Machinery and Appliances.

Progress, 1 November 1905, Page 8

M achinery and Appliances.

iCOMFORT ,FOR jCATTLE. vAn improved cham-hang-ng cattle stanchion, of American origin, is clearly shown m the accompanying illustration. A short chain is used to secure the fastener to the top beam, so that it is suspended one and one-half inches clear of the bottom sill It is also fastened to the bottom sill by a chain of sufficient length to allow it a motion which is free and easy in all directions, as well as in rotation.

This arrangement gives to the cattle freedom, yet security. It keeps them as clean as the rigid stanchion, and yet gives such liberty of action that when standing the head can be turned so as to lap the sides, as when loose ; or to rest it on the body when lying down. There is no weight on the neck, no chafing of the head with ropes or chains, and no possibility of cattle getting loose, or of lying in the droppings. ****** It is a truism of modern physical culture that perfect health is impossible without deep breathing. The value of the ingenious lung-tester and developer, illustrated herewith, should, therefore, be apparent to all. The breath is blown through a rubber tube on to a small revolving fan. The said fan is fastened

to a screw axis which revolves along the toothed edge of a circular indicator. To turn this once requires an expenditure of lung power equal to 100 cubic inches. That the use of this appliance, besides being a source of considerable amusement, is extremely beneficial, is shown by the fact that one who at the first attempt can register no more than 100 cubic inches will discover that after some practice he can exhale 150 or 200 cubic inches, then 250, and so on until he attains his full capacity. The tester is obtainable in Melbourne from the Union Manufacturing and Agency Company. The prevention of smoke depends upon the application of certain principles governing combustion, which are more of less understood. The application of these principles involves three factors — (1) The device in which the combustion is to take place, including the accessories thereto ; (2) the materials to be burned ; (3) the method and conditions under which the device and the materials referred to above are manipulated. That which may be the best device in one place may not be the best in another, the prevention of smoke at any particular establishment being a problem depending on the application of general principles. There is ample room for improvement in the brakes usually employed on road vehicles. Some of the patterns now in use were probably familiar tc prehistoric man. An automatic brake has been brought out, principally for heavy vehicles, that promises to be widely adopted. When a vehicle to which the device is attached is decendmg a gradient, or when the speed of the horse or horses is reduced, the brake acts automatically, by means of the pressure on the breeching m a one-horse vehicle, and the backward pull on the collars when

two horses are used. If desired the brake can also be worked by a foot or hand lever, and can be locked on or off when necessary. ****** The latest and most advanced type of any baking oven is represented m the accompanying illustrations. This shows a range of six of " Telescocar " drawplate ovens erected m the bakery of the Kettermg Co-operative Society, Kettermg, England, by the engineering firm of Werner, Pfleiderer and Perkins Limited, London, W.C. Actual experience shows that two ovens of this type are capable of a regular output of 120 sacks per week with five men. The sole of the oven is drawn out of the baking chamber

into the bakehouse for setting and drawing each batch, thus ensuring that all the loaves are baked for the same length of time, and are, therefore, uniform in colour, weight and appearance. Undoubted economy is obtained with the continuous working of the oven thus made possible. A complete plant of Messrs. Werner, Pfleiderer and Perkins' ovens and machinery has just been installed m the new bakery of Abel and Co. Limited, of Newton, Sydney. This firm informs us that although not yet actually working all the machinery or ovens, they are m a position to see that the plant is capable of doing all that is claimed for it. * A**** In the famous Lebaudy air-ship the principle of the navigable balloon is combined with the use of horizontal and vertical aeroplanes. A horizontal aeroplane, which is canvas covered, forms a platform suspended from the under surface of the balloon proper. Below this the car is suspended by cables. The maximum girth of the balloon, which m no section is perfectly cylindrical, is 9.8 m., and the total length from end to end 58m. A balloonette is arranged inside the balloon, and is kept inflated by a motor-driven fan m the car. The motor is of 40-h.p., of Daimler type, water-cooled, and the petrol tank is placed under car and motor. Two bladed propellers are used, one on either side of the car, their shafts being driven by bevel gearing from the engine shaft, the speed being from 800 to 1000 r.p m. It is claimed that this air ship will sail closer to the wind than any of its rivals, and also that speeds of 40 hm. per hour in still air i">ave>been attained. ****** Herewith is shown an illustration of a new tea-strainer. The liquid can either be poured direct into the spoon on the left-hand side, when the leaves will remain m the bottom thereof, or it can be poured into the strainer on the righthand side. If the tea is poured as first described

the strainer can then be closed over the spoon, and the leaves thus mpnsoned prevent any drips or disfigurements of the table cloths. The handle open with a scissor- like action on a slight pressure, and close automatically after use. As to whether this novelty will adapt itself to New Zealand tastes remains to be seen.

Perhaps no scientific discovery ever aroused such excitement in the minds of men of science, and among people generally, as Radioactivity • for experimental results have been obtained that seem to be contrary to the law of conservation of Energy and the Atomic Hypotheses, which are the very foundation of modern Chen istry and Physics. Radioactivity may be denned as the spontaneous emission of radiations capable of passing through substances opaque to ordinary light and having the power of discharging electrified bodies. In addition to this they are able to cause fluorescence -and fog a photographic plate. This property is possessed by several elements and their compounds, more especially radium, and to a smaller degree by uranium and thorium, all of which elements are characterised by high atomic weights. The original discovery of Radioactivity was made in the case of the uranium compounds by the French chemist Becquerel, in 1896. Two years later Schrridt and Mme. Curie discovered independently that thorium and its compounds had the power of emitting radiations of a similar nature. Mme. Curie then examined a number of compounds of uranium and found that they all were radioactive. But m the case of certain minerals the activity was greater than that exhibited by an equal amount of pure uranium. The mineral possessing this propperty m the highest degree was pitchblende, an impure oxide of uranium. Mme. Curie considered that this substance must contain some unknown element considerably more active than uranium itself. The chemical examination of pitchblende resulted m the discovery of two new substances of enormously high activity. One of these separated out with the bismuth, and received the name polonium. The other was found to remain with the barium which was co verted into its chloride. By fractionally crystallising this a great number of times, at last a minute quantity of a subrtance free from barium was obtained with an activity two million times that of uranium. This proved to be the chloride of a new element to which, 111 consequence of its characteristic property, Mme. Curie gave the name radium. Radium chloride is slightly luminous in the dark, and its radiations produce intense luminescence on many substances, such as the mineral willemite (zinc silicate). In addition they are capable of exerting a powerful chemical action on many substances. Glass and even quartz is discoloured, yellow phosphorous is converted into the red noninflammable variety, and iodine is rapidly liberated from lodoform. A solution of radium chloride in water causes decomposition m the same manner as electrolysis with the continuous liberation of oxygen and hydrogen. Radium compounds have a powerful physiological action. Unfertilised ova when acted on by the radiations develop without fertilisation by spermatozoids. The action of the radiations on the human skm is to destroy the epidermal tissues, producing a painful burn which takes a considerable time to heal. In consequence of this property, radium has been successfully employed m curing certain forms of surface cancer, but it has no apparent effect on deep-seated tumours The most remarkable property of radium was discovered by M. and Mme. Curie, who in 1902 startled the world with the announcement that it