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Page: of 446
Ei)
The result is affirmed to be the partial
oa
<4
July 5, 1879.) MINING AND SCIENTIFIC PRESS. 3
ecHanicaL ‘PRocress.
Cable Towing.
Ths Belgian cahls towiug system, which has
been used for years on the canals and rivers of
Earops, and which has given very satisfactory
results ou a short seetionof the Erie canal, is
now about to hs introdneed on this water-way
on an eularged scalo.
The following are the special features of this
system: There is provided first a wire rope,
which is laid down alongthe hottom of the caual
the whols length of the coursc, and attached nt
both ends, The tow-boats (or tugs), each of
which is to draw its flect of boats, are provided
with engines for giving motion to the peculior
feature of the system, namely, the device known
as the ‘‘clip pulley.” This is a large drum provided on its periphery with a series of movable
jaws, forming a continuous groove for the recoption of the wire rope. These movable jaws nore
so contrived that they successively close upen
the wire rope as the drum revolves, and clutch
it with a force directly proportioned to the
amount of strain breught upon the rope hy the
weight of the tow. Any slipping of the cahle is
thus prevented—the tightness nf the clutch of
the pulley heing automatically regulated hy the
amount of the load. In operating the system,
the cable is raised from the hed of the canal,
placed in the groove of the drum, which (proyidsd with snitahle guiding and tightening pulleys) is usually placed ou the deck of the tug
near the bow, and the engine heing started, the
tug polly itself nlong, and its fleet of boats in
tow, by means of the cable, which it draws up
at the bow, and pays out over the stern, where
it falls again to its place at the bed of the
canal, The record of the short seetion of 42
miles, from Buffalo to Middleport, which has
been tried in this country, is reported to have
heen most satisfactory. The speed ‘“‘was three
times greater than the average of animal power,
although seven times the amount of freight was
hanled hy the cahle-hoat.” The largest tow
consisted ofseven canal-hoats, loaded with 1,499
tons of ceal, the equivalent of 150 car-leads,
and the mechanical operations of the drum is
pronounced to have heen in every respect admirahle.
Exvectric Car Sionau.—A trial will soon_he
made of a new signal recently patented by Mr.
I. A, Sherman and Mr. C. E. Mees, of Louisyille, Ky. The first named gentleman is an accomplished electrician, and connected with the
Louisville & Nashville railroad, The invention
consists in comhining a signal device upon the
locomotive with two conducting wires extending
through the cars of the train, and terminating
at the end of each car in adjacent contact plates,
forming seats, together with a flexihle cnhle
having two insulated wires terminating in metal
plates separated hy a soft ruhher hlock, to continue the cirenit, hut permitting it to he hroken
when the cars separate, and transmit a signal to
that effect te the engineer. It can he applied
to freight as well as passsnger cars. The cost
will he something more than that of the system
now generally in use.—Vat. Car Builder.
APPARATUS FOR Frenne BotLers.—Signor
Chiazzari, of the Alta Italia railway, has recently descrihed a new apparatus for feeding
the boilers of locomotives and other non-cendensiug engines with water heated to within n
few degrees of the hoiling point. The apparaftis consists in hringing the feed-water in a fine4 divided spray into contact with a portion of
the exhanst steam during its passage through
the feed pump, and of an automatic arrangement for shutting off the supply from the
tender the moment the regulator is closed, thus
reventing the admission of cold water to the
oiler. Mechanically, the pump appears to he
successful, as it has worked without trouhle
since January, 1876. Ecouomically it seems to
have answered, for the saving in fuel, in a trial
of four months, is said to have heen very large.
A NEw process for the production of a superior
artificial etone is descrihed to consist of the employment of a thorough mixture of six narts of
fine eand and one of slacked lime, which is exposed for ahont three days to a high temperature
under a pressure of some three atmospheres.
