Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1872-04-06

are now, smokers carried small burning

are now, SMOKERS carried small burning.
glass aud piece Of tinder in order to ligh
their pipes and cigars; and there is
scarcely one Of our readers who, 10 the
happy days of boyhood, has not made use
Of an old lens to burn holes 10 the school
desk, or by this means lighted bqsfre in
the fields.
Large lenses were first made by Won
Tschirhausen (1651.1708) at the close ol
the seyentheouth century. They were 81
INCHES in diameter. BY fixing in basin
With water the burning point Of one o.
these glasses, receiving the burning roy.
of the sun on its surface, he was able tt
broil fishes and crabs, which he had placed
in the water. He virtifed pumice-stoue
and fused metals. As large masses OF
glass, however, retain great amount ol
solar rays, Brussow and Lavoisier, iD IVA
conceiged the idea to unite two glasses, oil
the form of watch glasses, and to fill the
space formed with turpeltiue. BY means
of such lens they we're able to ignate and
melt substances at DISTANCE Of ten feet
They melted copper pennies in half min.
ute, but were unable to fuse platinum.
These facts are Of practical importance
in 50 far as concave windowglasses, or bot
ties filled with water, or glass bricks may
be the cause Of fires when exposed to the
sun, and when combustible substances are
accidentally in their burning point. Tha,
bottle flied with water may originate fire
was already mentioned by Father Lacta.
MUS. Elsner relates case where such o
bottle, the burning point of which fell into
a retort containing nitric acid and phos.
phorous, brought about the formation Of
infamahle compounds which ended in a
strong explosion. Drops Of water. when
plants are sprinkled in the sunshine, will
also act as lenses, and char the flowers and
leaves in spots.
AS fitting close to our remarks under
this heading, We have obtained some data
10 relation to the solar machine recently
proposed by Capt. Ericsson, the we'll known
inventor Of the caloric engines and the
monitors. This eminent engineer proposes
to utilize the direct heat of the sun, hither.
to allowed to be wasted, as a motor. To
this end he has constructed machine,
called by him Concentration Apparatus" +"
by means Of which, by the action of the
sun, fifty cubic inches Of water may be
converted into steam upon surface of
one square foot. This amount of heat
would be uffcient to produce q force
capable of raising $4,000 pounds one foot
high ip a minute (Which would be little
more than an ordinary horse. .power), per
ten square feet Of the surface Of evapora-
ton. "If it be granted" says the invent.
or. that the mean distance from the cen.
ter of the sun to the surface Of our globe
is 2l4 A times greater than the suns ra.
dius, it follows, from the process of quad.
ration, that a single square foot of the sun 8
surface must heat 1881 square feet Of
the earth. Or, 10 other words, the sun
generates on the same surface IS, ,9S4 times
more heat than the earth receives from
him. 1t may therefore be almost adopted
with certainty, that ten square feet Of the
SUMS surface produce an amount of heat
corresponding to the combustion of 500
tons of coal per hour, or to the work of
steam engine of 45,9S4 horse power. But
this is by far not the measure of the real
amount of heat which might be made
available by the heat given out by the
central body Of our system of universe, as
oue-half Of its being lost by the penetra.
tion through the atmosphere as we'll as by
the concentration apparatus. However,
this shows what the latter may accomplish" ("
We may add, that its construction is yet
enveloped in a deep secret. Ericsson
claims, however, to have already construct
ed three solar machines, of which one is
said to be set and kept in motion by con-
centrated radiant heat, and the two others
by the expansive force of atmospheric air,
the temperature Of which is elevated by
concentrated heat. He maintains that the
motor may be utilized without the appli.
cation Of surfaces otherwise available, and
that the heat reflected from the roofs Of a
city like Philadelphia would be sufficient
to drive over 5000 machines of twenty
horse power each. All this sounds mar.
velous, but it comes from man whose
name as an engineer has . worldwide
reputation.