SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13727, 18 April 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. As interesting sidelight on the development of wireless telegraphy is given by the fact that there are at present in the United States 25 stations in operation for commercial service, while the total number of land stations in the world is 89. Besides these, the United States Navy Department has 43 stations in operation on the sea coasts. The United States navy has 73 vessels equipped with wireless apparatus, and there are on merchant vessels 218 wireless installations. RECORDING OCEAN DEPTHS. A new instrument has recently been invented for recording the depth of water, and which makes a pen record something on the principle of the machine which records the rough places on a railroad. A slab of metal attached to a rope is dragged over the bottom by a boat moving slowly. The other end of tins rope extends over . pulleys to a room where a pen records the ups and downs, or peaks and valleys of the bottom, making a topographical (surface) map. Experts know how to translate these tracings into feet or fathoms. The results are much more Accurate and vastly quicker than the old method of sounding with a hand line. PENETRATION OF HEAT INTO SOIL The penetration of heat from burning debris into the soil was tested alter a recent lire at Berlin by Herr Effentattger, the director of the Hanover fire brigade,, the results being as follows:—A very high insulating effect is exerted relatively thin earth layers, the varying from 520deg F. at- a depth of4in to 63deg. F. at a depth of 40in. The increase in temperature noted at a depth of no more than one yard is thus seen to be very small. The moisture of the soil, however, plays an important part in connection with these phenomena.. The results were obtained by erecting three embankments about 40in in height, with a slope of about. 55dec and a square upper surface. Coke ovens, consisting of walls sin in thickness and 32in in height, were placed on the top of these embankments, and after they had been tilled with coke the latter was set on fire. A 500-TON MOTOR YACHT. Interesting news comes from the Clyde to the effect that a yacht of 500 tons, which is now under construction in the yard of Messrs. John Reid and Co., Glasgow, is to have auxiliary power in the shape of a 200-h.p. Gardner motor. This, if we mistake not, will be much the largest boat of the, kind built in this country. The hope is that its success may induce other orders, and it will be interesting in consequence to note what really happens. The tonnage is large for a sailing yacht, so thai recruits need not be looked for from that side of the pastime. But 500 tons Thames measurement is a fair average in steam yachting, and the attractions to steam yacht owners of an auxiliary motoryacht of this tonnage will be twofold. In the first place, there will be greater accommodation available in consequence of the lesser space occupied by the motor installation. That is a consideration which is bound to carry weight. In the second piace, the auxiliary motor yacht is likely to cost much less than the steam yacht, and be less expensive to run. A further inducement will be the possibility of enjoying all the delights of sailing without j fear of tedious nights in glassy calms.

A MATERIAL FOR AEROPLANES. A discovery of rutiie is reported by .Consul F. W. Coding,, from Queensland. Hitherto rutiie has had no commercial value, but it is now used in the construction of aeroplanes. The advent of flyingmachines driven by gasoline motors that run at very high spaed has proved that bearings and axles of ordinary metals subj mitted to speeds of 2500 t0.'3000 R.P.M. 1 wear so rapidly and heat so quickly that i the necessity has arisen for some metal to stand the strain and velocity without wearing or heating, and this has been found in the mete! titanium, of which rutiie is the purest ore. Rutiie is a titanium dioxide, containing from 70 to 98 per cent, of titanic acid and two per cent, of iron, when'the mineral is a crystalline substance resembling sealing wax. The examples found in Queensland contain 70 per cent, and resemble wolfram, having a lustrous fracture and being uneven in the grain. The specific gravity of rutiie is 4.2; it cannot be scratched with a knife, but can be marked with a quartz crystal. The mineral occurs with wolfram and tin, running in veins through quartz and qimrtzite from a mere streak to large bunches, and is worth four times the price, of wolfram at the present time. A RECORD IN SHIPBUILDING. . A 400-foot vessel has just been built and launched on the Tyiie, England, in the record time of 69 working days. The vessel in question is the steamer Blackwell. She was specially constructed to the order of the Tyzack and Bancroft Steamship Company, Limited, and is designed for their " Well Line,"' trading between Middlesbrough and London and Calcutta. The principal dimensions of the steamer are: Length over all, 417 ft; breadth, extreme, 50ft 9in; depth, moulded, 29ft 9in. The Blackwell has' been constructed under Lloyd's special survey for their highest class on the spar deck rules and deep frame system, and lias a poop 27ft long, bridge 112 ft long, and forecastle 43ft long. The officers', engineers', and passengers 1 accommodation is on the bridge, the saloon being tastefully fitted up in polished hardwoods, and the whole of this accommodation is heated by steam radiators. There is a most elaborate arrangement of deck machinery and derricks for the rapid handling of "all kinds of cargo, and provision is' made for dealing with lifts up to 25 tons weight. A complete electric light installation is now being fitted. This includes clusters- of lamps to provide illumination when loading or unloading at night and a searchlight for use in the Suez Canal. The vessel was built at the North Sands Shipbuilding Yard, Sunderland. LATEST IN ELECTRICAL SCIENCE. How would you like to have a. little electric battery that would light "your house, work your electric fans, and run your wife's sewing machine; a battery so small and light that you could pick it .up and carry it out and place it in a motor car, which it would run down to your office .or factory, there to furnish light and power for a lathe or other small machine; which would run your motor ear home again, and, reinstated in your house, furnish light, power, and even heat? To invent such a battery has long been the dream of every electrician. It is reported that a young Philadelphiau has achieved this success. The apparatus has been shown to many experts, all of whom had smiled incredulously when told that there was a primary battery which would actually furnish light and power, and in practicable quantities. Evenexpert who saw it was astounded. What they saw was this: A box, about two feet long, a foot deep, and 18 inches wide, containing 12 cells of hard rubber, each cell packed with four small cells shaped like and about the same size as photographers' plateholders. The whole apparatus weighs 751b. It stands upon an iron frame, under which is a small cylindrical tank of galvanised iron, with an air-pump projecting therefrom. The 12 cells are covered /with thin lids of hard rubber. Lifting one of these lids the group of individual cells is disclosed. Each of the latter is a light frame of hard rubber, with a thin plate of corrugated graphite plate on each side and a plate of zinc in the middle, separated by a flat cup of porous porcelain so thin as to be almost transparent. The battery, at rest, is uncharged, therein differing from all other batteries. To charge it the air-pump is put in action by hand, and in a few seconds the fluids are seen rising in the cells. These fluids are contained in the tank below, and are forced up into the cells through a system of channels in the rubber casing. As soon as. the battery is charged it begins to make electricity. This little battery, which can be carried about by any man, furnishes enough power to light an ordinary house or to operate a small motor car or motor boat or any -light*. ] j