NOTES ON SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS ETC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8354, 6 September 1890, Page 4 (Supplement)

NOTES ON SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS ETC.

A NEW MOTIVE-POWER »OR LIFTS. Compressed air is being applied to machinery in Paris upon the Popp system with conspicuous success. The Parisian Coinpressed Air Company has just introduced a lift having this motive power, and it is being tried at the Bourse du Commerce, and at one or two of tho principle hotels. Its main recommendation is that the cost is about one-half that of hydraulic lifts, and that the oxponsoof working is proportionate to the weight of material raised. The principle of tho lift is very simple. Tho lift is worked by compressed air, which operates upon water. When tho compressed air is admitted it enters a water chamber. Tho water in the chamber is forced out under the lift ram or piston, which is driven upwards. On the descent of tho lift the water flows back again into tho chamber, so that the action is very easy and gradual. By this method tho power exerted can bo regulated ab will, and tho lifts now in use in Paris aro employed both for lifting persons and for raising machinery and similar heavy goods. Tho same company has also laid down an installation in tho Bourse du Commerce for refrigerating purposes, the air being maintained at a low temperature by expansion of compressed air. 07,0NE. A peculiar modification of oxygen called ozone (from a Greek word, ozo, I smell) exists in very small quantities, about I volume in 700,000, in tho air. This substance when analysed is found to contain nothing but oxygen. It, however, differs from oxygen in several respects—ib has a powerful odour resembling that of phosphorus ; it is a much more powerful oxidiser than ordinary oxygon, thus it corrodes cork, indiarubber, and other organic substances ; it bleaches solutions of litmus and other vegetable colours. At one time very great importance was attached to tho presence of ozone in the atmosphere. The blue colour of the sky lias been attributed to ozone. Ozone is always formed when electricity is passed through oxygon; it is thus produced in thunderstorms, and its peculiar odour can always be detected when an ordinary electrical machine is worked. It is said to be formed during the evaporation of water, turpentine, etc., under certain circumstances ; it is also produced by the action of moist phosphorus on tho air. It has never been obtained pure, but a mixture containing 1 part of ozone with four parts of oxygen can be prepared by passing an electrical discharge through cold dry oxygen. It has been proved that ozone differs from ordinary oxygen by having its atoms more condensed; the molecule of oxygen contains two atoms of ordinary oxygen, bub the molecule of ozone contains three atoms squeezed into tho same space. Its symbol is, therefore, O a . If ozone bo heated it expands, two volumes expanding to threo of ordinary oxygen. Ozone is completely absorbed by turpentine. Its presence is indicated by the so-called ozone papers, which consist of white blotting paper soaked in a solution of starch and potassium iodide. These papers turn blue when exposed to ozone. Other gases, such as chlorine, will, turn ozone papers blue. Tho air of large towns is said to be free from ozone, but it is found in the country air and especially at the seaside. Ozone is a powerful disinfectant, since it destroys the organic products of putrefaction and disease. Ozone is sometimes called an " allotrope' ("another form") of ozygen because its molecule contains tho same element as that in the molecule of ordinary oxygen, while its properties differ so widely from those usually exhibited by that element.—From " Cassell's New Popular Educator" for April. UTILISING THE NIAGARA FALLS. Once more the proposition to utilise Niagara comes up, but this time it is in more definite and practical shape than it has ever been before. There is a j>erfected plan, backed by money already subscribed, to utilise the power of Niagara—that is, not the falls themselves, but of the water head of the river above the Falls. The plan to be carried out is one that has already been outlined. It is to be put in force by the Niagara River Hydraulic Tunnel Power and Sewer Company. The idea is to tap the river some distance above tho Falls, run a main tunnel with which shall connect twenty-four cross tunnels, and twelve raceways, the whole costing in tho neighbourhood of about £500,000. Tho power thus obtained, even if sold at a ridiculously small figure, will pay a good return on the investment. A great deal of it would be used directly in driving factories and mills some distance above the Falls, and the rest would be used in lighting and in the long-distance transmission of electricity. In fact, electricity plays a largo part in the scheme, and it is whispered around that Mr. Edison will occupy an important position as consulting electrician to tho enterprise, which will also be backed at least by one of the strongest houses in Wall-street. The water that is drawn off will not in any material sense lessen tho quantity going over the Falls. The beauty of the scene will also bo preserved from the fact that tho factories and manufacturing establishments will be quito remote from the Horseshoe and the American Falls, and that the main tunnel will discharge its waters, 'ike a third fall, some distance bleow the present town. The place is a gsod one for manufacturing and tor tho distribution of goods, and there are, in a word, no difficulties to contend with other than those that can be overcome by tho simplest rules of scientific and correct engineering.—Electrician.

MTRO-GLYCEKIN'E AND HEART DISEASE.

The London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian writes: —"A distinguished chemist, on hearing the news of t he sudden death of Mr. Biggar, is reported to have said that the lion, gentleman might have been alive at that moment if he had happened to have at the time of the attack a dose of nitro-glycerine in his possession. Nitro-glycerine, it appears, if taken in very small doses, has the effect of warding off a fatal attack of angina pectoris. In this way the life of the late Mr. if. Richard, M., is said to have been saved on more than one occasion." TIER HEADS OF MEN" OF DIFFERENT RACES. Some interesting facts were furnished some time ago by English hatters respecting tho sizes of men's hats. Tlio size;" is tho mean between the length and breadth of a hat.; thus, measurements of 7h inches by 6 J inches would give No. 7, and so on. The usual size for an adult Englishman is No. 7. Germans have round heads, Malays small ones. The heads of Portuguese average from 65 to 7 inches ; those of Spaniards are a littlo larger. The heads of Japanese excel the English average. Men who have much to do with horses arc said to have tho smallest heads, and a rough relation appears to exist between tho size of the head-dress and the mental capacity. —Popular Science Monthly. MISCELLANEOUS. The peaks of ixtaceihuatl and Popocatapetl in Mexico aro to be made accessible, to tourists, and a concession has been granted for a railway to connect them with the Inter-Ocean Railway. As the latter mountain is 17,800 feet above sea level, or about 10,000 feet abovo the Mexican tableland, there will be some heavy engineering work in building the road. According to Reuter's Now York agency, two more serious fires have been caused by electric wires. One occurred at a brewery at Elizabeth, New Jersey, tho damage being estimated at 'Js,ooodols. Tho other broke out in a dwelling-house at Schenectady, New York, and the owner was suffocated on returning to his burning home in the hope of saving some of his property. A patent has been obtained for a now lubricant suitable for heavy machinery. French chalk is dissolved in paraffin, and it is claimed that a rubricanb equal to sperm is thus produced at much loss cost. . Aluminium formed the subject of several interesting lectures before the recent convention of mining engineers, and cooking utensils made of the new metal wore among the curiosities displayed. For some time past European physicians have noted a connection between groundwater and typhus. The disease appeared to gain force as tho water goes down, and to decline as the water rises. Professor Bruckner, however, recently pointed out that the last great epidemic of typhus in Hamburg corresponded in time with certain harbour works then being carried on in that port, and he attributes the epidemic to the upturning of enormous masses of earth in which bacteria swarmed. He thinks it was the diffusion of these among the inhabitants which caused the outbreak of typhus. An electrical engineer of Carphin claims thfe invention of a mouthpiece for pipes, that will prevent any connection of the nicotine deposited in smoking with the , tongue.