The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-22
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

en- launches, which are to be used for
lying mines. These boats are TO be
carried by torpedo cruisers, each vessel
| carrying thirty of the launches. The
boats are to be twenty feet long and
are to be equipped with eight oars.
Two Burnley operators have devised
new type of automatic loom, which
embodes all the features existing in
| the Lancashire loom, and by the intro
dGction Of a hopper containing weft in
steel tubes and some simple mechanism
on the slay an automatic loom is pro-
| duced. When the weft thread breaks
the welt fork sets in motion a mechan-
ism which forces the old welt out of
the shuttle at the top, and full tube
Immediately takes its place.
"A recent statement in the Scientific
| American says that NJ. Chevalier, the
noted French explorer, has just re-
turned from a prolonged trip through
Central Africa, where he secured a
valuable collection of interesting doc
uments and photographs of the country
and its people. A monograph which he
took with him was the medium for OBJ
tanning records of the languages of the
various natives in the regions which
he explored. In a course of lectures
| which NJ. Chevalier is to deliver he in
| tends to reproduce these records.
The Western Society of Engineers,
at Chicago, H., recently heard a paper
read by John NJ. Sweeney, on pulveriz-
ed coal for combustion under steam
boilers. Results of comparative trials
showed that "a pounds of water
equivalent evaporation from and at
| 212 degrees Fair. were realized per
| pound of fuel with the pulverized coal,
| and rs pounds per pound of fuel with
hand firing. On the basis of combus-
tible the equivalent evaporation in the
two cases were 10.47 and ga pounds,
respectively.
The Russian War Department has
been experimenting with a bullet-proof
breastplate, the invention of an Ital-
ian named Giorgiamo In testing its
power of resistance a steel bayonet
and a Circassian dagger were broken
against it, and a sword of Damascus
steel simply made dent in the CLOTH
Bullets were then fired into it-such as
had pierced eight one-inch planks and
a two-inch steel plate-with the result
that they were fiattened against the
cloth. The breastplate is made of a
soft, elastic material, .0393 of an inch
thick.
The annual letting of a field at
Bourne in South Lincolnshire, England
| is looked forward to with increased Gu
| riosity year by year. The auctioneer
| as soon as he receives a bid starts a
| lad to run distance of about one hun
dred and fifty yards, and the last bid
received before the lad returns secures
| the field. This year the field realized
IA los. AS soon as the letting is over
| the oA 70
hotel, where a tripe and onion supper
| Is provided out of the proceeds of the
letting. Whatever sum is then left is
spent on bread, which is distributed to
the poor of the parish.
A stone monument, weighing fifty
tons, is being raised in the Schorfeide,
near Zehdenick. Germany. on the spot
where the Emperor stood when he kill
ed his 1.0O0th stag. The stone bears
the inscriptions: Our most illustrious
margrave and lord, Emperor William
II, stood here on Sept. 20, Ammo Domini.
1888, when staying his ], 100th stag of
twenty tines" The Emperor is SO yer.
satile that if monuments were erected
to commemorate his achievements in
other lines Germany would be studded
with them. The places where he wrote
his 1,000th poem and where he painted
AiAS A5NOVhAA PASluAC oAlOuA0 OG lilcI hCQs
M. Heit, a French inventor, has de-
vised new type of compass. which is
OF an automatic nature. The direction
of the compass by this arrangement
is automatically registered minute by
minute, so that by consulting the chart
the ships officers can ascertain the
route traversed at any time during
the passage. The compass card, instead
of having al &c %
ing on fixed steel point, is fixed on
steel pivot which rests on fixed
agate. The latter is immersed in a
drop of mercury, which serves to con-
duct the current of electricity that
renders the registering of the move
ments of the apparatus possible.
One of the many proofs of the vast
ly increased consumption of fruits
among the American people is seen in
the fact that in 1899 little more than
million punches of bananas were ex-
ported from Honduras to the United
States. In 1903 the total exceeded two
millions, and consular estimates put
the probable aggregate in 1904 at three
millions. And imported fruits of many
kinds have fallen off in price as the
years have gone on. The variety of
diet within the reach of families of
moderate means in this quarter of the
world is gratifying to note, and the
Yankee table, as rule, is more boun-
tifully spread for this generation than
1t was for the majority Of our ances-
tors.
1t is reported that two Frenchmen.
Mabille and Lerclerc, have patented
process for making a kind of celluloid
which is incombustible, says the Elec-
trical Review. To a solution of cellu-
lold is added a mixture of ether and
alcohol containing certain iron salts.
A clear liquid of the consistency of
syrup results, and if the solvents are
driven off from this, an incombusti-
BILE non-inhammable celluloid remains.
1t would appear from the announce
ment that a chloride of iron is used
since it is stated that, should the cellu-
loid become heated, the gases of the
chlorine components would extinguish
the flames. The material can be work
ed as easily as ordinary celluloid. and
it is thought that it win be valuable
in the manufacture of electrical appa-
ratus.
An experimental plant to attempt
to prove the feasibility Of what is
termed the Cook process" of produce
ing ice in easily separable layers in
an ice house was erected at Forty-ffth
street and the Lake Shore Railroad
tracks, Chicago, last winter, saws Ice
and Refrigeration. A frame structure
25x56 feet in size and some 80 feet
high, was erected, with a floor Of
boards laid upon a bed of cinders and
walls made of pine board nailed. not