NOTES ON SCIENCE MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9220, 24 November 1888, Page 4 (Supplement)

NOTES ON SCIENCE MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

THE GBAPHOPHONK.

A RIVAL to the phonograph has appeared and is now in operation at the temporary offices of the TainterGraphophoneCompany, 10, Batton Garden, London. The new instrument is fixed on a stand, and is worked by treadle in a similar way to a sewing machine. A hollow rotating cylinder of black wax, varying from three to six inches in length and about an inch in diameter, is placed on a simple revolving apparatus. To this is applied the point ot an engraving needle, or cutting stylus, fixed on a mica disc, which receives the voice through a speaking tube and records the pitch and timbre. Reproduction is effected through the medium of a small and sensitive receiver attached to ear tubes. The process of receiving can be checked at will, and words impenectly caught can be repeated. In tests made recently the reproduction of the voice of the speakers was clear and exact, whether given in and out as dictation of business letters, as song, recitation, or imitation of birds and animals. The practical use of the invention when brought into commercial operation will be as a substitute for the services of stenography in point of accuracy and speed. The instrument, it is churned, will record about a thousand words in five minutes on the cylinder, which can be sent in a box by post to any part of the United Kingdom, and will, on being applied to receiving apparatus, evolve the message in the tones ot the narrator. Practically, therefore, the machine does the work of Edison's electrical phonograph. Mr. Tainter claims to have succeeded with a preparation oi wax betore Mr. Edison took up that form. Several of the machines have just been brought into this country by Mr. Henry Edmunds, oi the firm of alter T. Glover and Co., proprietors of the patents. I CHEAT CHANCES FOR THREE INVESTORS. Professor R. H. Thurston, in the Forum, states that the world is awaiting the appearance of three inventors, greater than any who have gone beiore, and to whom it will accord honours and emoluments far exceeding all ever yet received by any of their predecessors. The first is he who will show us how, by the combustion of fuel, directly to produce the electric current; the second is the man who will teach us to reproduce the beautiful light of the glowworm and the firefly, a light without heat, the proauction of which means the utilisation of energy without that still more serious wasto than the thermo-dynamic now met with in tne attempt to produce light; while the third is the inventor who is to give us the first practically successful airship. The first two of these problems are set for the electrical engineer, and we may be pardoned excess oi faith, should it prove to be such, wnen, contemplating the enormous gain to humanity which must conic oi such inventions, we look confidently ior the genius who is to multiply the wealth oi the world to an extent beside which even the boon contemn! by the creators oi the steam-engine and the telegraph will not appear overshadowing. When this inventor comes forward, and most probably not till then, it is very likely that we shall see steam superseded by a rival. Mr. Edison has gone some way towards solving the first problem by his pyromagnetic motor. HOW LEAVES CHANCE THEIR COLOUR IN At'Tl'MN. A botanist thus describes how the leaves change their colour in autumn. He ridicules the belief that frost has anything to do with it:— The green matter in the tissue of a leaf is composed of two colours — red and blue. When the sap ceases to flow in the autumn, and the natural growth of the tree ceases, oxidation of the tissue takes place. Under certain conditions the green of the leaf changes to red ; under ditlerent conditions it takes on a yellow or brown tint. This difference in colour is due to the difference in combination of the original constituents of- the green tisue and to the varying conditions of climate, exposure, and soil. A dry, cold climate produces more brilliant foliage than one that is damp and warm. This is the reason that our Northern American autumns are so much more gorgeous than those of England." Baldwin'S v■ AACIIT. Baldwin, of parachute fame, has once and for all set at rest the vexed question of the practicability oi parachute descents, and he has demonstrated the possibility of controlling the direction of his movements in mid-air The latter point was made particularly clear in a recent descent, when Baldwin, in order to avoid falling on the railway in front of a passing train, carefully steered his apparatus so as to enable him to land in the Palace grounds, near where he started. The whole performance indicates a wonderful advance in aeronautic science. The military authorities are keonly alive to the capabilities of the invention. If the parachute is ever of any use excepting as a medium for the amusement of popular open-air gatherings, it will probably be in the operations of warfare. HOW TO PROVE THE EARTH MOTION. It has puzzled the heads of a good many youngsters to know how the earth turns rouwf. A German educational journal published in Frankfort gives the following directions for proving that the earth " does move":—'"Take a good-sized bowl, fill it nearly full of water, and place it upon the Hoot- of a room that is not exposed to the shaking or jarring from the street. Sprinkle over the surface of the water a coating of lycopodium powdera white substance which is sometimes used for purposes of the toilet, and which can be obtained at almost any apothecary's. Then upon the surface of this coating" of powder make, with powdered charcoal, a straight black line, say an inch or two in length. Having made this little black mark with the charcoal powder on the surface of the contents of the bowl, lay down upon the floor close to the bowl a stick or some other straight object, so that it will be exactly parallel with the mark. If the line happens to be parallel with a crack in the floor, or with any stationary object in the room, this will serve as well. Leave the bowl undisturbed for a few hours, and then observe the position of the black mark with reference to the object that it was parallel with. It will be found to have moved about, and to have moved from east to west —that is to say, in the direction opposite to that of the movement of the earth oil its axis. The earth in simply revolving has carried the water and everything else in the bowl around with it, but the powder on the surface has been left behind a little, The line will always be found to have moved from east to west, which is perfectly good pr»of that everything else has moved the other way." MISCELLANEOUS. From an exhaustive study of the very large collection of meteorites at Harvard College, the conclusion has been arrived at that many ot the masses of meteoric iron now known are cleavage crystals, broken oil', probably, by the impact of the mass against the atmosphere. It is found that these masses show cleavings parallel to the planes of all three fundamental forms of isometric or regular system. From all that appears, the theory has come to be entertained, in respect to the origin of meteorites, that the masses were thrown off from a sun among the fixed stars, that they were slowly cooled while revolving in a zone of intense heat. W. A. Lyman, of Milford, Conn., is making the smallest possible specimen of an engine. It will be made from a silver half-dollar. The boiler is to hold about eight drops of water, but with four drops the engine can be worked several minutes. When finished it is to be placed under a glass case three-quarters of an inch in diameter and an inch and one-eighth in height. Some of the parts will be so fine and delicate that they cannot be made without the use of a magnifying-glass. The Italian Admiralty has been experimenting with olive and castor oils for lubrication aboard ship, and now the order is given forth that castor oil is to be used for all exposed parts of the machinery, and mineral oils in cylinders and for similar lubrication. The first shoe factory in New England to be run by electricity exclusively will be that lof Packard arid rover, of Brockton. A | 25 horse-power electric motor is now being ! placed in position there. Power will be ! furnished from the central electric lighting I station, and all the machin 'ry in the shop, i which is a large one, will be ope .-abed from ! that plant. The coat is estimated at much j less than the expense of runni.ig an engine j and boiler, without count...g the cost of i them. I Captain Boldt, of the Dnnish mail steamer Thyra, reports having sighted the May Island electric light at a distance of sixty/iie nautical miles. Th is the highest recorded distance at which the reiloct'on of 1 the light iiHS been ob.'.em I,