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100 Million Road Maps Can’t Be Wrong

By Irv Leiberman

IN Vancouver, Washington, a quavering feminine voice inquired over the telephone if the tourist bureau of a large oil company provided a service for absolutely any emergency. “Yes,” replied the unsuspecting clerk.

“Well, I’m parked right around the corner from your office,” the woman said, “and there’s a mouse in the driver’s seat. And I won’t leave for New York until he goes away!”

Although this is not a typical question, routers in tourist services frequently are confronted with such out-of-the-ordinary requests. This is in addition to thousands of demands for regular travel information which pour in to them through the mails. And they distribute more than 100 million road maps to Americans on the go.

The questions asked by patrons cover a surprising range. The aunt of a child with rheumatic fever, taking her to the Southwest on a physician’s advice, asked about the climate and the relative merits of the public schools in that area.

A lad from a small town in North Carolina came in hoping for assistance in finding a girl he had known back home.

A Louisville bureau recently had the delicate problem of a man headed for a good job in Boston, who had stopped off on his way, spent all his money and gotten drunk. He had wired ahead for cash, but was afraid that if he wasn’t sober by the time the money came, he would go back to a bar and the job would be lost. So, the touring-service personnel doled out petty cash to him all day—first a quarter at a time for tapering-off drinks, then nickels for the successive-cups-of-coffee stage, and finally the price of a square meal when he could stand the idea of food. When his funds arrived, he was sober and fully capable of driving.

Within a week, he sent the touring service attendants a check for the money advanced and a letter of warm thanks.

A few years ago, a man driving from Washington to the West Coast stopped at the capitol’s biggest tourist bureau and asked the clerk to direct him to some Western city where he could find work. He was in bad health and wished to find a climate that would benefit him. The clerk gave him the address of a friend in Los Angeles, provided him with a card of introduction and a map. The man found work through the friend, remained there a year and improved so much that he returned to Washington. Three years have now passed but the clerk still receives friendly little notes from the grateful man.

Most questions are comparatively easy for the travel counselors, but every now and then someone comes up with a tough ‘one. For example, a Columbus, Ohio, father was going through an animal picture book with his young son—making noises like pigs, cows, roosters, dogs and cats. He was even doing pretty well with the trumpeting elephant, the roaring lion and the howling wolf. But finally he was stumped—the camel!

The father, who was a traveling salesman and had frequently received routing assistance from the tourist bureau, took a chance. He called their number.

It just so happened that one member of the staff once had heard a camel make a noise. So she cleared her throat, took several practice croaks, and calmly made like a camel on the telephone.

Here are some topical problems which came up recently at a metropolitan touring service: a clothing salesman wanted a route including every town of 10,000 population from Pennsylvania to Florida; a trailerite asked for a route touching every one of the 48 states; a Congressman on the Military Appropriations Committee requested a 12,000-mile tour covering the nation’s dams; a father who was going to assist his daughter in selecting a future Alma Mater asked for a trip through the college towns of four surrounding states; a teacher of history who was after the realistic touch wanted a motor itinerary following as closely as possible the course of the Old Tremont overland wagon trail.

Training, experience and constant reference to current road data enable the touring-service staffs of the big oil companies to mark most of the requested routes with an ease and speed that often amuses customers, especially since routers do it with the map upside down, facing customer.

While people always seem to go South in the winter and North in the summer, about 15 per cent of all inquiries concern travel to the West. Any unusual regional attraction causes a sudden increase in inquiries—fiestas, fairs, the Mardi Gras, the Kentucky Derby, the races at Indianapolis, dress parades at West Point, the Natchez Spring Pilgrimage are all magnets for the American traveler.

Diplomacy and tact are necessary qualities for an attendant at touring services. After Uncle Sidney has told a motorist about the fine route he used two years ago, it is not easy to persuade him to use another which the routers know is superior in every way. Prodigious patience is re- quired to suggest an outline for a two-week trip for four ladies, when each has a different idea of what she wants to see.

No maps prepared in advance, however, can anticipate all the personal problems involved in taking a trip by car. The travel counselor, for example, is occasionally an unwilling bystander to a family spat, and must steer a wary course to avoid entanglement when Mr. and Mrs. Jones disagree on the way they are going to drive home.

Although most of the patrons are men, routers firmly believe that the women wear the pants when travel plans are decided. If a couple calls, the feminine half usually has the final word.

All types of cars from Model T jalopies to custom-bodied foreign jobs pull up before the doors of the nation’s tourist bureaus. And the procession of human types is just as varied. When a cold snap hit New York last year and reports of frozen motors were common, a mild-mannered traveler worked his way up to a router’s desk and asked for some hot water.

“There’s plenty of water in the washroom,” the girl said, “but I’m not certain where there’s a bucket to carry it out to your car.”

“Oh, that’s all right, Miss,” he grinned. Then, pulling a bottle of milk from his jacket, “I just want to heat the baby’s formula.”

But the most amazing request to hit any touring service arrived by U. S. mail recently. It was a letter from a couple of potential honeymooners.

“We want details on a 2500-mile trip to almost anywhere,” they wrote. “Destination is no object, just as long as you make sure we never get there!”

ONE-WHEEL TRUCK
TRAILMOBILE, Inc., the nation’s second largest trailer builders, recently found plans of what may have been the granddaddy of all trailer-tractors—the “motor wheel” shown in the accompanying pictures. Manufactured more than 60 years ago by an outfit bravely styled the International Motor Wheel Co., it was invented by one J.W. Walters. The unit consisted of a rubber-tired wooden wheel propelled by a two-cylinder, air-cooled gasoline motor mounted with a heavy flywheel on one side of the fork; on the other side were twin gas tanks. The steering wheel turned the whole unit; to reverse, you turned it right around. Or you would have, if you’d had the chance to drive it. Few ever did. The idea of a petrol-eating horse for a wagon was great, but the motor of the period wasn’t.

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Find Your Fortune in a New Career

America is back to the era where that knocking on your door could be opportunity.

By Lester David

NOT too long ago, Mel Hedrick was a gangling farm kid who rose sleepily way ahead of the sun to do the chores on his dad’s farm in West Salem, Ill. But Mel had an idea that he wanted to be a scientist. So he went to grade and high school in his home town, then to the state university.

Finally, as a full-fledged man of science, Mel got a job with the central research division of the Monsanto Chemical Co. in Dayton, Ohio. Right off the bat, he was asked what he’d like to do most. “Something helpful to farmers,” Mel replied. So he was signed to research work on soil conditioners.

A few months ago, just four years after he started, came the payoff. Monsanto proudly announced a development which stunned the scientific world—the invention of a synthetic resin called Krilium for the conditioning of soil. A small amount of the substance will convert impoverished land to the consistency of rich loam. It was a gold mine for farmers, with undreamed-of possibilities. Co-developer with Dr. D. T. Mowry was the young scientist, Ross Melvin Hedrick, who milked cows and lugged wood on his father’s farm not many years before.

The story of Mel Hedrick is being written many times over with a variety of different plots in the country’s industrial establishments. Because industry is hungry —voraciously, unappeasingly, continually hungry—for job hunters.

Look at the picture: the greatest wave of industrial expansion in the U.S. history is under way right now. This year, companies are laying out over $21 billion in capital goods—more than ever before. Mobilization for defense has a lot to do with it, but a continuing boom is forecast by economists after the leveling off comes.

That means just one thing—jobs, plenty of them, at good pay and for a long, long time.

Where are these golden opportunities? What’s the pay? And the prospect for the future?

Well, the first big, almost desperate need is for engineers. There is a serious shortage which will become more and more acute as time goes on. The Aircraft Industries Association of America has just tossed this bombshell: “The greatest long range threat to aircraft production is the engineering shortage; it may seriously impede future production rates.”

Recent studies indicate that 30,000 new engineers will be needed each year by the government and ‘industry, and that less than half that number will be graduated by engineering colleges in the next five years. During the school year, companies scrounge like mad, sending recruiting officers to the colleges before graduation to snap up likely prospects. A panel of eight General Electric engineers recently revealed at an educational conference in Schenectady, N. Y. that all industries are bidding at a high competitive level for engineers. They are even promising bright students funds with which to continue graduate studies. Westinghouse and Bausch & Lomb are just two firms which have scholarship plans.

According to most recent reports, the average monthly starting salary for engineers is between $300 and $400 per month. Starting rates, however, differ widely according to the type of engineer, and they climb steadily and steeply as experience is gained.

How steeply? MI checked a number of employment agencies and here is just a smattering of the jobs open: chief electronic engineer, $12,000; production engineer, $12,000; chemical plant engineer, $15,000; assistant chief engineer to design heavy machinery, $9,000; mechanical engineer to supervise industrial plant design, $20,000; steam power plant superintendent, $14,500; mining engineer, $15,000.

Aircraft employes are in tremendous demand too, with many jobs going unfilled. The industry is short between 30,000 and 60,000 trained technicians, in addition to engineers. Recruiting efforts are under way in every state. Companies are unable to find enough screw machine operators, turret lathe men, production planners, foundry workers, grinders, inspectors, model builders, painters, radio and radar technicians, research lab mechanics and a dozen other specialists.

Many of these jobs require only two years or less of training and average weekly earnings, according to the Aircraft Industries Association, are $78.68. Pay zooms much higher for experts. And you don’t have to worry about how long the job’s going to last—it will last as long as man’s desire to surpass the speed of sound, to send rockets into space and as long as aggressive nations are on the prowl.

Here are other job opportunities in the country’s big plants—jobs waiting to be filled. This dope comes to you straight from the most official source you could desire— the U.S. Department of Labor which, in cooperation with the Veterans Administration, has gathered the latest data on the occupational outlook.

Tool and die makers: excellent long-range employment prospects. This is the highest paid machine-shop occupation in the nation, averaging about $2 an hour. Tool and die makers often rise to better jobs such as shop superintendent or tool designer, says the Labor Department. And still another avenue of opportunity is to open, after a while, your own small tool and die shop.

Chemists: tremendous demand, with earnings ranging to $400 for beginners and limitless opportunity for advancement. Total expenditures for research and development by government and private industry are expected to remain high indefinitely. Employment in the chemical manufacturing industries is also expected to stay well above pre-World War II levels. Corporation executives are frequently culled from the ranks of the chemists —I. M. Colbeth, for instance, president of the Baker Castor Oil Co., was a chemist for many years.

Shipbuilding and ship repair men: in view of the military procurement program, employment is expected to rise substantially. Nearly two-thirds of the shipyards are on the Atlantic coast. Every yard of any size offers employment in a wide variety of crafts, chiefly metal working and woodworking. In July, 1950, according to the last survey taken, the average production worker in shipbuilding and repair got $64 for a 37.8-hour week. Since then the pay has gone up—high up—for the more skilled and supervisory personnel.

Seamen: an official of the Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy declares fledgling seamen have no trouble landing berths. “All they need do is go down to the shipping companies and ask,” he says. Senior year students, he states, have jobs even before they graduate. Starting pay is high—the academy reports that seagoing grads can expect paychecks of $400 a month to start, with quarters and board.

All-round machinists: job openings will be plentiful dueling the next few years. Average straight-time earnings are $1.72 an hour and prospects for promotion are good. Many advance to foreman of a section in a shop or other supervisory jobs, some develop into tool and die makers and others open and run small machine shops of their own.

Boilermakers: they’re the ones who fabricate, assemble and repair boilers, tanks, vats, smoke stacks and other products made of heavy steel plate. When the latest survey was taken, earnings ranged from $1.74 to $2.39 an hour—but that was a couple of years ago and wages have risen quite a bit since.

Instrument makers: small but growing field of skilled mechanics who build scientific and industrial instruments, including optical, electrical, mechanical, aeronautical, electronic and gyroscopic. The development of new and improved instruments for industrial and military purposes is of vital importance to defense. Earnings vary widely because of skill differences. In the last survey, hourly earnings averaged about $2, and the annual salaries in the Federal government ranged up to $6,400.

Radio and television technicians: a strong demand exists and will increase. Men are needed to repair home- radio and television sets and in manufacturing and servicing military, industrial and other types of electronics equipment. Apprentices and helpers earn up to $60 weekly while supervisors and foremen get up to $120.

Lens grinders and polishers: they grind and polish optical elements for binoculars, microscopes, range finders, photographic equipment and other highly accurate optical instruments such as spectrographs and contour projectors. The degree of skill required varies widely. Hourly rates range to $2 and higher and many highly skilled workers go into business for themselves, doing custom work for various industries.

But, the list of jobs hunting for people is long. Bosses are also seeking physicists, mathematicians, geologists and geophysicists, social workers, technical librarians, maintenance mechanics, tinsmiths, miners, coppersmiths and sheet metal workers, stenographers and secretaries, electricians, pattern and model makers, draftsmen, lumbermen, raftsmen and woodchoppers.

If you want the full dope on any of these occupations—exactly what the job entails, whether the work is available near your home town, how you can break in, what apprenticeship or training is required, what your earnings are going to be—get the Occupational Outlook Handbook (Bulletin No. 998) published by the Department of Labor (Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C.). It contains almost 600 pages of vital information. Price is $3. If you are interested in scholarships offered by industry to bright young men, send the Government Printing Office 55 cents for the fact-filled Scholarships and Fellowships (Bulletin 1951 No. 16) of the Office of Education.

But, suppose you’re a fortune hunter who is aiming real high, seeking new frontiers to conquer in a business of your own. What are your chances? Well, Lowel Wakefield of Seattle, Wash., went fishing. He hooked a fortune, too.

Lowel knew that king crabs, many up to six feet across, lay in abundance in the Bering Sea. But the sea is 5,000 miles from American markets and the waters are mean and cruel. He got plenty of sage advice to stay away, but Wakefield was obsessed with the idea of bringing them to U.S. tables in ocean-fresh condition. So, he borrowed capital and set up his Deep Sea Fishing Company.

Wakefield installed the latest mechanical and scientific equipment and fought the problem for four tough years. Finally, he licked it. He caught crabs by the tens of thousands where nobody had ever fished before, and he froze them the moment they were pulled from the ocean, thus preserving their freshness over the long voyage home. So, Wakefield found his fortune in the ocean.

