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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1930-11-06, Page 3'Locomotive Megaphone Whistle Directs Sound Beam Dow; I Track No More Shrieking Whistles Will .Be Heard in the Middle of the Night—Latest Device Condenses Sound to One Spot Dallas,Tex: Speeding locomotives in the :quiet of the night -screeching whistles—interrupted sleep. This seenmay be a thing of the past as the result of successful tests with .a new train whistle, built like a mega- phone, which throws sound directly down the right of way, so no one close to thetracks can fail to hear it But the sound is reduced on either side of -t; he track. The device has' been de- signed and built by employees of the Missouri, Kansas '& Texas Railroad. 'Officials and mechanics have devoted several years perfecting it, Work was started by C. T. McEI- valley, for years superintendent of machinery on the Katy, His son, C. T. McElvaney, jr., now general round- house foreman at Dallas, continued experiments, and through his efforts -the whistle has been perfected to 'a point ,,here tests are hailed as suc- cessful. McElvaney's whistle, which has. been placed .on two fast passenger trainlohomotives on the Katy line, has an amplifier and sound director which looks much like a headlight, Warning notes are produced by ;six pipes, with low and high notes so blended that they produce a maximum warning with a minimum of annoy- ance, Because of softer tones and the fact that sound will not be heard all over the countryside the whistle is expect- ed to benefit not only train passengers but. also ,thousands who live along the right of way, especially in large cities. 'Churchill to Have Modern Apartments Centralized Heating Plant Will Furnish Heat For Homes and Business Buildings Winnipeg, Development of. the -townsite of Churchill, Canada's new - 'est seaport, ,on'Hudson Bay, terminus Of the Hudson. Bay Railway, is ex- pected to start next spring, according 'to information reaching Canadian Na- tional officers here. The entire townsite at Churchill is .owned by the Province of Manitoba .and it is to be developed along modern town -planning lines. No property will be sold but, instead, there will be long 'term leases subject to reasonable re - Vision at stated periods, such as every -three or five years. Engineers are now at Churchill working out plans for water works, water mains and sewerage lines. The town plan will specify locations of public buildings, schools, churches, railway statiou, hotels, business :streets, residential section -and recrea- 'tion grounds. Adequate surveys will be made this year. A compact settle- ment is planned with the initial rest-. 'dential' construction possibly in the form of apartment houses, heated by a central plant that would also furnish heat for business blocks and public buildings, Settlement will adhere to a carefully devised town planning scheme with proper safeguards made for future development and attention given to recreational facilities. Many applications from those who 'wish to establish business houses of all descriptions at the new eaport are being received by the Mauitoba Gov- •ernment, Three or four hotels and restaurants and a lumber yard will mark the initial construction at 'Churchill and work on these will prob- ably start this month,when the sur- vey will, it is expected, have been com- pleted. Parents Should Ignore Tantrums U. S. Children's Bureau Gives Nine Essential Rules Washington.—What the 'U.S. Child- ren's Bureau considers the nine es- eential practices of a good parent are •contained in a recent ,publication of that bureau entitled "Are you train- ing your child to be happy?" They are: 1. Tell the truth to your children, 2. Keep your promises, good or bad, 3. Decide which things are most im- portant for a child to do and then be consistent about seeing that he does them. Do not nag him about little things that do not matter much- 4. Do not say "no" one time and "yes" the next time for the same thing., 5. Break up bad habits .by keeping the child so busy with intel'eeting things to do that he forgets the old habit, 6. Pay no attention to him when he tries to get what he wants by temper tantrums or by whining. 7, Keep cool and quiet yourself. Speak in a quiet voice. 8, See that he gets things (if they are good forhim) only' when he is quiet and happy and polite. 