Popular Science Monthly 



8S 



A New Railway-Handcar 

 Mowing-Machine 



THE railway-handcar has 

 been converted into a rail- 

 way mowing-machine. The 

 three men required to operate 

 it are able to do the work of 

 thirty men with scythes, and 

 when the car is mowing at its 

 maximum speed it can cut 

 down from two to four miles 

 of weeds and brush an hour. 

 When the mowing blades are 

 not in operation the car can 

 travel from eighteen to twenty 

 miles an hour. The motive 

 power is a six -horsepower 

 gasoline engine. 



Thomas McGee, of Madi- 

 son, South Dakota, is the in- 

 ventor of the machine. He 

 has made the mowing blades vertically 

 adjustable, so that they may be moved 

 into different positions and to different 

 inclinations for mowing upon level or 

 inclined surfaces. Furthermore, the mow^- 

 ing mechanism at each side of the car is 

 controlled independently, so that one 

 mower may be thrown out of operation 

 while the other continues to cut. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 the mowing-machine car with cutting 

 blades raised to pass through center-guards. 

 When the blades are operated they cut a 

 >wath five feet wide on each side of the car. 

 After the weeds and brush have been 

 removed another machine — the railway 

 disking machine — is brought into operation 

 in its wake. This machine has a series of 

 disks which smooth down the gravel just 

 bevond the ends of the ties. 



The mac'-.ne runs at from two to four miles an hour, cutting 

 a five-foot swath on each side of the track with the blades 



A supply pipe connected the boiler of the engine with the pipes 

 of the heating plant and made a whole theater comfortable 



A Steam Tractor Makes a Theater 

 Audience Comfortable 



WHAT is the cheapest and most 

 satisfactory method of heating an 

 opera house u-hen a new heating plant is 

 being installed? This was the question put 

 to the manager of the city opera house in 

 Carlisle, Pennsylvania. A number of 

 performances were scheduled, the weather 

 was stormy and cold, and the theater 

 interior had to be made comfortable for 

 the audiences. 



The manager looked about him for a 

 means to heat his theater. Several methods 

 were suggested, among them the utilization 

 of a big steam tractor. This last appealed 

 to him and he had the tractor run up an 

 alley to the stage entrance. A supply pipe 

 connected the boiler of the engine with the 

 pipes of the heating plant of the theater, 

 the pipe being run through a 

 window in the rear of the 

 stage, as shown in the accom- 

 panying illustration. 



This arrangement proved 

 satisfactory', causing the mana- 

 ger a minimum of expense and 

 inconvenience. 



It kept the heating plant 

 working at its greatest ca- 

 pacity and no one except those 

 who were acquainted with the 

 facts realized that the steam 

 tractor sheltered against the 

 side of the building had any 

 part to play in making the 

 audience comfortable and the 

 show successful. 



