THE CRUISER LEIPZIG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15730, 3 October 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE CRUISER LEIPZIG.

JAPANESE KEENNESS. TO CAUSES HER DESTRUCTION. The determination, of Japanese' naval authorities to account for the German ctuiser Leipzig was recorded' in San Francisco papers during the month of August. On the afternoon of August 17, the Japanese cruiser ■ Idzumo left San Diego for the north, stripped for action. Captain Moriyama made no secret of his plans. "We axe going to San Francisco," he said. "If tie Leipzig remains near San Francisco, we shall remain there, too. If the Leipzig leaves for Samoa or for the.Canadian coast, we shall follow wherever she goes." Captain JSloriyama -would not comment upon the outcome in a clash with the Leipzig, but said that in the event of success the Idzumo would steam to the South Pacific to seize the German naval base, in those waters.

Shortly before the Idzumo sailed the United States torpedo boat destroyer riul: left the harbour. Off Point I.oma, hiwever. the American warship slowed down. It was believed the Hull's commander had orders to watch the Japanese cruiser in order to protect American neutrality. The Idzumo is an armoured ship of 9750 tons. She carries a complement of 612 men, and would be a match for two of the Leipzig. The two vessels are about me same speed. j Or Wednesday, August 19, a few hundred miles north of San Francisco, the Leipzig forced the Union Oil Company's steamer Catania, Captain Canty, bound to Seattle from Port San Luis with 20,(X, barrels of oil, to show her colouis. Captain Canty said that they were steaming north from San Francisco, when they sighted a black smudge of smoke on the horizon, which grew larger ranidly, and within a short time they were" able 10 discern the Leipzig bearing down on them at a twenty-knot speed. The I Catania was displaying no colours at the I lime, but this fact was of no importance, j they decided, yet within a mile of them j tin German warship suddenly put her i l-.i.im over, swung her broadside toward them, and-from her signal yard fluttered a string of flags, meaning, "in the international signal code. "'Heave to; show v<.iir colours."'

The ominous position of the German warship, her decks cleared for action, ana her upper works stripped clean', b' ought the quartermasters of the Catania to life in a hurry. Quickly they bent on their ships' call letter flags, and snapped them up the peak, at the same time hoisting the American ensign at the stern. Then the warship's signal flags fluttered downwards, her engines began to turn, and within a short time she had boon lost to view on the horizon, still steaming at top 6peed.

CCSSftll. It IS <t KOTb i>i ■:i)lUuil><u.lull tVeie. 0; car and boat. It is powered with .1 four #S and a-half horse-power, single-cylinder, ;'?i water-cooled motor, which diivcs the -'v» vehicle while on land through a i liain % and two-sp>.ed gear set. There is a. ihn,_h ■% for changing the drive from the rear "jf wheel to a tail-shaft upon which the pro- '% peller is mounted. the body, of course 5 is a boat hull. While the sonde rear- I ■wheel drive i.= not irlc;d for helping the '! vehicle out of the water and up banks, the possibility of this combination has been demonstrated. . i

A CURIOUS PARTNER-HIP. Herr E- Chle, a German hot .-.nut. has discovered a specie; of an' in,,; makes a living nest for itself in the tr?c-> of the Amazon jungles. This am deposits the seeds of certain parasitical plant." of the arum and nightshade families ':i tree trunks and branches v hove ihey have lirht and air. and. Heir I'hle says, tnaliv cavers them with soil. In the mris!, tropical air. the seeds soon sprout, and produce a mass of leaves. The loots bei oins so firmly embedded in the tree that neither wind nor water can loosen them. The thrifty ants do not do this work for nothing, for the mass of vegetation furnishes them with shelter and food. On the other hand, their efforts benefit the seeds, which they thus free from a precaiions struggle for existence in the dank undergrowth,

ANIMALS THAT NEVER, DRINK. It would seem that water is so indispensable to life that no animals could exist without drinking. Nevertheless, Dr. Blanford asserts that the antelopes which live in the sand desert between the salt lake Chilka and the sea never drink. This has been doubted by physiologists, who deny that existence is possible in such conditions, but confirmatory evidence is now adduced by Dr. Drake-Brockman. It appears that since 1910 a troupe of gazelles have lived in the small island Saad-ud-Din on the side of Somaliland, where there is no source of water and where the annual rainfall is less than 3in. so that these gazelles cannot obtain water except after n r ery rare showers. The vegetation is very poor and they cannot supplement the lack of water during the dry season by consuming roots and bulbous plants rich in liquid.

