SCIENCE INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13745, 9 May 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

SCIENCE INVENTIONS.

LARGEST CANDLE IN ;m.K, A candle ten feet high which* 'will; bum for two years or more has been manufactured in New York for an Italian Cathedral. It; is J doubtless the largest as ; well: as the most persistent candle,in the world. The candle , measures ' eight: inches m dia- : meter, , and, weighs 318 pounds. Its sides • are "decorated, with' pictures of .'flowers and reproductions of' paintings' of •a ' "religious nature, all 1 carried out elaborately with many bright colours. . The candle is made entirely of beeswax, and cost £60. . * OUiv MOST POWERFUL CRUISER. , The new * armoured cruiser ' Shannon, built and equipped' at* Chatham(•Dockyardat a cost exceeding £1,400,000, lias been' commissioned by Captain J. A. Fergusson ,for service, in the Fifth.Cruiser Squadron, the Home Fleet at- theNora,.as flagship of. Rear-Admiral G. A. Callaghanj C.B. Ihe Shannon is the largest and most powerfully armed cruiser now flying the white ensign, ' carrying four 9.2-inch, ten 7.5-inch, and sixteen small quick-firing guns. The cruiser can steam 23 knots an hour. GROWING RUBBER IN SUMATRA. A. C. Janssens, the explorer who spent ten years in the Congo Free State, recent!}" landed in San Francisco from the East, where for some years lie has been studying rubber and its cultivation possibilities in Sumatra' and the M.ilav Peninsula. He states that he finds the rubber industry is flourishing, both in the Peninsula and in Sumatra. Though expenses are higher in the former place, the production is very considerable, and increasing. In fane this district may produce rubber sufficient to supply the world. J.' 12,000 MILES' A SECOND. « A lecturer at the Glasgow University on the alpha-rays of radium, submitted 1 some remarkable details. These alpha-rays (he pointed out) are material particles, moving with a velocity of 12,000 miles per second, many hundreds of tiin<sg_ faster than the fastest material thing previously known that moves in air or sky. While a modern rifle bullet is on the way to its distant target an alpha-particle would travel an earth's circumference of miles, and it would reach the sun before the fastest thing hitherto known, the shooting star, would teach the moon. NEW CAN FOR MILK TRANSPORT. An invention lias recently been patented which furnishes an improved can for use in transporting milk. The can is so arranged as to provide ventilation of the milk, and has means for keeping the milk cool." Each can is so formed that it will support a similar can above it, and thus the., trucks niay bo packed with tiers of • cans without necessitating the provision of shelves or scaffolding to support,each row. Fitted into the neck of the can is a cover, which is so arranged as to form a receptacle for ice. Between this cover and the neck at one side a channel is formed to provide ventilation for the milk in the can. Experiments with these cans are said to liavo given great satisfaction. • ... • FUEL OF THE FUTURE. In the opinion of Professor V. B. Lewt-.s, when the existing supplies of. fuel become limited, men must rely upon alcohol produced from vegetation of some sort, which may be. produced in any required quantity. Professor Lewes thinks that the alcohol will be manufactured , cither from potato starch or sawdust, but a, writer in Nature suggests that , when the -question becomes urgent, some highly specialised plant will have been brought into existence for the. sole purpose of absorbing the maximum amount of carbon dioxide from "the, air, and he" thinks that the wonderful "improvements which hybridisation has already effected save this idea from being regarded as too fanciful. / GERMS SURVIVE . FOR, YEARS. Among ' the dangerous citizens lately •recognised 1 is the microbe-carrier, who, immune himself and probably 'unconscious of the miserv he is causing, spreads broadcast the deadly gerjw£ of diphtheria, typhoid fever, dysentery, plague, cholera, influenza, 'spinal meningitis; and many other diseases. The pathogenic microbes survive in the body/ in many cases, long after the disease has passed- away. - Referring to this newlv- ' considered' source of danger,' Dr. Siiuou Flexner states that 42 years after an attack of typhoid fever the typhoid bacilli were still being eliminated plague. bacilli have been present in the sputum 76 days after recovery from plague- pneumonia: and influenza bacilli have been found in the ' sputum one year after an attack of influenza. 1 i STAMP-LICKING MACHINES. Stamp-licking, the office boy's bane, is to be abolished by a new invention—a machine which places the stump on the letter without any human aid beyond the pressing of a lever. The stamp-lieker, which-will probably be in general use in October, is enclosed in a species of cupboard. Altogether it looks very similar to . an automatic machine. The envelops is put into a little slot. One, two, or three pennies, according to the number of stamps required, are placed in slots, and a lever is pressed down. The envelope is withdrawn —and there are the stamps upon it. The changing of a finger on a dial will cause • 'stamps of any value required to be stuck on the envelope. No base or foreign coins are accepted by the machine. All coins are weighed on a balance in the interior, . and if they are found wanting back they . come through another slot. Business houses will be able to buy the machines, and it is hoped that the post office will , supply rolls, instead of sheets, of stamps ; to put into them. AN INTERESTING MOTOR YACHT. Rather .an' interesting vessel of its type ; is the motor-yacht , Trident, which has been designed by Mr. A. Westmacott, and is ■ being built by Messrs., Woodnutt and Co., at St;'-Helens, Isle of Wight. She is 77ft long overall and 70ft 6in on the water line, 13ft lOin in extreme beam, and Bft in depth. Her draught is sft 4in, and her tonnage 64. The machinery consists of a triple set of 40-h.p. petroleum motors, driving three propellers. These motors are of the four-stroke type, with s£in bov«r and 6m stroke, running at 700 revolutions per minute, and are fitted with Westmacott's patent vaporisers and Woodnutt patent reverse gears. With full power the speed is 11 knots, with two motors running it is 9$ knots, and with only one motor running it is 7 knots. Taking the maximum consumption of the ■ motors at .65 of a pint per horse-power pei ! hour, the cruising distance on one motoi is 1240 nautical miles, on two motors 78C ! miles, and at full power 610 miles. The ! centre motor also drives a dynamo for elec ' trie light. >• CONCRETE AND HEAT. ' Actual conflagrations have proved thai s 'concrete in a building construction wil * withstand the effect of a fierce fire for souk | hours and retain its stab'lity of form ant strength at the same time. There has " been considerable speculation as to jus r- what degree of heat concrete would stain v for its strength and elasticity to be unatfect ed. The British Firo Prevention Commit £ tee in Londsn and a committee in Aineriw i. have carried out certain tests. All tin ; factors which enter the concrete problen . are variable, and therefore it is extrcmeh 1 difficult to arrive at even a partial solution >tion under any one set of conditions if There is, of course, variation in the qualit; i Of.'tho cement, and there are differences ii [ the composition of tho concrete. In orde i to' determine the elasticity properties o 5 concrete, prisms of at least six sqnar 1 inches should be taken, so that the nex-es 1 sity of considering the specimens as i t column can be avoided. Some tests wer r made by Woolson in America, but the con > crete was only a month old, which wii 'r rather a disadvantage. He found tha j": there was no effect upon the strength unti I a temperature of 750deg. F. was reached 1 : At 2250deg. F. the cubes used began t ii fuse as the firebrick protection placed ove i them seemed to have been broken. Hi 9* most interesting results show that concret ' 1 conducta heat very slowly*