3G8 



Popular Science Monthly 



Revolving fan blades beneath the hopper of this sand truck throw the sand over many feet 

 of street surface which has been freshly oiled 



Spreading Sand over Oiled Roads by a 

 Motor Truck Attachment 



IT is the custom in some cities to 

 sprinkle sand over freshly-oiled 

 streets to prevent oil from adhering to 

 vehicle wheels or from being tracked 

 upon sidewalks by pedestrians. 



To accomplish this work more rapidly, 

 Mr. Charles H. Rust, City Engineer of 

 Victoria, B. C, attaches a wooden hopper 

 to the back of a motor truck. At the 

 bottom of the hopper is placed a small 

 door to allow sand to run out of the 

 hopper at any desired rate. Just below 

 this door is a revolving disk with 

 wrought iron vanes or ridges riveted to 

 its upper surface. The disk is driven 

 through bevel gears and a chain and 

 sprockets from the rear axle of the 

 truck. 



Shovelers within the body of the truck 

 keep the hopper filled with sand, and as 

 it runs out upon the whirling disk, the 

 vanes throw it out over a space ten feet 

 wide. 



The disk is thirty inches in diameter 

 and revolves at a rate of two hundred 

 and eighty-five revolutions a minute. 

 The truck travels at a speed of three 

 miles per hour. 



Nine Thousand German Aeroplanes 



ONE of the most closely guarded se- 

 crets in the military establishments 

 of Europe at the present time is the 

 strength of the flying corps. That Ger- 

 many at present has at least nine thou- 

 sand war aeroplanes in active use, is 

 the statement attributed to one of the 

 higher officers last month. This officer, 

 when the military attache of one of the 

 South American nations commented on 

 the plans of the British government to 

 build ten thousand aeroplanes, remarked 

 casually, "We have more than nine thou- 

 sand ourselves!" In this connection it is 

 also reported that along the Russian 

 front, only an exceedingly thin line of 

 infantry holds the trenches, and that 

 nearly two thousand aeroplanes are 

 cruising above the battle lines in the 

 East, notifying the German headquar- 

 ters in ample time, of any movements 

 along the Russian front. The crying 

 need of the Russian armies now is flying 

 machines, of which they need at least 

 two thousand to be able to cover their 

 own movements of troops. The greater 

 the number of machines an army pos- 

 sesses, the fewer are lost. Hence the 

 demand for a large corps. 



