848 



Popular Science Monthly 



carried 

 ble of 

 desired 



A reaper boat cutting aquatic growths. The blades lie near the 

 bottom of the pond and operate automatically by motor-power 



irregularities of the stream 

 beds. The frame which sup- 

 ports the cutting blades is 

 constructed of two vertical 

 irons and may be swung 

 from a lever pivoted in an 

 upright. 



The paddle wheel is 

 on a frame capa- 

 adjustment to any 

 depth. The wheel 

 is driven from the gas- 

 oline motor by a gearing 

 and chain device. Two sep- 

 arate countershafts are used 

 for this purpose so as to give 

 the necessary speed reduc- 

 tion when cutting. The cut- 

 ting frame may be lifted out 

 of the water when not in 

 use. The blades fold up 

 alongside the frame. 



Clearing Out Ponds and Lakes 

 with a Reaper 



A Willow Basket as Large 

 as a House 



WE are familiar with all sorts of reap- 'T^HIS huge basket, a product of a tribe 

 ing and harvesting machines de- X of the Ponca Indians of California, 

 signed for use on land, but a reaper boat weighs 325 pounds when empty, notwith- 

 is something decidedly new. A Frenchman standing that it is made of light osiers, 

 by the name of Amiot has devised a boat skillfully intertwined. It is six feet from 

 which is equipped with a set of bottom to rim, and its top 



cutting blades for use in re- ^^:^r^ ~^^-\ is three feet higher 



moving aquatic grow 

 from ponds and arti 

 ficial lakes. 



The cutting blades, 

 which are modeled 

 after the fashion of 

 reaper blades, are 

 operated by a 

 motor on the boat. 

 The boat is about 

 twenty feet in 

 length, flat bot- 

 tomed and narrow 

 at the front and 

 rear. A paddle 

 wheel placed in the 

 front of the boat is 

 driven by a gasoline 

 engine. 



The cutting bars are 

 placed at the rear end of 

 the boat on a vertical 

 frame. The blades are 



made in different lengths . ^- r -i u u u i*. j • 



J . , j.„ ° An entire family could be sheltered in 



and with dltterent curva- ^hjs great basket, which was formerly 



tures to adapt them to the used by the Indians as a granary 



5 now the property 

 the Institute of 

 ^rts and Sciences 

 of Brooklyn, New 

 York. Before it 

 could be loaded on 

 a box car for ship- 

 ment east it was 

 necessary to widen 

 the floor of the 

 car. 



These huge 

 willow "gran- 

 aries" of the 

 Poncas are gen- 

 erally mounted on 

 rude platforms 

 reached by ladders 

 to keep them dry. 

 Each basket has a 

 rain-shedding cover 

 made of grass or cedar 

 bark. The grain kept 

 in them remains dry 

 and in perfect condition 

 indefinitely. 