9. Show the child you are pleased when he tries. Screening Feeds Officially Graded First Quality Now Designated As No. 1 Feed Screen- ings Canadian farmers will be particu- larly interested in the following state- ment issued by the Seed Branch of the Dominion Department of Agriculture: Screenings shipped for feed from terminal grain elevators are now be- ing sold under grade certificates; un- der the new grade standards and de- signations provided by the Canada •Grain, Act or regulations thereunder, - Standard Recleaned Screenings, con- sisting essentially of broken wheat and wild buckwheat, are now desig- nated "No. 1 Feed Screenings." A'second quality of these screenings which, in addition to the wheat and wild buckwheat, may ,carry apprecf- abe quantities of wild oats and coarse grains, is designated "No. 2 Feed Screenings." This grade also allows a slightly greater tolerance of ball -mus- tard than No. 1 grade and would be specially serviceable for feeding sheep. The product formerly known as "Oat Scalpiugs" and consisting main- ly of wild oats, but with small per- centages of domestic oats and barley, is now designated "MIxed Feed Oats." Terminal elevators, needed for the storage of wheat, are carrying sub- stantial quantities of these grain by- products which are, in consequence, being offered at much lower than the usual prices. Mixtures of barley and wild oats, finely ground, are available at 89 edits per cwt., sacks included, delivered at Montreal, Sorel and Que- bec. Any danger from the• presence of weed seeds in these nutritious grain by-products would be corrected rea- sonably well by fine grinding with high power hammer grinders, and this fact, together with the low prices at which they aro now available should render them profitable to the Cana- dian feeder, even at the present low prices for animal products. --Issued by the Director of Publicity, Dom. De- partment of Agriculture, Ottawa, Ont, 111. "Just to think of Columbus going over two thousand miles on a gal- leon." "Get out, man, Columbus didn't even have a car!" The dialogue is between -a small girl and the proprietor of a 'corner bhop, "A: large tin of salmon, please, and will you book it?" "I think there is some mistake, Your sister came or one a quarter of an hour ago, Surely your mother doesn't want two?" "Yes, it's all right. She sold the other one to go to the pic- tures." • We, the people, dont' want to get rid of our prejudices. Find Under Westminster Abbey Prtions of Original Edifice • London.—The remarkable discovery has been made of portions of a church about eight and a half centuries old beneath the floor of Westminster Ab- bey, and a problem which has puzzled many archaeologists may shortly be solved. The find was totally unexpected and was made by workmen who were alter- ing the arrangement of the heating apparatus. A fine piece of eleventh century wall now stands revealed and it is hoped that it will be possible to follow up the clue and perhaps to discover the. original dimensions of the Norman nave, a subject over which archaeol- ogists have fought many a battle. The present abbey building owes its origin to Henry III. It tookthe place o£ a church of totally- different style with large round arches' and heavy massive columnscharacteristic of the Norman builders. The early church was opened in the year 1065, and was the gift of Edward the Confessor who was struck down with his .last illness' almost at the moment when his great church was being consecrated. Daring Photographer H. B. Prides, Seattle' photographer, who trekked •across Olympic Penirr- sata, unaccompanied':and unarmed, with no food or firearms,' bolts a few Juicy morsels of a marmot caught by his own, ingenuity, on a mountain top, Unpublished Longfellow Poem Given To Museum of Peaceful Arts A four -line .poem by Henry Wads- worth Longfellow, written whoa he was 16, and believed to be hitherto unpublished, has been brought to light as the result sof the gift to the ,Museum of the Peaceful Arts, New York, of a seventeenth -century pot- ter's wheel. The wheel, now on ex- hibition in connection.with the mins-. eum's "Men and Machines"- exhibit, is the gift of Ambrose Swasey, Cleve- land machine tool and astronomical instrument manufacturer, and his nephew, 7'ederlck D, Swasey of Port- land, Me. In a letter accompanying the wheel, the elder Mr. Swasey. explains that the wheel originally belonged to Ben- jamin Dodge of Exeter, 'N.H., who started a pottery in Portland in 1801, which later passed into .the hands of Frederick Swasey, whose father, the late )Oben Swasey, bought the busi- ness of Mr. Dodge. Longfellow, he. • • wrote,, often