LOADING AND UNLOADING CARS 377 
under its own iwwer for a distance of from 500 to GOO feet, thus 
permitting an entire train to be unloaded without moving the 
ears. A |-inch cable passes from tlu^ drums on the hoisting 
engine through a block on the peak of the boom, down under 
the logs and the grab hook is caught on the bunk of the car or 
on the buffer log of the rollway. When the cable is wound on 
the drum the logs are crowded off the car upon the rollway. Two 
other drums and cables are used, one for raising and lowering 
the boom and the other for moving the unloader back and forth 
on the track. When logs arc dumped at one spot, a gin-pole 
and crosshaul may be used which is operated on the same prin- 
ciple as the unloader just described. 
Another form, called a gill-poke, designed to unload heaw logs 
from cars while the train is in motion has two steel arms 17 feet 
long made of channel and angle iron. The arms are 18 inches wide 
except at the ends, where they are made 36 inches wide to give 
a broad surface in contact with the logs. A hea"vy casting carry- 
ing a sharp edge is attached to the outer end of each arm. The 
two arms are bolted opposite each other on a 24-inch journal, and 
are braced with a turnbuckle. The arms and journal are set on 
a shaft 11 feet long, and 10 inches in diameter, cut downri to 8 
inches where the journal is fastened to admit the attachment 
of a collar with ball bearings. The shaft is set on a concrete 
base, high enough to allow the arms to clear the car bunks, and 
far enough distant so that when the arm extends across the 
track at right angles, it reaches 1 foot beyond the outer rail. 
To unload a train load of logs, the loaded cars are pushed up to 
the rear of the unloader, a loader arm is swomg up against the 
log, and the train put in motion. The sharp edge of the arm 
grips the log and as the train advances the arm is turned on its 
axis and the log or logs are gradualh' shoved off the car. The 
momentum acquired in performing the work causes the arms 
to revolve rapidly on the axis as soon as the logs are dumped, 
and the opposite arm comes in contact with the logs on the 
succeeding car. It is seldom necessary to stop the train during 
the unloading process. The average time consumed in unload- 
ing 75,000 board feet of logs from 15 cars is eight minutes. 
A more simple form of gill-poke has a hea\y timber placed par- 
allel to the land side of the railroad track and elevated about 5 
feet above the track level. At suitable intervals this timber 
