Popular Science Monfhh/ 



7-21 



Highways and Automo- 

 biles in Warfare 



IN discussing the impor- 

 tance of good highways 

 and of automobiles in mod- 

 ern warfare. Major Amos A. 

 Fries, Corps of Engineers, 

 U. S. Army, brought out 

 some interesting facts. Bas- 

 ing his statements upon the 

 experiences of the French 

 military authorities, he ex- 

 presses the belief that in case 

 of an emergency it would be 

 possible within a few days to 

 get together 200,000 auto- 

 mobiles, which would be able 

 to carry 600,000 to 800,000 

 men with their equipment 

 and rations to any desired 

 place. 



•Not particularly comfortable for the patient, but it will at 

 least take him to the hospital with very desirable speed 



Locking Gear Lever in Neutral 

 Position to Prevent Theft 



ONE of the latest of the locking de- 

 vices which is to be attached to an 

 automobile, which will prevent the car 

 from being run under its own power but 

 which will not prevent 

 its being stolen by the 

 towing method, con- 

 sists of a small lever- 

 type lock inserted in 

 the ball-ended handle 

 of the gear-shifting lev- 

 er. A key inserted in 

 the lock operates a 

 small rod extending 

 down through the hol- 

 low lever to the base. 

 The turning of the key 

 in the lock trips a small 

 lug on the upper end of 

 the rod so as to rotate 

 the rod slightly and 

 cause a similar lug on 

 the bottom to slip into 

 a notch and lock the 

 gear-changing mechan- 

 ism in a neutral posi- 

 tion. As we said 

 above, this does not 

 prevent a car from 

 being towed away by Gear-shift lever 



a thief. tral, preventing 



A Queer Improvised Ambulance 

 In Use in France 



IN addition to the large number of 

 regular ambulances, constructed for 

 that purpose, which are in use behind 

 the West Front in Flanders, there are 

 many that were im- 

 provised with more or 

 less success from vehi- 

 cles of every kind. The 

 accompanying picture 

 shows one of these am- 

 bulances, improvised 

 from an automobile of 

 the coupe style. 



The bed intended to 

 receive the patient is 

 placed immediately be- 

 hind the cab of the 

 coupe and rests upon 

 the box containing the 

 gasoline tank. A trip 

 in this ambulance is 

 probably rather hard 

 on the patient, but in 

 emergency cases the 

 conveyance may do ex- 

 cellent service, especial- 

 ly if the roads ?re not 

 in too bad a condition. 

 At any rate, men suffer - 

 locked in neu- ^"8 ^^om wounded limbs 



car being stolen could be transported. 