ecoinposition of the silicious particles with the formation of silicate of lime, which acts as a cement,
so that the mass, when cooled down to tbe ordinary temperature, hardens. This hardening
process is said to continue for some weeks after
exposure to the air, and the final product is deelared to he as hard and solid as good sandstone. —Mining Journal,
Gas Encinrs.—The introduction of gas engines, says the Hngineer and Mininy Journal,
has attained to remarkahle dimensions in Germany and England (especially), where engines
of this class, as high as 30 to 50-horse power
have heen huilt. Mr. Rohert Grimshaw, reporting upon a recent visit to the Gasmotorenfahrik, Deutz, notices that’a 50-horse power gas
engine, for a beet-sugar factory, was in course
of construction there. The gas companies, in
view of large consumption, furnish gas at very
reduced rates for such engines,
Tur Laresr TeLeruone.—At a recent meeting of the Society of ‘Telegraph Engineers in
Loudon, an interesting feature was the diselosure made by Major Webher, R, E., to the
effect that he had recently experimented with o
remarkahle new carbon telephone from America,
which owed its power to a diaphragm of nonimal
tissuo, With this instrament, which was not
further described, Major Wehhcr was ohle to
speak in a low tone over 70 miles of wire with
perfect clearness. A part of this line consisted
of undergrouud cable, in which from 20 to 30
othsr cireuits were busily at work without interfering with the telepnouic message. Tho voice
of this instrument was singularly full and lifelike, whereas that of miagneto-tclephones is
peculiarly thin and parrety. This experiment
1s completely cast in the shade by the successful
working of au ordinary tclephono perfectly
through 195 miles of wire. This was accemplished by Lieut. Reade, of the United States
Military Telegraph, between San Diego and
Fort Yuna, The old-fashioned telephones of
years ago had a diaphragm of nnimal tissue ond
could be used at remarkably long distances
without any magnetie current at all. It is now
very certain that tho power of tho telephone to
transmit vibrations dees not depend on the diaphragm so much as upon the medium which
transmits them, and even now diaphragms are
heing dispensed with. So Majer Webhee has
not discovered anything very new or curious,
Evrorean Sroves.—In Russia, Sweden, Norway, and all Northern Europe, stoves are usually
built of hrick, covered with porcelain and placed
while building in the house. They are of the
size of a large and very high chest of drawers,
and usually stand in the corner of the room.
The tire is burned in a furnace near the hottom,
and the heated smoke is made repeatedly to
traverse tho structure from side to side, along a
winding passage, before it reaches the top,
where a pipe conveys it, now comparatively
cold, into a flue in the wall. The heated mass
of brick continues to warm the roem long after
the fuel is burned. It is generally sufficient to
warm the stove once a day. The same quantity
of wood or turf burned in an open grate would
he consumed in an hour, and would hardly be
felt. There is oue of these stoves iu every
room.
Wirebound SHEAVES AND THE MILLERS.—
The millers of the Western States of America
have set themselves against the use of wirchinding reaping machines on the ground that
the wire gets into the flour and offal, and iujures the milliug machinery. The Minnesota
millers have agreed not to huy wheat that has
heen hound with wire, except at a reduction of
10 cents per bushel, As nearly all the selfhinding reapers of America bind with wire, this
propesed action of the millersis a serious one
for the farmers, and for the makers of the
American sheaf-binding reaping machines. It
is donhtful, however, whether they will have
power to carry it into effect. No string-hinder
has yet heen uninterruptedly successful in
ordinary field use, though two or three are now
hefore the public, and will probably he perfected
after another harvest.
Car Heater.—Mr. John Somerset, of Manchester, Eng., has invented a heating apparatus
for railway carriages. Inside the smoke-bex of
the locomotive is a coil of pipe connected with
3, trumpet-meuth in front, so that as the eugine
travels, a current of air is forced into the coil,
where it is heated and conveyed by pipes to the
train, Each carriage is fitted with a series of
pipes passing under the seats of the several
compartments. The connection hetween the
engine and first carriage, and between the
other carriages, is by means of a telescope sliding tuhe and hall and socket joint, so that the
train can expand and contract and pass curves
without hreaking the connection. The rear
end of the tube is open, so that as the train
travels, a continuous current of hot air passes
from one end to the other.—Car Builder.
Workixe Sruam ar Hicn Pressure.—lt is
well known that great efficiency in steam
engines is ohtained hy an increase of pressure
and the use of expansion. To accemplish this,
the point lies uot so much with the engine as
with the hoiler, engiueers finding no ditticulty
in working an engine with steam at 150 to 200
pounds per square inch; therefore Mr. Walt, an
eminent Liverpool engineer, thinks there is no
linit to the practical working pressure. Some
engineers will he inclined to differ with this
opinion, as the management of steam used expansively in simple reciprocating engines at
ranges of pressure much exceediug those named,
is considered hy many risky practice.
Sruxp-FAceD Iron Piares.—A cast-iron mold
is divided into two scctions by means of a transverse plate of thin shect iron. The two metals
are then poured into the respective compartments, The sheet iron partition prevents the
mixture of the metals and facilitates the welding hy itself heing hrought intoa state of fusion. It is said that the product is well adapted
for safes, and that it resists drills.
Sorr STEEL BEING USED FoR Tin PLares.—A
correspondeut of the London Afining Journal,
who appears to he well informed, states that
very large quantities of tin plates made from
steel are branded charcoal and hest charcoal,
and so exported, and these plates, he affirms,
are exceptionally well received, especially for
stamping purposes, in the United States.
