Popular Science Monthly 



A Jack-of-all-Trades Truck 



THE city of Boston has recently 

 put into service a versatile motor 

 truck that serves in many capacities. 

 When equipped with a dumping body 

 it is a most efficient ash collector, but 

 when equipped with its nine hundred 

 gallon tank body, however, the truck 

 makes its best showing-. In this form 

 it may be used either as a street 

 sprinkler, to supplant three water carts, 

 or as a street oiler, in which capacity it 

 covers twelve thousand five hundred 

 square yards in the short time of eight- 

 een minutes. 



The forty regular sprinkling nozzles 

 are assisted in their work by a rotary 

 pump which raises the pressure to 

 forty pounds, and this pump is also 

 capable of removing the contents of 

 the tank through 

 a side opening, 

 thus saving labor 

 of discharging it 

 at the top. 



In cases of iso- 

 1 a t e d fires, as 

 among lumber 

 piles, the truck 

 with its power- 

 f u 1 p u m p be- 

 comes an efficient 



53 



Why a Woman Can Outtalk a Man 



A WO MAN can talk longer than a 

 man, and does so because she 

 uses less force by a larger percentage 

 than a man does. A German professor 

 has proved by actual and very delicate 

 measurements that the baritone singer 

 uses far more energy than either. The 

 range of voice differs greatly, so the 



The City of Boston's handy motor 

 truck, which carries dirt, sprinkles roads 

 with water or with oil, and puts out fires 

 with equal versatility and effectiveness 



fire fighting appliance. It throws a stream 

 of water of equal power to the ordi- 

 nary fire engine and can get to the 

 scene of the conflagration quickly. 



Authorities in the city state that the 

 truck easily accomplishes the work of 

 six horses and two drivers. 



percentage varies 

 to the same ex- 

 tent, but as a 

 general result it 

 was proved that 

 a tenor uses only 

 from one-seventh 

 to one-sixteenth 

 of the lung pow- 

 er of the bari- 

 tone or bass. The 

 difference in the 

 force used l)y the contralto and soprano 

 is very marked, and the contralto who 

 sings in very deep tones uses at least 

 ten times the force of the soprano. 



The explanation is so simple that it 

 is surprising that it was not thought of 

 long ago. It has long been known that 

 the tenor or soprano brings the vocal 

 chords together and keeps the edges vi- 

 brating only by the emission of air. The 

 bass or contralto leaves the space be- 

 tween the chords wider open, and has to 

 vibrate much more of the membranes, 



A Need for Electric Rickshaws 



ACCORDING to advices from India, 

 there is no reason why small elec- 

 tric vehicles should not replace the rick- 

 shaw in hill stations, where these are 

 now in general use. The overall dimen- 

 sions of the vehicle need not be over 

 eleven feet by five feet. 



