Popular Science Monthly 



107 



Flushing Streets with Water Pipes 

 on Trolley Cars 



IN Worcester and Springfield, Mass., 

 the day of horse-and- wagon street 

 flushing is past. Trolley cars carrying 

 large water- tanks and electric pumps have 

 been found much more effective and con- 

 siderably more rapid. The pumps force 

 the water out in such powerful streams that 

 the trolley-car method has proved itself 

 cleaner than the horse-drawn barrel-wagon 

 from which the water flowed by gravity. 



The pump supplies water to four pipes. 

 Two of these lead to nozzles on the car 

 itself and two lead to an arm which swings 

 on the road-side of the car. This arm 

 is swung back when automobiles or other 

 obstructions are to be passed. 



The flushing is done early in the morning 

 after the cars have first gone the rounds in 

 sprinkling the streets. The cars run at 

 high speed so that an entire city can be 

 cleaned by a very few of them in a very 

 short time. With the old horse-and-wagon 

 method speed was impossible. Sometimes 

 the 'sprinkling had to be started during 

 the night. 



The added expense of the electric pump 

 is balanced by the saving in the number of 

 units and of men, so that the running ex- 

 pense of the new method is not increased. 

 On the other hand, only eighty-five per 

 cent of the water formerly used is now 

 required. The side streets which are not 

 tracked are now flushed by connecting long 

 hose to the street hydrants. 



Electric motors pump the water in four powerful streams that 

 wash away every trace of refuse while the car runs at high speed 



Dr. L. L. Funk, using his mechanical broach 

 wrapper and sterilizer. At no time during the 

 process is the cotton touched by the hands 



That Wad of Dental Cotton— Was 

 It Sterilized? 



IN cleaning the root-canals of affected 

 teeth the dentist employs a wad of 

 cotton wrapped on a steel needle. This 

 wad is called a "broach," and is used in 

 reaching the vital point where the nerve 

 of the tooth passes out into the bony 

 structure. 



Usually the dentist twists the cotton 

 around the needle with his fingers, which 

 is neither sanitary nor safe 

 in most cases. Dr. L. L. 

 Funk of Chicago has invented 

 the machine shown in the 

 illustration. It does the 

 wrapping mechanically, and 

 sterilizes the cotton at the 

 same time. Different meth- 

 ods of sterilization are pro- 

 vided for. The first is by 

 means of dry heat of 275 

 degrees Fahrenheit, obtained 

 from the electric heating 

 unit; the second employs 

 steam obtained by placing a 

 four-candlepower electric 

 lamp in a glass water-con- 

 tainer and bringing the water 

 to boiling point. This is used 

 for moist sterilization and for 

 melting inlay wax. A car- 

 bolized sponge is used for 

 sterilizing the needles. 



