Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-07-18
SCIENTIFIC.

! machine is a shaft, on which a piece of
metal is SO arranged that four iron hoops
| about three feet in diameter can be bolted
on, these four hoops having each two sheet
iron plates mounted ON pivots, and between
these plates an attachment screw catches the
barrels. Brushes fixed on springs are
placed on hoop outside the machine, and
SO arranged as to touch the four barrels at
the same time, the circle of brushes being
| eccentric to the shaft A reservoir under
| the machine has hot water for washing the
| outside of the barrels. A chain brush is
placed In the interior of the barrel The
machine is worked by an ordinary pulley
fixed on the main shaft, this latter carrying
the four barrels round, like the sails of a
windmill. The exterior brushes, being sta
tionary, produce a friction on the barrels
which causes them to rotate on their pivots,
| so that two circular movements are obtained
| at the same time. The tables of the screws
to the upper part, so that they are contin-
ually kept wet
The results and economics Of traction en-
gines, as used upon the common roads of
| India, are set forth in recent official re-
port. 1t appears that, on level roads, such
| engines can be relied on to work a service
of trains with great regularity and at fair
rate of speed, and that goods can be carried
at four miles an hour, and passengers at
eight miles. At these speeds, the cost of a
| train containing fifteen tons of goods, or
about seven tons Of passengers, was about
| fifty cents per train mile. 1t is further
stated that the rubber tires, as used in such
running, are of great service in reducing the
cost of the ordinary engine repairs, and in
giving the needed uniformity of adhesion,
without in the least degree damaging the
surface of the roads-in return for which
advantages, the cost of maintaining such
tires is found not to exceed three cents per
| train mile.
AUTHENTIC details have come from Berlin
| of Siemen's new electric locomotor. Ac-
cording to the Volks Zeituag only a techni-
cal difficulty relating to the connection of
the axle with the body Of the vehicle re-
mains to be overcome before the new cleo
trio carriage is ready for use. The inventors
have made an offer to work the Berlin city
railway with their electrical machinery. The
firm of Siemens & Halske propose to con-
struct whole system of high level lines over
the tops of the houses and the heads of the
walkers. The pillars of the gas lamps on
one side of the pavement and an iron sup
port on the inner side are to bear the weight
of this airy railroad In the event of the
project being carried cut, single carriages
divided into a mans compartment and
woman's compartment are to be attached to
| the electrical locomotive
| For use In telegraphy, aluminium is found
to possess double the conducting power of
iron, and can be made into extremely thin
wires. The high price of the metal and the
difficulty of large production are, of course
great obstacles in the way. But, as appears
from the technical journals, it can at least
be produced in quantities sufficient to give
an alloy with iron suitable for use as tele-
graph wire, thinner and better conducting
than the ordinary wire. The light weight
of such wire give it a special value for GER
tain purposes. With regard to the produc-
ton of aluminium in quantity sufficient for
the purpose, it is thought that the tolerably
abundant cryoGte found in Greenland might
furnish the raw material, and reduction
of it in smelling works, by means of sill
cious iron or zinc'1 ore, would perhaps be
practicable.
ATTENTION is drawn to process for MAX
ing steel from phosphoric pig, with the aid
of duorspar and iron ore, In an improved
gas reverberatory furnace lined with lime or
magnetism lime, SO prepared that it can be
put in as dust and harden rapidly under the
action of a high heat, thus rendering re-
pairs an easy matter. The waste is replaced
by the amount of metal reduced from the
ore, while the value of the clay produced is
considered equal to one-half the cost of the
fuorspar. Experiments are said to show
| that the action of fuorine and oxygen re-
moves the silicon, phosphorus and one-haf
the carbon in fifteen to twenty minutes,
| while the remainder of the carbon is re-
moved in from one to two hours by charging
ore. The economy of this process is claim
ed to be special advantage.
! ACCORDING to recent article in Enqi-
qaee,Ing, the leading organ of its kind in
London; the cost of the new or Siemen's
toughened glass is about the same per ton as
that of cast iron, but as the specific gravity
is only about one-thrd that of iron, the cost
of any article of given dimensions is, of
course, materially less. The material, says
this paper, has as yet been too recently in
troduced, and too little is known of its real
characteristics, to enable any very decided
| opinion to be formed as to its future capa-
bilities; but, notwithstanding this, the re-
| suits of the experiments SO far made with
the material are certainly of an exceedingly
promising character, and the further devel-
| opment Of its application will be watched