644 



Popular Science Monthly 



shaped bulk of the i:ad, A narrow motor- 

 cycle may be lasned to an airplane, as it 

 is, but any ordinary automobile would 

 kill the plane's supporting power by the in- 

 ordinate head-resistance it offers to the air. 

 Racing automobiles have recently been 

 designed with great care, so as to reduce 

 the resistance they ofifer to the air, a 

 policy which, in racing, is a^ vital as in 

 flying. A racing car may be lashed to 

 an airplane as readily as a motorcycle. 



But a Ford car is not built on racer 

 lines. The Ford would first have to be 

 thoroughly streamlined and its wheels 

 would have to be changed to disks by 

 spoke-coverings. The problem still re- 

 mains of providing an extra set of wheels 

 for the airplane on which to restart and 

 to reland after it has dropped its load. 

 But that does not seem impossible of solu- 

 tion, judging from the example of the large 

 German seaplanes, which are transform- 

 able into land-planes. These carry a set 

 of wheels that may be lowered at will. 



The plan may be carried out with a 

 Ford even more easily than with the sea- 

 plane, because the twin-engined planes 

 have their landing wheels under each 

 motor, and the Ford could be suspended 

 between them. The wheels of the Ford 

 could form a landing gear of its 

 own, taking its weight in landing and 



starting off the structure of the plane. 

 The Ford would require no redesigning. 

 Light framings with canvas or aluminum 

 covering could transform its outline into a 

 perfect streamline, which would be ma- 

 terially aided by a long empty tail. 



Doing the Washing for Forty 

 Thousand Soldiers 



ONE of the thousand and one problems 

 which confront the military author- 

 ities of a belligerent country is the neces- 

 sity of providing ways and means for 

 maintaining the cleanliness of the troops 

 in camps or cantonments. The soldiers 

 wear shirts, socks and underwear and use 

 handkerchiefs and towels. All these 

 articles become soiled by use and must be 

 cleansed by washing from time to time 

 to keep the men in good sanitary condi- 

 tion. At Camp Upton, Yaphank, L. I., 

 there are, at various times, from 25,000 

 to 40,000 men and to take care of their 

 laundry work is a tremendous task. 



The accompanying picture shows an 

 interior view of the army laundry at 

 Camp Upton and gives a good idea of the 

 enormous size of the establishme'it. The 

 machinery shown in the foreground is 

 used for the ironing and pressing of the 

 laundried garments. 



These pressing and ironing machines and many others are required to do work for the soldiers 

 at Camp Upton, Yaphank, L. I. The laundry work for 40,000 men is a colossal undertaking 



