Popular Science Montlili/ 



685 



I 



Rubber-Ball Fender to Protect 

 Unwary Pedestrians 

 F TlilC ])laiis of a wildly iniat;i native 



Texan inventor go through, all motor 

 vehicles will soon be ccjuipped with a 

 huge rubber ball, projecting out in front. 

 Antl its purpose? 

 Oh, it just gently 

 i)tunps the careless 

 pedestrian instead 

 of knocking him 

 .senseless or dead. 

 What matters it 

 that the ball will be 

 incjre than a yard 

 in diameter when 

 puffed out to its 

 capacity.' 



Of course you 

 think that the 

 rublier-ball safety- 

 guard bounces the 

 careless pedestrian 

 to one side, allow- 

 ing the automobile 

 to proceed on its 

 way. You are 

 wrong. It is in- 

 tended to envelop 

 the victim in its 

 folds. But that is 

 not all. It applies 

 the brake automa- 

 I ically when a care- 

 less man sinks in 

 its expan.se'. This is accomplished by 

 means of a compressed-air arrangement. 

 Ixlison will turn green with envy when 

 he reads about this in the Popular Sci- 



i;XCE MONTIII.Y. 



Heavily loaded trucks can be rolled down 

 an incline without danger to the freight 



An Automatic Brake for 

 Freight Trucks 



ASAFETY-BRAKK which can be 

 applietl to the ordinary truck of the 

 kind useil in warehouses has been de\ised 

 by Jac(il) H. Balkena, of Grandxille, 

 Mich. The brake 

 is arranged to bear 

 against opposite 

 portions of the 

 peripheries of the 

 rear wheels of the 

 truck. 



The brakes 

 themselves are 

 operated by oppo- 

 site levers, which, 

 in turn, are connec- 

 ted with a rod 

 extending length- 

 wise under the 

 body of the truck 

 and operatively 

 connected at its 

 forward end with 

 an upright lever 

 which may be 

 readily grasped and 

 operated by the 

 man handling the 

 truck. 



With this brake 

 a truck loaded with 

 eleven hundred 

 pounds of mid- 

 dlings or any other commodity can be 

 safely rolled down a thirt\-per cent 

 incline from freight car to warehouse 

 without the slightest danger either to the 

 truck or to the man doing the work. 



The ball envelops tne pedestrian in its folds and automatically applies the brakes 



