FLASHES

Evening Star, Issue 19781, 3 February 1928, Page 2

FLASHES

A story comes from Rio how on a rainy night a lizard jumped on a lamp on a verandah in pursuit of a moth. The contact of the animal’s cold body with tho hot glass caused the latter t"> crack and the poor lizard fell in—hence the inquest!

There are many types of umbrellas now in use, but the best of all is the one that has an electric light in the ferrule. If you have difficulty in finding the keyhole or tho number of the house, you simply press a button and the end of the umbrella becomes an electric torch.

A kettle, fitted with a device which rings a bell when it has reached boiling point, a gadget which determines when a glass is filled, and a revolving puff which automatically powders the face, wore among the many ingenious contrivances recently shown in London at the International Inventions Exhibition.

, A novel electrically-operated machine has recently been installed by the,London Underground Company at its Ealing Common depot for the purpose of cleaning their electric railway coaches. The coach, which travels through the machine under its own power at a speed of ouo mile and a-half per hour, is thoroughly cleaned and washed down, very much quicker than by. the usual system of hand washing. The mechanism of this huge washing machine is driven by electric motors.

As was the case with Jules Verne’s vision of the submarine, the dream of a mechanical man seems within measurable distance of realisation, for at a recent exhibition there was.shown a marvellous electrical mechanism known as the “Mechanical Man,” which obeys human voices and carries out orders. It should be pointed out, however, that the device only responds when addressed in the correct, manner; if the voice is raised too high the so-called man pays no attention.

The solution of the ever-growing traffic problem in London has been offered in the form of a traffic control device recently, tested in London. The apparatus consists of two electricallyoperated signal signs, one at each end oi the obstructed section of the road, and when a policeman moves the lever at one end, there appears a red signal arm and the word “ Stop.” Simultaneously, on the dial at the other end, the red signal gives place to a green one, with the words “ All Clear.”

Electricity will play a very prominent part in the new Bank of England when the rebuilding operations arc completed. Miles of wire will bo housed in copper pipes, with gunmetal fuse boxes. Sucli an expensive installation is believed to be unique in England. There will be approximately 10,000 lights in the building and forty lifts. The main switchboard will be 100 ft long. Even cooking is to be done by electricity, and besides the installation for power, heat, and light an elaborate system of telephones, alarms, and bells is also being installed.

Though electrically-operated toys as we know them do not this year show any marked improvement over last year’s models, battery manufacturers, on the other, hand, have shown considerable vision in introducing to this year’s toy bazaars features which not only add realism to the toys, but give just that finish which means so much to the childish imagination. A visit to most of the Christmas toy bazaars showed that the commonplace clockwork motor car, the lire engine, and the locomotive are still operated by mainsprings, but many of them are now fitted with head and rear lamps which actually light at the touch of a switch. The lamps are flash-lamp bulbs, while the source of supply is a flashlamp battery of a size suitable to the number of lamps fitted to the toy. The “ wiring system ” is carefully executed, every use being made of the metal work forming the body.

Mr J. T. H. Legge, chief engineer to the Shropshire, Worcestershire, and Staffordshire Electric Power Company, in the course of a speech to members of the Worcestershire Chamber of Agriculture recently, stated that the cost of erecting overhead lines to Supply rural districts in that country was from £4OO to £430 a mile, compared with about £250 in France, the difference being due to having to obserye regulations which were not imposed in France.

What is claimed to be the deepest electric furnace in the world has just been put into operation in a South African mine. This furnace, which is being worked at a depth of 6,300 ft, has been designed by Mr V. C. Cutts, managing director of Verdon Cutts and Co., Ltd., of Sheffield, who recently returned from South Africa. This furnace has been installed for the heating of carbon drill steel, and is in furtherance of a growing movement to heat treat drills .underground.