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8 1913 by the Star Ureai Liriiaui KlgkiU Ueserv^U. New Tricks COALDEALERS Have For CHEATING YOU T WO THOUSAND POUNDS is what you ought to get when you buy a ton o£ coal. Uut the chances are you will be cheated unless you watch yom coal dealer. Recent prosecutions in New York City and New Jersey have revealed some new tricks and devices which dishonest dealers have resorted to fbr cheating theii customers. Some coal wagons are provided with a secret chamber made to retain anywhere frmo 200 to 300 pounds of the coal making up the load. This box is located under the driver’s seat and is so constructed that it seems to be a part of it. The customer pays for the coal in this box, but he doesn't get it. \ Why, it may be asked, does the dishonest dealer I who employs this device go to the trouble of loading this coal on to the wagon at all if he doesn’t intend to deliver ft? ^ That is easily explained. The Bureau of Weights and Measures employs numerous inspectors whose duty it is, among other things, to keep an eye on coal wagons anti protect the purchasers of coal from being imposed How a Secret Chamber in a Coal Wagjon Can Rob You of Several Hundred Pounds upon. One of these inspectors is apt to stop a loaded coal wagon m the street, compel the driver to show the ticket he carries giving the weight of his load, and then direct him to drive to the nearest weighing station to have the loaded wagon weighed. Alter the coal is delivered the driver is compelled to weigh the empty wagon. In this manner the inspector ascertains tlje exact weight of the coal delivered. When a wagon equipped with a secret chamber is held up in this way the driver realizes that it is dan gerous for him to attempt, to deliver short weight. In making the delivery, therefore, he releases a bolt which holds the cover of the secret chamber in place and the coal which the chamber contains is then delivered with the rest. When the empty wagon is weighed the figures show that a full load was delivered. But if the driver of this wagon happens to arrive at his destination without encountering an inspector the little bolt which holds the cover of tile secret chamber in place is not released, and the coal contained in the chamber, which the customer pays for, goes back to the dealer to be used again to defraud the purchaser of the next wagon load. Commissioner Walsty, the head of the Bureau of Weights and Measures in New York, a week or so ago prosecuted a coal dealer named Barnet Fishman for using one of these secret chambers In his coal wagon, and the dealer was held for trial. in that case it appeared that the secret chamber held U!4 pounds of coal. The caso was an aggravated one because the class of customers supplied by this dealer were principally Bast Siders who were so poor that tliej had to pay for their coal on the installment plan! An even more general mode of cheating the public practiced by dishonest coal dealers is that of fraudulent coal tickets. There i- a i lly ordinance wlich pro vides Unit null dealers shall deliver io their drivers a eertlticute show ing I he weight of the coal in the loud and the weight of the tv agon mid the name of the purchaser. A and B, The Two-Slip Trick. One for Oevrweight Charge If No In- apector Is About. C, Trap for Holding Back 200 or 300 Pounds from You. Ii one of these certificate calls for ,2,000 pounds of coal and upon weighing the wagon before and after de livery the inspector discovered that it contained only 1,300 there would, of course, be a clear ease against the dealer. To overcome this the dishonest dealers have resorted io a system of double certificates. Their drivers are supplied with one certificate containing the actual amount of coal contained in the wagon and another specifying the amount ordered by the customer and supposed to be in the wagon. ' If. then, the driver who has only 1.5UU .pounds of coal with which to make a delivery of 2,U0U pounds is held up by an inspector and asked to show his ticket he shows the 1,500-pound ticket. Realizing that in this in stance it is dangerous to go through with his original fraudulent programme, he frankly tells the customer that the load delivered contains onjy 1,500 pounds, ex plaining lhat that was al] the yard could supply at the time. If, however, no inspector happens to intercept the driver on his way to deliver the coal he delivers the 1,500 pounds of coal and ^ets the customer to sign his delivery ticket for a full 2,000 pounds. This lraud was freely practiced until a lew months ago, when Commissioner Walsh succeeded in convicting one of the worst offenders, a dial dealer named Ehler J. Ernst. in the particular case in which the fraud was dis covered the wagon contained 3,000 pounds of coal. When it left ihe yard it was trailed by an inspector as a result of complaints which the bureau had received against the dealer. From a nearby point of advantage the inspector saw the driver hand a delivery slip to the customer. This slip called for 4,000 pounds, the amount ordered, and the customer signed it. Then the inspector pounced upoii the driver, snatched his hat from his head, and in the hatband dis covered the emergency siip calling for 3,0oo pounds, the amount the wagon actually contained. This emerge :ic. certificate would, of course, have been exhibited to the inspector had lie intercepted the wagon on the way >o its destination. / The coal dealer got thirty days in jail and had to pay a $500 fine and his conviction resulted not only in putting him out of business but in discouraging similar frauds upon the part of other coal dealers, although there are, no doubt, many ot them still