Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-09-21
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

:. DIR. Isador Kitsee, of Cincinnati, has
patented device for discovering fire.
damp in mines before the miners enter
them. Electricity is used to fuse little
pieces of metal at various points in q
mine, and if an explosion of damp occurs
bell is rung.-N. Y. Post.
Spirits of turpentine is now made
from sawdust and refuse of the saw.
mill. 1t is extracted by a sweating
process, and yields fourteen gallons Of
spirits, three to four gallons of resin,
and quantity of tar per cord. The
spirits produced has different odor
from that produced by distillation.
The journal of Science says that at
the soiree of the Society of Chemical
Industry, held at Owens College, Mr..
Fletcher, of Warrington, Eng, demon
strated the possibility of the combustion
of gas without visible flame, the heat
obtained from a quarter-inch gas-pipe
being sufficient to fuse iron into drops.
A gun invented by a man in Ripley,
Miss, is, if it is what it is claimed to be,
one of the most wonderful inventions of
the age. 1t can be fired from ten to
twenty thousand times q minute, can be
elevated or depressed or (Irned to the
ht VI ACAOs lhSALCo W GOV I LILO oIOpC
of hill, contracted so as to bring the
fire to bear on one spot or expanded to
cover wide area, aud all with the great
merely turning crank. - Chicago
Times.
1t is said that alcohol equal to that
made from grain can be produced from
acorns. The acorns are freed from the
shell and ground finely; then they are
mashed with malt and allowed to fer
ment. Acorns contain about 20 per
cent. of starch and Is per cent. of glu-
ten. They would be a valuable article
for human food if it were not for the
fannie acid (about 8 per cent.) which
they contain. Vast quantities which 60
to waste every year, where hogs are not
fed in the woods, might be gathered by
boys and converted into alcohol for use
in the arts, thus freeing an equivalent
amount of grain for use as food.
Considerable progress is being made
in reviving the mining industries of the
Isthmus of Panama. For many years
its mines excited the cupidity of Span
iards and buccaneers. Indian and ne
gro slaves were made to work in quartz
and placer by the most primitive proc
cSScS, duu dIillOSL lila.
chinery, but their labors were very pro-
ductive, according to tradition. 1t is
centuries, however, since most of the
mines were abandoned. Some were
worked out, others were not rich enough
to pay with hired labor, and all required
an investment of capital which the un-
settled condition of the country, and
especially the fear all foreigners enter
tanned for isthmus fever, effectually pre-
vented from being made.-N. Y. San.
An impetus has been given to the
nickel industry by the improved process
es of making it malleable. Many useful
as we'll as ornamental articles are now
made of this material. Nickel table
utensils especially are in great favor
abroad. This class of goods is now be-
ing manufactured largely in Prussia,
and is preferred to similararticles of
other materials. The hardness of the
metal renders it capable of receiving a
high polish, which is not readily in
jured by friction of any usual kind; on
account, too, of the peculiar smoothness
of the surface, matters do not adhere
FIRMLY to it, and cleaning requires but
little attention or effort. 1t also pos
sesses the advantage of not furnishing,
like some other substances, when fire.
luently used.-Chicago Tribune.