In Boston, the Fulham brothers also found gold in the briny. After their father died and left them a small, struggling fishing business, the boys held counsel. There were thousands of commercial fishermen. How about thinking up something new? And then came the idea— wouldn’t customers jump at the chance of getting neatly packaged, frozen fish, untouched by any hands from the time they left the processing plant? The customers would and did. The one-pound packs of frozen, boneless fillets they put up are now selling by the millions. Today, the brothers own a huge pier in Boston and have opened a new plant in Portland, Me.

If you want to find your fortune in the ocean, the U.S. government is now going all-out to help fishermen find new commercial areas of conquest. A fleet of U.S. Fish and Wildlife vessels has been exploring the high seas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico. One craft recently found red shrimp in large commercial quantities at depths of 1,000 to 1,500 feet. No one had ever known they were there. Another ship located new tuna schools off New England.

Wilbert M. Chapman, U. S. fisheries expert and a special assistant to the Under-Secretary of State says, “The vast ocean expanses today offer a new frontier as fabulous in untouched wealth as the old frontiers of the West.”

There’s still fabulous wealth in the earth of these United States, too. Sure, big time mining companies of every kind have dug and scraped for generations, but they haven’t taken everything that’s there by any means. Charles F. Kettering, the famed director and research consultant of General Motors Corporation, says that only five per cent of the coal has been taken from our mines, 90 per cent of the petroleum is still underground. The same is true, he declares, for natural gas.

Dorcie Calhoun found that out. Calhoun, a 45-year-old farmer, convinced that there was natural gas under his mother’s farm not far from Renova, Pa., got hold of some secondhand drilling apparatus and convinced some of his friends and neighbors to back his ven- ture. Month after month they drilled. The rickety rig broke down constantly, but Dorcie patched it up and kept going down.

Once a representative of a big gas company inspected his machinery, laughed raucously: “Why that thing isn’t designed to go down over 2,000 feet,” he scoffed. One of Calhoun’s friends remarked: “That’s funny. It’s down to 4,000 feet already.”

And then it happened. Calhoun struck a gusher and became wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. There’s a fortune underground—maybe under that little campsite you bought for a few hundred dollars, maybe under your farm. Dorcie Calhoun found natural gas. What can you find?

Fortunes have been made in plastics, and many more fortunes will continue to be made. Don’t get the idea that plastics are old hat— new synthetics are being developed all the time. One man is now experimenting with an all-plastic refrigerator; an Ohio firm is talking about making plastic house trailers. There is a new crab trap of wire mesh coated with plastic resins that resist corrosion by fresh or salt water; there are even small boats made entirely of reinforced plastics.

What uses can you dream up for plastics? They may be your future.

The magic word electronics has brought new empires into being. Waldo Kliever of the Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co. declares that before long, practically everything people do will be done, or at least assisted, by electronics. He envisions electronic thermostats that will detect temperature and humidity changes in the air-conditioning equipment. Dr. Moulton of the Brookings Institution believes that through electronics we will be able to increase the yield of plant seeds, produce smoother milk, ice cream and mayonnaise, and also help to age whisky five years in a matter of days.

Electronics will bring fantastic changes in people’s living and working habits, and whenever such changes occur, there lie opportunities for fortunes. If your aim is big money, heed the advice of General Sarnoff of RCA: “Hitch your wagon to an electron.”

These are just a few of the opportunities that lie ahead for you. This is the age of new careers, of new fortunes in the making. Dr. Karl Compton of M.I.T. says: “I believe that the man of ideas, ability and ambition can look forward to the greatest opportunities in history.”

You’ve heard the knocking before—if you listen, you can hear it now again. Are you going to do something about it?

NEW for the ROAD

Bump-Air invented by Jeff Corydon of Hush Bumpers, Chicago, extends beyond regular guards and takes the shock of minor collisions. It is installed by drilling new holes or by replacing the old metal guards. Made of inflated Plastisol or rubber.

Caddy Pickup Truck carries motorcycles to race tracks. It is made on a 1949 Cadillac chassis and will take three cycles which are anchored in wells in floor. Windows in the rear corners of cab are Plexiglas. It is painted bright red. cost $5,000.

Talking Highways will warn drivers of danger ahead. The panels or sound tracks inserted lengthwise will say audible words such as “crossing” or “soft shoulder” when tires roll over them. Car acts as sound box. Floyd Dofsen of San Francisco.

Garden Trailer, displayed at Motor Show in London, England, proves that a trailer can have the comforts of a home. This unusual model has a roof garden, one end of which is sheltered with awning to protect flowers from wind when driving.

Novel Camping Trailer Opens Into Comfortable Quarters
A NOVEL camping trailer has been produced in London which is hailed with delight by lovers of the outdoors because of the comfort it provides. The trailer, compact when closed, is attached to the rear of the automobile by a device which makes it ride easily with a minimum of side sway. But when camp is made the sides of the trailer let down to increase the available space and a door at the end provides access to the interior where there is ample headroom.

Self-Expanding Trailer Becomes Camp Home

EVERY YEAR the nation’s camping-trailer manufacturers go a bit further in their contest to see which can cram the most possible living and sleeping space into the smallest folded package. A new trailer expands electrically from the neat, low-slung package in the top photo to the full size 15-foot trailer at left below. In the minute that it takes to expand itself, the inside sprouts a gas floor furnace, gas stove, sink, closet, dining area, two beds and a couch, all of which fold up or down out of the walls as the roof is raised. An interesting new feature is full glass-fiber insulation. The inventor, Leo Hagenson, won a grand championship ribbon at the Minnesota Inventor’s Congress for his work on the trailer.

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STREET SCENE, TOKYO STYLE

By Elliot H. McCleary

TRAFFIC IN TOKYO, the world’s largest city (population: 10 million), is, to put it mildly, dense, wild, fast, and furious.

The very diversity of vehicles, as well as their number, is startling. There are automobiles of varying shapes and sizes— Japanese, French, German, an occasional, looming Chevy or Plymouth.

Coveys of goggled motorcyclists thunder their motors at intersections, roar away in blue smoke when the light changes. There are three-wheeled trucks guided inside by handle bars. There are sleek cabs dashing in and out of openings in the traffic, scattering the pedestrians who stream in thousands across intersections, or walk right in the street in the majority of byways which have no sidewalks.

To add to the confusion and excitement of Tokyo driving (which, by the way, proceeds down the left side of the street) there are messengers on bicycles wheeling in and around the cars, laundrymen with huge bundles behind them, repairmen with ladders and tools mounted on bicycle sidecars and trailers, and white-capped restaurant delivery boys—some balancing trays on which are bowls of fish, rice or fuming tea.

All this activity is more amazing when you consider that cars are a luxury in a land where the average workman makes less than $100 a month. Also the Japanese auto industry turns out less than 500,000 four-wheeled motor vehicles a year and less than 200,000 of these are passenger cars. But Tokyo alone has 400,000 cars and trucks on its streets, with 3000 being added every month.

Traffic is further congested by the national output of a million and a half motor bikes and mtorcycles and 300,000 three-wheelers a year. The city government cannot keep up with the demand for better streets and more sidewalks which are desperately needed to curb the rate of 14,000 accidents per year.

Something will have to be done, muse the city fathers while they appropriate more money for traffic policemen, street lights, and an expressway.

But like their counterparts in the United States, they may be unable to solve a modern mystery: Why does a mild-mannered average man suddenly become an avenging warrior when he gets behind the wheel of his Datsun?

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YOUR VICTORY CAR

By Brooks Stevens – Industrial Designer

THE American civilian is recovering gradually from the shock of his country’s complete entry into the greatest war in history and its necessary sacrifices. Production of passenger cars ceased months ago, and the public is getting used to the idea that the family auto must last for the duration, possibly longer.

It is not premature to talk of the postwar possibilities in this field of manufacture, for certainly it is one of the country’s largest, and one upon which the people are definitely dependent.

Although the general public may feel that the postwar car will be a radically styled, all plastic, rear-engine vehicle with a completely transparent top, it is only wise to discount this to a great extent. The length of the war will, of course, be a powerful governing factor. If the war should come to a quick end, the first postwar cars undoubtedly will be revisions of the 1942 models. This would be the only practical measure in consideration of the thousands and thousands of dealers who have been hit so badly by the cessation of automobile manufacture.

Conversion from war production and a resumption of passenger car manufacture will be effected more quickly in this manner than to attempt complete retooling for radically designed models. In fact, revisions of 1942 models might be available six months after the war as against retooling completely for rear-engine or other radically styled models which might require 18 to 24 months before reaching the market.

Reasonable revisions will include a greater emphasis on the elimination of individual fenders, as such; front fenders will blend gracefully into the body instead of being applied appendages; and complete elimination of individual rear fenders will be effected through widening of the body to absorb them. This makes for fewer individual stampings, smoother exterior streamlining, and from a practical stand-point the generous smooth surfaces can be reshaped more easily after accidental denting.

Sacrifices made by civilians during the war and a general attitude of restraint will only be satisfied by the elimination of superfluous bright work, chrome grills, stripes, bars, and other useless ornamentation. The simplified front-end treatment will include concealed or retractable headlights, already in use, and more functional air scoop intakes as a part of a substantial bumper design.

There will and should be increased vision in this postwar model. The panoramic full-vision windshield, accomplished by moving the heavy door and corner post outward and back from its former position, will allow for 180-degree driver vision. Safety glass windshields will be bent at the % point to accomplish this partial encirclement; however, they will be bent in one plane only. Curved plastic windshields, long the dream of many designers, have not yet proven hard enough to withstand windshield – wiper action in conjunction with grit and dirt present in rain. Spherical shaped plastic windshields are apt to distort vision. Plastics, however, will play an ever-increasing role in tomorrow’s car, certainly in connection with all inter i or trim, instrument panels, control levers, and the like. Interesting and satisfactory upholstery has already been executed from woven plastics. Permanent color and durability will be the keynotes. Plastics may also play an increasing part for many small elements in connection with the power plant. 1 There has been considerable speculation as to the use of molded plastic body panels and fenders to replace steel. This is doubtful at least for the first postwar car. The tremendous increase in the production of aluminum, which in 1943 will be several times the 1939 production, will result in an increasing use of this material in automobile bodies. Stronger lightweight steel is also being experimented with.

The real postwar car will not appear until enough time has elapsed to develop a completely new type of automobile. Before touching on this “postwar car,” I should like to make another reasonable and conservative prophecy: With the ever-rising cost of this war and the possible taxation measures brought on by it, we may find the average American forced to accept an undersized car in comparison to prewar models. It is entirely possible that a civilian version of the army jeep might be a most acceptable and desirable piece of transportation equipment. Conservatively styled versions of this jeep could be manufactured during the war to fill necessary civilian needs. This conservatively styled model, in both open and closed types, could be executed with simple tooling and a minimum of fabrication expense, yet it could have pleasing lines within these limitations.

The civilian jeep could then be projected into a postwar “victory car” in a more completely styled form. This model will take on graceful lines through the elimination of fenders and stressing of longer and more sweeping lines in an effort to make up in appearance for a short wheelbase. This car would have maneuverability, reasonable speed, greatly increased operating economy, and could be moderately priced. The trend toward simplicity will do much in connection with initial cost, yet predictions on cost are dangerous because of the unknown economic results of the war.

As the world gradually emerges from war conversion to peacetime manufacture, we may find the rear-engine type as an ultimate and desirable possibility. Passengers will be moved forward for further increased vision, more interior lounging space, more complete body streamlining. The placing of engine noise, heat, and fumes behind the passengers instead of in front of them is a long-desired change. The rear engine design offers traction over the rear driving wheels, yet there is speculation as to whether it might reduce the weight over the front wheels to a point where satisfactory steering characteristics might be reduced. Moving the passengers forward enables the rear-engine car to approach more nearly the teardrop shape; however, the degree to which passengers can be moved forward is limited by the space required to turn the front wheels when steering. The rear-engine car with its relocated power plant will eliminate the need for drive-shaft tunnels and the car can then be lowered to a somewhat greater extent than existing models, yet this, too, is governed by ease of entry and exit and by existing curb heights.

Plastics will predominate and may be applicable to windows, windshields, and perhaps to some body panels, yet we must remember that three important industries will be competing for the same business— steel, aluminum, and plastics. It is impossible to say whether this business will be shared or dominated by any one material.

Smaller air-cooled engines requiring less space and offering greater operating economy will be utilized. Functional streamlining will help maintain reasonable performance with less power. There will be no tendency to offer the general public 100 to 150 miles per hour speed.

The field of automotive transportation undoubtedly will be enhanced in the postwar period by addition of a new method of merchandising a line of products. I am speaking of the definite development of sales cars or traveling display rooms. This method of demonstration and selling has been through the preliminary stages. Five years ago, we were commissioned by a client to design and produce an experimental vehicle for this purpose. Each succeeding year has brought improved models of which a number have been custom-built and put into service. A complete office and showroom on one motorized wheelbase within a length limitation of twenty feet, bumper to bumper, is the result. These sales cars are held to twenty feet in length to facilitate parking in downtown areas. The units have six feet two inches headroom, a comfortable lounge for customers, storage space for samples, a radio, heaters, fans, and the other comforts of an office. The control cabin forward, partitioned from the sales room, provides the salesman or chauffeur with air-liner vision and safety of operation. Note here the similarity to the windshield prophecy we have just made in the postwar car and the rear engine car. Powered by a standard V8 engine and utilizing tubular steel construction throughout, we have light weight and flexibility. Top speeds of 85 miles per hour are safely possible, and performance costs have shown an average of 15 miles per gallon of fuel. This type of project is applicable to many businesses, and may supplant the trailer as a mobile home because of its ease and safety of operation.

The postwar advent of freight-hauling cargo airplanes will influence commercial cross-country truck design. Cross-country haulers, already designed and ready for construction, are capable of carrying 22,000 pounds in one streamlined hull with the same driver advantages of vision pointed out earlier in this article. This truck body of welded tubular steel construction literally becomes a fuselage on wheels. The body has been designed around a practical pay load, as well as taking into consideration aerodynamic qualities and advertising appeal. Each succeeding week of worldwide warfare will find new scientific and technical discoveries which will influence the transportation field. Because of his work in almost every field of manufacture, the industrial designer is qualified to observe and prophesy acceptable trends and consumer demands.

