486 



Popuhir Science Monf/il// 



^ bitdc-rwouii auii Ltaiit-rwooii 



A mammoth tractor of great power and two trailer trucks haul the monster guns to the front over 

 the splendid roads of Flanders — roads that have been reconstructed by the Engineer Corps 



How the British Hauled Their Giant 

 Guns to the Flanders Front 



THE transportation of one of the enor- 

 mous guns used in t\.d present war 

 is a task which presents great mechanical 

 difficulties. The weight of the guns and 

 their great length make even 

 their transportation by rail- 

 road anything but a simple 

 matter. But railroads are not 

 always and everywhere avail- 

 able. When the front is ad- 

 vanced, the big guns must be 

 carried on to be used in the 

 following artillery operation. 



It would be absolutely im- 

 possible to transport the guns 

 in their entirety. They are 

 taken to pieces and transported. 

 The gun itself, the heaviest 

 part and the one most difficult 

 to manage, is carried upon 

 trailers with broad wheels, 

 pulled by a gigantic tractor re- 

 semljling an overgrown steam 

 roller. The picture shows a 

 twelve-inch naval guti and 

 gives a good idea of the length 

 and caliber of this terrible in- 

 strument of destruction which 

 is capable to hurl tons of steel 

 a distance of many miles. 



The roads are excellent, as 

 the Engineers follow up the ad- Swinging 



vances and reconstruct them. strip of 



She Weighs One Hundred and Twen ty- 

 six Pounds, But the Paper Held 



THE athletic girl in the picture, Miss 

 Lorna E. Stewart, of Kalamazoo, 

 Mich., is not a motion picture star doing 

 some hair-raising melodramatic "stunt." 

 She is merely testing the ten- 

 sile strength of a certain kind 

 of parchment paper by sus- 

 pending her weight of one hun- 

 dred and twenty-six pounds 

 from a loop made from a three- 

 inch strip of that paper. 



The paper used in this test 

 was vegetable parchment paper 

 taken but of the stock of a 

 mani'i'acturing concern in Kal- 

 amazjo, Mich. It is intended 

 for important documents, di- 

 plomas or records which are 

 expected to last a great many 

 years without deterioration. 

 Such paper may be boiled, 

 soaked, frozen, buried under- 

 ground and subjected to abuse 

 tliat would destroy orditiary 

 {)aper, without being damaged 

 in the least. Unlike ordinary 

 paper, soaking in water makes 

 the paper tough instead of 

 soft. This is the highest 

 (juality in papers, which range 

 all the way from this to news- 

 print and wrapping, and the 

 familiar l)lotting pajier. 



