Popular Science Monthly 



371 



A Cold or Wet Weather Suggestion 

 for Motorcyclists 



A SIMPLE yet convenient hood or 

 cover for a motorcycle can easily 

 be made from a piece of heavy brown 

 canvas (brown for looks only) or a 

 piece of rubber cloth about 36'' by 48''. 



The canvas should be cut 

 into the shape shown in the 

 picture, then hemmed to 

 prevent raveling. The hood 

 may be securely tied to the 

 handle-bars with pieces of 

 rawhide; but care should 

 be taken to place them far 

 enough forward to allow 

 free movement of the 

 grips. In the same man- 

 ner as above rawhide strips 

 are run through to tie the 

 hood firmly under the 

 head light. Likewise, in 

 the rear, pieces of rawhide 

 or soft iron wire are fas- 

 tened to the mud guard 

 braces to hold the hood in 

 place. 



The hood is now fin- 

 ished, and the illustration 

 shows how it looks on the machine. 



Automobile and Tractor, Too 



TO design a farm-tractor is not dif- 

 ficult, as is evidenced by the thou- 

 sands of such machines in use in the 

 western states. Nor is it difficult to de- 

 sign a pleasure vehicle. But to combine 

 a touring car and a farm-tractor suggests 

 problems that do not appear easy of 

 solution. Yet the designer of the curi- 



ous-looking vehicle shown herewith has 

 experienced no particular difficulty in 

 successfully combining these two types 

 of widely differing vehicles. 



The basis of the vehicle, as may be 

 seen by the picture, is an ordinary five- 

 passenger touring car, complete even to 



The rear wheels are jacked up and the tractor-wheels 



are attached. Thus an automobile is changed into a 



tractor when it is not wanted for touring, and the 



machine is used at least twelve hours a day 



The motorcyclist is usually exposed to wind, rain and 



sleet. An ingenious cyclist has devised this covering 



to protect himself 



its top, its windshield, and its spare tire. 

 It is converted into a farm-tractor by the 

 simple expedient of jacking up the rear 

 wheels and attaching the great tractor- 

 wheels. These wheels are driven by 

 spur-gearing attached at the ends of the 

 driving axles of the touring car. 



To adapt the tractor to dift'erent kinds 

 of work it has gearing which permits 

 two speeds, the high gear giving four 

 miles an hour and the low gear two miles 

 an hour. In addition to 

 its usefulness as a tractor, 

 the vehicle can also be used 

 for power purposes about 

 the farm, there being a 

 power shaft, not shown in 

 t h e illustration. At the 

 rear is an extra radiator to 

 prevent overheating when 

 plowing at slow speed. In 

 action, the tractor will drag 

 three sixteen-inch plows 

 t h rough soft or wet 

 ground, and will accom- 

 phsh the work of four to 

 eight horses. 



-Ji 



