The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-07-24
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

The Question of 100 Miles an Hour-The
Rudder Brake-Steel Not Attracted to
the Magnetism Airship Direction
Pointer--Another Imitation Rubber
Straw Matches--A Lecture-Lantern
Novelty--Hand-Size Magnet-Crane-
Seed Endurance.
Whether railways shall use steam or electric
ity is a problem that Prof. w. E. Daily. British
engineering authority. believes must be deter
mined by the speed desired. For ordinary SER
vice, with trains not exceeding 80 or IS miles an
hour, there is no more economical apparatus
than the steam locomotive, but in gaining the
great additional power necessary for higher
speeds, the electric motors have the advantage
of being free from the dead weight of the steam
locomotives. The largest steam locomotive now
used yields little more than 1000 horsepower.
An electric motor of $50 horse power can be
attached to every axle. and an ordinary train
can easily utilize 1900 horse power. With this
electrical equipment, the train can travel 100
miles an hour, with a weight of 1000 tons. The
enormous power must be supplied by the gen.
Grating station, however, and between station
and motors is a large investment in copper.
while roads must eliminate present curves be-
fore cities 100 miles apart can be connected by
trains running in an hour. The high-speed cleo
trio trains are practicable If passengers will pay
two or three times the present fares.
"a
The new ships rudder that has given remark
able results on motor boats is In two hinged
halves, opening like book. When closed, it is
an ordinary rudder; but when the wings are
open, the water from the corkscrew action Of
the propeller strikes the fat surface which acts
so powerfully as a brake that the boat can be
stopped with the engines still racing full speed
ahead. With the rudder halves opened little
more, so as to incline forward, the vessel actu-
ally begins moving astern with the propeller
still running ahead.
A remarkable popularity of manganese steel
is its almost complete lack of magnetic proper
ties. A bar of this steel balanced on knife
edge was not drawn out of balance by power
full electromagnet, but when hammered into
very thin foil the steel was lifted by the magnet
-.
The course of an airship results from both the
forward motion due to the propellers and the
drifting motion that may be set up from any
cause, and to determine the true direction at
any time the Siemens Brothers of Berlin have
devised a novel and important special instru-
ment. 1t is q combination of horizontal and
vertical telescope mounted to rotate around
vertical axis. prism reflects the images
formed by the vertical telescope into one half
of the field of the horizontal telescope, the
images of the latter filing the other half of the
field of view, and lines on the prism run in verti-
cal planes parallel to the axis of the horizontal
telescope. AS the balloon moves along, objects
on the earth's surface cross the field of view.
The apparatus is turned on its vertical axis I'M
til these objects seem to be travelling in the d.
rection of the lines in the prism, and the hori-
~.xf1l Int for rroVd0
backward as required-along the horizontal di-
rection in which the balloon is moving. The
point on the horizon corresponding to this d.
rection can be viewed through the eyepiece of
the telescope.
One of the late substitutes for India rubber
patented in Great Britain and Germany by A. G..
Inrig-is produced by mixing certain chemicals
with animal refuse containing collation.. Good
results are obtained from 100 parts of animal re-
fuse, so of water. and 20 to go of oil, which are
stirred together for an hour, when potassium
bichromate and sodium stannate are added in
the proportion of l per cent. of each. The
liquid is then heated to 212o F. for five minutes.
or until sufficiently pasty, when it is poured into
molds. For greater toughness and hardness, 20
per cent. of oil, per cent each of sodium STAN
nate and potassium bichromate and and 10 per
cent. of sulphur are added and the mass is
heated to 257o f.
An improvement in matches, with material
saving in wood. is expected from the use for
sticks of the straw of various grasses and cereals
Suitable machines cut the straw into lengths of
two inches, and winnow it to get uniform size,
and the pieces are then dipped in paraffin, and
dried. The infiammable tips are then applied
by dipping into the usual mixture of chlorate
of potash, gum arabic, etc. The process is SIM
pie and practical, and on large scale offers the
advantages of wax matches at low cost
-
The value of the stereopticon to lectures, and
especially to teachers is likely to be much en-
HANGED by new device making unnecessary any
assistant to manage the lantern. This is the
idea of NJ. Moulin, of the school of physic and
chemistry in Paris. A suitable drum rotated
by tiny electric motor carries chain that
picks up the slides from box on the tube hold
ing the lenses, passing them successfully into
the lantern-where guide controls them-and
after use delivers them into second box. The
motor can be reversed, SO as to throw on the
screen any picture desired. The lantern of
course. is placed near the lecture table, and the
various switches controlling the illumination of
the room, the arc-light of the lantern and the
projection apparatus we'll in hand. the lecturer
easily brings the slides into place as wanted.
with the delay and annoyance of instructing an
assistant.
a.
Lifting by electromagnetic in large cranes has
become an important means of handling heavy
masses of iron and steel, and hand magnets are
now proving great convenience for pickingup
tacks, nails screws and other material in store
and factory. One type weighs but seven pounds,
lifting maximum load of more than ten times
its weight The magnet can be attacked to an
ordinary 1l0-volt direct-current circuit. and is
energized by closing the circuit by means of
push button on the handle. Besides the ord-
nary handling of hardware, such bits of service
can be performed as drawing out pieces of metal
otherwise difficult to reach.
-
The vitality of seeds does not seem to be at
fected by extremes of heat and cold that no
animal life can endure. Theoretically, says DIR.
F. F. Blackman, they seem to be immortal. In
late experiments, the heat of boiling water and
| 2000 of cold both failed to take away the power
| of termination, and soaking in ammonia or cor
rosive sublimate does not affect it. OF ten seeds
| 81 years old that were planted by Becquerel,
three at least proved to be capable of germinat-
| ing and developing into plants.
CASTORIA
For Infants and Children,