SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15298, 10 May 1913, Page 4 (Supplement)

SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

FATAL SAWDUST EXPLOSION. The falling of a bolt' among the cutters on V a machine for grinding sawdust. in a v box factory at Philadelphia is stated to P have caused a shower of sparks which g ignited the finely divided dust and*caused an. explosion which injured six employees c and killed one. Explosions of this char- q acter are common in coal mines and they i have occasionally occurred in flour mills * and other industrial establishments where t inflammable dust is generated.

HIGH SPEEDS OF THE PAST. , In these days of phenomenal speed and. the pride that goes with it in the perfection of modern motors it is instructive occasionally to examine the records of the years gone by. As one concrete example, for instance, it is recorded officially that/ as long ago as 1908 a speed'of 121.64 miles 3 an hour was attained in England in a match race between a Fiat and a Napier. The time was made in one complete circuit of the Brooklands track and it never has been beaten to this day on the Brooklands track or on any other. THE LARGEST POWER PROJECT. The State engineer of the State, of Oregon, John H. Lewis, has submitted a project for - developing 300,000 continuous electric horse-power at Big Eddy, a point throe , miles above the Dalies oh the Columbia River. .At this location the river runs through a narrow gorge which could bo j closed by a dam only 300 _ feet long, and 180 feet above its foundations, and the construction of a canal 300 feet wide, 20 feet deep and a mile and a-half in length. ' The head of water ,is 73 feet at low water, and 42 feet at high water and the mean flow of the river throughout the year is 235,000" cubic feet per second. The hydro-electric , units would be each of 32,000 horse-power.. The N total cost of the scheme would be about £4,500,000. LEGIBILITY OF COLOURED PRIN^. The French publication Le Courrier du Livre reports on some interesting experiments which have been made regarding the most favourable colour combinations for reading at a distance. •It was found that the most legible print was black upon yellow background. The order of merit obtained for different combinations is somewhat surprising, and is as follows : —(1) Black on yellow (2) green on. white; (3) red on white (4) blue on white; (5) white on blue; (6) black on white; ' 7 ) yellow on black; (8) white on red; (9) white oil green; (10) white on black; (11) red on yellow; (12) green on red; (13) red on green. It will be noticed, among other things, that the customary combination of black upon white comes sixth in th© list, about half- way down. A DRUM CORPS OF ANTS. Many observers have noticed the soldierlike qualities of an army of termites, or white ants, and an account in La Nature, based on the observations of Professor Bugnion of Lausanne, tells of a curious

drum corps among these little creatures. One day Professor Bugnion visited a little island on Lake Amobalangoda in Ceylon. While idling about he suddenly became aware of a faint drumming noise. Turning in the direction from which the sound came, ho perceived a colony of ' tenrtites beneath some dry leaves that had fallen from a bread tree. The noise, which lasted for a few seconds, ' sounded like the very distant roll of a drum. On closer investigation Professor Bugnion discovered that it was caused by a little band of termites beating a lively tattoo with their mandibles against the bottom of the leaves. They had evidently been disturbed by his approach, and were warning the working battalion of the army. Another .instance of,.the effectiveness of the drum corps was observed in the, interior of a bungalow. Noticing that termites had invaded the wall 6f one of the rooms, the owner had placed in one corner an iron pot filled with bits of wood; he hoped to attract them into the pot and then burn them. Professor aiugnion went into the room and closed a closet door somewhat sharply. Immediately he noticed a drumming noise coming from the kettle. As soon as the sound died away, ho repeated the experiment, with the same result. Each time that a sharp or unusual noise was made, or that some one talked loudly, the termites' signal of alarm ■Was drummed in the kettle. A NARCOTIC BULLET. The painless blowing off of one's arms during war time the humane shooting of wild game on hunting expeditions; and the simple operation of firing the specially prepared bullet into the heel of a fleeing burglar, to let him run a few yards further and then go off into peaceful slumber, is what a scientist hopes for a 1 medicallytreated bullet with which lie ,is experimenting. The new " narcotic bullet" is considered by a committee who have tested it to bo alike humane in warfare and deadly in hunting big game. In selfdefence »it provides the poor marksman with all tho vantages of an unerring aim. A minute particle of morphia is carried in tiny wells in the steel jacket of the regulation army bullet. Tho wound of the narcotic bullet according to the inventor, does not differ from that caused by the regulation bullets and no deleterious effects will follow the unique adminstration of the drug. The soldier, receiving a slight flesh wound from the ' new bullet, fights no more that day; he calmly stretches himself on 'the ground and goes to sleep. The man receiving a serious wound suffers no agony, as the narcotic from the bullet is absorbed by his system and he is insensible to pain before he reaches the hospital. The fleeing burglar is shot in the arm and stretches himself on the navement: and all the tmlice-

B€ll Oil tile pivvomciiv , a.llu cl*i& HID puiiLoman has to dp is summon an ambulance and haul him away. Big-game hunters need feel no fear of a countorstroko from a wounded tiger, lion, or grizzly bear. Although tho bullet may make but a slight •wound, the game is as good as bagged orico it is struck. PIfTROL FROM , COAL. One of the greatest problems of to-day-is the scarcity and high price of petrol, and of tho heavier oils now being used in ever-increasing - quantities in the navy. The supply of these fuels come to Britain practically entirely from foreign _ countries ; and it is unfortunate that it is more or less controlled by powerful combinations or trusts, which means that the nrice is kept up at the highest possible figure. Indeed, the whole British motor industry is being seriously affected by the price of petrol. A solution of the problem is said to have been found in a remarkably process of coal-distillation. This new method of obtaining tho valuable oils from coal is known as the " Del Monte" nrocess, and already a large experimental plant has been laid down in R-eddit-ch. and /a smaller one near. London. At both of these exhaustive tests on a commercial scale have been carried out with such Riirress that the invention cannot be des-

success mut mc uiTciiuivu i-amiuo % UD "escribed as otherwise than revolutionary in its results. A motor spirit, more efficient than ordinary petrol, was obtained, which could be placed upon the market at as low as lOd per gallon. This fuel has been subjected to a series of exhaustive trials, and it was shown that a gallon of the new fuel will, on an average, carry an ordinary motor three and a-half miles farther than a gallon of the best petrol. The invention consists of a specially designed retort by which all the oils that coal contains are extracted, efficiently.' Principal among these is benzol. It 'is reckoned that the annual treatment of ten million tons of coal would supply the auantitv of motor spirit, required to place the British motor industry in an independent position, free, from foreign supply and also free from trusts. From the ten million tons would also be. produced a large quantity of heavy oils suitable for naval requirements, thus placing the navy independent of foreign sources. There would also be some seven million tons of semi-coke, which should find a ready sale, particularly in large cities, on account of its smokeless qualities. ,