REPAIRS IN THE FIELD

chauffeur who has been running one make of machine may, if necessary, instantly be transferred to another. It must be possible to use gasoline, benzol, alcohol, or benzine without change of carbureter. A trailer must be drawn behind. When, therefore, the requirements have been satisfied, the maker finds himself producing an outfit weighing about ten tons, capable of carrying an additional load of six and one-half tons. The rules require that a car so loaded must be able to negotiate fourteen per cent grades, and make a speed of ten miles an hour on level roads. Not fully satisfied with this, however, the military officials demand that in case of emergency such an equipment be able to take over an additional trailer with a four-thousand-pound load. Indirectly then, Europe's preparedness for war has brought about greater efficiency in the building of commercial motor trucks.

of the truck, the permission of official examination of the machinery at any time, a detailed report every three months of the actual work done by the car, the loads it has carried, the roads traveled, the repairs made, the kinds of fuel used. There is also a reliability tour twice annually. If the car fails to measure up to the requirements, the subsidy at once ceases. Austria, France, Russia, and England have similar sys

tems.

Of course manufacturers of motor cars have, as a rule, shown themselves keenly interested in meeting governmental requirements. It is essential that all the parts be standardized, so that the

The French, who have faith, apparently, in lighter machines, offered a subsidy for trucks carrying three tons. Under their system, at the time the purchase is made, the Government advances the sum of five hundred and twenty dollars, allowing, for a period of four years, two hundred and forty dollars annually for the upkeep of the car. The French official estimate for the life of a

car, it will be noticed, is placed at but four years. The French evidently never intended to be trapped unprepared the way they were in 1870 in their war against Prussia. After the outbreak of that war it was brought home to them that sheer graft and corruption had rendered the equipment of the army hopelessly inefficient. Therefore, previous to the outbreak of the present war, whenever a manufacturer of motor trucks entered one of his machines in a government contest he had to give notice in advance, and the officials visited his factory and selected the various parts to go

351

the remainder in six half-yearly installments. The official trials required a run of at least fifteen hundred miles over very difficult roads. Practically any type of body which permits of end loading can be fitted to the chassis.

All these subsidized cars, which can be called out by the War Office only in case of national emergency, are now in

service.

From the English the motor truck has not received the serious consideration that it has received in Germany, where frequent and rigid tests are made. However, by the fact that the English put the

into the particular car, stamping each one with the government stamp, thus preventing any but a stock pattern machine to be entered.

The reason, of course, that the military powers have not bought the cars outright, is because of the very large initial capital that would be required for the purpose.

The British War Department has seen fit to place the subsidy life period for any one vehicle at but three years. Purchasers of machines on the list obtained five hundred fifty dollars in all; one hundred fifty dollars of this was paid at the time of the purchase of the truck,

practical life of the car two years under the German requirement, that is, three years instead of five, the partial deficiency that may result from lack of tests may thus be made up. In England less than a dozen makers are on the accepted official list of motor trucks. This is in part due to the fact that the British manufacturers are very reluctant to change to a simplified standard form; for instance, one concern uses the metric system in measuring the threads of its bolts and nuts. Imagine the problem for the ordinary mechanician under such circumstances! Yet in spite of this, it is estimated that the manufacturers of the

FROM THE RAILROAD TO THE
CONSUMER

The armies do not travel on the lines of the steam routes necessarily, so the task of the motor truck is carrying food from freight car to soldier-and it is the most important.

prescribed types of cars could turn out eighty cars per week, conforming to the specifications.

By way of contrast, it may be stated that in one official test in France, seventy different makes of cars were entered.

The British War Office divides the motor trucks into two classes-Class A, to carry nine thousand pounds; Class B, to carry five hundred. A speed of not less than twelve miles an hour must be maintained and, even through hilly country, a rate of ten miles an hour is expected. A motor truck must be able to make a nonstop run of two hundred miles.

Among the decided advantages of a motor truck in war, are not only those of speed and enormous carrying capacity, but that gained by the doing away with the forage required for mules or horses, and the securing of increased compactness for an army corps. A typical German army corps extends on the march a distance of over fifteen miles. Following this comes the commissary with five thousand horses, as many men, and twelve hundred wagons. They march in column, fifteen to eighteen. miles long. One-eighth as many trucks as wagons, and one-half as many men, could do the work.

As showing what might be done in actual warfare, during French maneuvers just previous to the outbreak of the present conflict, herds of cattle were placed behind the troops all the way from thirty to forty miles behind the actual firing line. To have fresh meat brought to these soldiers by the old-fashioned method was impossible, but motor trucks were able to bring it each morning.

REMOVING SULPHUR FROM DRINKING WATER

THE domestic water supply of a small

town close to Los Angeles is obtained from a deep well and is strongly impregnated with sulphur. Owing to the almost jet black color of the water and its disagreeable odor and taste, the consumers registered numerous objections against the private corporation which delivered the water until at one time it looked as though their well were worthless for commercial purposes.

The engineer then conceived a simple and inexpensive apparatus to aerate all the water pumped out of the well. This was installed in the company's reservoir and is designed to distribute the water over a wide area and to allow it to drip through the air. Ever since the aerator was put in, the water has been palatable.

OLD IRONS USED
SLUGS

TWO interesting old flatirons, whose peculiarities

a

The accidental discovery of the chief engineer, however, saved the situation without the expenditure of much money. He had been in the habit of storing quantity of the water in a terra cotta olla to keep it cool on hot days. Noticing that the water from the olla did not taste so strongly of sulphur as that which was taken directly from the well and that, when the water remained over night in the olla, it lost its bluish hue and the sulphurous taste became barely detectible, the engineer figured out the cause. It was clearly evident that the porous terra cotta olla merely allowed the sulphurous water to become aerated, thus facilitating the escape of the sulphur gas.

AERATING THE SULPHUR WATER The city engineer's accidental discovery that a terra cotta olla would do it saved the water supply.

emphasize the convenience of

our modern electric irons, were found recently during a tour abroad.

Having to remove the solid slug from each flatiron, place it in the glowing coals. until it was red-hot and then, to lift it with the tongs and replace it in the shell, must have added materially to the labor of the laundress. Yet this method was evidently prevalent over a great length of time and a wide territory, for one of these flatirons, sixty years old, was found in an old curiosity shop in Germany; and the other, a veteran of one hundred and fifty years, came from an Italian family, and is of bronze.