visited the Dodge .pot- tery and was interested in . watching Mr. Dodge fashion clay into various forms, probably .tiding inspired to write his poem "Keramos" while there. Longfellow, he said, wrote the four lines, similar in theme to the "Kera- mos" •of his maturer years, leaving the dip of paper on which - it was written du the potter's wheel. Mr. Dodge found it and made a plaque, on which the poem was inscribed. For years it hung over the wheel, but finally it was sold by Eben Swasey and his partner, Rufus' Lamson, who later tried to buy it back but could not dis- cover the whereabouts of its .pur- chaser. The poem fellows: No handicraftsman's art Can to or art compare; We potters make our pots 0f what we potters are. Non -Skid Rugs Will Prevent Stumbles Non-skid rugs, to help save some of the thousands of falls which statistics. show to occur mutually from the slip pery proclivities of the ordinary ar- ticle, have been studied scientifically by the United States Bureau of Stand- ards. Comparisons were made, a bulle- tin of the Bureau reports, between an ordinary untreated rug, a, rug treated with a commercial preparation design- ed to make it Less slippery on its un- derside, and a third rug backed un- derneath with a commercial material used as a rug underlay. The ordinary rug slid down a' polished inclined plane, the Bureau reports, when the plane was tilted at an angle of only 18 degrees, not an unusual slope for au inclined walkway, The treated rug stayed on the polished plane repre- senting the floor until the tilt was 32 degrees, a little more than one third of the angle between horizontal and vertical. The rug provided with the non-skid underlay clung still more tightly, not sliding off until the polish- ed plane had been tilted to over 54 de• grins, substantially steeper than a one hundred per cent. slope. Were this slope the side Of the mountain it would be impossible for human beings to climb it except by using ropes, cutting steps, or otherwise employing the technique of professional mountain climbers. Determinations of the co- efficient of friction between rug and floor also were made by the Bureau, confirming the easy skidding charac- ter of the ordinary rug and the effec- tiveness of the two -non-skid. expedi- ents, Doris (expectantly): "You've seen Father? What,did he say?" Tom: "Br—et—er I'm not eertain whether he said, 'Take her, lad,' or 'Take care, lad!' "—Christian Science Monitor. An 'Experiment in Spain As an offset to the new State text- books which are being introduced intb Italy by the Fascists to make young Italians militantly nationalistic from their, primer days, comes the news of an experiment in international educa- tion for children beginning its third year in Spain. There, in the Spanish International School at Madrid, under the Association for Plurilingual Edu- cation, children almost from the cradle to college attend six hours of classes and games daily in four lang- uages—Spanish, English, French and German. Thus, presumably, they will think, speak, and act internationally from the age of 3. Moreover, in the true international temper the school asks criticisms and suggestions from educators in all part of the world.• Professor Pedro Salinas of the University of Seville is chairman of the executive committee, ' Then you think you won no ver manent place in her heart?" 'I'm just a notch. our her pet golf ch b,' theta' all," First Packard Chemical Is Invented to Halt I Radio Noises and Bad Cheques at Teller's Window Small Golf Racket ' Indorsing a cheque that has been tampered with will be like signing a warrant for his own arrest to a per- son presenting • such a cheque, at a bank that uses a new protective Sys- tem recently'defe]oped by Di". Julian Block in Chicago, A concealed ultra- violet ray lamp is used in conjunc- tion with 'a photo -electric cell and other little-known ' apparatus.; Detection of a raised cheque is in- stantaneous with this device, and the apprehension of the person present- ing it can be brought about simultane- ously, according to the inventor. Explaining the system, Mf, Block said: "A bank needs only to have its cheques printed on paper treated with an infinitesimal amount of a certain chemical which does not affect the ap- ing field.