The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 18??-1882, 1881-09-23
SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

| Don't believe in coal-tar as an appli-
cation to board-fences. 1t is the worst
thing that can be used under the plea
of being protection. 1t rots the
wood.
Nowadays, when we see young man
with his nose split open and four front
teeth gone, we are unable to tell whether
he is a professional base ball player or
an amateur bicycle player.
An improved stock car has been pat
ented by Mr.. Coroden j. Slater, of
Grand Junction, Mich. The odject of
| this invention is to facilitate the trans
portation of animals in cars, and pre-
mote their comfort while being trans
ported.
To make rusty saws and shovels look
bright and new: Scour with pumice
stone powder moistened with muriatic
acid diluted with about five volumes of
water. Finish with emery cloth or
paper and oil, and finally with cotton
waste or cloth and oil.
Feathers may be bleached by expos
ure to the vapor of burning sulphur
(sulphurous acid) in moist atmOs-
phere, but it is usually necessary to re-
move the oily matters from them be-
fore they can be satisfactorily so bleach
ed. This may be accomplished by i'm
mersing them for short time in good
naphtha or benzine, rinsing in a second
vessel of the same, and thoroughly dry
ing by exposure to the air. This treat
ment does not injure the feathers.
AT the close of 1880, the number of
narrow guage railways in the United
States was 149, and the total mileage
of track 1862. During the seven
months of the I. csent year a consider
able portion of this mileage has been
changed to the standard guage, while
comparatively few miles of the narrow
guage have been laid; so that the fig
ures at the close of 1881 will show
decided falling off of the narrow track
system.
To clean brass, make mixture of
one part common nitric acid and one
half part sulphuric acid in stone jar;
then place ready a pail of fresh water
and box Of saw-dust. Dip the arti-
cles to be cleaned in the acid, then re-
move them into the water. after which
rub them with saw-dust. This i'm
mediately changes them to a brilliant
color. If the brass is greasy it must be
first dipped in strong solution
of potash and soda in warm water.
This cuts the grease so that the acid
has the power to act. This is govern
ment recipe used in the arsenals.
Mr.. William NJ. Turner, of Abba, To-
wa, has patented an improved milk
cooler designed to raise cream on the
milk on the cream-gathering plan,so as
to allow the farmers to set their own
milk to be skinned by the manufac-
turers of butter. 1t consists in a can
having an upper and lower Hanged COW
er and three vertical tubes, one of which
leads from the tray formed by the
fange OH the top side of the cover, and
conveys the cold water to the middle
tube, which is larger, and which rises
in the centre of the can to nearly the
top of the same, and from the top of
which the water passes into another
tube on the opposite side from the first,
to the bottom of the can, at which
point the water emerges and surrounds
the whole body of the can to height of
milk, and passes off through an over
flow orifice in surrounding tank. in
which the can is partially submerged,
by which means positive circulation
and thorough cooling effect are pro-
duced