The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-12-14

To the rebel, TACT established by ever
trial Of force and precision.
SCIENTIFIC AND MECHANICAL.
TINS fatigue of the limbs incident l,
railway travel ia occasioned mainly by the
trembling motion % the floor under the
feet. lnvAlids will find great relief by the
use Of an air cushion for a fOotstool.
PETROLEUM has been discovered in Nova
Scotia Oozing from the rocks Of certain To-
calities, and q well bored, struck al oil
vein at a depth of 75S feet Considerable
excitement exists in the neighborhood
An acorn suspended by piece q thread
within half an inch Of the surface of water
in hyacInth glass, will, in few months,
burst and throw a root down into the water,
and shoot upwards its straight and taper
inY stem, with beautiful little green leaves
young oak tree, growing III this way on
the mantelshelf Of a room, is a very ele-
CANT and interesting object
A NEW cigar factory has been started in
Baltimore, the cigars being manufactured
after a novel method common at Vienna
A piece Of straw and small rush are placed
ia the centre of the cigar running the en-
tire length, and the wrapper is placed
around. Finally, the straw is withdrawn.
and the piece of rush serves for a mouth
piece.
SPOSTANEOCs CONBrsTON.- piece of
bltuminOus coal lying on some dry pine
boards against the side Of a build
ing Ia Millpurt, N. ", spontan-
eOusly burst into flames On one
Ut the recent hot days. Ii had been
exposed to the rays Of the sun nearly all
day, the thermometer raging from 100 to
l05 de rees III the shade
To CAsE-HARDEN WROUGHT Iron To
case harden wrought iron, take prussiate
potash, finely pulyerized, and roll the ar
ticle to be hardened ia it, il its shape ad-
mts if not, sprinkle the powder GA it
freely, while the iron is hot. This is appli-
cable to iron aXletrees, by heating the axle
red with heat, and rolling it in the powder
spread out for that purpose, turning it up
quickly and pouring cold water upon it
then dip il in cold water As quickly as pos
sible. The axle can ~ used for years with
out showing wear.
A PLEA FOR BEssENER RAILs-In the
last meeting Of the stockholders Of the
Grand Trunk Railway Of Canada, tie pres
ident stated that during the intense cold of
the Canada winters every season from
=, 300 to 1000 iron rails broke, while on a
length Of 100 miles, where Bessemer. rails
had been laid down, only tO 10 had
broken by the cold This proves that
Bessmer rails should always be used where
the winters are severe, as. besides the
greater durability of such rails. a serious
and common cause Of accidents would
almost entirely he done away with
A UNIVERSITY OF AIRS AND TRADES.
prominent citizen of Toledo, Ohio, has
malured plan and donated to the city
building site for the establishment of
S'lversIty of Arts and Trades, for the
Pioin',S III Of knowledge in these and the
related ST. pces by means Of lectures and
ia lhslructloi-- of models and reprrsrn-
tatIve works ~ A-. ~ ,rrxnrrn. III tba
mechanic arts, and " Whatsoever eIs. NAV
serve to furnish artists am artisans vitG
the best facilities for high culth.e in their
respective occupations, in addition ~ those
which are furnished ba the public schOSIs
This is q most excellent movement
BEssEMER, the inventor Of the process
Of making cheap steel, nov proposes to
revolutionize naval warfare by making
a cannon twenty yards long nth bore
of 30 inches and walls . inches thick, and
with this he will nre a shell weighing )
tons. Instead Of setting fire to all the
powder in his gun at once, he divides his
charge into different cells, and explodes
them successiv ely, All going of before the
ball leaves the gun, and each giving it a
new impulse. This il only a reprOduc-
tiOn Of an old American invention b.
! Lyman, which he called the accelcrating
gun
pggr WEIs4 AZ the villavn Of Speren
berg, Rbout ~ reiEyt sh.'er fnlnl ftrriin, !
well has been sunk % the dopth nf G.fE
feet A shaft was sunk in this locality, be-
cause the known existence of gypsum there
led the explorers 10 infer that they might
possibly find mine Of rock salt At the
depth of 80 feet, they did reach salt, and
continuing on they passed through the salt
deposit, 1907 feet, without having reached
the bottom of il. The boring would have
been continued t. ascertain what deposit
lay under the salt hut the mechanical
difficulties were too great. The greater
part Of the boring was done 10y steam.
/ A cONTRA,T has lately been signed be-
tween the directors Of the st. GOthard
/ Railway, Switzerland, and NJ. LeFavre of
Geneva, for the boring of new railway
tunnel through the Alps, which promises
to surpass anything of the kind yet at
tempted The length Of the tunnel will be
a little more than nine miles. Cost, $40,
OO,U0. The work is to BE- finished within
eight years and if sooner finished the
contractor N to receive 81 900 day for
each day in advance Of the contract time.
II the completion of the work il from any
reason delayed beyond the contract time,
1900 day are to be forfeited.
WATEksPOUIs ON LAKE ERIE.-Wster-
spouts recently seen ON Lake Erie are thus
described BY a newspaper correspondent
About . ~ A. NJ. when about ninety miles
from Erie, and nearly abreast of Cleveland
bn our course to Detroit, we saw an
Iaeise watersPoat, which at first n. .R9.
like the heavy black smoke -
1t gradually took the
and sross to tAA, IDAHO, MANHATI
up PassEvADA, ana WISCONSIN, CoLoRAD'
-.