48 



Popular Science Monthly 



foot searchlight throws a 

 questioning shaft of light 

 into the depths below. 

 Close at hand is the Mt. 

 Lowe astronomical observa- 

 tory, which is opened sev- 

 eral evenings in the week to 

 visitors. 



Three levels of track are visible in the zig-zag course 

 up the precipitous mountain side 



Hairpin Curves on a Mountain 

 Trolley Line 



THERE is an electric trolley trip up 

 the face of Mount Lowe in Southern 

 California, which, so Europeans have 

 said, equals in thrills and actual interest 

 any of the Alpine or similar jaunts in 

 Europe. 



The start is made in an ordinary 

 surface car, which tackles the massive 

 base of the Sierra Madre range by a 

 succession of violent curves, then pur- 

 sues at a modified clip a series of hairpin 

 turns, which are perfectly safe, although 

 it seems that the car must be hanging 

 on by its very eyebrows at times. 



At one particular point in the journey, 

 where the car weaves in and out as it 

 (limbs its zig-zag course up the mountain 

 side, three cars may be seen at one time, 

 one directly above the other on the 

 various levels. 



I-'ar to the south, as the car ascends, 

 the blue chain of the Temecula Range 

 rises up from the valley. Villages, farms, 

 ranches take on a strangely dissembled 

 and isolated appearance. 



'i^he last stop of the car is made at 

 Echo Mountain, where at night a five- 



How an Automobile-En- 

 gine Tests Water-Mains 

 BY means of a centrif- 

 ugal pump driven by 

 an automobile-engine new 

 water-mains are being test- 

 ed in Chicago. The work 

 was formerly done by a 

 triplex pump driven by a 

 gasoline-engine, all mount- 

 ed on a wagon. As most 

 of the pipe-laying is in the 

 outskirts of the city a 

 twenty-five mile drive with 

 a team at six dollars a day 

 to cover one job was not 

 infrequent. 



With the new automobile 

 apparatus it is now possible to cover 

 four or five jobs per day in difTerent parts 

 of the cit\'. The number of tests has 

 been increased one hundred and fifty per 

 cent, and practically all jobs are tested. 

 The pump was specially designed for the 

 purpose and rests in a horizontal 

 position. It is driven by the truck 

 through an extra sprocket and a silent 

 chain without any reduction from the 

 speed of the engine. Two men make 

 the tests. One operates the engine and 

 the other reads the meter. 



The automobile engine drives a centrif- 

 ugal pump, testing water • mains in a 

 minimum of time 



