Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 7 September 1911, Page 1771

Science Siftings

By 1 Volt.’

The Longest Bridge.

It is at Sangong, China, and is called the Lion Bridge. It extends miles over an arm of the Yellow Sea, and is supported by three hundred huge stone arches. The roadway is seven feet above the water, and is enclosed in an iron network.

An Arctic Coal Mine.

According to La Nature the most northerly coal mine is that of the Arctic Coal Company (an American concern) at Advent Bay, on the east coast of Spitzbergen. The coal crops out at the surface of the ground several hundred feet above sea level, and is s brought down to the harbor by a funicular railway. The company has about 150 men at work, chiefly Norwegians, who remain on the spot all the year, although Advent Bay is blocked by ice and inaccessible to vessels for eight months —viz., from November to June. About 6000 tons were taken out last year, but the maximum output has not yet been reached. The chief market for this coal is Norway, which has no coal mines of its own.

Making 'Battle Relics.'

A careful observer who has visited many of the world's great battlefields declares that the greater part of the mementoes, of which there seems to be an inexhaustible supply, are wholly spurious; but so well are they simulated that the average visitor is content. Pieces of shell are made by casting hollow spheres and cracking them with a sledge. The fragments are then treated to a bath of diluted nitric acid and allowed to gather rust in the open air. The appearance of verdigris is easily procured, when desired, by the use of copper in solution. The writer was shown several basketfuls of pieces of shell, all of which seem to be at least thirty or forty years old. The acid has slightly honeycombed the edges, and they looked exactly as if corroded by long burial beneath the soil. Such trifles as single bullets and minie balls are made with the greatest ease in an ordinary mould. They are dented with a small hammer and given the requisite discoloration by remaining for a few days in a bucket of lime. The more elaborate relics, such as sword belts, spurs, pieces of harness, bayonets, canteens, and so on, are turned out by individual workmen, who make a good profit out of the business.

A New Zealand Airship. In response to communications from the naval authorities, Mr. Joseph Taylor, mining engineer of Nelson, has been on a visit to Wellington, and laid before Captain Gansit, of H.M.S. Challenger and the Naval Engineer, the plans relating to his invention of a Universal Combination Airship,' and of its several modifications, the patent rights of which have just been secured. Mr. Taylor has also explained' his plans and designs to the New Zealand Defence Department, in order to induce the Defence authorities to initiate experiments preparatory to undertaking practical construction of one or more of his three new types of airship. By means of his inventions (says a Press Association message), Mr. Taylor claims to have solved the problem of aerial navigation for general commercial purposes, his leading ideas having been to secure carrying capacity, stability, safety, and comfort, partly by combining all proved advantages in connection with aerial craft and partly by the introduction of several fundamentally new features. The invention is said to embody in one homogeneous machine all the proved principles in connection with balloons, aeroplanes, gyroscopes, motor cars, etc. It is expected to possess a carrying capacity of several tons for passengers and cargo after allowing for its own weight. For purposes of defence Mr. Taylor claims it will supersede all existing types of aerial craft. The vital principle .of the invention is a matter of a combination of lifting screws driven by powerful motors.