Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/255

 Popular Science MonUihj

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���A grasshopper's leg, showing to climb and which prevent

��Why a Grasshopper Is Like a Telephone Lineman

E\F.R\' boy and girl lias souii a teU- phonc or telegraph lineman cliinlj a pole by means of iron spurs strapped to his shoes. The grasshopper's legs carr\' spurs which act on a similar principle, although the method is different. The grasshopper has neither the weight nor the strength to drive its spurs into the s u b- stance of the object or other surface on whicii it is climbing. But a twig or a grass blade under a microscope appears, as do the poles to the unaided eye, to be studded with holes anil superficial rough places. The grasshopper's sharp spurs catch into some of I Iiese holes and unc\'en spots and thus enable it to climb.

By the aid of a small reading glass one can carefully watch grasshoppers in the act of climbing and discover that their method is much like that of the telephone man, with the exception al- rcad}' noted. Instead of making holes, they take advantage of holes already made. But they ha\e still more fre- quent and ser\iceable use. This is to prevent the insect from slipijing back when it makes its gigantic citort in jumping. K\er\- one knows that it would be difficult to stand still on smootii ice and make a long jump forward. A rough surface facilitates the movement. The grasshopjier is a more successful jumper than an\- boy can be, because it ran leap many times its own length. It must therefore obtain a firm hold on the ground so as to prc\cnt the loss of force by backward slipjiing. All its energy must be e.\erted in throwing its bod\' forward. If a boy could jump like a grasshopper, comparing size with size, he could hurl himself forward at least four hundred feet. A grasshopper an inch in length finds it easy to jump a hundred times its length.

��Hitting the Trail with a Wheel-Barrow and Determination

TRAMPING across the continent with the aid of all sorts of odd con- trivances seems to be a fa\'orite form of di\ersion for the athletically fit. The last team to "hit the trail" for New

York are tw(j Bakersfield, California, mechanics, who are push- i n g their camp outfit ahead of them in a w'heel-bar- row. They intend to traverse the length f)f the Lincoln High- way and expect to reach the end of their journey before the winter season makes camping too uncomfortable.

Their outfit weighs about one hun- dred pounds and includes a tent and necessities for road travel and life in the open. The whole load is packed on a specially constructed wheel-barrow which balances as perfectly as a pair of scales. It has a capacious sheet-metal body with handles about twice as long as those of the ordinary wheel-barrow. The han- dles are equipped with rubber grips. The wheel is of the bicycle type and it is

��the sharp spurs which enable it it from slipping when jumping

��set well back under the body.

\ehicle is so arranged that the

!> u s h i n g it

bears none of

the weight and

can divert his

whole strength

to forcing it

along the road.

��The man

���The determination is in the men; everything else is in the featherweight wheel-barrow

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