SCIENCE and INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18275, 16 December 1922, Page 10 (Supplement)

SCIENCE and INVENTIONS.

LEATHER PBOM SHABKS.

| A special tannery fox making shark leather is being established on the west coast of Vancouver. This is the first in■tance of a factory being started to cornpete with the leather mad© from goat akin and from calf, cow, and horse hide, which has served for so many generations. Sharks are very plentiful off the west coast of Vancouver, and the fish give, m addition to the leather, a number of useful oils and other products. FLAT-IKON THAT USES NEW FUEL. \n iron using the new fuel, distilgas. made from coin and other iarm products, is now being manufactured. Ihis iron is practically self-regulating, Jvnd will not get red hot when left burning or forgotten. The new fuel is made by progressively expanding denatured alcohol hi'O a pressure through its own heat. This is done by an aufomtxtic self regulating, convert.3d burner, indestructible and moie simple than a coal-oil stove. WEATHER REPORTS BY RADIO. The Eiffel Tower radio station at Paris is preparing to send out telegraphic weather reports and forecasts three times daily. A suggestion has been made that radio receiving sets be installed at central points in the various country com- J numities, and that the information thus ) received be signalled to the farmers by j a code of sound signals from the church bells For example, no signal if no chance in the weather is forecast; three strokes of the bell if rain is expected; six strokes for frost; and ten strokes for wind or hull storms. GIANT TELESCOPE. The largest telescope in th© world is to be erected in the new observatory to be built on a site not yet selected in Canada, on the Pacific coast. It will bo I a refieetinc telescope with a mirror ten j feet in cliameter, or twenty inches j greater in diameter than that of tho pre- j sent largest telescope. Tho mirror has j already been castr-a tesk of supreme j difficulty. It will cost £60.000 to mount, The chief work of the new observatory is to bo celestial photography, but a feature will be the daily admission of the j public and the opportunity given them to gain a popular glimpse of astronomy, j ELECTRIC LIGHT FROM SOUND, j That f'-ere is a prospect that London I and other cities may be lit by the noises I of the traffic is the claim of scientists who j are experimenting with Piezo electricity, ! which was discovered in 1898 by Curie, of radium fame. Mhny eminent scientists j have been conducting these experiments, , including Sir William Bragge and _ Sir j Arthur Paget, for some time; but it is claimed that it has fallen to the lot of two Cambridge undergraduates, the Hon. E. W. Russell and Mr. A. F. R. Cotton, to harness this force first to tho neocls of commerce. Piezo electricity is the property poss.i»sed by certain crystals whereby they generate* electricity when subjected to vibration. By this process sound is converted into electricity, and hence there is the prospect of large towns being lit bv the noise of their traffic.

CHEAP FIXE EXTINGUISHES.. Cheap fire extinguishers for the garage or workshop can be made of a number of old electric lamp globes. The lamps are placed in a rack, after being filled with water, or, better, with some solution, having special fire extinguishing properties. Such a solution can be made by taking 20 parts calcium chloride, 5 parts of common salt, and 75 parts of water. The globes are filled by immersing them in a large dish or pail containing the solution and breaking off the tips with a pair of pliers. They will fill quicklv owing to the fact that the air has been largely exhausted from them during manufacture. When a fire occurs one or two of these globes are thrown at the burning object. The solution will spread over it and extinguish the fire.

WIRELESS FOR THE DEAF. Wireless is being nsed to relieve deafness. People who" are hard of hearing usually have one ear worse than the other,"so that all the work falls upon one organ, causing strain and breakdown. For some time ear specialists have been trying to relievo deafness by re-eduoating the weak ear so that it can catcE outside sounds. This has been done by a machine fixed to the ear, which makes simple sounds which gradually impress themselves upon the ear-drum, and so bring back to os«. Now, however, wireless telephony is being used. The headpiece <; the ordinary receiver, and its use ■ings the sound of the human voice to Hie dull ear without straining the otb_er. After some time the dull ear gets used to the sounds and becomes serviceable again. THE CULTURE PEARL. Tlio Japanese pean, produced by introducing into one oyster a particle of mother-of-pearl sewn up in a shell-pro-ducing tissue taken from another oyster lately arrested considerable attention. Authorities now state that the unnatural stimulation induced by the method results in a pearl of distinctly inferior quality; held to the light, the difference is readily seen. The surface lacks the lustre and pinkish glow of the natural pearl; it has a dead, waxy appearance, and the texture is not so fine. As an additional precaution the X-ray is used; this never fails to differentiate the natural from the forced variety, and shows the nucleus of the latter to be large and solid instead of small and often hollow, as are the cores of natural pearls. A WONDERFUL OLOOjK. In one of the French papers we find a description of a wonderful piece of mechanism in the clock line. Here are the particulars: —It chimes the quarters, plays 16 tunes, plays three tunes every 12 "hours, or will play at any time required. The hands go round as follows:— One, once a minute; one, once an hour; one, once a week; one, once a month ; one,' once a year. It shows the moon's age, the rising and setting of the sun, the time of high and low water, half ebb and half flood, and, by a beautiful contrivance, there is a part representing the water, which rise* and falls, lifting l some ships at h*jh water tide as if they were in motion, and as it recedes leaves these little automaton ships dry on the sands. The clock showß the hour of the day, day of the weett. ('.ay of the month, month of the year and in the day of the month is a provision made for the long and ercrt mo.tihs. It shows the signs >>f the zodiac; it strikes or not, chimes or not, as may be desired ; and it has the equation table, showing the difference of clock and sum every day in the year. THE HOUR OF MYSTERY. The hour of 4 a.m. has something mysterious about it. Cocks crow, people on the brink of death give up the ghost, everyone who is asleep sleeps sounder, and even the watchful sentry can't always keep his eyes open. At this hour people are in their weakest state, and if life is just on the flicker it is not surprising at it goes out. Many a life has been saved by a spoonful of brandy administered just when the clock strikes four. The period of deepest sleep varies from three o'clock to five. An hour or two after going" to bed you sleep very soundly; then your slumber grows gradually lighter, and it is easy enough to waken you at one or two But when four o'clock comes you are in such a state of somnolence that you would take no notice of the end of the world. Strangely, at the time in the afternoon most people feel a bit done up. Whether it is due to the electrical condition of the atmosphere or to the position of the sun no one knows. But it is a fact that the nervous system, brain, and Jungs are most vigorous from about 10 or 11 o clock (night and morning) to 12 or 1, and at their lowest ebb between three and [five.