The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-08-01

ing Which Owe Their Existence 10
the Fertile Resources Of Brains ana
Energy..COntrast with the ConaA'
tious Of the "Good Old Days."
From the Washington Post.
Po,,tics and statesmanship must yield
the na,m to inventions as the conser-
yator of human progress and civiiiza-
ton, 1t is indeed pleasing to turn from
the chaotic conditions wrought ny the
blunders of legislation to the achieVe-
ments Of those who have contemporan-
eously carried the world forward al
greater pace than did statecraft In its
most progressive days. The task Of tell
ing about the progress of lifetime has
been assumed by the editor OF the
Scientific American, who, in the fiftieth
anniversary number Of that publication,
reviews with mastery pen the effect
of inventions during the last fifty years.
The material world has advanced SO
rapidly during the last half century,
and with a pace SO accelerated, that
mankind has almost lost one OF Its
most important faculties, and one es-
sential to happiness-that Of surprise.
The nil admirari faculty Is attaining
a. wide spread. The most marvellous
developments are taken as a matter
of course-thc condition of things fifty
years ago Is seldom pictured to the
mind-and all the material blessings
which we now enjoy are used as con-
veniences Of daily life, and no more.
Formerly there was an idea prevalent
that surprise and astonishment We're
emotions OF the ignorant. Today they
are rather emotions Of the scientist.
The educated engineer cannot without
such emotions contemplate the insig-
nificant feed wire of q trolley road
carrying silently hundreds of horse
power to points all along the line-he
cannot without these feelings contem-
plate the electric motors, drawing pow
er in proportion to the work they have
to do, all regulated by the automatic
government Of nter-electromotive
force-he cannot see the unstable
though gigantic ocean liner filed with
every refinement of electrical and me-
chanical art, all working perfectly on
their never quiet. never level platforms
a cantilever bridge with the ensuing
changes from compressive to tensile
stress and the reverse. as the span is
completed-these things all excite in
him such emotions that he cannot OBJ
serve them and know them without
a feeling Of true astonishment at the
achievements Of mankind.
THE SMALLER THINGS FIRST.
The temptation is to consider the
greater things. to contemplate the 500
plate steamer crossing the Atlantic
through storm and sunshine-the open
hearth furnace with it's tons of steel.
fluid as water and resembling molten
silver-the immense steam engine and
great hydraulic power plant But we
may usefully leave for the moment the
monumental works of the last half ce',-
tury and see what changes have been
effected in our daily life by the move
nent Of progress.
The steam engine has been greatly
improved, and In the articles on naval
progress and the locomotive much will
be found on its development. The Cor
l;ss valve motion and the compounding
of cylinders, leading to more perfect ex-
pansion and longer range Of working
temperature limits. have brought about
great economy SO that one-tenth the
fuel will do the same work as COM
pared with many engines of the middle
of the century. In details, such as the
supply Of water to the boilers by in
jectors and inspiratOrs. doing away
with the feed pump, the machine stoker
for supplying fuel, and the feeding Of
oil drop by drop to the cylinder, the
drops passing through a glass tube so
as to give sight feed fabrication, the
steam power plant has had many and
great developments.
The machine shop has not been neg.
lected, and America can boast Of the
finest machine tools. for wood and
metal. such as automatic lathes, mill
ing machines and shapers, that the
world can show. The development of
abrasives, emery, and carborundum,
has made the emery grinder a neces-
sary tool In every machine shop The
miner even shares in the advance, spe-
cial machinery for extraction Of ore,
for undertaking and drilling being I'M
vented, while modern explosives of
graduated power and quickness make
the work Of placing shots much safer.
Compressed air has been used in some
classes Of underground work, but elec.
tricity is making its presence felt there
also. and electric machinery for tun-
neling the mining is in extensive use.
THE NEW METAL
The work Of st. Clair Deville in the
days Of the last Napoleon have borne
fruit. and now aluminium has a recog-
nized place among commercial metals
In its reduction the electric furnace and
the electrolysis of fused salts have been
tried, and the cheapened production OF
sodium has had Its effect on the cost Of
production.
The llghtness OF the metal led 10
hopes that 1t might lead to the construc-
tion Of a flying machine. The develop
ment Of the laws of moving aeroplanes
have given a better basis perhaps in
this direction than any preceding work,
and the theory Of the internal energy
OF the atmosphere gives a possibility of
the solution of the problem of soaring
------------