BRITISH INDUSTRIES.

Northern Advocate, 25 January 1922, Page 7

BRITISH INDUSTRIES.

FLYING IN A FOG,

The maintenance of a continuous service by aircraft depends upon several factors, one of the most important being the ability to fly during foggy weather. Direction-finding by means of wireless telegraphy has been of great assistance in this direction, but a much more elaborate and promising aid is that recently devised by a British engineer. The apparatus consists of an upper row of lamps controlled by a gyroscope, and an air speed indicator; by means of the signals given by the lamps and the indicator the pilot is given all the information he needs to fix his position during fog. Point-to-point flying can therefore be undertaken with the certainty of reaching the desired destination. The speed of the machine through the air, the rate at which it is turning, the direction of sideslip, and the movement required to keep the correct course are alUreeorded. Experiments with this apparatus have been going on for over 18 months and the British manufacturers recommend j its use with confidence. J

NEW USES FOR RUBBER. A very interesting competition vsjas recently organised in Great Britain. Prizes were offered for suggestions for novel uses of indiarubber. About 10,000 suggestions were sent, and the first prize was awarded for tjie suggestion for using sponge rubber for general upholstering purposes, including the making of mattresses. Another prize suggestion was that rubber should be included in liquid form with paint or other composition for use in the preservation of wood and metals against the action of the sea. A third prize was given for the suggestion that rubber sliould be used for general decorative and preservative purposes. These and other suggestions are likely to create important new departments for .British manufacturers.

ANTOMATIC TRAIN CONTROL. Many inventions have been brought out for the purposes of giving the driver of a locomotive an automatic warning that the signals are against him, and also for applying the brakes at the same moment. A new form of train controller was recently tested with success on an important British railway. The apparatus consists of an interceptor placed between the rails and connected with the ordinary signals, together with a set of (gear on the locomotive, which operates the whistle, puts on the brake, and if desired also closes the engine regulator. The interceptor takes the form of a curved metal plate hinged near one end and supported at <the other end by a weight in such a way that the highest point of the curve is about 5 inches above the rail level. If the signals are cloar the interceptor is depressed by the locomotive passing over it, but if the signals are not clear the interceptor remains at danger and gives the signals already mentioned. This and other British inventions are being studied by a special committee of the British Ministry of Transport.

NEW OIL GAS BURNER. j A demonstration was recently given in London, England, of a new type of burner for use with oil. The oil is first converted into gas in a chamber filled with nickel gauze heated by the flame. The oil gas then passes through a regulating valve and issues as a jet which carries with it the air required for combustion. The mixture then passes into another chamber, where it is still further heated; and it issues from orifices arranged according to the services required. No carbon forms in the burner, and it does not require cleaning. This invention can easily be adapted either for heating or for lighting in conjunction with an incandescent mantle.

SUCCESSFUL MOTOR LORRY. One of the reasons for the pre-emin-ence of British motor waggons i.s that open competitions are held between the i different makers every year. A trophy is awarded, annually for the most successful performance in any certified trial for a total distance of over .1000 miles. The successful vehicle at the last trial gave an average running speed of nearly 1G miles per hour with a consumption of motor spirit of IP. miles to the gallon. The lorry was fully loaded, its total running weight being 5 tons <U cwt. . The oil consumption worked out at. 504 miles per gallon, and throughout the whole of the 30 days' trial no .adjustments wore effected except the cleaning of a choked petrol cock.

STAINLESS STEEL.

The early forms of stainless steel wore not such as could be easily work(ml, but a British linn of steel makers has been carrying on a series of experiments with a view to producing a stool which will retain rust resisting properties and can be worked without difficulty both in the hot and in the cold state. Those experiments have boon successful. The sew plastic rustless steel can be stamped, punched, pressed, chased, or engraved cold; and it can be bent cold to a diameter equalling its own thickness without showing any signs of fracture. It may be polished silver bright, and this polish will remain in any atmosphere. In many cases a piece of this steel has less than half the weight of a brass or nickel peee of the same strength.

WORLD'S FIRST MOTOR LINER

The first liner to be driven by oil was recently completed in Great Britain. She is a vessel of 8000 tons and is equipped with two oil engines each with 8 cylinders designed to develop a total of 6<ioo horse power. All the auxiliary machinery in the engine room and elsewhere is driven by electricity. As this vessel will be required to make regular non-stop runs for long distances, the propelling machinery has been subjected to very severe tests which it has passed with complete sat-

isfactiOn,

WATER-TUBE BOILERS,

The voluntary work done in Great Britain in connection with standardisation is known all over the world, and it has been suplemented by a considerable amount of enterprise in arranging rules and regulations in connection with the proper use of engineering equipment. One of the most recent examples is the set of rules prepared by a British Committee governing the installation of water-tube boilers in merchant vessels. These rules have received official approval, and will therefore become standard practice. This committee intends to continue its labours in other directions where unified rules are likely to be of advantage.

CONCRETE MACHINERY,

At a recent exhibition held in London a remarkable display of concrete machinery of various kinds was made by a large nuniber of British firms. One of these machines was a concrete block maker capable of turning out 1000 blocks in an S-hours' working day, or 130 partition slabs per hour. When used on a house-building contract two of these machines turned out on the average 2400 blocks per day of 8 hours for a period of two months. On one day the two machines actually produced 3320 blocks in eight hours. Another machine designed for making concrete slabs for paving purposes averaged between 40 and 50 slabs in the hour, and has produced as many as 60 per hour under service conditions. A third machine is capablc of producing everything in the way of material that a builder or anyone undertaking repairs to property may require. Blocks of various sizes, bricks, window-sills, steps, hearths, mantelpieces, wall-coursing, and so on, can all be produced by this machine.

A NEAT GAS ENGINE ACCESSORY

It often happens that when the spark apparatus of a gas engine .fails the magneto is alleged to be at fault, whereas tke trouble is due really to imperfect insulation. A British firm has brought out a simple appliance for testing the insulation without dismantling. This appliance consists of a handle carrying a stem on which an insulated plug and a pivoted lever are united by means of simple connections. The magneto may be tested for spark and the pole-piece for leakage.

In a New Zealand egg-laying contest an Indian runner duck is stated to have laid three hundred and sixty-six eggs in throe hundred and sixty-five days. "Punch" thinks the odd egg is supposed to" have boon a sighting shot.

The measured " nip " Jias now becom j tin common practice in dealing :-ut whisky, brandy, or gin in hotel bars. Wellington publicans who wWo consulted stated that no protests have be.Mi received from the public owing to the (hango over from the pass-the-bottle system. The measure is a small copper handleless cup, which contains one flui I ounce when filled, and whenever spirits are servo. 1 they are first of all poured into the measure and from there tippel into the glass The "nip," so measured. is quite a generous one, and it is only the "three-finger man" who is likely to find his "spot" insufficient in quantity. The price of a whisky, whether drunk with sodnwa.ter or water only, is nineponce in most of t he hotels