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the HOUSE

IN and the

AROUND

.....

THE STEP-SAVING DUMB WAITER

O

means of a

NE may save many steps in every house where the kitchen is situated over the cellar, to say nothing of other considerations, with a small outlay of time, and perhaps, without the expenditure of a single dollar, by dumb waiter, which may be placed in any convenient corner out of the way. A handy size for an ordinary family is 2 feet square with four shelves, counting the top, I foot apart. These shelves may be hung from the corners, the center or the the middle of the sides, by means of manila sash cord over pulleys placed close to the ceiling of the kitchen and nearly balanced with weights, which should be confined in a little case. They should be guided in ascending and descending by means of grooves in the middle of the sides extending from top to bottom of the inclosed case. In the cellar the case may have a fine

[graphic]

CASE FOR WEIGHT

CASE FOR WEIGHT

DUMB WAITER

wire screen door and in the kitchen an ordinary cupboard door or one with a glass front, as desired.

The doors should slide upward and be balanced like an ordinary window with sash weights and pulleys. In order to prevent the waiter from descending when being overloaded a pivoted wooden latch, as shown on the right-hand side, should engage with the ends of the shelves, and to prevent any shock from too quick descent some coiled springs should be placed at the bottom of the case. If desired a small cupboard may be built at the top of the case for storing little-used articles.

Some advantages of such a waiter are that food may be placed on the shelves and lowered into the cool cellar and either allowed to stay there or removed to the refrigerator. Thus it will be unnecessary to carry anything to or from the cellar, and this will often mean a saving of several trips up and down. If the cellar is clean and cool there may be no need to use a refrigerator or an ice box.

RACK FOR PRESERVES

A convenient rack for preserves may be made just at the turn of the cellar stairs in a house, so that the housewife need not step off the stairs, when she descends for a can of preserves. Several circular pieces of wood are pierced through the centers and nailed to a kind of wooden shaft that runs through the entire rack. Nail barrel hoops of the thick, wide variety around the edge of the shelves, so that the contents cannot fall off. The barrel hoops are soaked in water for several hours to make them pliable, so they can be fitted around the shelves.

In a socket at the bottom, the middle shaft slips,

the upper end working in a socket in the end of a stout piece of wood nailed to the beam overhead. The sockets may be purchased at the hardware store. The glass cans are arranged on the shelves, and the housewife can stand in one spot and turn the rack around until she finds the jar for which she is looking.

From the covers of large cheese boxes anyone could make a similar rack, using it in attic or kitchen, anywhere where one wants a rack which will hold an extra large number of articles for the amount of space involved.

Ill husbandry braggeth

To go with the best:

Good husbandry baggeth

Up gold in his chest.-Tusser.

TRANSFORMING A WASHSTAND

The kitchen cabinet here shown was made from an antiquated washstand and table, using old lumber, odds and ends of varnish, nails and screws, the finished article costing less than 50 cents. The only tools used were a saw, hammer, plane and square, such as can be found in any farmer's collection.

RECESS BEFORE
WASH STAND WAS PUT ON

First, the shelf shown in Figure I was made, it being wide enough to reach each end of the table and deep enough for the washstand to set on it flush. To the right end was screwed a board of the same width, the shelf being so placed that it would be 2 feet above the

FIGURE I

a

WASHSTAND AS IT WAS

table. A board of equal width formed the support at the other end. Then the washstand, from which the top had been removed, was placed upside down on the shelf (bbb), one end of the washstand reaching to the

extreme left end

of the shelf, and the two were securely fastened together. This left a narrow open space between the right end of the washstand and the right support of the shelf. A board was then nailed on top from one end to the other, and a back added.

The drawer of the washstand had to be fixed so that it would slide the other way, as it was now upside down. That necessitated a shelf inside the washstand above the drawer. Old lum

ber was used, and

b

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this was smoothed with a plane, then sandpapered and holes and cracks filled with putty. When the putty was dry it was sandpapered again.

A support was then nailed to the back of the recess for a spice cabinet. This left the cabinet about 4 inches from the table. This support also did for two shelves, one in each corner of the recess. The spice cabinet contained eight small drawers and added much to the whole. A door with a glass sash (e) was then made for the narrow space to the right of the washstand above the recess. This made a little china closet with two shelves and containing over a dozen brass cup hooks. The space near the top on the left-hand side, between the short legs of the washstand, was left open for the crumb and draining trays. A piece of batten was nailed around the top as finishing touch.

A leaf, which could be raised when required, added to the table room. The cabinet being placed in a corner left the front and one end free. On this end or side were placed two salt boxes, one for salt, and the other for kitchen cloths. Directly above these and reaching the length of the end was a shelf (f) for the clock, etc. Finally, walnut varnish stain, two coats, was applied. In each side of the recess. were screwed two large cup hooks. Similar hooks were screwed on the inside of the washstand doors, to hang up biscuit cutter, corkscrew, nutmeg grater,

etc.

HOMEMADE DRESSER

Sometimes it is necessary to use homemade makeshifts in the house furnishing, and sometimes it is done through a desire to exercise one's in

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