Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 27 October 1910, Page 1771

Science Siftings

BY ‘VOLT’

Steel Passenger Cars. The Pennsylvania Railroad has now in actual service or in, process of manufacture nearly 2000 steel passenger cars. They are non-collapsible, the brunt of a collision being borne by a central box girder that extends the entire length of the coach from coupling to coupling. A New Gas. Blau gas is coming prominently into use in Germany. It may be carried in steel bottles as easily as oil, and can be used where ordinary illuminating gas can not be supplied. It is invaluable for car heating and lighting, for welding and for soldering. It is non-poisonous and practically non-explosive, and is cheaper to produce than acetylene. Railway Travelling. The French railroads have long stood at the head as regards speed. This summer the Northern Railway has put on a day express from Berlin to Paris, which covers the distance from Paris to St. Quentin (964- miles) in 93 minutes, a speed of 62.1 miles an hour; and the 53-4- miles to the Belgian frontier is covered in 51 minutes at a speed of 58£ miles an hour. The Eastern Railway Company has scheduled an afternoon express from Paris to Basle, which runs the first 104.37 miles in 107 minutes —a speed of 58.5 miles an hour. . A Combination Automobile. A German engineer has invented a combination war automobile and war motor boat for the use of the army. The transformation can be quickly effected and the motor instantly connected with a screw propeller. The armor allows free locomotion, even on difficult land, and can be removed and changed to shield the crew from all sides. The conductor is able to drive and steer the car in every, position— lying on the floor —and in both directions, forward and backward, without being obliged to turn. The car shows many advantages, the principal one being the possibility of crossing rivers and .lakes independent of bridges. Trials are being made by experts. To Guard Against Lightning. An electrical engineer in an article about thunder and lightning claims that there is .little danger of lightning striking the side of a house and entering an open window. For that reason he can see no sense in putting down the windows and closing the doors as soon as a storm pproaches, as many people do who are afraid of thunder and lightning. On the other hand, he claims that some of these people show good judgment in seeking the comforting folds of a feather bed during a thunder storm, as dry feathers are excellent insulating material. He further claims that concrete building reinforced with a network of steel rods offer the very best protection against lightning. Utilising Waste Milk. In rural Ireland one of the chief difficulties of the creamery system has been to get rid of the waste milk or ‘ wash.’ Many methods which have been tried to get rid of this ‘ wash ’ have proved unsuccessful. A method which seems decidedly promising has, however, been discovered one, moreover, which not only removes the waste, with all its attendant disadvantages, but apparently transforms it into a valuable fertiliser, thus conferring a double advantage. The efficiency of the method, in addition, is only equalled by its simplicity. On a barn floor is placed a heap of phosphate of lime coarsely ground; this heap is hollowed out as a mason would arrange his heap of sand when preparing to make mortar, and into the hollow is tipped the wash from the creamery. A shovelful of yeast is added, and after a few days the whole material is mixed and turned as in the making of mortar. The amount of wash available from the creamery at Ballyduff, where an experiment was made, was close on 100 gallons per day. The result was a greyish mass of damp material not unlike superphosphate .in appearance. The effluent is neutral, and it might in all probability be safely run into a stream without causing any pollution. So far as could be seen the question of the removal of a nuisance had been solved, for there was no nuisance of any kind. Of course, in active constant work at the creamery the process would be carried on in a proper system of filter beds. Experiments prove that here is a material which, from its analysis, should form a suitable fertiliser for turnips and which is capable of returning to the soil the phosphate of lime already removed in the milk, while at the same time the process of its manufacture transforms an evil-smelling, injurious waste product into something innocuous and possibly valuable.