Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/134

 Climbing Out of a Mud Hole

The automobile may use its own engine power to operate a winch

���A worm and gear is first connected with the mo- tor crank-shaft to wind a cable on a drum lo- cated in front of the radiator. Then the free end of the cable is at- tached to a stake or tree and 'the car pulls itself out with little effort

��This device is adapt- able for all makes of automobiles and also for motor-trucks as a hoist in loading. When not in use the worm is taken out and stored in the tool box, leaving the automobile front free and unmarred

��ANY automobile which runs its nose AA into a mud-hole and which has no special means of pulling itself out is in a sorry plight indeed. But the automo- biles equipped with the devices shown in the accompanying illustrations have nothing to fear from the worst of holes. Each of the appliances pro- vides a simple means for getting the automobiles to "grip, "but one of them is for attaching to trees and the like, while the other is for marshy places where there are no trees. In the one case, a worm-gear is fitted between ball-bearings on the crank-shaft. Meshing with

���The ladder is thrust under the rear wheel that is mired, clamping the tire and making a track

��this is another gear which is rigidly attached to a drum-shaft mounted across the front of the automobile. The gears are made in a reducing ratio, so that, when a cable is attached to a tree and wound up on the drum, enough pull is exerted to drag the automobile clear. This method is very

much like that used in warping ships into a side berth.

The other ap- pliance uses two iron side-bars jointed at the middle and across which chain- rungs are at- tached. One such "ladder" is forced under each driv- ing-wheel, the power is turned on and the car climbs out.

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