The scale on the glass can be etched with hydrofluoric acid, or made with a little black paint.  The water can be put in with a medicine dropper.  This instrument will measure the amount of heat given by a candle some 20 or 30 ft. away.  —­Contributed by J. Thos.  Rhamstine.

** Home-Made Battery Voltmeter [153]

Secure a piece of brass tube 3 in. long that has about 1/4-in. hole.  Put ends, A, 1-1/4 in. square and cut from heavy cardboard on this tube.  Make a hole in the center of each cardboard just large enough to allow the brass tube to fit tight.  Put on two or three layers of stout paper around the brass tube and between the cardboard ends.  Wind evenly about 2 oz. of No. 26 cotton covered magnet wire on the paper between the ends and leave about 2 in. of wire on each end extending from the coil.  Use a board 1/2- in. thick, 3 in. wide and 6 in. long for the base and fasten the coil to it, as shown in Fig. 1.  Bore holes for binding-posts, B, one on each side of the board, and connect the two wires from the coil to them.  At the other end of the board and in the center drive a wire nail and attach a small spring, C, to it.  The spring should be about 1 in. long.  Take a small piece of soft iron, D, 1/2- in. long and just large enough to slip freely through the brass

[Illustration:  Battery Voltmeter Construction]

tube and solder a piece of copper wire to it; the other end of the copper wire being hooked to the spring, C. The copper wire must be just long enough to allow the piece of iron, D, to hang part way in the end of the coil and still hold the spring in place.  A circular piece of cardboard, E, is slipped over the spring to where the spring joins the wire.  This cardboard is to serve as the pointer.  A piece of paper 1-1/2 in. wide and 2-1/2 in. long is glued to the board so that it will be directly under the cardboard pointer and fit snugly up against the top of the coil.

The paper can be calibrated by connecting one cell of battery to the binding-posts.  The iron plunger, D, is drawn into the tube and consequently the pointer, E, is drawn nearer to the coil.  Make a mark directly under the place where the pointer comes to rest.  At the place mark the number of volts the cell reads when connected with a voltmeter.  Do the same with two or three cells and mark down the result on the scale.  By dividing off the space between these marks you may be able to obtain a surprisingly correct reading when connected with the battery cells to be tested.  —­Contributed by Edward M. Teasdale, Cuba, N. Y.

** How to Make a Folding Canvas Cot [154]

All the material required to make the cot as shown in Fig. 1 consists of wood 1-1/2 in. square of which two pieces are 6 ft. long; two pieces 2 ft. 3 in. long; two pieces 2-1/2 ft. long; four pieces 1-1/2 ft. long; four hinges; some sheet metal and 2-1/4 yd. of 8-oz. canvas.

Make a rectangle of the two long pieces and the two 2-ft. 3-in. pieces of wood as shown in Fig. 2, nailing well the corners together and reinforcing with a strip of sheet metal as shown in Fig. 3.  The four pieces 1-1/2 ft. long are used for the legs, and two of them are nailed to one of the pieces 2-1/2 ft. long, making a support as shown in Fig. 5.