SCIENCE and INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17110, 15 March 1919, Page 3 (Supplement)

SCIENCE and INVENTIONS.

MOTOR TRUCK ECONOMY. While a good motor truck is often con'sidered an expensfre investment it is without doubt an extremely profitable one for any fanner who produces on a fairly large scale. This is clearly demonstrated by the experience of a farmer in California, who has to haul his fruit and produce 90 miles to the railroad. Whereas tt took his horse-drawn team two days to make a single round trip, with his motor truck he makes two round tripe a day. BORING POLE HOLES. The tiresome and time-consuming work of digging holes for telegraph and electric service poles is now ax, an end. At least, there has been evolved a gasoline driven earth boring machine which makes an average boring time por hole of one and a half to two' minutes. The equipment is mounted on a horse-drawn truck and is operated by two men. In ordinary soil it maintains an average of 100 holes per day, each measuring six feet deep by 24 inches in diameter. The equipment consist* of a truck, which carries a gasoline engine, driving mechanism, and a huge auger which is slowly rotated and fed downward. The augers are furnished in sizes from two to twenty-four inches. SLEEPING OAR ILLUMINATION. The problem of lighting the aisle of a sleeping car at night after the passengers have retired and the curtains drawn is one which has concerned the Pullman Compenv for a long time. The solution was rendered somewhat difficult by reason of the fact that while it was essential to disseminate a satisfactory illumination throughout the length of the aisle it was also equally important that the rays should not penetrate into tho berths occupied by sleeping passengers. All the demands seem to have been answered by a system of lamp installation under the seats which is now being made in all new cars turned out by the company and also on the old cars 6ent in fof repairs. « BIRDS USED AS LAMPS. The price of oil is a matter of no interest to the inhabitants of the island of St. Hilda, a favourits haunt of that animated oilcan, the fulmar. So rich in oil is this'sea bird that the natives simply pass a wick through its body and use it as a lamp. The oil is also one of the things exported from the island. It is found in the bird's stomach, is ambercoloured, and has a peculiarly nauseous odour.. The old birds*are said to feed the young with it, and when.they are caught or attacked, they lighten themselves by disgorging it. • In St. Kilda it is legal to kill the fulmars only during one week in the year, but during thai week from eighteen to, twenty thousand birds are destroyed. The mutton bird of the Antarctic also carries its oil in ,the stomach, and can eject this oil through its,-nostrils as a means of defence against enemies. y MOTOR REVIVAL PENDING. The British Petrol Control Department have decided to consider- applications for licences for the use of petrol for pleasure purposes. Up to the present the concee->iori-made to motorists to use petrol for recreation up to a'3o-mile limit is of .use only to those who have been granted motor-spirit licences since thfe restrictions were introduced. By Easter it is expected that all restrictions will, have been re'-) moved. This means that nearly 70,000 motor vehicles that have not been used for pleasure since 1917 will be' released. The actual, total -Is, 69,103, .motor-car' owners numbering 33,638, and motor-cycle owners 35,465. In. the year following .the restrictions there was a decrease of 16,263,023 gallons of motor-spirit on which the full duty-would have been paid, so that on a rough estimate 44,500,000 gallons' were saved on the abolition of joy-rid.ing during the war.

RAINIEST PLACE IN THE WORLD

The reputation of being the rainiest place in the world has long been enjcyed by the hill station Cherrapunii, on the slope of the Himalaya, in Assam, with a mean' rainfall of 426 inches per annum, based on a 40-year record. So far as actuual records go the rainfall at the Indian station is surpassed by that recently repented as having been measured at Waialeale, in the island of Kauai, Hawaii, though the record covers only five years and the mean might be reduced by a longer period of observation. During the years 1912-1916 inclusive, ; the Hawaiian station, which is 5075 feet above sea level,, recorded the astonishing mean rainfall of 518 inches, or more than .43 feet! ,Wai-. aleale is seldom free from rain clouds and the precipitation is almost incessant hence the whole surrounding region is a tog, bearing low trees thickly draped with dripping masses of moss and liverworts.

STRONGEST DOORS IN THE WORLD. One of the wonders of the Carnegie Safe Deposit, recently completed in New York, are its two massive doors. They are without question the strongest ever built. They are circular in design, measuring seven-and-a-half feet in diameter,, and turn, the scale, at no less than 25 tons apiece. Twenty tons of this weight is in one solid mass of material, the remaining five tons being accounted for in the boltwork and nwohanisra operating the locks. There are twety-four round bolts, weighing a hundred pounds apiece, in each of the doors.' Despite their huge weight the doors are so delicately balanced that a child can move them. An electric motor hung on the inside of the vault gives the power to the gear which operates the bolts. There are four timelocks to each dr*», and when closed it would be impossible to open them until the time set had expired. . The doors are claimed to be not only burglar-proof, but bomb and earthquake-proof as well

ANCHORING IRON IN CEMENT. Tests prove that flat iron is better than round iron for makin- anchorages of'iron in cement, which agrees with" practical observation. The resistance to slipping of the anchorage increases steadily tor a period of five years, whatever the kind of mortars employed (mortar made of cement, of lime, of lime and _ cement, of plaster, etc.). Researches with respect to rust demonstrate that the iron has need of a protective covering in the masonry at any rate, unless it is imbedded in pure Portland cement or in a mortar made of slag and cement ; in all other sorts it is briskly attacked by rust. The adhesive strength of the iron is not very, marked except in cement mortars. A protective coatinc of red lead or of tar at first diminishes the strength of adhesion, "he red lead | beinc especially unfavourable in its effect. I This action disappears with the lapse of time, but the protection against rust is correspondingly decreased. Neither rust nor galvanization greatly affect the strength j of adhesion in mortar made of Portland j I cement.

THE MOTOS OULTIVATOB. A demonstration of motor cultivators iu which six different types of machines were exhibited, was held recently in the United States. There is no question but that excellent work can be done with them. All but one machine cultivated two rows of corn. The speed could be so completely controlled that there Was nothing left to be desired in that connection. More steady than a team could possibly be, the rate of travel could be suited to the size and condition of com, soil, topography, eta AH oftho machines had ample power, but differed some in ease of control. In one tyne the cultivator gangs were mounted ahead of the motor so that the operator bad a clear and unobstructed view of the work ahead of him. This is an item of no small importance either. The investment seems large for a tool of ' its kind, yet it can be adapted to different kinds of work. The manufacturers claim that it may be used (or mowing hay, as well as for other haying operations, and for drawing the lighter tillage tools. These bachines cost between—£loo and £140 and' will, _ no doubt,' find a place in modem fanning. . ■ > ' |