Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-19
Mrs. Mncfas rs Interpreter.
MAKING PEOPLE THINK.
Inventions to summon Absent Atten-
ton.

inventions to Summon Absent Atten-
ton.
From the Philadelphia Times
Inventors ere always at work devising
contrivanoes to summon absent attention
One of the latest of these is a bracelet
that tas an alarm watch attched TO it,
The wearer, having an engagement at
certain hour, sets the watch and when
the time arrives little needle pricks her
arm and reminds her of the duty to be per-
formed.
Many ingenious Persons have applied their
talents to the production of contrivances
for awakening people and compelling them
1 to rise. There is a kind OF bedstead, for
example. which holds its mattress in
frame that is retained in the normal posi-
ton by catch. At the proper hour the
catch. operated by a clockwork mechan-
ism, loses its grip and the mattress frame
becomes vertical instead of horizontal
throwing the sleepyhead out on the floor.
There is another sort Of bed which lets
the head of the sleepy person drop when
getting up time arrives. one end OF the
mattress frame colapsing. But one of the
cueerest of the patented methods of wax
ing people up involves the employ ment OF
a tin pan and a weight hung by cord.
When the hands of the clock reach a GER
tain point. the weight is released and falls
upon the pan. making direful racket.
Another oddity is a frame from which are
suspended number of corks. during the
right it is lowered gradually by clock
weight mechanism, until al the proper
hour and minute the dangling corks begin
TO bob against the nose and face OF the
sleeper.
OF course he wakes up.
There are quite number of inventions
for lighting the fire in the morning with
out getting out of bed. They are all oper-
ated by clockwork.
The newest and best of them is credited
IN m Illinois genius A clock Is set Tor a
certain time and when the proper minute
is reached the mechanism throws" a lever,
which draws a match across piece OF
sandpaper and ignites the kindling.
One of the latest patents Is for street
lamp which has clockwork apparatus
attached to it. At the correct moment Tor
which the rachine is set 1t closes an cleo
trio circuit. at the same time opening the
gas pipe. Immediately the gas is ignited
and it burns until shut off by the clock
work at daybreak in the morning. In this
way the street lamps all over the city may
be made to light themselves simultaneously
without the intervention of human hands.
Something quite new is contrivance by
which eggs are made to time their own
boiling. A little wire basket containing
the egg is put into a pot, and a clockwork
mechanism is set for three minutes stay.
At the end of the three minutes the ma
chine pulls the basket out of the pot
A citizen of Austin. Tex, is the author
of a sort Of water clock that is wound by
rain On the roof Of a house is trough
that catches the rain water. which hows
into the tank. When the tank is filled TO
a certain poiut II empties the water into
bucket, which is connected by a cord with
the winding drum of an ordinary CLOCK.
The bucket falls. and by its weight puiis
up the clock weight, thus winding tne
clock Finally the bucket reaches the moor.
when a valve in its bottom opens and the
water runs out. Then 1t ascends and re-
sumes its original position. so as to be
ready to wind the clock up again after
while