Popular Science Monthly 



405 



Loading Platforms That May Be 

 Moved from Place to Place 



MANY large factories and other plants 

 are confronted by the problem of 

 moving quickly thousands of boxes, barrels, 

 sacks and packages from storage to wharf 

 and from wharf to shipboard or railroad car. 

 Using hand trucks, it would take a force of 

 thirty men to 

 handle one 

 thousand, five 

 hundred box- 

 es an hour. 

 Several types 

 of portable 

 machines 

 have been put 

 on the mar- 

 ket to relieve 

 this situation. 

 One of them 

 is a moving 



platform on 

 wheels. Han- 

 dled by a force 

 of half a doz- 

 en men, it can 

 do the work 



containers. The loader is designed for use 

 in putting barrels into freight cars and onto 

 high platforms. It is constructed on an 

 iron frame and is provided with wheels 

 so that it, too, is portable. 



All of these machines are equipped with 

 electric motors to furnish the power. They 

 are so light in weight that they are easily 



transported 

 from one place 

 to another 

 by one man. 

 The amount 

 of current 

 necessary to 

 run them and 

 the cost of 

 operation are 

 comparatively 

 small. 



A barrel loader for placing barrels on 

 freight cars or onto high platforms. 

 The apparatus can easily be rolled from 

 place to place as shown on the right 



of thirty, eliminating confusion and avoid- 

 ing the delay of unloading hand trucks. 

 One of these conveyors is one hundred and 

 forty feet long and is made up of seven sec- 

 tions. It can move one thousand, five hun- 

 dred boxes of eighty pounds each every 

 hour. 



For the benefit of warehouses and manu- 

 facturers who find it necessary to stack large 

 quantities of bags and boxes, a stacking 

 machine has just been put out. It is an in- 

 clined moving platform supported on an iron 

 frame equipped with rollers, making 

 the apparatus "portable." 

 It is physically impossible 

 for men to stack heavy 

 bags very high up. The 

 new machine, however, is de- 

 signed for heavy work. It can 

 handle three hundred and 

 forty -pound sacks and stack 

 them up as high as fourteen feet 

 and six inches. It is also used 

 for "breaking down" piles when 

 necessary. 



The quick loading of barrels has 

 also been solved by machinery 



The cord prevents 

 any kickback 



A barrel 

 load r, which can handle five hundred-pound 

 barr 's at the rate of one hundred and 

 eigl; ' an hour is coming into use in plants 

 whei>_ barrels are the principal shipping 



A Simple Device for Taking the "Kick" 

 Out of a Revolver 



THE ability to shoot straight with a 

 revolver is a gift possessed by very 

 few. It is easy enough to sight accurately 

 along the barrel, but the "kick" of the re- 

 volver causes the barrel to swerve. 



To obviate this, John E. Webster, of 

 Washington, D. C, has invented a 

 muzzle controller which prevents 

 the revolver from jumping up- 

 ward when the trigger is 

 pulled. To the under side of 

 the barrel at the end is welded 

 a flange, similar in appear- 

 ance and size to the sight 

 above it. Attached to this is 

 a flexible cord. At the other 

 end of the cord is a metal ring 

 large enough in diameter to slip 

 readily over the little finger on the 

 firing hand. The length of the 

 cord is regulated to suit the person firing the 

 revolver, the idea being that when the 

 weapon is raised to shoot, the cord is 

 held taut and consequently it is impossible 

 for the revolver to swerve. 