practicing them. “Without the co-operation of this bureau," declared Commissioner Walsh, "the consumer can do very little to protect himself against the dishonest coal dealer. While there are numerous public weighing stations in various parts of the city and the law provides that a purchaser may compel a coal dealer to have liis wagon load weighed at one of these stations, there is no pen alty provided for the coal dealer’s refusal to comply with this demand. All that the purchaser can do in such a case is to refuse to receive the coal. “The best plan for the consumer to follow when ever he has the least suspicion that his coal dealer is not overscrupulous is to notify this bureau when he is expecting a load of coal. Upon receipt of such informa tion an inspector will be assigned to compel the weigh ing of the load and to see that the customer gets every pound he pays for. Information received-in this way is regarded as confidential and the coal dealer has no way of ascertaining that the inspection was the result of the customer's action unless the customer tells him. If the driver refuses to accompany the inspector to the weighing station the bureau realizes that it is deal ing with a dishonest dealer and proceedings promptly follow.” Just WHAT YOtllt HEART SAYS to the Doctor W HEN the doctor puls ills ear to your chest or applies the stethoscope, which only conducts the sounds more clearly, what does he hear? The sound of the normal heart is like the pronounciation of the syllables “lub-dup” close to each other. These syllables are heard in quick succession, and then conies a pause—the diastole, or resting period of the great force-pump. The sound “lub” is that of the blood flow ing out under muscular pressure, and the “dup" is the closing of the aortic valves, if this sound “dup” is not heard, it shows that the aortic valves arc destroyed or not working. The latest explanation of the first sound, •’lub,” is that it is caused by ttie muscular contraction of the heart and the impulse of the heart against the chest-wall. The first sound is heard more clearly over the apex of the heart, the point of the chest nearest to tlie ventricle. The second sound is best heard over the aortic valves, which lie beneath the left side of the chest just by the third rib. If you close a door with great force the slam is very loud, and if the tension in the aorta is vorj high the sound “dup” is louder than usual. This is most im portant to the physician, for he then knows that there is high arterial tension, due to what is termed an aneurism. If the sound “lub” is weaker than normal, it would indicate a weakness of the heart muscle, and this is the cate in fevers. In typhoid fever, for instance, when this first sound is very weak, we know that the heart is so weak as to make the case alarming. A heart is said to have a “murmur” when the sharp “dup” disappears and the listening physician hears a softened noise, called a “murmur.” If you try to say “dup” with your lips open, the sound uttered will be like that the doctor hears in the diseased heart whose valves do not close properly. The sound produced is something like “duff,” and if the mitral valve does not work well the first syllable is softened into “luff." If both valves work poorly, the sound is “luff-duff—luff- duff,” but if both valves are very much out of order the sound is like that of a bellows, “oho-oho." Most persons speak of the heart as if it were a single organ, but actually it is two hearts joined together, the right and the left heart. The right sends the blood through the lungs so that it may be aerated, or acted upon by the oxygen in the inlialeu air, while the left heart sends the blood through the body in order to nourish the tissues. Both of these hearts receive the blood from the large veins into the auricles, which, by contracting, send the blood on into the ventricles, and when these powerful muscles contract, the right ven tricle pumps the blood intq the pulmonary artery on the way to the lungs and from the left ventricle into the aorta, which distributes the blood all over the body, e that after having nourished the nerves and muscles it returns through the veins to. the heart, there to be pumped into the lungs for purification by the oxygen before again passing through the system. The difference in the sounds of the right and left ventricles is traced to the difference in resistance of the aorta and the pulmonary artery. The pulmonary artery resists with only one-third the strength of the aorta, so the pumping force required is less and the noise of the closing gates is that much less. It is true, then, that when the physician listens to the beating of a patient’s heart through his stethoscope the heart speaks to him in unmistakable language. When it plainly says “lub-dup" he knows that all is well with this important organ and he pats the patient on the shoulder, saying: “Nothing serious—you’ll be all right in a day or two.” When, however, the heart says Tub- duff” he knows that the aortic valve is not working prop erly and takes the proper steps to correct It. When the heart says “luff-dup” he is sure that the mitral valves are out of order, and he tries to reach them. When the heart says “luff-duff” he draws a solemn lace, for both valves are out of order, and when it says “oho-oho” he digs down into his bag and goes to work at once, for all is radically wrong. Why the MOULD on JELLY Is a GERM-PROOF SEAL M OULD has always been regarded by most people as unclean, harmful and something to be quickly rid of. But as for the mould that housekeepers so fiercely combat, there is really no danger in it; on the other hand, it is indeed most beau