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WHAT’S NEW FOR Your Home

TRANSPARENT FIREPLACE is a freestanding unit with quarter-inch heat-resistant glass on three sides. The raised hearth is made of ceramic-coated steel. A star-shaped sloping hood covers the firebox area and rises to join a 10-inch flue housing. Venting attachments and extensions are available to accommodate most room heights. The fireplace, which can be painted to match room, is made by Majestic Co., Huntington, Ind.

ELECTRIC COFFEE MILL has 16 settings that enable it to grind beans extra fine for vacuum pot up to very coarse for open-pot coffee maker. It holds 1-1/4 pounds of whole beans. Hobart Manufacturing Co., Troy, Ohio, makes it.

SHOES ARE PROTECTED and out of the way on a shoe valet. It consists of two panels with spring-tensioned grips that grasp shoes firmly by the heels. A product of Glido Mfg. Co., Gardena, Calif., the wall-mounted valet sells for $4.95.

RUN WATER through the cylinder filled with resin compound, and the result is deionized water for cooking, steam appliances, batteries, etc. Deionizer is made by Illinois Water Treatment Co., Rockford, III. It sells for 98 cents.

SAFE EXERCISING and easy feeding are features of a folding, adjustable table for babies. A strap keeps the baby safe while he jumps or (with the foot rest folded) learns to walk. Made by Master Juvenile Products, Walker Valley, N. Y., the versatile Baby Den sells for $29.98.

KITCHEN CORNER SINK is made of stainless steel. Double-bowl unit saves counter space, allows unique kitchen layouts. Measuring 43-1/4 inches corner to corner and 22 inches front to back, compact design lends itself to use in small apartments, trailers, boats, etc. Manufacturer is Jensen-Thorsen Corp., 239 Interstate Road, Addison, Ill.

HIGH-LOW SWITCH that turns room lights bright or dim is intended for nurseries, bedrooms, etc. Single-pole, three-position switch allows dimming to 30 percent of full brightness. Made by General Electric, it sells for $4.98.

HIDDEN TRASH DISPOSER needs only touch of the toe to open aluminum lid; refuse goes down six-foot chute into suspended metal casing. Eliminates endless trips to basement or trash can. It’s made by Ketch-All Mfrs. of Akron, Ohio.

COMBINATION flour container and sifter eliminates the need to store two separate items. To use, housewife just unsnaps cover, turns the small crank—and finely fluffed flour issues forth. Made by Bliss of Hollywood, Los Angeles.

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The liberated house

— no hookups — it rolls anywhere and lives off the sun and earth An ingenious structure integrates many energy-conserving technologies

By EVERETT H. ORTNER

PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR AND KRISTEN PETERSON Was this the American home of the future—this cross between a submarine and a World War II Quonset hut, this metal half-sausage afloat on a sea of mud?

Probably not. My hosts, its designer-builders, Ted Bakewell III and Michael E. Jantzen, had other objectives in mind for their Autonomous Dwelling Vehicle—even though it may well unite more house-of-the-future conservation concepts, technologies, and materials that have ever been brought together in one structure. Their goal was to build a trailerable structure that would:

• First, be a mobile home, light and small enough to be towed long distances over the road, or be carried by helicopter, or even be floated on water.

• Second, be independent of utility hookups—electricity, gas, water, and sewage—and of fossil fuels.

• Third, be mass-producible at a cost competitive with luxury travelers of comparable size.

It would be just the thing that Ted Bakewell, 33, an executive with Bake-well Corp., a giant St. Louis real-estate development company, would like to park outside one of his new developments without concern for water or sewers—and in places where such hookups might not even be available.

It’s the kind of thing that Michael E. Jantzen, 31, a conservationist and designer, specializes in: “alternatives to alternatives.” Jantzen’s own house, 64 miles away in Carlyle, 111., is an expression of his absorption in the problems of conserving fossil fuels through the use of solar and wind energy (it appeared in the “What’s New” section of POPULAR SCIENCE in June 1979); and the Autonomous Dwelling Vehicle was born in an apple orchard next to his house. Actually, says Bakewell, “Michael’s house is the mother ship of the Autonomous Dwelling Vehicle.”

Silo shell “Let’s look at the external features first,” says Bakewell, leading the way through the large muddy field in the center of a Bakewell office park. “The shell, for example.” The interlocking, aluminized-steel sections that form the rounded ends of the vehicle are normally used for silo tops. The center section would normally be used to join twin silos. “They’re very thin sheets, fabricated with a ridge in each panel, so they easily slide together, interlocking, for a totally watertight seal,” Bakewell says.

The silos are made by Intercontinental Domes, in Plainfield, 111. “The people from Intercontinental came out here, and they were quite surprised to see what had happened to their domes,” says Bakewell. “Since then, they’ve hired Jantzen to see what other things we could do with them.”

Gutters on both sides of the vehicle capture rainwater. A tube carries the water to a tank, a flexible vinyl bladder that sits on the ground under the frame. Freezing doesn’t bother the bladder; it expands or compresses without damage, and it can be emptied and stowed for travel. “In a 15-minute rain, we can capture as much as 55 gallons,” Jantzen says. Bake-well adds: “But we can’t depend on the rain for all our needs. So we have a water-recycling and purification capability on board. Even the rainwater is filtered before it’s used, to remove the dirt washed off the building as well as some of the pollutants in the air.”

Little clusters of black half-cylinders stand on the decks fore and aft of the domes. They’re light and strong, and eventually they will be hinged, to open and provide an outside storage capacity. “These containers are normally used for sump pumps,” Jantzen says, “you know, sump-pump liners.”

Two bubble skylights, set in the centers of the silo domes, admit light and (in summer) air to the vehicle. They serve, too, by means of shelves that support trays, as food dehydrators. “They also help to ventilate the vehicle by a thermo-chimmey effect,” Jantzen says, “pulling the lower air out by heating the bubble.”

Turbine ventilators—three in summer, two the rest of the year—also pull out hot air. The turbines are large for the space, to assure maximum ventilation. There are vents in the ends of the structure, making for “tremendous cross-ventilation,” says Bake-well, even with the doors closed for security. The third ventilator is replaced by a stovepipe in winter. “Also, that being the highest point on the structure in the winter,” Bakewell says, “it is fitted with a branch of the lightning-rod cable, so the chimney becomes a third lightning rod at this time of year.” The cable runs to a stout copper rod planted 10 feet in the ground.

Decks, made of aluminum grating, on the two sides of the structure tilt up for travel. “For the highway, we have to trim our width down to 14 feet, and in most states there’s a height limitation of 13 feet,” Bakewell says. “Before we travel, we unscrew the lightning rods and pull the turbines off and the two top sections of those other chimneys [for the toilet and incinerator]. It trims down to 12 feet, eight inches. In transporting the vehicle from Illinois, we had to go under the lowest bridge in Missouri—13 feet, two inches—and it made it.”

Solar features Next to the entry deck is a solar photovoltaic array, with a reflector below it. With the sun shining, it has a peak output of 80 watts, going to 120 at noon when the reflector comes into use. Four 12-volt marine batteries store the electricity. “It works because we have designed our electrical needs with the most energy-efficient appliances available,” Bakewell says. “We have a truly microload demand that is matched to this small solar panel.”

The sides of the vehicle are painted black and are covered with corrugated, translucent fiberglass. There is an air space between the metal and the fiberglass. Small, super-efficient blowers (designed to cool electronic equipment in the nose cones of jet aircraft) pull air through the space and into ducts inside that carry the heated air into storage compartments.

Above that is another corrugated-fiberglass area. That’s the solar water heater. Beneath the fiberglass are copper pipes through which is pumped a synthetic oil —a heat-exchange material. The copper coils wrap around the water tank below and give up their heat. Jantzen says: “On a sunny day, you can’t touch the water—it’s so hot.”

Now we’re coming into the entry-way—an area, covered by a transparent roof, that is designed to be a greenhouse for small hydroponic plantings, an occasional cooking area (there is a solar cooker), a sun porch when a hammock is stretched across it, and a mudroom. Floors and walls are cov- ered with a material called TileDek, designed for swimming-pool decks. On the floor, mud drops through to the subfloor. On the walls, the material serves as a handsome and useful perfboard. The material is also fireproof. Where had they come across it?

Says Jantzen, “It was in your ‘What’s New’ section not too long ago” [WN Home Improvement, Aug. '79], Then they read POPULAR Science?

“I subscribe,” Jantzen says.

“Best magazine going,” Bakewell adds.

Heat storage Inside, two large, shiny, insulated ducts traverse the ceiling, carrying heated air to huge storage chambers under the bed and the dining table. Bakewell raises the cover over the bed compartment to show the tubes— Thermol 81 heat-storage cylinders-piled up in there [PS, March], “On paper,” he says, “calculations show that the material should store enough heat to keep the building at 68 degrees F for 48 hours when it’s zero outside—or about five days at 30 degrees outside.”

The table and bed are lined with superinsulating isocyanurate boards, a material called Thermax. One board has an R-value of eight. A double thickness with air space gives the heat-storage chamber an R-value of 16. Little doors at the bases open to release heat.

Inside, the structure has been sprayed with two layers of material: a polyurethane foam, 3-1/2-four inches thick, primarily for insulation, followed by a flameproofing and sound-deadening layer of Durafiber, a test material with a half-hour fire rating in addition to some insulating value.

The weight problem, as with everything in a mobile vehicle, has been carefully considered. All the polyurethane foam weighs only 200 pounds. (The metal shell for the whole structure weighs only 556 pounds.) The fluorescent lights over Bakewell’s drawing board were developed for the space program. Their secret: a high-frequency ballast used with a standard fluorescent tube. They have low and high settings.

“At night, on high beam, using only 20 watts, they give at least the equivalent in light of a 100-watt bulb,” Bakewell says. “And the low beam, 12 watts, is the equivalent of a 60-watt bulb.”

Built-in counters line both ends of the structure, where the curving walls would make it impossible for a person to stand up. At the dining end, they are used for food service. At the bed end, they cover clothes-storage compartments.

“These are 14-foot domes set on 18-inch parapet walls,” Jantzen says. “With the curved outer portion used for storage, you can stand in any part of the Autonomous Vehicle.”

Furnishings for living areas Soft foam-plastic cubes serve for seating in the sitting area—not very comfortable, I thought. An Insulating Shade—the same kind featured in Popular Science in January 1979— covers the large patio doors. Jantzen and Bakewell have had trouble rolling the shade up, but now the manufacturer has a chain mechanism that helps, and they think the problem is solved. For the coldest months, there will also be a one-inch-thick panel to increase the barrier to the cold.

A wood stove, like a black soccer ball over an orange tube, creates a not-unattractive sculpture in the sitting area. Jantzen created the design for his own house.

The last artifact in the sitting area is an ingeniously designed coffee table, made, apparently, from a half panel of plywood. There is a moment of silence when the visitor comments that Jantzen should have submitted the table to the PS plywood-design contest.

“I did,” says Jantzen.

“We all thought Mike should have won that one,” Bakewell adds.

In the dining area, inventive design abounds. Leaves drop down or snap up to extend the table. Seats drop down to get out of the way. Most of Bakewell’s cooking is done on an alcohol stove; he believes in using renewable fuels as much as possible. The refrigerator was designed from scratch. In winter, ducts below bring in cold air, saving electricity. A butterfly valve controls the amount. In summer, a solid-state thermionic device supplies cooling.

The toilet area contains a shower and a Clivus Multrum Bio-Loo, a Swedish waterless toilet that composts human waste odorlessly. The shower resembles a nylon telephone booth. Square hoops support an ingenious curtain arrangement (see photo) sewn together by Jantzen’s wife, Ellen. Bakewell economizes on water by using a special nozzle head, developed for distributing chemicals from crop-dusting planes. It is capable of producing a very fine water-conserving mist that is, he says, nonetheless very effective in washing. Or, if he feels like splurging, he can open it up all the way. Bakewell showers with, basically, recycled water from a gray-water (used wash water) tank, to which he adds, as needed, fresh water taken from the vinyl rainwater bladder.

“We pump gray water into a pressure tank,” he says. “Then it’s forced through a five-micron filter, then a 0.25-micron filter, then an iodinator. Then it goes into a storage tank. Before it’s delivered to a faucet or shower, it goes through a carbon polisher-activated charcoal. We take out the bacteria with the filters, and then we kill the viruses with the iodine.”

The gray-water tank, under the kitchen floor, is just above the rainwater tank, which rests on the ground. A pump takes water from the rainwater tank through filters to the gray-water tank.

Next to the toilet area is the opening to the incinerator. Here waste wood and paper are stored. The hot-water tank is built around the incinerator. When sun heat fails, Bakewell burns his waste material and heats his water that way.

What did all this cost? Bakewell es- timates $16,500. The cost doesn’t include their own time, but it does include all their mistakes. “One thing is important to note,” Bakewell says. “This has been a completely private endeavor—no grants, no subsidies— and as such we’ve been motivated to be a lot more clever with some of our materials and cost savings than if we’d had a huge subsidy to put the whole thing together. We have integrated in one system the state of the art in all the little systems that usually come as individual components.

But here they have been brought together in a workable system that can function in a remote area.”

A Japanese architect who visited the Autonomous Dwelling Vehicle saw it as a good mass-production possibility. With floating collars around the units, he thought, they could be grouped to form residential marina colonies in countries with poorly developed utility infrastructures.

But that’s in the future. Right now it’s probably the most energy-efficient house in the country.

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Revolutionary Self-driven TRAILER HOME

by Frederick C. Russell

Automotive prophets forecast a new type of home – on – wheels for the modern outdoor enthusiast.

WHAT is the house trailer doing to the automobile? How is the automobile to look after it has been revamped by this new and increasingly popular vehicle of personal transportation? Will the motor car combine with the trailer to create a “touring and living car”—a car that we might call the “Trailmobile” or some other appropriate name?

These are questions that are spurring the automotive prophets on to new heights. Many highly visionary ideas are being advanced; but even the most casual observer cannot help but note that the automobile is well on its way toward being made over to fit the new trend in personal travel. Many engineers believe it is not improbable that within a few years the car and its trailer will become a single unit, the new craft embodying all the comforts and advantages of each vehicle without some of the present disadvantages.

