of the of et. as me Ley been a storm and the water had been They might have drowned. For there "Meteorologic conditions were favorable, but we didn't worry much about this aspect of the flight. Military aviation. has more and more outgrown the necessity of being dependent on meteorologic conditions. Only ten years ago an airplane couldn't fly if the wind blew. Now the warplanes fly through wind and a hail of bullets and shrapnel and keep on going after being hit as many as a hundred times. Lieutenant Colonel Rees of the Royal Flying Corps kept his machine going after it had been literally shot full of holes and after he himself had been shot through the leg and otherwise wounded. "How much fuel did we carry? That was the least of our troubles. We calculated on one-tenth of a gallon per horsepower per hour. The machine had two 370-horse-power Rolls-Royce engines. That would make 1,295 gallons for the distance. This looks like a lot of weight, but these bombing-planes are specially designed to carry weight. They are weight-carriers and will be used to carry quantities of explosives, etc. On the flight over they use the space later to be given to explosives for excess fuel. We have never worried about fuel in making the flight." And so a spectacular feat will give place to flight after flight across the ocean until the leaving of a plane from Newfoundland or New York attracts no more attention than the beginning of a steamer's trip for Liverpool. General Brancker sees no reason why the flying of heavy bombing-planes from America to Europe without wasting time or taking up muchneeded ships' cargo space shouldn't be regarded as an eminently practical procedure. After the test flight, 10,000 of these bombing-planes are expected to go over as fast as they can be made ready for service. General Brancker believes that practically all the American weightcarrying machines will reach the battle zones by way of the air. These giant planes will arrive at their destination a great deal lighter than they were when they started on their trans-atlantic voyage. They cannot carry bombs or any other war supplies because the large quantity of fuel they must have taxes their carrying power almost to the limit. Upon their arrival behind the fighting front they will be thoroughly overhauled and put into fighting trim. Then they will receive their full equipment of bombs and their guns will be mounted. After another try-out the monster machines will be ready to undertake long or short flights into the enemy's country, fully prepared to drop their big loads of explosives where they will do the greatest harm to the enemy. Each machine can carry approximately half a ton of explosives on each trip. She will cross the Atlantic at a height of 5,000 feet and will land in Europe twenty or thirty hours What an exciting moment it will be when she starts on the first trip! A special pillow stuffed with horsehair that has been rendered sanitary, for the purpose of making a cooling head support for the baby read notes. A machine designed to aid in the composition of music and the playing of it as well has been invented by Arthur F. Blanchard, a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, in collaboration with Frank H. Grey, music composer. The music machine resembles somewhat a sheet of music divided into small squares. There are six rows on each sheet, with four squares in a row and two bars of music in each square. Projecting from the sides of a box are the knobs of wooden spindles. Long strips of paper wide enough to contain two measures of music are wound A Letter More Than Thirty-Eight LETTER thirty-eight feet and ten This device enables the untrained per- about the spindles. In every section on The device may be placed on the rack of a piano as if it were a sheet of music. The player has only to turn a knob to obtain the various combinations of melody. The composing can be completed by copying the notes. No guarantee that anyone can compose an opera like the famous "Merry Widow," or even "Il Trovatore," goes with this music machine. Frank Vaillancourt, a private in Company L, 104th Infantry, now in France, by his friends in Chicopee, Mass. More than fifty persons contributed to the letter, which was written in English, French and German. The German part was written by a native of Alsace Lorraine, who is now a loyal American. There was considerable variation in the handwriting, but the letter had no blots, although it was written in ink. It is safe to say that the chronicle of home news and gossip of the town of Chicopee was completely exhausted to supply the material for this letter to its son in France. MAY It was a long, long letter that his fellow-townsmen sent to Discovered-A Cot that Doesn't Sag in the Middle Mosquito Bar for the Automobile to Keep the Bugs Away LEEPING on a cot is an experience A PRACTICAL new automobile ac Sent: not likely to be enumerated among cessory is a windshield screen which permits the motorist to keep his windshield open and still be protected from insects of all kinds. The device is a window-screen set in a wood or metal frame, which is attached at both ends to the uprights of the windshield. Besides protecting the eyes of the driver from flying insects that would otherwise pass through an open windshield, the screen serves to keep the driver cool on warm summer days and to prevent the air suction in the rear seat when the windshield is closed. The screen also serves to diffuse the rays of the headlights of automobiles passing in the opposite direction at night, since the fine mesh of the screen breaks up the direct rays when the lights are not dimmed, as on country roads. The use of the screen makes it unnecessary to wear goggles, which, even when well fitted, are uncomfortable on a warm day or night. The advantages of such a screen are so obvious that, ere long, no motorist will go on tour without one. The inventor proves his confidence in his invention the pleasures of life. You lie down tired, and wake up next morning, if you have slept at all, more tired than ever. What's wrong? The cots. They sag in the middle when you lie upon them. One has But not all cots are that way. recently been invented that is unique. The heavier you are the less it sags. This remarkable cot, which is made in sizes to accommodate from one to six persons of average size, is intended as a portable tent bed for the use of automobile tourists. It can be folded up or put up in a few minutes, and is packed in a waterproof carrying case when not in use. The total weight of the complete outfit-tent, bed, and carrying case is only ten pounds for each person accommodated. The tent bed is put up against the side of the automobile, and is held down by ropes fastened to pegs driven into the ground, like the walls of a tent. The bed rests upon compound levers. The more you weigh, the more the canvas stretches. |