SCIENCE and INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18173, 19 August 1922, Page 8 (Supplement)

SCIENCE and INVENTIONS.

WOOD JOIKTS BY KAOHIKB' 'The roughing out and injuring ofja accurate joint between,, two wooden mem--beniia one of the carpenter •una* tatboua tasks. A London man, Mr. R. W..Hobbe, has now taken this job out of the category of hand work. The machine consists of a clever arrangement of Circular saws which slots the ?»«»■*£ jointed, and makes keys for these slotsin the form of thin wooden ***;Jg* machine, it is claimed, ioint in any wood and at any angle in eighteen seconds, against; an average of half an hour or more for the same worK dene with hand-saw and chisel.

ALCOHOL' SOLDERING IRON. By having a blow -torch form part of a soldering iron there has recently been developed a new appliance that may be used anywhere with all the convenience that has heretofore been such a powerful "argument in favour of the electric soldering iron. The new soldering iron contains an alcohol blow torch. The reservoir, of the blow torch is enclosed by the handle; a brass filling cap, which is reached by removing the end. cap of the handle, gives access to the reservoir for refilling. The blow torch is started by pouring alcohol or petrol into the cup member about the. base of the soldering iron stem. When this primary charge is ignited it heats and vaporises the alcohol, and gives a hot blow torch flame which is directed against the base of the soldering copper. A needle valve controls the flame. ELECTRICITY AND HENS. Nowadays the farmer --cannot afford to ignore the possibilities _ arising the harnessing of scientific ideas to His industry. In this connection it .is to be noted that electricity may|b© very usefully applied to poultry work in the' lighting of the houses, particularly the scratching sheds. The houses of certain up-to-date farmers are lit from 6 a.m. to dawn and from dusk to 9 p.m. at a cost of Jd per bird a year, j Tho result has been not that they lay more eggs in the year, but that they lay more in the winter when they are more valuable. Tests show an increased winter production of 10 per cent, in the case of the heavier breeds, and up to 25 per cent, in the case of the lighter breeds. These results have nothintr to do with any particular virtue in electric lieht. They are the result of a longer feedintr and scratching time. The same thine might no doubt be done with other methods of artificial lighting, but clearly for convenience and'safety for such work electricity has no rivals NEW BATTERY LOCOMOTIVE. The popularity of locomotives driven by electric batteries for special purposes has led a leading British locomotive firm to devote the attention of experts to the problem of improving the efficiency of the machine. » A new type of mechanism was accordingly devised and l recently tested with remarkable results. It was found that for a certain amount of actual hauling work done by the locomotive only half the usual battery capacity \K?as required. The control arrangements ars simple and do not involve the complicated resistances generally required. Only one motor is used. One very useful feature of this novel design is. that the locomotive automatically " regenerates" with a high decrreo of efficiency. That is to say, when the locomotive "is running down hill or being broupht to a standstill the motor nroduces electric power which goes to rccharsre the battery. Ball-bearings are used throughout as an additional means of saving power. AUTOMATIC STOKERS AFLOAT. It is a curious fact that, while machinery has been vary_gencrally adopted in boiler house a on land, the'boiler rooms on board ship are still generally given/over to hand operation. Those who have come knowledge of the stoker's life below decks will wonder that tho demand for machinery in place of human flesh was not heard insistently many years ago. r The oil-firing of boilers, which has been very vigorously developed for a long time by British "engineering firms, effects a vast improvement on conditions; but there will remain for a long time many vesselg with coal-fed furnaces. Where tho boiler is of tho watertube type, it is possible to find room for machinery to feed the coal into the furnace and to remove the ashes and clinkers. A recent installation put in a vessel of 1200 tons by a British firm proves that there are no insuperable obstacles to the application of automatic stoking on board ship. With this type of stoker the rolling of the vessel does not 'introduce any material trouble; but, in any event, the fur- | nace may in emergency be fired by hand.

SCREW-LOOK FOB DOORS. A new type of door lock has made its appearance. Instead of projecting a square or into the keeper, this lock screws the door securely to the door frame. A threaded, cylindrical bolt, by a turn of the key, is pronelled longitudinally so that the threads of the bolt mesh with the internal threads of the keeper on the same principle that one would screw together two pieces of metal. , The advantage of sjuch & bolt is obvious, .and the lock is rendered" impregnable against the attacks of the most powerful " jemmy." An important, and heretofore unknown feature in locks, a most simple and ingenious device, manually operated from the inside, instantly disconnects the lock mechanism from the key-operated cylinder on the ontside. This makes, the lock absolutely nonnickable against the finest of instruments, even the key itself. The entire mechanism is simnle and durable, the absence of dogs, tumbleirs or operating springs making it impossible to get out of order. It'is spoken of as the most powerful door lock ever devised. WHY STABS TWINKLE. Thero are several reasons why stars twinkle. One is that these bodies are so immensely distant that not even the most powerful telescope can show them to have a visible disc, like the planets. Their light, consequently,' is a mere point, so minute as to be susceptible of interference by the various and unequal densities of the atmosphere. Hence, atmospheric changes have a marked effect upon the twinkling. For example, it is found to increase as the temperature falls-and as the barometer rises. An experience of nearlv forty years showed that with the quantity of moisture in the air the twink-1 liqg of the stars increase so markedly as i .to-'servo for a useful prognostic of rain. Cycloaio conditions generally are found tc promote it, whilst it is extremely sensitive to .magnetic disturbances. Humboldt, on one occasion in the tropics, found that the stars shone with a mild and planetary light; their, scintillation was scarcely' sensible at the horizon. This, it flTapparent, was due to the great homogeneity of ,the atmosphere, whereby the extremely fine pe nc ii of light from the stars was not interfered with by unequally dense strata. THE AIBMAff'S «MIND." Will flying result in the evolution of a new type of mind? Captain I*. de G. Sieveking, a- distinguished flying officer, answers the question in the affirmative in a remarkable article/ recently published. " Flying," he says, " is an unnatural state for a man. There will be noticeable in future generations an evolution of a new tyne of mind whose tendencies and capabilities can be directly traced to the fact that they and their fathers have flown about the sky, and remained in the upper air for many hours in their lives. High irp in the clearer air the'mjnd seems to be purged of certain glutinous/structures.. ' It revolves with an altogether unprecedented velocity and perfect The idea of death is regarded with unconcern. With this comep a certain recklessness. The general effect of constant flying men, and inquiry, when a crash mind. Such qualities as intuition and tele-' pathv will develop more quickly with the influence of flight into powers as ranch at the command of the individual as hearing and tasting." Captain Sieveking's article suggests a closer study of the minds >of flying men. and inquiry, when a creah ?S B, + lf lf j, ma y not have due as rr-t* v&*sgy or failure iri the mental condition of the pilot a* to* defect in the machine or engine. —