Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/218

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��Popular Science Monthly

����Wire Cutter At- tached to Gun

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��The new Ford ambulance can not tip over backwards. Fold- down interior seats accommo- date patients not badly wounded

��New Ambulances Are Shorter Than the Stretchers They Carry

THE tendency of Ford ambulances to tip over backwards, because of the extreme rear overhang of the body, has been obviated in the new standard am- bulance used for front-line trenches. The body measures half a foot less than the standard stretchers that it carries.

Four canvas-covered "holes are pro- vided in the back of the body, and into these holes the rear ends of the stretchers extend. Three of the holes are in the lower half of the tailgate, which folds down from a -step. Two stretchers are carried on the body ^ . ? floor; their outside ends each extend into the holes on the out- side, and the two adjacent ends into the center hole, which is twice the size of the side holes. The third stretcher is carried above the other two and in the center of the body. A similar, though larger, canvas pocket is provided to i)revent the upper stretcher and its occupant from slipping out.

��EN the ail of shells upon the enemy's entan- glements does not destroy them en- tirely, the soldier himself must complete the job. Hence it is that, along with a score of other instru- ments initiated in the present war, the wire cutter takes its place as part of the modern soldier's equipment. While these new in- struments are necessary, they are never- theless a great encumbrance. A step in the direction of minimizing the unwieldi- ness of a number of separate instruments has been taken by Frederick A. Warner, of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The bulky pair of shears has been converted into a simple lever, attached to the soldier's gun in a groove underneath the stock. The hinged end of the lever, which lies towards the forward part of the stock, is pivoted be- tween two short cutting blades. When a piece of wire is placed across the blades and the lever is swung inwards, the barbed wire is severed instantly.

As long as the soldier is in action, he keeps his gun

���steadily at the

��pointed enemy.

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���The soldier backs the two short cutting blades against the wire and severs it

��When he comes to an entanglement, all that he has to do is to back the blades against the barbed wire in order to sever it. Between cuts, the solcier keeps up his fire upon the resisting trenches, when in a position to aim with any de- gree of accuracy.

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