The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-12-03

cent pound. Private wires are De-
comingp rominent feature In the bosI'
ness, and the Western Union now mas
leased TO its patrons more than humid
red. The expense of 4 private W re
from New York to Philadelphia is 81
500. while to Chicago it Is more than
double. In such cases the lessees FUR
nish their own operators and thus save
time, which is often Immensely valu'
able.
THE Paris Gaulois is aul hority for
the statement that q changeable chart
has been invented for the use OF rail-
roads, which will do away completely
with danger from collisions. 1t con-
sists of sheet of Opaque glass In which
the rails are indicated by horizontal
lines, and the stations by vertical lines
numbered. Little arrows representing
the trains move along the horizontal
lines and allow the operator to see
every movement on the section he con-
trolls. If one train gets dangerously
near another he can signal it at once,
and the engineer can take whatever
precautions are necessary. The whole
apparatus is worked by electricity, and
the arrows put in motion by the con-
tact of metallic brushes attached to the
locomotive, with zinc banos placed
along the rails.
SHREWSBURY, England, has solved
the sewage problem to perfection. AS
the sewage enters the works, clay,
charcoal and blood are added as de-
odorizers; and, after thorough mixing,
solution of sulphate of alumina is
added, by which the dissolved and sus-
pended impurities are quickly precipi-
tated in one or the other of the settl ng
tanks, from the fourth of which the
water runs without further treatment
into the river. The sewage as it en-
ters the works contains about thirty
seven per cent. of suspended organic
and inorganic matter, but in the affiuent
water there are found only the merest
traces OF either. BY experiment it has
been found that in this water fish will
live for months. The deposit is then
removed from the tank, and by means
of pressure and artificial heat is de-
prived of its moisture till it attains the
consistency and appearance of dry
earth, in which condition it meets a
ready sale as "guano."
THE following is the method prac-
ticed in the manufacture of butchers
brown paper in Columbia County,
New York: The straw paper is made
from rye straw, for which the farmers
get about S15 ton. The straw is
thrown into great vat, where it is
mixed with lime and covered with
water. 1t is there boiled for twenty
four hours by steam heat until all the
stiffness is taken out of it. Next it is
thrown into cylinder with wire sides
and long iron teeth projecting on the
inside. This revolves with great ra-
pidity, and throws off most of the
water from the straw by centrifugal
force. The damp, soft straw is then
placed in vat and covered with water.
In this vat are rollers fitted with
knives, which cut the straw into very
| fine pieces. The comminuted straw,
or pulp is then pumped into large
storage vat, from which it is run into a
trough, in which wire cylinder re-
wolves A suction pump draws the
pulp against the wire, and il forms a
thin coating on it. This is carried off
by fiat betting, and passes between
rollers which squeeze out the water,
and through rollers which polish it. 1t
is then straw paper. 1t is principally
used by butchers in wrapping up meat