THE LAZY MAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 201, 22 August 1912, Page 9

THE LAZY MAN.

Th-p lazy man is coming into his own. Two new inventions are designed especioily to mate life's journey easier for him. Thanks to these devices he may! now do the paradoxical thing of passing through a closed door without the exertion of opening it. and he may, if he is so inclined, take his exercise in bed. The self-opening door ie the invention of C. Alter, of Xo. 500 East Eightythird Street, New York, and he has had the device patented. It is for use on doors of stores or other buildings, and in arranged to permit a person to open iho door by stepping on a platform in front of it. The opening and shutting process is controlled by pneumatic pressure.

The .font-i-ivanee. according to Mr. :Mter, is intend-ed especially for th* use of persons "carrying packages'' or '•other■ni«c encumbered," but lie admits that it ■will be equally as gTe.at a boon to the man who is. not encumbered by anything save, an antipathy to over-exertion. The device for taking exercise in bed is a foreign importation, coining all the ■way from the University of Tubingen. It oonsdsts of two arms or pedals. to"-which reciprocating motion is given by an electric motor mounted on a wheeled carriage. The pedals are attached to the fogs of the person in bed. Passive walking and climbing movements are transmitted to the legs, and the distribution of the blood circulation is altered. The circulation of the legs is increased, ■while the arteries of the arms contract in compensation and the contractions of the heart are increased in volume.

Tke invention is intended for the use of invalids, but it is said that it; is only a step from breakfast in bed to a, morning constitutional in thfi same manner.