SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12266, 9 May 1903, Page 4 (Supplement)

SCIENCE, MECHANICAL INVENTIONS, ETC.

AMERICAN' COKE INDUSTRY. Coke has found entirely new fields of use in the electrical field in recent years. In the many electro-chemical industries established by the harnessing of Niagara coke (says a New York scientific paper) is employed for building the electrical furnaces, and for fusing with the different materials in the furnaces. In the manufacture of carborundum coke forms an. important part of the mixture, and it is also used for packing the walls of the furnace. The very highest grade of coke is demanded for these electro-chemical industries, and some coke ovens make a specialty of supplying products just for them. "These industries include the manufacture of such commercial articles as causticsoda, sodium, aluminium, artificial graphite, zinc, and manganese. The demand tfor the finest coke for these practically new industries is increasing so rapidly that a, number of coke ovens have been established near the scene of manufacturing. The development of the gas-engine in the past year has its bearing on the coke industry. The modern blast furnace gas-engine is a marvel of modern invention and ingenuity. _ It takes the gas from the furnaces and utilises it for generating power for different purposes. This gas used in the modern gas-en-gine performs nearly or quite double the work obtained from "it when used for steam heating purposes. In time the gas-engine in utilising the blast furnace gases will make the profits of pig-iron production more than doubly profitable. Indeed, it is believed by some that the blast furnaces may in time be erected primarily as great gas-generators, and only secondarily for making pig-iron.

BRITISH V. AMERICAN BAILWATS. Engineering says the weight of the rails kid is much the same in England and in the States, the American standard heavy track consisting of 1001b rails, with a 6in base spiked to from 14 to 16 sleepers per 39ft rail length ; whilst on the leading British lines the rails weigh from 851b to 1031b per yard, arid are supported on cast-iron chairs secured to twelve sleepers per rail length. Whilst the rail weights are similar the English system gives a much greater bearing, both to the rails on the sleepers and to the sleepers on the ballast, than does the American method, In the latter case the sleepers measure Bft by Bin by 7in, so that •even with 16 under a rail-length the total bearing of the rail on the sleeper is but 768 square inches', whilst the twelve cast-iron chairs provided on the British system afford a bearing area .on the sleepers or 1260 square inches per rail length. Again, the bearing of the sixteen American sleepers on -the ballast is hut 85.3 square feet, whilst the dozen 9ft bv 10in by sin sleepers used ■here provide, a .hearing area on the ballast -of 90 square feet. The American method of attaching the rails by spikes is, however, condemned ; but a good word is said for the movable frogs, which are common in th.3 States but almost unknown here. With these frogs the gap in the rail, where one rail crosses another, is abolished, which, adds Engineering, is undoubtedly an improvement, as only a few weeks ago a train •was- derailed at Newcastle by the engine catching the point of a dossing as it roundel a curve. The adoption in America of British methods would lead not only to greater safety but a'r-o to greater punctuality and economy. MAKIXG UP AIU'IFH IA J. JKWKI.S. Tlt'i art of artificial jewel-making, says a writer in the Connoisseur, has assumed the proportions of a great industry all over the 'Continent, Obstein, in Germany, being one of the chief centres of the iui.de. Here large stones of chalcedony, or flint, are collected ; and by-means of metallic oxide, particularly iron, they .are given a line lolour, and after being polished they take their places as more or less genuine jewels. The colours are .produced by heat and metallic oxides ; the more impregnable flints, as a rule, turn white by being heated. The.artificial jewelmaker goes, however, still farther than this, and ho can by means of his well-developed art introduce any colour at will into the flints, and consequently produce any desired "precious" stone. ft i* almost impossible, except after a careful examination, to Lull many of the highly-priced imitations, especiallv in diamonds, from the genuine article. ' WHAT is A lir.l.Sl'UONl'.': The " mctaphone," with which Sir Thomas ' Lipton's yacht is to be lilted up, is a'German invention, which, for the time being, converts an electric bull push into a telephone. It v.; not. more then twelve months since this device made the important step iron; a thought to a. fact, ami it is only within the last few months that it lias been supplied in England. '1 he metaphone may be termed a telephone for domestic purposes. Thus, instead ot ringing an electric bell, and summoning a servant .from the kitchen, a mistress would speak to tne servant through the metaphone, and the servant would be saved a join my. The apparatus consists of two patterns' of small nand combination transmitters and receivers, the one to be attached to an existing bell push in a room, and the other to be attached to a bell, or a bell and indicator board combined, in the kitchen, no alteration being required either to push, bell, or indicator- board. Telephonic ?onimunication can thus be set up netween different parts of a house, or between house and .stables, or in an hospital or other institution, or on board ship, wherever there is an electric bell service. EDISON'S NEW STOEACM-: ItA'l'TKKr. Edison has patented a remarkable invention. He has overcome (he difficulty which has hitherto prevented the storage battery irom being a success for transit purposes. Theoretically, the storage battery has been the ideal; practically, it has been far too heavy, and the expenditure of energy in conveying it and its vehicle has been so great that it has been most uneconomical. But Edison has contrived to make a strong battery which shall weigh but a few pounds', and yet will hold on the thousands of surfaces inside it sufficient electricity to drive a motor-car for a distance of several thousand miles. It will only occupy a few inches room, and by ranging several of them together it will be possible to drive even so ponderous an affair as an electric tramcar.