76 



Popular Science Monthly 



covered. Following these tests, ten thou- 

 sand of these trucks will be put together in 

 a dozen or more plants before June 1 and 

 shipped abroad in time to take their 

 places behind the trenches with our 

 armies, now in training. It will be simple 

 to keep them in repair in France — simpler 

 than any of the allied armies have found 

 it with their trucks, burdened as the 

 Allies are with 

 several makes, 

 each having its 

 own peculiar 

 characteristics 

 and each re- 

 quiring a sep- 

 arate supply of 

 spare parts. 

 This follows 

 because our 

 trucks are 

 standardized. 

 Now do you 

 see what st and- 

 ardization 

 means? There 

 is nothing tech- 

 nical about it. 

 It's just com- 

 mon sense — 

 that's all. It 

 simply means 

 that every en- 

 gine, every 

 front axle, 

 every rear axle, 

 every change- 

 speed mechan- 

 ism or gearbox 

 is interchange- 

 able with every 

 other similar 

 part in every 

 other truck. If the engine of one truck is 

 shot away by a small shell and the chassis 

 frame remains intact, no drilling, boring 

 or other changes will be necessary in order 

 to drop another engine in place and put 

 the vehicle on the road at once. This 

 standardization is carried down to every 

 part of the entire vehicle, including such 

 accessories as magnetos, carbureters, bat- 

 teries, head lamps and fuel tanks. Even the 

 various sizes of Ijolts and nuts have been 

 reduced to a minimum, some being made a 

 trifle stronger than necessary just so thai 

 the number to be carried is small. 



In the standardized truck every part is iiitti changeable 

 with a similar part in every other truck — front axle, rear 

 axle, chanse-speed mechanism, gearbox and other parts, 

 big and little. If the engine of one truck is entirely 

 demolished and the chassis frame remains intact, another 

 engine con easily be substituted without the necessity 

 of any exhausting delays in making the new parts fit 



The engine is fitted with two inde- 

 pendent sets of ignition apparatus, one a 

 battery unit and the other a magneto, so 

 that if one gets out of repair, the gas can 

 still be exploded in the cylinders by sparks 

 from the other source. In brief, the 

 truck is characterized by the ruggedness 

 of its parts, the combination of the best 

 ideas in its design and their mounting 



so as to be ex- 

 tremely acces- 

 sible for re- 

 pairs. 



It is to be 

 remembered 

 that this truck 

 is intended 

 solely for the 

 use of the 

 Quartermaster 

 Corps and that 

 other stand- 

 arized trucks 

 arc being built 

 for the Ord- 

 nance Depart- 

 ment, the Sig- 

 nal Corps, the 

 Engineering 

 forces and the 

 Medical Corps. 

 The tests of 

 the truck which 

 have already 

 been made 

 have proved so 

 satisfactory 

 that late re- 

 ports indicate 

 that contracts 

 will be let for its 

 construction in 

 large numbers 

 without waiting for the more extensive 

 trials. 



The Heart Is an Astonishingly 

 Powerful Pump 



Your heart is a very busy organ. While 

 you breathe once, it beats four times. At 

 each beat it sends four pounds of blood 

 through your veins and arteries. The 

 weight of the circulating blood is twenty- 

 nine pounds. When you run, your legs 

 :ui(l the other parts of your body need 

 more blood, so your heart must pump faster. 



