Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-09-08

of electricity. As long as the steam en-
glne must be used as a prime mover, the
economical aspect of electrical lightning
and power appliances will not besvery
favorable. The variable elements OF nature,
such as wind and water, must be capable
OF application as motive power, to be
transformed into electrical energy, before
electric lighting and most other electrical
appliances will present marked econom.
ical aspect. 1t has been frequently sug-
gested that the problem was to transform
the potential energy of the coal directly
into electrical energy, and though of course
this might be considered within the pale
of possibility, it is not probable that such
a result will be accomplished in the near fu
ture. II ultimately accomplished, it would
be apt to be due 10 accident rather than to
design or intent. But the development of
storage batteries or similar appliances by
means of which the variable forces of ma.
ture can be transformed and stored as cleo
trical energy at times when such forces are
at disposal. is now within the domain OF
practice, and We are glad to note earnest
and intelligent effort in this direction both
abroad and lie our own country. The wind
mill as prime mover for storing such cleo.
trlcal accumulators, when the latter are
snce an acknowledged success, will give
electrical energy for lighting and power
purposes, at current cost which will in
sure the prohtableness and the introduction
of these appliances superseding many pres
ent appliances, not of an electrical nature,
in general USE American Engineer.
The following curious observations of
sound have been carefully verified by an
extended series of experiments: The
whistle of a locomotive is beard 8 300
yards the noise of a railroad train, . 500 :;
the report of q musket and the bark of a
dog, 1900; an orchestra or the roll of a
drum, 600; the human voice reaches to a
distance of 600 the cronking of frogs,
900; the chirpirg of crickets, 500. Dis
t!nct speaking is heard in the air from be-
low up TO a distance of 600 yards from
above, it is only understood to a range Of
100 yards downwards. 1t has been ascer-
tanned that an echo is well reflected from
the surface of smooth water only when the
voice comes from an elevation. Other SINH
lar phenomena connected with the trans.
mission of sound have been observed, buttb
results disagree, either from inaccuracy in
the observations or from the varying nature
of the circumstances affecting the numbers
obtained. Such variations occur to an ex-
tent of 10 to 20 per cent, and even more
The weather being cold and dry, or warm
and wet, are the chief influencing causes
Ia the first case the sound goes to greater
and in the second to a lesser distance.
The sensitivepess of selenium to radia.
ton Is to be made use OF in regulating the
heat OF mutfis furnaces. The concentration
OF rays, more or less, upon selenium, inhu.
ences the electric conductivity OF the mate.
rial, as most people know. in a marked de-
gree, and this property NJ. German pro-
poses to make use of to control the heating
OF furnaces. A window in the furnace
made of very retroactive aluulina glass, per.
mits the red glow to reach distant mir
rer ; the rays are reflected upon selenium,
and when the light reaches certain stage
OF brightness the electric action of the Sc
lenlum conductor is such that it acts on o
mechanical Arrangement by which the fire.
bars OF the furnace are withdrawn, The
fuel of the furnace is thus allowed to fall
out as soon as the right temperature for
fusing enamels has been reached. The Pho
t0graphic Ne1gS says: "If self-acting &C.
lenium actinometer of this kind will per-
NIT the firing of enamels with certainty,
photographers will not be slow to avail
themselves of it."
a Louisiana sugar-planter writes to the
american Manufacturer that there is
great need IN the South for machine that
will crush or grind unshucked ears of corn,
as they come from the field, into coarse
meal OF corn, cob and husks and do it rap
Idly. lie is aware that there is a machine
that Will crush corn In the ear thoroughly,
one ear at time what he wants is some
thing that will receive bushel Of ears or
nu5blns 1t once, and crash, say, twenty
bushels an hour. One of the great troubles
of sugsr-plaRters, he says, is the prepara-
ton of food for their mules. To crush corn
in the ear with existing appliances the corn
has to be husked, costing much labor, and
there is apt to be great loss OF small ears
GA fortune awaits the inventor of ma
chine to crush by the wholesale corn, cob
and shucks together" The problem does
not seem to be difficult one, and some of
our inventive readers may find it profitable
to undertake the solution.
A correspondent of the English Mechanic
says: | have tried all the various recipes
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of silver, platinum
bichloride, etc,-but never found any work
so satisfactorily and cheaply done as by the
reduction OF nitrate of copper to the oxide
/ ind the beet Way OF using is to apply the
solution to the brass to be blackened with
camei-bair brush, previously slightly
heating the metal; then to raise the heat
until the requisite color is produced; finish.
| ing by rubbing with a soft rag, and oiling
or lacquering. | can confidently recon.
mend this as the very best method of pro-
! ducing that good black seen in first.class
| optical goods, observing that the process
will not do for soft.soidered articles, "a the
| heat necessary to produce the black is
greater that the melting point of soft
/ solder.
| Iron manufacturers are complaining of
the scarcity of good hematite ores. They
state that the soil Of Pennsylvania has been
worked for the best of these ores until it
! now produces nothing but the leaner speci-
mems, which do not pay. There are some
fair specimens of hematite in Center coun-
| ty, but they sre not rich enough to war
rant manufacturers in this section to pay
freight on. The best magnetic ores used in
Pennsylvania now are brougEt>from Spain
and Africa. They contend that the SUI
perior richness of these ores warrants the
increased prices they pay in the freights. -
We note that Professors Welluer and
Brunn, of Austria, have recently patented
a new steam engine which consists of a
simple water.wheel, mostly immersed in
hot water in closed vessel. Steam is ad-
mitted at the lower part, and forces the
cells of the wheel upward, producing rota-
ton. The steam fills more and more of
the cells on the rising side, and at length
begins to escape into the steam-space above
the water. Steam may either be produced
directly at the lower part or conducted to
the vessel from elsewhere. The upper tube
for outlet Of steam may lead either into the
open air or into condenser. The me-
chanical work consists in the assent of the
specifically lighter steam in the heavier
liquid.
One of the hardest woods in existence is
that of the desert ironwood tree, which
grows in the dry washes along the line of
the Southern Pacific Railroad. Its specific
gravity is nearly the same as that of lig.
mum vitae, and it has black heart SO hard,
when well seasoned, that it will turn the
edge of an axe and can scarcely be cut by
a well-tempered saw. In burning it gives
out an intense heat, and charcoal made
| from it is of unequaled quality.
A compound of india rubber and ashes.