Popular Science Monthly 



169 



A Motor-Cycle Converted into a 

 Motor-Sled 



HOW to make a power sled, is a 

 problem that has been solved in a 

 rough way at least, by C. H. Carpenter 

 of Waukesha, \\ is., whose great plaint 

 in life has been that the motor-cycle he 

 so dearly loves to tour with in summer, 

 with his family, is not available for use 

 in the winter, when the frost is on the 

 pumpkin and the snow upon the ground. 



This motor-sled was converted from a motor- 

 cycle at total expense of about one dollar 



He has solved the problem, he believes, 

 and that with a total expense of fifty 

 cents for a packing box and about as 

 much for nails and screws. An iron 

 framework, blacksmithed to hold the 

 motor-cycle firmly to the rest of the ma- 

 chine, added the greatest item of cost ; 

 for with felt lined clamps to grip, yet 

 not mar the enamel of the motor-cycle, 

 the iron work cost the sum of two 

 dollars. 



Mr. Carpenter has made a motor-sled, 

 with a packing box, his motor-cycle, and 

 the stout, hickory runners of an old 

 coasting sled, cut for the purpose. Tak- 

 ing sections of two coasting sleds, the 

 framework of iron was so designed that 

 the motor-cycle power wheel operated 

 between the sleds, much as the walking 

 beam of an old-fashioned steamboat 

 works on the shaft of the paddle-wheels. 

 Built upon the sled, the packing box was 

 cut down, planed and painted. It was 

 given a high back, and the portion cut 

 away in front was converted into a seat. 

 The sled makes about twelve miles an 

 hour, the motor-cycle being equipped on 

 the power wheel with a special gripping 

 tire, made by the simple metliod of 

 winding wire about the tire and rim. 



Electric Candles on a Nine-Story 

 Birthday Cake 



A BIG birthday cake, with thirty- 

 five electric candles on the top, is a 

 sight which recently astonished Colum- 

 bus, Ohio. The cake was made in 

 recognition of the thirty-fifth birthday 

 anniversay of a large store devoted to 

 the sale of women's goods. Heretofore 

 it had been the custom to make use of 

 the traditional wax candles but for obvi- 

 ous reasons it was decided this year to 

 make the experiment of using electric 

 candles, which would last longer, give 

 more light and be much more cleanly 

 than those of wax. 



The result of the experiment was 

 wholly satisfactory and electric candles 

 will be used in the future. The wiring 

 was buried in the sugar covering of the 

 cake. 



Apart from this novel electrical fea- 

 ture the cake itself was very interesting 

 because it was one of the largest ever 

 baked in this country. It was a nine- 

 story layer cake weighing a little short 

 of a ton and it required the services of 

 eight men to carry it from the motor 

 truck which hauled it around the city 

 into the store, where it was the center 

 of attraction. It was four and one-half 

 feet in diameter and into its composition 

 there entered a barrel of flour and one 

 thousand eggs, three tubs of butter, 

 fifty quarts of milk, one quart of lemon 

 flavoring, one quart of vanilla flavoring. 

 It was covered with two hundred and 

 twenty-five pounds of icing. 



This cake would supply every 

 employee of the store with a 

 generous portion. 



Thirty-five electric candles graced this one- 

 ton birthday cake, which required eight 

 men and a motor-truck to deliver it from 

 the bakery 



