Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-01-31
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
The British war Office has devised
a new use for bullets expended upon
target practice at rifle ranges. The
present market price for spent cupro-
nickel bullets is about $50 per ton,
and contracts have been made for the
recovery and removal of these used
bullets from the various ranges.
According to English correspond
ence, an automobile battery has been
evolved abroad which threatens rev
olution in horseless travel. In going
down hill the motor is reversed and
the battery recharges itself, so that
it is much stronger at the bottom
than at the top. A trip of over 94
miles was made on an American
built wagon equipped with this motor
and battery, with no stop for recharg-
ing.
AS a consequence of the increasing
demand for superior grades of sugar
in Japan, attention is being turned
toward improving the very primitive
methods of crushing now employed
at Tainan, and turning out a cleaner
and higher grade sugar, says The
Engineer. AS a first step in this di-
recton four iron mills-crushers-
were introduced during the year to
replace old stone crushers, but as the
same motive power-bullocks-is
used as before, this improvement is
limited only to the extraction of
larger percentage of juice, and the
quality of the sugar produced re-
mains much the same.
Commercial agent Johnson, of STAN
bridge, Quebec, has sent to the state
department report on the discovery
of new wood preservative. He
says: "The sap is removed from tim
ber and at the same time it is impreg-
mated with chemicals to render the
wood either fireproof or impervious
to attacks of insects or to decay in
salt or other waters. Beechwood can
be made suitable for railway sleepers
or for boot and shoe lasts. If neces.
sary the impregnating plant can be
used at the telling ground. The cost
of impregnating is about two cents
per cubic foot. The cost Of the
plant is about $1,000"
The product called "electroverre,"
according to the Moniteur Scienti-
fque, is made as follows: The mate
rials in fine powder are fed into an
electric furnace in several compart-
ments; in about 20 minutes a clear
liquid glass is obtained, which can be
run into moulds or worked as usual.
for finer kinds of glass the compart-
ments are placed over one another,
as the refining takes place more
quietly. Fifty volts is sufficient with
the Becker furnace, and the current
can be either alternating or continu-
Gus. 1t is claimed as an advantage
that the furnace can be easily start
ed or stopped within short time,
and that the expense of pots will be
saved. The trials are being made by
company at Cologne.
The geodesists are still measuring
the earth, with view to determln-
ing it's exact size and shape. People
that do not follow closely the work
that scientists are doing are under the
impression, perhaps, that these points
were determined long ago, and so
they were approximately. But an ap-
proximate conclusion is not satiSfac-
tory to science, and so the task Of
measurement goes on, and Will go
On until an accurate result is OBJ
tained. One of the most important
steps recently taken in this direction
is the remeasurement of the meridian
arc in Peru, which is being done by
French geodesists, the original meas
urement having been made by their
countrymen in the early part of the
18th century. The new arc is near
ly twice as long as the old one, and
covers about six degrees of latitude,
crossing the equator near Quito.
The great peak of Chimborazo rises
not far from the middle point of the
new arc.
Gutta- Percha IL Not Rubber.