In this process of the tail wagging the dog we cannot help but be impressed by the astounding lack of comforts and conveniences in the automobile itself. You can’t even get a drink of water from a car, even though there may be five gallons of it circulating around the engine. This water is so restricted in its process of cooling the engine that there isn’t any convenient point where you can use it to boil an egg. The reverse of all this is the marvelously compact and convenient house trailer which helps to focus attention on the lack of even the bare necessities of long distance travel in the car itself.

On the horizon there are some broad hints of the new vehicle which should emerge from the present situation. One is the increasing interest in larger generators for the automobile. It has been possible for some time to have installed a 110-volt generator which can be brought into action by engagement with the fan belt. While the engine is running, and at a cost of the small amount of fuel consumed in idling, it is possible to generate enough current to light a tent. This current is also sufficient to operate several electrical devices of the home type, thus paving the way to greater convenience for the tourist.

With all of its sedan models one of the popular makes of cars is offered with special cushions which become the mattress for a full-length bed in the tonneau. When swung up the rear seat provides a clothing shelf similar to that found in Pullman cars. Pas-

sengers can lock themselves in their car when sleeping, or if they prefer extra ventilation for summer camping, they can lift up the cover of the luggage compartment in addition to opening the windows.

Cooking by automobile has frequently been done via the pressure system, a special cooker being attached to the exhaust pipe. While passengers tour their dinner is being prepared for them. Such an accessory has at least served to prove what can be done with the great surplus of heat that is wasted along the exhaust line. The hot air “stove” for the carburetor and intake manifold has served for many years to improve the carburetor mixture, but why not include a stove on which a tourist can cook a simple meal?

Much is expected from the more complete electrification of the automobile. It is not uncommon now for commercial trailers to be equipped with a fifth wheel, pneumatically

tired, which is attached to the under side of the chassis. Its purpose is to supply the extra current needed to operate amplifiers and phonographs. It is but a short step from this to a fifth wheel which can be dropped to the road from the touring car when extra current is needed. This current will be stored for further use when the car is parked for the night. One such auxiliary generator has an output of 20 amperes at 20 miles per hour.

The biggest obstacle in the path of further development of the automobile is the reluctance of designers to meet the increasing demand for a more useful motor car, one that can offer the advantages of the trailer and the automobile in one complete unit. Nothing is considered impossible in the design of trailers, whether it be air conditioning, refrigeration, heating or advanced sanitation. In the designing of cars engineers thought they had made amazing advances when they

added a small fan to the generator to keep it cool while turning out a little more current to keep the battery up to par when lights, radio, heater and other electrical devices were being operated simultaneously. This was considered an achievement, little consideration being given to the fact that for years engineers have effectively cooled a much more difficult unit—the engine itself.

Fans, defrosters, heaters and other incidental equipment of the modern car are considered as marked advances in comfort, but by comparison with the improvements in the mechanical design of cars, developed as an essential to performance and efficiency, they are almost in the toy class. As the motoring public becomes accustomed to the real comforts of the house trailer they will be aware of the present lack of even the barest necessities in equipment in the car itself. The logical step will be for the motorist to demand such comforts in his car.

Such improvements can De had. It is just a matter of the motor tourist stopping to ask himself, “Why not combine the trailer with the automobile?” That might provide a means of escaping many restrictions which are being placed on trailer use by the various states. It should cut operating costs as well as the initial cost. Three hundred dollars added to the price of the average car, in return for the conveniences needed to make it more liveable, would be cheaper than attaching a trailer, and much more convenient.

There have been some experiments along these lines. Most of these, however, have been for publicity purposes. Nevertheless they suggest what can be done to make the automobile itself the public’s real outdoor home. As it is at present, many motorists must stop off every 200 miles or so for gasoline. They have no extra supply of oil, no means of obtaining even a little extra water for the cooling system if something goes wrong. Dirigibles extract water from the exhausts of their engines. A transatlantic liner makes its complete crossing—in fact, has to—without refueling. If the automobile tourist cannot find a corner filling station he is lost. Not until the modern car is more self-contained will it be useful for the more extensive touring on the byways which the trailer era invites. Nor will the trailer itself be completely satisfying as a means of “getting away

from it all” until the automobile is designed to stray further from the beaten track without causing its owner constant worry. When these changes are made, naturally engineering ingenuity will go the limit. The real American touring car will be the result.

This all-in-one vehicle will carry permanent jacks so that to raise the car for a tire change or brake adjustment it will be necessary merely to touch a button on the instrument panel. Permanent jacks, mechanically operated, have from time to time appeared on the accessory counter. They failed to make headway because the motorist felt he did not need them. “I’ll just call up the service station,” he assured himself. But now that he strays far away in the trailer he knows how important the jack has become. He will want jacks “all around” on his touring car of the future, and—he’ll get them.

Not until the trailer came into the picture

did the motorist realize to what extent he could “live” on the road. Naturally he did not notice until this time just how much he had lacked in his automobile. There was a hint of housekeeping on wheels when the closed car first made its bow, if you recall the cut glass flower vase which was considered essential to the well-appointed sedan. Today things have reached a point where anyone who goes touring in the high, wide and handsome manner of the hour expects to be able to have all the conveniences from cracked ice for a Tom Collins to hot water for a shower.

Heating is unnecessarily deficient in the average automobile. It is dependent largely on a cooling system which normally operates at too low a temperature. This, in turn, is due to use of oversize cooling systems to compensate for the average owner’s negligence to have things kept in good working order.

Exhaust heat is completely wasted. Once it was the custom to harness it for heating purposes, but the fear of leakage of carbon monoxide has retarded progress with this type of heater. Leakage can be, and is, prevented through the use of better materials and more effective fittings. As a matter of fact, the exhaust can be used for indirect heating, using air or fluid as the medium. This is the principle of the steam heater which is growing in popularity.

Refrigeration in the automobile can be either gas or electric in operation. There is much experimentation still to be done by way of cooling with exhaust gases, and engineers have by no means given up the idea of reviving tanked gas which on earlier cars furnished fuel for lighting purposes. The electric refrigerator of one of the latest trailers is battery operated, there being a special battery charger for use when the trailer is paying a visit to a camp offering current service.

One of the straws in the wind is the current announcement of a new replacement generator for use on all passenger cars. It is capable of delivering 28 amperes when required by the battery or by the connected load. The next step will be the offering of much larger batteries so that there will be a reserve of current for a variety of purposes. In the picture of the future touring car the dash will become a “convenience board.” Not just clocks, gauges and the mildly useful glove compartment, but a thoroughly efficient “counter” on which, when folded forward for action, the driver and his companion can treat themselves at least to a simple roadside snack. Lacking actual mechanical refrigeration, the food will at least be kept cool and fresh with the aid of dry ice. There will be an electric coil to heat water, or to warm up a can of soup.

If the engine is switched to the rear of the car there will be all kinds of room ahead of the driver for storage space in which to locate these various conveniences. The car itself will also be very much redesigned so as to make it more homelike and to permit the use of things that go to make the modern trailer what it is today. We have a broad hint of this in the chair-type seat which has replaced the conventional automobile cushion on some cars. There is no reason why the steering wheel should protrude into the driving compartment when the driver is using the car as living quarters. Something on the order of the folding wheel which once graced earlier models of high grade cars would be just the thing. For that matter the wheel could be designed so that it could be removed temporarily, the post being folded up and out of the way.

Now that it is no longer considered strange to have “buggy whips” protruding above the car in order to improve radio reception, we may shortly expect to see windchargers on cars, another way of providing additional electricity. Many city

buses pipe the exhaust gases to the rear top instead of having the fumes emit low to the ground. This is the beginning of the chimney idea in the touring car of the future.

Unquestionably the great annoyance which a puncture can cause with a trailer is going to encourage the development of stronger tires. Puncture-proof inner tubes will come into increased use. Whatever the motorist finds desirable in a trailer he will shortly want in his own car. Just one of these things is element-proof construction and finish. Trailers are essentially outdoor vehicles. They seldom enjoy the protection of a garage.

The public welcomes compactness. It is one of the appealing features of the trailer itself. But since a trailer is of little use without something to pull it, the public is beginning to wonder why it is necessary to have two vehicles to do what one more compact craft could provide. From this reasonable “why” may come one of the most tempting products ever fashioned by the automotive industry.

In the meantime imagination is starting to run rampant in automotive circles. It is certain to revamp the automobile until the shopper will find the car
itself, not merely the thing which provides propulsion for the trailer that follows, but a very complete means of highway living itself.

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MODERN MECHANIX Believes That—the only answer to growing anti-trailer legislation is a better, more sensible home – on – wheels. Some pioneers have already experimented with the “Trailmobile” idea pictured on the front cover; we think that the construction of such a real “touring car” could readily be undertaken by any home craftsman. A single unit trailer— home of this kind appears to be much more practical than the unwieldy combination of an ordinary automobile and a big van hanging on behind. Eliminated will be such pressing problems as double brakes, extra axles and tires, unreliable hitches, poor acceleration, zero rear visibility, difficult steering and parking.

Would you, as a present or prospective “trailer” user like to see plans for building an actual “Trail-mobile?” Will you help us design the trailer-home of tomorrow by sending in ideas that you think should be incorporated in it? Set busy with pencil and paper, and let’s make a vehicle that will be welcomed in any community instead of being chased away!

Operating Room Goes to Battle in Tank-Towed Armored Trailer

TOWED into battle by a war tank, an armored operating room for front-line casualties has been designed by C. J. Birtcher, a Los Angeles, Calif., manufacturer of surgical instruments. Emplacements cut in a hillside by bulldozers would hide such trailers from enemy view. Each one measures 35 feet long, is gasproof, contains complete surgical equipment, and has steel walls capable of withstanding machine-gun bullets and shell fragments. Within, a two-man surgical team could handle as many as 30 cases an hour, safe against anything but a direct hit by bomb or shell. Similarly armored vehicles, of 16-man capacity, would bring in the casualties. As each arrives, he is placed on an “incoming” bed, anesthetized, and transferred to a hydraulic operating table. Following surgery, he is transferred to an “outgoing” bed to await transportation to a hospital in the rear by armored ambulances.

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IT’S NEW!

EXPERIMENTAL French monorail, electric, cruises at 60 mph, can carry 123 passengers.

FIRST CAR to be made in India is fourseater sedan with fiber glass body. Mill is two-cylinder job, gets 55 mph, 50 mpg.

ANTI-SLIP gadget for shoes was invented by English clerk. Hinged steel teeth are {lipped up when walking on icy pavements.

FIRST successful gas machine for anesthetizing large animals is demonstrated on nag by Dr. E. Wynn Jones. U. of Okla.

ROTOCRAFT and ducted fan test bed is flatbed trailer towed by a truck tractor at 60 mph at Cornell Aeronautical Labs.

WATER SKIS. German-made, are propelled by aquatic version of ski poles with end discs.

TIRE-INFLATING machine, a French device, above, makes certain front tires receive equal pressure—for improved steering. Two tires are connected. below, and columns of mercury show when equal pressure is obtained. Can also be used for rear set.

HERALD convertible is new Triumph model, has plastic top, corner and rear windows.

SKATE-CYCLE, built in Krakow, Poland, has ice skate in place of front wheel, a rear wheel that is studded with spikes for firm traction.

MODEL of Vickers Swallow is shown by British designer Dr. Barnes Wallis. Its wingtip engines will give up to 1700-mph speed at 50,000 feet.

Hotel-On-Wheels Provides Solid Comfort Along the Road

THE luxurious expanding caravan car attached to the sedan is one of the many innovations now being seen at the automobile shows throughout the country. The “companion” car is equipped with a number of downy berths, running water, electric lights and practically every other feature or service to be found in an up-to-date hotel.

Some idea of the size of this traveling home can be gathered by comparing it with the man. In width it does not exceed the car while on the road but when in use it opens like an accordion to provide ample room for four people. A few simple twists and turns, and sleeping accommodations for the four are ready. A few more and it is transformed into a charming sitting room provided with a radio, couch and folding table that disappears into the wall when not in use.

According to the designer, this idea will soon be growing in favor. He points to the increased use of automobiles and higher rentals in the city areas as the reasons. The American people, he indicated, have become car and travel conscious. They are, however, not going to pay the excessive costs of hotel accommodations when they can take their home and its conveniences with them. To be able to have everything together, where you want it and when you want it is what is desired. The house-trailer is being commercially manufactured.

INSPECTOR TOURS WATER PIPE IN TINY ELECTRIC CAR

KNOWN as a “pipe perambulator,” a curious vehicle devised by a Los Angeles, Calif., draftsman turns the city’s new thirty-six-inch water-supply pipes into miniature subways for inspection men before the aqueducts are placed in service. Storage batteries and an electric motor propel the three-wheeled vehicle along the interior of a metal conduit while the operator looks for defects. A circular steel brush at the front of the machine, charged with electricity, throws off sparks wherever the inner wall of the pipe lacks a proper protective coating of enamel. The spot may be marked for later attention, or a painter towed on a diminutive trailer may remedy the trouble at once.

When the pipe opening shrinks to twenty-inch diameter, at valves spaced along the water system, the “perambulator” may be partially collapsed and pushed through the aperture ahead of the operator. A powerful searchlight illuminates the interior of the pipe for a considerable distance ahead, and a steering wheel enables the operator to guide the vehicle along the bottom of the pipe. In case one of the three pneumatic tires is punctured, the steering wheel can be used as a spare.

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TAKE YOUR CAR WITH YOU ON THE TRAIN

Car-carrying coaches that enable the traveler to make a doorway-to-doorway visit across country may be the answer to the woes of the railroads.

By Frank Tinsley

FOR some years now the famous old “high-ball” sign of America’s railroads has degenerated into an “eight-ball” as far as passenger traffic is concerned. Not that travel has fallen off. Actually, John Q. Public’s well-known itching foot is itchier than ever. It is just that rail service has been dragging its brakeshoes and the traveler has turned to more convenient means of transportation.

The reasons for this lamentable state of affairs are not hard to find. The rise of cross-country bus lines, cut-rate air-coach service, superhighways and private automobile travel has hacked a substantial slice out of the railroad’s passenger pie.

