Popular Science Monthly 



261 



A Giant Metal Shoe 



A PERFECT shoe more than fifteen 

 times as large as the ordinary 

 man's shoe, and weighing five hundred 

 pounds has just been made by a manu- 

 facturer of Peoria, 111., to be used as 

 a part of an advertising sign. 



This giant shoe, fifteen times as large 

 as an ordinary shoe, is complete in 

 every detail, even to the eyelets and 

 heel strap 



The shoe is made entirely of sheet 

 metal and is seven feet six inches in 

 height, fourteen feet long and four feet 

 eight inches across the sole. It is com- 

 plete in every detail, even to the eyelets 

 and the strap for pulling it on, and is 

 a perfect, magnified counterpart of the 

 small shoe after which it was patterned. 



Painting Cars Rapidly 



A PROCESS has been patented by 

 which a railway car can be 

 thoroughly painted, inside and out. in 

 a fraction of the time usually re- 

 quired. The car is first given a prim- 

 ing coat and put in a drying oven 

 which has a temperature of 250° !•". 

 After drying for three hours, it is re- 

 moved and painted. Another three- 

 hour period of baking follows, after 

 which the car is ready for a second 

 coat. This process is repeated until 

 the car has not only been painted, but 

 the necessary letters are also placed 

 on the sides and it is varnished within. 

 The length of time required depends 

 upon the number of coats that are 

 given and the quickness with which 

 they are applied. 



Making An Automobile Tire Casing 



ONE of the most interesting sights in 

 almost any one of the great tire 

 factories are the great machines which 

 are used in tire making. The one 

 illustrated is used for making casings. 

 Two men work together at each machine 

 and their combined output 

 _ is twenty-five finished cas- 



ings per day of ten working 

 hours. 



Patterns conforming to 

 the shape and size of the 

 tire are mounted on a re- 

 volving wheel. The opera- 

 tor builds up a tread on this 

 foundation. From spools of 

 prepared fabric, cut to the 

 proper width, lengths un- 

 wind automatically over the 

 lire structure, the casing be- 

 ing built up in successive 

 layers. The number of fab- 

 ric strips is governed by the sectional 

 diameter of the tire. For example, a 

 four inch tire requires five strips, a four 

 and one-half inch tire, six strips, and the 

 large five inch tire requires seven strips. 

 These processes, of course, prepare the 

 tire only for the ovens where it remains 

 for varying periods according to the rub- 

 ber stock, size of tire, and construction. 



One machine ;...^ i'...., „... .^.^. v.«l L..^...y 

 five finished automobile tires a day 