PNEUMATIC LIFE-PRESERVER. . ;|| A life-preserver in " vest-pocket" edition |?f| has recently appeared on the market. It J|j weighs but 15oz and is carried in a case '| measuring less than 6in cubed, that looks 'jgjg like a small hand camera. The life-pro : ■ : |§ server or belt consists of a bag of water* J*l| proof canvas, curved to take the form of $jm a ring when extended, and fitted with hol- %|tj low aluminium ribs. The ribs give the |§| bag the form of a horseshoe, in section; that is, the outer periphery is curved, -|sß| while tie inner one is flat, so that it will jgg have a good bearng on the body of the .||| wearer. The belt is provided with straps ifA| at each end, for _ tying it at - both its inner and its outer peri- - pheries. In applying the life-preserver, in- S nation is effected automatically by extend- -. , ing the belt, when the air rushes in through a valve. The belt is placed about .'s§§ the body, and first the inner straps afo €&if pulled taut and tied, after which the belt *i|p is completely distended and inflated by drawing tip the outer straps arid tying them fast. This done, the valve is closed, • &a and the life-preserver is Teady for use. *J Its buoyancy is sufficient to hold a man's 'MJ head and shoulders out of water. In fact, it will sustain a number of persons. To • - fold the belt, the valve must first be r 53 opened to let the air out. ELECTRICITY EVERYWHERE. A "house electrical" will occupy a_;tf; conspicuous place in the Manufacturers' Buildings at the Panama Pacific Inter- ''J| national Exposition. It will be .the firsts*,; model electrical home to be specially de- -'; signed and built for the purpose by a ./. skilled architect. It will be a full-sized 'jiS house, of the attractive California-Spanish type, with electrical garage, workshop,-V| creamery, etc., located -nearby. Each ': room will be equipped with practical, - labour-saving and comfort-promoting de-r>J| vices, operated by electricity. The kit- .. v chen, where most of the housework is "■> accomplished, -will be provided with; an :WA electric range for all cooking purposes, and with electrically-driven machines for '_ peeling vegetables, polishing silver,.freezing ice-cream, driving cake and dough- ?' mixers, and doing other necessary work. ... In the electric laundry the clothes will be \ washed by electric power and ironed with "is electric flat irons. In striking contrast, |g the adjoining room will have an electric-J3| refrigerating plant of - household size..->jS The diningroom will be arranged to showhow light lunches and suppers can be -If cooked with the electric chafing-dish or j|| the. electric grill, on- the table if.. desired. ifll The garage will contain an electric run-" & about, battery charging outfit, etc. Adjoining the garage is to be located a small iiM workshop, completely equipped . with elec- | trically-driven tools. . ; ':|||

A FIRE-DAMP DETECTOR. -jg For many years scientists and inventors have been striving to perfect some means ;.\ of obtaining a reliable warning as to the existence of fire-damp in the workings of collieries, together with the certainty that ,s such warning should be communicated to ■'- those in charge, both above and under- _-:. ground. Particulars are now available of an indicator which has been styled " Methanometer," and is claimed to detect ''-■[■ the slightest percentage of methane in the ---. galleries or elsewhere. The peculiar pro- '-- perty of platinum black to exhibit a rise jj in temperature immediately it- comes in : ' contact with this deadly gas forms ' the basis of the instrument, and the detector, while always in contact with the air, is \ maintained at a very high degree of Ben- | , sitiveness by _n application of the principle of the thermopile. By this means - readings can be electrically conveyed to *; any position, whether within the mine or -■ in the manager's office, where warnings of the presence 'A a dangerous quantity of g fire-damp at any time would be given by . ;: ; means of a gong in addition to a dial and . pointer. The circuit, moreover, would actuate a galvanometer and produce a visible record minute by minute which g would be available for the inspection of / hte Government officials at their periodi- ■ cal visits, while not the least important f f point -would be the possibility of intra- j_„ ducing electric lighting into the mines 0i the abolition of "the miner's lamp, which. § is at present the sole guide .to the atmos-. ! pheric conditions prevailing.

MAMMOTH LOCOMOTIVES. ;» England, which save the world the | benefit, of railway travel, has made con- : ■ siderable progress iff engine-building since M George Stephenson's "Rocket" competed and won in the initial race at Darlington. 1; Nearly all the front rank British railways M have gone in for locomotive construction, ■ and huge engineering shops have arise* ;. around the offices of the various com-. panics. Both passenger and goods engines g have increased in size, says a London join- , nal, and in the Jumbo, high-boilered en- | gines of the latest type we have, perhaps,. | some of the most powerful running on any . g track. But the Erie Railway Company has done a bigger thing in these days otj| great advancement. It has built the largyS? goods locomotive in the world. The engine ■ | weighs 380 tons and is capable of a poll ot;,-: 71 tons, which is far in excess of the 3 power possessed by an engine. The loco- <■ motive, which is of the complex type, is. a. great novelty, inasmuch a? in addition to tlie separate engines under the joeo- - motive itself a third engine has bee J 11 placed beneath the tender, the weight of;.s which consequently is brought mto «-<?,.' so that nearly 90 per cent, of tho total «- weight of the mammoth machine, comes on -"'-; the drivers. All the engines have 36 diameter cylinders with a 32in stroke, the a [boilers are 7ft lOin in diameter at the-.--.; front and 9ft diameter at the dome 111 i. 9 and the firing is by mechanical stokers. ■■~-, Superheated steam at 2101b pressure I f:MM motive power led to the central' pair- « ■; cylinders, and the tender carries ten then- ■ sand gallons of water and ten tons of cool.