& wy
SCIENTIFIC ‘Proaress.
Centrifugal Force and Fly Wheels.
It is not always that practical men are willing to admit tho value and importance of scientific knowledge as regulatiug the operations and
accidents of n workshop. We had a valuahle
incident of the kind that forced itself upon our
notice, says a fereign contemperary, a few days
hack. <A large pulley or rigger, three feet in
diameter, and very wide, was split across its
rim hy carelessness in unloading; at the s1me
time it was noticed that two of the arms out of
six were cracked hy contraction in cooling.
Jn order, however, to save expense it was proposed to patch the broken rim of the pulley
with wrought-iron plates, which was done.
Per se, the iron plates were stronger than the
original casting, hut the whole weight of the
patch amounted to about 15 pounds. As the
pulley revolved at tbe rate of 600 revolutions a
niinute, this uuhalanced weight on the rim hecame by calculation as much as 74 ewt. radial
force outwards, This scientific result was
hrought to the knowledge of the practical men,
but they could not see why the pulley would
not do very well if the patch was as strong os
she rest of the rim, The pulley was accordingly run under protest, and hardly had the
maximum speed heen attained before the pulley flew in pieces, and might have heen dangerous to life and limb. The pulley, undouhtedly,
hroke, as aheve indicated, hy centrifugal force,
which, by the uubalanced patch of 15 pounds,
caused a breaking radial prsssure outward upon
the broken rim at the position of the patch of
74 cwt. This was quite sufficient to break the
rim outward with enormous force, so that the
pieces flew ahout the shop like fragments of a
hursting shell. It will be well for machinists
to rememher this incident when they have oceasion to repair fly-wheels.—Scientific American,
UNDERGROUND TELEGRAPHING.—Two systems have been propesed. In one, known as
the Alberger plan, tuhes of glass are prepared
of a convenient length and about one-eighth
iuch internal diameter, in which a steel wire is
introduced. This compound tuhe is then inserted in an iron one, the whole hrought to a
welding heat in a furnace, and then rolled, reducing the iron pipe so as to make a solid mass
of pipe, glass and coating. The coating of iron
acts as a shield and an arrester of induced currents. The wiro being perfectly insulated is
capable of working to a higher capacity and
with less resistance than any other system,
The wires are buried in the ground, a hattery
attached to the first piece of pipe and the pieces
connected by the ordinary telegraphic tie—
testing with a galvanometer as the work progresses. A hell-shaped sleeve somewhat larger
than the pipe is drawn over each joint when
cennections are made, and an insulating fluid
poured into the sleeve through au orifice in the
center, thus making a joint impervious to moisture and perfectly insulated. The second system is the invention of David Brooks, the wellknown electrician, The wires wrapped in cotton, 20, 30 or more are placed in an ireu pipe,
and after heing laid in the ground oil is introduced and allowed to run its entire length, the
source of supply being an elevated vessel always
kept full so as to keep a constant pressure ou
the oil already there. These pipes have heen
laid in Philadelphia. The strong point in their
favor is economy. Any numher of wires may
be enclosed in,a small space, while the work of
laying them does not involve much expense.
Once in place they are free from disturhances
of all kinds,
PREHISTORIC REMAINS IN OREGON. —The coast
of the Pacific ocean some distance helow the
mouth of the Columhia and ahove, even to the
colder latitudes, shows in its shell mounds or
heds evidences of a dense population that must
have long ago lived and thrived on the bounteous
sea-food that the ocean provides, Up the little
streams and inlets may these heds also be found.
Excavations made at Clatsop heach, Oregon,
show a depth of six feet of shells, human henes
and skulls without having reached the original
dixt stratum. The length of this hed is unknown and its age can only he imagined. It is
in shore half a mile, and in ancient times must
have heen the beach proper. Ages have passed
since these wild people encamped hy the hoomning waves, for immense old firs, five and six
feet in diameter, are growing over the giant
trees that preceded them. No implements of
any kind have as yet heen found in these beds.
It is said that similar heds are found on the
Alaska coast, also remains of ancient junks,—
American Antiquarian.
LocaTion of THE GARDEN oF EpEex.—Of the
four rivers which encircled the Garden of Eden
in Genesis, the Phrat and Chiddekel have long
ago heen identified as the Euphrates and Tigris,
A cuneiform monument in the British museum
has a series of geographical names, and among
them occur Pisan and Guchan, hoth canals of
the Euphrates. Pisan was a canal running
south of the Euphrates, and in the epoch of
Alexander the Great, went nnder the name of
Pullakopas canal; it is the Pisan or Pischon of
the Bible, and Guchan is the Gibon. The Hehrew people had therefore placed the cradle of
the human race in the vicinity of Babylon. . .
