548 



Popular Science Monthly 



Potted Plants as a Part of a 

 Plumber's Equipment 



IT often happens that plumbers are com- 

 pelled to tear up sidewalks and streets, 

 and otherwise muss things up in making 

 repairs or pipe 

 connections. 

 Usually they are 

 little concerned 

 about the ap- 

 pearance of the 

 street during the 

 repairingprocess. 

 But R. H. Slay- 

 ton, of Los Ange- 

 les, California, is 

 an artist at heart 

 although a 

 plumbing con- 

 tractor by trade. 

 When he is com- 

 pelled to tear up 

 a street he puts a 

 barricade of 

 growing plants around the spot. This not 

 only serves to shut off the sight of the piled- 

 up dirt but diverts traffic. 



These potted plants say with a graceful nod: "Go 

 the other way. Repairs are in progress here" 



Delivering Tires by Motor-Truck 

 from Akron to Boston 



ANEW era in vehicular transportation 

 has been inaugurated by one of the 

 large tire companies of Akron, Ohio, which 

 is now running a line of five-ton motor- 



trucks between that city and Boston, Mass., 

 a round trip distance of 1,540 miles. The 

 truck runs on a regular railroad schedule, 

 carrying completed tires from Akron and 

 taking back cotton tire fabric from the 

 company's cotton mills in Connecticut. 



Three round 

 trips have just 

 been completed, 

 the last in seven 

 and one-half 

 days. The truck 

 used is a regular 

 five-ton model. 

 It is equipped 

 with a special 

 body having a 

 closed-in driver's 

 cab with a sleep- 

 ing compartment 

 directly behind it 

 and extending 

 clear across the 

 frame from one 

 side to the other. 

 This is used for sleeping quarters by the 

 two drivers, who work in relays. 



It might be supposed that sleeping on a 

 motor truck would be difficult and very un- 

 comfortable, but the giant pneumatic tires 

 provide a wonderful cushioning effect that 

 makes the truck ride almost as comfortably 

 as a passenger car. The truck load is 

 carried in a stake body aft of the cab and is 

 covered with canvas to protect the goods in 

 inclement weather. 



One of the five-ton motor-trucks now running regularly between Akron, Ohio, and Boston, Mass., 

 carrying completed tires from Akron and taking back cotton tire fabrics from the company's mills 



