INVENTIONS EXHIBITION

Hokitika Guardian, 2 December 1929, Page 7

INVENTIONS EXHIBITION

SOME STRANGE DEVICES. HELICOPTER THAT WORKS. LONDON, Oct. 10. Some interesting hours may always he spent at the International Exhibition of Inventions which is held annually at Central Hall, Westminister. At the exhibition in progress inventors are seen to he as prolific as ever with 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 housewife.

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 he if eiery member of the family could lie abed until that fire was well going. Now that can be 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, and the match lights a tail of paper from the bottom of the grate. The catch in this is that the fire has to be set the night before.

With the many inventions for locking up a motor cycle or a motor car it is ,a wonder there are so many thefts. One simple device is for attaching to the tube that feeds the carburettor. When the pipe is open thei key is in and cannot be drawn out. A half turn an* the pipe is closed, and the key may bo withdrawn, This certainly seems ns simple a way as possible of throwing a car or cycle put otf action. Quite a number of other car devices are on view. Tiie simplicity of a certain antidazzlor makes an appeal. It is a halfcircle 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 merely has to move his head so that lie sees the offending lights through the coloured materials. Last year a little device for locating ignition faults while under power was exhibited. It is or. show again, and it is reported that sales have been good. Duplicates of the sparks are always before the driver’s eyes, and lie can see how his plugs are behaving under any type of load.

GAS DANGER SIGNAL. Street explosions are becoming a menace to the great cities of England. A certain firm has invented a device which may be placed in the man holes and which signals to any point when gas is present to a percentage of 1$ (7 per cent, is explosive).* Then it automatically sets in motion a fan or machinery for dispersing the gas. The same firm has produced a miners’ electric lamp, with an additional red bulb which is set alight when a certain percentage of inflammable gas is present. ’ . Any person who lias been let down by a deck-chair or has had his hand squeezed in one will appreciate a deckchair arrangement in such a way as to he fool-proof. As a matter of fact, the part 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 a cheap and successful chair. The perfect trouser creaser had yet to be found—at least, such was the opinion of the inventor df the single-screw creaser. So far as convenience is concerned, this inventor seems to have achieved a success. Whether the device is strong enough to retain a clear and per nianent crease is another question.

CLEANERS AND POLISHERS. There are many time-saving chemical preparations for cleaning and polish ing, the claims for which make one wonder why the whole world does not clamour for a supply of them. A certain liquid rubbed oiv metal gives it a permanent brilliance. Why should one ever clean brass then? Yet people go 011 doing it. A black glaze of stoves, cookers, radiators, coal boxes, motor cars, and cycles gives them a lasting, enamel surface which is not affected by heat, grease, or water. A magniliquid cleans the dirtiest glass in one process, without water, leathers, buckets, powders, or wet hands. And then there is the dustless duster, which collects the dust and polishes the article as well. After washing the duster is said to he as 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 in one process; a pen nib ejector which saves one’s fingers; a golf tee made off paper (these lie folded and may ho torn off when wanted) ; a platform clipped to the side of saucepans for holding spoons and forks which have been used for sampling purposes; a razor blade with four edges; a portable bathing pool which one can set up on the lawn on a warm day for the children ; an expanding saucepan lid which can he used for different sized pans; and a new parachute with con- J tral part and two wings. I

A FI ELI COPER. A now typo of aeroplane is most inte resting. It represents an ideal which had been in the forefront of tho minds of designers ever since aeroplanes were first invented. Tins is known as a “ heliplane,” which by means ol a complicated series of radiating planes enables the machine to