It is very difficult to take a bite from a ball of pop corn, and it becomes more difficult as the ball increases in size. As a large number of balls were required for a church entertainment I decided to make the pop corn into cakes. This was more easily accomplished than first imagined with the use of a cake-forming device as shown in the illustration. The body of the former was made of a baking-powder can with the bottom removed. The cover of the can was nailed to the top of an old table with its flange upward. A plunger of wood was made to fit snugly inside of the can and a lever, about 3 ft. long, attached to it and fulcrumed to the wall.
After the pop corn has been prepared with the sirup, it is placed in the can and compressed. The can is then lifted out of the cover and the pop-corn cake removed. This method offers a much better way to serve pop corn than in balls. In making the cakes, the can, cover, and plunger must be kept well covered with butter.—Contributed by Howard A. Hopkins, Youngstown, New York.
Threading a Darning Needle
Having occasion to use a darning needle, the eye of which was too small to insert the yarn in the usual manner, I tried the following method with good results. A thread was doubled and passed through the eye, and the loop thus formed was used to pull the yarn through.—Contributed by Joe Henderson, Eldred, Ill.
A Fish Scaler
Bottle Caps Nailed to a Wood Block for Removing Scales from a Fish
All kinds of devices, both simple and complex, have been made and patented for use in scaling fish, but for a novelty I found the following, which necessity compelled me to improvise on an outing trip, to be as efficient as any of them. As usual, the commissary, in making up the outfit, neglected to take the curry comb to clean the fish, and at the same time remembered to take a plentiful supply of bottled goods. Long before it became necessary to scale any fish enough bottles had been opened to provide the basis of a tool for the purpose, which I constructed by using the small tin bottle caps, a few being nailed on a block of wood, about 3 in. wide by 4 in. long, making a splendid fish scaler, as good and efficient at home as in the camp, and both inexpensive and easily made. The sketch shows the general appearance.— Contributed by T. B. Lambert, Chicago.
A Disappearing Towel
