Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/699

 Popular Science Montlili/

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��Rubber-Ball Fender to Protect Unwary Pedestrians F TlilC ])laiis of a wildly iniat;i native

Texan inventor go through, all motor vehicles will soon be ccjuipped with a huge rubber ball, projecting out in front. Antl its purpose? Oh, it just gently i)tunps the careless pedestrian instead of knocking him .senseless or dead. What matters it that the ball will be incjre than a yard in diameter when puffed out to its capacity.'

Of course you think that the rublier-ball safety- guard bounces the careless pedestrian to one side, allow- ing the automobile to proceed on its way. You are wrong. It is in- tended to envelop the victim in its folds. But that is not all. It applies the brake automa- I ically when a care- less man sinks in its expan.se'. This is accomplished by means of a compressed-air arrangement. Ixlison will turn green with envy when he reads about this in the Popular Sci-

i;XCE MONTIII.Y.

���Heavily loaded trucks can be rolled down an incline without danger to the freight

��An Automatic Brake for Freight Trucks

ASAFETY-BRAKK which can be applietl to the ordinary truck of the kind useil in warehouses has been de\ised by Jac(il) H. Balkena, of Grandxille, Mich. The brake is arranged to bear against opposite portions of the peripheries of the rear wheels of the truck.

The brakes themselves are operated by oppo- site levers, which, in turn, are connec- ted with a rod extending length- wise under the body of the truck and operatively connected at its forward end with an upright lever which may be readily grasped and operated by the man handling the truck.

With this brake a truck loaded with eleven hundred pounds of mid- dlings or any other commodity can be safely rolled down a thirt\-per cent incline from freight car to warehouse without the slightest danger either to the truck or to the man doing the work.

���The ball envelops the pedestrian in its folds and automatically applies the brakes

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