Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/115

 Popular Science ^lonihhj

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���The throw of the tripping lever unlocks the body and dumps it at the proper side. The load slides off. The body is brought back by means of roller bearings

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��This Type of Self -Propelled Truck Saves Even the Labor of Unloading

^0 the long list of uses for the efficient little self-propelled electric truck — is added that of general hauler around fac- tories. By the simple addition of a dumping body, the truck is now able to move every- thing from bricks to the actual factory prod- ucts, with great facility. In the small space under the truck-body it carries an electric motor and power plant of storage batteries.

A load, weighing as much as a ton and a half, can be placed in this little body. The truckman then leaps upon the front of the truck, throws in the switch and turns the starting lever. This starts the truck, and the cargo is sped on its way at the rate of seven miles per hour. When the destination is reached, the car is stopped, and by means of a tripping lever the body is released and dumped at the proper side. The body is then brought back by means of roller bearings.

When fiat or large loads are to be carried, the body can be re- moved and the ordinary platform can be substi- tuted for it. The truck can further be utilized as a tractor. In this capacity it will vfery easily haul any load up to nine or ten thous- and pounds.

��A Needle That You Can Easily Thread in the Dark

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��O matter how good your eyes are, there

��The thread slips through an opening in the top of the needle which closes as soon as the thread passes into the eye

��strain in threading a needle. If your vision is not as sharp as it once was, it is even something of a task to get a piece of thread through a needle's eye.

A needle has been devised which can be threaded by the simple expedient of looping the thread over the head of the needle and drawing it downward. The needle differs from the ordinary needle in that it has an opening through the top of the eye through which the thread slips when it is drawn down- ward. The steel ends spring close together as soon as the thread has passed into the eye.

This type of needle is caid to be particularly adapted to the doing of fancy work because two or three threads may be passed through the eye at one time, a feat that is quite impossible with the ordinary needle. It is also useful for embroidering with worsted, the thick, clumsy threads of which make it necessary, usu- ally, to employ a needle for the purpose which has a large clumsy eye.

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