32 THE CUBA REVIEW 
ea ad 
oS ys — 
us te 
Thomas Cane Body for Motor Trucks, Ready for Loading. 
IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT IN CUBA’S CANE HAUL- 
ING INDUSTRY 
An invention of vital interest to the sugar industry of the Island is that of Mr. 
D. R. Thomas of Havana of a cane hauling body that bids fair to revolutionize the 
present method of getting sugar cane from field to mill. 
The invention is the result of five years of study and experiment here in Cuba 
and among the main features of the device are its simplicity and adaptability to con- 
ditions that have always confronted those interested in the economical hauling of 
cane, 
Today the same method of hauling cane is used as was employed one hundred 
years ago—with bull carts—but this unique idea will mean the introduction of the 
automobile truck into its legitimate field and effect a saving which will mean much 
to the sugar grower of the Island. 
The outstanding features which would recommend this cane body to the sugar 
grower are its simplicity, low initial cost, and the fact that repairs of any nature 
can be effected by the local blacksmith or carpenter. Two bodies are employed for 
each truck placed in the cane hauling service, one remaining in the field being loaded 
while the truck is engaged in transporting the already loaded body to the mill or 
railroad siding. Thus the truck is continually in service, thereby eliminating what 
would be termed “dead time’ during the loading operation. A two-ton truck does 
the work of three of the ‘“carretas’” now universally used in cane hauling. 
The following is a brief description of the “Thomas Cane Body,” on which patents 
have been applied for in both the United States and Cuba: 
A two-ton truck with two bodies costs f. 0. b. Havana approximately $4,000.00. 
Additional bodies $300.00. 
Body consists of a platform mounted on four collapsible legs, which are hooked 
to the under side of the body when the truck is traveling. 
The truck is equipped with a device placed directly behind the driver's seat 
which raises the body in position to be loaded and lowers the body onto the truck 
when loaded. 
The wheels of the trucks are equipped with special cane hauling rims which give 
them § in. bearing surface per gross load ton, as against the ordinary “carreta” with 
its two to three inches per load ton. These special rims come into play only when 
