NOTES ON SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9187, 29 April 1893, Page 4 (Supplement)

NOTES ON SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

AN IMPORTANT INVENTION. Engineers aro quito interested in a device " lately brought forward for sounding an n alarm whbnover a bearing gets hot. The a arrangement consists of a cup containing °j some morcury, this cup being sot in tho bearing, and wires aro conncctod from the > cup to a bell and annunciator, ono of tho u wires leading from a screw that can bo sot j« at any desired distance from tho surface of ° tho mercury ; this scrow is screwed down b until it touches tho morcury, and tho cir- B cuit completed through tho morcury, cans- {,' ing tho boll to ring, and tho scrow is backed tl any distance renuirod. Should tho bearing <> become heated tno mercury expands, closing JJ tho circuit when it touches tho screw, and 0 thus giving tho alarm. It is proposed to 1 have ono on each bearing, the belief being w expressed that though this would lead to a :' multiplicity of numbors, and somo confusion p at times, no doubt can bo entertained that it would save fires very often in such placos as sawmills, also in somo portions of cottonmills, where dust is likely to got into a bearing and cause it to heat, this arrangt moot, it is thought, may servo a useful purpose. SHIT MODELS FOR CHICAGO. Tho White Star Company will exhibit at Chicago models of the four different typos of vessols now in its service. One exhibit will illustrate tho first steamer of tho line, the old Oceanic, an ocean record-maker in her titno. Fourteen days across was considered a wonderful performance in her day. Another exhibit will be a model of tha steamer Britannic, which followod the Oceanic, and is rated n.s an eight-day ship. The difference in tho two ships is marked and shows tho advance in marine architecture. The third oxhibit will be a model of the cargo-boat Bovic. The fourth exhibit, a model of the steamers Teutonic and Majostic, will undoubtedly be the finest work of its kind yet turned out. Every littlo detail of tho mammoth steamors, even tho strands in the cablos, will bo faithfully reproduced. A model of their engines, complete in every detail, will be also added to tho exhibition. The models cost between £1200 and £1300 each to build, TIIK ADVANCE OF SCIENCE. j Until very recently it was universally I hold that dew fell from tho open heavens; t now it is known to rise from tho ground, it Water was thought to be colourless; but ■ even distilled water has been shown to be . blue. Without dust in the air there can bo t no rain, no cloud, no glows, no twi- l light. This dust can be counted ;as many J as millionsof particles have been enumerated / in tho cubic inch of air. Disease germs c have been counted in air and water ; light- l ning has boon proved to possess a life- t restoring power; the very substances in < the sun's atmosphere have been ascertained ; <! ice has been heated by lowering the pro*- Jj sure ; beautiful colours, rich perfumes, use- j ml modicines, and sorvicoablo sweeteners * have been produced from coal tar; tho a , flight of a bird has been photographed in \ detail, and speech has been registered by « tho phonograph and by photography ; tho ( very depths of the sea havo boen examined, j A network of telephonic power has been { stretched over the land ; and many other t remarkable advances have beon made. J POWER-DISTRIBUTION 1!T KLKCTRICITY. t So immensely does electricity lend itself { to economy and efficiency in powor-distribu- t tion, that not only are there schemes being i carried out for tho utilisation of tho vast I energy running to waste in given places j such as in waterfalls like Niagara and other < lesser falls—but it is proposed by Mr. B. H. ' Thwaite to distribute power over tho chief j English manufacturing areas, by burning , coal tit the pit-mouth, where it is comparatively cheap, and turning it into electricity in tho form of high-pressure alternating currents. In this way be would form ono station to supply the whole of Lanca- , shiro and the Ship Canal with energy ; from i another would be supplied Yorkshire; ' whilo a third would servo tho Midlands and [ London. i THE BITE OF A SNAKK. I Tho heads of most of tho venomous snakes, including tho "rattlers," bulge ! just beyond the neck. Without exception | thoy havo fangs, either always erect or raised and laid back at