Popular Science Monthly 



57 



The track-laying caterpillar motor-truck is 

 vehicle, with the track-layer as the 



A New Type of Caterpillar Motor-Truck. 

 It Can't Stick in the Mud 



THE novel commercial vehicle shown in 

 the accompanying illustration differs 

 from other 

 forms of cater- 

 pillar tractors 

 in that it has 

 one caterpillar 

 o r track-lay- 

 ing unit in the 

 rear and two 

 wheels in front. 

 It is substan- 

 tially a three- 

 wheeled vehi- 

 cle with the 

 track-layer as 

 the third 

 wheel. It has 

 a much greater 

 speed than a. 

 conventional track-laying tractor. Fifteen 

 miles an hour is within its capabilities. 



It is especially intended for hauling 

 trailers over rough country roads, but it can 

 run over improved state highways by 

 reason of the rubber tires on its front 

 wheels. 



The front, wheels are of steel with wide 

 steel tires. The rubber tires are fitted in 

 the center of the steel tire. 



When running over good roads the front 

 wheels are supported 

 on the rubber tires, 

 but when soft roads 

 are encountered they 

 sink into the ground. 

 The wide steel tires 

 then support the trac- 

 tor and prevent it 

 from being mired. 



If any of the trailers 

 should stick in the 

 mud, a rope around 

 the winch on the 

 track-laying unit is 

 employed to extricate 

 them. Although this 

 truck is equipped with 

 the caterpillar unit it 

 would not be possible 

 for it to negotiate 

 shell craters and deep 

 trenches as readily as 

 its predecessor, the 

 British tank. Hence 

 it is not designed for 

 war service. 



three-wheeled 

 third wheel 



The long-handled brushes and brooms 

 were converted into individualities by 

 black and white paint and shoe buttons for 

 eyes. They required some clever carving too 



The Convalescent Soldiers Are 

 Ingenious Toy Makers 



THE war has indirectly been the cause of 

 driving many erstwhile clerks and 

 mechanics but 

 now soldiers 

 into the ranks 

 of the toy 

 makers. The 

 invalid soldier 

 finds not only 

 employment 

 for his en- 

 forced idle 

 hours but a 

 certain amount 

 of recreation 

 as well in de- 

 vising original 

 toys. 



In order to 

 make a really 

 successful toy, one must needs have a more 

 or less intimate-knowledge of child-nature. 

 The men who made the designs shown in 

 the accompanying photographs must have 

 had in mind a picture of some toddler leav- 

 ing all the expensive toys that Santa Claus 

 had left around the Christmas tree and 

 going persistently back to mother's old 

 dust-brush or broom. 



The articles pictured, the work of maimed 

 or blind soldiers, were exhibited at the 

 Lyons Fair. Black 

 and white paint and 

 large shoe-buttons for 

 eyes converted the 

 long-handled brushes 

 and brooms into in- 

 dividualities, while 

 clever carving in con- 

 junction with paint 

 and shoe-buttons and 

 wooden wheels made 

 stands for other types 

 of brushes, which im- 

 mediately became 

 fierce and wonderful 

 animals with accom- 

 modating holes in 

 their noses for strings. 

 But the toys do not 

 lose their utilitarian 

 quality permanently. 

 When they are no 

 longer needed as play- 

 things they may be re- 

 turned to their hooks 

 in the kitchen. 



