In the shop or factory oil torches are sometimes used and much trouble is experienced by the excessive smoking of the flame. This occurs because too much carbon remains unburned, and can be remedied by first soaking the wick in a weak solution of acetic acid. A 5-per-cent solution can be purchased for a few cents at any drug store and will soak a great number of wicks. The acid is not poisonous unless taken internally.
A Lard and Fruit Presser
A very simple but handy device for pressing out lard, juices for jelly, or fruit for marmalade, is made from two boards, each 18 in. long, 3 in. wide and 1/2 in. thick, formed into the shape of paddles and hinged together. The hinge is made by running a wire through holes bored in one end of the paddles and twisting the ends together as shown. This presser will save the hands from stains and other effects of the juices.—Contributed by Julia A. White, Glenburg, Pa.
Two Paddles Hinged Together with a Piece of Wire Make a Presser for Lard and Fruits
An Electric-Light Bulb as Barometer
To use a discarded electric bulb as a fairly reliable barometer the point is broken off with a pair of pliers while holding the bulb under water. As the bulb is a vacuum, it completely fills with water. If the bulb is now suspended from a wire or thread fastened at the socket end, the water will not run out of it in fair weather when the atmospheric pressure is normal or high, but if the pressure falls, as happens when bad weather is approaching, the water will begin to bulge out of the small opening and sometimes a small drop may even fall off. When, with returning fair weather, the atmospheric pressure increases, the water can no longer bulge or drop out of the bulb.
A Swinging-Pendulum Trick
To swing a pendulum, picked out from a number of them at random, without touching it is a very puzzling trick. The articles necessary are a medium-sized table and a number of pendulums, some of which are suspended from a rod with their lower weighted ends inside of water and wine glasses placed on the table, and others attached to corks so that they will hang inside of bottles.