The Reflector Hot-Bed: A Tin Sheet That Throws the Low Sun In

"The invention consists in constructing the interior of the box or case upon either one or more sides, to reflect the sun-rays within the box, and thus the more perfectly subject the hot-bed and plants contained in it to their action." "Also, in combination with the above, the invention consists in arranging the reflecting surface or surfaces so that they can be adjusted in position within the box, as occasion may require." A sheet of tin is hinged at its lower edge to one end piece, its upper edge free, with a stem through the end to set its angle. "By the sheet tin G, the rays of light, passing through the glass top and impinging on the tin, are reflected thereby within the box, and, according to its adjustment, the direction in which they are thrown by reflection is changed, and thus, as is obvious, with a proper adjustment of the tin, they can be thrown directly upon the hot-bed and its plants, securing an increased heat and light thereto, and a more rapid development and growth of the plant."

Set up two small cold frames side by side facing the sun, each with potting soil and the same seeds sown in rows. In one, fix a sheet of card covered with aluminium foil to the shaded end wall, hinged at the bottom, and lean it until the sun's reflection falls on the soil. Put a thermometer in the soil of each and read both at the same times each day. Count the seedlings that come up and measure their height after two and three weeks. Compare the two frames, and set the foil's lean with the notebook for the sun's height where you are.

**William Wells** of Salem, Massachusetts, received US 106,298, dated 9 August 1870, as assignor to himself, E. B. Horton and David Buffum of the same place. **Honest limits.** The notebook is a flat section with the sun square to the box; the glass lid, side walls, diffuse sky light and the sun's daily swing are ignored, and the reflectivity is an example. Your thermometer readings and seedling counts are the measurement.