CHICKENS MADE TO WORK

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 November 1934, Page 12

CHICKENS MADE TO WORK

DISPLAY OF INVENTIONS. LONDON, October 4. An inventor has evolved a method of curing chickens that suffer from laziness. He insists that they shall lake a little exercise before they obtain their meal. The chicken has to walk along a special perch. This action causes a drum overhead to rotate. Corn then drops on to a revolving distributor and is scattered. The chicken (hat understands what the perch is for can thus be encouraged to work for its living! You may see this device, among hundreds of others, at the Exhibition of Inventions, which opened yesterday al the Central Hail, Westminster. Few people seem to realise that in proportion to population, Britain has more inventors than any other country in the world, and some of the ideas demonstrated at this exhibition are astonishing. Nothing has been neglected by the persons to whom a bright idea comes. The woman who powders her face in an omnibus or a train is not forgotten. A vanity case is provided for her which can bo clipped on to her knee while she beautifies herself. The many inventions shown by women included a pocket ash-tray, designed by Miss Evelyn Moore, the actress. “The idea came to me at rehearsal,” remarked Miss Moore. “I know how numeious are the cigarette ends which accumulate on the stage when a play is in production. The cigarette is a great comfort to the nerves, but the ash left behind is considerable.” It was with a view to solving the 11 ifficulty of disposing of cigarette

ends and ash in certain circumstances that Miss Moore thought of a receptacle which can be carried in the pocket, in a bag, or clipped to the clothing. By a mere twist the ashis opened or closed. Poultry-keepers who do not want to get up too early on cold mornings, or go out in the rain at night, have a. guardian inventor wlio has provided an automatic door for poultry-houses which shuts itself at dusk and opens just as obligingly in the morning. There is even one invention in which the top of a communion cup is divided into numbered sections, so that drinkers may use their own. And if you want to clean the other side of a window that is awkward to reach, you" instal apparatus which does the job mechanically. If you arc distressed over the best method of cutting off the top of a boiled egg you. may find solace in an invention which cuts only the shell and leaves the yolk intact. If you arc really keen on knownig whether the kettle is boiling you can be told at a distance by an alarm bell.

“PIANOS” THAT PLAY COLOURS. Men and women whose occupations are remarkably varied contribute their inventions, and some are the product of years of experiment and research. Major Raymond Phillips exhibits his “humanoscope,” an apparatus he has evolved “for detecting manifestations of human concentration,” and Mr I. Shamah demonstrates “colour music.” This exhibition of Mr Shaihah’s attracted much attention yesterday. He has “pianos” which play colours instead of music, or even combine them. “For the twelve colours of ry spectrumoctave,” he said, “I. have ■ corresponding notes in the octave, for

just as you caii get beauty arid harmony from sound you can get it from colour. The idea goes back to Aristotle, but the difficulty has been to reproduce the colours properly. “With my apparatus I can produce a range of more than 1,000 different shades and colours in any variation' desired, arid the effects are beautiful. There can be as great a reaction to colour as to music, and I and quite convinced the time is not far distant when people will be. enjoying compositions of swiftly-changing colours just as much as they enjoy great music.”

Lord Askwith, opening the exhibition, said the inventive genius of our people had not been 61ow, even dur.-, ing the period of depression. “During the six months ended June 30/’ he said, “there were applications for new patents numbering 19,403. It is curious to note; that during the year just- passed there has been in the United States a decrease in applications, of nearly 3,000, while here there has been an increase of 1,000 iri six' months.

It did not always follow, added Lord Askwith, that people in certain pfccupations used their knowledge of those occupations to further their inventive genius. One would hardly expect—as was the case—to find a Ship's draughtsman inveriting a Babywalker; a motor-frame rVorker a miniature greyhound racing ir&iyc; a medical specialist an alarm itmtig; a •film actress a .deck chair, or an optician reversing Headlights for motors.