Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-07-05
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.
SOAP AS A PREVENTATIVE,

| dClu Wnon 1mpregnat6d into timber Is an
excellent preservative against rot usually
resulting from moisture.
PETROLEUM AS FUEL.
To burn petroleum economically,
Herr Deutsch adds four grains oil of
turpentine and two grains camphor per
htre. The wick is covered with dissolved
tallow to prevent passages of gas out or
IN. The inventor maintains that petro-
leum so used will burn six or seven hours
longer, and with brighter light, than
an equal quantity in the ordinary way.
ELECTRICITY AND WINE.
A curious experiment, according to
the Paris newspapers, has recently been
made with wine in that city. A current
OF electricity was passed through small
cask OF sour wine. and at the end of a
few days was found to be greatly i'm
proved in quality and to have acquired
that flavor which has hitherto been sup
posed to come Of age. It is said that
the discovery of this new maturing pro-
cess is owing to the accident of thun-
derstorm having greatly improved cask
OF bad wine In the cellars of vintner at
CarcassOnne,
| LIGHTNING RODS.
A lightning rod convention was re-
Gently held in England. Its work seems
to have been thorough, and its recon-
mendations are minute The notion of
the common mind that the rod should be
sharply pointed is mistake. It should
preserve it's size very near to the end,
which may be merely beveled off. About
a foot below the top, however, there
should be attached to it copper ring,
with three or four copper needles to
"draw off silent discharges of electric
ity." Ali vanes or other iron work upon
a building should be metallically con-
nected with the conductor. The rod
should be of copper and perfectly in
sulated with an earth connection.
COPYING MAGNIFIED OBJECTS.
The most practicable method of copy
ing objects magnifed in the microscope,
as stated by DR.. Beale, is to arrange the
paper on piece of stiff cardboard, SO
that it may be upon the same
level as the stage upon which
the object is situated-on the left side of
the right eye is the one used for obser-
walton. On now looking steadily at the
object with the right eye, the object ap-
pears to be thrown, as it were, upon the
paper, and may be clearly seen by the
left, and it's outline very readily traced,
the movement of the pencil being exc
cuted by the right hand if the observer
is not able to use the left. By far the
best course, however, says DR.. Beale, is
to acquire the habit of observing with
the left eye, in which case the paper can
be placed on the right hand OF the stage,
and the left hand used for drawing.
KEEP BOILERS CLEAN.
Concerning cleanliness of boilers the
Machinist says: " If dirty water is used
in boilers they should be frequently
washed out. If they require it every
week, it should be done. We remember
an instance some months ago when q set
Of tubes were greatly damaged and
several of the bottom rows burned out
by reason of the dirt within the boilers.
They were repaired and the same thing
occurred again. Finally, the suggestion
was made to wash the boilers once a
weekif they were dirty, which suggestion
was carried out, since which time there
has been no trouble from that source. It
has also been noticed that the valve
seats and cylinders are not scratched as
much as previously, and the boilers
steam very freely, which, of course, re-
duces the coal consumption. Boilers
should always be washed when they are
dirty.
NICE ENGINEERING
A large clutch, nearly six feet in di-
ameter was not brought to place on the
shaft quick enough and cooled out of
position. After much discussion, al
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amount of money, it was decided to drill
the heels of the clutch, and burst it
asunder with wedges. One of the work
men asked to be allowed to save the
clutch, and was permitted to try it. He
stood the shaft on end, under powerful
steam derrick, and built dam of clay
about the boss and protected the shaft
in the same way. The clutch casting was
of such shape as to form q huge cup,
which the workmen filed with large
quantity of melted lead, and thus heated
the clutch rapidly, while the shaft was
left cool. The clutch. under strain from
the derrick, presently slipped off as
though it had never been on the shaft
at all.
GUM FROM SEAWEED.
A new method of utilizing marine
plants has been devised in France The
plants used are various forms of Atlantic
and Pacific alg@, and the product OBJ
tanned is gum said to be variously use
full in the arts, particularly in the manu-
facture of leather substitute. The
plants are first washed with warm or
cold water, or both, the water either be-
ing pure or containing 10 per cent. alco-
hol, or any of the following substances:
Lime water, carbonate of soda, potash,
carbonate of magnesia, or baryta, ac-
cording to their smaller or larger guam
tity of cellulose, or salts contained in
the alg@, which has to be precipitated.
Before the extraction of the gum the
plants may be dried, ground, broken,
ETC., according to their nature and &C
cording to the requirements. For the
extraction of the gum hot water is pre-
ferred to cold, and steam to hot water.
The extraction takes place in a conical
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