Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/875

 Popular Science Monthly

��It's Built Like an Egg, is Barney Oldfield's Racer

THE ordinan," racing car, because of its shape, creates air eddies and currents that force the car to push a mass of air along in front of it and pull along another mass in back of it by suction. It requires a certain amount of power to move these masses of air. This leaves less for the actual propulsion of the vehi- cle whose speed is correspond- ingly decreased. Hence greater speeds than ever be- fore attained by racing auto- mobiles should be made possible by the unusual egg- shaped body which Barney Oldfield, the famous automo- bile racer, had made for him. Except for the projecting hood over the engine, Oldfield's car is the nearest appro.ximation to a perfect streamline body ever made. Even the pan under the engine is blended into the body in such a man- ner as to present as little t-urface as possible against the propulsion of the car through space. The body is completely enclosed and has none of the usual flat surfaces and angles.

Automobile makers have learned much from the aero- plane builder concerning the construction of bodies that part the air easily and so cut down wind resistance. The body is made of aluminum and will be mounted on one of the cars to be seen at the racetracks this season.

���Placing the copper eagle at the top of the giant flagpole

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Placing the American Eagle On Its Perch

IX Baltimore, recently, there came a call for a dare-devil to ascend the fifty-five-foot steel flagpole on the roof of an office building and place upon its top, three hundred and thirty feet and some inches above the street, a gilded eagle that would lord it over every other artificial bird in the city. Two joung steeplejacks tackled the job without delay. One of them carried the copper eagle to the top of the pole and in a high wind made it fast, while the other, as shown in the illustra- tion, stationed himself mid- way up the pole to be near at hand if anything went wrong.

The eagle weighs thirty pounds, it is five feet high, and the spread of its wings is ten feet. The topmost steeple- jack had to rivet it in place with two bolts, besides work- ing with his pliers and a refracton.- piece of sheet-iron. It wasn't long, however, be- fore he had the eagle fastened to its permanent perch. Most old - time steeplejacks shun steel poles. They sa^' they are treacherous, snap- ping off at the top without the slightest warning.

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���Wind resistance reduces sp)eed. The air should be smoothly parted by a correctly designed bulk. That is the under- lying theory of this unique racer built for Barney Oldfield

��Our Newspapers Are Wiping out Our Forests

THE present demand for new» print is estimated to be about six thousand per day. To supply this demand, ut three million cords of woodpulp required annually. To meet the de- mand for magazine and book papei^. stationer>- and business papers of all kinds, w'rapping paper, wall paper, cardboard, fiber board, and the like, four million cords more of wood pulp are needed an- nually. Because the produc- tion barely keeps pace with this consumption, the Federal Trade Commission is consider- ing means for the better dis- tribution of the product.

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