The Opelousas courier., 1891-07-04
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.

A Bethlehem PENN hammer weighs
125 tons.
Electricity runs a Wurtemburg Ger
many iron works.
Gas must be furnished at ffty-two
cents per thousand feet to compete with
electricity in lighting.
At Pittsburg the Second Avenue Flee
trio Street Car Company Is equipping its
lines with vestibuled trains.
The system of riveting by hydraulic
power is being successfully applied to
the shell plating Of vessels in course Of
construction on the Tyne, England.
A fire engine that does away with the
use of horses and forces the water by
means of power generated bg d storage
battery is d recent electrical invention.
1t has recently beea shown that when
cast and malleabIe iron are used in the
! structure a galvanic action is set up be-
tween them and the malleable iron is
corroded.
A calico printing machine has been in
vented in this country, the novelty of
which is that the cloth may be printed
+, on one side in eight c%olors, or on both
sides with four colorS each.
It is well known that vegetable and
animal oils are unsuitable for cylinder
fabrication, and recently in France where
cola oil was used it was found necessary
to burn out the deposits in the ports of
the locomotive cylinders.
English manufacturers are bleaching
paper by an electrical process without, it
is stated, impairing its strength. A mag
.Jesium chloride solution is decomposed
by a powerful electric current with the
evolution of chlorine and oxygen.
A n~ewly-devised insulated s~crewdriver
has the shank so thoroughly insulated,
nearly to its tip, that shock can be
avoided. The metal shank is fattened
and bent into Il loop at one end and then
moulded into a rubber handle, which
gives perfect protection from the cur
rent.
A new system OF house wiring for eico-
Srie lighting consists of fitting the build
ing with continuous tubes of Insulating
material, through which the wires are
drawn. The tubes are made of paper
soaked in a hot bath of bituminous ma
t%erial, and are said to be hard, strong and
tough.
A handy lock is now used upon tri-
cycles, boats, chests and boxes. 1t
weighs about half a pound, and, although
not much larger thar a watch, is consld-
erably thicker. This paddock is a com
blnation, and it is fitted with numbered
dial, very much like those used for safes
and vaults.
The highest atmospheric pressure on
record seems to be 31.72 inches, which
occurred at Sempalatinski, on December
16, 1877; and the lowest at any land
station is quoted at 27.13 inches, which
was recorded on the coast of Orissa, on
September %, 1885. The difference of
4.6 in these readings is probably the
maximum range Of the barometer ever
observed at the earth's surface.
Chicago's latest rapid transit project
calls for the building of a single-track,
single column elevated electrical railway.
Cars will be operated continuously in the
same direction in a loop twenty miles in
extent and at a distance apart of $50
feet, which is equivalent to a Roadway
of twenty and o%ne-quarter seconds. an
arrangement considered feasible with
single car units, with special track
brakes. This would give 140 cars in
continuous operation on the. circle.
A new apparatus for water has ap-
peared in the form of "a still, which is
described as consisting of "a series of
large fiat disks of metal, placed upright
and kept in position by pipes running
horizontally on the top and bottom.
Water is boiled in a vessel and the steam
is conducted from the same to the dish
through a pipe. The steam radiatiug
from the water is condensed in the disks
by a current Of air, aud the water is col. I
lected in the bottom pipe" The size of
still designed for family use has eight
disks, and is said to distill a gallon of
water in an hour.