The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-16
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

of a Chinaman on a bicycle: His attire
was such as is not easily forgotten. The
baggy trousers were hauled up over the
knees, disclosing a pair of Skinny sticks
swathed in dish rags or something. This
was done to prevent his trousers from
tearing in the chain. Bare feet on rubber
pedals, big, yellow balloon shirt bulging
out like the spinnaker on a racing yacht.
and flying pigtail under a small tin can
OF cap Topped by button. He was
wealthy merchant, we We're told, and look
ed as If wheeling agreed with him in spite
of his Clothes"
The State Department has exhausted
every effort 10 obtain legal redress on ac-
count of the killing of five Italians at
Talulah, La, last year and the negoua-
tions between Italy and the United States
are now in a condition apparently en-
barrassing 10 this government. Italy is
pressing for the punishment of the men
concerned in the lynching and evidently
will not be satisfied with the payment
of an indemnity. The grand jury of the
parish in which, Talulah is situated has
met three times, but each time failed to
return any indictments against the lynch
ers. No settlement of the matter that
will be satisfactory 20 Italy is in sight.
"A story from Kingston, Jamaica says
the inhabitants of the British West IN
dies have been laughing very heartily
over recent article in the Paris news
paper lie Monde Illdstre." The article
says that in the near future after the
Beers have driven the British army into
the sea, the Queens empire will be dis
membered. The probable fate of each
colony is stated. Jamaica apparently is
to become the appanage of Cuba. British
Guiana is to be annexed by Venezuela.
The Daily Chronicle of Georgetown ac-
cepts the fate with comparative resigna-
ton, remarking: 1T is something 90 be
thankful for that we are to have nothing
TO do with maladorous Cayenne, where
the toffy men come from"
The supply of machinists and engin-
GERS for the navies of this and other coun-
tries, says the Age of Steel. is not in
keeping with the demand. The modern
war ship is as full of machines as cot
ton mill. Many of them are complicated
and crowded, and the conditions of work
ing require skill and discipline. The old
salt of other days was both fighter and
seaman. He could splice ropes, mend sails
take trick at the wheel handle a board
ing pike, and do his own laundry work
The crew of a modern snip is not com
plete nowadays without its squads of ell C
lricians, engineers and machinists For
some reason he prefers shore life to that
of boXed-up nomad, though steady en-
ployment and fair pay are guaranteed.
The recruitment of such men will proba-
bly, be neVer-ending difficulty with all
the naval authorities Of all countries The
navy department at Washington is in a
quandary as how to supply experienced
men of this class for the Asiatic squad
ron.
An economical method of making
soarchlight mirrors has been devised by
Cowper Coles. an Englishman. He begins
with mold of glass possessing a care
fully prepared convex surface, whose
curves are narabo!ic. Upon this he de-
posits a layer of metallic silver, which is
polished before further steps are taken.
Then he immerses the mold in an electro
plating bath and coats the silver with
copper. The latter metal forms the back
ing of the future mirror, and the silver
The front While the aforementioned oper-
alton is in progress Mr.. Coles rotates the
mirror slowly in the fluid. An average of
10 turns to the minute is sufficient The
copper adheres firmly to the silver, but
the latter can. easily be separated from
the glass mold. The incomplete mirror is
first immersed in cold water. The tenn
rerature of the fluid is then raised gently
to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Owing
10 the unequal expansion of glass and
er. The only remaining detail of import
ance is to deposit a thin film of palladium
OF the silver, to prevent furnishing
Concerning the revolution in boiler-mak-
ing, writer in Casters magazine says:
There are many points in common between
the machine shop of to-day and that of
twenty or thirty years ago. but there are
scarcely any between the boiler shops Of
the two periods. Twenty or twenty-five
years ago few firms were making steel
boilers; to-day the construction of new
iron boilers is becoming exceptional
with the new material nearly every de-
tail of the work has been altered or mod
lhed in a greater or less degree Hand
work too, is practically extiuguished in
the most modern shops. Formerly there
was good deal of Hanging, bending, ham
mering, chipping, welding, riveting. drift
ing and tapping done by hand, as there is
still in small establishments; but good
boiler work is now almost entirely a mat
ter for machine tools, and the impo~tauce
of these, therefore, has grown to an inn
mense extent. A high class modern boiler
is now machine-made almost entirely from
beginning to finish. Since the errors Of
hand work are thus eliminated, two boil
ers made to the same standard are ex-
actly alike and afford a striking illustra-
ton of the excellence of the machine work
now done in the boiler-shop.
The field of invention says the Scien-
tific American, is ceasing to be regarded
as kind of idealized Klondike or Cape
Nome, where the happy adventurer turns
up the miners nugget without the hard
ship and heartbreak of the miners life
This mistaken view was and for that
matter is yet, answerable for a number
of half-tinished but inherently valuable
Inventions which, for want of a little
persistence. have nothing 10 show but
pigeonholed patent and a machine that
lies neglected in the cellar In thousands
of such cases, the inventor has thrown
down his tools, If not at its very TIRES
hold, at least within measurable distance
of success. The records of the patent
office contain thousands of half-hn!shed
inventions which are so far valuable that
If the owners would only develop them
with a fraction of the zeal and intelli-
gence with which they conduct the ordi-
nary affairs of life, they would richly
benefit both themselves and the general
public. This is proved by che fact that
there are not few inventors who find it
exceedingly profitable to take up the prin-
ciples of discarded inventions, and by de-
velopng a practical embodiment of the
same, give them that commercial value,
might have been secured by the original
} inventor.
The combination Of gas and steam. in
one motor is the novel scheme of Prof