Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/917

 Popular Science Monthly

��901

��Which Way Will the

Tree Fall? A Machine

Which Controls the

Direction

TREE felling machines not only facilitate the felling operations but also reduce the hazard and the consequent dam- age. The machine shown in the accompanying il- lustration consists of a pole, a plank, and a pair of levers. The pole is usually three to four- inches in diameter, fifteen to twenty feet long, and often shod at the upperend by a metallic socket armed with a spike and at the other end by a similar but larger socket armed with a toe and two lateral projecting pins. The wooden plank is about eight feet long, four inches thick, and eight inches wide. It may be simply notched regularly on the upper surface, so that it presents an appearance similar to an ordinary washboard, or it may be sur- faced with a firm corrugated metal. At regular intervals along each side of the plank are about twenty-five projecting pins. By pressing forward and upward on levers and changing their hold the work- men are able to move the base of the pole, groove by groove, towards the base of the tree. The levers consist of wooden handles usually about five feet long. To set up the machine the plank is laid upon the ground with the grooved surface uppermost at a distance of ten to fifteen feet from the tree to be felled. In case of large trees and sometimes in wet or snowy weather it may be necessary to fasten the plank to prevent slipping. This can readily be accomplish- ed by driving a stake into the ground against the far end of the plank or by tying the near end of the plank to a nearby tree, or even to the stump of the tree to be felled, provided it is not being taken Hinge section

���By pressing forward and upward on levers, the workmen are able to make the pole exert a strong pressure against the bole of the tree, compelling the tree to fall in the desired direction

��out by the roots. The pole is then placed against the tree in an inclined position with the spiked end fixed against the tree trunk and the other end armed with a toe resting temporarily in a groove towards the far end of the plank.

��Pull Out a Cigarette and a Lighted Match with One Motion

WHY should cigarettes and their matches.be packed in separate pack- ages? Why not carry them in one, and not

two, boxes? So thought George E. Lamberson, of Brook- lyn, New York, and he devised a box to hold cigarettes, matches and sandpaper to ignite the match as it is drawn out of the box.

The ordi- nary cardboard cigarette box is surrounded with a thin wrapper, which serves to hold the matches".

���A thin wrapper on the lid of the ciga- rette case holds the matches. The ends extend as shown above

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