Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/930

 914 Popular Science Monthly

Turning a Bicycle Into a Railway Making a Wind-Proof,

��A few turns bicycle into i

��Hand Car

"TT^LAG train No. 71, southbound, X"^ before it crosses the creek and make it back into siding to let southbound Special pass." Such was the order con- veyed by the ticker in the little wayside station.

"By George," ex- claims the station agent, "this is an ugly fix! The creek is five miles from here and No. 71 is due here in half an hour."

' 'Look here, Jim," interrupts his friend Harry; "Tony is sick and will lend me that outfit of his. I can hit it up some and make the trip easily!"

Jim eagerly approves of the plan. Tony consented to the loan and Harry "hit it up" so thoroughly, that he reached the creek long before No. 71 came in sight. The danger of a collision was averted.

Tony's "outfit" was merely a bicycle equipped with an attachment invented by Agostino Rea, of Helper, Utah, which makes it possible to run the bicycle on railroad tracks. The device is simple of construction and inexpensive. At- tached to the axles of the wheels of the bicycle are forked arms provided with grooved trolley wheels at their free ends. These forks can be swung down so that the trolley wheels engage the rail and prevent the wheels of the bicycle from leaving the track. A long arm, with a roller at the free end, is attached to the frame of the bicycle. When in use, the roller runs on the other rail of the track and acts as a brace to maintain the balance of the wheel. When not needed, the arms with the trolley wheels and the balancing arm may be swung out of the way and fastened.

���Rain-Proof Chicken House from Piano Boxes

WHEN the United States Department of Agriculture is urging that every back-yard be the home for a flock of chickens, an inexpensive and novel plan of converting two piano boxes into a poultry house be- comes at once prac- tical and advisable. The two boxes are placed back to back, three feet apart, the back and top of each re- moved, a frame for roof and floor added, and the part between the boxes built in with boards removed from the two boxes. The house is covered with roofing paper which will keep out wind and rain. The piano boxes can be purchased for $2.-50 each. The complete home for the poultry can be built quickly and easily for $12. It will comfortably house a dozen hens. The rear window provides ventilation and insures coolness in warm weather. Windows can be used instead of solid shutters so that the houses will be lighter when closed.

A door can be cut at the end, covered with muslin to insure good ventilation.

��of the hand turned this speedy railway hand car

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��To insure dryness the boxes should rest on brick supports and be surrounded by drainage gutters

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