will. These fangs arc long, sharp-pointed tooth, with a hollow groove running their entire length. At tho root of each fang is a littlo bag of poison. j When tho snake bites tho motion presses the poison sac, and its contents flow down ; through the hollow in the tooth into tho puncture or wound. The harmless little , forked tongue is often spoken of by the uninformed as the snake's " stinger." Now there is no proprioty in tho name, as tho poisonous snakes do not sting, but bite their victims. There is no creature, oven if brought from foroign countries where " rattlers" do not exist, but will halt and tremblo at the-first warning. COTTON CLOTHING MADE FROM WOOD PULP. A Hungarian invontor claims to havo mado a discovery which will revolutionise tho textile industry. Ho assorts that he is ablo to spin ordinary wood pulp or cellulose into yarn, from which all sorts of textile tissues can bo mado in tho ordinary way, equalling in appearance, durability, and fastness of colour tho best cotton goods. Tho method is not only applicable to celluloso (says tho Standard's Vienna correspondent), but also to every sort of short, fibrous material —for instance, rags, scraps of cotton, and linon goods. The fibre, whether paper pulp or textile refuse, can bo dyed before boin" spun into yarn, so that the dyeing of the woven material is nob necessary. THE LIGHTS OF LONDON. Sir John Ponder and tho Metropolitan Electric Supply Company aro gradually stretching out their arms all over London. To tho generating stations in Sardiniastreet, W.C., Whitehall Court, S.W., Blaokhorse Yard, Rathbono Place, W., South-street, Manchester Square, W., and Waterloo Wharf, S.E., has now beon added another situated in Amberly Road, Paddington. Altogether tho company has now 8000 horse-power machinery, and can supply oloctric light either in bottle or in consumers' own jugs to the extent of 130,000 candles. Tho Amberly Road depot was inspected recently by the members of the Paddington vestry. Sir John Pender, Sir George Elliot, and other directors of tho company wore tliero to meet them, and to fill their minds with tender thoughts of amperes, and " volts and things," as Lady Russell onco expressed horself. Tho buildings aro fitted with five largo horizontal engines connected' by ropes with Kapp alternating dynamos. An interesting collection of electrical cooking apparatus was shown by Messrs. Crompton. Tho most interesting articlo was an electrical tea-tablo kettle. In tho course of a few remarks Sir John Ponder said gas shareholders would bo glad to hear that although tho eloctric light was tho light of tho future, tho consumption of gas must at tho same timo increaso as tho population increased and tho many purposes for which gas could bo applied multiplied. i THE VESUVIUS TESTS. • Naval circles havo been greatly interested L in tho trial of the pneumatic guns of the ' dynamite cruiser Vesuvius, which recently ' occurred at the naval station at Port Royal, South Carolina. Tho results of tho tests, so 1 far as reported, seem to havo given satis- j 1 faction. On the first day twelve shots were 1 fired, six at a range of 2000 yards and six at ' 1500 yards, the threo guns being fired in ' succession. No target was used on this 1 occasion, but every shot fired would havo ! struck a man-of-war at tho distance designated by the trial board. On tho second day the firing was at a range of ono thousand . yards, and was equally satisfactory in its x results. At tho five- hundred-yard range j the firing was not at first as successful as at , other ranges, but later tho starboard gun was fired at that range and scored a bull's- , eye. Subsequent trials were accepted as r demonstrating tho ofTectivenoss of the guns, t and the report of tho board is expected to confirm this view. , A NEW ELECTRIC CAR. t A Cleveland inventor has takon out a t patent for an electric car, which, ho says, i can easily make 180 miles an hour, and is a destined to revolutionise tho railroad busi- % ness. His car is a bicycle arrangement, a and hangs suspended from a single rail I somo twenty feet above the ground. It. is , designed to bo put into operation between , Now York and Philadelphia, and the ini venter says that it will make tho distance 3 in half an hour. The car is built with t pointed ends, to avoid as much as possible s tho resistance of the atmosphere. It is exb poctod to havo tho lino in operation before long.