° 'entrance ofthe paper in any way and to install a smolt ultra -violet ray producing apparatus beneath the coca ter at its paying teller's window. The chemical employed may he applied in the ink used in cheque writing in stead of in the paper, and is: thus adaptable to protective cheque -writ ing machines, or it may be applied,d:o both the ink and the paper. "The moment a cheque made with paper or ink so prepared is offered at the teller's window equipped for this process, the invisible ultra?violet rays produce a fluorescence which makes the genuine figures shine out bril- liantly, while any alterations in the figures or other writing, erasures or other signs of tampering show up as dark, non -luminous spots on a glow - Important Addition To Astronomic Data Results of Study by Dominion Observatory of Diffuse Gaseous Matter in Stel- lar System The presence of very tenuous gases In the space between the stars, pre- viously indicated and discussed by others, was definitely proved at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory at Vietoria, B.C. about seven years ago. It was then shown that stars of the highest temperature from 30,000 to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, of the greatest mass up to about 100 times that of 'the sun, and of an, intrinsic brightness over a thousand times greater than the sun, were rushing about rapidly in all directions through diffuse gases which were nearly sta- tionary in the stellar system. The gaseous .matter which is believedto be of the same general composition as the earth, was rebognized by the ap- pearance of certain lines in the spec- tre of these hot stars and was shown to be widely extended throughout the system, .About four years ago Sir Arthur Ed- dington was led, by the proof at Vic- toria that the hot stars were in rapid motion through nearly stationary gases, to investigate theoretically the physical properties of this gaseous matter. He was able to show that' it must be ahnost unbelievably tenuous, of thousands of times higher vacuum than an incandescent lamp, Indeed the whole volume of the earth would .cgntate only about a quarter of a pound of such gases. He showed fur- ther that these gases behaved in an almost paradoxical way, that although, external space was so cold that a solid body placed in it would fall to about 460 degrees below 'zero Fahrenheit, the molecules of these diffuse gases were .so far apart, about one in every cubic centimetre, that the radiation from all the stars would give speeds to these molecule's corresponding to a temperature of about 20,000 degrees. Eddington assumed these rare gases were uniformly distributed in the space between the stars but there was no proof .of this uniform distribution nor knowledge of the motions. While the early observations at Vic - torte furnished the foundation from which Eddington deduced the physical properties of this gaseous matter, the final observational completion of the whole structure has just been definite- ly proved that this diffuse gaseous meter is uniformly distributed throughout the stellar system. It has also been shown that this matter is not at rest as previously supposed but partakes in the most beautiful exact way in the orderly and majestic ro- tation of the stellar system around a very distant centre, the most convinc- ing proof of the similar rotatiou of the stars having also been obtained at Vic - The The demonstration that the space between the stars contains very dif- fuse gases, the theoretical determina- tion of its density and temperature, and the final proof, of its uniform dis- tribution and its participation in the rotation o fthe galaxy, form a striking example of the effective combination of theory and practice. The develop- ment of this interesting advance in our knowledge of cosmos may justly be considered as one of the romances of astonomy and forms an important Canadian contribution to science. "I can't sea why they hard " a nran to steer from the rear of the'fire de- partment's ladder truck," said: Mrs. Tellum. "Well, it's a necessary thing, I suppose;" replied Mrs, Back- seat, "but I agree will). you that it's not a )pan's work." Soil Improvement `grain in Quebec 10,000 Farmers Visit Train in Course of , Tour -1,000 Soil Samples Tested A soil improvement train has just completed its three weeks' itinerary through southeastern Quebec, having started at Coaticook on September 15tH and finished et Veroheres on Oc- tober 4th. The train was organized by the Quebec Department of Agriculture in co-operation with the Agricultural Colleges in the province, the Seed Branch of the Dominion Department of Agriculture, and the C.N.R., and was part of a campaign now under way in Quebec for seouring greater' yields from a more intellient and more