Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-08-09
IMPROVING THE OLD.
coNTRAaierv m INVENTION AND
NOW THE RULE WORKS
NJ Irsevereas Inventoe 8eoFns Nos - ftad
anew Way VI Doing . rhine- ssnesimss
n. F,sls 70 Find . Better way. Ofssn He
ssuubles Upon . Great Idea.

Re F,ils 70 Find Better Way. Ofssn He
ssunbles Upon Grsas Idea
There is apt to be . fine irreverence
about the inventor which leads HIM 10
suspect that any old way Of doing .
thing is for that very reason not the oest
way. Often he observes some time hon.
ored plan of working. audaciously makes
up his mind TO do the exact opposite and
hits upon success. Guns were loaded al
the muzzle for ages, until one day man
Of originality thought Of loading them
at the other end. the preferable end on
many accounts besides that Of manifest
convenience. The same path WAS trod-
den 10y tho Frenchman who first put the
eve of needle near its point instead OF
away from its point. He little knew
that he was doing a great deal TO make
the sewing machine a possibility.
One of the notions of the pioneer rail
WAY engineers III England was that their
rails must be Hanged SO that the wheels
of locomotives and carriages should not
ret off the track. But some one OF skep-
teal mind inquired. Why not leave the
top Of the rail fiat. or nearly fiat, and put
the fiange on the wheel, an easier thing
to dor" Accordingly the fiange was taken
from the rail TO the wheel and remains
there 10 this day to remind the traveller
that an eastern philosopher said long
ago, To him that is well shod it is as
if the whole earth We're covered with
leather"
1t is a good many years now since
steam was first used for heating build-
,u.,. 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 i'll some Of
the largest factories in this country the
coils are fastened not to the floor, but to
the ceiling, which proves to be better
place for them As everybody knows
who ever SIT before an open fire. radia-
ton is pleasiuter means Of warmth
than convection, than heat carried along
by currents of air. Floor space is Incl
dentally saved, and the risk Of gathering
coulbustible 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 kettle was
to be heated the proper place for the fire
was thought to 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 gainfnl
to put the fire inside. Stephenson's loco
II :. ,,..l1
part of It's efficiency from his knowledge
to which side of the boiler to apply
fame.
On somewhat the same principle Lord
Dundonald, one of the early improvers
Of the steam engine. forced the hot air
currents under his boiler from above
downward, against their natural tend
ency to move from below upward. In
tins 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
si1e-furnace and cylinder are distinct
Today the steam engines primacy is
challenged by a motor which uses Its
fuel inside, the furnace being no other
than the cylinder, precisely as i'll the
barrel Of a gun. So much more work
does a gas engine yield than steam en-
gine, III comparison with the heat APP
Piled, that only the dearness Of heat rs
supplied by gas prevents the speedy SUI
procedure 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 to burn in them.
In the reduction of bauxite, the re
fractory ore of aluminium. it is nrcer>
siry to maintain an extreme te1npera
ture. Tie melting point of the mineral
is high. and only SO much of the heat IA
ranges above that temperature does
work. In the mining department Of the
Worlds fair Is an exhibit showing how
the modern metallurgist 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 n nonconducting bed, and by
means of Il 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 rs their market enlarges.
Not far from the mining exhibit al
Chicago stands Machinery hall. When
its visitors see one of the largest steam
engines driving machinery with slacb
belt. they are wont to express surprise
Ordinary folks today think just what
machinists thought n few years ago