Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1856-08-14
IA. I 8 3 6.


MODERN RAlLwAYs.-The modern railway
system may be said to date from 1880. when
the construction. by Mr.. G.. Stephenson, of
] the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, with
Its locomotive engines, was completed. After
that date we heard no more such prophecies
as the following, from the London Quarterly
;, ReDieW, in 1925 AS to those persons who
speculate OH making railways generally
throughout the kingdom, and superceding all
the canals, all the wagons, mails and stage
coaches, and, in short, every other mode of
conveyance by land and by water, we deem
tnem and their visionary schemes unworthy
Oh hotiee. What, for instance, can be more
Paipaoly absurd and ridiculous than the fol-
owing paragraph :: Here the Review cites
epaiasrapn' IN which prospect is held out
=. 1oooinotlVes travelling twice as fast as
stage-c9aches. 1--WE should as soou." adds
the he0teto, "expect the people of Woolwich
10 suher themselves to be fred off uDou one
OF CongFeYe's rioochet rockets, as trust
themselves 10 the mercy of such a machine
gong at such a rate" The modern railway
system has, however, not only done this. bnt
II has proved to be the great mechanical IN.
yentlon of the nineteenth century, as the
steam engine was Of the eighteenth.
RECENT MECHANIC INVENTIONS Good.
year proposes applying India rubber or gutts
percha, with sulphur and saltpetre. in the
manufacture Of gunpowder A direct acting
steam engine has been constructed, in which
one high pressure and one low pressure evil
mder are arranged in the same line, and have
double-actlng air-pump in the same line as
the cylinder also steam boiler, in which the
ire pursues peculiar course Though the
hues, and which is set upon metal supports.
Cloth is now prepared for bookbindinp. SO
q OF n fhaa
the dressing tor the cloth is formed by passing
one, or several coats of colors, reduced to
powder, with hnseed oil, over the cloth, and
died in stove heated to fifty or sixty degrees
Fahrenheit.
Dubrille's improved safety lamp is vessel
made entirely Of sheet iron, is solid and light;
by Its peculiar construction, the oil chamber
Is wider and lower, so that the level of the oil
sinks less rapidly than III the ordinary lamp,
while the oil ascends more rapily to the wick
An improvement has been effected in the
treatment of linseed, poppy, and other oils
employed in the mixing of paint; it consists
in adding TO these oils, over the fire, when
slightly heated, sulphuric acid, resin, and
manganese, or litharge, thus reducing the
number OF c0atings Of paint required
In the,manutacture Of alkalieS and alkaline
ea:ths, new mode has been intrcdu
which consists in decomposing the sulphates
OF the alkaline earths, by exposing them at high
heat alternately to the action of deoxydizing
and oxydizing agents, whereby the sulphuric
acid is gradually driven off, and the alkaline
bases are left in a free state.
PERMANENT PHoToGRApHs.-Am most inter
esting and useful discovery is reported to have
recently been made in the Photographic art,
by Mr.. P. Delamotte, of the London Photo
T.
that Photographic impressions, taken by the
ordinary process, are not lasting the colors
change, and the more delicate tints disappear,
thus destroying the finish and accuracy of the
impressions. By the discovery of Prof. D.,
Photographic prints will henceforth have the
permanence of line engravings.
SUBMARINE BLASTING. The manner in
WHICH the rock is affected by the operation of
submarine blasting, is thus explained by sci
entitic authority-By the expansive force of
the explosion the large mass of water above
and around, must be instantly removed, or
lifted. But the motion of all matter requires
time. The expansive force will not willingly
wait for the slow rising of the mass of water,
high enough to afford relief. 1t therefore
makes Its way at the same time downward
upon the solid rock, crushing, crumbling, and
grinding II to pieces. All matter, so far as is
known, Is porous and compressible, and rocks
are more eompressible TT an water Therefore,
a sudden expansive force between "a body of
WAFER and a body of rock, while 1t requires
time to remove the water, must necessarily,
to some extent crush the surface OF therock
AS the explosive force is exerted downwards,
no fragments of rock are driven above the
surface of the water. A great portion of that
part Of the rock which is disturbed by the
explosion is pulverized.