The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-11-23
Fuel of the Future.

the coal and oil are gone a novel, If
not pot quite ut satisfaetory; answer T is Of,
1.-THE Engineering Magazine" for No
vember. Among the chemical ele-
ments which develop heat by combuS-
ton is hydrogen, and in that gas Mr..
Warren thinks an ideal fuel can be
found. 1t develops four times much
heat as the best coal, and burns so
thoroughly that no SCOT is deposited.
Besides, the supply is practically in
lexhaustible, as hydrogen is one of the
constituents of water, and the gas can
be recovered and used again prompt
ly. The product of combustion in this
case is aqueous vapor, which can be-
condensed as exhaust steam is and
then Immediately subjected to the
proper treatment for divorce. The
process by which carbon once burned
is again made available takes years.
These statements will hardly be dis
puted by either the chemist or the
engineer, but they do not fully meet
the requirements of the fuel problem.
The task of dissociating hydrogen
from oxygen calls for the expenditure
of other materials or of mechanical
power. By the methods now in vogue
the operation is an expensive one. If
| the cost of producing hydrogen were
| 10 or 20 or 80 times that of coal,
i would its adoption be economical? Is
there any reason to believe that the
| process would be any cheaper the
| second or third time than the first ?
Except for the convenience of limiting
the space demanded for storage,
would there be any advantage in US
! ing the gas more than once? Is there
any semblance between Mr.. War
| ren's proposition and the hope, once
expressed by the late Mr.. Tripler, that
with one horsepower, generated by |
steam, he could produce enough liq-
| uid air to develop ten horsepower? |
Perhaps at some future time further |
| light will be thrown these phases |
| of the subject, either by Mr.. Warren !
or his critics. In the meantime, it is |
permissible to remark that if, as he |
| asserts, power is free" there is a |
wonderful difference in the cost of |
Harvesting it.
In the course of his discussion of fuels |
Mr.. Warren alludes to the kinds at |
present utilized as having been thrust |
upon us by those who had them to |
sell" That. utterance is hardly such |
as to commend to favor his plan for a /
substitute. Consumers of coal and oil /
have used those articles because moth
they may have been dissatisfied at |
times with the price, as buyers often
are, they have had reason to be
thankful that fuel of some sort could
be- had They are under no compul- |
sion to purchase. VIII dealers in hy-
drogen be dominated by purely altru- /
istic sentiments and put 1t on the |
market at less than the cost of pro-
duction New York Tribune.
A Little Hero
Recently a Dublin gentleman pro- |
posed to drive with his wife to the
beautiful Glassnevin cemetery. Calling
his little son. a bright boy of some
four years old, he told him to get
ready to accompany them. The child's
countenance fell and the father said, |
Don't you want to go, Wilie?" The
little lip Quivered. yes papa if YOU
WISH The child was strangely silent
during the drive, and when the car
riage reached the entrance he chung
to his mothers side and looked up in
her face with pathetic usefulness. The
party alighted and walked among the
graves and along the tree-shaded av-
enues, looking at the Inscriptions on
the last resting places of the dwellers
in the beautiful city of the dead. After
an hour or SO they returned to the
tie boy to his seat The child looked
surprised, drew a breath of relief and
asked, why, am I going home with
you?" "Of course, you are; why not?"
81 thought when they took little boys
to the cemetery they left them there"
said the child. Many a man does not
show the heroism in the face of death
that this child evinced in what to himi
had evidently been a summons to
leave the world-London Telegraph.
Bird's-Eye Photography.
Photographs taken from airships or =
practical method of learning the :
whereabouts of an enemy's forces or
Qualifications in time of war, but snap =
shots by camera attached to pig !
con are an altogether new idea. This
minute Photographic apparatus is the
invention of a German, DIR. Neubron-
ner, and has just been patented. The
officials at the German Patent office
were disposed to ridicule the inven-
ton at first, but after proofs of its
practicabiiity were offered, their opin-
ions changed. The German war office
recognized its strategic value, and they :
believe that phOtOgraDhinR pigeons
can render much assistance to a be- i,
sieging army.
The miniature camera weighs only
two and one-half ounces, and that is
considered the maximum weight which
a homing pigeon could carry in a 9
flight of not more than 100 miles AS L
many as thirty snapshots may be TAX
en- automatically, and the instant of |
exposure can be so timed that the de-
sired views will be obtained BY this !
means objects may be photographed
from no greater height than $50 to
800 feet an impossible feat for an =
airship or balloon.-Harper's Weekly.
Waiter Who Waited. h
"A man who called himself George Ar | !.
mold was before a police court Judge 6
on the charge of stealing a ride on a
train to Dagupan. :,
where were your" asked Judge .
Low, referring to his former place of T
abode. h
I'm Manila was the reply. IT was a
waiting
waiting for whom " c.
Just waiting
What were you waiting for?' b
ITO get my money. j
who from?"
THE man 1 was waiting for" Il
What did he owe it to you for?"
For waiting" A
How did you start in waitingT
by beginning to wait. n
what do you mean? Explain your