The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-07-29
MECHANICAL.

A corToN-GIN manufacturer has
shipped ten of the most improved ma
chimes to Russia, as the Russian Gov
eminent wants them to experiment in
cotton culture in the Black Sea prov
inces.
To REMOVE candle grease from fur
niture without iniuring the varnish,
rub it OFF with little warm water and
a rag.
A CALCULATION made of the figures
of mile-long railroad train drawn by
a single locomotive, establishes that
there were 1888 tons weight on this
train, which was drawn by a single 90
ton engine. This would be more than
the weight of many steamships with
their cargoes.
REMARKABLE accuracy is now at
tanned by engineers In cutting tunnels
through mountains, working from both
ends. Thus at the Musconetcong Tun-
mel, on the Lehgh Valley Railroad,
the alignment tested to U.0i feet, or
less than one-halt an inch In this case
levels were rel 5000 feet long.
LOUISIANA claims it possesses the
largest area OF merchantable timber in
America and the greatest variety of
woods Il possesses IRON ore and coal
closer together in abundance than they
are to be found anywhere else in the
world; it possesses water-power to turn
all the factories of civilization; fertile
lands without limit good for all the
products of the temperate and tropic
zones.
The distribution of mechanical
motive power Is receiving increased
attention in Europe. Should the
problem once be solved, the great
factory would disappear so far as re-
lates to its repellrng features. The
Paris Temps has just given an ac-
count of one method of distribution
viii h is actually at work in the French
capital, in the Rue Beaubourg, local
ity in which number of the small in
dustries which peculiarly characterize
Paris are carried on. The principle
employed is that of rarefied air. BY
means of a large steam engine a vacu-
um of seventy-fve per cent. is pro-
du ed in pipe, from which smaller
tubes branch off to each workshop.
The workshops are severally provided
with small motors, worked, of course,
by means of the difference of pressure
between the density of air In the
tube and that of the atmosphere.
Thus the power can be distrib-
uted in quantities no greater than may
be needed to work a sewing machine,
for instance. Each workman is sup
piled with an automatic registering APP
paratus, and as he is able to shut off
the power when it is not required he
is charged only for the quantity act
ually used. A fixed monthly rent is
charged in addit on to the installation,
the rent being proportionate to the size
of the motor in the workman's room.
The principle of rarefied air has been
adopted in preference to that of COM
pressed air, because there is less dan
ger of accident and the inconvenience
which might arise from the chilling
consequences of the use Of compressed
air in small workshops are avoided.
The importance of the economic dis
tribution of motive power in fractional
quantities in Paris is indicated by the
fact that in one municipal division
alone there are five thousand persons
engaged in small industries who re-
quire in the aggregate from ten to
twelve hundred horse power per day.
Taking the entire population of Paris,
forty per cent. are engaged in such
small industries.