Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-06-25
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


The tempering of special steels for mod
ern tools requires very high tempera.
| lures, with absence OF carbon air AMI
gases likely 70 alter the hot metal aud
| 10 ensure exclusion of active chemical
agents an improved electric tempering
furnace has been constructed in Berlin
The steel is heated in fused salt, bar
ium chloride having proven most suita-
ble. The furnace is square box Of
IRON. asbestos and flrobricks, aud the in
| terror is filled with the salt ana opposite
| iron plates serving as electrodes for tho
alternating current, the temperature be.
| Ing accurately controlled by a pyrometer
ana rheoststs. In chamber about 6H
inches square and / inches deep a 3-pound
| piece Of steel was heated to 1900 degrees
| {. IN So seconds. Working 10 hours day
| al the maximum OF 1900 degrees c.. the
furnace requires two pounds OF barlum
| chloride each day. new lining once u
year and iron electrodes somewhat often.
| ar The fused salt scales off as the steel
is plunged in the cooling liquid
Better control Of high temperatures IS
increasing our list of useful materials
the latest additlons-specially brought 10
notice a the late Conversations of the
London Royal society-betfg pure ridium
and rhodium and fused silica. Hitherto
rhodium and iridium have ben practical
ly unavoidable metals, but they have been
30 purified as 70 be quite nalleabie ana
have been nude into such apparatus as
basins, tubes and TASKS. Having very
high melting point and being almost uu-
attacked by acids, the metals promise 10
be OF a great value for speelai purposes.
Silica which was first fused with great
difflculty into crude tubes several years
AGO rs now melted into ylscid hquld
ard bv suitable means is concerted INFO
apparatus as attractive In appearance as
ordinary glass, while the cost mas o"fh
crcatlv lessened The abundance OF the
material and the extraordinary properties
ID possesses give unusual interest TO rs
nroducts Dishes OF silica can be SUI
denly cooled from the. white heat WIN.
ont risk Of cracking, they soften, only at
cxtrcmrly nigh temperature, hnH-unUs
voesnls " ordinary glass-they are quite
unattached hy water or acids
.rho amusement sensation OF the near
futrre is to he submarine botanical
,nd geological garden, With arrangements
no. enable excursopsis 70 view Us Won
dcrs Pine, tho Italian inventor, whose
Iiyinr bont experiments began In 1901,
nrcdiets that II will become as easy %
Wait DEPTHS Of 100 yards IN the sea as 10
fake mi automobile ride, and he FORE
zoos hat such trips win he very popular.
tTc 0nds Am entire absence OF any sense
- heinr submerged. The common motion
maj Sunlight does not penetrate 100
wards IS incorrect ana theIe - s Sulwo' ths
smallcst objects or hpc print
The necessity Of Gmplighter for gas
'tgbtsd streets has been removed by
lanes Hepburn an Engihh plumber, who
3nnii4s an attachment 30 adiusted that
tigrr regulation Of the pressure AZ inc
eaE works either lights up ihe lamps
automatically or reduces the fame 10
mal pilot hight
The properly OF certain substances
trnxyn AZ ttriho- luminescenco.' which rs
an emission ~ light on breaking or
crushing seems 10 be very different from
ordinary phorescence. and IN an IN
yepileaton lately begun. Adrian Karl
iucinp 4 class ~ bodies that have this
nrnnerty IA the highest degree but do not
ahow phoFphOrescence from exposure TO
light on crushing With a glass or metal
rod or rubbing WIN emery. the lgnt is -
strong his tu be visible m daylight ana
M q cnohlo persona 10 read n the dark
i'he substances mat are most lumlnescent
,usre nrepared hv strongly heating solid
,1iNures % sulphldo ~ zinc and one OF
various compounds, such as nitrate or
manganese, sihclc ana stannlc aeids. zlf'
~onIa ana siloates on 2irconates OF man
ganrse Tho presence ~ air Is not nee
ssearv ana lie phenomenon appears In
wnter either etc. and 10 tubes having
had a vacuum made after hrst nliug
Yith hydrogen Or nitrogen, whether the
curOuH property u due 70 delnlte gnem
icai compounds has not yet been deter
mined.
Rrgln which has come into quite eStcn-
eive use M Germany n AN OIL hydro
carbon obtained from coal tar By a secret
process and II claimed 70 be az ideal fn,l
for Internal CONFUSION engines Of an
sizes ITS heat value 10 slightly less than
that OF gasnlene. II can be highly com
irogged without giving premature lgn-
ion. can be used IN alcohol motors, and
ignition is always effected With certain
cents per pound, the cost per horsepower
ha,,r "a about 4 cent