Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/575

 Popular S.cience Monflili/

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��rors, The If a

��clocks, etc., are carefully removeti. car, thus alleri-d, is ilriveii away, suspicious traffic policeman should

���The thieves substitute new hcense plates and a new serial number on the engine to satisfy the suspicious traffic police

stop the car, the courteous gentlemen who are ridinj; in it will present an identi- fication card to corresjiond with the new license plates. They p(jint to the serial number on the engine. Is it not differ- ent from that of the stolen car? And so, they ride away safely, unless the officer is unusually astute and per- sistent.

Sometimes your thief drives in ,i motor- t r u I- k alongside an c m p t >• auto- mobile, hitches the two vehi- cles together, and tows the au t omol) i 1 e away as if it were di.sabled. Such obstacles as chain-locks are inconscciuential tritles. Sharp wire- cutters end the usefulness of all small chains.

Again, if the ignition system of a car is locked, the knights of the road quickly install one of their own temporarily. If

���the gasoline tank is locked, it is a simph' matter to syphon enough gasoline from a beer jjail into the carburetor for a short run into a different locality.

One band of enterprising automobile thieves eventuall>' captured in Kentucky stole forty-seven Ford cars in New York t'ity within six montlis. They special- ized on doctors' cars, becau.se they realized that when a doctor paid a call he usually lelt his car standing unguarded for a half hour at least, unless he liajipeneil to have a chauffeur or a guest in !iis car, in which case, of course, it was safe from the thieves.

Many manufacturers of high-priced automobiles stamp in some inconspicu- ous place identification numbers upon a permanent, immovable steel [)art and then paint over the nimibers. When doubt arises as to the ownership of the car, the paint is scraped off and the owner's identity revealed instantly by consulting the sales record of the manufacturer or selling agent.

A New Gasoline-Motor-Driven Road Roller

THE old-fashioned steam-roller, with its heat, its smoke and its noise, has at last been supplanted by the roller which is shown the illustration, which may be started at a mo- mcn t's notice and has no fire to kindle, no steam to get up and no coal to carry. 1 1 is tl riven by a u'a.s<jlinemotor. When not act- ually working, the motor is shut off, where- as with the steam type, steam must be kept up. The elimination of the upright steam boiler allows the driver a better view of his work and reduces the weight of the roller, without, however, reducing the pressure, besides insuring a more steady movement of the rollers.

��A gasoline motor has eliminated the upright boiler, the steam and the noise of the street-roller of the older types

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