THE SOLAR ECLIPSE.

Otago Witness, Issue 876, 12 September 1868, Page 14

THE SOLAR ECLIPSE.

Mr Tebutt, an astronomical observer of high reputation in New South Wales has written the following letter on the subject of the Solar Eclipse, to the Empire :— Sir — I must remind your readers that the eclipse of the 18th instant will not be total in this colony. The moon's umbra, or dark shadow, will first touch the earth a little south-west of G-ondar, in Abyssinia, at lh. 34.3 m. p.m. Sydney mean time. It will then proceed across the Arabian Sea, Hindostan, the Bay of Bengal, the Gulf of Siam, Borneo, Celebes, and Torres Strait, and will finally quit the earth at 4h. f,9.2ra. p.m. in the neighborhood of New Caledonia. All places lying on this track, which is only about 150 miles in breadth, will successively experience the total eclipse. The obscuration will be nearly, if not qu te, total at Cape York. The moon's penumbra will first touch the earth's surface about midway between the Straits of Babel Mandeb and the Inland of Socotra at Oh. 39 '5m. p.m. It will then advance east-ward, involving Arabia, Persia, •Thibet, China, a considerable portion of the Indian and North Pacific Oceans, and very nearly the whole of our island in. its progress. AH places within the limits of the penumbra will have the sun more or less partially eclipsed. The eclipse, as seen from Tasmania, will be very small, but no part of the phenomenon will be visible from New Zealand. New South Wales being considerably within the limits of the penumbra will have an eclipse of some interest. The penumbra will finally quit the earth in the neighborhood of the Bougainville Shoal off our northeast coast at sh. 40*0 m. p.m. The times just given are those of the general 'eclipse, and are taken from the Nautical Almanac, with the addit'on of the difference of longitude of Greenwich and Sydney."— The same journal, in describing the eclipse, says :—": — " The eclipse began in Sydney at 4 hours 8 minutes, the first contact taking place at a point on the sun's edge, a little to the right of the lower limb. The greatest obscuration took place at 4 hours 55 minutes, when the moon's disc overlapped that of the sun to the extent of rather more than one-third. The sun set, with a small portion, of its lower limb eclipsed. The phenomenon commenced :—: —

The Steam «rfcD. — under this title, according to the Mining Journal, Mr J. K. Smythies, of Paddington, barrister- at-law, proposes to introduce a "flying steamengine," fitted with wings, flapped by the action of steam. He reduces the ratio of the weight of the engine to its power by using a tubular boiler, with very small and thin tubes. He will use liquid fuel, and carry very little water, condensing the steam by a very light condenser, made like the tail of a bird, to sustain the bird and steady its flight. The arms of the wings are connected with the piston-rod of the engine, so that the apparatus is raised by the strokes of the wings alone, without light gas, heated air, or other contrivance, to give it buoyancy. To this engine he fixes seats for passengers.

Improved Drift. — Mr Amos Shephard, of New Britain, Conn., describes an ingenious and very simple form of drift in the Scientific American. He says — I first make the steel blank square, straight or tapering as desired, then with a half-round file I begin at one corner of the end and file a groove obliquely across one side of the blank, then turn the blank towards me, and in like manner file a like groove on the next side and so on, forming a thread. I then begin at the opposite corner from where I first began and. proceed as before, when I have two threads, or a double right-handed thread. I then, in like manner, file two left handed grooves, taking care that they intersect the right-handed ones at the corners of the tool. The grooves should be filed under, making the threads a little hooked towards the end. When the grooves are finished as described, each side of the tool shows a series of triangles, the planes of which are then filed back, care being taken not to lessen the lower corners, and the tool is ready to harden and temper. The main object of this invention is to make a drift that will give a good cut at the corners. The teeth running Bpuaily around, the tool can be filed back without injury to the corners. The chips or cuttings will not clog, but will either follow the grooves around the tool or 2iz-zag up its sides. The grooves being spiral, do not make a checked place around the tool and weaken it, as is the case with the ordinary drift. For light and fine work, it great strength, and the ease with which it cuts will make this tool highly prized by all machinists.

On the earth generally Central eclipse began Middle of eclipse Central eclipse ended Ended on the earth generally h. 12 1 3 4 5 m. 39 5 p.m. 34 3 p.m. 17 9 p.m 59 2 p. m. 54 0 p.m.