554 Popular Science Monthly 



Loading Trucks Without Disturbing Even a Battleship Would Sink If It 



Sidewalk Traffic 



IN order to save many steps between 

 their wagons and the loading platform, 

 the truckmen have a habit of backing their 

 vehicles against the shipping platform or 

 against the curb-stone and spanning the 

 i n t e - r v e n i n g 

 sidewalk with a 

 board or chute. 

 The result in 

 either case is 

 that you and 

 all the other pe- 

 destrians, find-* 

 ing your path 

 blocked, must 

 leave the side- 

 walk and either 

 walk out into 

 the gutter and 

 around the 

 truck and 

 horses, or climb 

 up a few steps 

 to the level of 

 the loading 

 platform and 



The cases are placed on the chute and slide 

 down by gravity to the men on the waiting truck 



Were Not Cleaned 



ONE of our big warships was brought 

 into dock the other day for a cleaning. 

 Two hundred men worked all day scraping 

 off six hundred tons of animal and plant 

 growth from its sides and bottom. This 

 tremendous 

 quantity of sea 

 life had ac- 

 cumulated in 

 less than two 

 years, during 

 which time the 

 ship had trav- 

 eled many 

 thousand miles. 

 The weight of 

 the barnacles 

 was so great 

 that from 

 twenty-five to 

 forty per cent 

 extra cOal was 

 consumed in 

 maintaining the 

 vessel's speed. 



down a few steps on the other side. All 

 of which saves steps and much hard work 

 for the truckmen, but makes the lot of 

 the pedestrian unhappy. 



Someone who is evidently thoughtful 

 has recently devised a loading chute which 



The Carrier Pigeon Still Holds Its 

 Own as Trusted Messenger 



DESPITE the convenience of the tele- 

 graph and wireless, carrier pigeons 

 are still used to a great extent in sections 



is now being used by a New York city of the war zones where the telegraph and 



wireless are not available. 



The accompanying photograph was made 



in Salonica, and shows a dispatch 



bearer and the special basket in 



which he carries his pigeons. In Paris 



there are numbers of the birds in 



training. 



firm. This chute, as will be noted in the 

 accompanying illustration, is supported by 

 a form of tripod at a distance above 

 the sidewalk sufficient to clear 

 the tallest pedestrian, who can 

 pass under it without discom- 

 fort of any kind. Meanwhile 

 the chute, having a suffi- 

 cient slant, allows for cases 

 to be placed at one end 

 and slid down by the force 

 of gravity to the truckmen 

 ready to receive them. 



The tripod is hinged to 

 the chute, so that it may 

 be folded against it for 

 the sake of compactness. 

 This is an important fea- 

 ture, since the cliute is not 

 a permanent structure but 

 is erected only at such 



times as the trucks are A dispatch bearer and his pigeon, which he carries in a 



loading or unloading. special basket to the place from which the bird is sent 



