Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1899-03-30
MECHANICS AND INVENTION.

The use of betting in driving ma
chinery is discussed by an expert in
the Age of Steel. One point noted is
that a majority of belts are too short.
For this the architect of the mill
these fellows who get up blue prints
are generally to blame. A belt so
feet long will outlast by far one that
is only 25 feet. The slack of belt
will enable it to withstand and re-
cover from the shock of the variable
load put on them. The additional
cost of mill arranged for all the
belts to be reasonably long will be
repaid many times over in the saving
OF belts, and the loss of valuable time
occasioned by short belts breaking.
Still another cause of belts, and es-
pecially large ones that are used with
tightener, breaking, is that entirely
too much weight is put on the tighte-
ner-in the tightener boxes. The objecs
of tightener is to prevent slipping off
the belt. If the tightener is not heavy
enough to prevent this, then a large
box is put on, or adjusted by weights,
to the frame. Into this box, without
any judgment whatever, hundreds of
pounds Of old castings or brick are
placed to stop the belt from slipping.
No mathematical calculation whatever
is used. A thousand pounds of extra
weight is often used when ) pounds
would answer The result is that the
belt is under a constant and severe
strain night and day.
The secret of casting copper, says
the Chicago Tribune, has been dis
covered. Chemists and workers in
metals have been experimenting with
this problem for many years, but
complete success, it is said, has not
been attained until within the last
week. In the foundry of the West
ern electric company from 300 to 500
pounds of the metal are now being
successfully handled in this matter
each day, and the discovery is fraught
with great commercial value in the
manufacture of electrical machines,
where the great bulk of all the copper
mined is being used. So-called cop
per castings have been on the market
for many years, but it is said they
contained large percentage of foreign
metals, principally zinc and aluminium,
which rendered the. articles far
from perfect in the construction of
dynamos, switch-boards and other
electrical machines. The castings
made at the Western electric shops
have been made of such pure copper
that 1892 per cent. conductivity has
been obtained in one lot, and the aver
age is more than 80 per cent A few
impurities remain in the copper, but
they are usually less than .35 of l
per cent. This achievement was ac-
complished by Bertrand S. Summers,
chief chemist for the company, who
has been working on the problem in
the laboratory for many months. The
process is now in the hands of the
patent officials at Washington, and is
therefore, kept secret. Only Mr..
Summers and one or two of his assist
ants know the formula.
An inventor in Newark, according toll
the New York Sun. has succeeded in
finding a compound which will hold
alcohol in suspension in a solid form,
and he declares that his discovery is
both new and useful. Whether it be
true that no one else has ever before
solid torn, it is certain that no one
has put it into the market in that
shape. There is no doubt as to the
and advantage of such
compound. The inventor contemplates
its use solely as a fuel. Whether it
could be used for other purposes does
not appear, but there seem to be other
possibilities for it. Although it smells
strongly of the alcohol, the mixture
seems to be stable. and samples which
were put up in two-ounce tin boxes
three months ago have lost little by
evaporation. If lighted match is
touched to the alcohol paste 1t melts |
on the surface and takes fire. burning |
freely with the characteristic blue al |
cohol flame, only with tinge of yell |
low added at the outer part. Burning |
freely in the box and giving flame |
big enough to heat a chafing-dish, a |
two-ounce box of paste kept lighted |
for about two hours, where the same !
alcohol in a liquid form would have
burned out in 10 minutes.
After the announcement of any
scientific discovery it is quite usual
10 look for some practical use to which
the new substance, machine, or
method may be put, and in the case of
the liquefaction of hydrogen, which
was accomplished during the year
Just past, We have a number of uses
g which the liquid gas has been APP
Piled by Prof. Dewar. One of these
s Us employment as a condensing
agent in obtaining very high vacua.
The method consists of immersing in
he liquid hydrogen the end of a closed
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