Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/687

 Popular Hcienee McmthJti

��673

��Lifting Street Cars with a Powerful Electric Hoist

THE lifting of street and intoriirban cars with- out the use of a hoist or crane is tedious and expen- sive. A dozen men or more are required, and the task consumes much time. The hoist shown in the accompanying il- lustration does its work with practically no human aid and cars are lifted and removed from railroad Hat-cars in five minutes.

The hoist can be ustnl for loading as well as for unloading cars, the oper- ation being about the same. Four long lifting- chains, after passing over the chain- sheaves, are wound on right and left hand-drums situated at the top and center of the hoist. The shaft on which both drums are mounted carries an ordinar\' railway gear. Lifting power is supplied by a motor.

It takes but five minutes to remove a car with the hoist. The railroad fiat-car on which the street car is loaded is run under the hoist. After the chains have been secured to blocks, which have been put under the car to be lifted, the car is hoisted high enough so that the fiat-car can be pulled out from beneath it. The street car is then K)wered to the rails.

The electric hoist does not confine its usefulness to the lifting of street cars alone. It has been used successfully in unloading heavy motor-trucks from railroad fiat-cars and for temporarily suspending automobiles and othcr NX'hides.

Its advantage is that it obviates the use of a pit.

���With practically no human aid the electric hoist lifts and removes street cars from railroad flat-cars in five minutes

��Getting Drunk with a Pair of Ordinary Opera Glasses

THE same sensations, minus the alcohol, ex- perienced by an intoxicated person who is trying to walk in a straight line or on a narrow sidewalk which is only thirty feet wide, can be had b\- anyone who lakes the trouble to draw a straight line on the fioor and then look at the line through a pair of opera glasses in a reversed po- sition.

After the glasses are focused tn,- to walk on the line. You will fintl it im- possible to follow it closely. The line will look like an ink scratch on a surface miles away and the closer you look and try to follow the line the more vexed your vision becomes and as a result \our feet wander from side to side, getting farther away from the line all the time.

Even with the naked eye it is difficult to "walk the chalk " for any distance without growing dizzy and staggering suspiciously.

���Reverse the opera glasses and walk on the line if you can

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