Popular Science Monthly 



895 



This Contractor Carries His Power 

 Shop to His Job 



IT is not always the fault of the contractor 

 when a house is not completed on 

 schedule time. Often exasperating delays 

 are caused when woodwork must be sent to 

 factories to be cut, or when different kinds 

 of special work require power machinery. 



B. F. Brown, an architect and builder of 

 Brookfield, Mo., has found it 

 an advantage to build his 

 own power shop and to mount 

 it on a truck so that wher- 

 ever he goes it may go, 

 carrying with it gas-engine, 

 rip-saw, plow, rabbet, dado, 

 planer, swing cut-off saw, 

 1 8-inch sandpaper drum and 

 five special machines. Other 

 equipment includes a cut-ofT table 

 provided with a frame roller at- 

 tachment. This table also answers 

 as a workbench. 



The little shop on wheels is storm- 

 proof, so that it provides a convenient 

 locker for tools. It was designed and built 

 by Mr. Brown, himself, who claims that 

 almost any kind of work in the way of 

 framing, cutting and smoothing may be 

 done in it as conveniently as in a great 

 power factory. 



The doors of the portable shop open 

 up in such a way that they form a 

 kind of shed under which the workmen 

 and the machines may be somewhat pro- 

 tected from rain and sun when the work 

 is to be done just outside of the shop. 

 There are six of these doors in all — two on 

 each side and one at each end. 



I 



The Intelligent Trough. It Measures 

 Out Water to the Thirsty Animal 



T'S a wise trough that knows how- 

 much an animal wants to drink. But 

 that such wisdom is not impossible is 

 shown in the trough illustrated. There is a 

 platform which w^orks in conjunction with 

 valves on the supply and drain-pipes of 

 the trough. When a horse steps on the 



i.i^ pv.. i.c.L.i._ power workshop. Like Mary's 

 little lamb it goes wherever its owner goes 



The weight of the animal 

 presses the platform down 

 and turns on the water 



platform the valves are opened and a 

 stream of water pours in. As he slakes his 

 thirst and steps ofT the platform the inlet 

 is closed and the surplus water is drained 

 oflf. 



The credit for the device belongs to 

 Victor A. Millen, of Ohio. The valve 

 mechanism of his device is mounted in a 

 concrete well in the ground. The valve of 

 the supply-pipe and the valve of the drain- 

 pipe are mounted side by side. The stems 

 of both valves fit into a single operating 

 lever as shown in the illustration. Hinged 

 above this mechanism at the level of the 

 ground is the platform. The front end 

 of the platform is raised slightly 

 by a pair of springs and is con- 

 nected with the lever of the valves . 

 The water trough lies just in front 

 of the platform. You can see at 

 once that as soon as a horse walks 

 on the platform, he presses the 

 front end down and opens the 

 valves of the trough pipes. The 

 water gushes in at just the rate 

 that the average horse will drink. 

 His thirst quenched, the horse 

 leaves the platform, the springs 

 raise it up and close the valves. 

 Very little water is wasted, and 

 the drink furnished the thirsty 

 animal is as cool and fresh as 

 that which is supplied to the 

 farmer and his men. 



