SCIENCE and INVENTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18374, 14 April 1923, Page 8 (Supplement)

SCIENCE and INVENTIONS.

PEDALS INSTEAD : OF KEYS. ; For those whose skill in music extends to the mastery of several instruments the latest invention in '■', the musical world will especially, appeal. It is a: tiny*; pianoforte, one might almost call it a piano-foot, for it is designed with its keyboard close to the ground, and has pedals instead of keys, so that the musician can play an accompaniment with his feet to any other instrument which he holds in his hands. The foot pfano is as convenient to take about as a fiddle, being under three feet high, two feet wide, and three inches deep. It has nine treble and nine bass notes, which can bo varied to nine different keys by a simple device. v , ■ A BRITISH FIRE FIGHTER. • • A very interesting type of vessel was recently built in Great Britain for use abroad as a fire and salvage boat, and also on occasion as a, tug and. water tender. This vessel Is over 100 ft. long and is driven by two triple-expansion engines giving a 'speed of over 13 knots, which is about 2 knots higher than the contract speed. The boilers are oil-fired, and there are two salvage and fire pumps with a total capacity of 4000 gallons per minute. A powerful single jet, ojin. in diameter, can be discharged to a height of about 200 ft., while no fewer than 24 jets can bo thrown simultaneously if desired. The vessel is constructed for sea going, and is proceeding _ under her own steam to her destination in the. East. A LUCKY ACCIDENT. Many' of the most important discoveries in science and engineering have been made almost by accident. There is now in general use "a process known to the textile industry as " wool carbonisation " which is really a method of removing from wool all the vegetable matter, such as straw and burrs, which the sheep may "ollect in its fleece. A British firm ;of dyers had provided their workers with overalls of cotton for the summer and of wool for the winter. These overalls got freely splashed during working hours and it was noticed that the dye liquor, which contained acid, soon corroded the cotton overalls, while the wool ones were not affected. To make quite sure of the difference an overall was made with alternate squares of cotton and of wool, and after this garment had. been splashed with acid it was found that the woollen squares remained . while , the cotton ones disappeared. As" cotton is similar in character to the straw, '. burrs and other vegetable- fragments which get into sheep's wool, this firm quickly jumped to the idea . that the same process could be used for destroying these foreign materials in ■' wool. USING WOOD REFUSE.

In every timber yard there is an immense amount of sawdust, chippings, and other wood refuse which under certain conditions can be used to great' advantage as a source of power. British engineers have lately done a good deal in developing gas producers .which: can use this material ? for the production of fuel gas to drive gas engines. • Under certain conditions, however, it is still advantageous to burn the : refuse under boilers. An interesting installation of this kind was recently set ;up in a large ■' British timber yard where the plant was specrally designed for economy. The wood refuse 'is burned In large furnaces fitted with special mechanical stokers,and supplying steam for a "uniflow" engine driving an electric generator of about 400, horse-power. The sawdust and chips are collected from the various machines by. means of a pneumatic removal plant which actually sucks the material into hoppers placed above the boilers. The larger wood refuse is collected on trucks and wheeled to the furnaces. ISo successful has this plant been that the entire power, demands of the yard have been met by burning the sawdust anr T chips and without using., any 7og ' wooTT whatever. ' " ■ -- 1 ' --, : - J \. :*;■"':■•■/

• THE USES OP GLIDERS. One of the papers '; read at the recerl Air Conference in London was by Colonel A. Ogilvie, bearing the title, "Gliders and their Value to Aeronautical Progress." i After giving a short account of the more - recent experiments with gliders, the author expressed the opinion that ' there 'was little likelihood of engineless aeroplanes . ever being of practical utility in travelling from place: to place, or even of being , employed to any • extent- for sport. "Their' real and immediate Waive, he said, was the opportunity s they afforded of making technical experiments '■■ in, a simple and inexpensive ; man-, ner. For this work •■ gliders had \ the advantage that the motive power used was gravity and was thus . perfectly definite in / amount - and. always reliable. The two main technical problems in connection with-the development of the commercial aeroplane .at the present time were the increase of aerodynamic efficiency and the improvement of control at low flying 'speeds. The author thought there could be little : - doubt that substantial progress would be made in solving these and other problems in - aeronautics' by means of experimental work with gliders. Finally he appealed to business men and others ; ; to offer prizes : for such work '■-. in ; order to stimulate competition and thus hasten : progress.Engineering. SAFETY BLANKET FOR OIL. , A remarkably simple idea has, been adopted' for - saving- ~ enormous sums of money in. the oil-fields. Petroleum,:?like all .other fluids, gradually evaporates when exposed to the air. Even the heavier crude : oils - lose five per cent, %of / their volume when stored in tanks for two years, and flight grades of oil evaporate even more rapidly. It has been estimated, indeed, that the evaporation from crude and refined products stored in . tanks represents a loss of between four and five million pounds a year.;-But now, after much experiment and research, the Standard Oil Company . has found a way of preventing evaporation by merely,, covering th© oil with r a thick blanket of a prepared chemical substance. . The substance is called sealite, and consists ;; of a mixture containing glucose, corn;■ starch, glycerine/ cqlcium ? chloride and glue/ /It looks like thick white \ paint, and is non-poisonous i and non-combustible. It is spread ' one inch thick over the whole surface, of the oil, and it has been found that oil so protected loses neither weight, nor volume through evaporation. Sealite not only prevents loss from evaporation, but also prevents loss from fire. Even. when an explosive mixture is ignited on the ton of the protective coating the oil does not catch fire, and bonfires, lighted on top of the crating do not spread to the oil. ANOTHER ELECTRIC LINER. It has often been remarked that a modern large liner will contain as much' electric generating plant as ' an electric supply station in a town of fair sine. This is due to the fact that-, British shipbuilders have actively developed the use of electricity on board ship for heating, rooking, and power purposes in addition to fighting. A large liner recently constructed in a British shipyard contains several electrical accessories which are not very common even on shore. There is' a complete electric -fire-alarm system with bell pushes in public parts of the vessel, and; automatic contact makers in parts of the vessel which are not usually occupied.., When a five breaks out in- one of these parts it heats the appliances, which then makes electrical contact and rings an alarm bell. The working of the ship is facilitated by the use of,, loudspcaking telephones, so that the navigating officer can by merely speaking into a telephone on the bridge, shout his orders in any part of th* • vessel:: Electric clocks • are installed throughout the ship, and the boilers are., fitted with a special' electrical arrangemont for preventing corrosion Disinfectant is made on board by means of electrical treatment of sea water. Should anything go wrong with the watertight bulkhead doors an alarm- is immediately givenalso .; electrically. '■; ' *