The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-07-10
SCIENTIFIC NEWS.

LIQUiD FUEL IN MsTALLURCY.-The careful
experiments that have Of late been made
with mineral oil As fuel for boiler furnaces,
have not been attended with that degree Of
success for which their founders fondly
looked al the outset. Ceriain theoretical
advantages, however, have led many to be-
lieve that it could be made preferable TO
coal, and have caused il to be tried IN some
Of the operations Of metallurgy. One Of
The most noteworthy o. these NV applica-
tious i ID the bending Of armOr and other
plates and although taken from a source
evidently too favorably impressed with the
value # the method. a b. Il sketch Of the
latter may be worthy of attention from those
Who take An interest ID the more extended
utilization Of petroleum products. TIE APP
para-u- mas been pu. in operation il Chat
ban doc kyard, England and consists Of
furnace consuming one hundred and eight
gallons Of OIl per day, and designed for
heating Or-plates, say six inches thick,
seven and half feet long and three feet
vide. The essential principle Of the fur
mace consists 10 distilling over from a suI;a.
BIZ boiler the vapOr Of the hydrocarbon, the
yaoOr being burned from Jets which coDsti
tufs the furnace.
With the furnace ordinarily used for ar
mOr-plate bending, some four or FIVE hours
OF preliminary heating are required to ct it
tor the reception Of the plate, and, as
rule, the plate requires to be subjected to
the action Of the heat one hour for every
inch Of it's thickness. From ten to eleven
hours consequently commonly elapse from
the time the plate is placed in the furnace
until il is ready for bending. With the new
petroleum apparatus,it spreliminary heating
Das been secured IN one hour, and The heat
ing Of the plate ready for bending ia al
hour and thirty minutes more--the whole
operation thus occupying but one-fourth
the time involved by the old plan. 1t is al
50 claimed that the plates are more zee
from scale and less liable to crack ia coud
ing, thus etfectng saving which the EGG
lIsu advocates of the plan estimate al tea
sbillings-or, IN .ur currency, in the neigh
b0rb00d OF three dellars and a half-per
tun. Additional facility in The proper heat
ing Of the plate il also gained from the
ease with which the intensity Of the fame
may be varied to suit the emergencies of
the work by simple increasing or diminish
ing The number Of Jets.
Thus far, the employment Of this petro-
leum furnace 10 metallurey has been merely
thShbdis Ouh ~ - hobhA W Dt puh COI-
tnously and practically 10 use in the bend
ing Of the armor-piates Of a vessel upwards
OF FIVE thousand tons, now being construct
I'd in proximity to the establishment where
the furnaces are now placed.
scIN7HLATIoNs FROM SCIENTIFIC AUTHORS.
Lava has been known to flow over layer
Of ashes, underneath which was a bed of
ice. The non conductivity Of the ashes saved
the ice.
The heat emitted from the sun in year
is equal to that which would be produced by
the combustion Of layer Of coal seventeen
miles in thickness
EVERY force upon earth, electricity. mag
netism, light, heat, &c, is definitely and
equivalently convertible into each other, ami
where,e experiment. does not give full Iuiv-
alent, it is because the initial force BIS been
dissipated, not lost, by conversion into other
unreeognized forces
ELECTRICITY is that affection % n ttter or
mode of force which most distinctly and
beautifully relates other modes Of force, and
exhib IS, TO great extent 10 a Q labtitative
form, It's own relation with them and their
reciprocal relations with it and each o.her.
NJ ARAG0 was the fret 60 observe that a
wire, when traversed by powerful current, |
and plunged into iron filings, rstained
around it a considerable quantity, which
formed a cylindrical mass OF the thickness
of Quill.
MAGNETS, whose coils are long, discharge
'heir magnetism much less easily and slow |
ly than those whose coils are short.
THE good conductor OF heat il the good |
conductor OF electricity, and the bad con
duct0r Of heat is the bad conductor of exc
trieitY.
MoLEcCLaR motion can travel with equal
and even greater velocity than light, ana is |
shown by the rapidity with which electricity
traverses metal wire where each particle \
Of mental is undoubtedly affected.
ANY force arbitrarily selected can media |
tely or Immediately produce and be merged
into the others.