Alarmed by the steady drip of red ink, rail management has been trying to plug the leaking dike. So, apparently, have rail stockholders. During the past few months, operating control of several old, conservative lines has passed to more progressive hands and a general atmosphere of modernization seems under way. Advertising campaigns now depict the delights of train travel. Family plans and special rates have eased the bite on John Q’s pocketbook and a whole new series of streamliners, luxury coaches, bars, grills and vistadomes combine to ease his seat, stomach and sight-seeing.

Perhaps the most radical break from the railroad’s stage-coach past is the new Talgo Train, a caterpillar-like, lightweight speedster patterned on airplane construction principles. Originated by a Spanish engineer named Goicoechea, the design was taken up by a Spanish firm, Patentes Talgo, and a well engineered prototype developed and built by our own American Car & Foundry Corporation.

In addition to its lightweight, short, articulated car sections and “guided axles” which steer the wheels around curves, Talgo’s chief characteristic is its “piggy-back” system of suspension. Each unit has but one pair of wheels, situated at its rear end. The forward end of the coach rests and pivots on the wheels of the «nit ahead, somewhat like a trailer truck, and is drawn along with a minimum of effort. Vibration is absorbed by long travel, spiral springs and the wheels are equipped with king-size, automobile-type brakes. With an underslung frame and a car floor that almost seems to skim the roadbed, the Talgo’s center of gravity is a good two feet lower than that of the standard railway coach. This, plus the steerable wheels, permits it to round curves at speeds that would derail the conventional train.

This record, along with recent demonstration runs, has created a decided stir in U.S. railroad circles. A committee was sent to Spain for a first hand report and the presidents of several large eastern systems met to consider the Talgo’s possibilities. When enough rail lines agree on a standardized model and come up with firm orders, a mass production assembly line can be set up and costs cut far below present estimates. Patrick B. McGinnis, the energetic, imaginative new president of the New Haven Railroad, says that if this is done, he will be interested in purchasing at least 20 and perhaps 30 Talgo Trains. Robert Young, who espoused the ultra model Train X when he was president of the Chesapeake & Ohio, and who now bosses the great New York Central system, is expected to follow suit. The head men of the Pennsy, B&O and other fines, are equally interested.

All this sounds fine for both the railroads and the traveling public. But there is still a big, fat fly in the roads’ passenger-revenue ointment. This is the growing group of ex-rail users who now make even the longest and most arduous trips in their own automobiles. Some think it more convenient just to toss their luggage into the family car, slip on some informal duds and drive directly from doorstep to doorstep. And so it is—if the distance is not too great. Another large segment is made up of the false economists. These penny-wise characters figure the gas and oil bills against seemingly higher rail fares and decide to save by driving. What they fail to reckon with, of course, is the expense of motel stops and the extra meals made necessary by the longer road trip.

These are the people railroad passenger agents are re-surveying with acquisitive eyes. Mr. McGinnis, a firm believer in the volume theory of personal rail transport, puts it this way: “The New Haven now carries around twenty million passengers a year—just about all the business traffic in the area. The market we are seeking to develop is that of the pleasure traveler who is now going by car. We have to get ‘em back if we are ever going to get our passenger department out of the red!”

There is one point which Mr. McGinnis has missed. That is the problem of people who want to travel by rail but who would like to take their cars along with them. Steamship lines catering to tourists have long offered this service. Car ferries transport vacationists and their automobiles between Florida and Cuba, U. S. and Canadian ports and many other points, here and abroad. In England, there is even a cross-channel air car-lift that flies the family and its bus to and from Paris! When airlines, weight-sensitive as they are, can carry autos, what in tarnation is holding back the railroads?

MI believes that the old iron horse has missed a bet in ignoring this type of service—that the passenger should be able to drive to a depot, check his car through to his destination and drive it away at the other end of the run. The “carfare” would have to be fairly high, of course, but compared to the road costs of a two or three day trip, not to speak of the personal fatigue involved, the difference should not prove too excessive. With this in mind, the author has prepared two concepts of possible “car coach” superstructures, adapted to the new, high speed Talgo running gear.

Fundamentally, they are the same design. One, shown in the diagrammatic drawings, is a stripped down utility model. The other, pictured in the lead illustration, has been prettied up to conform to the flowing lines, window and panel patterns of the Talgo Train. Two, four and even six-car coaches are possible. However, the Talgo philosophy of short, highly articulated, lightweight components, make a 25-foot, two-car unit the most practical from the point of view of weight saving and operational flexibility.

As shown in the diagram on pages 58-59, the entraining car is driven onto a parking belt by an attendant. The belt shuttles the car sideways to a vacant parking space where it stays until the train is ready to load. Then the auto is driven onto another shuttle belt and moved sideways to the correct train-loading gate. The car is then driven through the gate and onto the uniquely designed car coach.

The salient points in the design are the rotating superstructure and the drawbridge type upper deck. The former permits the car-carrying element to pivot outward in either direction, making it possible to load or unload automobiles from way station platforms on either side of the track.

The drawbridge set-up makes double-deck loading equally practical. When the lower .level has been cleared, a switch at the operator’s post starts a reversible electric winch which unwinds to lower one end of the hinged upper deck. Then a second switch eases the car down the incline and out onto the station platform. Another set of switches reverses the process to load. When it reaches the horizontal, spring bolts lock the upper deck automatically.

As a safety measure, these must be manually withdrawn before the deck can be lowered. Another manually operated bolt locks the superstructure in line with the chassis when loading is completed. The cars are fastened securely in their wheelways by chocks and tiedown cables before the train starts. Except for manual unlocking, all operations are by push-button control, easily handled by unskilled attendants.

The car-carrying coach could be a potent factor in the railroads’ struggle to revive its once great passenger traffic. Instead of waging a losing battle with the automobile, it adds a new utility to the family jalopy by putting it on rails. It extends our firmly ingrained habit of chucking a whole mess of stuff into the back of the car and hopping off for a three or four hour drive to Aunt Elsie’s. By making a simple phone reservation and tooling in to a main line station, you will be able to stretch your doorway-to-doorway trip clear across the country! When are the railroads going to wake up and give us this long overdue convenience? When are we going to be able to take our cars with us on the train?

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I Risk My Neck For A Thrill

by Al (Flash) Williams

Twelve years as a thrill driver hasn’t dimmed the daredevil spirit of Flash Williams, (left) America’s ace stunt man who tells what it’s like to crash a speeding car or plane.

HOW would you like to drive an automobile through a burning house? Or sit at the wheel while your car, traveling at 75 miles an hour hits another auto going at the same speed, in a head-on collision? Or maybe, if this sounds too tame and unexciting, you would prefer to drive at terrific speed over a raised platform and then hurtle through the air for a distance of 65 feet.

These are everyday experiences for me. For about 12 years I’ve been risking my neck trying almost every dangerous stunt imaginable with automobiles, airplanes and motorcycles. Just for a lark I started flirting with death at a state fair in Texas in 1926. I’ve been at it ever since and claim to have invented practically every one of the ultramodern automobile and motorcycle crash stunts.

When not doubling for a famous movie star, crashing a plane for the films, or performing some other spectacular feat for the silver-screen, I’m likely to be found touring the country with my troupe of 8 “Thrill Drivers.” Most of my stunts are performed from cars traveling at 40 to 75 miles an hour over raised platforms known as ramps. The ramps we originally used were 12 feet long and two feet high. Now they’re 24 feet long and 3-1/2 feet high-—or approximately twice as big and high as they used to be. Which means, of course that my gang of daredevils travel about twice as fast and as far as in the old days and that our work is doubly dangerous. Many a time I have made my stunt car jump, with the aid of the new type of ramp, as far as 85 feet without turning over. I claim this is the world’s record.

My newest and most spectacular stunt is the “race with death.” First two cars, going 70 miles an hour, drive down the track parallel with one car about six feet in front of the other and slightly to one side. Now, while the one car travels up over the ramp at top speed, the other car cuts to the left in front of the ramp. Thus the first car performs a spectacular leap frog. The slightest miscalculation—even a fraction of a second—means a serious crash. But fortunately there has not been the slightest of accidents while performing this feat.

Probably the most dangerous show we ever used was the “eight man jump,” which we performed regularly several years ago. Eight members of my crew would stretch out in front of the ramp and then I would drive over the platform, my car clearing the entire crew.

But on one well remembered occasion my car performed a sudden swerve and struck one of my boys, breaking his ribs. Since then the stunt has been abandoned.

Today I’m especially fond of doing a new stunt called the “moon dip.” In this I drive my car at 60 miles an hour over two ramps. This doesn’t sound especially dangerous until you bear in mind that I run the car as far over as possible on two wheels without actually turning it over. Incredible as it may sound, I’m moving at a 45 degree angle!

I achieve this stunt by practice, but never outside of actual performing hours. I have one peculiar habit—I never rehearse a stunt. Instead I figure it out ahead of time with the most precise accuracy, then “shoot the works” with my fingers crossed, at my regular show.

One of my best known feats of yesterday was the “suicide leap.” In this, speeding at 75 miles an hour, I made my car leap 75 to 80 feet, with the assistance of a large ramp. I quit doing this stunt not so long ago for the very good reason that it literally tears an automobile to pieces. And that’s too tough on the pocketbook. Incidentally, all of my crash cars are stock machines with no special equipment of any kind.

My greatest thrill? Never will I forget the “Return from Hell,” stunt I used to perform more or less regularly several years ago while barnstorming at state fairs. But I gave it up. Why? Well, one time down in Big Springs, Texas, in the southwestern oil fields, we built a small “house” for stunting purposes. An automobile was placed in this and I was handcuffed to the wheel by the local sheriff. Thus if I was unable to drive the car out, I was just out of luck. Well, they boarded up the structure, poured 25 gallons of gasoline over it and set it afire. This, mind you, was back in the days when car’s bodies were wooden and therefore highly inflammable. I stepped on the starter. The house lit up in an enormous flame. I drove halfway out and then, suddenly the motor died. Evidently the flames had choked up the carburetor, keeping out the much needed oxygen supply. There I was, trapped. Luckily the sheriff saw my predicament and with the aid of the local fire department, came to the rescue. He unlocked the handcuffs and I was able to get out only slightly burned. Do you blame me for never trying that stunt again?

Another close call I had was in Fort Wayne, Indiana, back in 1936. I was in an open roadster and doing a stunt called the “flaming wall crash.” I had a new assistant on the show. He insisted he was an expert on throwing gasoline from a bucket onto flames in order to give the stunt a more spectacular appearance during the crash.

Well, I agreed to his suggestion, but instead of throwing the gasoline on the fire while I was speeding through the wall he threw most of it on me and on my car. And was I burned up? It scorched my ears, arms and legs and singed all the hair off my head. Fortunately these weren’t second degree burns. But they were exceedingly painful and unsightly. An ambulance was rushed to the scene and I was scooted off to the nearest hospital. But I came back and finished the show.

Another thriller in the Hoosier state took place at a state fair about a year ago. This was during a carefully planned stunt—a head-on collision between my car and the one my brother Melvin was driving. The big idea was for both of us to jump out of the cars at the precise fraction of a second that they crashed. The crash occurred exactly as per schedule but I didn’t leave the car quite quick enough, whereas my brother jumped out at exactly the right moment and was unhurt. My machine turned over partially on top of me and scraped my head at the left temple. A fraction of an inch closer and it would have crushed my head like an eggshell.

Some of my accidents in Indiana have been too close for comfort. On August 7, 1937, only a near-miracle saved me from almost certain death, during a stunt never before attempted. I drove a car off a raised platform on the bank of the St. Joseph River at a terrific speed and hurtled through the air for 65 feet into the water. Striking the water at this high speed is almost as risky as crashing headlong into hard ground. The crash washed me clear out of my seat at the wheel into the rear of the car. A couple of seconds more and I was washed out the back window. I was badly stunned and scratched up but the cold water revived me and I suffered no permanent injury.

Ironically enough, one of my greatest thrills took place not long ago when I wasn’t even attempting a stunt. This was at San Angelo, Texas. I was driving back to my trailer camp after making a personal appearance at a fair. I was scooting along at about 45 miles an hour when the structure gave way and I shot over the side and dove into 25 feet of water. The car turned over completely. Incidentally, my wife was with me. Luckily neither one of us was more than slightly scratched.

Speaking of my wife—a pretty blonde—she does stunts, too. Or rather, she used to. For a couple of years one of my regular performances was to place her underneath a narrow board and then ride a motorcycle over her back. But the board gave way one day and she suffered a long sojourn in a hospital. She hasn’t stunted since.

Movies in which I’ve appeared include: “Mutiny on the Bounty,” “Hell’s Angels,” and “Perils of the Highway,” the latter a film produced by the National Safety Council of Chicago.

In “Mutiny on the Bounty” I took the part of the sailor who jumped off the spar during the hurricane and was sucked under and killed. In “Hell’s Angels,” sad to relate, the part I played in this picture was never actually shown to the general public. I died in the cutting room. Nevertheless it was a thriller if there ever was one. I cracked up the ship, after telling the cameramen exactly how to angle their cameras. But they missed the shot! Reason was, I had to come down about 200 yards away from the spot I was supposed to and they couldn’t quite catch the scene. I was supposed to be in a German plane, shot down in a dog fight at close quarters.

In “Perils of the Highway” I crashed about 20 automobiles. Ren ‘em down hillsides, mountains, valleys and rough fields. This was a safety picture filmed for the National Safety Council of Chicago.

Why do the movies use so many stunt men and doubles? Well, take a striking example. It was the time Dick Grace, one of the best known stunters of all time, broke Hoot Gibson’s back. It happened during the filming of a Western picture. In a kitchen fight Hoot (who at that time insisted on doing all his stunt work himself), was pushed over a table by Grace, who portrayed the role of the villain. In the terrific struggle one of Hoot’s vertebrae was broken. This was back in 1929. Since then the movie magnates have placed a clause in the contracts of virtually all stars and featured players that prohibit them from performing any stunt that may prove dangerous. For it is obvious enough that if the star is injured, the entire production is tied up and thousands of dollars keep pouring out for salaries, property rentals and so on, with very little being accomplished in the way of progress for the picture.

Are movie stunts real or faked? Most of them these days are not faked, contrary to popular belief. This is because the camera eye is many times more penetrating and revealing than the human eye. So in order to achive the realistic effects which the movie-going public has come to demand, stunt men must be utilized. They must be highly trained in both mind and body for every conceivable type of life-risking feat. Last year at a state fair in Minnesota, I took a number of tests showing my reaction time to various stimuli while driving a car. I had the quickest time of anybody who took the tests. Which is just as well. For a fraction of a second means everything in the life of the stunt man.

