The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1898-08-12

water. The pressure of the lair steam"
was so great that the cork could hard
~ be held in place and the liquid was
forced through the small tubes in
snowy jets rising amid clouds of vapor
to a height of about Is feet, and falling
in a storm of snow and rain. If the
test tube had been held in the hand the
result would have been the same, but
in few seconds the hand would have
been frozen. There is hence no doubt
that liquid air would be of incalculable
value in cooling rooms in summer.
In the next experiment fire was
frozen. A tea kettle partly filed with
liquid air was placed over the intense
heat of six Bunsen gas burners. It
began instantly to boil. Near the first
kettle O second, also partly filed with
liquid air, was placed upon cake of
ice. This liquid air began to boil harder
than that which was over the fire. On
lifting the kettle from the fire sheet
of ice was found over the bottom, thick
est where the flames had been hottest.
Dropping ice in the kettle made it boil
harder, and few ounces of water
caused it to gurgle, spout and spit and
the lid could be held ON only with great
difficulty. At the close of the expert
ment the kettle was inverted and
Jumps of ice were found inside, as dry
as chalk. Scientists estimated that
power enough had been generated to
run an engine. The steam" was ice
cold.
A tin lemonade shaker half filled
with liquid air was slowly revolved in
pan of water. The casing of ice which
Immediately formed around it cracked
with the intense cold. After repeated
thick enough to handle after the tin
cup had been removed. The ice cup
was partly filled with liquid air into
which Mr.. Tripler dropped lighted
cigarette. With q single puff it was
consumed. the ice cup remaining unin-
| jured. A white-hot carbon rod was
| plunged into the liquid air in the cup.
1t burned with intense brightness.
Heat came through the ice which was
not melted or cracked. A steel wire
in the cup, lighted with a match, burned
| like fuse, the bottom of the cup be-
| ing covered with pellets of steel. Dur
ing this time the ice cup had been held
| on a linen handkerchief, which was
| found to be frozen so stiffly that it could
| be broken in the fingers. After re-
| naming in the liquefied air for few
| seconds an egg could be pounded into
| bits as fine as -four. Raw beefsteak
yielded the same results. When taken
from the liquid it was so hard that it
| rang like silver. Rubber after having
been immersed few seconds became as
| friable as glass. Leather, strange to
| say, was not affected by the fluid.
If into cream, sweetened and favored,
a spoonful of liquefied air be dropped
six seconds of stirring will produce ex-
| cellent ice cream. A nail may be driven
into wood with bar of mercury, frozen
by having the liquid cir poured over it.
The great explosive power of the fluid
was shown by pouring a teaspoonful
| into a copper tube a foot long, and
| sealed at the bottom. A closely fitting
| wooden plug was driven in the top.
Within four seconds. with loud report,
the plug shot up 200 feet above the sur
rounding buildings. Its possible use
as an explosive in war can hardly be
imagined. 1t may also be of great value
in cooling guns in action. 1t may also
be used as motive power in ships and
may be safely handled in an ordinary
| engine. The vessel would be freed from
| the weight of coal. and the necessity for
coaling stations would no longer exist.
In submarine boats the motor would
| furnish all the air needed for breath
ing, pure and cold, and used in en-
gines of aluminium and boilers of pa
per it may perchance solve the airship
problem. The surrounding atmosphere
would furnish all the heat needed.
When iquefied air is delivered to our
| houses in cans and bottles, coal and ice
trusts may become things of the past
T AS germicide it will prove of immense
value, as clothing may be disinfected
readily by its use. It is said that the
molecules of oxygen are brought near
er mechanically in liquid air, hence any
carbon body ignited in close contact to
! it will undergo oxidation instantly, re-
| solving itself into its original gases,
with explosive energy. 1t is expected
to open up new field in the line of safe
explosives. and is likely to be utilized as
pulverizer of refractory substances,
as by its evaporation they are made ex-
cessively brittle in low temperatures,
probably from the shrinking apart of
their molecules.
Mr.. Tripler says that he resolved IS
years ago to devote his life to produc-
ing some power to supplant steam and