The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-01
NOTES ON SCIENCE AND INDUsrnx.

AZ recent meeting OF the Enginsers' Club Of
| Philadelphia Mr.. Josiah Dow described steam en-.
CINE he has brought out which possesses some novel
points. The engine IL Of the vertical compound
type, arranged in general upon the Coriss lines.
The cylinders are pllcsd A. closely together a.
possible with all valves and steam passages be-
tween the cylinders. N avoid loss Of heat from
them and to facilitate the trAnafer of steam from
one cylinder to the other and for the sake Of
pactness. The nrst cylinder sxhausts through pas
sasss directly into the second the up stroke Of the
first conciding with the down stroke OF the second
The valves placed As closely possible TO the
interior Of the cylinders. but thers only two TO
each cylinder the steam and exhaust valve for each
end being combined in All valves are actuated
by wrest plate and such is the arrangeme emit Of
the valves that the exhaust from the high pressure
crlinder Immediately enters the low pressure, tho
valve in the second cylinder being slwsys open in
time to permit its free passage. The work in each
cylinder at normal load and pressure 10 exactly the
same and the weights Of the recprocstinR parts
balanced against each other by means Of the pstons
being cast hollow.
Owing to the success Of the aluminium lines ~
Niagara Falls and snoqustnie Falls the
| Pacific Coast 80. the Chicago Northwestern Ele
| waited Railway Company some time since placed an
| order with the Pittsburg Reduction Company for
| 10000 pounds Of aluminium. to be used As feed
wires on that road. Three of aluminium cable
half inches in diameter and the order calls for
ten miles each OF the two larger sizes. Tho feeders
will be placed in u wooden box or trough covered
by the board walk between the tracks of the elevated
and will be supported vitrihed clay blocks. about
nine feet apart and designed with umbrella drip
special malleable iron chair will be used every
| 100 feet. the cable being carried in splitspool
insulators to hold tho slack This will be the frst
electric road in tho country says the Engineer. to
attempt tho use Of aluminium for feed wires. the
estimate being that ~ pounds OF aluminium will
answer the same purpose as 100 pounds of copper
| wire.
By very simple method originated by Robert r.
Smith of New Hartford Conn. An improvement has
been effected in the absorptive of duck fabrics.
such as are used for paper making machines. 30.
Instead Of tightly twisting the warp threads and sub
jecting them to hard beamns as is generally done.
the warp is given little twist az is compatible with
warping purposes; that is to enable them to be led
from the beam or spools to tho beam or loom. The
amount OF the twist will vary lance wi tn the
fabric and stock; but 1t is intended to range from
half to one and half turns to the inch. The warp
threads of such fabric are slack twisted. and the
several threads which compose each warp thread
as nearly as possible parallel to each other and
nearly possible the same length. the strain being
consequently more equally distributed between
| them. Furthermore as the fabric is bent and
manipulated there is much loss chahng and friction
between the individuals which constitute each warp.
and the liability of breakazs IL therefore largely
reduced.
The slater 10 made by many jewellers that It IL
| their experience that they have many more main
springs of watches to repair after warm. humid day
than at any other time Others believe the breaking to
be due to electric disturbance stating that after an
electrical storm they ind that many Of their CTS
TONERS bring their watches to them for repair The
sudden cooling and consequent contraction OF the
tightly wound watcheprtnR mAinsprinR
by the removal Of the watch from the body cool
nixht following warm day. is believed by some to
account in measure. for the accidents in question.
30 far however no entirely satisfactory explanation
Of the dculty has been suggested by the most
expert workmen in this line.
An elaborate ferry service ia in Of construc-
ton across the Danube. which. when completed.
will be the means OF greatly shortening the route
between the capitals Of Roumans and Bulgaria.
work undertaken by both governments. which
equally share the coat. Recently the new Bulgarian
line from Sofa to Samovtch opened for traffc.
Samovitch Is on the Bulgarian side OF the Danube,
and opposite lie the Roumanian town of Yurnu
Mareli, which 10 connected by rail with Blu char
and thus, by means Of the ferry and the rail.
way. the time between Bucharest and Sofia will be
reduced from forty-one to sixteen hours. The new
route besides being of great advantage to passenger
transit, will also be of immense commercial value
Roumania, whose petroleum wells in certain local.
ties are being developed by an international com
pany lately founded in Holland 1t is expected too
that whom the line is in full operation for freight
service it will be Of great advantage to British coal
merchants in supplying the interior of Roumania.
Some important figures arc given in rRelairaoe
Eect'Ique by Mr.. WITT. showing the great waste of
energy which accompanies the loss OF blast furnace
gas Furnaces Of one hundred to two hundred tons
capacity not rare. there beng in this coun-
try using as many as 700 tons every twenty four
hours in which the material for combustion lie
duced to three.quarters OF ton per ton OF iron.
Now, thermio balance sheet shows that the charge
of about 900 kilos OF coke contains o2e 600 900
of hoat units, to which must be added 4lB 900 900
which recovered from the reheaters. making a
total OF 1.o45. 900 900. Those consumed by the
chemical reactions in the furnace amount to 1872
900 900, those utilized for relocating <78 900 ooo
and those utilized for the production of steam So.
900 ooo-thus leaving about 600 900 of oalortes
over half those in the coke. wasted energy
Gaping with the gases. The portion which develops
steam for the engines IL used very uneconomicalIy
at the rate of at least cubic meters Of gas
per indicated horse power per hour this being at
the rate OF only about per cent efcisncy-a result
hardly satisfactory or in keeping with the demands
of engineering science.
new process for producing the ssrtions neces.
sary in the manufacture of tarsia material 10 de-
soribed In the Neuest Erdndurotn Briefly, a. a sub
plancy without detracting from the color with
out changing the structure OF the hbre. alum
solution has boon found very valuable the veneers
to be cut being saturated with IT, the alum combines
with the dry stuff In the wood into lake possessing
the color. that the shade Of the wood pre-
| served by such treatment. while the other organic
constituents Of the wood also kept from dscom-
| position by tho admixture of alum. The vencers
| thus produced show very sharp outlines and re-
main entirely free from cracks and warpng even IL
stored for long time this 10 because the does
not change the structure of the wood and 10 not
sufficiently microscopic to absorb water when stored
Another arrangement 10 proposed-this time by
M f. Leppik. of Warsaw. EnglAnd-for dspriving
steam Of surface moisture its way from the boor
to the cylinder 1t depends for its action upon CEN
| trifugal force and il valuable II effective. The
| steam passes through turbine hIed In q drum In
which centrifugal tendency causes the particles of
water to become separated from the steam and to
descend through tube into a boiler the dry steam
| passing through another tube to the engine. The
steam pressure being less than the pressure within