Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-01-01
THE WONDERS OF RECENT INVENTION
AND DISCOVERY.


year 1888, We're prolific of wonderful in
ventions contributing to the sum of human
happiness, and the advancement of civil.
izing methods. Scarcely any more inter
esting chapter could be written at the
close of one year, and in the birth-light of
new one, than a record of some of the
outcomes of inventive genius in America
and Europe. We may not in any limited
space make the attempt to adequately de-
scribe the chief of these discoveries and
appliances, but by mere reference may
very appropriately call attention to few
of the more prominent,
For instance, among the more useful
contributions to mechanic arts is the in
vention of Professor NJ. Keil, who has
produced composite material of iron and
steel, in which the valuable qualities of the
two metals are combined, and made avail.
able for great variety of uses. At the
Vienna Electrical Exhibition was shown a
device for measuring the speed of bullets,
useful arrangement of slots in
gun, which are crossed by delicate wires
that connect with electrical apparatus re-
cording divisions as high as the one sixty.
thousandth part of a second.
In Russia vessel has been constructed
entirely of paper, and an elasticity and
buoyancy heretofore unknown attained.
In Germany hide car wheels, made by com.
preston, have been produced with perfect
success. In New York a new mathematical
machine has been invented, that surpssses
all previous efforts to produce reliable
ladders"
In Massachusetts, device has been per-
fected for heating rooms by the collection
of the suns caloric in slate plates, and the
diffusion of the heat therefrom through
fues to the rooms of dwelling. In France
NJ. Pasteur has demonstrated beyond all
question chat animals dying of contagious
diseases infect the ground, where buried,
with the germs of the disease, ard he has
devised method therefore of dissolving
such carcasses so as to prevent the germ de-
velopment and at the same time to preserve
the salts for manure.
The improvements in luminous paint
have shown it to be now applicable to
many useful purposes-as, the coating of
harness and carriage covers for use at
night. The Phillips and Forester applica-
ton of a life raft, self-ballasted by water,
to be used in steering when a ships rudder
has been carried away, and thus navigate
tie vessel by towing the raft, is deemed
an invention of especial value to the mari
time service. So, too, of practical utility,
is the improvement of the gas engine,
which has been rendered non-explosive and
reduced in size until one ample to move
small lathes or sewing machine or a
delicate printing press, can he carried on
the palm of the hand.
The rotary spade of DR.. Brancourt is a
useful device for agricultural uses. 1t is
drawn by horse as ia pillow, and consists
of a rotating drum carrying radial spades
on its periphery. The new fossil metal, !"
for coating steam pipes, is among the more
advanced mechanical appliances. Glass
flooring is a new introduction in economic
building for all places where the foot wear
is heavy. The velocipede sleigh ia curl
Gus rather than useful invention, but still
of consid erable practical value. 1t consists
of runners between which hangs wheel,
operated as on the velocipede, and which
bites the ice or snow with fanges on the
face Of the rim, as it progresses, while
movable runners serve as the rudder to the
machine.
In decorative art, no more interesting in
vention has recently been made than that
of liquid bronze, by Septimus Furse. 1t
ia an article long sought after and but
recently found. The application of wire
gauze for shoe insoles, instead of cork, felt
or rubber, has been successful, and is one
of the advanced sanitary inventions. In
sanitary science, indeed, the inventions re-
garding ventilation, publication, drainage,
sewage, house fittings, etc, are many, and
in the main valuable, but none can be de.
scribed in the brevity now necessary.
In crematories many improvements have
been made, and the discoveries of the Bra.
lillian Medical Board in 1883, that yellow
fever victims when buried, infect the soil
of the graveyard, has given new impetus
to the cremation reform and added to the
energy of inventors to devise the best form
OF reduction furnaces and retorts. In
France the recent discoveries of adulters.
ton in wines were largely due to new and
improved machines for detecting mixtures
and new methods for testing falsifcations
and authorizations.
In the fishery industry the inventions
have been especially numerous and useful,
and at the Fisheries Exhibition the United
States carried off the palm for the great
number and value of fishing inventions.
In medicine, the discoveries of NM. Ar
Icing, Cornevin and Thomas were of the
highest Importance as to the influence OF
various disinfecting agents on the virus OF
symptomatic anthrax. For instance, the
experiments demonstrated that many sub.
stances unanimously regarded as antiseptics
were without effect on tumor virus even in
its fresh state, as pure and camphorated
alcohol, with which surgeons are accus-
toned to wash their instruments quick.
lime, with which bodies are decomposed,
ETC. The same experimenters also found
that the resisting power of dried virus is
greater than that of fresh.
In electrical circles great advances have
been made in lighting, az, for instance, the
application of electricity to locomotive
headlights, the adsptability of the light to
house illumination without danger or in
convenience Electrical motors have been
vastly improved within the past year and
'pplied to office and other purposes. Much
advance has been made in solar motors, and
machines have been successfully driven by
the power Of the collected heat of sun.