Science: Path of Progress

Recent inventions marking the forward march of science:

¶A hat that catches rain (U.S. patent No. 2,443,848, issued to Barbara S. Boeringer of Minneapolis). When it starts raining, the wearer takes off his hat, turns it inside out, and attaches a collecting bottle to a spout in the crown.

¶An educated pencil, patented by Professor Samuel Lerner of Brown University. Its transparent cylinder works like a slide rule, figuring up cube roots and trigonometry as well as mere arithmetic.

¶A two-wheeled automobile, built by Albert A. LaPointe of Hartford, Conn. When standing still, it has two small extra wheels to keep it upright. When it starts moving, the little wheels retract and the two larger ones take over, like a bicycle.

¶A device that cleans and sterilizes an egg, breaks it, removes the contents, separates the yolk from the white, and throws away the shell.

¶An automatic rod for very relaxed fishermen (designed by Anthony Moliskey of San Pedro, Calif.). When a fish bites, the fisherman touches a button. A compressed air cylinder raises the rod, flips the fish toward the frying pan.

¶The “scooter-pooper,” a noisy lure for bass, built by Alex Woodle of Greenwood, S.C. Little propellers on the lure make a noise. Hollow resonant chambers make it louder. The bass, attracted, bite.