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The Hand Truck in Business 



Au iniportaut use of hardwooJs is found in tlie manufacture of 

 haud-power business trucks. The making of that class of articles 

 has grown in importance until it has almost reached the dignity 

 of a separate industry. There seem to be no statistics to show 

 how many trucks are made annually or the quantity and kinds of 

 wood entering into their construction; but in practically all 

 trucks of that class some wood is used and many of them are 

 largely of wood. In the majority of cases the hardwoods, such as 

 beech, birch, maple, oak and hickory, are employed, but the stronger 

 of the softwoods are in demand also, particulary yellow pine and 

 hemlock. 



A list and brief account of the more common kinds of hand 

 trucks will prove a revelation to persons who have not investigated 

 the scope of this industry. The following mention and short 

 account of the leading types of trucks will show the important posi- 

 tion ocupied by this class of vehicle in the country's busineess. 

 Pick-up Trucks 



The common two-wheeled truck used by railroads and ware- 

 houses is one of the best known. It picks up and carries boxes 

 and other heavy articles, and is made in many styles, but the 

 wheels are small and the vehicle must be trundled on floors or 

 platforms, since it is not successful on the ground unless it is 

 very hard. There are usually four sizes. 



A subdivision of these articles includes those made specially for 

 picking up and carrying barrels. Devices are made to prevent the 

 barrels from rolling off. 



Another style is intended for cotton warehouses especially, and 

 is made in different patterns, some wide, others narrow, for con- 

 venience in handling bales of cotton. 



Another class is known as the bag truck because it is designed 

 for handling grain and other articles in sacks. Its peculiarity is 

 that it picks up such freight without much risk of tearing the bags. 



Differing slightly from this is the cargo or stevedore truck, in 

 several patterns, suitable for miscellaneous merchandise. It is 

 heavy and strong. 



The "southern lumber dock truck" differs from the stevedore 

 truck chiefly in name. It handles pretty much anything that 

 comes along. 



A specially constructed pick-up truck is intended for handling 

 cement bags. The ■(i'heels are protected against contact with the 

 bags. 



The hotel truck is made to take care of the largest trunks. The 

 wheels are extra small and are underneath the body rather than 

 at the sides. 



Stove dealers have a special very small-wheeled carrier made for 

 their use. 



Box Trucks 



Box trucks are wholly different from those which pick up their 

 loads. They handle heavy cases, and consist of strong wooden 

 frames, rectangular and triangular, depending on the pattern. 

 They are eljuipped with three, four, five or six wheels, which are 

 three or four inches in diameter. The load must be lifted and 

 placed on the trucks, and is then trundled to its destination. These 

 vehicles have no handles. The largest are approximately three 

 feet long, twenty inches wide, eight high, and weigh sixty pounds. 

 The smallest weigh sixteen pounds. 



The shoe box truck is little more than a five-foot handle with 

 two small wheels, twelve inches apart at the end. The box is 

 balanced on the apparatus and pushed to its destination. 

 For Warehouses 



Nearly all kinds of hand-propelled trucks might be classed for 

 warehouse use, since they are liable to be found there; but the 

 warehouse truck, as it is commonly understood, is of special pat- 

 terns — several patterns, depending upon the uses intended. They 

 are designated "grocery," "freight-house," dry goods," "post- 

 office," "grain," "meat," and are even specialized down to 

 ■"bacon and ham trucks." 



Most of them have four wheels with a large platform above 

 for the loads. They are pushed from behind or pulled by a pole in 

 front. In some the wheels are large and all of the same size, but 

 others have two large and two small wheels, the latter often work- 

 ing on pivots to facilitate turning sharp corners. 



Some trucks of this class are equipped with high and ample 

 racks for the reception of miscellaneous loads. Some have a large 

 wheel at each side and a small one in front and one behind. 



The dividing line between a truck and a hand-wagon or push 

 cart is not always wholly clear. The two vehicles vary until it is often 

 difficult to tell which is which. 



The "milk truck," on side wheels a foot in diameter, has one 

 small wheel before and one behind. The apparatus is three feet 

 wide and not much longer. It is for use in creameries in handling 

 milk bottles in boxes. 



The various styles of baggage trucks seen about railroad sta- 

 tion platforms are well-known to all travelers. Some are of two- 

 wheeled, push patterns; others of four wheels are pulled to and 

 fro with heaps of travelers' paraphernalia aboard. 

 Miscellaneous 



There is a long and varied line of miscellaneous trucks, some 

 named from the uses intended for them, and others described by 

 pointing out their peculiarities. A few of these follow: 



The library truck is designed to carry books about the stock 

 rooms and reading rooms of libraries. It is three or four stories 

 high, each story being a shelf. Its width is about fourteen inches, 

 length forty inches, height equal to its length, weight 125 pounds. 



Three or four styles of tobacco trucks are in use, but they will 

 handle articles other than tobacco. Some have two wheels, but 

 otherwise are like an extra long, wide wheelbarrow; others are more 

 special, having four wheels with a platform above of concave form to 

 fit a tobacco cask or hogshead ; but casks of queensware or of nearly 

 any other could be taken care of equally well. 



Paper warehouses are equipped with trucks made for their par- 

 ticular needs. 



The assembling truck is of pattern similar to that employed in 

 libraries. Factories use it in their assembling rooms to carry 

 from place to place different parts of articles which are to be 

 brought together in process of manufacture. Some are four shelves 

 high. 



Various kinds of strong, four-wheeled trucks are used in foun- 

 dries and machine shops for carrying partly or wholly finished 

 products from place to place. 



There is a small truck made specially for handling wire rolls, 

 and another for carrying green pressed brick in the yards, while 

 dairymen have one for carrying feed from bins to mangers for the 

 cows. The list might be greatly extended, since special patterns 

 are provided to meet the needs of numerous industries. All of 

 those ilesrribed in the foregoing paragraphs are largely of wood. 



Getting Started on Vegetable Glue 



Some manufacturers of vegetable glue, which has won many 

 friends in the built-up stock lines during the past few years, have 

 made it very easy for the consumer to get started using their 

 product. They furnish special spreaders and other equipment 

 which is needed, provided the user makes a reasonable agreement 

 regarding the use of the material during a definite period. This 

 seems like a very sensible arrangement, and shows that the manu- 

 facturer of the glue has the courage of his convictions. A number 

 of panel men who were apparently wedded to the use of animal 

 glue have come around to the idea of trying out vegetable glue as 

 the result of the willingness of the manufacturers to take all the 

 risk necessary to the installation of the special machinery. If the glue 

 makes good the claims advanced for it by its manufacturers, both they 

 and those who have arranged to give it a trial will profit by the 

 result. 



