Newspapers / Shelby Daily Star (Shelby, … / Nov. 11, 1932, edition 1 / Page 9
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s How the Biway, a New Merry-Go-Round I Railroad, May Solve Traffic Problems 7 rains That Can Run on Creased Traces Without Stopping and Need No 0\V xvvuld you like to take a trip on the •'biway?” The biway, you JL JL know, is the latest system of mass transportation. It has a tremen dous capacity and runs at a good speed, higher than local subway trains and nearly, if not quite as fast us express trains. It is easier to reach and one never has to wait mote than 40 seconu. for a train The biway is a continuous transporta non system which Norman William Storer, an engineer of th? Westing house Electric and Manufacturing Com pany, offers as a solution of the traffic problem. It consists of two continuous platforms or belts of cars on parallel tracks, with a stationary platform run mng the entire length. One of the trains, the express, made up of enclosed or semi-enclosed cars or sections of plat form, is provided with seats and runs continuously at speeds varying from about 22 down to 17.5 miles an hour. The other, called the local, is an op'en plat form provided only with a railing to keep passengers from falling or being crowded off, and a few posts for them to hold onto when the train is accelerat ing or stopping. The function of this platform is to transfer passengers from the stationary platform to the express train and vice-versa. The biwav runs under the sidewalk and there is an entrance to it from prac tically every building along the line. Turnstiles lead to the biway and spread out so as to avoid confusion on the plat form. The local platform goes through a complete cycle of acceleration, running at the same speed as the express, stop ping and standing every 50 seconds. A gong sounds the signal for trans ferring. The doors on the express open, -ome passengers get out and some entei Brakes or Any Signal Lights, i The iron* sounds again and the doors close. Now the local train slows down, while the express speeds up. The local train stops and the passengers have 10 seconds in which to get on. If you wish, you can hold onto one of the posts. The gong sounds again and the tram accelerates very smoothly and gently In IT seconds the doors on the other train will open and passengers can transfer to it and have comfortable seats. The express train has about 4.000 seats per mile, and as it runs 20 miles an hour there are 80,000 seats per hour past any given point on the express train. The stationary platform is lined with brightly lighted shops all along the way. which have entrances to the biway. You can buy practically anything you want at these shops. They' are conspicuously marked, as well as the buildings and streets, with brilliantly lighted signs. You can get off the biway close to any shop, make your purchases or transact other business, and return without extra charge, so that one can do a day’s shop ping riding from shop to shop and bad: home again, all for one fare. There is even talk of making the biway free. It would eliminate a lot of cost; of turn stiles. money changers, etc., and the cost I ppcr Left; A Cross-Section Drawing of the 11iv»ay. Both llir I oral Platform and ihc I rain Are Continuous anti Are Pro pelletl hv Kleelrie Motors riaeril in Pits at Intervals of Approximately 1,000 l'eet Beneath the Track*. Bower I* Transmit tetl Through Wheel* Devolving Against Steel Mange* Attached to f ixed Axles Be neath the Train and Platform. ^ Above: How the Biway Would Appear If < onslrneted High Above the Streets, Bnnning from ttne Skysrraper to the Aevt anti on i -la**-( Covered Bridge* Across Open Spaces. Bight A Diagram of Stationary, Moving and I.\press Platforms with All track Space Covered by floors. Continuous Train* and Platforms Alake the System Accessible at All Points So There Can Be No Congestion of Passengers at Stations. of operation could easily be absorbed b.v the tenants along the route. A sign at the front of the car not only tells you where you are at every instant, but tells you where to get off the express in order to land close to the street you wish. That is determined in this way The express, running at 20 miles per hour, travels 1,470 feet each cycle of 50 seconds. The sign announces vour st reet about 1.200 feet before you reach it. You A Toad That Gases Its Victims to Death ADOPTING modern methods o) warfare, a huge tropical toad that emits a deadly gas when frightened or in pain is antong the weird Mexican amphibians described in a sci entific monograph just issued by the Smithsonian Institution. This creature inhabits the hottest portion