Tattletale computer tells driving faults

The computer has been adapted to do an important job of youth education—driver training. The new system was engineered by Raytheon for use in the Aetna Drivotrainer [PS, May '53]. It has three elements—simulated cars, a movie screen, and a console for an instructor, all fitted neatly into a classroom in a specially outfitted trailer. Monitoring individual student performance, the computer flashes word to the instructor when an error is made in driving down a road on the screen.

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All-Weather Motorcycles Are Being Modernized

Above is shown a “weekend” motorcycle with side car and one track trailer, which was one of the most original vehicles exhibited at the Berlin international automobile show. The trailer is capable of accommodating a tent and poles, collapsible boat and camp equipment.

Rough riding is made easy by the O.E.C. Blackburne three-wheeler motorcycle which is shown above going through its paces. The motorcycle was especially designed to negotiate the roughest country and was submitted to tests before representatives of the War Office at Gosport, Hants, England. The performance over shingle and broken ground was amazing and impressed the army officers. The cycle is constructed to withstand the roughest usage and to maintain a good speed over ground that would put many machines out of commission. It is believed to be specially adapted to military work over shell-torn highways and open fields.

At left is shown a motorcycle with an automobile chassis. This motorcycle proved to be one of the feature exhibits at the motorcycle show held in Olympia, England. It has a four-cylinder water-cooled engine which is completely enclosed, as is the instrument board. This unique motorcycle is capable of a speed of 100 m.p.h.

Here is a side view of the Opel rocket motorcycle which has been built on the same principle as his rocket cars. This exhibit of the Opel Works attracted a great deal of attention at the Berlin Motor Show. It has been successfully tried out by Herr Fritz von Opel who a short time ago startled the world with the first successful flight in a rocket propelled airplane. His experiments with rocket automobiles, motorcycles, and airplanes have been attracting world wide attention.

The new Ascot-Pullin all-weather motorcycle and side-car is shown above as it appeared in the London motorcycle show. The enclosed side-car and well fendered wheel is one of the features of this vehicle shown with a variety of machines intended for service in all kinds of weather. Folding side-cars were among the outstanding features.

Here is a close-up of the complete dashboard fitted to the Ascot-Pullin motorcycle and shown at the London exhibition. There is a three-section windshield, rear vision mirror and usual meters.

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Deadly WEAPONS of the NEXT WAR

By JAMES NEVIN MILLER

Anti-aircraft guns capable of firing 25 3-inch shells a minute, bringing down bombers miles in the heavens; range-finding mechanisms which determine an airplane’s position so accurately that they in effect make anti-aircraft guns self-aiming; amazing armored tanks which travel 70 miles an hour—these are only a few of the astonishing new war machines developed by army experts ready for deadly service in the next war.

Perhaps most marvelous of all these deadly machines is the anti-aircraft director, which is described by Capt. G. M. Wells, chief of the anti-aircraft section of the army artillery, as “a super-computing machine which automatically observes the target and computes its future position in space. Wind, temperature, and other factors which influence the flight of the plane are automatically corrected within the instrument itself.”

Detection of airplanes from the ground at night is simplified by special apparatus. Giant searchlights capable of spotting planes 8 miles away have been devised. Two large horns, mounted parallel to each other, collect sound waves from an enemy plane which enable an operator to determine approximate position. With the aid of another instrument called the acoustic corrector, the time required for the sound to travel from the plane to the horns is computed and the true position of the plane is found. These marvelously efficient anti-aircraft instruments, as well as the guns themselves, are mounted on rubber-tired trailers and can be transported swiftly as the need may arise.

Remarkable as are these anti-aircraft weapons, they are no more startling than the amazing new combat tanks recently tested by our government. This machine is known as the Christie light tank. It is a three-man affair which can travel at 70 miles an hour over smooth roads and “43 miles an hour over rough, plowed fields. It can operate with or without the familiar caterpillar treads, which can be removed in 14 minutes tor cross-country travel.

Another type of light tank, more extensively developed since the war than the new Christie model, is adapted to carry a 75 mm. gun with armored shield, cargo body for ammunition, spare parts and anti-aircraft gun mounts. Another type of vehicle now under development will be used to carry forward machine gun squads after the larger machines have overcome enemy resistance.

Naval armament has kept pace with land weapons, both as regards offense and defense. The U. S. Navy now has three huge airplane carriers which house a swarm of warplanes ranging in size from large bombers to tiny scouts. These planes take off from the deck of the mother ship, complete their missions, and return. Some of them have pontoons and can land in the sea; most of them are land planes which use the ship’s deck as base of operations.

Defensively the art of laying a smoke screen has been developed to a fine point. A smoke screen is a battleship’s most effective defense against air attack, excluding, of course, the activities of her own defending planes. Swift destroyers, running ahead of the battleships, belch forth obscuring clouds of smoke which effectively hide the big ships from enemy airmen.

One of the most recent developments in naval armament is the tiny folding-wing airplane to be carried in the hull of a submarine. England is the pioneer in this field, and she has closely guarded her secret. At the recent London air show a number of these small planes, along with a bomber credited with a speed of 200 miles an hour, were ordered withdrawn from exhibition by the government as being far too secret for public display. It is known, however, that the submarine plane is a Parnall Peto, a seaplane which folds its wings and slips inside a special compartment of the sub. It carries a pilot, an observer, and there is room for a wireless set, chart case, and a two-seat type chute. The plane has a range of two hours.

Although not strictly a new weapon of warfare, the Army has been experimenting with parachutes capable of dropping machine guns from airplanes, the purpose being to set up machine gun nests behind enemy lines in the dead of night. For daylight use the system has not yet proved itself practical owing to the comparative ease with which enemy snipers can pick off the slow moving targets.

In the field of big guns, the 14-inch “Big Berthas” of American make which demonstrated their superiority in the world war still represent the latest word in armament. A photo of one of these guns, mounted on a railway car, appears on page 51. These guns fire a projectile weighing 1400 pounds a distance of 25 miles with astonishing accuracy. During the war they were used in batteries of five, and when they went into action the enemy sought shelter holes in a hurry. These guns are also used in battleships.

Glenn Curtiss Designs Fast Aero Car for Air-Rail Services

GLENN CURTISS, pioneer pilot and seaplane builder, is the designer of the new aero car which he introduced in Florida. A fleet of these aero cars has been placed in service by the Transcontinental Air Transport at their various fields and terminals for the air-rail service between New York and Los Angeles. The cars are especially adapted to the coupe by a swivel arrangement over the rear axle of the coupe giving the passengers a three-point suspension body to ride in. There are no front wheels on the trailer which is luxuriously fitted. The transfer unit is adapted for speedy transfer of passengers from landing fields to railway depots and vice versa. These aero cars form an integral part of the T.A.T, fast air-rail service from coast to coast taking the passengers by rail at night and by airplane in the daytime.

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SCIENCE ON SAFARI

Helicopter, diving eye, and wire recorders will ferret out secrets of African jungles Jules Verne was years ahead of his time in foreseeing the value of science to the world of exploration, but the plans for Commander Attilio Gatti’s eleventh expedition to still-darkest Africa would have made even Verne’s prophetic eyes pop.

What was utterly fantastic in the days of Verne is cold fact today, however, and the Gatti-Hallicrafters expedition is outfitted with the most modern collection of scientific equipment ever assembled for an African exploration party. Gatti will need no rocket for his journey to the “Mountains of the Moon,” but he will comb the hitherto inaccessible crater lakes and other unexplored territory of that Central African region by helicopter, capturing their secrets with electronic camera and wire recorder.

Commander Gatti made an “expedition to end all expeditions’, to the Belgian Congo in 1938-39. He returned to the United States to retire and write about the 14 years he had spent on African soil. But the tremendous scientific developments of World War II and their potentialities for exploration fired the imagination of the World War I Italian cavalry officer. They have led him, at 50, to embark on the most ambitious expedition of his career.

Assembly of the unique equipment began more than a year ago, and all has been tested under tropical conditions. An advance party will leave early this summer for Uganda to build a base camp 6,500 feet up on the slope of Mount Ruwenzori, whose 16,798-foot Peak Margherita is highest of the Mountains of the Moon and right on the Equator. The rest of the party will fly to Africa in September, and the explorations will continue until April, 1948. Special mobile units will reach into the least-known regions of Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Belgian Congo, and Zanzibar.

Explorers aboard a “Floating Island” will glide silently down lakes and rivers to catch in sound and film the slyest, most timid animals and birds. This silent craft, camouflaged with vegetation, will be armed with wire recorders and electronic cameras. The two floats of the device can be divided into sections for transport by trailer. A platform that folds in the middle, an electric outboard motor, two wheel-less bicycles with which natives can propel the craft, and heavy-duty storage batteries complete the craft. In addition, like all other mobile units employed by the expedition, it is fitted with two-way Frequency Modulation radio to maintain communications with the base camp and other traveling parties.

Spying on underwater life No less fascinating is the “Diving Eye,” a device that will be lowered to a depth of 30 feet in tropical waters to record sound and appearance of unknown water monsters, and of hippopotamuses and crocodiles as they battle for their prey. The Eye will be lowered from a floating platform of planks attached to eight or 10 native canoes. Three sections of the Eye form a 24-foot passage just big enough to let a man squeeze up or down a metal ladder. In the bottom section, three feet in diameter and six feet, two inches high, two persons can observe underwater life, or two cameras can be operated. Stroboscopic speedlight photography will “freeze” the fastest movement of underwater life.

Two “Eyebrows” have fittings for giant electric bulbs, arc bulbs, or stroboscopic speedlights, with glass placed at an angle to eliminate refraction and assure adequate lighting for underwater photography. Waterproof microphones will pick up sound for transmission to a wire recorder on the platform, and observers can send a running account of events to another recorder. They can even watch the bottom of lake or river through a central hole in heavy weights or metal doughnuts fitted to the base of the Eye.

Any belligerent crocodile or hippo that resents this prying into his private life will be attended to by riflemen stationed in canoes alongside the floating platform.

A new weapon of defense, the “Shriek-Gun,” is mounted on the expedition’s Bell 47-B helicopter for use if the aircraft is attacked while hovering low over big game in the jungles. This is a siren, pitched so high that no wild animal could stand it. The explorers couldn’t stand it, either, except that special protection has been devised for their ears.

The helicopter, christened Humming Bird, will carry cameras to take monotone, infrared, and full-color pictures of migrations of herds of elephants, buffaloes, and antelopes.

“Magic Eyes,” electronically controlled cameras that can be set anywhere, will be used to film unapproachable animals and birds. When anything appears in their fields, the cameras automatically take a picture every few seconds. “Magic Ears,” soundless, weatherproof recorders controlled by radio, will automatically pick up and preserve animal and human sounds from any distance up to a mile. The combination of Eyes and Ears is expected to gather a startling, intimate record of the life, speech, and hunting feats of the natives.

Reaching beyond the jungle, the expedition will explore the invisible air waves over it to establish a pattern of behavior for radio in the tropics. Radio noise measurements will be made daily, and test signals will be transmitted every day to determine the amount of selective fading and multi-path transmission common at the Equator. A main station at the base camp will maintain a regular schedule of short-wave transmissions to amateurs from four directional antennas that will blanket the world. One of the aerial towers is visible through the radio-shack window in the photograph at the right.

A mobile unit, the “Shack-on-Wheels,” will carry the most powerful mobile transmitter ever built.

Another unit, the “Rolling Lab,” will process film daily to prevent deterioration and allow a running check on photographic results.

No sport for pikers There will be 11 to 15 persons in the expedition: Gatti, his wife, a pilot and mechanic for the helicopter, a scientist, electrical engineers, and radio operators. The cost of such an expedition is staggering. Base camp and equipment alone run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Each member of the expedition represents an expenditure of $10,000 in addition to salary—air transportation from the United States to Uganda and return, tropical clothing and camp equipment, cost of native boys (cooks, tent boys, table boys, wash boys, safari porters, and multitudinous other boys). Food is no small item, including much that must be taken to Africa from the United States. Other heavy expenditures include Lloyd’s insurance for the duration of the expedition, medical tests, injections preparatory to departure, and medical care for the party in Africa.

In 1940, Commander Gatti wrote about his adventures with the Jungle Yachts, concluding: “The moment had arrived when our long jungle career was closing.”

Today he takes back that statement, with pleasure.

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OUR EXCITING NEW FIRE ENGINES!

Amazing super pumpers, aerial ladders, and telescoping “Snorkles” are aiding the fight against fire!

By Ross R. Olney

THE whining scream of a fire engine is one of the most chilling sounds on earth. Who hasn’t thrilled to the siren sound, looked up in dread as the engine raced past, and then perhaps started running to where black clouds of smoke billow up into the air, shot through with tongues of scarlet flame?

The sight and sounds of a fire crew going into combat never fail to draw and hold the spectator. Will the fire roar out of control? Will the firemen be able to smother the flames before too much damage is done? Are there humans trapped behind that cloud of smoke? Fires are one of the great dramas of modern life, played out by men in helmets and rubber coats, and we are usually the nervous, nail-biting audience.

In the majority of cases we know how this drama will end: the firemen will win their fight, the blaze will be brought under control before it engulfs a whole community. But sometimes the outcome is in doubt for hours, days, and—in the case of forest fires—for weeks. But now, with the help of new, exciting fire engines and firefighting equipment, firemen are going into the frontlines with a better than ever chance of defeating their enemy quickly and efficiently. And thanks particularly to new super pumpers and aerial ladder trucks, potential fire victims will be saved and more firemen will be spared. Here’s what can be done today: —Firemen can rise above the tallest fires on new platforms and either fight or direct the battle from overhead.

—They can shoot long extension ladders to upper stories of buildings to rescue trapped victims or deliver water.

—They can, with tremendous water pressure, actually blast entry holes in the sides of concrete buildings.

—Soon, with double 40-ft. monster trucks, they will fight fires 70 stories up, and they will do this from the ground! Still, they will have enough pressure to blast a hole in the high wall to get to the fire.

Can you recognize these new heavy fire fighters? Chances are you have one of them on the fire department in your own town.

