760 



Popular Science Monthly 



Two steel cables anchored to trees on oppo- 

 site banks form the only support of this 

 bridge which spans a river fifty feet wide 



How Springville Built a Bridge of 

 Cables, Boards and Chicken Wire 



WHEN the State refused to help them 

 by providing a bridge across the Tula 

 River near Springville, California, the resi- 

 dents decided to erect their own bridge, the 

 one shown above. 



The bridge spans fifty feet of river. It is 

 suspended by two half-inch steel cables 

 which are anchored to trees on the opposite 

 banks. Strong pine 

 planks are placed 

 across the tops of 

 these cables. Steel 

 wiring and bolted 

 steel clamps hold the 

 planks securely in 

 place. Between the 

 planks, wooden 

 boards are nailed to 

 form a board-walk. 



When the bridge 

 was first used, nerv- 

 ous persons refused 

 to walk across it be- 

 cause of its narrow- 

 ness. Two light steel 

 wires were then 

 placed not three feet 

 above the level of 

 the foot-bridge. Ordinary chicken-coop 

 netting was suspended from these to the 

 sides of the bridge as railings. 



Fabric Linings Take the Place of Wood 

 and Steel in Braking Trains 



IT is a surprising fact that ordinary fabric 

 is such a superior friction material that it 

 is replacing all other substances for braking 

 trains. Cotton or asbestos brake-linings 

 are better than wood because they can 

 stand intense heat much better. More- 

 over, fabric linings can grip wet wheels 

 more strongly than wooden brake-blocks 

 can. The reason that iron blocks have 

 given way to fabric linings is interesting. It 

 has been proved that in the New York sub- 

 way, three quarters of a ton of iron dust is 

 scraped from the train wheels by the metal 

 blocks each month for every mile of 

 traveling. This dust not only short cir- 

 cuits the electrical signaling apparatus and 

 interferes with the dispatching of the trains, 

 but by mixing with the oil thrown from 

 the train motors it produces a highly in- 

 flammable compound. The great danger 

 from such accumulations is entirely done 

 away with when fabric brake-linings are used. 



All the material used in the construction of 

 this house was taken from rubbish heaps after 

 the great fire. Bits of crockery decorate it 



A House That Arose Out of the Ashes 

 of Chicago's Great Fire 



THERE are houses of brick and stone, 

 houses of grass and even houses of 

 glass, we are told, but perhaps the oddest of 

 all as to history is the Relic House in 

 Chicago, 111., which is built entirely of 

 debris gathered after the great fire of 1871. 

 The house has been standing for forty-five 

 years and serves not 

 only as a reminder of 

 the great disaster 

 but as a restaurant 

 and lunchroom as 

 well. 



The usage to 

 which this structure 

 is put testifies to its 

 attractiveness. In 

 fact it was never in- 

 tended to look other- 

 wise than attractive, 

 in spite of its origin. 

 Old horseshoes, 

 scraps of metal of 

 every kind, and nails 

 were melted down. 

 Bits of broken crock- 

 ery were employed 

 as decorative material. All the wood neces- 

 sary for the structure was easily obtainable 

 from rubbish heaps. It is one story high. 



