Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-09-04
INVENTORS IDEALS.
I THERE is NOTHING NEWMAN COPIES
FROM PLANTS AND ANIMALS.

4 NEW-mAIN WI r1N
FROM PLANTS AND ANIMALS.
| The ideas for most of the things mar
has invented for his own use have beer
taken from animals and plants-copied
| In the webbed feet of aquatic birds and
the hind feet of the frog we have the
prototypes of the feathering foats of the
paddle wheel of steamships, and the
principle of feathering a pair of oars
when rowing.
Fishes use their swimming bladder
to descend by ejecting the air, and te
assembly, tedlling-the air bag. This
principle has been largely used in ship
-suii,lihg. -Water-tight partitions are
made to divide the vessel into num-
Der of-iE etant5s.
The claws of the crab and lobster re-
semble closely gasfitter's pliers, having
teeth-like projections all along the inner
portion to increase their grip. 1t is the
lower portion which moves; this por-
ton works on hinge or fulcrum. The
motion is applied by means of strong
muscle attached to cartilaginous
blade.
Some West Indian crabs can use only
the extreme ends of their claws. In
this respect they resemble the ordinary
carpenters pinchers.
There is nothing new in the rams ol
modern man-of-war to enable one ship
to charge another 1t is the device Of
the swordfish of the Indo-Pacific ocean.
Its upper jaw has long beak or ram,
by means of which it can pierce moi
only fish, but the sides of timber-built
ships.
Even the plants have fOrestalled hui
man inventions. Nearly everybody,
perhaps, has wondered why the stems
of nearly all plants and the trunks and
branches of trees are round instead OF
any other shape. The existence of tail
plants and trees depends largely on the
wind force. And a tree with square
trunk and branches would offer so
much resistance to the wind that ii
would be continually having its
branches snapped.
1t is for the same reason that engi-
neers build tall chimneys and piers for
bridges round in section in preference
to any other form.
The stems of bamboOs, grasses,
wheat, oats, ETC., are hollow, although
they grow to great nights in compari-
son to their thickness. One might ma
turally suppose that to gain strength
as they grew the stems ought to be
solid at the base, but it is not so. Care
full experiments have proved that a
solid column subject to bending strains
is no stronger than hollow one of the
same diameter.
Consequently all iron shafts are made
hollow. And the steel shafts which
drive the screws of steamships have a
hole bored down the center to reduce
the weight. But this does not reduce
the strength.
The thickness of the branches of trees
is in proportion to the weight to be
borne. Horizontal branches, such as
those of the cedar and elm, are much
thicker than the almost vertical
branches of the poplar. The average
natural factor in breaking is about one
in ten, exclusive of wind pressure, and
engineers employ a factor of six in
building with timber.
The art of weaving, rope and net
making is practiced by some of the
lower forms of life, notably among
caterpillars and spiders. The weaver
birds of Africa and India, which are a
species of finch, construct wonderful
nests out of leaves by sewing them to
gether.