Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-01-24
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIEC
AN EXPLOSIVE FIRE EXTINGUISHER

mana grenade ur0 eX6lDgulSn6r. LII
is a glass bottle of convenient shape
containing a chemical solution. It is
claimed that when thrown upon any
burning object with sufficient force the
bottle will break and the liberated gases
will at once stitie and destroy the fire.
LAMP wICKs.
Something worth knowing by whoever
uses a kerosene lamp: Il is better to
remove the crust from the wick by
brushing it off with cloth or feather,
than to trim the wick with shears. The
brushing method is the one generally
followed In lighthouses, the experience
being that an even wick is more surely
obtained than by cutting.
MODELLED ON THE HUMAN EAR.
at a recent meeting Of the London
Physical Society, Professor Thomson
exhibited an early Refs telephone made
by Philip Refs, in 1861, at Frankfort,
and designed to transmit speech. 1t
was modelled on the human ear, one
form of transmitter being rudely
carved wooden ear with tympan, a
platinum wire behind hard pressed
against platinum tipped adjustable
spring. Professor Thomson showed by
various proofs that words were actually
sent by that and similar apparatus.
A VALUABLE GUIDE IN CLOSE LOADING.
Iron says: ''To draw a load on
sand road requires power equal to one
fifth the weight of the load; on or
binary earth or dirt road reduces this,
approximately one-half; good cobbles
require a thirtieth equivalent, while
D,l IL
a fortieth. Asphalt is calculated as re-
curing one hundred aud iol tieth, while
the leverage on an ordinary railroad is
but one twO-hundredth. Reducing this
to practical horse power, one horse, on
an ordinary rail, can draw a wagon
weight that would require the power of
twenty horses over q common dirt road,
and of forty through Jersey sand path.
This simple proportion is II valuable
guide to close loading"
A SCOT GATHERER
To prevent the escape of SCOT into the
atmosphere in places where bltuminous
coal is burned, MIR. Albert Petzold con-
structs two cylinders, one above the
other, leaving space between them
rather greater than their diameter.
They are placed either in the chimney
or in place above the CRATE, having
communication with the smoke hue.
The upper cylinder rests on a plate,
closing the chamber, except inside the
cylinder, SO that the air around is not in
circulation. A band of sheet brass is
spirally inside both of the cylinders,
giving the smoke rotary motion, which
forces the particles of SCOT to fall down
to a chamber outside the lower cylinder,
whence it may be removed from time to
time.
A HINT FROM JAPAN.
A notable instance of the japanese
understanding of the conditions under
which they exist occurs III the manner of
giving security to pagOdas, says Dres-
ser's Japan" Pagodas are of great
hight, yet many have existed for 700
years, and have withstoOd successfully
the many vibrations of the ground,
which must have inevitably achieved
their overthrow had they been erections
of stone or brick. When first assembled
a pagoda, was struck with the amount
of timber employed in its construction;
and / could not help feeling that the
material here wasted was even absurdly
excessive. But what offended my feel
! ings most was the presence Of an enor-
| nous log of wood In the center of the
structure, which assembled from its base
to its apex. AT the top this mass of TIM
! Ger was nearly two feet Ia diameter, and
lower down log equally large was
! bOlted to each Of the four sides of this
| central mass. l was SO surprised with
| this waste OF timber that called the at
tentlon of my good friend Sakata to the
matter, and especially denounced the use
OF the central bloch. To my astonish-
ment he told me that the structure must
| be strong to support the vast central
mass. In my ignorance [ replied that
the central part was not supported by
the sides, but upon reaching the top
| found this mOnstrous central mass sus-
! pended like the clapper of bell; and
when [ had descended could, by lying
on the ground, see that there was an
inch of space intervening between it and
the earth which formed the floor of the
pagoda. The pagoda is to Buddhist
temple what spire is to a Christian
! church; and by its clever construction it
is enabled to retain it's vertical position
even during the continuance of earth
quake shocks, for by the swinging of
this vast pendulum the center Of gravity
is kept within the base.
soAP-BUBBLEs.
The soap-bubble has now come within
the reach of science. By means of those
gauzy gloubles many..beautiful and inter-
esting experiments have been made at
the Franklyn Institute during a lecture
by Mr.. D. S. Holmon. Actuary of the
institute, on 'FSome Effects of Light
and Sound" The instruments used
were Holman lantern microscope and
the same gentleman's later invention,
the phoneidoscope, which may be freely
translated into "seeing sound" The
former instrument consists of metal
box containing an oxy-hydrogen light
which is thrown at any angle by con-
densing lenses upon the object to be
magnified. This light is reflected off at
another angle through the magnifying
lens on to a screen, where the object is
displayed greatly magniied. The pbOn-