electrical supply house.
Should the mechanically inclined reader, however, prefer, the diagram will enable him to construct one of these, with but little difficulty. As will be noticed, the lighting and extinguishing of the bulb depends upon the plungerlike projecting peg arrangement at the bottom of the fixture. An excellent "spirit" effect is obtained by causing this light to mystically go on and off, guided, apparently, only by the will of the wonder worker.
LIKE pictures on a screen, the best of public-address amplification and loudspeaker reproduction hitherto available has lacked reality. It is not that the instruments are defective in their reproduction of pitch and volume; but the ear is a fairly selective instrument, and hard to deceive when aided by the eyes. The sounds are right, but the directions from which they come are wrong. However, a recent demonstration, staged by telephone engineers, has the astonishing effect of overpowering the testimony of the eyes. Unseen players, singers and dancers seem to move tunefully or noisily across an empty stage.