tiful. Housekeepers, however, do not go about, looking at the mould on tile top of their jelly and preserves with a powerful microscope. They are busy trying to keep the mould away. If they were to study this mould by means of a microscope they would see the most beautiful floral and vegetable forms imaginable. They would see in the mould a little forest of marvelous tropical-appearing “trees” of dainty gossamer appearance, frost-like and in wonderful tints. Unless the can of jelly or preserves is to be used at once it is not always best to clean the mould off because this mould first spreads a water-tight skin over the surface and then the fuzzy, greenish-looking growth comes up from that. But no dust or dirt or germs can get through that mould, and it really protects the contents of the jar. This mould is called, scientifically, “Peni- cillium glaucum,” and it is, of course, a form of fungus. It first forms this protective gray ish-green mat while the growth above that gives off a dust when disturbed. Most people are afraid of mould because they connect it with death and decay, but mould does no! always mean this. The mould on preserves certainly does not. Handsome mould will form on the top of the cleanest soil and these little mould plants are quite harmless. E”en the most beautiful of lilies will grow from the depths of the foulest pond. The little mould plants, although so deli cate in appearance, are in reality quite hardy and have many peculiar means of fighting for their existence. There are no seeds, grow tli taking place by means of spores, and scientists are even yet unable to learn just why it is that these spores may pass into a resting stage and remain without germinat ing for anywhere from two weeks to two years. They seem to come out of their resting state as best suits their own wishes, without any apparent reason to make them do so as far as scientists can discover. Counting MICROBES in the DUST PARTICLES l E XPERIMENTS made in counting the par tides of dust in a cubic inch have led to many remarkable discoveries, among them being the surprising scarcity of bac teria ^ in dust. This does not mean there is no bacteria in dust, or that there is not the danger in breathing dust popularly supposed. Rather, it means there are more particles oi dust in a given area than anyone would imagine. By means of Aitken's dust counter one scientist learned that in the open suburbs of London there are 40,000 dust particles in every cubic inch of air. While in the crowd ed and busy part of London he found a mil lion dust -particles in a cubic inch of air. Oi ; course this is due to the fact that constant I traffic keeps the dust stirred up and afloat, I while in the open suburbs the roads are I made nearly' dust proof with oil and such ! substances aud but little dust arises from ! tbe fields and lawns. | The same investigator found but one mi cro-organism to every 38,300,000 particles dust in the London open air. In plainer terms, there was but one microbe to every ( thirty-eight cubic inches of air. But when air is constantly floating about and man is constantly moving about, he comes in con tact with a great deal of air space and so in 1 the course of a day runs a chance of breath- t ing many microbes into his lungs. If, however, every dark and damp place could suddenly be dried up and stirred up, the mi- \ cro-orgauisms would be found in terrifyingly { large numbers. It is the heat of the sun and the bright light that keep down these mi cro-organisms and so, even on a dusty day, ( there is a poverty of microbes in the air if the sun be bright and hot. To get an idea of the smallness of dust particles is almost impossible. Competent \ statisticians among scientists have estimated , that there are four thousand millions of dust particles in tbe puff of cigarette smoke! A still better example of the minuteness of dust particles may be had from the chemically pure water experiment. Scientists declare that chemically pure water is a non-conductor of electricity. This means that being chernic- t ally pure there is lie foreign matter in the J water to make tbe connection between mole cules ot water. Now if one grain of salt is added to one hundred tons of chemically pure water, pro viding so much water could lie made chemic ally pure, that grain of salt would supply the needed foreign matter in a sufficient quantity to make the water a conductor of electricity, and the electric current would then link every molecule of water together and pass through them. i Whenever anyone stops to think that dust ceases to be dust when it is firmly attached to other matter, the value of dampness In keeping dust down is better appreciated. The moment dampness, which will attach dust to other substances, appears, dust ceases to be and so the need of keeping streets oiled io lay the dust, and the necessity of dusting with damp clothes rather than by increasing the dust by means of a duster or dry cloth which simply sets it fluttering about in creases the number of dust particles in each cubic inch of air. YOU MIGHT TRY--- Keeping Cheese Fresh. T O prevent cheese from getting hard, cut a small piece oft for pres ent use and place the remainedr in cool safe. Spread a thin film of butter over the cut part and cover vviin a clean cloth. This will prevent that hard, cracked condition which ruins Ihe best of cheese. How a TUNING FORK Will OPEN A SAFE I Rejuvenating Shoe Polish. F your shoe polish becomes hardened in the tin, do not moisten with water, but with milk, it will improve the polish tenfold. IF For Fruit Stains. 