The Automobile Street-Car 



Six-wheeled traffic carriers which are remarkable for 

 their short-turning radius and for their flexibility 



An eighteen passenger, 

 bus with trailer wheels 



EVOLVKD from the jitney, a new 

 type of trailer has been built to 

 convert any automobile into an 

 eighteen-passenger bus. It is based on 

 the century-old principle that an animal 

 or vehicle can pull more than it 

 can carry. Yet the vehicle is 

 new in that it is th 

 application of the 

 er principle for hau 

 ing passengers, and 

 in that the trailer- 

 wheels track with 

 those of the auto- 

 mobile, to which 

 it is attached by 

 anewmeans, thus 

 producing a ve- 

 hicle of short- 

 turning radius, 

 an advantage 

 on congested 

 streets. 



The Fadgl 

 system, as this 

 type of vehicle 

 is called, is adaptable for feeders to 

 trolley lines and as a traffic tester of pro- 

 posed new routes. It even bids fair to 

 revolutionize street-car traffic in our 

 cities by supplanting the street-car en- 

 tirely because it makes tracks unneces- 

 sary, as well as poles and [jower liouses, 

 on all of which the original outlay and 

 maintenance cost are high. 



Tlie trailers, whicli are made in two 

 sizes, one for eighteen and the other for 

 twenty-five passengers, can be attaciied 

 to any automobile by removing the l)ody 

 aft of the front seal, which is retained for 

 the driver and one i)assenger. The re- 

 maining i^asscngers are carried in the 

 trailer, wjiidi is supported on a jiivot 

 arrangc-menl at the rear of {\u- auto- 

 mobile. 



Another , somewhat similar six-wheeli'd 

 automobile is shown in the illustrations 

 opjKjsite. It differs from the former in 

 that it is made of I'ord parts and emi)l<)\'s 

 the unusual ((in^lnution of mounting 

 the bo(l\ ll(\il)l\- ou the fr.ime .it two 



, six-wheeled automobile 

 attached (Fadgl System) 



points instead of attaching it all along its 

 length. The autoport, as the vehicle is 

 called, will carr\' 2,500-pound loads and 

 may be equipped with an ordinary ex- 

 press body as well as one for bus service, 

 h consists of a Ford chassis to 

 t he rear of which is connected 

 wheeled trailer 

 ade up of the front 

 nd of a second Ford 

 frame, front a.xle, 

 spring and wheels, 

 the latter being 

 the rearmost 

 wheels of the 

 completed vehi- 

 cle. In addi- 

 tion to this 

 frame, which is 

 pivoted to the 

 rear end of the 

 chassis frame on 

 a crosswise bar, 

 there is another 

 rectangular 

 wood frame- 

 work which joins the rear wheels to the 

 housing of the I'ord driving axle, or that 

 on which the middle pair of wheels is 

 carried. The forward end of this frame- 

 work is also mounted on pivots on two 

 straps around the axle casing, one near 

 each wheel. The bod\- is pivoted to two 

 crossbars on the metal Ford frames, each 

 bar being mi(iwa\' between the center 

 wlieels and those at the front and rear, 

 thus tending to distribute the load 

 equall\- o\er the six wheels. 



Due to the pivoted connections of both 

 the trailer frames and that of the body, 

 any one pair of wheels is able to mount 

 road obstructions without raising the 

 l)ody an equal height. The steering 

 arms of the front and rear sets of wheels 

 are connected by longitudinal cables 

 attached to pivoted triangular-shaped 

 equalizers at each end. Thus in round- 

 ing corners the front and rear wheels 

 turn at opposite angles, tracking with 

 each other and giving a short turning 

 radius, one of tlii' --prci.il fc.itures. 



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