Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-03-30

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from perfect IN the construction of
dynamos, swltch-boaras ana other
eIectrical machines The castings
made at the western electric shops
nave been made OF sucn pure copper
that SS.Sz per cent. conductlyiJy mas
been obtained in one lot, anu the aver
age Is more than 80 per cent. A lew
impurities remain in the copper, out
they are usually less than .uy or l
per cent. This achievement Was &C
complished by Bertrand D Sa,Aners,
chief chemist for the co-lp,..y, VINO
has been working on the A1oo.em III
the laboratory for many months Ihe
process is now in the hanus OF the
patent oticlals at Washing Ion, and is
therefore, kept secret O-ly Mr..
Summers and one or two of his assist
ants know the formula
An inventor in Newark, according to
the New York Sun, has succeeded in
hndlns 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
succeeded in getting alcohol into a
sofia form, it is certain that no one
has put it into the market in that
shape. There is no doubt as to the
usefulness and advantage of such a
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 it 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 a 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 liquid form would have
burned out in 10 minutes.
After the announcement of any
scientific discovery it is quite usual
to 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
to which the liquid gas has been ap-
piled by Prof. Dewar. One of these
is it's employment as a condensing
agent in obtaining very high vacua
The method consists of immersing in
the liquid hydrogen the end of closed
tube containing air, which then be-
comes condensed as solid air. If now
the portion of the tube from which
the air has been removed by condensa-
ton be sealed with blow-pipe, it will
contain vacuum so high as. to scarce
ly allow an electric discharge to pass.
The time required for the INNER
sion is less than a minute, and Pro-.
Crookes is quoted as saying that the
resulting vacuum was higher than he
could obtain with the ordinary pump
after several hours work.
All of the governments have fallen
back upon "copper" or compositions in
which copper is the predominant
metal, for sheathing their war ships,
says a writer in the North American
Review. Electroplating the bottoms
of ships with copper has recently been
experimental extensively with, and
this does away with many of the old
objections to copper sheathing. Where
ships, "pitting" nearly always started
at the nail-holes If the salt water
was allowed to enter here even in the
smallest quantity, cOrrosion would be-
gin at once, and in a short time do
great damage to the steel hull. In
electroplating, however, the copper
sheathing is put on in one unbroken
mass, and there is no danger from
''pitting." When the whole surface
has been electroplated with copper
smooth and unbroken surface is pre-
scented, and it fits so closely that the
sheathing cannot be removed without
something chipping off the iron.
A new German invention is designed
to prevent damage to water pipes
from freezing Into the iron pipe as
far. as it is above ground there is in
serted a second narrower pipe of thin
sheet tin or lead, which is filled with
an elastic substance, such as rubber,
for instance This insertion remains
unaffected by ordinary pressure, but
if extreme cold should cause the water
to freeze, the elastic insertion is COM
pressed by so much 9s the volume OF
water is increased by freezing. In
thawing the insertion expands again
to it's original circumference. The tin
or lead around the insertion is for
the purpose of preventing the water
from assuming an unpleasant taste or
odor. Water pipes provided with
such insertion withstood a cold test
of 40 degrees c., while others that
were not provided with it burst every
time.
The first shipment of 1000 bales of
the new Lowry round bales of cotton
has recently been made from Charles
ton, S. c., to Genoa. The round bales
were found to be very easily managed
by the longshoremen, and, while the
packages are very heavy for their size,
the men handled them with great ex-'
petition and very satisfactorily. Be
sides the saving in freight room, the
advocates and promoters of this
style of cotton packing say that there
will be an immense saving in waste,
stealage and tare. The bales, being
70 1f A I1 20 ~