Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/738

 The Automobile Street-Car

Six-wheeled traffic carriers which are remarkable for their short-turning radius and for their flexibility

���An eighteen passenger, bus with trailer wheels

��EVOLVKD from the jitney, a new type of trailer has been built to convert any automobile into an eighteen-passenger bus. It is based on the century-old principle that an animal or vehicle can pull more than it can carry. Yet the vehicle is new in that it is th application of the er principle for hau ing passengers, and in that the trailer- wheels track with those of the auto- mobile, to which it is attached by anewmeans, thus producing a ve- hicle of short- turning radius, an advantage on congested streets.

The Fadgl system, as this type of vehicle is called, is adaptable for feeders to trolley lines and as a traffic tester of pro- posed new routes. It even bids fair to revolutionize street-car traffic in our cities by supplanting the street-car en- tirely because it makes tracks unneces- sary, as well as poles and [jower liouses, on all of which the original outlay and maintenance cost are high.

The trailers, which are made in two sizes, one for eighteen and the other for twenty-five passengers, can be attaciied to any automobile by removing the l)ody aft of the front seal, which is retained for the driver and one i)assenger. The re- maining i^asscngers are carried in the trailer, wjiidi is supported on a jiivot arrangc-menl at the rear of {\u- auto- mobile.

Another, somewhat similar six-wheeli'd automobile is shown in the illustrations opjKjsite. It differs from the former in that it is made of I'ord parts and emi)l<)\'s the unusual ((in^lnution of mounting the bo(l\ ll(\il)l\- ou the fr.ime .it two

��, six-wheeled automobile attached (Fadgl System)

��points instead of attaching it all along its length. The autoport, as the vehicle is called, will carr\' 2,500-pound loads and may be equipped with an ordinary ex- press body as well as one for bus service, h consists of a Ford chassis to t he rear of which is connected wheeled trailer ade up of the front nd of a second Ford frame, front a.xle, spring and wheels, the latter being the rearmost wheels of the completed vehi- cle. In addi- tion to this frame, which is pivoted to the rear end of the chassis frame on a crosswise bar, there is another rectangular wood frame- work which joins the rear wheels to the housing of the I'ord driving axle, or that on which the middle pair of wheels is carried. The forward end of this frame- work is also mounted on pivots on two straps around the axle casing, one near each wheel. The bod\- is pivoted to two crossbars on the metal Ford frames, each bar being mi(iwa\' between the center wlieels and those at the front and rear, thus tending to distribute the load equall\- o\er the six wheels.

Due to the pivoted connections of both the trailer frames and that of the body, any one pair of wheels is able to mount road obstructions without raising the l)ody an equal height. The steering arms of the front and rear sets of wheels are connected by longitudinal cables attached to pivoted triangular-shaped equalizers at each end. Thus in round- ing corners the front and rear wheels turn at opposite angles, tracking with each other and giving a short turning radius, one of thi' --prci.il fc.itures.

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