Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/288

 Delivering Ice Cream by Motor-Truck

The truck is fed ice and salt in much the same way that a locomotive is fed coal

��ANEW type of body fitted on a motor- truck is designed to save time in the delivery of ice cream at retail. It has separate compartments for the ice cream in cans, for the mixing ice and for the salt.

The compartment nearest the driver's seat is used to carry eighteen of the con- ventional ice cream cans packed in ice and salt in the usual manner. The ice compartment, of the same width and about the same length as that in which the cans are carried, is extended down at the rear to a point about one foot from the ground. It has a sloping false bottom which permits the ice carried therein to move to the bottom of the rear end by gravity while the truck is in motion, where an adjustable slide is provided to regulate the amount working to the rear. A hinged door is provided at the bottom of the rear end through which the ice may be taken out by means of a shovel.

At the right rear side of the ice com- partment there is another smaller one extending to the top and slightly less than half the width. Into this the salt is poured through an opening in the top. It has a false bottom and a discharge pipe at the bottom and

��a door at the rear by which the salt can be taken out.

Both the ice cream compartment and that for the cracked ice have folding covers, those on the latter being arranged to be swung up to a vertical position and used in conjunction with removable metal sides to form a box in which additional ice can be carried on hot days or long routes. Both compartments are cork in- sulated. Another small compartment at the rear of that for the ice is used to carry the pails in which the mixed ice and salt are carried to the cabinet or other recep- tacle in which the retailer keeps his ice cream. Running boards are provided on each side of the body.

In operation, when the vehicle arrives at a point of delivery, the driver takes out the filled cans while standing on the running board, leaving them on the run- ning board for convenience. He then goes to the rear, takes out one of the mixing pails and scoops into it the desired amount of ice and salt while standing on the ground. He then carries both the filled cans and the mixed ice and salt into the store of the retailer where the cans are iced in the store receptacle.

By this method considerable time is saved by the driver and there is less "cleaning up" to be done.

���The motor-truck in which the up-to-date wholesale dealer in ice cream makes his deliveries

��272

�� �