general use of agricultural line and commercial fertilizers. Of the four coaches which made up the train, the first was used as a laboratory where samples of soil, brought in by visiting farmers, were tested for acidity, and recommenda- tions given es to the approximate quantities of lime required aceording. to the results of the acidity tests. The second car was devoted to de- monstrating the advantages from the proped use of agricultural lime; the third, those of commercial fertilizers, while the fourth was the lecture car in which lectures were given by the officials in charge on the use of agri- cultural lime and commercial fertili- zers. Upwards et 10,000 farmers visited the train in the course of its tour and about 5,000 soil r>unples were test- ed —(Issued ested,—(Issued by the Director of Pub- licity, Dominion Department of Agri- culture, Ottawa.) Collecting Tree Seeds For Prairie Planting As a result of the efforts of the boys and girls of Dauphin, Manitoba, there will probably be several million new trees sprouting oi, Canada's west- ern prairies next year. Again this year, as in many years past, the school children are helping Mr, F. J. Smith, Supervisor of the Riding Mountain Forest to collect seeds from the Manitoba maple trees in the vicinity of Dauphin. After collection, the seeds are stripped to the Forest Nursery Statiou of the Department of the Interior at, Indian Head, Saskat- chewan, where they are planted in seed beds to germinate. The see, 8 may be planted either in the autumn or the following spring and the next spring following, when they have been in the seed bed eighteen or twelve months, es the case may be, the young seedlings are lifted and set out in the permanent plantation. The seeds collected by the Dauphin children filled 139 sacks. This figure does not seem large, and even 8,05S pounds (a ton and a half) is a reason- able gnntity to grasp, but when it is considered that a pound of Mauitoba maple seed on an average contains V,000 tree seeds, the number of seeds in this collection reaches the astound- ing total of 38,754,000. Of course, many of these will not germinate and of those that de, a proportion will die without having reached maturity. Nevertheless, it is a . conservative estimate that as a result of the chil- dren's efforts over twenty milliou more couples will eventually help to beautify many farm boles in Mani- toba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Silk Tassels Popular London. --Silk tassels in gay colors are the latest thing for modern furni- ture in place of handles. They are made to fit in with the color scheme of the room, and can be changed with the seasons and the curtains, Free Glass .,^Lyes, Made to Order, Are Given to C,.<.nadian Veterans Toronto—With the exception of Germany, Canada had the only Gov - eminent which has brought about the production of made-to-order eyes, and this work had gr'ow'n up since the war, Dr. Clifford Taylor, director of artificial eye -work and optometry of the Federal Government told mem- bers of the Progress Club recently. Avery ex -service man in the Dontin- hiias Molly Brown, seated in first Packard car built in 1399, will be driven ion at the present time in .need of" from Detroitto:Bethlehem Pa, placed ilr class eyes may procure them ch of to be 1 cel in Lehigh University on eah i charge. Two replicas of each eye tion, Ill 1899 this oar retailed at $1,250 and present trade-in valne is 16 cents, were made 80 that they could be easily replaced in case of accident. Dr. Taylor told how at the end of the war Germany was the only coun- try producing glass eyes, and service. hien in heed of there had to send to a German firm in New York to be fitted. In case of breakage they had to take the trip to New 'York over again to obtain another eye. "Seven out of ten persons need glasses," Dr. Taylor said; "three out of ten have 'them. The average citizen never steps to consider the possibility of blindness." Mr, Ai Sinton, a serious, slightly built man, makes the noises for the Columbia Broadcasting Systera, and the other day he showed us how it's done. ': First he grasped two cheap dessert spoons and clicked the handles together: swords clashing in :a direl. If you actually clicked fencing foils, together before a microphone it would sound like auto fenders colliding. He picked up a berry basket and twisted, its frail wood in his hands. "Cops smashing a door with axes," he said. Remember when you hear the doors beaten down in a police raid that it's Mr. Sinton