Amador ledger., 1909-06-04

The Magnetic Piano. Steam -Tur
bine Evolution. Seat of the Sixth
Sense.--A Lamp Novelty. Solid
Alcohol.
Helical steel tubes Of great
strength, from one to six inches in
diameter, are being rolled by an i'm
proved method at a factory of Stock
erau, near Vienna, The hot-rolled
fiat bars are cold rolled, cut into
width equal to the diameter of the
intended tube, then timed. Fed in
these strips have internal recesses
formed at their edges by two sets of
pressure rollers, with counter rollers
mounted at right angles to the thread
of the spiral, and the edges being
fitted together, they are pressed on
spindle so as to form closed joint.
A second set of rollers, extending
across two laps at once, completes
the shaping. In the finishing pro-
cess, the tubes are immersed in a
bath of tin or lead, and this forms
lining and at the same time SO
soldiers the joints as to insure perfect
tightness. Tested in Vienna, the
wo-inch tubes of one-third inch
plates showed an average bursting
strength Of 1928 pounds per square
inch.
The new electric oven of a bakery
at Kerns, Switzerland, is about eight
feet long by four wide, with baking
surface of three square yards, and
will bake 100 pounds of bread at
time, in pound and three pound
loaves. The furnace has AZ electri-
caIly heated tubes arranged along the
base and the vaulting. The baking
heat is reached in two hours, and in
II hours eight 100-pound patches of
bread can be baked, at cost of l.6
cent per pound for heating. Even
heating is ensured by such means as
lessening the current toward the
back of the oven, where cooling is
least.
The face of the country in Europe
| has been materially altered by
human effort. Of the tilIabie land of
Holland ninety per cent has been
wrested from the sea, and in Great
Britain, work scarcely less has been
done, for third of the present land
is said to have been bogs and marshes
IN the time of King Alfred. In the
United States, where the work of
reclaiming is Just beginning, it is es-
timated that drainage will add 200, 900
square miles 10 the farm land.
Pessi mistio as it may seem, the
conclusion that mans downfall will
begin with the exhaustion of our coal
is strongly suggested. Biologists
find that since the beginning of the
Paleozolc era various leading animals
have apr cared, reached their cul-
mination, and declined. Some thou
sands, or tens of thousands of years
ago, the Human epoch began. Since
then man has become the dominant
animal, occupying the place held by
gigantic reptiles in the Mesozoic era,
and has been approaching the cul-
minating stage of existence. When
his resources have been fully utilized
some centuries hence-can develop
ment go further? 1t is confidently
but vaguely asserted that before the
coal is gone something to take its
place will be found, but an inquiry
hy Sir w. Ramsay into the known
sources of energy are diseonIaging
for Great Britain and not reassuring
for other lands. These possible
sources are-(D water power from
rivers aud reservoirs; ~ water power
from tidesi (3) wiud power; (4) the
tarths internal heat. to be reached
by shafts eight or ten miles deep; (5)
the discovery of catalytic agent
that may accelerate the loss of energy
by substances like radium; (6) solar
heat. or these the first will replace
coal to limited extent, though not
in Great Britain. The second and
third are not econom ical, the expense
and difficulties of the fourth are pro
hibitive, the fifth Is hypothetical and
not likely to give important results,
and the sixth is available only in
warm climates.
A new kind of piano, the choral
cello, has the ordinary keys and ham