Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1914-08-05
SURVEYING WITH AN AUTO.
Motor Truck More Economical Than
Horse Drawn Vehicle.

Motor Truck More Economical Than
Horse Drawn Vehicle.
C. Y. Hodgson of the coast and
geodetic survey. department OF com
merce. has recently left Washington
for the southwestern part of the Unit |
ed States. where he will have charge
of Il party for the determinations OF
Pie astronomic latitude of triangula-
ton stations established by the coast
anu geodetic survey and the United
States geological survey, between Bar
stow, Tex. and the Pacific ocean.
Many of these stations are on noun.
tainS as much as 10000 feet in height. |
The results Of this work will be used
principally for geodetic purposes that
is, the determination of the figure Of
the earth and the distribution of ma
terial in the earth,s crust IN
The means of transportation for this
party will be a one and a half ton
automobile truck which was used sue
cessfuly ON similar work between Den
yer. Colo. and the Canadian border in
the season of 1913. A similar truck
had been employed also in 1912 on the !
forty-ninth parallel boundary survey
between the United States and Can
ada. The cost OF the work during the
season of 1913 is estimated as only
one-half of what it would have been
if horses and wagons had been used
for transportation. The saving in the
coming season is expected to be even
greater as the country to be traversed
is arid or semiarid and the transporta-
ton of water and forage for stock
would have been a difficult problem
! 1t is expected that the work will con
tinue until late in the autumn
The conditions in which the truck
was used We're such as to require very
frequent transportation of men and
| material between widely separated
points and in a region remote from the
| ordinary means CT communications
In the experience with the truck in
| 1912 it was found that field party
and its equipment could cover easily
| from seventyfve to 100 miles in 4
day over Indifferent roads. including
stops for gasoline. supplies. etc, en-
route. The machine will haul this load
anywhere that four horses can and in
one-fourth the time. 1t is equipped
with solid rubber tires. dual behind
and with extra tanks for gasoline and
water. The weight of the truck i is
about G,1OO pounds and the weight of
the equipment of all kinds carried, but
excluding the weight of the three pas
sengers, is about 1000 pounds, thus
bringing the weight of the entire out
| fit to more than four tons. On the
| average one gallon Of gasoline was
| used for every 81 miles and one gallon
of oil for every sixty-one miles.
| The chief Limitation in the use of the
| truck for surveying work arises from
its weight. but a lighter truck would
answer in some classes of work. Green
poles were carried to place in front of
| the dual tired rear wheels in passing
| through deep sand or mud and heayy
| planks We're carried for reinforcing
| the flooring of weak bridges For use
| in mud or sand the dual tire possesses
great advantage over the single tire.
but on the deeply rutted prairie roads
| the duals We're found TO wedge and
bind in. the rutS, so that it was neces-
| Sary to take to the prairie alongside
the road, For a skid chain a heavy,
close linked, rather flat chain about
seventeen feet long was used. This
WAS wound about six times round the
| rim and tires of each rear wheel and
The ends fastened by heavy buclled
! straps by which the slack could be
| taken up.