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Show Photo-Ccll Enables Blind to Operate Machinery Safely Important new mechanical devices de-vices to simplify life for returning servicemen who have lost their sight and for the upwards of 200.000 civilian civil-ian blind in the United States are announced by the American Foundation Foun-dation for the Blind. Chief of these devices, in view of its wide application to the employment em-ployment of blind people, is a new use for the versatile photo-electric cell. The foundation has adapted the "electric eye" principle to make completely safe the operation by blind people of electric sewing machines ma-chines in workshops and in their homes. In practice this device puts a safety curtain of light around the rapidly plunging needle. The moment mo-ment the fingers of the blind operator opera-tor reach dangerously near the needle's point and come within the light circle, the machine stops in a split second. Another useful invention which will aid sightless people in business is called the "bill detector." This gadget gad-get also utilizes the "electric eye" principle and was first thought of by a sightless Canadian. George A. - I l " ? ' i 1 : The "magic eye,' a photo-electric cell, stops the needle of the power sewing machine as soon as the op-I op-I erator's ringers come within the I circle of light. With this attachment j blind persons may safely use many ! kinds of machines. , Lafleur of Overbrook, Ontario. In this contrivance a beam of light ! scans the numerals of paper cur-! cur-! rency and the number of times the ' light is reflected from the bill is indicated indi-cated by a buzzing noise. The number num-ber of audible sounds indicates the denomination of the bill. Already in limited use by sightless workers is the "audio-scale." This enables them to weigh certain objects ob-jects by sound rather than by touch. Here a flashing light is registered regis-tered by a photo-electric cell. If the scale registers overweight, the sightless operator hears a sound of high pitch; if underweight, a sound of low pitch; and if in balance, no sound at all. This idea, too, first came to a blind person, Mrs. Evelyn Watson of Buffalo. In war plants this audio-scale has such uses as weighing out specific amounts of powder for fuses, mica for radio mechanisms, and uniform buttons. |