Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/118

102

GLANCE at the accompanying photograph shows how completely equipped the United States soldier is for emergencies. His hands are free, his gun is ready and he is literally "girded for the fray." The belt that "girds" him is an important part of his uniform. Only the wearer knows all that it carries attached to it. It is not the ordinary cartridge belt, but is the one used while on special duty or for comfort and convenience around the camp.

The special feature which this photograph shows is the flashlight fastened to the belt and held in position to throw its light directly ahead. The man on sentry duty will see the advantage of this arrangement, as well as the busy boys in camp who must often clean their guns after nightfall.

RADFORD, England, has a sewer five miles long with a drop of 70 feet in distance. The grade is not uniform. As the sewage is loaded with heavy, solid matter, the flow was not what it should have been. The city did not want to resort to pumping because of the expense. One of the city engineers hit upon the idea of using compressed air at a pressure of eighty pounds and discharging it at regular intervals into the sewer. The plan was carried out with great success. It has been done for some time now without a recurrence of the difficulty.

EEDING our soldiers is an important matter, and the problems it presents have interested many of our inventors. The traveling kitchen, run by motor power, is a very natural product of the times. There are several types. One, which the United States War Department is considering, is shown in the accompanying illustration.

The kitchen with its big kettles, large enough to cook food for two hundred and fifty men at one operation, is mounted upon an automobile truck, which can also carry reserve supplies to feed two hundred and fifty additional men.

For the chauffeur a protected cab is provided in front and the cook may attend to his work in the kitchen even while the truck is moving from place to place, by standing upon a step in the rear. To prevent his being jolted off on rough roads a hand rail has been provided to which he can hold.