of the North American continent, its range extending over the Mexican line into Arizona and California. Although the exact nature of its poison is unknown, according to Dr. Remington Kellogg of the Smith sonian staff, some of the accounts of per sons who have come in contact with it . indicate that it may even kill animals * from a distance with some effusion from its body . Mr. M E. Musgrave, of the United States Biological .Survey, gives an ac count of an adventure with this poison ous toad, one of which his terrier at tacked and shook to death while he stood about five feet away. When the terrier dropped the amphibian a large police dog came up and barely touched its nose to the dead creature, which was again grabbed by the smaller animal. « •‘I thought no more about it,” says Mr. Musgrave, “and started back to the house, the police dog following. He had gone no more than 100 feet when his front legs crumpled under him and he pitched forward. His legs and bodv ap oeared paralyzed. “Immediately I realized that some dung was wrong and, looking over to where the little terrier had been, I saw her lving on the ground, her feet cruni Why Motor Cars ASSENGERS in motor cars are almost never struck by lightning. JL Not only do accident statistics in dicate the rarity of this eve^t, the Na uonal Safety Council points cut, but the United States Bureau of Standards is tuoted as scientific authority for the probability that the more or less com plete cage of electrically conducting metal formed by the chassis, frame and top of the modern auto is a good protec tion if lightning does strike. Dry rubber tires are electric insula ors. but in thunderstorms they art usually wet and thus provide an electri cal connection to the ground. A person inside such a closed car is like one inside a steel-frame building such as a sky scraper. Although skyscrapers them -elves are frequently struck by lightning rn one in them is injured Storms pled under her and her face in the dirt. 1 felt her heart and found the action slow. She could get no atr into her lung.-. Within two or three minutes from the1 time she first bit the toad she died. Bloody foam oozed from her mouth and nose. “About this tune 1 became very sick myself. My head was swimming and there was a lifting feeling in my lung cavity. It affected me rather peculiarly, as 1 wanted to walk and keep on walk ing. The effects did not wear off for about 30 minutes. The old police dog revived in about three quarters of an hour." Mr. Musgrave does not know whether lie received the poison dose while the ter tier was shaking the toad or when he was trying to revive the dying dog. He detected no odor at any. time. Later he handled without had effects a toad of the same species sent to the Biological Sur \ey headquarters. Other similar incidents are recorded and some veterinarians in the region frequented by the toad are said to be familiar with the effects of its poison then transfer to the local the next time the door opens. The local will travel about 1)00 feet before it stops, so you see —if you transferred immediately after She sign changed, you might stop Pott feet before reaching your station. If this were the case, you could ride an other cycle on the local, which will carry you 025 feet further or ride even two cycles, Which will carry you a little past your street. At the worst, you can always get within 300 feet of your street, which is very much closer than you can possibly get via the present subway trains where the local stations are from one-third to one-half mile apart and ex press stations average about one mile apart. To understand how the trains are propelled and controlled it is necessary to get under the platform and see the driving station under the tracks. It i surprizingly quiet down there is spite of the continuous motion of the trains, fot there is practically nothing on the plat forms or trains that can rattle. The chassis is extremely simple. The individual section is 12 l'eet long and has only one axle (which is fixed) and two wheel*, each running on its own The New Beach Sport of Balloon Archery Archery, which is one of the most ancient of sports, today has been given a new sport thrill which is making it a popular pastime on the beaches. The bow and arrow was one of the first weapons developed by primi tive man who hot only used this inven tion in both offensive and defensive war fare, but also in hunting. Often upon Ins marksmanship depended his escape from starvation. Even in mythology, Diana, the Hun tress, is pictured with the bow and ar row as her popular weapons of the chase. . The beach Dianas of 1932, however, use this ancient weapon for a