Amador ledger., 1909-10-29

OF air travel in the near future, DR..
Friedrich Lux has devised system of
wireless signaling by which airships
may be kept constantly informed of
their exact whereabouts. He proposes
establishing wireless stations over the
country at distance of 40 or so miles
apart and that each station send out
every five minutes signal of few
letters by which it may be identified.
For receiving these signals every air
ship will need an apparatus weighing
about six pounds. The aviator will not
only know the name of the nearest
station, but the varying strength of the
electric impulses received will tell him
whether he is approaching or recedng
from a particular station.
Useful new materials in variety are
being reported by French chemists.
From Indian corn they have extracted l3
per cent of maizine, supplying a trans
parent plastic substance that can be
mixed with celluloid to cheaper and
make it less combustible, is useful as
food and can be made into glue and
other products. Poteline is a mixture of
gelatne, glycerine and tannin, with the
addition, as required, of heavy spar,
zinc white, or a vegetable coloring. 1t
is adapted for all kinds of decorations,
artificial marble, Theoretically sealing
bottles. and even as a preservative coat
ing for meat; and can be turned, filed
drilled and polished.
Testing the effect of soil colors, an
experimenter at the Montpelier expert
mental vineyard, in France, covered the
ground with a thin layer Of cement,
leaving small opening for each
stem, and then painted portions of the
cement white, black and red Under
the black and red the soil temperature
rose much higher than under the white,
giving nearly twice as much growth to
the vines. The productive soils of the
Midi. it is pointed out, are mostly red
dish and, those of the vineyards of the
Charentes are black.
Cooperation in the use of electricity
on the farm is among the industrial i'm
provemcnts that the Germans are
patiently working out. The association
having the work in hand began several
years ago, and first arranged for two
hydraulic plants for cheap power in
Ponerania and one in the Posen pro-
vince. The electric current provided is
used for railway lines handling the farm
products, for driving pumps for irriga
ton, and for the various kinds of ma
chinery about the farm. The first
station built has 80 miles of power line
in space of 10 square miles, supplying
81 farm establishments, and operating
$50 electric motors and 5000 lamps, the
second station, with l30 miles of power
line, furnishes current for 1870 motors
and 5000 lamps. The third station,
when completed, will be on larger
scale, being designed to supply electric
current for the various needs of five
towns and fifteen villages. AT Kittergut
special railway for carrying farm pro-
ducts and supplies has two electric
locomotives of sixty horsepower each.
The original electric pen was one of
EdiSon's early inventions, and consisted
of needle rapidly moved up and down
by tiny electric motor, perforating
paper with line of fine dots, and form
ing stencil for producing duplicates of
writings or drawings. A later electric
pen made the stencil perforations by
rapid Interruptions of an electric current
passing between metallic pencil and
roughened metallic plate beneath the
paper This spark pen has now been
brought out ty a Londoner as means
of direct writing for preventing forgery
the line produced by the flow of sparks
or current breaks-being permanent
and unalterable, as it consists OF closely
spaced perforations that are almost i'm
perceptibe but are made distinct as
writing by the carbonization around
each hole.
A condensed first air equipment for
the aviator is a French novelty. The
case, which can be carried in the vest
pockets, :provides the articles likely to
be needed in flying machine accident for
treating burns, contusions, decorations
ETC., and even contains restorative
The last named is aromatic
which is released for inhala
tion by crushing the glass tube in the
little silken bag enclosing it.
Isolated from birth to maturity in a |
dark cell carefullY kept froms lghts