Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-05-26
IN in from. Of any plano. and win %
the playing.

w III IIOns ~ 80 F'---~s
the playing.
coNTRlvANcEs FOR THE PIANO.
Ano,her patent contrivance for The pl-
ano furnishes the instrument with auxii-
iary strings. which sound In sympatny
with the ordinary strings. though they are
not struck. They are tuned In harmony
with the primary strings and ausmen.
the volume OF tone. There Is KIND o'
pIano that holds q note as long as 'ne
finger Is kept on the key; the strihs 70
kept vibrating by an electromagnetic. ine
Janko keyboard Is already becoming Wen
known. Its arrangement enables '"e
pIayer 10 reach several octaves Win
single hand, thus rendering certain ehec's
OF execution possible which could no. oe
obtained on an ordinary keyboard. ihere
are several devices by which the per
former IL enabled to improvise on tne
pIano and to have the improvisations re-
corded with self-inking pens or otherwise:
Afterward the record may be rahsia'eu
into the common notation.
Music-boxes nowadays are. made In all
sorts of queer shapes. The glass water
bottle on the dinner tables plays tune,
while the guest fills his tumbler. the
cigar-holder becomes tuneful when
match is struck upon IL. Tollet-sets nave
music-boxes concealed In them Fruit
plates, on being placed upon the FESTIVE
board, start up with jgs and waitzes.
Photograph albums become harmonious
when opened. Clocks. instead OF striKlhs'
emit operate fragments every hour AT
tificial singing birds. run by clock-work'
with bellows and whistle, carol melodlous-
IL. One may buy an imitation canary.
robin. or nightingale in a cage. Music
boxes run all the way from 40 cents up
20 1900 for complete orchestra In
box, with reeds, bells, and rolling drums
One sort will play any number OF operas,
the music being fed TO the machine In
the snaps of a perforated strip.
QUEER THINGS FROM PAPER.
Patents have been granted for making
innumerable queer things out OF paper,
such as carpets, electric conduits, lead
pencils, roofing material, car-wheels,
boats, pals. collins, brushes, ana
combs. Mattresses are manufac-
tured out of paper pulp and
ordinary sponge, springs being embedded
ia the composition. y cloth paper for
bank-notes has been invented, the notion
being to render such money less perish
able and more difficult TO counterfeit
Paper is used nowadays for architectural
decorations. interior and exterior. Cor
nices panels, and frieZes are moulded
out of the pulp. Paper collars. which
used to be produced in such enormous
numbers, seem to have gone out OF lash
ion. Only the other day a rural-looking
person with a gripsack, after wandering
up and down Pennsylvania avenue for a
long time walked into the Metropolitan
Hotel. and, addressing the clerk, re-
marked:
This is a HI of n town, have been
m "a 2
could get. What DO you wear here-cel-
luloid?"
one OF the most successful OF recent In
ventions is a process for making artificial
straws out OF paper for drinking iced
beverages. Everybody knows that real
straws are apt to be defective; but the
limitations are always satisfactory ana
never fail TO draw. After they are rolled
they are treated with paraffine 10 render
them Uater-tight and non-absorbant. The
same patent covers mouthpieces for olga
rettes. which are manufactured in SINH
lar fashion.
Medals are made Of paper and COL
ored to initiate silver or bronze. Cigar
boxes are manufactured from the same
material. fla >9red with cedar-oil 10 give
them the customary smell Hollow tele-
graph poles of paper are a new invention.
HtE are tOdlfl Will Elti'hA' u l'NN'N
to preserve them. The making OF paper
bags is an enormous industry In this
country. Four billions Of paper bags are
used In the United States every year.
OF these the Paper Bag Trust turns out
s. per cent. Not long ago process was
devised by which 3-s OF an inch of ma
terial could be saved in the cutting OF
each bag. On this account the trust
obtained a complete new equipment OF
machinery at an immense cost but the
saving for the first year by that small
economy Of three Fights of an inch was
$4,000. one machine for making paper
bags will cut and finish 5000 bags a
day. The business of manufacturing en-
velopes IS even greater. The envelopes
are cut, printed gummed. and folded by
the same machine.
FOR MAKING PAPER.
Many strange materials are utilized for
making paper. one Of these is peanut
shells. Tobacco stems are reduced To pulp
and made into paper that is stained with
tobacco juice. The paper is employed for
cigarette wrappers and for wrappers and
filters Of cheap cigars.
One Of the oldest inventions recorded
at the Patent Office IS a sort Of gun, in
tended to be fixed upon the head OF a
steer that is TO be slaughtered. The
stroke Of a hammer on pin fires a
cartridge and discharges bullet into the
brain OF the animal. II is almost noise
less, and death is instantaneous. There
are several IDEAS for death-alarms. TO
give notice in case a person comes to
life after being buried. The trouble with
most OF them is that they would be apt
to be set OF by the decomposition of the |
body, the gases developed often causing !
a corpse to turn nearly over