far different purpose, as the accompanying illustra tion shows. Toy balloons . a if tied to wooden weights and set afloat. Then the arch ere take their stand near the water', edge and discharge their arrows at the drifting, bobbing balloons. Considerable skill as an archer is required to hit on< of these floating targets, which at once explode with a bang as an arrow pierce its thin rubber sides. . .... . v. ~ ... • •- . . Toy Balloons. Attached to Wooden Floats. Are Set Adrift and Used as Target* by the Bather-Archers V ho l.inc l p Along the'Beach and '■'hoot Their Arrow* at the Sphere*. Jim1. tH| rollei tearing'- the axle is under i>ne end of the car and the other end is resting on the . axle t nd of t lie next car. There are no brakes on the ear and no loose (drees of ant kind- Rubber cushions are f;eeiy used to absorb vtbra lion and keep it front Retting into the floor. The wheels run on u greased track, so there i« no screeching on curves and less flange noise everywhere. Hotv ean a train he driven when the track in greased? There is no driving through tht) wheels at all. The plat forms are driven by the mo tor- in i In' |'ij U neat h ! In trucks, making a kind of sta tionary locomotive. The mo tors drive vertical shaft roll ers or drive wheels which en gage the T-rails that are carried under the fixed axles of the platforms Kaeh set of motors drives a pair of rollers between which the flange ot the rail passes As the cars pass an inapet tor watches them so ns to de tect any defect before it enn cause trouble. If a roller bear mg fails, it and the wheel it carrie* can be replaced at one of the stations in about thi time it takes to change a tire on an automobile. Lengths of open (lit under the tracks on either side of the driving sta tion give ample space for care 11 uiu run at the tame maximum spe"d at al! points on the line. How are these trains controlled? The apparatus for this purpose is in a apace right beside the motors. There are live driving stations per mile, with two sets of motors in each station. The express train has tour motors for each set, while the local has two. Two of the express motors are rated at about 60 horsepower and the other two at 100. Those on the. local are also rated at 100 horsepower each, being duplicates of the same sire on the e.\ press. These stations are all controlled from a central point , The biway is much more convenient than the subway because the passengers do not have to go to stated stations in order to get on the train. They can entei from any point along the line, which practically eliminates the terrific crowd mg that exists in the ordinary subwa> stations. Then, too, the time between stops is much less than half the average time between trains on the subway, si that there will lie lesu time for people to gather at.any point on the line. Kurthei more, the distance the average persni has to walk at the two ends of the trip will be very much shorter since the loca stations on the subway average from one-third to one-half mile apart and o press stations about one mile, while every point on the bitvay is a station Since there is only one train on each track which fills the entire track, col lisions are impossible and there is n> need for track signals. Also, since the train speeds are controlled entirely b\ electricity airbrakes are not necessary ful inspection and renewal of parts of ihr running #enr. . The truck itself requires very little maintenance. A resilient type of track constructmn cushions the shock anti tlea tie ns the noise of the wheels; There are no switches. CEosSintcs or other spe cial work, just plain tracks banked on curves and on the end loops because the Why Pellagra Is Due to Food PKl.i.At, KA, which 1m* been known for nearly 200 years, is strictly * dietary disease, which may be uni I'ormly produced or prevented at will by 'imply varying the quantity of the food!" which carry the antipellagric vitamin, according to the United States Publii Health Service, It is only recently that ihe nature of its cause has been made clear and practical and effective meat ures for its treatment and prevention have been established. Pellagra is unlike most preventable diseases with which man has to contend, as infection appears to play no part whatever in its causation, and the sani t.ary and hygienic measures commonly employed against transmissible disease* offer no aid in its control. It has been abundantly demonstrated that pellagra may be uniformly pro duced br prevented at will by simply varying the quantity of Ihe foods which carry the antipellagric vitamin—vita min (». Jewelry Made of Aluminum AIiL .MINL'.M. the < indBrellu of metals, once