The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The name of Eureka gas IS given to
new nluminant. expected TO rival acety-
lene- The gas as prescribed in invention
and originated by ". Hector de Favi, Of
Montefiascone. Italy, is obtained as fol-
lows; Lime as pure as possible is en-
Proved on base. colophOny and calcium
carbide being added-1O03 parts of the
mixture ready for use consisting OF SO
Of quicklme 80 of colOphony and o. Of
calcium carbide-and there is said 10 be
no liability Of explosion BY mixture with
air; no heating of water, and no special
burner IS needed. one thousand parts of
the mixture gives sixty litres of gas at
pressure of thirty-dve nilimetres of wa
ter; and the phoJOmetric intensity of the
flame is stated 10 be 92.4 candle power
while the same amount of calcium car
b.de employed singiy would give only eigh-
teen candle power. Thus, it Is asserted
the new gas is 20 per cent cheaper than
acetvlene, or that at equal cost it viii give
half as much more light
An English technical journal publishes
the result of actual cost Of a 100-mile run
Of an oil engine driven motor carriage,
which will help TO dspel the general be-
lief that the cost Of operation Of horse
less vehicles is excessive. The report re-
ferred to states that during the run of 100
miles the amount of fuel consumed was
the present market rate in England, and
with the .lubricating oil used, made a to-
tai cost for the 1G0 miles OF $1.20. Three
passengers were carried, and about hun
dred weight of baggage. making the net
cost per passenger 70 cents. The time for
the entire journey was only about eight
and half hours, including stoppages. If
this report is to be relied upon. the show
ing made is certainly very much in favor
OF mechanical traction as compared with
horses, even on ordinary roads, as In the
first place the journey could not have
been accomplished in the short time it
was, and the cost of horse-keep and sta
bling would have been greater to say
nothing Of the constant expense of keeping
a horse when not in service.
Engineering skill is likely to play in
important part at Vladivostock, a proml-
nent Russian port and the terminus Of
the Siberian railway, but where for oveA
four months the port is blocaded up with
ice, rendering shipping traffic impossible.
For many years the Russian authorities
have been endeavoring to overcome these
natural difficulties, and some time ago
ice-breaking ships were introduced 10
break open the ice, an operation, how
ever, which has proved practically use
less. Ii is now reported that "a certain
engineer has proposed plan for reclaim,
ing the narrowest part of the Tartar strait
between Sc ghalien and the Russian main
land. The theory of such an undertak.
ing is that, if this is DONE the cold cur
rent which enters the Japan sea from the
Arctic via Bering strait will be checked
and the passage of the warmer tide. COM
ing from the south through the Tshuma
strait, will make the water on the coast
OF Japan as warm as VladivoStOck and
the latter will be warm all the year round
The expectation is entertained that this
remarkable engineering work viii be en-.
tered upon after the completion of the
Siberian railway.
Il see the newspapers say that the
manila hawser used to tow the new Span
ish dry dock across the ocean to Havana
is the biggest ever made" said an old
salt in the Brooklyn navy yard, to re-
porter for the New York Sun. Il know
of two that were bigger. This hawser Is
only twenty-five inches in circumference.
while the two that We have had right
here in the yard We're twenty-three and
tWenty-four inches in circumference. They
were made on the ropewalk outside of
Brooklyn. The twenty-four inch hawser
was used as sheet-anchor cable aboard the
old Tennessee, when she was on the
Mediterranean station In the sixties. She
was in the Bay of Naples when a furious
storm came up. The officers ordered the
crew to get the sheet anchor out o the
waist They finally did so. but the big
hawser was so unwieldly TO handle In such
an emergency that when the Tennessee
got back to the Brooklyn navy yard the
hawser was sent to the oakum mill and
| made into oakum. The 23-inch hawser
was used in anchoring the old receiving
ship North Carolina in the stream at the
| Brooklyn navy yard. Both cables were
| made by hand, and were so big that
| they could not be carried In the usual way
l.
down to the navy yard by the rope walk
men,
"A curious illustration Of the power of
| light matter to perforate more substan-
tial substances when driven at high
| velocity occurred in the Royal Arsenal
few days ago, says the Engineer (Lon-
| dom. In the course of experiments on fir
| Ing gas in mines, conducted by Capt Coo
! per Key, a special gun is employed TO do
| duty for a bore hole with a. charge of
| high explosive, and pressed cylinders of
| raw, dry clay three inches long and one
and eeven-eighths inches in diameter are
used to represent tamping. These shots"
| are made to act in various mixtures of
| air, coal dust and gas, and to stop the
| course Of plug, eventually a cast iron
| target plate one inch thick was placed
| twenty-five feet In 'front.' at an angle of
| 40 degrees, in order to break up everything
| itllO aust ana throw 1t upward.
| After three or four shots with this ar
rangement the clay plug, weighing seven
and one-haf ounces, perforated the inch
iron plate, and the hole thus made has
| been steadily extended since. The famil-
lar tallow candle passing through a door
must hide its head before a seven and
| one-half ounce plug of clay perforating
an iron plate an inch thick at an angle
of 40 degrees. Doubtless the velocity must
be tremendous The calculated velocity
for a hard cylinder of this weight and
size to cut through an inch of wrought
iron at 40 degrees would be over 500 foot
seconds. With cast iron and clay and the
three or four repeated blows everything
Is so greatly altered that there is little
more to be said than that the effect is
remarkable and unexpected
Two instances of the occurrence of that
rare form of lightning known as "gIobe
lightning" for which scientists have never
been able to offer an explanation were re-
Gently observed in Europe. One case oc-
CURED at Szlacs, about noon. when a vio
lent thunder storm broke over this famous
watering place At PAS a bail of lightning
about the size of a mans head was seen