Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/910

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��Popular Science Monthly

��Notch the Curb to Keep Out Automobiles

CALIFORNIA automobilists frequently mistook a motorcycle for an automobile garage and drove in with their machines. When the drivers learned their mistake they turned around and left, frequently knocking over and damaging some of the motorcycles in the garage. The owners of the garage used a very simple and effec- tive method to keep auto- mobiles out of their place without interfering with the passing in and out of the motorcycles. They had the inclined driveway to their garage supplanted by a curb, too high to be scaled by automobiles. For the use of the motorcycles a notch of liberal width was cut in the curb, offering a sufficiently wide and slant- ing runway to and from the garage. Now if a belated automobilist mistakes his goal he will be rudely awakened to the fact by a bump which will jar him in direct proportion to the force with which he hits that curb.

���This notch in the curb permits motorcycles to pass, but bars automo- biles very effectively

��Putting Overalls on Automobiles for Protection

OWING to war conditions automobile manufacturers meet with increasing difficulty in securing box cars for shipping their automobiles to their dealers and agents. Many concerns are compelled to deliver nearly all their cars by running them overland to their destination. The cost of refinishing such cars after they

��have passed through rain or snow storms has become a serious question. It costs about one hundred dollars to drive one car overland from Detroit to Baltimore, as compared with thirty-four dollars by railroad. Any additional charge for re- finishing the body simply adds to the cost of the car to the final purchaser.

To eliminate the charge for repolishing bodies scratched by mud, sleet, rain or snow, a Baltimore automobile dealer has invented the car overalls shown in the accompanying illustrations. Each set costs about thirty-five dollars and weighs thirty-nine pounds. It can be folded up into a parcel small enough to be put in a suitcase, to be car- ried back to the factory by the driver when he returns for his next car. The device consists of a padded stick across the front of the radia- tor, to which are attached strips of webbing which are stretched taut on each side of the car. They serve to button down pieces of rub- berized top material that completely inclose the body, yet do not touch it. Strips of wood along each running board serve to hold the pieces out at the bottom and straps at- tached to the top serve the same pur- pose higher up. A separate covering fits over the radiator and front springs.

The right-hand picture shows how the padded framework and webbing are adjusted to the car, while that to the left gives an idea of the absolute pro- tection against dirt and scratches which is afforded to the car bodv }iv its overalls.

���This shows an automobile dressed in its overalls for protection against scratches

��Showing the framework of sticks and webbing which holds the overalls in place

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