The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-16
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


recently asked whether he found deprav-
ity the deeper among the rich or the poor.
There is no such thing as depravity." lie
replied with all the disdain he could put
into his voice AT the top il is diseased
nerves; at the bottom hunger"
To prevent the engines of a vessel from
racing when the screw rises above the
water, Signor f. Putalo has invented an
| electrical regulator. The contrivance, &C
cording to Industries and Iron, consist Of
two vessels of mercury connected at the
bottom by tubes and mounted fore and
aft in the ship. The vessels are about
| half fun at normal depth When the snip
pushes forward 50 as to raise the sore"
the rods connected with the resistance are
| submerged one after the other, so that an
l-electro-magnet is brought into play, the
whole resistance being short-circuited
when the screw is quite out of the water.
The electro-magnet operates a throttle
| valve in the main steampipe, which Is
| thrown open by another magnet. BY this
| arrangement the steam is turned off and
| on. From experiments it has been shown
/ that the mercury vessels need not be more
| than thirtyfour inches apart on ship
800 feet long.
Prof. Weber of the Ohio State Univer-
sity has made a prolonged study of the
| effect of light as a factor in sugar pro-
| duction, and his numerous experiments
| with reference to the influence of light on
the sugar contents of plants are OF pc
culiar scientific interest. He has found
that plants with a long period of vegeta-
ton are not so much affected by climatic
| changes, location, etc, as those of
| short period of vegetation. For the lat
ter therefore, the conditions named are to
be specially cared for in order to secure
| the product. Higher ATTITUDES are found
to be better for sugar production than
lower ones, other things being equal. and
| the proximity of large bodies of water Is
most favorable to sugar production. The
| typographical features of the land are
also of Importance in locating sugar fac
| tories in the most convenient place to that
of production, in order to insure the
greatest success.
Some of the methods introduced in the
tunnel boring for the Jungfrau Railroad,
in Switzerland, in order to meet the ext
gencies peculiar to the extreme winter
weather, are of special interest to engi-
neers. On this work blasting gelatine is
used, an explosive which freezes at about
40 degrees Fahrenheit, and, in lis frozen
conditions, is very dangerous 10 handle,
being unlike dynamite in this respect. 1t
seems that the contractors who are blast
ing out the Jungfrau tunnel keep their
| explosive in a sort of safe heated by e,ec-
| tricity, so that any danger of the gelatine
| freezing is entirely obviated. Dynamite,
or some other derivative of nitro-g ycer-
inc is in very common use for blasting
and other purposes, and is commonly fro
zen for safety. 1t is usual to thaw it out
before it is used, but frequent accidents
thus occur, and 1t Is thought that a dy-
Mantle thawer operated by electricity
would be alike safe and convenient.
An improved apparatus for producing
acetylene gas has been invented by Thomas
Holiday of Huddersield, England In this
device the arrangement is such as TO per
nit the use of the gas directly from the
generator, the surplus pressure being com
pensated for by the weight of water in
adjoining compartments. The gas holder
is surmounted by a cstern of water. in
which is a worm pipe, through which the
generated gas discharges and which serves
also to cool the gas; on a level with the
gas holder, attached to it's exterior, is a
separate generator, in which is placed tie
basket of carbide, and, extending upward
from the bottom of the gas holder is a
pipe communicating with the water els
tern above. Now, as the water flows from
the cistern into the gas holder, and fills
the latter so that it overflows at the top,
into a pipe leading to the bottom Of the
carbide receptacle, gas is at once gener-
ated, and an excess of back pressure forces
rbA water ont Of the gas holder into The
cistern above. There is also an arrange.
r rnent for permitting the used-uD carbide
to be replaced quickly with fresh.
-Steel-riveted pipes for the conveyance
of water from the source of supply to the
a | Doint of consumDtion are coming more
: and more into use saws the New York
) sun. and for long distances. with IaA-g,
r diaueters. under heavy water Dressure
q esneciallv when few connections have Il
e | he resorted to on the wav sucb nine,
4 | arc pronounced as nuch st,nerior. To thos4
e Of cast iron as the stool substitute is r
the old cass-iron tension mAmber of :
j. hridoe II is thought too that tbev vii
G ultimately he ueed To tbe exclusion ~
otbars-tba fact annearino however tbat
though similar Mines made Of wronobt
iron nave been s,iccessfuIlv used for vear,