SCIENCE AND INVENTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13650, 18 January 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

SCIENCE AND INVENTION.

. GOOD BRAZING. Much trouble ,is caused in brazing by not, using thoroughly fused borax. Dry .borax does not answer, as it swells while brazing, and makes the joint porous. It should bo melted in a clay or iron crucible to a clear liquid so as to drive off/ all water. Such borax will not swell when used for brazing. 'ELECTRICITY AS AN ANAESTHETIC. Professor Leduc, of the School of Medicine at Nantes, has discovered a way of substituting anaesthetics with electricity. Two electrodes are applied to the skull, the points -of contact being carefully shaved and a current of 35 volts is applied in its full strength intermittently for minute periods of time and a pleasant sleep takes place at once and lasting as long as the application of the current is continued. JAPANESE VEGETABLE MILK. In a recent number of a Japanese journal a Mr. T. Kalajama described a process for the manufacture of a vegetable mills* the properties of which would render it highly suitable for use >in tropical countries. The preparation is obtained from a well-known member of the leguminous family of plants (namely, the Soja bean), which is a. very popular article of food among tho Chinese. The beans are first of all softened by soaking, and are then pressed and boiled in water. Tho resultant liquid, is exactly similar to r cows' milk in appearance, but it ie entirely different in its composition. This Soja bean-milk contains 92.5 per cent, water, 3.02 per cent, proteine, 2.13 per cent, fat, 0.03 per cent, fibre, 1.88 per cent, nonnitrogenous substances, and 0.41 per cent, ash. Kalajama added some sugar and a little phosphate of potassium (in order to prevent the elimination of the albumen) and then boiled the mixture down till a substance like condensed milk was obtained ; this "condensed vegetable milk" is of a yellowish colour and has a very pleasant taste, hardly to be distinguished from that of real cows' milk. However, it still retains the aroma of the Soja bean. It is recommended as a cheap and good substitute for condensed cows' milk. ATTACHMENT FOR TRACTIONOPERATED IMPLEMENTS. An "attachment for' farm implements, particularly harvesters, binders, and the like, has recently-been invented, which provides means for operating such implements independently of- the traction wheels. ..It consists of a motor, _ preferably a gasoline motor, of such design and so mounted that it can easily be attached to any implement. The motor is supported on a platform which is secured by Ushaped bolts to a pair of' tubular members. By means of a number of U-shaped clamps, these tubular members may be quickly secured to the side frame members of the. implement. The motor is provided with Sprocket gearing, whereby it may bo operatively connected with the machinery of the implement. No changes whatever are made in the structure of the implement,. and in applying the attachment, all that is necessary is to remove the chain from the sprocket/gear of the motor to the driving sprocket of the mechanism. The motor is enclosed in ..a casing to keep out dust and dirt. The casing may be opened to provide access to any part 'of the motor whenever desired. The engine employed is a. comparatively small one, and its weight does not materially increase the weight of the implement; but' as it operates, all the mechanism of the harvester and binder, the power required of the horses to draw the implement, is reduced' to a very material extent, thus making it possible to operate the machine at a much,, faster rate and with greater efficiency. If anything should accidentally'happen to the engine, or the supply of fuel run out, the driving'chain may' be again applied to the sprocket gear on the traction wh'jel, and the machine operated in the same manner as before. A patent on this improved "attachment _ lias been granted to Messrs. G. O. Helvig and E. Danielson, of Dawson, Minn.

TWO, EGGS A DAY FROM A HEN.

In a recant issue of Science Professor Oilman A. Drew, who has been conducting experiments in connection with the egg-laying possibilities of hens- at the Maine Experiment Station, _ quotes instances of liens which have 1 laid two eggs within twenty-four hours.- • The 'most 'in*teresting case is that of a pullet, which apparently'laid two eggs in one day early in March, 1906. During March and April there are records of five ' days on each of which this hen laid two eggs. Although she was carefully watched for more than . a vear and a-half, there are no other records of her having laid more" than one egg in a day. It should be added that the records of days on which she was known to lay two eggs came during the months of . her greatest egg-pro-ducing activity. Professor Drew has noted a number ,of instances of hens laying two eggs in a day, but the records show that in most cases on either the day before or the day after that on which two eggs were deposited no egg was laid. ; Such cases may reasonably, be accounted for by supposing premature or delayed delivery, but this cannot be true of the hen whose record has been given, where, for the five days beginning with April 3 and . ending with April 7, eight eggs were laid. There a.re two other instances where an average of more than one egg in a day for a limit-ed-period was made. In both of these cases the possible mistake in the reading of the numbers on the distinguishing bands/by which the hens are identified is to be considered. There are eight other instances recorded where hens laid two eggs in a day, but in all of these cases on either the-day previous or succeeding the day on- which two eggs were laid no egg was laid. ~ More interesting than these abnormal occurrences is the report of hens which at the station have laid 255 eggs within twelve months. COIN-COUNTING MACHINE. Largo commercial establishments and banks which have necessarily to handle a considerable , number of coins per day fully realise the labour involved in counting and wrapping the various denominations in paper. Several ingenious mechanical contrivances for accomplishing this work have from time to time been evolved, but have not proved sufficiently accurate to become practically applicable. An ingenious inventor, after some five years' dogged perseverance, has at last devised a machine which will count any type of coin—gold, silver, or copper, and of any size—in consignments of fifty, and will, moreover,- wrap up tho same with perfect accuracy and security with the speed of five or six cashiers. It-is only about the size of a typewriter, and is driven' by a small electric motor of onesixteenth horse-power. The coins are fed into a chute, and at the opposite end resolve themselves into a continuous edgewise line or roll, each coin as it falls into line recording the fact upon a dial. When the fiftieth coin has been registered the whole roll is automatically gripped, carried under a roll of paper, and strongly wrapped up, with the edges bearded over. When discharged in the wrapper the complete roll resembles . a cartridge, and falls into a box, where, if desired, the name and address of the firm is imprinted upon the outside of the wrapper. Owing' to the novel means of wrapping, it is impossible for a single coin to be extracted from a roll w.»hout ..evidence, of the, fact, '"sing betrayed by injury to the packing. The amount of electricity consumed in the operation of the motor amounts to about twopence or threepence per day; and as the only manual labour involved is simply the feeding of the coins into the receiving chute, it can be manipulated by a boy or a girl,, while the coins are counted and wrapped and addressed at the rate of four hundred or more per minute. ; As a. time . and. labour. it is distinctly advantageous* eapeciaHy.in „view of the . fact thai ft SSfi&a- sitti infallible accuracy