SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 33, 21 January 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

WIRELESS MESSAGES BY NIGHT. We are frequently astonished by the abnormally long ranges of wireless telegraph stations. Such equipments as commonly h ive only a hundred miles’ radius, on occasion are able to sAf messages a thousand miles. The was recently discussed in a German paper and it was pointed out .that such long ranges always occur after dark, and hence are probably due to the fact that the atmosphere is not ionised at night to the extent that it is in the daytime. IMPROVING ELECTRIC LAMPS. A sulstitute for platinum in electric light bulbs is much to be desired. This metal is very rare and costly, and even the minute pieces used in the 250,000,01)0 electric lamps manufactured yearly, have total value of more than £lOO,OOO. The proposition to use iron wire in its place has now been made by Dr. H. J. S. Sand. Hitherto cnly platinum wire has been satisfactorily sealed into the. bases of the bulbs on a commercial scale, but Dr. Sand claims a method of sealing iron wire vacuum-tight into glass, and has trade; a successful demonstration of his process. The cost of iron for the lamp bulbs, if used in the place of platinum, would be very small. ELECTRIC COOKING. In order to demonstrate the utilitM of electric stoves for household use, Hi dinner was recently given in Chicago, which was cocked on an electric stove adapted for a family of eight. However, 18 persons were served, showing that the family range would be of ample capacity to meet all requirements of special dinners. The dinner consisted of consomme, roast beef, lime bbans, potatoes, short cake, ’ and coffee, and the cooking occupied two hours, with an electrical expenditure of 2316 watt hours. Ihe cost of the cooking, at the prevailing rate for current was about 23 cents In the cooking, the fireless cooker principle was employed to a certain extent, the food in each case being subjected to a maximum heat for a short time, after which the current was cut off, or at least greatly reduced, so that the heat absarbad would permeate the food and cook it thoroughly.

RADIUM BATHS SUCCESSFUL.

The Government radium baths at Joachimstal have l>een pronounced highly successful by the Department of Commerce at Vienna. Of 209 patients treated with radioactive baths, and drinking water at the experimental establishment, 109 derived benefit, and only 40 were unaffected, marked improvement being shown in cases of rheumatism, poisoning, nervousness, neuralgia, and certain skin diseases, while there was no effect on wasting diseases and diseases of brain and spinal column. The results compared very favourably with those from electricity, mud massage,, etc. The action of radioactivity varies with th? strength, and up to a certain points stimulates the dells, while at a higher degree it paralyses and disintegrates. Much further experiment is necessary to determine just how to get the best results. M ASHING TAPER MONEY. It is said that during the year 1909 paper bills representing £40,000;000 were removed ft oin circulation and destroyed !>y the American Government, Much of this could have been saved and made as good as new had there been any suitable means available for washing the bills. The director of the United States bureau of printing and engraving has just purchased a billwashing machine. The machine was originally built for washing clothes, and it is so constructed that it automatically compresses air in chambers at the <?nd of the box in which the material to be cleansed is placed by a motion imparted to the apparatus from the upright handle. The compression of the air at the ends has a tendency to foioe the water through the article placea in it, and it is by this process that the filth is quickly and perfectly removed from paper bills. Only a moment is required to thorqughl ycleanse a bill, so very effective is the machine’s action, yet it will not tear or otherwise disfigure them. Some very striking comparisons were made by the inventor when demonstrating his machine. Among them was one in which a very soiled nve-dollar bill was torn in two and one-half placed in the washer. After cleansing it was removed, and pasted on to the unwashed half. The comparison proved one of the strongest arjF guments in favour of the washer> bhonid the Government finally adopt tins system for laundrying our money the bills would be thorougldy washea in an antiseptic solution, then dried ana pressed and a stiffening material added, so that the bill would return to circulation as good as new.