NEW INVENTIONS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 9

NEW INVENTIONS

- TOUR OF EXHIBITION

SOME STRANGE DEVICES

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 10th October. Some interesting hours may always be spent at the International Exhibition of Inventions which ik hol<j annually at Central Hall, Westminster. At the exhibition in progress inventors are seen to be ap prolific as ever with j new ideas. Their trouble; of course, is "to persuade people to avail themselves of the short-cuts to comfort and the time-savers, because the. human race is conservative, and one of'the most stubborn classes of society is the house"wifo. Many families, for instance, light a ' coal fire in their kitchen or their • breakfast-room the first thing on a winter, morning. How much more pleasant ,it would be if every member of the family could lie abed until'that fire was well going. Now that canfb'e done merely by pulling a string. The pulled string removes a little disc from; a little stand which contains a match. Something slips and lights the match,1 and-tho match lights a taiPof paper from the bottom of the ' grate. Tho' catch in this is that tlio fire has to be set the night before. . With the many inventions for looking up a motor-cycle or a motor-ear it is a wonder thero aro so many thefts. One simple device is for attaching to the tube that; feeds the carburettor. "Whejj";the pipe is open the key is in and cannot be drawn out. A half turn and \ tho pipe is closed and thg key may be withdrawn. This certainly seems as simple a way as possible of throwing a car or cycle out of action. Quite a number of other motor-car devices are on view. The simplicity of a certain nnti-dazzler makes an appeal. It is a half-circle of coloured but transparent screening, This is attached to the windscreen by a strong suction disc. As it.is on a swivel it can be moved to a range of different positions. In approaching a dazzling car the driver jnnrely has to move his head so that he sees tho offending lights through the coloured material. Last year a little device for locating ignition faults .whilo under power was exhibited. It is on shj>W'again, and it is reported that sales have been good. Duplicates of the sparks are always before the driver's eyes, and he can see how big plugs are behaving under any type of load. GAS DANGER SIGNAL. Stroct explosions are becoming a menace .to the great cities of England. A certain flrm has invented, a device ■which may hg placed in the manholes find which signals to any point when gas ig present to a porcontage of 1$ (7 per cent, is explosive). Then it automatically sets in motion n fan or mach" inery for dispersing tho gas. The same firm has produced a miner's electric lamp, with an additional red bulb which js set alight when a certain percentage of inflammable gas is present* Any person who has been Jet down by a deck-chair or has had his'hand squeezed in ono will appreciate a, deckChair arranged in such a way as to be foolproof. As a "matter of fact thepart that is apt to slip is kept safe by. sitting on it. It is now being built for indoor use as well, and is certainly 8 cheap and successful chair. The perfect tronser creaser v had yet to be found—at least, such was the opinion of the inventor of. the single- . screw creaser. So far as convenience is concerned, this inventor geema to have achieved a success.'1 Wh.eth.or the - device is strong enough to retain a clear and permanent crease is another question. CLEANERS AND POLISHERS. There are many time-saving chemical preparations for cleaning and polishing, the claims for which make one \wonder why the whole world does not clamour for a supply of them. A certain liquid rubbed on metal gives it a permanent brilliance. Why should one over clean brass then? Yet people go on doing it, A black glaze on stoves, cookers, radiators, coal boxes, motorcars, and oyeles gives them a lasting enamel surface which is not affected by heat, grease, or water, A magic liquid cleans the dirtiest glasa in one process, without water, leathers, buckets, powders, or wet hands. And then there is the dustlesg duster, which collects thodugt and polishes tho .article) as well. After washing the duster js said to bq a? good as ever. Other interesting devices are a shaving brush which does not permit the water to run down the shaver's arm--surely a long-felt want; a shaving brush for attaching to the stick of soap so that soaping and rubbing may be done jn one process;.a pen nib'ejector which saves one's fingers; a go]f tee made of paper (these/lie folded and may be torn off when wanted); a platform clipped to the side of saucepan for holding spoons, and fork? which have been used for sampling purposes; a razor blade with four edge§; n portable bathing pool , which one can set up on the lawn on a warm day for tho children; an expand- : ing saucepan lid which can be used for different sizod, pans; and a new parachute with central part and. two wings. A new type of aeroplane is most interesting. It represents an ideal which has been in tho forefront of the minds . of designers ever since aoroplanes were first invented. This is known as a "heliplane," which by means of a, complicated series of radiating planes enables the machine to rise or fall vertically at the will of the pilot. Only a model is exhibited, but tho inventor is .constructing a full-sized machine for privato trials. |