QUAINT INVENTION

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 840, 7 December 1929, Page 15

QUAINT INVENTION

FIRES LIT FOR LAZY HOUSEHOLDERS SOME NEW DEVICES A woman's ingenious device for lighting a kitchen fire by pulling a string from one’s bedside war. seen at the International Exhibition of Inventions, opened recently at the Central Hall, Westminster. Tho model shows a gibbet-like wooden frame attached to a bed-post, says the London “Daily Chronicle.” A red cord hangs by the bed and is carried over pulleys and conducted out of the bedroom, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Before the kitchen grate is a wooden pedestal like a miniature railway signal. A single mach is fixed in tho top of the pedestal, the head of the match being in contact with a roughedged wheel. When the red string is pulled by the person in bed the wheel revolves, the match ignites, the flame catches a whisp of paper jutting out from between the bars of ;:he grate—and there you are. You remain in bed or dress leisurely, knowing that the kitchen fire has been well and truly lighted and that the kettle is obligingly coming to the boil in readiness for the early morning cup of tea. Or, as the inventor states, “thus a fire will be burning brightly by the time the riser is tjj-essed.” Car to Hoot at Thieves One invention is for preventing gas explosions in collieries and streets. It has received the approval of the Ministry of Mines. Another exhibit is a miner’s safety lamp which shows a red light when gas is present. A gas sentinel for use in street manholes will: — (1) Signal the presence of gas. (2) Reset itself for further “gas attacks.” (3) Work for months without attention. (4) Cuts off the supply of electricity in danger zones. Motorists will find many devices to please them, including Illuminated road signs which can be read tnighi or day at 100yds distance); antidazzle designs: and an anti-thief apparatus. This latter enables tho driver of the car to cut off and lock up the petrol supply, and put the selfstarter out of action. Any tampering starts an electric hooter!