El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-09

an engine. When morse or COW gets
! on the track ahead Of a moving train
! the engineer simply pulls the trigger Of
| the mud cannon and the resultant
| stream of mud is supposed to drive any
| animal off the track in time to get out
| of harms way.
| Refreshments Carriers.
In these prohibition times the man.
! who likes his toddy often is put to it
I for a method of carrying refreshments
in a manner not as conspicuous as the
ordinary flask A gun has been patent
J ed having a hollow stock, with two
| quart capacity, and the hunter may be
! sure he has enough with him TO satisfy
| any reasonable thirst during q days
| tramp.
In another case a combination clothes
! and shoe brush has added to 1t a flask
! and a drinking cup. while in still an
I other instance what appears to be a
/ harmless law book is really the outside
covering of a liquor flask. 1t is so
arranged that when not In use the
| neck Of the bottle disappears.
The vacuum TASKS in which automo-
bilists carry hot coffee or cold water
may be comparatively new, but long
before they had made their appearance,
the same idea was applied to a mans
! footgeaF. The boot had vacuum space
between two covers. and il was guaran-
teed that the foot of the wearer would
Labor Savers.
In the line of labor savers the man
who invented a chickenhouse that
would shut itself deserves the palm.
He had the roost adjusted that it
! could be set to give down an inch
whenever any prearrang ed weight was
upon it, The chicken grower was sup
posed to ascertain the weight of his
flock, and as soon as the last chicken
flew upon the roost It would turn the
balance and close the door to the hen
house. In the morning the first chick
en- that flew down from the perch
would turn the balance back and open
the door TO the hen-house-
The same idea was applied to the bee
hives on the plantation When the
chickens went to roost they shut up the
bees. and when they came out again
they opened up the hives once more.
Patented Keyholes-
Some years ago a minister from
| neighboring city went to Washington
! and consulted the chief of the drafting
division Of the patent office about
keyhole thai could be found in the
dark The patent office man wanted 20
know how it WAS 'h4t minister should
see the need Of such a thing: observing
that he woul1 Understand it in the case
of others.
The minister was told that his in
vention was by no means new, and
stack OF patents on the same subject
was produced TO prove It. They all en-
brace the idea of large sunken de-
preston in which the keyhole is the
lowest part. or an inverted V-shaped
band with the top of the keyhole in the
sharp angle. Few men care to adver-
tise their sometime inability to find the
keyhOle, however, so the patent was
never a highly profitable one.
Telephones In Graves
The horrors of being buried alive
are intensely real to some men and they
have worked many year 70 perfect
something that would allow the victim
of such burial to announce the fact.
In one invention a bell above the grave
is so adjusted that 1t will be made TO
ring whenever the victim begins 10
breathe Another provides miniature
telephone system from the grave TO the
keepers office. Still another has a
little push button which will light an
electric light above the grave No one
Of these CHASTITY inventions has been
put to a practical test
Unique Patents.
A combination cane and stool is one
of the things that deserved greater
success than seems to have attended It.
When closed up il resembles a heavy
walking stick, but when opened IL
makes a very decent substitute for
camp stool a.
gopher exterminator is another in
teresting affair 1t has a screw Oh the
end and a flexible shaft. like one sees
on a dental engine This shaft il at
tached TO an~ordinary carpenters brace
and the screw is inserted into the hole.
1t winds its way onward after the
gopher unit lit drives him out of the
rear entrance TO his home 1t also can
be applied 10 rats, ground squirrels,
moles and other burrowing animals.
Humane tendencies o1en show up in
patents issued in Washington In one
case there is a cat made Of cardboard
covered with phosphorescence. II is
made to simulate the position of a live
cat at a rat hole When a mouse or a
rat sees the ghost in the dark near its
home it Immediately decides that It's
palace is a haunted one, and leaves that
vicinity The inventor says he is able
to hasten this leaving process by per-
Tuning the ghost cat with peppermint,
which odor he says is very offensive
to the Olfactory organs of the mouse
and the rat.
GrOcer's Invention.
A cheese skipper eXterminator is the
invention Of an enterprising grocer. He
concludes that the presence OF shippers
in cheese does not injure it at ALL and
that by enclosing the cheese and its
Inhabitants in air tight box he can
smother the inha bitants without harm
ing the cheese He finds that when
the air becomes close in the cheese the
shippers will make a bee line for the
surface. where they die fer want Of air.
Another grocer has invented a COM
bination crater. slicer, fly trap and
mouse trap, which he declares to be
new and useful invention
medicine dealer has a patent on
bottle stopper that is unique 1t has a
little mill race and bicycle water wheel
to ii. and when the medicine is
all gone the child can convert the bot
tie into a little lake and drive his wa
ter wheel with the water stored in it,
An Engiishman many years ago in
vented gun with round and square
barrel: the square one to shoot the
Turks and tho round one tn shoot