MODERN SCIENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18553, 10 November 1923, Page 4 (Supplement)

MODERN SCIENCE.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

A WATERPROOF MOTOR. ( LATEST LIFEBOAT ; MARVEL. What is probably 'the' most-reliable marine motor of its type ever made is a six-cylinder model developing 90 horsepower at 800 revolutions •; per minute, which was recently completed for the Royal National Lifeboat } Institution of London. ; ; No ordinary gas motor manufactured ; at competitive prices is reliable enough for the severe; conditions of coastal lifeboat service, and those built for the above-mentioned . institution have always been of special design throughout. . The latest and most: powerful - example embodies experience with motori lifeboats for the last 18 years. It is not a commercial proposition, the cost being prohibitive for any other purpose. In fact, expense has not been considered, every device making for reliability being employed regardless of cost. The watertightness of the motor with all its . icchanism seems almost to savour of a mania for reliability, more especially as'it is installed in a massive watertight case. Yet this feature is considered desirable and the motor would run if actually under water, standpipes being fitted to the carburetter air inlets to make this possible. One might- well suppose that the risk of trouble from water could not be further guarded against, but.it is, by the provision of a drain well in the rase, in which a centrifugal pump runs continuously so long as the engine is working. If, therefore, any leakage should occur through damage to the case (a by no means impossible contingency), or, if the hinged flaps at the top should be open and a sea drive in, the *." -ter would be at once thrown out.

PHOTOGRAPHING THE WIND.

> Major Favre, of the; French r National - Meteorological Office, and the aviator Lieutenant Le Petit have been making experiments at Yauville for the purpose ot : gaining additional knowledge as ; to' the ; movement!* of air currents. Major favre, with photographers, posted himself, on a • hili at Biville, while lieutenant Le Petit at a speed of 300 kilometres an hour, de-; scribed several circles between the sea and the hill, emitting a smoke trail, i The west wind, blowing at six metres a second, . caused the smoke to describe curves practically parallel to the outline of the hill. The experiments 'will be continued. It is especial ly, desired to obtain photographs of the air currents at sea level. TRAINS THAT NEVER STOP. / A X never-sfop "railway, the r trains of which require ncit'-ir driver,^ conductor, uor signals, is .being experimented with at p the Kursaal, Southend, where 600 ! yards of track have been laid for testing purposes--*•'•- -The ppeed of the train is automatically increased and decreased. When it arrives at a station the train slows down to about one mile and a • half an hour,, so that the passengers can step on :to ; a " landing stage" level with the station platform. The i principle is similar to that of 'i- the ; escalator.- : , But once past a station the train gathers speed up to'twenty-four miles an hour. x Its speed is controlled by a screw, .which' is driven by a special motor. No noise is made by the train, and the wheels have rubber tyres. . >.'.'-;'';; .■": '■' v 3''' ::."■;, '■~.■ '"' : C i: "-;-;V; CHANGING INSECTS' * HEADS. Marvels of: surgery achieved in the animal and insect world .are described by Mr. E. J. Boulenger, one of" the r curators of the London, Zoo, who has been watching experiments at Vienna. • Experiments were made with two kinds of English waterbeetle, . the hydrophilus ;• and the dytiscus, both of which are found in ftagnant pools and :slow-runmhg streams. The operation consisted>i of decapitating the insect and ; cementing another head oh to its truncated body by the exuding fluid. After the operation had been performed, dytiscus bodies wore found swimming about the aquaria with hydrophilus heads, and vice versa. Then followed a startling revelation in insect psychologyif '( such a thing exists. When a male head was put on ; a femalei body the beetle became male- in instinct and made lov« to normal females. But when a > female head was stuck on a male body the male stepped courting and / became S passive. ' The experimenters also?..restored sigi,t to a 5 blind frog by grafting'jn«o ; the ; eye socket the living eye of . another frog. "V SELF-DAMPING IRON. ;*• "■ As ■'. every housewife knows, clothes that "bone dry" cannot be ironed smooth. Unless one is very fortunate in stopping the drying of; ; the linen at exactly the right 'moment,;"; each "pier of ; the linen must he sprinkled by hand. . This operation ~ rfsuits in saturating some parts of the fabric, while others * : remain quite dry. Even after the material has been rolled up and' left for an hour or' two, some parts are: much wetter than; others. All this expenditure of time and trouble 'is avoided ,by an electric steam iron ; recently * placed :on * the market by : a British firm, Outwardly-an? ordinary electric iron, this special pattern contains a small water tank ,in the pillar which; supports, the. handle,' From . the tank water falls,' one drop - xi' a ; time, eon to the hot i sole ;plate where it i$ immediately vapourised. Ihj ''stean. forihed ; ! ;escapes, through * perforations in a diagonal line .across \i the % bottom ;: of •:. the : iion and I thus dampens the fabric at the exact moment and f in the exact manner required. -The; amount; »if steam delivered' is adjustable ;by turn-' ing a regulating screw on the drip feed, and i it' this screw ; be'>. turned completely ; - off, the "user has at once .a, dry iron. Every contingency likely to- arise from the use of water in the iron -'itself has been met by prolonged experimental work and by appropriate design and manufacture. Apart from ;■' i'% domestic uses, the ; new. iron is finding; extensive application in laundries, tailor shops and other commercial concerns in England, ,