Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/378

 362

��Popular Science Monthly

��r

��� ��A traction wheel and shoe to prevent lateral skidding

Combined Brake and

Non-Skid Device for

Automobiles

SUPPLEMENTING the action of the brakes and of deformed- tread tires on automobiles to prevent skidding, the non- skid device shown in the accompanying sketches is designed to prevent side or lateral skidding and to check the speed of the vehicle to avoid collisions which might occur if the side-skid apparatus alone were used. The mechanism con- sists ot two independent parts, a trac- tion-wheel for preventing lateral skid- ding and a shoe for decreasing the vehicle speed, both parts being forced into contact with the road surface by means of a chain and pedal and a wire and lever controlled from the driver 's seat.

��tion with usual

��Light Railroading

Accomplished by

Automobile

N England motor car railways are fairly common especially where short, light, frequent hauls are the rule and in the United States there is many a suburban line with its self-propelled single passenger coaches. But probably nowhere will you find such a curious automobile rail- road as the one run- ning into Basswood Lake in the northern forest region of Min- nesota.

This remarkable little railway sys- tem consists of a converted automo- bile, or "Lizzie," as it is known to many people. As seen in the accompanying illustra- the automobile has been fitted railroad wheels, instead of the tired wheels and hauls an It was used on an road making con- Duluth and Iron

��abbreviated flat car abandoned logging nection with the Range Railroad.

This little road is rich in suggestion to others who may have minor traffic problems in remote regions. A second- hand automobile which could be pur- chased for a comparatively small price would lend itself to the purpose.

���The railway system consists of a second-hand automobile provided with railroad wheels, which hauls an abbreviated flat car loaded with freight over an old logging road

�� �