The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-11

J noise were wholly caused by the ordinary
street traffic, and at the very moment that
the reputed nuisance has been in force the
electric light plant has not been running
} at all. In fact, the making of claims of
this sort has grown into regular business,
and Mr.. Maxim holds that some reliable
means of determining just how much noise
and how much vibration is caused by a
given plant should be made available.
Pending the appearance of further inven
tons for the purpose, he suggests that a
kind OF monograph should be employed,
and that record should be made on
smoked glass, which could be put in a
magic lantern and greatly magnitled
The amplitude and frequency of the
waves would indicate the inten-
sity of the noise produced. For
example. supposing a certain record
should be made of the ordinary street
| traffic, and then another record of both the
street traffic and the disturbance or
noise complained of the two mounted side
by side and projected on a large screen
would enable the Judge to see at glance
| how much the noise was increased BY the
machinery and how much cause there was
for complaint. Or the noise produced by
q factory might be compared with the
noise produced by Salvation Army band
or with other descriptions of noise toler-
ated by law. For the creation of a stand
ard of noise Mr.. Maxim suggests that shot
of certain size should be dropped,
say, from a height of one meter on to
some standardized diaphragm, and that
the waves should be recorded at, say, five
meters from the diaphragm. A record of
this artificial noise could be shown on the
screen alongside of the record OF the
actual noise, for the purposes of
comparison. For telephones, a record of
the vibrations set up while the machines
were running should be compared with one
of those set up when the machines were
not running. The comparison of the two
would enable the judge-or the jury-to
see exactly what the increase in noise act
ually was.
GAMBoGE-One of the cherished treasures
OF the schoolboy's paintbox is piece of
gamboge. Gamboge, one of the most inter-
esting OF Siamese products, is resinous
product indigenous only in the islands and
on the sea coast of the Gulf of Siam, lying
between the tenth and twelfth degrees of
north latitude. The tree grows to height
OF some fifty feet, and is traight-stemmed
with no lower branches, owing probably to
the dense shade of the forest in which it
grows. Ten years growth is required be-
fore the tree is ready for tapping. The
tapping, which is carried on by the Cam
DOuldA anu OIdll' lSId1lOeTS IN bne rainy
months from June to October, when the
| sap is vigorous, consists in cutting a spiral
line around the trunk from height of
about ten feet downward to the ground
The resin wells out of the bark, and trickles
down these grooves in a viscous
stream into hollow bamboo placed
at the, base. of the tree, and
from these it is decanted into
smaller bamboos, where it is left for one
month to solidify. To remove The gam
boge the bamboo is placed over a red-hot
fire and the bamboo husk cracks off, Ieav-
ing the article known as pipe" gamboge.
The trees can be tapped two or three times
in one season and often present curious
appearance from their network of inter-
secting spirals. The utmost care has to be
taken to prevent rainwater mixing with
the resin, as the mixture of foreign liquid
causes honeycombing and discoloration.
The most valuable gamboge is that which
is the least honeycombed or darkened.
The bamboos contain on an average less
than one pound of gamboge. The price
asked by the pickers is at the rate of IS
cents for five bamboos full, and the local
price is at the rate of rs cents for three, or
$24 so for 100. The whole output is sold to
local Chinese traders and taken by sailing
boat to Bangkok.
A SOUTHERN MODE OF OVERCOMING THE
MoLAssEs DIFFICULTY.-Wha to do with
the excess of molasses produced in the
manufacture of sugar has been such a
source of anxiety to the Southern planter
that prizes have been offered to any one
who will devise method of meeting the
difficulty. A New Orleans inventor claims
to have found an inexpensive process by
which the molasses can be solicited. He
says that machine which will solidify or
concrete fifty barrels of molasses daily can
be furnished for $500, and the cost of oper-
alton is not more than 2 or cents bar
rel. The exhaust steam from the sugar
house engine is injected into the bulk
molasses with the normal pressure as it
escapes and at a temperature of about 14O
degrees Fahrenheit. This expels about
twenty-five gallons of water from a barrel
of molasSes, and the residuum concretes
and is ready. for storing or shipment as
soon as cooled. In appearance it resembles
coarse sugar.
SALT WATER IN FIREs.-The disastrous
effects of many recent fires in cities where
the water pressure has been too low have
caused the question of using salt water for
the purpose of fire extinction to be brought
up again. 1t is argued that this method of
fighting fire has long ago passed beyond
the experimental stage, as it has been suc-
cessfully used in England for MANY wears.
The advantages claimed by the advocates
of the method are that the density of the
water does not allow of rapid evaporation,
and gives it longer in which to be fully
effective. Salt water weighs sixty-four
pounds to the cubic foot, as against sixty
two pounds for fresh water, and it is held
that one service of salt water is equal to
three OF fresh. Returns from seventeen
English cities where salt water is used for
sprlnkling purposes, show that the streets
have gradually become macadamized and
that the mortality has decreased from 20
to 30 per cent.
KILN FOR DRYING CYPRESS SHINGLES
new automatic compression dry-kiln pro
cess for The drying of cypress shingles has
been patented. By this process the mate
rial IS dried in very moist atmosphere.
and the outer surfaces are kept damp until
the interior of the material is heated sniff
GENTLY to. give off the moisture which it
contains in the shape of steam, and by
TINS cans the unequal expansion in the
single IS avoided and it is dried uni
1ormly throughout without injury. It is !
claimed that shingles dried by this process
are not checked, warped or hardened and