The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1879-07-10
USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.

USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.
JAROLIMEK maintains that steel can
be hardened not only by immersion in
boiling water, but even in boiling oil,
melting lead and melting zinc.
NJ. BoUssINGAULT found that Their
mometer, plunged in snow to the depth
of about four inches, sometimes marked
80 of heat greater than at the surface.
A SOUTHERN gentleman washes his
meat ready for smoking, leaving it toll
erably moist; then sprinkles on black
pepper as long as it will stick, hangs
carefully and smokes fifteen days with
small pieces of hickory wood, and he
tells the North Carolina Fum,e7 that
during the 20 years he has followed this
plan worms have never molested his
dried beef and hams.
SAwDUsT mixed with bullocks' blood
or other agglutinative substance, and
forced into molds of any desired pat
tern under the combined action of heat
and pressure, is now extensively manu-
featured into furniture and hardware
trimmings of great variety, and is known
by the trade name of hemacite. The
objects in question are made of various
colors, and possess remarkable degree
of strength and hardness.
In recent discussion on the subject
of spontaneous combustion at the
French Academy of Science, M. Cosson
related case of the flooring in his lab
oratory taking fire. The boards were
in the vicinity of an air-hole, fed with
warm air from a stove four yards away
on the floor below. M. Cosson said
that the boards had been slowly carbon
lied. Being thus rendered porous a
rapid absorption of the oxygen of the
atmosphere had resulted, and sufficient
caloric was produced to originate COM
bustion.
UTILIZING REFUSE MATERIAL.-A
late illustration of what science can do
in the way of giving value to refuse ma
teriai produced in the arts, is afforded
by the recent production by scientific
man of combustible gaseous material
from the refuse remaining after the pro-
cess of distilling molasses from beets.
The gas is called chloride of methyl.
1t may be easily condensed into liquid
form, and in that shape is found to be
especially valuable as refrigerating
agent, producing by its rapid evapora-
ton temperature of IS c.. or 81 F. be-
low zero, which is far below the freez-
ing point of mercury. For the manu-
facture of ice this agent promises to be
of great Importance.
DEPHOsPHORIzED IRON.-One of the
chief obstacles to the economical manu-
facture of steel has been the presence of
small quantities of phosphorus in the
various iron ores. The phosphorus
makes the steel brittle and difficult to
weld, and for a long time metallurgists
have been seeking for some method of
easily and cheaply removing it while
the metal was in the Bessemer convert
er, or on the hearth of the furnace As
long as this could not be accomplished,
the manufacture of the Bessemer and
open hearth steels required the use of
such ores as were free from phosphorus,
and as ores of this kind are rather rare,
it becomes difficult and expensive
matter to obtain them in sufficient guam
tity to meet the demands of the new
branches OF steel manufacture. There
comes now the news, from several Of
the largest iron works abroad, and from
one or two in America, of the almost
simultaneous invention of several differ
emit processes for dephosphorizing the
pig iron used for making steel. Should
any OF these methods prove successful,
and doubtless many Of them will be,
more or less, it will be one of the great
est advances in modern metallurgy. It
will immediately cheaper steel and
bring it into sharp competition with
iron. On account of its superior
strength, steel is far better than iron for
most structural purposes, and in view
OF our enormous consumption in bridges,
railways and the like, any step toward
greater strength, and consequently
greater safety, is indeed blessing to
the country.
The SAND BLAsT.-Among the won
derful and useful inventions of the times
is the common sand blast. Suppose you
desire to letter piece of marble for
gravestone; you cover the stone with
sheet of wax no thicker than wafer,
then cut in the wax the name, date, etc,
leaving the marble exposed. Now pass