Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-07-05
SPARKS OF SCIENCE.

A Pittsburg (Pa.) firm has secured a
patent for glass shingles, and proposes to
manufacture them.
A thin coat of varnish applied to straw
mating will make it more durable and
keep the mating fresh and new.
The artesian well at Calvary Cemetery,
Long Island, just completed, has cost 500. :
900, is 500 feet deep, but the water is 80
muddy that it is unfit for use.
The light which falls upon the earth
from the satellites of Mars is about equiv
alent to what mans hand on which the
sun shone at Washington would reflect to
Boston.
1t is predicted by NJ. Duponchel that
before 1890. 1t may, perhaps, occur in
1888, but the great probability is that it
will present itself in 1892.
One cubic foot of pure water, at CO. F.,
weights 62 355 pounds at 2l2' f. only
So GAO pounds. A cylindrical foot of water
at 60 +. weighs 49, 973 pounds. One ton
of wster is 35 80 cubic feet.
A good rivet, cold, should bend double
without breaking. The head should fiatten
out, when hammered hot, to one.eighth of
an inch thick, without fraying at the edge
or breaking. Boiler plates should be
calked with convex tool.
The tunnel at Montreal, uader contract,
will be l6, 900 feet in length, and be laid
with a double track. The center will be
about rs feet below the level of the bank
on either side of the st. Lawrence. The
cost is estimated at "a 100000.
The London Builder attributes the mar.
velous durability of mortar in Italy to the
fact that the lime remains in pit covered
with water for two years before it is used,
whereas in England lime is Stacked and
used the same day. Most building specifi-
cations even require new Stacked lime.
A valuable fiber called pita or bromelic
grows wild in Honduras. 1t is said to be
the strongest fiber known, and can be used,
half and half, with silk or wool. Ma
manufacturing purposes, and it is said to
be worth, when ready for the market,
81, 200 per ton.
Professor Carlo Pavesi, an italian, has
produced a disinfectant which the medical
papers Of the Old World heartily com.
mend. 1t ia composed of chloride of lime,
camphor and glycerine. The mixture can
be used in all cases where picnic acid is
now employed, and is less disagreeable,
less irritating and less toxic than that acid.
The model of "patent compound ex.
press steamship" intended for ocean
passenger and freight traffic, has been
exhibited in the Produce Exchange in
New York. The steamship will have
three hulls the boilers and coal.bunkers
will be in the two outer ones, and the
engines in the central one. There will be
propellers, so that the vessel carries either
way with equal facility. The upper deck
will be carved from bow to stern, 30 as to
shed the seas that may break over.
The Operator says it takes nerve,
patience and good temper to make good
telephone operator, and those who lack
any one of these essentials had better let
the profession alone. Only one person out
of five, on an average, has good telephone
voice. They speak too low or too loud.
Not more than one person out of
twenty has the voice which telephone
operator should have-pleasant, even, plain
and devoid of peculiarities. Let one OF the
best operators talk to you over twenty
miles of wire and you will fancy that he
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