News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1915-05-19
BETTY AT THE FAIR
Letters of the Panama Pacific ExpO-
sition by Florence Livingston
SAN FRANCISCO,


demonstration purposes continuous
circuit route has been arranged. A boz
slides on to a treadmill, slips bacl
against piece of metal, and is carried
to a considerable height. 1t then slides
upon series of rollers arranged ON
slight descent. The rollers have free
play, and being started in motion by the
force of the box, they gently propel il
on it's course till it enters a polished
metal spiral, descends, lands upon an.
other set of rollers, and repeats its
journey. What an immense saving of
time and labor it has meant to be able to
lift heavy boxes by a partially automatic
process and send them back empty by
means of gravity, force that is older
than any machinery.
One of the best exhibits in this build
ing has been installed by the govern
ment. 1t is of lighthouses and buoys,
fog bells and anchors, lights of all sorts
and intensities. To see these things in
operation at a distance and to see the m
Immediately before you, are two vastly
! different experiences. When you find a
buoy weighing 5000 pounds, lying full
length at your feet, you begin to realize
| that it is equal to small whale and that
it's prodigious continuance, and it stirs
your Imagination to think that it's
whistle is blown by the action of the sea-
A mushroom anchor bellies it's gentle
name by weighing 5000 pounds. This is
used to moor lightships.
We showed so much interest in fog
bell that it was put in operation for our
benefit, and very soon we were the Gen.
ter of crowd from all parts of the build.
ing. The bell weighs thousand pounds,
and it is operated by delicate mechan-
ism, which is little more than time
piece. At any interval for which it may
have been adjusted, it releases weight,
the lowering of which rings a bell. The
weight has to be raised by crank, but
then it is ready; so you see that when a
sudden fog comes in, this automatic
warning may 90 Instantly to work, safe
guarding ships and human lives that
would be endangered before there would
be time to fire up the steam engine and
start it's whistle.
There are several lighthouse models
and two or three full-size lamps in their
glass reflectors. These are as impressive
for strength as for briliancy. The GEN.
trail section of heavy curved glass is fas-
tened above and below to other pieces of
heavy glass, each one three-sided and
circling. held together with metal. As l
gazed at this gigantic evolution of the
lantern, could imagine the power of the
storm with which it has to contend.
Everywhere l go, 1 find an exhibit
from New York; sometimes State dis
play; sometimes manufactures and in
dustries that are centered there. The
other day wandered into typewriter
booth, attracted by a japanese girl sit
ting at one of the machines. Now did
you suppose there was such thing as a
Japanese typewriter? The characters
are sidewise and are printed from left to
right on the page, so that they may be
read from top to bottom, as the funny
Japanese like to do it.
also saw several other foreign type
writer's: Arabian, Yiddish, and many
more. And then the first typewriter that
was ever manufactured! You may just
be sure that the first of anything will be
clumsy and crude, even laughable, COM
pared with later models. Why, you
would think that the first typewriter was
made for giant. The fiat wooden keys
look like backgammon men, and the
wooden roller is large and awkward; but
although this is about fifty years old, ii
has practically the universal keyboard.
Here am tipping to you at this minute,
and but for this display 1 should not
have suspected that a typewriter is not
always the simple thing which am u.s.
ing. 1t may have carriage so wide
that you have to plan on the space it will
require; it may have complicated tabu-
lating attachments; it may include an
adding machine; it may make four inn
pressions at once. with as many ribbous,
but without carbons; and, to turn these
interesting items over on their CONNER
cial side. it may cost two thousand dol
lars or more.
In another building found an exhibit
of carborundum from Niagara Falls. !
was so ignorant that l supposed carbo-
rundum was a natural product, dug out
of the earth but instead it is deliberately
dug out of simple ingredients. 1t is the
most beautiful stuff, father. 1 saw a
small fountain of it, shining in dark irri-
desence that was fascinating. 1t isn't
made for its beauty, of course, but that
aspect that appealed to me. 1t seems
that it is used TO grind and polish almos,
everything that goes through those pro.
ocesses: Jewels and pearl buttons, op.
teal lenses and cut glass. rolls for print
ing wall paper, the quilts of feathers for
busters. and other small things equally
diverse.
Joe has given me many hints about the
Zone, but / have been slow to believe in