Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1893-07-27
IMPROVING THE OLD.
CONrRARIETY IN INVENTION AND
HOW TIE RULE WORKS.
To FIND NEW WAY OF poI>GA THING
->uMtTINE> nv SrRIKEs AN IDEA.

foout the ln.rA -ads him tu
suspect that v o.i ..y Of doing a
thing fpr that ,cry r.. .iu not the best
WAY. often he observes srlno time hon
ored Ian II working, audaciously makes
up his iLind to do the exact opposite and
hts upon success. Gums were loaded at
the nUzzie fJr ages. until one day man
Of originality thought Of loading them
at the other end, the preferable end on
many accai.lts besides that Of manifest
convenience. The Same path was trod-
den ly he Frcnchlnan who first put the
eye Of needle near its point instead Of
away from lis point. He little knew
that he was DONG great deal To make
tho sewing machine possibility.
Oue of the notions Of the pioneer rail
way engineers IN England was that their
rails must b. tianEel 50 that the wheels
Of locomotives an3 carriages should not
get OF the t-.- <. But some one cf ske1-
ucal mind inquired. why not leave the
topot the rail Hat. or nearly fiat. and put
the hange on the wheel. an easier thing
10 do:' Accordingly the flange was taken
from the raj to the wheel and remains
there 10 this day to remind the traveller
tina, an clstern philosopher said long
ago. To him that is we'll shol it is as
If the whole earth were covered with
..ather."
Il IS good many years now since
steam was first used for heating build
in1s, and as air when warmed ascends
what more natural than that steam coils
should hug the floors just as the stoves
before them had done? But in some Of
the largest factories in this countr9 e
coils are fastened not to the floor, but 10
the ceiling, which proves TO be better
place for them. As everybody knows
who ever sat before an open fire, radia-
uon Is plsasanter means Of warmth
than convection, than heat carried along
by currents of air. Floor space is Incl
dentally saved. and the risk of gathering
combustlble rubbish about the coils Is
avoided.
In the ages Of simplicity, which came
down To Watts time and the invention
Of the steam engine. when a kettle was
TO be heated the proper place for the fire
was thought 10 be outside But when
big boilers came in, with pressing need
that their contents be heated in the short
est time possible, it was found gainful
to put we fire inside. Stephenson's loco
motive. tie Rocket. derived no small
part Of lis efficiency from his knowledge
TO which side Of the boiler to apply
fame.
On somewhat the same principle Lord
Dundonald, one Of the early imrrovers
Il the steam engine, forced the hot air
currents under his boiler from above
downward, against their natural tend
ency 10 move from below upward In
this way he made available much heat
that otherwise would have been wasted.
The steam engine, whether mounted on
wheels or not, always keeps its fuel out
side-furnace and cylinder are distinct.
Today the steam engines primacy is
challenged hy a motor which uses its
fuel inside, the furnace being no other
than the cylinder. precisely as in the
barrel Of a gun. So much more work
does gas engine yield than a steam en-
gine, in comparison with the heat APP
Piled, that only the dearness of heat as
supplied by gas prevents the speedy su-
rercedure Of steam for motive power.
As gas engines grow steadily larger,
their margin Of economy becomes SO de-
cided that it begins TO pay TO make gas
On purpose u burn in them.
In the reduction Of bauxite. the re-
fractory ore of aluminium, it is neces-
sary TO maintain an extreme tempera-
ture. The melting point Of the mineral
l., u, ,t,-.
ranges above that temperature does
work. In the mining department Of the
Worlds fair is an exhibit showing how
the modern netallurgist reduces alumni
ium with new economy. Instead Of en-
ploying the old crucible method and ap-
plying the fire from without. he incloses
the ore in nonconducting bed, and by
means Of powerful electric current ap-
plies the heat from within. Electric
furnaces of this type now produce bronze
and other alloys at prices which steadily
fall as their market enlarges.
Not far from the mining exhibit at
Chicago stands Machinery hall When
its visitors see one Of the largest steam
engines driving machinery with a slack
belt, they are wont to express surprise.
Ordinary folks today think just what
machinists thought few years ago
that tightness is the effective and indeed
the only feasible condition for belts.
But in this case, as in a good many 9TH
ers, the rule of contraries has come, and
with profit.
Architects as well as engineers and
metallurgists have found it profitable to
go into opposition where some ancient
practices have been concerned. In lati-
tudes of much fall Of rain or snow the
form of roof which most obviously sug-
gests itself is the common pitched roof,
resembling an A more or less broadened.
Vexed by bursting rain conductors, by
impromptu object lessons as to the force
If avalanches, northern architects take
not A, but V, duly widened, for their
roof type. In winter ice and snow, caught
as in basin, cannot fall to the street.
Icicles are banished, and in conductors
carried through the heart of the building
and kept warm by the building ice is
gradually melted without a chance to do