Fuel-Gas from Water.
Much attention has recently heen directed to
tho Lewe & Strong processes for producing a
cheap gas by tlie decomposition of water, which
in the form of steam is brought in contact with
incandescent carhon. The cxperimeuts that
have lately been niade in Sweden and Russia
have been attended with favorahle results, and
several scientific men, some of them government
officials, declare ‘‘ that the gas has hy us been
employed for welding wrought iron, for smeltiny in crucibles ns well as pig iron as steel; that
the results of these experiments have heen very
satisfactory as to the heating power of the gas.
On the other hand, we can coufirm the statement that the employment of the gas for cooking purposes causes extraordinary saving in the
household department, and that the cleanliness
and couvenience of its use must make it a
favorite with all Nousekeepers.”
The gas was used in a small baking and roasting stove, which required a gas consumption of
only fourtcen feet an hour, maintaining a constant heat of 275° centigrade,
For illumination the gas was conducted
through no vessel filled with cotten moistened
with henzine, and the result was eminently
satisfactory.
TELEPMONES WITHOUT DiarnRracms.—M. Ader
reports some experiments confirmatory of the
views of Du Moncel, upon tclephones without
diaphragms. He has often ohserved that the
reproduction of words and sounds, which are
occasioned hy the interruption of currents, can
he made in these telephones with a different
quality, and upon a higher or lower pitch, necording to the degree of tension which is given
to the iron wire; hut if the fundamental sound
of the wire is mufiled hy holding it hetwecn
the fingers, the sounds which are reproduced heceme dull, a little more feehle, and always in
the same tone. He concludes from his experiments, that the sounds which are produced hy
a magnetic nucleus are prohahly the result of
shortenings and lengthenings of the wire, determined hy rapid magnetizing and demagnetizing, the molecular vihrations of the magnet
producing the effects of the telephone, and the
iron diaphragm only strengthening the vibrations, and rendering them more sensihle to the
ear hy its own vibrations. We know it is
possible to replace the iron plate of the receiver
hy non-maguetie substances, as a plate of copper, glass, woed and even card-hoard, The
magnet does not exercise any particular action
upon the diaphragm. The mistake was not in
the fact hut in the cause, the suhstance of
the diaghragms receiving the molecular vibrations and communicating them to the ear.
Tue Hetiocraps.—Devices for signaling,
very similar to the heliograph or ‘sun writer,”
have heen in use for ages. As far back as the
Persian invasion of Greece, polished metal surfaces were used to flash the rays of the sun and
give warnings of one kind or another, The
signaling in this and other cases was, however,
imperfect, and could not he carried on over a
space of more than 18 miles. But the instrument now in use, the Mance heliograph, is a
great improvement, fer it not only concentrates
the sun’s rays hut it flashes them with the
utmost precision to any required spot, irrespective of the relative lecation of the sun, It is
also provided with a finger key, so that flashes
may he made of long or short duration, thus
permitting the employment of the Morse telegraphic alphabet. Under favorable conditions
Intercourse has heen carried on through the
medium of two of these instruments over a distance of nearly 100 miles, and at several peints
occupied hy the English army in Afghanistan,
regular communication is maintained at distances of not less than 50 miles hy heliographio
signals, The instrument weighs only seven
peunds and can he carried and worked hy one
man, Itis, of course, useless in cloudy weather.
Tt has nlready heen propesed to establish a
systematic telegraphic communication hetween
various islands in the West Indies hy this process, and hefore long it will be adopted as a
means of signaling hetween vessels when at sea.
New Use ror Parer.—A great diversity presents itself in the various useful purpeses to
which paper, or papier mache, has been applied
of late years. Besides ornamental articles,
clothing, hedding, stamps, hoxes, harrels, picture frames, furniture, stovepipes, chimneypots,
hricks, partition walls, carriage and car wheels
and hoats, it would seem as if the inventive ingenuity of manufacturers has succeeded in
adapting this single suhstance to sume new use
every day. The last remarkable application of
papier mache is the manufacture of a revolving
dome for the astronomical ohservatory of Prof.
Greene of the Polytcchnic Institute at Troy.
This dome has an internal diameter of 29 feet,
and if constructed in the usual manner, would
weigh five or six tons and require powerful and
complicated machinery to manipulate it, hesidee
also requiring foundations of considerahle depth
for its support; whereas the total weight of the
paper dome will not exceed a ton and threequarters, and, mounted on pivote working in
iron grooves, is capahle of heing revolved in any
direction required without the assistance of any
machine or npparatus of any kind. The paper
is put upon a light framing of wood, and is, hy
means of a special prepnration, rendered fully
as hard and even more rigid than wood,