morels being used in the manufacture of jewelry. In nineteenth century France this white, malleable and amazingly light metal was used in making jewelry ov St. Claire Iteville. As lute as lhii-1, aluminum was worth almost its weight in gold. The regal guests of Napoleon III were served from aluminum dishes; hut as the commercial erfc for the metal dawned some 30 years later, aluminum threw off its aristu eratic cloak and went to work-in the kitchen. In the past 15 years demands for light weight metals, combined with the. devel opmont of modern metallurgy, have brought out a group of aluminum alloys characterized by strength and beauty. A hundred different materials arc be ing made into novelty or "costume” jew elry —glass, silk, coral, natural and syh t hetie stones, plastics, carved and colored wood, shell, and what not. The metals involved include brass, silver, German i nickel i silver. Britannia metal, and others, because of it* ueauty, light:.*.-? anil permanence, aluminum promises tc become popular. t Two outstanding novelties in jewelry made of aluminum, which C, M. Hoke, a chemist, describes in The Brass World, are a wrist watch and colored bracelets The colors are lively pastel shades o' blue, green, yellow, rose, and so on, and when combined with the silvery whit* surface of the metal, the rffect is very pleasing. The watch is Go percent lighter than a watch' made from the usual metals, and it weighs, complete with the wrist band, a -hade less than an ounce. The process by which colors are ap plied is unusual. First the aluminum surface is given an anodic treatment It is made the anode in an electrolyte bath and becomes covered with a firm oxide film. This film of aluminum oxide lias a strong affinity for certain organic dyes and mineral colors, When these dyes are applied to the prepared *ut face, the result is a smooth, hard, highlv lustrous and beautiful finish. How Smokeless Powder IsTested UKJS you tire a shotgun and the fast flying duck drops in its V V flight, it is because the shot liarge covers 40 yards in 0.141 seconds (.'>(58 miles per hour) while the duck has moved only 12.68 feet in this same time, assuming the duck to have been flying at the rate of 60 miles per hour. The velocity is measured by the chronograph a marvelously precise instrument. The shells loaded with the powder are fired in a standard shotgun. Stretched across its muzzle is a fine copper wire connected with the chronograph. The (argot is also connected by another elec trical circuit to the chronograph. The time elapsing between the breaking of the wire at the muzzle of the gun by the shot and the breaking of the circuit by the shot striking the target is registered precisely on the chronograph. This time is then translated into terms of velocity. To secure the utmost speed of the shot charge with safety to shooters, tests are made with a pressure gauge. This de vice is a very strongly constructed gun with a chamber made to standard dimen sions. It is provided with a hole in the barrel directly above the chamber into which is tightly fitted a sliding piston. A lead cylinder is held securely between this piston and an adjustable anvil mounted on the barrel. The shells to be tested have a hole cut the same diameter as that of- the piston and in a position 'hat bring'1 it directly under (he piston W hen the shot is fired, the expanding powder gases drive the piston sharply against the soft lead cylinder and com press it. The. amount of compression is a measure of the pressure developed. * The gunmaker likewise makes tests* for safety, the most important of which is designated “the definitive proof of the gun.” In this test the gun is subjected to a pressure from 25 per cent to 40 per cent greater than the service pressure, thus providing the necessary margin of safety. The use of elaborate testing equipment operated and supervised by ballistic experts ensures the uniformity of the performance of smokeless pow ders, and consequent satisfaction and safety. The Wobblemeter ANEW apparatus has been de signed for measuring fatigue and emotions and the effect of these conditions on man’s sense of bal ance. It is known as the wobblemeter and is for use in the fields of aviation, motoring, psychology, psychiatry and many other departments of human en terprise and welfare. The wobblemeter is made by the same manufacturers who developed the earth inductor compass, one of the chief navi gational aids to Colonel Charles A. Lind- ;. bergh and many other cross-seas fliers
Shelby Daily Star (Shelby, N.C.)
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Nov. 11, 1932, edition 1
9
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