Two designations cover most heavy fire trucks. The first, and presently most popular, is the “cab forward” model. As the term implies, the driver and crew are positioned forward with the engine nearer the mid-section of the unit. This model is preferred by many departments because of its visibility and stability. Remember, these trucks must go fast through close quarters.

Still preferred by many departments, particularly in smaller towns, is the older “engine forward” truck. Again as the name indicates, the crew is seated to the rear of the engine, with the power plant located forward under a long hood. An advantage here is the straightening of all drive shafts to pumps, power take-offs, etc.

Five major manufacturers build most of the huge fire trucks in use in the United States today.

*Crown Coach Corp., Los Angeles, Calif.

One of the biggest names in fire apparatus design and manufacture is Crown and the Crown “Firecoach.” This new Firecoach is available in a complete line of custom models, depending on the needs of the city, with optional cab designs, compartmentation and, a full range of pumping capacities from 500 to 2000 gallons per minute.

Crown fire trucks are built on a special Z-type frame for strength and endurance. They also feature an unusual removable front corner panel on their cab-forward models for ease of repair and inspection of electrical junctions, clutch, brake, steering gear and other parts above and below the front floor board.

In addition to varied capacity pumpers (with the Stang “Intelligiant” Deluge Gun), Crown manufactures aerial platform units using the well know Pittman “Snorkel.”

You can recognize Crown equipment as it thunders past by the vertically mounted twin headlights, the oversize red horizontal directional signals just beneath the windshield, and the distinctive Crown emblem. In the front, dead center, is a huge built-in chrome siren.

*Peter Pirsch & Sons Co., Kenosha, Wisc.

Aerial ladder trucks, the most dramatic and recognizable at a fire, are a specialty of Pirsch. In fact, these new units are known as “America’s Finest Aerial Ladder Trucks” by many firemen. Pirsch also manufactures a unit with the Pittman “Snorkel” aerial platform.

The Pirsch Intermediate Aerial Ladder Truck is a compact unit built with 65-ft., 75-ft., or 85-ft. Pirsch aluminum alloy extendible ladders. A companion unit, the Pirsch Quintuple Intermediate Aerial Ladder Truck carries the same hydraulically operated ladders, plus hose compartments for 2-1/2-in. fire hose, 100-gallon booster tank and equipment, and a two-stage series-parallel fire pump (500 to 1500 gpm). Booster pumps are also available with this unit. Easy to see why it’s called “a complete fire department on wheels.”

The Pirsch Junior Aerial Ladder is a smaller unit built especially for efficient operation in smaller towns and in residential areas of cities. Controlled electrically by one-man push buttons, the ladders on this unit extend to 50 and 55 ft.

That monster you see roaring off to a fire could very well be the Pirsch Senior Aerial Ladder Truck. This tractor-trailer unit can deliver water or rescue victims after extending its ladder to a remarkable 100 ft. from a special full hydraulic hoisting and operating control stand.

When travelling, the “Senior” has a tiller man at the rear. He steers the huge trailer through traffic and around tight turns.

Another center mounted, built-in siren (just below a Pirsch emblem) will identify this equipment. Units from all manufacturers will, of course, have a flashing or rotating red light atop the cab or windshield.

*Seagrave Fire Apparatus Division, Columbus, Ohio.

Offering one of the largest selections of new fire equipment is Seagrave, a name well known for fire trucks. They use not only their own 300-hp V-12 engine, but numerous 6- and 8-cylinder engines and diesels built by other manufacturers. Seagrave also builds most of their own chassis, with a solid Z-type frame. Amidships, and low in the frame to lower the center of gravity, is Seagrave’s famed “Heart of Gold” pump, the only solid bronze unit in the industry.

Engine forward and cab forward pumpers, chemical and foam units, ladder and aerial ladder trucks and a 90-ft. aerial platform unit all bear the Seagrave emblem for 1965. Their new tractor-trailer aerial ladder truck has the only completely enclosed tiller seat in the country.

A special new unit by Seagrave is the “Vigilante,” a standard pumping engine which is also an unlimited capacity foam unit. Perfect for fighting fires in petroleum plants, highway accidents, tank trucks and railroad cars and airplane crashes, a Vigilante truck has just gone on duty with NASA at the Manned Spacecraft Center.

Seagrave units have a center mounted siren just above a huge chromed hose connection. The name Seagrave also appears front and side. Another distinctive marking, a giant bell, is on the right front corner of the cab.

*American LaFrance, Elmira, N. Y.

Brand new at this famed fire equipment company is a towering water platform unit called the “Aero Chief.” Only recently put into production, this unit will extend to heights of 70, 80, or 90 feet, and will carry water through a 6-in. line to the firefighter on the platform. How much water? A big 2000 gpm can be pumped from the high 60×42-in. bucket.

The Aero-Chief has a nesting boom so that in its retracted position the overall height, unlike other such units, is only one inch over 9 feet. This was designed to enable the unit to pass under low bridges and tree limbs on the way to a fire.

How do you recognize this unit? By name, of course, and by the bell on the right front bumper. Also by the obvious 6-in. water pipe running up the right side of the boom to the basket, visible when the boom is folded for travelling or extended.

*Mack Trucks, Montvale, N. J.

The future of fire fighting equipment is embodied in new units from Mack. First, and presently in use, is the Mack Aerial Platform. This boom assembly consists of four sections, three of which telescope. On top of the boom is a 15-sq. ft. platform which is self-leveling and which can rise to 75 feet and pump 1000 gpm. Unique is a 60,000 BTU heater which blows hot air up through the inside of the boom to prevent ice accumulation in freezing weather. The boom is mounted on a standard Mack fire fighting truck.

Two men operate the Mack boom, the Pittman “Snorkel,” and other standard aerial platforms. The man on the platform controls, with one hand, the motion of the boom and bucket, while a man at ground level can over-ride the platform control in case of emergency.

And the future? Presently under construction at the Mack plant is the world’s most powerful fire fighting apparatus. Ordered by the fire department of New York City, these two tremendous units (called the Super Pumper and the Super Hose Tender) will cost a total of $875,000.

Each of these units will be 40 ft. long, 11 ft. high, 8 ft. wide. The pumper will be powered by a 2400-hp British Napier-Deltic diesel engine, an engine normally used to drive a 100-ton locomotive. Ready for fire fighting duty in 1965, the pumper will move 4400 gpm (half a tank car full every minute) 70 stories into the air . . . and will still have pressure enough to blast a hole through the side of the building! (See cover of this issue.) In fact, great care will be taken to clear firemen and onlookers from the area where the pumper is being used since the pressure developed by the powerful engine will be enough to tear a man apart!

When called, the super pumper and hose tender will proceed together until they reach an area several blocks from the fire. There, the pumper will stop and hook up to a major water supply hydrant, or a pond or river. The hose tender will move quickly on, laying hose as it goes. By the time the tender reaches the scene of action, firemen can drop off the now-empty hose carrying trailer, hook up to the water gun atop the tractor, and go to work.

The tender will carry 8000 ft. of 4-1/2-in. hose.

Water pumped horizontally from this amazingly powerful fire fighting unit will carry over 1200 ft. By connecting additional super pumpers and tenders together, there is no limit to the distance that can be covered between water source and fire.

But there will always be one problem. Fire! However, with these new, super-efficient fire fighting units, today’s firemen are defeating their enemy more easily.

Home Scientists Banish Wash Day Blues

THIS WASHBOARD represents a whole laundry in itself. It is designed for small apartments, camping trailers and other locations where economy of space is desirable. The washboard contains soap rack, wringer and a self-supporting back rest. It can be used in a tub or in a small basin.

THIS TIME SWITCH modernizes old washing machines by making them automatic. Listed on the dial is the water temperature and washing time necessary for fabrics.

CAN-OPENER FOR LIQUIDS such as juices and oils acts as a spigot. When the tubes are pushed into a can, rubber washers seal the holes. Then, as air enters one tube the liquid is poured out the other. Sealing washers make tubes air tight.

AIR CONDITIONED REFRIGERATOR keeps bread and cakes fresh for weeks at a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees. No frost forms in the compartment, and food such as bananas, cauliflower, and celery can be left uncovered.

HERE IS A BATTERY CHARGING WASHING MACHINE. In rural homes where electricity is not available, this new washing machine charges the radio battery while doing the weekly laundry. The generator is mounted on the motor platform and uses a belt drive. It does not affect the motor power.

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NEW in SCIENCE

PLASTIC ARMOR, light and inexpensive, soon will be marketed by a Denver firm. It is laminated, can be cut, molded, bent or sawed, will stop bullets from the most powerful hand-guns at 25 yards. Material, yet unnamed, was invented to meet need for lighter armor for banking cars, but preliminary tests indicate possible military use. Plastic, above right, show dents from rifle bullets. Above left, new plastic-armored truck.

IMPOSSIBLE INVENTION of Bernard J. Patton of Los Angeles has confounded the scientific world. He calls it a “piano” and can’t explain how it works. All he knows is that when he connects it to a burned-out fluorescent tube, the tube becomes good for another 2,000 hours of guaranteed service. He has started a local business.

PADDLE-WHEEL BOAT of new design, called Gazook, makes a test run in a swimming pool in Los Angeles. The three-passenger vehicle is made expressly for pools, calm lakes and romantic lagoons. Wheels, which contain sealed air chambers, can be removed quickly for storage of the boat for transporting on a car roof or small trailer.

SECRET WEAPON? No, only a new three-ton camera being constructed in West Berlin to photograph the sky. It is the first made in Germany since World War II, will be used by Bonn University. Scientists say it will take photos of stars up to the 23rd class. The human eye can see stars up to the 6th class. Instrument costs $20,000.

NO MODEL RAILROAD layout, as a quick glance at the photo suggests, but the complex wiring mechanism of aiming device on a new anti-aircraft weapon called Skysweeper, designed to cope with enemy guided missiles, supersonic aircraft. A woman technician is checking the intricate hookup at General Motors AC Spark Plug Plant in Flint.

PHOTO MAP of area around Philadelphia. Penna., is about 33×45 ft., large enough to cover the side of an average two-story house. Each section was made from dozens of aerial photos carefully assembled into a photo-mosaic, then rephotographed. Work maps for Philadelphia Electric Co. were traced from it. Map includes 2,340 square miles.

GLASSES FOR BLIND help ten-year-old boy from Patterson, N. J., who has only ten per cent vision to read fine print on card. New clear-image, high-resolution lenses will aid about half of 150,000 near-blind people in U. S. according to New York State Optometric Assoc. Each glass is combination of lenses set one-eighth inch apart.

SOMETHING NEW on WHEELS

THERE’S more than one way of getting there, in fact, almost every day brings us something new in the way of transportation. Here we have a child’s two-passenger electric lighted foot power car, the storage battery under the hood supply the juice.

The Pedaluxe, which recently made its appearance in Europe, is a three-wheeled foot power affair with a detachable side car.

Double-decked auto transport trailers that can carry six automobiles are now being made by a Detroit company. Cars occupying the upper tier are loaded first and raised to a riding position one at a time on an elevated track powered by the motor truck. Although the truck and trailer is sixty feet in length, it is able to negotiate even short turns without interfering with traffic.

Trailer Saves Return Haul Costs

A GREAT saving in the return trips of trucks used for the transportation of automobiles from factory to dealer has been effected as a result of the development of a new type of trailer. Built with rear extension that can be folded back, the trailer can be shortened so that one truck can be hauled by another on the return trip.

Triangular truss frame construction of the trailer makes possible a combination of maximum strength and minimum weight. The photo below shows the manner in which one truck is carried by another, without danger of accident on road.

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“Poor Man’s” Yacht

This floating dream-home will allow you to cruise the river in millionaire style.

By Rudy Arnold

HAVE YOU ever dreamed of cruising down the river in your own private yacht? If you have, now is the time to do it and enjoy the plushness of a modern dream-home complete with front and back yard.

Wesley H. Dyer’s “Dumbo” has made a low-cost family yacht a practical reality for the water-loving landlubber. Dyer, president of the Metal Products Company of Nashville, Tenn., named his original family yacht, shown on these pages, after Walt Disney’s flying elephant because his novel craft was big but surprisingly agile for its size.

In recent years the forming of numerous lakes in Tennessee and Kentucky—like the Kentucky Lake, largest man-made body of water in America— by the building of large dams stirred up a lot of excitement about family boats in the area. Dyer heard people talking about big, comfortable boats that had all the space and accommodations of a home, as well as absolute safety.

The more conservative citizens of Nashville laughed when they heard that Dyer was going to take the plunge and build land-locked boats. They chalked off his idea as a silly delusion. Besides, they said, it would take a millionaire’s income to afford a dream boat capable of transporting an entire family in such handsome style for a holiday week-end or the summer.

Dyer set out to see if he couldn’t make a real houseboat that would give the new lake dwellers exactly what they wanted. He recalled that he had made special pontoons for many military uses during World War II. He talked to his chief engineer, Charlie Mager, about designing an inexpensive but spacious yacht with an auto trailer as the cabin.

The two men decided the best way to build the hull was to put it together in pontoon sections so that the family yacht could be constructed to fit the size of the family pocketbook. It would take eight sections bolted together, each holding three 55-gallon oil drums, to make a 16×24-foot hull able to float a 16-foot housetrailer.

If you supply your own oil drums, each section would cost $45. With $35 for deck lumber this would make the basic boat cost only $395. The same layout with special pontoons supplied would cost $60 per section. Add to this the $35 for the deck lumber and you get a total of $515 for this unique craft.

For Dyer’s original experimental Dumbo he* used 19 pontoon sections bolted together to form a barge 15 feet wide and 40 feet long on which he placed a 23-foot Mid-State housetrailer.

Each pontoon section has an angle member on either side of the bottom and channel members on both sides of the top. These members are bolted to three steel pontoons 25^x42 inches long and 15 inches deep. Together with the angle frame at each end they form a pontoon section 3 feet, 6 inches wide by 8 feet long and 18 inches deep. Each section supports 100 pounds for each inch of submersion. The entire unit will support 1,900 pounds for every inch of water it draws.

Dyer made up the steel pontoons in these sections from 18-gauge cold-rolled steel. He then had the metal rustproofed with a zinc phosphate coating inside and out. They were then tested with two pounds of air pressure to check against possible leaks and sprayed with an oil mist on the inside. For further anti-corrosion treatment he had all parts painted with Navy specification zinc chromate primer. The bolts are all cadmium plated.

