SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14531, 19 November 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

RADIUM £420,000 AN OUNCE. Describing the discovery of niton, which is given off in the emanations . from radium, Sir William Ramsay, at University College, said that radium now ccct £420,000 an ounce. During his lecture the rays of tho Eun, focussed by a globe of water upon a spot on the table, burnt a large hole within a few moments. Sir William, as he altered the: position of the globe to prevent further tire, recalled how a shop was similarly set alight.

■ ' WIRELESS LIGHTING. ' The well-known Danish inventor, M. Valdomar- Poulsen, who has for a long time made a special study of wireless lighting, carried out a successful experiment recently, hile his assistant stood m one room holding two incandescent lamps, the inventor went to another room and placed his transmitting apparatus in position. On pressing the two contacts the lamps were lighted and extinguished. There was no connection of any kind between tho apparatus and the lamps.

OIL MOTORS IN FISHING BOATS. Scottish fishermen and cargo launch owners are deeply interested in the adoption of auxiliary motor power. Already many east and west coast boats have had motors installed of all powers from the little singlecylinder 4 li.-p. engine upwards. The principal difficulty is" that of selection. There are many makes of engines for fishing and commercial work ,on tho market, and the various types all present features that appeal to the boat owner.

WEIGHT OF THE EARTH. The earth has been publicly weighed at the laboratory of the College of the City of New York during a reception to prominent residents of the city. According to Professor Wetzel who conducted the experiment, the earth was found to weigh 7,000,000,000,000 tons. Professor Wetzel used a delicately balanced instrument resting on a pillar sunk into bedrock. He says this is the first time that the experiment ha« been made in America.

TAR PAPER KEEPS OUT VERMIN. Mr. A. P. Connor has found that a cheap way to keep rats, mice, and. ants from gnawing their way through a wail or fence is to tack some tar paper on the place where they are liable to enter. If it is a solid board fence put tho paper on the bottom and let it extend into the ground, This class of vermin will not gnaw throifgh anything saturated with tar. The tar paper can be used to keep out most vermin in addition to the advantages of waterproofing and presedving the wood.

THE DEAD MAN'S HANDLE. An ingenious device might very well be adapted from a safety point of view to all power-driven vehicles, where a sudden attack of illness to the driver might be productive of a serious accident. It is in use on one of the London tube railways. The controller handle is provided with a spring top, which has to be kept pressed down all the while the vehicle is being driven. Instantly the knob is allowed to rise, the current .is interrupted, and the brake applied. It is palpable that any sudden seizure or attack which causes the driver to relax pressure results in an automatic stoppage of the vehicle.

VACUUM CLOTHES WASHER. A machine which has attracted much attention, especially from women, at a recent exposition in Australia, is one for washing clothes by means of suction caused by a vacuum. In appearance the device resembles a perforated metal cone, which may be placed in a copper boiler, or even in an ordinary' large kerosene can or other common vessel of kitchen use. When the water boils, steam is generated inside the cone, thus forcing the water m a spray out of the top, only to fall back into the boiler. In this way a vacuum is formed inside the cone, which is refilled by the water, .which is continuously sucked through the clothes at the rate of "four gallons or more per minute, removing all dirt and discolouration, and leaving them " snow- white," without the usual wear and tear, the smashing of buttons, or injury to delicate fabrics.

DRYING POTATOES FOR FOOD. A German company has undertaken to save the odd 5,000,000 tons of potatoes loet annually in that country tlirough lack of immediate market by desiccating, or drying the vegetable, so as "to preserve it in usable form. Pressure, combined with vacuum, is used to withdraw the bulk of the water from the potato, and artificial heat dries the resulting "meal." This meal has onequarter of. the original weight, and occupies one-eighth the space. It tastes and smells somewhat like newly-made bread. It m&y lie used or kept in this condition for considerable periods. Pressed into cake it is ueed for animal feed. Chemical analysis shows the following percentages of food value: Water, 11.50; fat, 0.31; protein, 3.73 ; ash, 2.06 ; fibre, 1.71; carbohydrates, 80.69. The residual liquor, after pressing, is about 80 per cent, pure albumen, which has a ready market.

LOCATING TROUBLE IN AN ENGINE. When a pounding or tapping noise is heard in an engine it indicates trouble, and the experienced engineer knows that it is necessary for him to locate the trouble before serious damage results. The question of locating the trouble, however, is not an easy one. Frequently an engine is entirely dismantled without revealing the cause of the knocking, and when reassembled the tapping noise is still there. In order to simplify the task of locating the difficulty a device has been provided, consisting of a receiver somewhat similar to a telephone receiver, provided with a very sensitive diaphragm, to which is directly connected a long rod. The rod is made up of several sections, which may be disconnected to permit of folding the instrument into small a compass. By placing the end of the test rod against different. parts of th© machine and applying the ear to the receiver one is able to locate very exactly the point from which the sound is issuing. Having this information to start with, no unnecessary parts need be removed, and much time may be saved in locating the trouble.

A PROPELLER-DRIVEN BICYCLE. With a view to securing exact data for a pedal-driven aeroplane with which he has been experimenting, Marius Michel, ,in France, equipped an ordinary bicycle with an aerial propeller. Instead of the drive being taken to the rear wheel, it is transmitted by chain to an intermediate sprocket just back of the bicycle head, and by. a second chain to bevel gears driving the propeller shaft. Trials on a track on the level road have shown that the propellerdriven bicycle was superior in speed to one •with chain drive to thei rear wheel. This, however, had already been proved by the experiments made with motor-cycles several years ago by Ernest Archdeacon, Anzani, and the late Captain Ferber, all notable aeroplanists. Since then, progress has been made in propeller design and construction, and much higher relative efficiency has been obtained by Michel with his one-man power than was secured by Anzani with his cylinder motor-cycle. Having discovered by practical experiments the most efficient form of propeller and the most satisfactory gear ratios, Marius Michel is having these fitted to a propeller-driven glider. It is not expected that anyone will be able to make prolonged flights with this, but that the addition of "the pedal-driven propellor will lengthen the gliding flights over suitable hillsides. Although of no practical utility in itself, the propeller-driven bicycle .offers interest as a machine for use on race tracks, for it will afford a new form of competition ■ against the ordinary type of bicycle and an opportunity for the exercise of the skill of the designer and constructor of the propeller..