The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-06-23
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

no H0nutGctWrer and Builder de
csAfes that there are at present no les.
IMAM $4,000 electric motors in use
throughout the United States.
TChe OF the most remarkable me.
chanlcal changes of the day is the set
tlhg aside OF steel and the readoption
Oh iron for some of the most important
Par's q locomotives on many railroads.
l. Is only comparatively a few years
since The change was made, on most
ro''us, from iron to steel.
Inc nettle is among the substances
Whlcn science has put to use during
tne past few years. This weed is even
pelns cultivated in Germany, its fiber
haFlng proven valuable for variety
ol oe4tlle fabrics. In Dresden a thread
Is produced from it so fine that length
OF sixty miles weighs only two and one
half pounds.
according to Prof. Sergeant, the
strongest wood in the United States is
tha1 OF the nutmeg hickory of the Ar
kansas region, and the weakest the
west Indian birch. The most elastic
Is The tamarack, the white or she'll
bark hickory standing far below it..
Inc least elastic, and lowest insspecific
gravity, is the wood of the ticus aurea.
The highest specific gravity, upon
whlchi9general depends value as fuel,
iS-pttaed by the bluewood of Texas.
e two acids, sulphuric and sui
phuroH, have been found in snow
which ms freshly fallen, the amount
increasing With great rapidity after it
has lain IN tie ground for a length Of
time. IL recently fallen snow seven
millegranmes Of the two acids were
found per kilog,amme; the same snow,
after the lapse o two weeks, was found
to contain ninetytwo millegrammes of
the acids.
The Westinghouse Electric Com
pany has complete an incandescent
lamp which is expected to give better
results than any laup now in use.
Formerly a lamp Which burned 800
hours was considered good; but the
new one is expected to urn easily from
$500 to 5000 hours without discolora-
ton DiscoloratiOn has been a stumb-
ling-block in the way OF incandescent
lamps ever since they Were invented. -
Electrical ReyieaC.
There are twenty blast furnaces in
andabout Pittsburgh, thirty-ive roll
ingnills, thirty-nine steel works, fifteen
winiow-glass works, thirty-seven flint
glas works, and eleven green-glass
WORKS. The blast furnace makes 9OO,-
900 ons Of iron per year, the rolling
mills $50, 900 tons, steel works $50, 900
tons plate-glass works 3,250,OeO square
feet window-glass works 100000.
There are number of wooden mills
and uniting factories in operation in
Utahwhere hosiery, mittens, seggings,
ladies knit skirts and mems knit I'M
derwqr are turned out in large guam
titles. These goods are exported
throughout the entire mountain region.
In oneof these mills the output is LOCO
yardsOf material per day. Thousands
., Aoens OF handmade scarlet and
mers gray hose are sent into Colorado
and Montana. Their carriage robes
and blankets find a ready market in
Chicago, and the orders for these goods
are often fully up to the capacity.
The coast of Maine is 80 ;2dented
by bays and inlets that the actual shore
line is fully 2,400 miles in extent.
Along this shore are many of the chief
cities, towns and important industries
of Maine. One of the most important
of these industries is the catching,
transportation, canning and sale of lob
STEERS This is an industry that has
grown in thirty years from business
that gave employment to few score
of hands. 1t now employs more than
2,0OOfshermen, nearly 1000 boats and
forty vessels, and distributes in various
WAYS more than 5000, 900 annually. The
business of lobster catching in general
requires two men to a boat, with 200
traps, at cost of about $500 for the
entire outfit.