A Street Sweeper and Snow Broom At present there are over 900 W & K street sweepers and snow brooms mounted on Fordson tractors in operation in cities and towns in the United States. These units were first manufactured by the Whitehead and Kales Co., Detroit, Mich., four years ago. Aside from the low first cost and maintenance, this sweeper is a 12-month unit. The W & K brush has a sweeping surface of approximately 51⁄2 feet. It will sweep dirt, refuse, leaves and all other light-weight materials that accumulate in city streets. It will handle snow up to 10 or 12 inches deep, leaving no hard-packed layer to turn into ice. It has six brush speeds, making it possible to sweep clean under almost all conditions. The installation of the sweeper is made without any alterations to the Fordson in about two hours. When not required or it is desired to use the tractor for other work, the sweeper can be quickly removed or the brush can be elevated from the ground and locked in that position. Larger cities wishing a unit of this kind simply for sidewalk cleaning, particularly during the winter months, have found that the W & K sidewalk brush takes care of this work. This sweeper is a duplicate of the standard model with the exception that the brush is narrower, having a sweeping surface of 42 feet. Connery & Co. Expands Plant A two-story plant extension and office adding 35,000 square feet of new space to the existing plant has recently been completed by Connery & Co., Inc., 4000 North Second Street, Philadelphia, Pa. This plant will be devoted exclusively to the manufacture of tar- and asphalt-heating kettles, as well as breechings, uptakes, and air and preheater ducts. With these enlarged facilities, the company will be in a position to better serve its customers in the future. New York City Uses Vacuum New York City has recently put into operation a fleet of Butler vacuum street cleaners made by the Butler Manufacturing Co., Cleveland, Ohio. The city of New York purchased three of these machines three years ago and has recently put a large fleet in operation. The machines work during the day, some of them cleaning the downtown sections of the city. Commissioner A. A. Taylor, Department of Street Cleaning, has found the dustless feature of the Butler vacuum street sweeper unique and efficient. These devices do not use water to lay the dust, but are dustless in operation. Each sweeper cleans approximately 80,000 to 100,000 square yards each day, according to the manufacturer. The principle of operation is very similar to that of the wellknown electric home vacuum sweeper. They have a large, revolving, specially constructed broom that picks up all the heavy débris onto an inclined belt conveyor. The dust is sucked up by a powerful fan and is filtered through a series of vacuum tubes. In addition to New York City, other large and small cities throughout the country have adopted this device. The manufacturers claim a much lower operating cost than through other means of street cleaning. A New "Self-Propelling" Flying Horse A new "self-propelling" flying horse for municipal playgrounds is being manufactured by the Giant Manufacturing Co., Council Bluffs, Iowa. This has all working parts concealed inside the horse, thus making the unit safe for children. It is regularly furnished complete with the frame, or it can be supplied to be attached to any frame of any height which may already be installed in the playground. This flying horse makes a strong appeal to people of all ages, from small children to grown-ups. Two people can easily be supported on the horse, enabling a small child to ride with an older person. One horse and frame only can be supplied, or any large number on the same or different frame, depending on the size of the playground and its demands. The children can ride at any rate of speed desired. The rider easily propels the horse by foot pressure on the stirrups. The stirrups move up and down as the horse swings back and forth. The mechanical leverage inside the horse operates the mechanism at the top by means of a rod which passes through the supporting pipe. All working parts are all steel with "Neveroil" graphite bronze bearings. 83 SWIMMING POOL LIGHTING The use of Chicago Concrete lighting standards is an economic as well as an ornamental proposition in swimming pool lighting. First No rusting of standard to stain and streak the concrete Third-No preparation for non-use in winter is necessary The standard pictured above is the Chicago ten-foot Octagonal with Form No. 8 General Electric Novalux Unit. Write for further details CHICAGO CONCRETE POST COMPANY Paul K. Fleming, President Lawrence, Lamon & Leland Avenues Do you mention THE AMERICAN CITY when writing? Please do. Meter Company Distributing Free For a long time the Buffalo Meter Co., 2902 Main Street, Buffalo, N. Y., has realized that there was one kind of repair that is rather hard to make on any water meter. While the perfect interchangeability of parts and the simplified gear train construction have made all other repairs on Niagara and American meters easy, it is a tricky job to replace the stuffing-box without special tools. Repair men too often have to work with fingers, pliers or an ordinary wrench. The result has been that a lot of meters which are supposed to contain two corks or washers in the stuffing-box are sent out with only one after repairing. To stop this trouble, the Buffalo Meter Co. is now offering a special stuffing-box wrench free to every water-works repair department. It is a thoroughly good wrench, made specially for the Buffalo Meter Co. and rustproofed by non-tarnishing silvery white cadmium plating. It fits all sizes of Niagara and American