The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1873-07-04
INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS.


The Japanese mint has already coin.
ed $500, 900 pieces OF gold and silver
valued at s2O,l7S,OOO.
The total tonnage Of the vessels which
passed through the Suez Canal in 1870
was 400, ,3l2; in 1871, 7O3, ,202; in 1872
| l ,eS2, ,O9l tons. These figures indicate
satisfactory increase in the traffic
which, however, is not at all as great
as was expected.
A meeting OF the lead miners and
smelters in the Mississippi Valley was
recently held at St. Louis for the pur'
pose of organizing an association. A
committee Of which the Hon. 81. L.
Blow is Chairman and r. B. Lockwood
Secretary, was appointed to collect in
formation and report at a meeting to be
held next April.
Four thousand five hundred pounds
OF crude borax, says The California
Mining and Scientific Press, the hrss
shipment, has arrived in Los Angeles,
California. The entire borax district in
California is now being thoroughly
prospected, and laid out in claims num-
bering nesrly 200, and extending over
an ares OF 10000 acres.
Rochussen and Daelen, German iron
workers, have patented in England an
invention whereby the Bessemer process
is go modified that more steel is pro-
duced from a given quantity OF iron
thar 1t present, while the cost OF blow
ing is reduced more than one-third. 1t
is also claimed that by this process
steel can be produced direct from the
ore.
The Norton Iron Works Company
new organization, composed of lead.
ing capitalists, OF Ironton. Cincinnati
and Louisville-is completing large
blast furnace, nail factory and rolling
mill at Ashland, Ky. There will,
therefore, very appropriately, be ere
long q great industrial establishment
near the homestead Of Henry Clay.
Mr.. Wilde, a British inventor, has
patented q combination Of apparatus
BY which the electric light can be em-
ployed to illuminate the path OF sea.
going steamers or light up the lines o.!
ships or Notifications OF an enemy.
The principle Of the apparatus is an
electro or magnetic induction machine,
which solves the problem OF producing
electricity at a continuous rate and in
uniform quantity, while it neutralizes
the influence otthe current A simple
apparatus regulates the carbons, and
the light thus produced is intensified by
passing through a catadiopric holo'
photo, which moves on pivots and
condenses the rays, producing far
reaching beam Of great intensity. The
British military authorities have dl-
rected a report to be made on the VAL
ue OF the invention.
Improvements continue to be made
in the methods Of utilizing furnace Stag,
and in converting what was formerly
nuisance into q valuable article OF
commerce, and one profitable to its
manufacturer. At the Tees Iron
Works in Great Britain, the slag, as it
leaves the furnace, spreads itself over
revolving table, and water being
poured over it, it is then pushed into
the wagons beneath. When cold it
readily breaks into pieces, and makes a
useful material for making concrete
buildings. At the Tees Works some
1000 or 5000 tons have been made in
few months pas. all Of which has
been employed in building and drainage
works, and it has also been used as a
top dressing for roads over which there
is heavy traffic. By a special pro-
GEES the slag is converted into sand,
from which bricks and cement Of an
excellent quality are made.
Among the collateral benefits Of the
competition Of inventors with reference
TO improvements in canal navigation. is
the discovery Of two new mechanical
movements. One OF these is a wheel
revolving upon central universal joint;
the other q telescope shaft surrounded
bv q sleeve vibrating upon trunnions.
In the practical device shaft, driven
by two small engines each Of q horse
power with dead points at right angles
TO each other, extends from the deck Of
the canal boat to the shore, but being
hinged near the engines, ia capable OF
being raised or lowered as occasion
may require. The revolution OF the
shaft turns cogged wheel TO whose
centre it is attached by the universal
joint The cogs Of the wheel fall into
those OF permanent track laid on low
supports along the canal bank. The
fixed leverage OF q rail track is thus
obtained without the need OF q heavy
weight, like that Of locomotive, to
procure the necessary adhesion.