Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-08-17
Wall Light Switches
Now Available in
Decorative Designs
Beautiful Plaque Easily
Attached Over Present
Electric Fixture
By DOROTHY DUCAS and
ELIZABETH GORDON.

BY DOROTHY DUCAS and
ELIZABETH GORDON.
The utilitarian switch controlling
your lights has gone and got itself
all prettied up. Instead of a plain,
undecorative brass or plastic rect
angle on the wall you can have a
plaque with design of fruit, flowers,
leaves, Roman head. roSette or your
initials in relief on it,
The oval or smaller rectangle,
which is the decoration, also acts
as the switch. 1t is moved up or
down to turn lights Oh or of. For
back of the design Oh each plaque
is a little recess into which fits the
toggle from the old switch. Double
or triple plates have two or three
such designs and switches.
The new wall switches are easy
to attach. There are no wires to
change. Simply remove the two
screws which fasten the old plate to
the switch itself, take 1t down, fit
the new plate over the protruding
toggle and screw it on with its own
matching screws. 1t is interchange
able with the old plate which means
you can take it with you when you
move, leaving behind the plate that
came with the apartment or house.
The plaques are made of ivory or
colored plastic material. which is un-
breakable and also serves as an
insulator. They cost from 50 cents
to s15O depending on the motif. the
color and whether they are single
or multiple switches.
Rubber-C Cup Stoker.
Sometimes the strongest material
In the world is less serviceable than
a durable but flexible material, such
as rubber. This observation is called
forth by an announcement of a
stoker manufacturer, whose new
anthracite coal stoker features a
radical departure in ash-removing
mechanism, employing rubber in
stead Of steel.
The new stoker has flexible cups,
made of automobile tire tread rub
Der, which lift ashes on sort Of
wheel until they spill over into two
containers placed there for the pur-
pose. The cups used to be made Of
meal, but sometimes these clogged
with ashes or damned against other
part of the mechanism Rubber
gives" under such conditions and
is quiet even in contact with metal.
There is also ample clearance be-
tween the mechanism which lifts
the ashes and the housing to mini
mize the possibility of jamming. A
metal arm rotates around the retort,
keeping the fire trimmed of the
ashes at all times. The ash Is
picked up and conveyed to the ele-
vator by revolving worm. Sounds
complicated, but what it means is
ashes can be quietly and efficiently
removed and deposited in contain
ers, without human aid That's a
feature of automatic heat almost as
important as mechanical fueling of
the fire.
The stoker having the rubber-cup
ash-removing device costs around
s240, including control instruments.
1t can be used with warm air fur.
naces or boilers.
Slim. Silhouetted Radiators.
Every year about this time, when
autumn fashions in women's clothes
are being discussed, you hear a lot
about slim slihouettes-slim waists,
slim hips. slim something. And this
year heating styles follow the fash
ion trends Slim radiators are the
newest thing for house-heating
systems.
If you are planning to improve
your radiator heating system or If
you are equipping new house with
heat, consider the trim new radiator
designs. There are radiators on the
market no wider than the length
of your foreflnger, measuring mere
four and seven sixteenths inches
wide for a four tube model, five and
eleven -sixteenths inches wide for
five-tube model 1t is easy to recess
them in shallow niche under a
window so they hardly show, and
even if they stand out into the room
they are so narrow they do not cut
down disable room space.
Yet this SLIM ilhouetted radiator
will heat just as much as q regular
radiator. There are more, though
smaller sections to the radiator,
meaning more warm surfaces COM
ing in contact with the air, and thus
more air heated at one time. A
comparison of two radiators of the
same heating capacity shows the
old-fashioned larger radiator to
have eight sections of four tubes,
while the modern slim radiator has
twelve sections Of four tubes.
Makers of the reduced-size radi-
ator say their model heats 40 per
cent quicker than the larger radiator,
because there Is less air to be driven
out before the steam or hot water
can circulate in every part of 1t
and because circulation of less
steam or hot water is speedier.
Made of refined cast iron, which
will last lifetime, and good looking
even without covering, these radi-
ators may be equipped with radiant
panel fronts or connecting grilles.
The panel front has an open lower
portion and the radiator itself acts
as grille, giving OF radiant heat,
while the grille at the top gives
convicted heat. The connecting
grille. with closed bottom. gives onlv