Saving an Engine
Turning the water on before starting the gas engine may prevent breaking a cylinder on a cold day.
Old-Time Magic
Removing 36 Cannon Balls from a Handbag
Balls Made of Spring Wire
The magician produces a small handbag and informs the audience that he has it filled with 20-lb. cannon balls. He opens up the bag and takes out a ball which he passes to the audience for examination. The ball is found to be the genuine article. He makes a few passes with the wand and produces another ball, and so on until 36 of them lie on the floor.
In reality the first ball, which is the one examined, is the real cannon ball, the others are spiral-spherical springs covered with black cloth (Fig. 1). These balls can be pressed together in flat disks and put in the bag, Fig. 2. without taking up any great amount of space. When the spring is released it will fill out the black cloth to represent a cannon ball that cannot be distinguished from the real article.