On the forward end Dumbo has a false bow which is not essential to the boat. For the power plant there are motor mounts for two outboards at the stern. Instead of a rudder, the mounts are set near the sides of the vessel. By controlling the engine speeds of each motor Dyer can steer his craft from the flying bridge with greater flexibility than a rudder-guided motorboat and can turn his ship around in almost its own length at any running speed—an impossible stunt for a conventional yacht.

The Dumbo’s skipper can sail the housetrailer from the flying bridge. Once the outboards are firing, you can refuel the family yacht under way without stopping from two five-gallon tanks hung under the flying bridge.

A storage battery powers the navigation lights. Under the flying bridge on the deck is the trailer’s gasoline-powered generating plant for interior and running lights and for powering the water pressure unit for the modern kitchen and shower bathroom.

In its trial run up the Cumberland River through Tennessee and Kentucky into the Ohio River, Dyer deliberately navigated close to giant tugs to test the structural rigidity and seaworthiness. The Dumbo rode the waves like a duck on a midsummer millpond. Strong winds had very little effect on the yacht’s handling. On the maiden voyage Dumbo covered 271 miles from Nashville to Paris Landing on Kentucky Lake in 71 hours.

Dyer recently discontinued the original Dumbo for an improved version he devised with an all-steel hull with four watertight compartments 13 feet wide, 46 feet long and 30 inches deep.

He has already had the last laugh on those who scoffed at his idea and the boating fraternity got their dream—at a price that they could afford. •

Telegraph Office Moves To Emergency By Trailer

TRAILER telegraph offices that can be rushed to the scene of major news events for use by newspapermen and the general public have been developed by the Western Union Telegraph Co. The mobile offices can operate at any point where wire facilities are, or can be made available.

The trailer interiors provide writing desks for customers, a counter, and telegraphic equipment for both automatic and Morse operations.

To attract attention the trailers are painted with an aluminum roof and blue bodies. The words—”Mobile Telegraph Office” and “Send Your Telegrams Here”—are painted in large yellow letters.

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HOUSEKEEPING in a TRAILER

by Esther Hall

Furnishing your home- on-wheels properly is the best way of insuring a care-free trip.

IN PLANNING a trailer trip, what you leave at home is apt to be fully as important as what you take with you. In other words, you will soon learn the value of traveling light. The personal wants and desires of those making the trip must, of course, be taken into consideration and the quantity of essential supplies, such as food, will depend upon the length of the trip, number of persons, availability of fruit and vegetables in season and the general location, whether mountains, seashore or only main traveled roads. The following check list cannot be all-inclusive but it may be found useful as a guide and serve to prevent overlooking some very essential articles. Dishes.—Plates, cups, saucers, platters and servers, bowls, pitcher, glasses (large and small), knives, forks, spoons, salt and pepper shakers, paper plates, paper cups, sugar bowl and cream pitcher.

Kitchenware, etc.—Butcher knife, bread knife, paring knife, large fork, cake-turner, can opener, bottle opener, corkscrew, fish scaler, egg beater, gas toaster, electric toaster (110-volt for use in camps), ice pick, fly swatter, cook book, small broom, dust pan, floor mop, scrub brush, soap and chips, cleaning powder, steel wool, toothpicks, matches.

Pots and pans.—Coffee pot, tea pot, double boiler, frying pans, assorted stew pans of different sizes, pancake griddle, tea kettle, and (optional) fireless cooker, pressure cooker and ice cream freezer.

Food.—Coffee, tea, sugar, salt and pepper, bacon, butter, shortening, eggs, milk (canned), cheese, bread, crackers, flour, pancake flour, cereals, potatoes, syrup, jams and jellies, peanut butter, beans, rice, spaghetti, oranges, lemons, raisins, dried fruits, canned vegetables, canned soups, canned fruits, canned meat and fish, vanilla and other extracts, baking soda, baking powder, mustard, horseradish, tomato ketchup, water, ice.

Bedding, linen, etc.—Sheets, pillow slips, blankets, towels (bath, hand and dish), wash cloths, dish cloths, table cloths (or oil cloth), napkins, paper napkins, paper towels.

Miscellaneous. — Water bucket, waste basket, garbage can, thermos jug, 5-gallon gasoline can, 1-gallon gasoline can, syphon, funnel, fire extinguisher, 100-foot extension electric cord with plug and socket, flashlight, gasoline lantern, electric fan, electric iron, ironing board, clothes line, cur- tain partition (for privacy), fuel for heating stove, first-aid kit, toilet articles.

Miscellaneous (Personal).—Check books, travelers* checks, maps, calendar, ink, pen and pencils, paper, stamps, string, scissors, needles, thread, buttons, watch or clock, compass, thermometer, sun glasses, field glasses, golf clubs, tennis rackets, fishing tackle, camera, films, magazines, books, radio, playing cards or other games for rainy days.

The standard equipment furnished with most of the commercial trailers on the market includes (depending on price) beds for two, four or six persons, mattresses, gasoline cook stove (2 or 3-burner) a built-in sink, water tank (10 to 30-gallon), built-in cabinets and drawers, built-in wardrobes, ice-box (50 to 75-pound), toilet commode or chemical toilet, electric lights (for both 110 and 6-volts), radio antenna, heating stove, dining table, chairs (optional) and in some of the de-luxe models, a bath or shower.

Items which are optional but which add much to success of the trip are—window awnings, screened porch, folding cot, folding table and chairs (the comfortable deck chairs for lounging out doors), a night lamp, an electric hot water heater, and a wind charger.

If we had to decide what trailer feature (not an actual necessity) we had to part with, the family, we feel sure, would unanimously vote for keeping the screened porch. It requires only a few minutes to attach it to the trailer and it makes an outdoor living room by day and an extra bedroom by night. The roof of the porch is a large gayly striped awning (about fi\e feet wide by twelve feet long) which is hung from hooks on the trailer roof or fastened by straps which go across the trailer roof and are fastened to stakes in the ground. Attached to the awning on three sides is strong, khaki-colored netting. The fourth wall is the trailer itself including the door. On this fourth side a strip of dark green canvas fits snugly from the ground to the floor level of the trailer to keep out flies and other insects. The floor of the porch is also green canvas. When lounging chairs and a cot are installed here, this becomes unquestionably the coolest and most popular spot in the daytime and at night it makes a delightful open-air bedroom.

Window awnings, we believe, were largely responsible last summer for the comments of visitors to our trailer home—”How cool it is in here!”, when the thermometer hovered in the nineties outside. When we were traveling we drew down the inside shades and lowered the awning to cover the windows. The result was double protection from the sun enroute and when we stopped we found that the accumulation of heat in the closed trailer was much less than on previous trips. When we lived for a week or more in one place the awnings were a continual joy because of the shade, coolness and privacy from passersby afforded. In addition, they provided a gay tone to the exterior of the trailer which was in itself a contribution to the holiday spirit of our expedition.

A night lamp may seem a small item to mention but, when you are far from home in unfamiliar surroundings, it is a great satisfaction to be able to investigate promptly strange or unusual noises in the night. We find great comfort in a little copper night lamp that operates on so little electricity as to be practically negligible in “juice” consumption.

If we wish to leave the trailer to spend an evening elsewhere, we light the little lamp before leaving and we are spared that awkward stumbling into a dark room and fumbling for a light switch on our return. If one member of the family wishes to retire earlier than the others, the night lamp, placed low at the opposite end of the trailer, spares him the glare of full-sized ceiling or side lights and yet does not require other members of the family to retire in darkness. It is such little contrivances as this, we find, that make for that consideration of the other fellow so essential to harmony in trailer life.

Another modest little device, which is used every day and many times a day in our trailer housekeeping is an electric hot water heater, small enough to be tucked away in a few inches of space or hung by the cord over a hook. Father starts the day by heating his shaving water with it and from then on it meets the many needs for hot water with a final luxurious warm sponge bath made possible at bedtime without the necessity of starting a fire. All you do is to plunge the little gadget into cold water—from a teacup full to a tub full—plug in the other end of the cord to the light current and in less time than it takes to tell it there will be steam rising from the water. A few minutes more and the water will be actually boiling. The heat all goes where you want it to—into the water, not into the air to heat the room— and none of it is lost by having to be drawn through a long pipe. The fact that it sterilizes water makes it a most useful device in the event of sudden illness.

We have a little windmill device fastened to the front of our trailer which protrudes a few inches above the roof. As we drive along it catches the breeze and whirs industriously. As a result of this we are assured, when we stop along the road for our luncheon, of ample electric current in our own battery to operate two fans, a radio and electric lights (if we should want them). It affords a wonderful feeling of independence at night, too, to know that you have a supply of electricity of your own whether or not you are able to plug into an outside current on your overnight stop. This little convenience is called a “wind charger” and we heartily recommend it as a valuable accessory. To the wife whose husband has become— or may be on the point of becoming—a trailer owner, may we say that there is no need to worry over the prospect of “roughing it” when you accompany your husband on vacation trips. It is not an exaggeration to state that the modern trailer kitchen has in it more labor-saving and other housekeeping conveniences than are to be found in many permanent homes throughout the country.

Running water is supplied by faucet or pump in the sink, usually from a storage tank. Some trailer models have pressure systems of their own; others connect with city water systems.

Ingenious devices are utilized to give the maximum convenience, use every inch of space and yet preserve the air of a living room. The cookstove, for example, and often the sink may be cancealed in what appears to be only an attractive buffet. When meal time comes around, a “trapdoor” is lifted, and lo, there is the sink or stove!

Our trailer dining room is like a cozy breakfast nook with big, comfortable upholstered seats flanking a dining table that lets down from the wall and is large enough to accommodate from four to six persons. We set the table with unbreakable dishes that come in attractive pastel shades and are made to nest easily thus saving cupboard space.

As for meals, the trailer traveler is not, of course, required to rely solely on canned goods. The roadside stands and farmhouses along the way offer an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, broilers, milk, cheese and ice cream. But, when a meal from canned goods seems desirable it can be most palatable and satisfying with trailer conveniences to give it the same cooking skill that would be given at home.

A one-hole fireless cooker is a joy to have along on a trailer trip. It takes up a little space but it is well worth it for it minimizes, not only the time spent in preparing the principal meal of the day, but also the heat required at meal time, which in the summer touring season may be the warmest time of the day.

If one of those “meal-in-one” dishes is prepared early in the morning before the day’s journey is started or other plans for the day undertaken, dinner can then be forgotten until the actual mealtime arrives. When the stop is finally made for food in some restful, scenic spot, all that is required is to open up the fireless cooker and the main part of the meal is ready.

This “meal-in-one” dish may be Mexican rice, chili con carne, Swiss steak, Huntley stew or any one of a number of combinations which every housekeeper knows and uses at home in casserole cookery.

With soup or tomato juice cocktail to start the meal and a vegetable combination salad tossed together quickly (from vegetables which have been crisping all day in the trailer ice box), fresh fruit and cookies for desert, a thoroughly satisfactory meal can be provided in a very few minutes.

A pressure cooker is also a short cut to good meals. If you buy a piece of meat from an unknown butcher en route, you cannot be certain how tender it is and you may be a hundred miles away when you are ready to cook it. Or you may have climbed to a high altitude where a longer cooking period must be allowed. But with a pressure cooker you need not worry. In this magic pot, steaks or chops or vegetables can be cooked in four minutes—all together! And the cooker will even whistle to let you know when to take it off the stove!

“A place for everything and everything in its place” is absolutely essential to peace of mind in trailer travel. The husband who objects to finding his pajamas in the same drawer with the tire chains and the remains of a chocolate cake has some grounds for complaint. With a little system, however, the “chores” can be done in a few minutes each day leaving ample time for recreation or travel.

A few suggestions based on experience are offered for what they may be worth: — Try using double cotton blankets to sleep between instead of sheets. You will find them very comfortable in all kinds of weather. They are easy to launder as they do not require ironing and being double at the bottom helps to keep the blankets or quilts in place.

Pillows may serve the double purpose of cushions in the daytime and bed pillows at night if you will make covers for them out of the same material as the upholstering of your beds or your drapes. Either make or have them made with zippers, snaps or buttons to close after the pillow is put in. Placed at the end of your studio couch they are both attractive and convenient. As important a feature, however, is the fact that you do not have to have any storage space reserved for them and this is always a big item in trailer housekeeping.

Wide-mouthed mason jars with glass covers in one-half pint, pint and quart sizes make ideal containers for putting away left-overs. They keep your icebox free of odors and the contents will not spill in traveling. They will not break in transit if placed so they do not have too much space to shift around. Wide rubber bands or small inner tube sections slipped around the outside of them make excellent bumpers.

A wooden step with a foot-scraper placed outside the door will help to keep sand and mud out of your trailer.

Straps of upholstery material, similar to the trailer cushions and drapes, tacked to the wall and fastened together with buckles will hold golf clubs or fishing tackle firmly in place while traveling.

But, once you have embarked on the “magic carpet” you will make fascinating discoveries of your own. That is part of the game. This playhouse living requires pliable natures. Trailer life is suitable only to those who can with complete good nature adapt their needs to what the situation offers. The new and unforeseen is sometimes pleasant, sometimes not. Three days of rain will make country roads impassable, perhaps, for a heavy load and a stop must be made in some isolated spot. But the time passes and the caravan moves on again to the open road with its travelers clean and fresh and rested by the enforced quiet.

Anyone who has ever toured knows that all the best-looking tourist camps and the most desirable hotels seem to be reached about nine o’clock in the morning when no stop is planned. But with your house on your back you do not need to worry about this. You have food; ice; water; light; good, comfortable, clean beds; and no packing or unpacking. When you step into the trailer, your clothing is hanging unwrinkled in a full-length wardrobe and clean undergarments are in the cabinet drawers as easy to reach as they would be at home.

Luncheons each day are a fresh adventure— enjoyed whenever and wherever fancy dictates. One day it may be in the deep, north woods with no sound to break the silence but the trill of the birds; the next day on the shores of a sparkling lake; again, on the crest of a hill with a wide panorama of countryside stretched out before you.

New scenes, new routines—is there anything in the world more truly restful?