1NGERS stained with hulling strawberries or cleaned by scrubbing them with strong tea. other fruit may be I Storing Silver. F silver is to be stored away for some time, pack it with dry flour; it will remain untarnished. A Tarnished Faucets. LITTLE lemon juice rubbed on tarnished faucets will easily quickly brighten them. and O open # a rather massive steel safe ! solely by striking an ordinary tuning fork and resting it on top of the safe is the very remarkable invention of a Lon don man, Thorne Baker, who is an electrical expert and connected with a big London newspaper. Of course electricity is used with this in vention, but it is actually nothing more or less than the vibration of the tuning fork that starts an electric current and thereby operates the bolts that lock the door., The safe is made as many others of chilled steel and has a knob, but minus the usual me chanism of a combination lock. Instead of this there are electro-magnets attached to the bolts of the door and these magnets are connected by wires with a cir cuit of batteries. From these batteries is still another connection with a set of dry batteries which in turn are connected with a peculiar sort of sounding board made in an obtuse angle and bearing one “string” of An Easy Way to Grow SEEDLINGS FOR TRANSPLANTING I T is a lot of bother and considerable ex pense to supply those small earthenware pots in which to raise seedlings to the proper age for transplanting. The average amateur gardener w'ould need at least half a hundred of them. They are bothersome to store, always getting broken and making an additional expense. A simple way to do w ithout these little pots was suggested by the paper drinking cup. Directions for folding paper into a drinking cup have frequently been printed in all sorts of periodicals, but as it is always difficult to locate just the clipping you want, it is well enough to give outline instructions for fold ing these cups, only, of course, they are made larger and ecu be folded into any size. Made of tough paper and set closa together in a long wooden tray for indoor growing, oi in racks for hot or cold frames, they will last until the raedling has grown the --roper size to transplant, .in .hey may be burned up or thrown away, an ’ . ; plenty of trong wrap ping paper is a. i and, ;V a i nothing. To make these paper seedling flower pots ■sr-r FI6 J- r ’fc-i 4- ' /\ y \ yy / \ A \/d FTG Z « w TTG 5 FIvb 6 L'y Mak nj Year Little “Flower Pots” Out of Thick Paper You Avoid Dis turbing the Roots in Transplanting take a square of this tough paper, from eight to twelve inches, according to the size of the pots you want. A few experiments will tell you better what size they will come out. Take the proper size, cut square, as in Fig. 1. Fold it diagonally along A and B, malting a firm, sharp crease. Then, when it is like C in Fig. 2, fold the point F at D and E and crease in a like manner as in Fig. 3. Now fold the point G across again as in Fig. 4, making a crease between X and XX. Take the two points at H and fold them over on either side, Fig. 5 showing how this is done. The other point is folded back in the same manner on the back side. Open this cup or flower pot with the fingers, fill with dirt and plant your seedlings. These pots will not stand alone very w'ell, but when set to gether in a shallow box frame, they will be all right and it is the simplest thing in the world to rip them open when ready to trans plant, making it much easier and less danger ous to the seedling, in fact, than with the old method of trying to dump them out of earthen pots. wire, a harp, violin or other musical in strument string, supported with a bridge like a violin bridge. Now the tuning fork is struck and the string on the soundirig board is put in exact tune with the tuning fork, after which this sounding board or musical lock, is connected with the set of dry batteries and the door of the safe is closed. By striking the tun ing fork to make it vibrate, then resting the base of the fork on top of the safe, the vibra tion is received inside on the string of the sounding board and, being tuned the same, these vibrations are in unison. The moment these vibrations, those of the tuning fork outside the safe and those of the string inside the safe, are in unison the wire vibrations pass through a coil and down into the small circuit of dry batteries which closes that circuit and an electric current is created which travels on to the larger cir cuit of batteries. These give the necessary strong current which acts on the electro magnets that promptly throw open, by re leasing and allowing to drop, the bolts in the door, enabling one to simply take hold of the knob and open it No two tuning forks ever made possessed exactly the same tone, it is t^tid, and so the inventor claims only that fork lo which the musical string inside has beejt exactly attuned will open his safe. Of course the safe can be reset to any tuning fork simply by tuning the string on the sounding board inside the safe to that fork. There may be a number of drawbacks to this safe, at least it so appears, although the inventor may explain them away. But if the tuning fork is lost and no other fork has the same tone, it will be neces sary to break open the safe. Or if the wire inside that is tuned to the fork should stretch or contract a hair's breadth, it would mean an entirely different note, and every musician knows how necessary it is to constantly keep tuning stringed instruments, even those with wire strings. If such a thing were to occur, the puzzle is, how could the safe be opened, except by the one chance in a billion or more of finding a tuning fork with exactly the same tone as the new tone inside the safe caused by the flatting or sharping of the wire? Except, of course, to break the safe. ■> \