Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/737

 Popular Science Monfhh/

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��Highways and Automo- biles in Warfare

IN discussing the impor- tance of good highways and of automobiles in mod- ern warfare. Major Amos A. Fries, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, brought out some interesting facts. Bas- ing his statements upon the experiences of the French military authorities, he ex- presses the belief that in case of an emergency it would be possible within a few days to get together 200,000 auto- mobiles, which would be able to carry 600,000 to 800,000 men with their equipment and rations to any desired place.

���•Not particularly comfortable for the patient, but it will at least take him to the hospital with very desirable speed

��Locking Gear Lever in Neutral Position to Prevent Theft

ONE of the latest of the locking de- vices which is to be attached to an automobile, which will prevent the car from being run under its own power but which will not prevent its being stolen by the towing method, con- sists of a small lever- type lock inserted in the ball-ended handle of the gear-shifting lev- er. A key inserted in the lock operates a small rod extending down through the hol- low lever to the base. The turning of the key in the lock trips a small lug on the upper end of the rod so as to rotate the rod slightly and cause a similar lug on the bottom to slip into a notch and lock the gear-changing mechan- ism in a neutral posi- tion. As we said above, this does not prevent a car from being towed away by Gear-shift lever

a thief. tral, preventing

���A Queer Improvised Ambulance In Use in France

IN addition to the large number of regular ambulances, constructed for that purpose, which are in use behind the West Front in Flanders, there are many that were im- provised with more or less success from vehi- cles of every kind. The accompanying picture shows one of these am- bulances, improvised from an automobile of the coupe style.

The bed intended to receive the patient is placed immediately be- hind the cab of the coupe and rests upon the box containing the gasoline tank. A trip in this ambulance is probably rather hard on the patient, but in emergency cases the conveyance may do ex- cellent service, especial- ly if the roads ?re not in too bad a condition. At any rate, men suffer - locked in neu- ^"8 ^^om wounded limbs

car being stolen could be transported.

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