solemnly mangling a berry; basket. He thumbed some cornstarch in a bowl, . that was men crunching, snow underfoot; he twisted a rickety kitchen chair—wind in the rigging oki. a ship; he squeezed a leather billfoidt. —a door creaking on its hinges,. Thee. effect of a waterfall is got by rustling: tissue paper in the hands. Now and then Mr. Sinton comes upon brilliant successes by accident A noise like the Chicago Fire was urg- ently sought by one of the big hours.' He had Liken a dress shirt from ital sheath of heavy oiled paper one even -t ing, crumpled' the pt.per up, and was' about to throw it aside, when his ever - alert ears pricked up. Ile crumpled: the paper agar.. "Eureka!' he ex- claimed. "The Chicago Fire!' A log fire is made with isinglass. The noisemaker scrapes a toothpick on a file to get the creak of a hamusosk swinging, twists one glass tumb'.er inside another for the screech of auto- mobile brakes, cranks a coffee -grinder to achieve the noise of a big factory at work, and twangs an elastic to get the sound of William Tell's bow. Mr. Sin- ton has to make the sound of the ar- row in flight with his mouth. It took a lot of rehearsal to get it exacfy right. The sounds of oarlocks and sleighbeIls are the only ones that have defied Mr. Sinton's ingenuity. He has to use the real articles for these. Ha does it in a far corner of the room where explosions are also rade—Mr. Sinton smacks a bass drum with the flat of his hand for these. Mr. Sinton has invented a machine that will mace 83 noises. It looks like a victrola bet is bigger. It has sheet iron for the n - der, dried peas on a drumhead for rain, all ]finds of whistles, be]ls and sirens, and a resined string which Ielr. Sinton pulls to get barks. cackles, crowinas, and r'ars. The harder he pulls the string, the bigger the ani- mal that answers hire. "LILLI2UT" GOLF. Getting dilligently to the bottom of Cis miniature golf course business, wa find that it was all started in Chattan- ooga, Tennessee, by a Mr. Garner Car- ter, who owns a hotel near there. The Torn Thumb idea came to him about three years ago. He had a regular golf course in connection with his hotel and also a clock -golf arrange- ment for practicing putting. One day it struck Min that it would be more fun if the clock course were spread around more, with trick hazards. He tried it, and there you are. The idea of using cottonseed hulls for grass he got from an American named Fair- bairn. When Fairbairn went down to his cotton plantation in Mexico he wax lost without his golf, until he noticed the lawnlike texture taken en by a layer of cottonseed hulls trodden under his peon's feet on the loading plat- forms. Carter applied the idea to his miniature course. His, t00, was the happy thought of dyeing the cotton- seedCgreen, arter• is still amazed at the success of his casual invention. He hardly EVee pays golf himself and has been heard to call those who do "danil fools." He has sold his interests in the patent rights for a couple of hundred thousand dollars, the patentable part of the idea being the use of the dyed cottonseed and certain of the haz- ards. The course at his hotel, how- ever is now one of the most elaborate in the country. It cast 6+40,000 and is called Fairyland. The people who made Tarn Thumb what it is today, in the north at least, are the Townsend Brothers of the'Na- tional Pipe Products Corporation. Wm. Townsend was visiting Isis friend Bobbie Jones in Atlanta and they paused to watch the players at a min- iature raurse. Townsend at once saw the commercial possf ilities. That was last October, and look where things are now: 0,000 courses in the entire country., operating under the Tom patents, and nobody knows how many operating outside the patents, The most profitable and colorful are the two behind the Roxy Theatre, owssed by William Fox, where Broadwaycavorts after the theatre. Theso bring in about a thousand dollars a day pro- vided the weather is good. Soft Shoulders in turning around on a road which Inas soft shoulders, and many roads do when autumn's rains fall, the dan- ger of getting stuck is entirely elimin- ated if the driver remembers to keep the driving wheels on the hard sur- face. It does not make much differ- ence 11the front. wheels sink a bit so long as the rear pair has traction, A highland furry -haat laden with passengers was caught in a 'sudden squall 'when half -way across the loop, "It limits gey 'bad said the• ferry' man, "I'll talc' vel f ,: s me, if ye please."--,L,ondon Trt Brt