SCIENCE NOTES & NEWS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 972, 12 May 1917, Page 6

SCIENCE NOTES & NEWS.

SILASTIC SAFETY BUMPER FOB

MOTOR-CAiRS.

A novel typo of automobile "bumper has just been brought out by a New York company. It consists of a hollow rubber tube, supported on a steel fenJer, beyond which it projects about two inches. Should any person or object be in danger of collision with a motor-car so equipped, a large part of the shock: is absorbed l/y the rubber tube, while the rest loses itself in the springs which support the steel" fender. TRIPLEX GLASS FOR MOTORS. Triplex glass, which created a good deal of comment when it was first announced a year ago, is now appealing on the market in many forms, and has caught the fancy of motorists. The glass is made into limousine windows, wind shields, goggles, etc. It consists of two sheets of thin glass with a thin sheet of xylonite botween them, the whole three sheets being combined by, glucose and hydraulic pressure into a homogeueous mass. It cannot.be shattered into splinters by any agency. It will crack and break under hammer blows, but no spLnters will fly, endangering people. THE HAT-BAND. The original purpose of the hatband was to hold a piece of cloth or linen round the head. Egyptians, in 3,500 8.C., wore headgear which consisted of a piece of linen, with a band tied round terminating in two tails at the and a survival of this to be' round in the tails of the priesent-day/ Scottish bonnet and a sailor's cap. Again, the origin oi the clocks on stockings was that they were a species of ornamentation to hide the scams where the stuff waa joined together, and the* "points'" on the backs of gloves were used to cos er the seams in the gloves of qariy times. OXYGEN MADE BY ELECTRIC PROCESS. Owing to its widespread use as an agent in cutting and welding operations, oxygon gas has become an important commercial product, <and is produced from water in large quantities by an electrolytic process in a number of factories in the United States. The electrolyte used, is a 10 or 15 per cent, solution in water of caustic soda or <>r <"> - stic "Otiisli. A direct current is passed through this electrolyte with the result that oxygen is given off at one of the electrode and hydrogen at the other. The oxygen is collected and compressed while the hydrogen is allowed to escape.

RADIUM AND AGRICULTURE.

A series of remarkably interesting experiments have been recently carried out in the West of England by certain scientists to demonstrate the extraordinary effect on vegetable growth produced by the addition to the.soil of radium-bearing and radioactive materials. 1

It appears that radishes and other root crops are obtained nearly five times as large as those grown in untreated soil at the same time. If this process could be generally adopted by our agriculturalists the increase in the prosperity of the nation would be very large.

The initial cost of such a system has hitherto stood in the way of its general adoption. But the recent discovery cjf MM. Detaille and Lafayaise, the two distinguished French chemists of Paris, and Professor Scammen', M.5.C.1., of Hadleigh, Essex, that coal contains radium, which, in the form of "lignaite," can be used for the radiumization of the soil, places the process within the reach of every agriculturalist in the country. Fruits, flowers, and vegetables can be grown in a much shorter time, in much larger quantities, and of finer quality by the use of "lignaite," cost of the treatment of an ordinary-sized garden being very trifling.

IMPROVEMENTS IN SUBMARINES

Some of the best thought of the naval engineering profession is nowengaged in trying to unify the motive power of the submarine that is, to do away with the oil engine and the battery-driven electric motor, and to substitute for it perhaps an ordinary boiler with oil fuel for rurinirig on the surface, and the so-called secondary "soda boiler" for running submerged. Many changes are afoot ?*) submarine design, notably a more minute subdivision of the hull to withstand the maximum water pressure likely to be encountered; a change in the cross-sectional- shapes to get better results in the way of stability and ease of handling, and more room for storing fuel and air; the perfecting of the signal apparatus for use under water; an increased power of offensive; some way by wliich the boats can lay mines; some way of providing the boats with light armour and with light disappearing guns, and with two and three propellors. Like the modern air craft, the submarine is immensely valuable "within limitation; but, dangerous as it is in the more confined waters of seas ia'.riy close to its base, a •vast amount of constructive work is still necessary before it can seriously .'compete with the more powerful battleships for the command of the ocean.