Evening star., 1902-03-22

useless rubbish to be got rid Of separat-
ing machine was suggested. and 1t paid for
its cost within three weeks. Ii Is self-op-
Grating, requiring only the occasional sup
ply of the chips and the removal Of those
already separated The mixed chips pass
through trough in thin stream before a
revolving cylinder composed of horseshoe
magnets. the brass chips drop I'm front into
a boN and the iron and steel chips are car
ried on the magnets to the under side and
are brushed off by fixed brushes into an
other box. Before being separated these
mixed chips were worthless After being
separated the iron chips had a marketahle
value and the brass chips a value ten times
as great.
Refuse of Furnaces
In certain machine shop worn-out and
broken files are placed In a transverse
holder on the grndstone frame. held
against the face Of the stone by springs
given a transverse by a belt and a spiral
cam, and the result is bits of smooth steel
Just adapted for forging boring bar cutters
ana Keys, with a further result of keeping
the stone trued. In brass manufactures
there Is unavoidable. waste of the metals
In the scoriae of the melting furnaces In
the rolling mill department and the wire
drawing. Whatever of this waste, with the
Sweepings, can be gathered is put into
large mortarS and subjected TO the impact
of pivoted pestles, until the whole is pound
ming stream of water through a chute over
RIFLES. which catch the heavy metallic par
ticleS and allow the lighter trash to pass
on The metallic residuum, packed In cru
cibles with lutued covers gives back
profitable percentage of solid brass to be
reused
Tin cans and scrap tin like the old and
much-abused hoop skirts for a long time
resisted all attempts to convert them tn
second use The empty can has At last a
mission and n profitable one at that.
Emptled of its contents of peaches. or to-
matoes, discarded and thrown out at the
back door, 1t may soon be sent in at the
front door and find an honored place in
the house. Thousands of these cans are
gathered in our cities every week, and
made into shining sheets, which are used
to decorate or cover large travelling trunks.
A number of factories for the conversion
or old, buffeted and battered cans and other
tin refuse from the ash heaps have sprung
up In recent years. and the business is a
growing one. The cans are collected in va
rious ways. but principally from the city
ash heaps and the hotels and the large
boarding houses. AT the factory the solder
runs into a receptacle and is carefully
saved and sold. 1t brings l. cents a pound.
and the profits from this source alone al
most pay the expense Of the gathering AMI
handling Of the cans, The tops and bot
toms Of the cans melted and turned
into window sash weights. The labels on
the tin plate are easily taken off after hav-
ing been thoroughly soaked in water. and
chinery. AS the insides of the plates are
not much discolored by the contents Of the
can they present a clean surface and make
excellent coverings for trunks. the seams
being hidden by the trunk braces either of
wood or sheet iron. >
Sawdust in Demand.
In a report recently submitted to our
State Department by one OF our consuls in
Germany We are told of a new process de-
Irica6 in fnr ,lo
sawdust into fuel bricks. But sawdust has
been utilized in various ways for some
years past. In New York city there are
about 500 vendors Of sawdust, having a
capital Of S2o0o0a invested and doing "A
business of 100000 annually Forty years
ago the mills We're glad to have saWduSt
Carted away: twenty-five years ago II could
be bought for % cents load: now it brings
$3.50 a load at the mills. 1t Is used at
hotels, eating houses, groceries and other
business places. 1t is wet and spread over
floors in order to make the sweeping cleaner
work. Plumbers use 1t great deal about
pipes and buildings to deaden the walls and
floors Soda water men and packers OF
glass and small articles of every kind use
it. and dolls are stuffed with il.
Fruit products which would apparently
seem useless have some economic value. In
some parts of Egypt the date stones are
boiled to soften them and the camels and
cattle are fed with them. They are cal
cined by the Chinese and said to enter into
the composition Of their Indian ink. In
Spain they are burnt and powdered for den
tifrice, and vegetable ivory nuts are said
to be applied for the same purpose. Some
species Of attalea nuts are burned in Brazil
TO blacken the raw Indian rubber. In Inaia
the seed or stone of the tamarind is some
times prescribed in cases of dysentery
a tonic. In times of scarcity Of food the
natives eat them after being roasted and
soaked for a few hours I'm water; the dark
outer skin comes off and they can then be
cooked in various ways. From this seed an
oil has also been obtained The seed of the
carob beam Is ground up food for cattle
and is used in Algeria, when roasted, as
coffee.
The use Of some Mexican and other grasses
for brushes is being rapidly developed. This
ma aterial is as strong and flexible as brs
ties and even the refuse from this is being
used as Stuffing for mattresses. The use of
esparto grass for paper making Is we'll
known, and straw is largely used for the
same purpose. In all these things applied
science has thus realized the dreams of the
ancient alchemIst. and In its crucble the
meanest and coarsest substances are trans
muted If not literally into gold. yet into
things which have high cash value.