SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15563, 21 March 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

SCIENCE AND INVENTIONS.

OIL POWER FOR RAILWAY.

Tjte use of oil fuel in t he Uniited States is rapidly increasing. The trahscontinen tal railways are now using oil fuel on many miles of line. Some of the railroads in the north-western part of the United States and in Southern Canada held to coal for a considerable period after the permanency of the fuel oil supply was assured. The last tie to coal became broken with the realisation that the failure of their immense locomotives to move the weight that had been confidently expected of them was not the fault ol the machines. The weight of trains over the mountain divisions were invariably limited to the endurance of the fireman. Shoveling coal on the large engines over these divisions is a task that few can stand up "to. With the use of oil as fuel this feature was entirely removed.

MAKING OF COPPER WIRE. A process has been devised for the manutactuie of copper wire by electrodeposition. The Brass World states that previous attempts to accomplish this object have been unsuccessful. The method requires a fine, copper wire as a core for making the desired product, and the additional copper is deposited on it wtiile'it moves through a tank containing the solution. The fine copper wire is made endless and passed through a regular plating solution containing sulphate of copper and a little sulphuric acid. The wire passes over grooved rollers > operated from outside while passing" through the tank. | After leaving the tank the wire passes through a small rinsing tank to remove the solution, and then goes to a reel, around which it passes a number of times, returning again to the plating tank. The plating may thus bo continued until the required thickness is obtained. & PHOTOGRAPHING MOVING BULLETS Moving pictures have unlimited possibilities, apparently, for the study of rapidlymoving objects. An apparatus capable of making pictures at the rate of 100.000 a second has been made. With it 72 pictures of a revolver bullet were taken while moving lOin. Pictures of a bullet passing through a stick of wood showed a curious condition. The bullet passed completely through the thin stick, and was well on its way beyond before the wood gave any sign of distress. Then some tiny splinters started out, following the bullet; the stick began to split, and after the bullet had proceeded some distance the 6tick suddenly fell to pieces. No camera shutters are fast enough to take pictures at anything like this speed, so no shutter was used. Instead a series of electric sparks was flashed, the sparks following one another at the rate of 100,000 a second, each spark making a picture. The film was mounted on a wheel about 3ft in circumference, and the wheel was revolved at the rate of 9000 revolutions a minute. When all was ready the bullet was shot, the sparks flashed, and the wheel revolved, the actual exposure being limited to a fraction of a second, so as not to pile up pictures x one over the other. BANISHING FOG.

A searchlight that can penetrate fog has been, it is announced, perfected by "a San Francisco inventor. The Technical World Magazine says that it sends its warning rays several hundred feet farther into a dense fog than the customary signal lamps. '• Furthermore," adds the Technical World Magazine, " unlike the ordinary lighthouse searchlight, it shines in all directions simultaneously, with equal intensity. Its mechanism, simple enough to be easily taken care of by a novice, causes an electric- current to arc between the ends of two carbon rods. The flow of current

causes these rods to draw. apart immediately, thus stretchingjhe arc into a blinding flash of light. When the flash is at its height, it is blown out by an electromagnet. Periodic flashes may thus be arranged to designate different localities. The surpassing power of the light and its practical value when first brought to the attention of navigators were startling. In foggy weather and with the sun three hours high its rays • have been glimpsed, approximately, 900 feet from —far beyond the point where the outlines of its tower loomed up. This new light will be an effective protection when carried about By ships. 'Its value in this respect has been recognised by the United States Supervising Board 'of Steamboat Inspectors, which has permitted its use on vessels."

REPRODUCING DAYLIGHT. Under ordinary circumstances the colour of lights used for industrial purposes is not a matter of very great consequence, but now and then the character of the work is such that some attention must be given to the question of colour. A wellknown German engineer has recently been making a very exhaustive study of the colours of the common sources of light, which brings out the fact that of the illuminants in present use none comes, near to daylight as that term is ordinarily understood. Here is the result: —The only light which, unscreened, comes tolerably near the ordinary daylight is unfortunately extremely inefficient as a source of light, and various attempts have been made to use screens to correct it to daylight colour. A sunlight effect is easier to get, and a pretty close approximation is furnished by the magnetic arc lamp, which has too much red by less than 2 per cent., and not enough blue by about 6 per centAll the incandescent lamps—gas and electric—are a long way from white, having in general two or three times too much red and scarcely half enough blue for a proper balance. The arc lamps likewise are rather far from being white, let alone a match for daylight, although very much nearer than any of the incandescents. The new nitrogen lamps occupy an intermediate position distinctly less near to white than the arcs, and yery much whiter than any previous incandescents. Finally, as freaks in the list, come the vapour lamps of various kinds. It must not be supposed that nearness to white, however, gives a jus> value of a lamp for illuminating purposes. Altogether the progress of artificial lighting shows better and more useful colour values year by year.

TELEGRAPH WIRES AS BAROMETERS A phenomenon with which most people are familiar is the curious noise made by telegraph wires. It is accepted as ordinary, and yet there has been hitherto no final explanation. Many and varied are the reasons given, but generally it is ascribed to the action of the wind," which is supposed to play upon the wires as upon the strings of a harp. This explanation, however, cannot be accepted, because the noise is often heard, and in many instances at its plainest on perfectly" calm days. Another explanation frequently proposed is that the " tunes" are caused by the effect of alternating cold and heat, which, by contracting or expanding the" wires, causes them to give out a sound that is accordingly flat or sharp. This second theory, however, is also inadmissible, because, in order to produce such differences of tone, a variation of temperature such as is never experienced would be necessary. What, then, is the real reason? A third theory, which seems to be about the most likely, has been put forward by Professor Field, of the University of Ottawa. He says that the song of the telegraph wires is the song of the barometer, and that the variations are in direct relation to _ variations of the weather. It is, according to the professor, a- scientific indication of the weather. If the sound is low, the conditions will change in two days, but if it is sharp a momentarr change is probable. The vibrations of the wire, according to Professor Field's theory, are transmitted by the posts, which receive them in turn from the earth. They are the result of the vibrations of the earth, which are recorded so faithfully on the seismograph, which give, as is well known, fairly precise information as to the approaching condition of the atmosphere. «....;.