meters, and to make it useful to every meter repair man, it is designed so that it fits all other makes of meters using a 5/8inch hexagonal stuffing-box nut. By its use a meter repair man can take two or even three washers or corks and screw them down easily with no danger of stripping the threads. The wrench covers the top of the nut entirely and direct downward pressure can be applied when the nut is turned. ^ THE NEW FREE BUFFALO STUFFING-BOX To secure one of these wrenches, it is only necessary to write on your water-works department or company letterhead, specifying to whom the wrench should be sent, to make sure it will reach the proper person. There are no conditions or strings to this offer and it is not necessary that the department be a user of American or Niagara meters to take advantage of it. Rubber Markers for Roads A new type of road marker made of orange rubber is manufactured by the National Road Marker, 210 East Erie Street, Chicago, Ill. This marker is made of a specially compounded commercial rubber with exceptional wearing qualities. The permanent orange color used in the rubber is the most visible of colors under all light and weather conditions. The orange rubber is vul canized or cured to a resilient black rubber base, so as to form a homogeneous mass, and this combination is vulcanized to a steel base of structural shape with a minimum adhesion to the steel of 700 pounds per square inch. Properly anchoring a road marker is of great importance. Ample provision is made in the National Rubber Road Marker through the use of anchor bolts for plates and horizontal anchor rods for the markers with T-shaped steel base. Various surface widths, lengths, base shapes and anchor rods, eyes and bolts make it possible for these markers to meet any traffic or street conditions. Safety zones, pedestrian paths and center lines may be marked with the orange rubber strips. unit word signs such as "Stop," "Fire," "Zone," etc., are for marking alleys, streets, fire-hydrants, sidewalks, hospital and school zones. Individual alphabet letters and numerals are made in sizes The Are you interested ? No longer can the progressive city neglect to make safe and beautiful its busy streets, boulevards, drives and parks with modern, ornamental street lighting. Light Makes Better Cities Street lighting is a proven deterrent of crime-a saver of life and a protector of property. It increases property values and stimulates business activity. You owe it to your city or town to investigate this vital civic improvement. Send today for King Design Book 100, a beautiful and comprehensive treatise on modern street illumination. Distributed by Graybar Electric Co. OFFICES IN 64 PRINCIPAL CITIES Manufactured by KING COMPANY 53 W. JACKSON BOULEVARD-CHICAGO 84 Mention THE AMERICAN CITY-it helps. from 6 x 4 inches up to 42 x 16 inches. These letters are inlaid in orange on a rectangular black background, permitting the construction of any word or sentence in the pavement in any practical size lettering. A New Snow Remover Mounted on Four Wheels A piece of snow-removal equipment mounted on four wheels and having cutting augers for the handling of wet, dry, hard, soft or icy snow at any depth, has been developed by the Klauer Manufacturing Co., Dubuque, Iowa. The machine consists essentially of an operating hood which can be dowered down to the roadway. This hood contains the cutting augers as shown in the illustration, which cut and move the snow toward the central orifice where the blower blades are located. In operation the snow is moved quickly by these blades to the orifice and then blown out of the exhaust nozzle. This nozzle may be rotated to direct the snow to the right or left at any desired elevation. The machine is made as a complete unit and not as an attachment. One engine only is required to operate the augers and the blower and to propel the machine. The propulsion requires little power, as the augers cut their own way into the snow. The blower requires the most power and is provided with a six-cylinder Climax engine developing 125 horsepower at 1,000 r. p. m. The total weight of the machine is 1,500 pounds. It is 8 feet wide and 23 feet long. The machine makes an 8-foot cut, and additional cuts may be made to take in any width up to 8 feet in either direction. The machine has ten speeds, eight forward, ranging from 2-mile per hour up to 25 miles per hour when not removing snow. This high-travel rate permits storage in heated garages at night, as the machine can be taken to and from. the place of operation. The speed range also has the material advantage of quick travel between locations of deeper drifts. A New Portable Fire-Pump A pump that drives direct from an automobile or truck engine, primes itself automatically and delivers two streams of water at pressures up to 200 pounds, is being manufactured by the American Steam Pump Co., Battle Creek, Mich. Its large capacity, strength, light weight, and full guarantee as to materials, construction and performance, are features. It will pump water for hours at a stretch without overheating the engine. Centrifugal in type, it will take water from any available source-hydrant, lake, steam, cistern or muddy slough-and will not falter, regardless of sand, dirt or cinders. This Type C-1 Barton portable pump is used principally for two classes of fire fighting its affords protection for the small community, village, suburban district, amusement park, resort or isolated institution not having a water-supply system; and being a centrifugal type pump it can be used in larger towns and cities as a booster, taking water at ordinary hydrant pressure and stepping these pressures up to 200 pounds if necessary. |