Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/135

 Making the Automobile Do the Chores

How the modern farmer dispenses with numerous farm-hands

���At right: The motor treadmill, which consists of a wood framework, two driving pulleys, a belt pulley and a pivoted V- shaped metal framework

��A NOVEL device called a motor treadmill has just been put on the market by a New England manufacturer. It makes it possible for the power of any automobile to be utilized for running a cordwood-saw, threshing-machine, cider -press, cream - separator or butter-making machine.

The device is portable and can be carried by one man. It consists of a wood frame- work or base, as shown in the accompany- ing illustrations, two driving-pulleys and a belt-pulley carried on the same shaft, and a pivoted V-shaped metal frame operated by an ordinary screw-jack. The wide end of the V-frame is supported on two flat arms pivoted to the wood base. These arms are provided with two curved lugs at their ends to slip under the automobile's rear axle- housing. The sharp end of the V-shaped frame is slightly flattened to take the head of the screw-jack, the other end of which is stationary against a wood block bolted to one of the members of the wood base.

The automobile is backed up to the tread- mill, so that the rear wheels are square with the two driving-pulleys, the curved lugs on the V-frame arms being beneath the rear axle. As the jack is screwed out,

��Above: The auto- mobile is backed up to the treadmill and the motor is started, the power being transmitted to the driving pulleys through friction

the V-frame is moved away from the car and the two arms turned about their pivots and raised so that the rear wheels are lifted clear off the ground. As the jack is screwed out further, the tires are brought up against the driving-pulleys, so that the former are slightly depressed at the points of contact on the driving-pulleys, thus giving sufficient traction to prevent the tires from slipping. The automobile-motor is then started, the power being trans- mitted to the driving-pulley shaft through friction between the revolving rear wheels and the pulleys. The wood saw or other machine is then driven off the pulley-shaft by means of a belt in the usual manner of operation.

No changes are required on the car for use with the device and any make of car can be employed, the differences in tire diameters being taken care of by screwing the jack in or out as required.

In this way the automobile goes up still another notch in importance on the farm. The farmer is no longer entirely dependent upon more or less unreliable "hands" and the work is doubtless done better and in less time than by the old method.

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