SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XI, Issue 33, 19 August 1893, Page 104

SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL.

ELECTRICITY for balloons. A balloon capable of seating 10 persons is to be navigated at the Frankfort Exhibition, and is to demonstrate the application of electricity to aerial navigation. Ihe pulley controlling the ascent and descent will be operated by an electric motor, and telephonic communications will be possible at all heights, so that in future an aeronaut may report the movements of an enemy at great distances. Experiments are to be made with a view to steering the balloon by electricity, and charging with electrically prepared water. GLASS CURTAINS. Glass curtains are a novelty in art industry for house furnishings. They are in coloured glass, and have the efl’ect, when closed, of stained glass. They consist of a series of little squares of coloured glass each set in a small zinc frame, the squares being attached to each other at the four corners by little S-shaped hooks. It is stated that they can be as easily taken down and moved as any other curtains, and in the case of changing from one size of window to another can easily be enlarged or decreased in size by the addition or subtraction of a certain number of squares. They are also easily cleaned, and one of their particular attractions is said to be cheapness. They are now being shown at the Palais Royal, Paris. SNORING. A remedy for snoring would be an acceptable discovery, if practical and efficient. It is recorded that Dr. Rand, of New York, had, in the case of a poor man dying of apoplexy, given instantaneous relief to his stertorous breathing by pressing upward and forward under his chin. A cardboard prop from the chest was therefore improvised, the flesh being protected by a handkerchief ; it was easily kept in position by the nurse, and throughout the twelve hours which the patient survived the respiration continued quiet and natural. ‘ Now, could not something of the sort be used by persons who snore so inveterately that they become a nuisance to everybody in the house ?’ asks a correspondent. If a cure for snoring could be found, the discoverer would be among the great benefactors of humanity. the sun’s rays and colours. An Indian gazette gives an account of the protective effect of certain colours against the sun’s rays. It is urged that no one has ever been a victim to sunstroke or sun fever through a dark source of heat. It is said it is not the heat rays which act injuriously, but the chemical ones. As a photographer treats his plates by enveloping them in yellow or red, so, a correspondent says, he treated his body. All the linings of his hats and coats were yellow, with the satisfactory result that after a trial of five years, even often under circumstances of extreme exposure, there was no return of either fever or sunstroke, to both of which the writer declares himself to have previously been a victim. A NOVEL MACHINE. There is in use at Millwall Docks a novel and ingenions machine for discharging cargoes of grain in bulk, the principle applied being the removal of the grain by the creation of a strong current of air. The machine is erected on a barge which is placed alongside the ship to be unloaded. One end of each ot six five-inch flexible pipes is attached to the machine, the other ends being carried into the hold or holds of the vessel and immersed a few inches in the grain. When the engine is started the grain immediately flows at the rate of 100 tons an hour through the pipes into receivers whence it falls by gravity into weighing machines, and then again by gravity, into the craft sent out by the purchasers to carry it away. NEW STYLE OF SHIP. Some extraordinary inventions for expediting ocean navigation have emanated from Lieutenant Apostolow, of the Russian navy. He recently exhibited to some naval officers in Odessa a new style of ship, without screw or paddle, but which had instead ‘a kind of runningelectricalgear round the vessel’s hull under the waterline, and a revolving mechanism which will propel the ship from Liverpool to New York in twenty-eight hours.’ He offers the alternative of a submarine passage, ‘ without rock, roll or vibration, and with a good supply of oxygen and hydrogen during the short voyage.’ This, says /n»e»f»on, sounds very much like the realisation of some of M. Jules Verne’s fictions. THE FUEL OF THE FUTURE. Water gas in the United States is said to be superseding coal gas. It is quite inodorous and easily ignited, gives off no smoke or soot, burns with a somewhat weak flame, but throws out immense heat, and can be used for all purposes for which coal gas is employed, that is for lighting, heating and furnishing motive power. It is sometimes saturated with naphtha or benzine, which considerably increasesits illuminating power. The total cost per hour of a light equal to eighteen candles is, according to a recent authority, only about £d or less than that of many oil-lamps of equal power. ‘lt is admirably adapted for any process which requires great heat. It is used for welding tin, for soldering, glass-blowing, smelting; it is employed in chemical factories, ironworks, in short in every branch of industry where it is desirable to obtain heat of all temperatures easily, without smoke. Practical experiments show that the cheapest form of motor for small trades is the engine driven by this gas. These engines can compete so successfully up to 150 h p. with either steam or coal gas engines, that there is a strong probability of these two last being superseded by the newcomer.’ The article from which the above facts are compiled concludes by strongly recommending it also for dwell-ing-houses, restaurants, and elsewhere—the cooking would be done by this new production of science, the rooms could be warmed by it, and in houses not wired for the electric light, it would take the place of oil or coal gas.