Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/110

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��Popular Science Monthly

���reached the fourth car it would be rendered quite harmless.

The principle is being put to practical use on the Great Central Railroad, in England. Buffing rods attached to pow- erful springs are being used with success.

��The spring-operat- ed buffers perform the same function as shock absorbers

��The rods are strong enough to with- stand a colliding blow of 112 tons

��Preventing Cars from Telescoping by Means of Collision Buffers

IN many railroad accidents the amount of destruction of life and property is considerably increased by the telescoping of the cars, one into the other. Due to the very rigidity of the cars, the force of the impact which meets the first car is transmitted to those following.

This is due to the lack of suitable cushioning apparatus between the cars. If some sort of workable absorber were placed near the coupling, the shock of the collision would be diminished as it traveled along the line. The first device would take up a por- tion of the blow and the second would take up still more. By the time the concussion

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oteering wheel ^Control cable ^

An electric switch controls the movement of the land torpedo and accurately guides it. The operator remains at a safe distance away

��It's a Land Torpedo and It Eats Barbed Wire

THE land torpedo illustrated below is the interesting wartime invention of Henry E. Elrod, of Dallas", Texas. It has been designed to travel on land, under the control of an operator who may remain at a compara- tively safe distance from the enemy. The torpedo is caused to advance, and turn to left or rijiht, as cif- cr.mGtances may re- quire, by the manipu- lation of an electric switch. The explosive charge is in the head. Electric current is supplied to the motor in the torpedo through the operat- ing and control cable. This cable is wound on a drum and paid out as the torpedo advances. The caterpillar method of locomotion is employed.

When the nose of the torpedo encoun- ters barbed wire entanglements, the oper- ator immediately causes its steel wire- clipping jaws to gnash, cutting an opening large enough for the head of the torpedo to force its way through. The shape of the torpedo is similar to that of the bow of a

vessel, so

��Wiring

��Electric current distributor

��Explosive charge container

��Wire cutterN

���that the op- ening in the barrier will be enlarged as the tor- pedo goes forward. Its sides are perfectly' smooth, and entirely free from pro- jections.

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