The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-09-27
NOTES ON SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

practically devoted TO railroad science in the
awards soon to be made at Berlin by the
Verein Deutscher Eisenbahn verwaltungen
for inventions and improvements which for
some time pasthave been brought to It's notice
relating to tho construction and arrangement
OF railroads, rolling stock. and its maintenance.
&c. The. purpose in view. spmmarily stated.
tion OF a locomotive boiler which. without In
plosion and at the same time reduces working
| expenses; also such improvements in loco
az to sssnqe II aS yy
iating truck hire In addition to the .fores o
durable and practicable coupling: for steam
pines or continuous brakes without the use OF
India rubber. likewise practical and inexpen-
| sive switch brake.
Tho singular fact is stated that tho finest
piece Of broadcloth which ever left loom was
manufactured at the woollen mills In vassal-
boro. Me. 1t was first exhibited at the Worlds
Fair in London In 1851. and was exhibited at
the Centennial in 1876. being pronounced by
the judges in that line OF goods as unsur-
passed by anything Of the kind there displayed;
In fact. there is no public recognition recorded
OF any other manufacture Of broadcloth su-
perior either in texture or finish. and the
scale. is because OF the higher. price Of Ameri:
| lnuOI. n luCI VI blullluT lnUST0SL lb Btat6Q
In this connection by San Francisco paper.
namely. that tho finest woollen blankets ever
nS s n the Msrd were made t the
CITY. blankets which wero exhibited OF several
European expostions. at the Centennial. and
elsewhere, md always without q rival In tex
| ture and finish.
Attention has been called lately by an Eng
lish geologist as the result Of his investiea-
tions. to the action OF deep igneous rocks on
the dipping needle. as exhibited in the valley
OF the Thames. this action being attributed to
the metalliferous nature OF those rocks and. rs
the latter must have come from below. they
mny. he thinks. fairly be held as supporting
the theory Of an internal mass: q, further point
W ts SenE tint In The
admit Of its taking on = brilliant polish. It be.
some terrestrial sphere. giving rise to
those meteorio vsitants. there is surely no
shd not exist r n sSs s Tay on tt e.. e %
and and =, seeing ssg it is not found at Or near
only psee bs IL u
II is we'll understood. from various indepen.
specific gravity Of the earth as a whole is about
Ee the average q rocks at the surface
have assumed that The saa sp w1le
gravity Is obtained by excess Of pressure. It is
g, the album
apparent derivation from the igneous rocks
together with the suitability. Of its specific
surface rocks-that an immense store OF
metallic iron exists in the earth at q certain
depth not yet determined.
Won Clausen. a Prussian engineer. who has
devoted much time to experimenting with diff
ferent methods OF constructing Stoves has ar
rived at some results Of decidedly novel
character. Finding that much free oxygen
escapes with the unburned fuel from CHM
neys. Won Clausen concludes-oontrary to tho
draught and higher temperature are needed in
order to obtain perfect combustion. and these
diameter lined with friedrich: only the lover
portion OF the coal burns. a very small current
VI seh ho t. e and
oxygen to unite with the carbon mono1ide gas
In the Of the coal The products
quite cool. and ii the results are correctly re-
sbe heat is lost instead Of tie 80 y or 90 p psr
cent ordinarily wasted.
DR.. Won Petersdorf. in an explanation Of the
theory that meteorites and shooting stars are
identical-that both are solid bodies which
enter our atmosphere from without becoming
luminous for the Same reason-lays much
stress In favor Of their identity. on the fact
that the cosmic iron dust observed In localities
where its origin could not be doubted has been
BY unfmpeachable witnesses. The two spec
Of osey on
considering with what extreme velocity
sSsn eGd ne tthFSusn 5
ticles. and those having the greatest momen-
tum are destroyed long before they reach the
passage and disintegration becomes inaudible
70 inhnbitantS Of the earth. further conflrma-
nomena have the same source. is the well es-
ties corresponds to that of shooting stars OBJ
mon radiation. The Whaling Of a meteorite
is caused. he says. by its rapid passage
ton 81 the materials composing Il Il. ''' ''A'0'-
A reservoir Just completed for the South
Australian Government at Beetaloo is de-
ecribed In the London Engineer as an interest
ing triumph Of skill In its special line Of con-
struction. The main interest centres In the
concrete dam, which ranks as one OF the larg-
est In the world. and is certainly the most ca
pacious concrete dam in the southern hemi-
cement concrete having been required In its
construction. The height Of the weir is 10
fss IS top Width and t6 Of d e to
accordance with Prof. Rankine's formula, the
horizontal curvature having u radius Of l.4l1
tanned in the, nsighborhood. but tho " cenent
was imported from Europe. and machinery
was employed to mix and deposit the whole
n d tho concrete a. When full. the lake will pc
lob feet deep mt the dam. about a mile and
quarter long. and on the average eight chains
wide. the total capacity Of the reservoir being
SOO.OOO.OOO gallons.
It is we'll known that in American rail-
way practice much higher degree Of
viscosity for lubricants is deemed nec-
essary in passenger than In freight
traffic; that is a thick compound OF the dem
sity OF lard neatsfoot is supplied to the bear
ipes OF fast trains. In which the axle friction Is
obviously greater; while petroleum, which is
tsub}stances is preferred Tor freight or slow
good an lauthgrity in these matters as
Prof. J.. E. Denton has. after testing
for the purpose. arrived at the oonolusi on that
any belief in the advantage Of great vlscosity
is based a,sedo upon erroneous assumptionS.
ments with this apparatus, supplemented
will, minor contriyanees. 1t results that
for spindle lubrcqtion-ithat Is. the lightest
parafiines-run for hours by feeding through a
md and wick n ffor1 q ma m n m n nrnnn,,t -