SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14925, 24 February 1912, Page 4 (Supplement)

SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

j BOAT DIRECTED. BY WIRELESS. j There was ' recently exhibited on the I Danube, at Vienna, a boat which is con- \ trolled by wireless electricity Horn the bank, without any person being on board. The boat carries a storage battery, which furnishes its motive power, the " system," or invention, consisting in the adaptation of wireless electric waves of different lengths, to the control of the motive power, steering-gear, and other mechanism. THE UTILISATION OF GRAPH PIPS. The utilisation of by-products is one of the most striking characteristics of modern industry.' A recent example is found in Italy, where a means has been discovered- to .turn, to account the liitherto worthless pips of the grapes used in winemaking.- Oil'is'now extracted from them on a commercial scale by a process of direct heating with tetrachloride of carbon. Tho latter is obtained in abundance in Italy in the preparation of electrolytic, soda. '* • ■ • "SWALLOWED OVER 1000 NAILS. Cases of the presence of foreign bodies in the stomach are not at all rare, says lie Lancet, but it is seldom that such a case as that recorded by Dr. A. H. Vandervit and Dr. H. P. Mills is reported. A mulatto woman, aged 33 years, -was admi ted, in.to an asylum for acute mania ending in dementia, and she died seven years later, but she never had any signs of disease of the digestive system. It was discovered that in her stomach lay a mass of foreign bodies weighing 51b, and • consisting of more than 1400 nails, screws, thimbles, and other objects.

THK AMERICAN ZINC INDUSTRY. An American Consular report, states that the zinc-smelting industry of the..United States made a record output in, 1910. the total : tonnage of spelter- having been 269,184. From foreign ore 16.705 tons were produced, and from domestic ore 252,479 tons. The total production of spelter in 1910 was equal to the output of 65,367 retorts operating continuously throughout the year, or about 72 per cent, of tho effective -smelting capacity in 1910. The United States retained first place in tho world's production of spelter with 30.5 per cent, of the total output. PSYCHOLOGY OF THE PIPE. There are various ways, more or less correct,' of determining character. Character from the hand, character from writing, facial expression, and deportment. Perhaps character from handwriting is the safest of all the tests abovenamed, hut to these a Paris contemporary adds character from the pipe. The cigar, we are told, with the cigarette, is cosmopolitan, so no deductions can be safely made. The activity of a people may be gauged by the length of the pipe stem. The shorter the stem the more industrious the race. Inversely, the longer the stem the more indolent the people. The more economical the race the shorter the pipe, and so on. IRON PRODUCTION. The iron and steel industry in the United States has grown enormously in the past few years. The Geological Survey reports that the production of iron ore in 1910 was 56,889,734 tons, mors than twice what it was in 1900, and at least twice the production of any other country. This ore was mined in 28 States." Minnesota produced 51,966,769 tons; Michigan, 13,303.906; Alabama, 4,801.275; New York, .1,287,289; and Wisconsin, 1,149,551. The latest figures on. the world's production of iron are those for 1909. Tho United States produced 51,155,437 tons; Germany and Luxembourg, 25,506,000 met ric tons ; the United Kingdom, 14,979,979 tons; France, 11,890,000 metric tons; Cuba, 1,417,914 tons. It will be seen that the United States produced nearly onehalf the total of the world's output. Tfie total production of steel in the United States in 1910 was 26,094,919 tons, and more than one-half of this amount was produced in Pennsylvania. A NEW ELEMENT.

It is reported in the Chemical Trades Journal that Mr. Andrew Gordon French, a native of Glasgow and a well-known metallurgist, has discovered in the Xelsou district of British Columbia an absolutely new clement which is expected to prove of high commercial value. The new element, which has been termed " Canadium," in honour of the Dominion, is considered to be one of the platinum group of metals, and will probably take its place between ruthinium and molybdenum in the periodic table. Canadium is beautifully white and brilliant. It occurs pure in semi-crystal-lino grains and in short rods, and also as scales in platinum ores. It does not tarnish on exposure, nor is it oxidised on heating with the blowpipe. It is soluble in nitric and hydrochloric acids, and in " aqua regia." The melting-point of Canadium is lower than that of fine gold and silver and much lower than that of palladium.' The new element was found in a platinum mine recently discovered by Mr. French and from which platinum, iridium, palladium, rhodium, and, osmium have been obtained . It occurs in the ore in quantities varying from a few pennyweights to three ounces per ton.

POWER FROM THE WAVES. To many who have watched the. batternig of dill's or masses of masonry by the furious waves ol recent storms must'have occurred the problem of utilising that wasted energy for the service of the community. But the wave-power machine has not yet assumed practical shape, and there seems to be good reasons lor supposing that under the most favourable eircunfstancee no more than 7£ per cent, of the total energy could possibly be transmitted lor industrial purposes. 'in a recent article in Power Mr. Franklin Van Winkle examines the practicability of wave motors and indicates the difficulties that beset the inquirer. It is natural for people to suppose- that, the most favourable opportunity of developing power occurs when the receiving area is placed perpendicular to the general direction of impact. But this is not the case. Under such circumstances it is found that the kinetic activities of the water are very irregular. Mr. Winkle considers that the task of installing a plant lor tne purpose of intercepting the energy of such waves would not merely be hazardous, but of doubtful permanence. And assuming that all the difficulties of building the plant and maintaining it were overcome, the problem would be further complicated by the irregularity of the impulses. For they would vary'from violent impact down to pressures that must be described as negative, being duo to the suction of the receding waves. Lieutenant : btahl, ot the Lnited States navy, has compiled tables of the energy of' deep sea waves in terms of horse-power per foot breadth for lengths from 25ft to 400 ft and for ratios of lengths to heights varying from 50 to 5. Thus, the gross theoretical horse-power due to the combined potential and kinetic energy has been computed. j But such tables do not help much when wo come to consider these energies in shallow waters. In construction and in application, says Mr. Winkle, shallow wave motors depend almost entirely on the lifting power of the waves, their height, their frequency, and the chance circumstances of locality and weather conditions. The efficiency of surface for receiving the kinetic energy of the impinging waters must be secured as well as that of the mechanism by which this is converted into useful power. Mr. Winkle finds that under the most favourable circumstances onlv onefifth of the kinetic energy of the wave for propelling the intercepting surface could be realised. Then comes the question of how much of this could bo transformed into useful power, and here he finds at least onefourth must be counted on as a loss.