324 



Popular Science Monthly 



W 



Salvaging Motor Wrecks with a 

 Special Equipment Gar 



E have long been familiar with the 



wrecking train of the railroad with 

 its special crew of trained mechanics and 

 its hoists and derricks for clearing away 

 debris or setting cars back on the track 

 again in case of wreck or collision. But 

 it is only recently that the wreckers for 

 the motor world have come into view. One 

 of the best equipped cars of this kind is 

 operated by Mr. Meehl in Port- 

 chester, N. Y. 



The wrecking car with its crew 

 is ready for instant service 

 and answers calls within 

 a radius of one hundred 

 miles at any hour of the 

 day or night. The car 

 itself is a simple chas- 

 sis. On the rear end 

 is a two-ton hoist 

 and all sorts of rope 

 pulleys and tackle, 

 besides jacks and 

 tools for emergency 

 repairs. A two- 

 wheeled truck is part 

 of the equipment and 

 is used when towing 

 cars whose wheels are 

 out of commission. Two 

 powerful acetylene 

 searchlights are used 

 to light up any night 

 work and two heavy 

 jacks are carried on the 

 running board which are 

 used to jack up the rear 



The wrecking car answers calls within a 

 radius of one hundred miles, night or day 



wheel when there is any hoisting to do and 

 take the strain off the tires. With this 

 car it is possible to tow in a wrecked car, no 

 matter how badly it may be broken up and 

 it is possible to pull the car out of any kind 

 of a hole. It has frequently had occasion 

 to hoist cars out of streams or up an em- 

 bankment twenty-five or thirty feet high. 



The slits in these opaque glasses 

 admit only a small percentage 

 of direct light rays to the eye 



How the Eskimos Taught Us to Take 

 the Glare Out of Motion Pictures 



HAVING suffered from the 

 flickering and glare of 

 motion pictures, Dr. F. C. 

 A. Richardson, of New 

 York City, developed a 

 pair of opaque eye- 

 glasses with narrow 

 slits in them, through 

 which he views the 

 pictures without the 

 slightest discomfort. 

 The Eskimos have 

 used similar glasses 

 for years in prevent- 

 ing snow blindness. 

 When a person looks 

 at a motion picture 

 with the naked eye, he 

 receives the intense rays 

 through a comparatively 

 large area of the eye. 

 Less than one-half of 

 these rays are necessary. 

 The other half simply 

 tax the eye. They add 

 nothing to the clearness 

 of the picture and pro- 

 duce the intense glare. 



