Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-10-18
WORK AND WORKERS
Useful Suggestions Concerning Recent In
ventions and Devices.

WORK AND WORKERS.
Useful Suggestions Concerning Recent In.
ventions and Devices.
A clever little device, designed for
the use of tailors, has been perfected It
is a fat iron which utilities the prin-
ciple of expansion of metals by heat,
SO that when the iron is hot enough
for use a little bell rings, apprising the
tailor of the fact.
that carpenters have generally aban-
doned them as wasting time instead of
saving it. One tool, however, of recent
invention, is handy and simple, and
likely to become of great service. It
is piece of steel or other material cut
SO as to form square, inter or tri-
square. - iss sfH,B s.ssi
A Swiss inventor has perfected a
method of making artificial boards,
and is advocating their use in building.
They are made of mixture of plaster
of paris and reeds pressed into shape
by hydraulic presses. The material
has the advantage of incombustibility
and ightness, and will resist the
warping action of atmospheric changes.
An Important innovation in railway
practice is the device of Baltimore
electrician for Welding steel rails By
electricity, method which will admit
of the laying OF a continuous track.
After they are placed on the track the
rails are to be welded by means Of
transformed electric current. They
joint will be as hard as the rest of the
rail.
It will not be long before the shoe
maker can add to his stock of raw ma
terials waterproof leather. The pro-
cess, which has been recently perfect
ed, is not only of service on the uncut
leather, but can be used in rendering
worthless leather valuable by plump
ing, stiffening and waterproofng it for
insoles, counters, box toes, etc. Every
part of a boot Or shoe can be water
proofed" either before or after il Is
finished. So F...i -e-.r ,..a
According to the Journal DIES De6ats,
a society for the construction of arti-
sans dwellings at Rouen has been
formed. It has already erected six
buildings, accommodating altogethef
ninety-five families. The rents are
low and the sanitary arrangements as
nearly perfect as they can be made.
A feature of the enterprise is the es-
Establishment of a local savings bank,
where the trades people may put away
in safety what proportion Of their
wages they do not spend. But even
with this advantage it will be long
time before France can vie with En-
gland in provision of sanitary dwellings
for working people.
Dry goods merchants appreciate the
services of an employe who is good
window-dresser. Many firms keep
man who does nothing else, but the
majority of dry goods and furnishing
good sense Of their clerks. Two
things are necessary to the making of
good window-dresser- sense of
color in masses and in contrasts, and
the ability to appreciate the value of
repeated forms. Such colors, for in
stance. as yellow and black, repeated
in gloves and stockings, say, are very
striking and catch the eye. Red and
black are also good, although, of
course, the variety of color combina-
tions is endless. A skillful window
dresser is valuable person, and his
wages are by no means small.
Cabinet-makers who keep on hand
stock of fine woods are frequently an
noyed at the destructive operations OF
rats. Traps are Intellectual, rat poison
is not much better besides being I'M
healthy to have around, and, no mat
ter how carefully the holes be stopped
and the DASHBOARD and quarter-round
be underlaid with tin, the rats find
some way of getting in and pursuing
their work of destruction. A New
York cabinet-maker waxed exceeding
wroth the other day, however, on find
ing a particularly choice piece of old
oak gnawed into the semblance of
bit of Italian fligree work, and he set
about discovering some means of rid
ding himself of the pest. He soaked e
number of newspapers, kneaded them
into pulp. and dropped the pulp into
oxolic acid. Before leaving the shop
at night he put the pulp, while wet,
into every nook and Granny through
which rat could possibly squeeze.
The plan worked. After few nights
of sore feet and sorer noses the baffled
and Disguised rodents decamped from
the premises en- masse. Chicago NesUs.
t.74
The discussions with regard to
the substitution of electricity for the