SCIENCE NOTES

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15033, 2 September 1922, Page 19 (Supplement)

SCIENCE NOTES

FINDING OIL BY WIRELESS. An amazing claim lias been made by two French scientists, Dr. Henri, Moineau and M. Regis. They declare that they have invented an apparatus by means of which they are able to discover oilfields, not only in the ground beneath their feet, but also in lands hundreds and even thousands of miles away. From a station at Clerfnonl-Auvergne In Central France, M. Regis lias discovered an oil-field in the Rocky .Mountains in America, while from the same position he has detected oil in Saxony, Hanover, Czecho-Slokavia, Italy, Gardinia, Sicily, and Corsica. The invention is an adaptation of wireless telegraphy. It has been known for some time that great loss of energy resulted when wireless waves of short length were used in sending messages, and it was agreed that the lower parts of the waves were absorbed into the ground. Hertz, the great wireless pioneer, discovered that waves were affected by the various substances over which they passed, and Regis and Moinccau set to work to, note the effect that different kinds of earth had upon electrical waves. In this way they discovered the machine which has given such remarkable results. ■ It is stated that not only oil, but coal, water, and even gas can be located by the new apparatus, and it has been suggested that when such supupl'ies have been discovered, X-ray photographs from the air can be taken to show the best spots for boring. '! WILL WIRELESS DRIVE THE PLOUGH? Some months ago the story was told of a motor-car that ran through the streets of Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., vvithout visible means of control. The car i was controlled by wireless operated from another car following at a distance. Another American inventor. Mr Edward F. Glavin, of New York, has now succeeded in perfecting a little car which, he calls the .wireless hound, and the movements of which he can control entirely by wireless. The wireless hound, which has a single wheel in front for steering, is propelled electric motor and carries an aerial and a wireless set to which is connected a drum having several brass strips fixed to it. Messages are sent out from the control station, and are picked up by the car’s receiving set, which, in turn, causes the drum to rotate so that certain brass strips touch a required part of the apparatus and complete a circuit. Different signals cause the drum to rotate more or less as required, and the brass strip's are so arranged that one particular combination 1 of signals starts the motor, another steers the machine to right or left, and so on. It is necessary to have the vehicle, in sight all the time from the control station, so that the wireless car is ■not likely to be of much use for road . work. But it is easy to imagine a man sitting up in a control tower operating ploughs and other farming implements over a wide stretch of country by the touch of a lever. RECEIVING NEWS WHILE WE MOVE. While the passengers on the fast American trains which run daily between'New'York and Ithaca sit in their ■ comfortable arm-chairs, they can hear the news by wireless telephone, in 1 addition to reading it in their newspaper ers. ;; To ‘each chair is fitted a receiver that / can be put over the ears. It the passenger prefers to keep his head free, he can sit in the bufft car and let the loud-speaking telephone tell him all that is happening, while he goes on his way. .1 . The wires are strung alpng the roof of the train, and so far have worked very well, except at certain points 'Where hostile, influences come into play. For example, in the sheds at the New York terminus, the steel used in their, construction draws away the waves which bear the messages, and prevents them from reaching the trains. BEZVERN TUNNEL VENTILATION. New ventilating plant is being provided by the Great Western Railway for the Severn Tunnel, England, the increase - of traffic necessitating an in- • stallation of greater power. The new fan will be 27 feet in diameter and 9 feet wide, and, working normally at’ 100 r.p.m.,' will supply about 800,000 cubic feet of air per minute. It will be driven by a horizontal tandem compound condensing engine of about 800 indicated horsepower, having cylinders 21 inches and 42 inches in diameter, with a stroke of 39 inches. TIME ON THE SUN. M. Perot of the Meudon Observatory, France,-stated that he believes he has physically proved that time passes more slowly on the .sun than on the earth, thus "proving the correctness of Einstein’s theory of time. According to the Einstein theory, time must pass more slowly on the points of the universe where gravity Is the strongest. The gravity on the A sun is twenty-seven times stronger than on the earth. Taking the fact lhat the spectroscope has given science a knowledge of the identity of the metals burning in the sun and using as a basis of experiment the duration of the'vibration of the chemical clement, Dr. Perot, compares in the spectroscope the vibrations of atoms of the same metals burning on the sun and on the earth. The experiment, he states, showed Unit the vibrations of atoms of metals burning on the sun are much slower than ihose of the same metals on the earth. .Moreover, the difference in vibrations "was almost exactly that provided for in * Einstein’s theory. SECRET WIRELESS MESSAGES. Mr John Hays Hammond, son of the famous engineer, announces that after fourteen years’ work lie lias perfected an invention making wireless messages private. Fie declares that a simple device will prevent mny station hearing a message not intended for ii, says a cable to the New York Herald (Paris edition). The invention, according lo his announcement., will enable a large num- ' ber of stations to send simultaneously Oil the same wave lengths without interference. E is reported that, the Navy Department has asked the Senate Naval Committee to include £IBO,OOO in the Appropriation Bill to purchase .'dr Hammond’s rights. “Mr Hammond’s invention is ol greater value for military purposes tWm for civil use.” said an expert to Daily Mail representative recently. "The chief aim of wireless is to transmit, signals broadcast. With'Mr Ha'mmond’s system a listener-in needs a latch-key. He gave demonstrations wilh Ids earlier instruments in Eng--o land in 1918.”