The Baltimore County union, the Towson news., 1909-10-16
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.


SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
Helping Out tbs Underworked Wind
mill-Improved Peat-Drying-A Strange
Light-Motor rPlowing-Toy Dew-Ponds.
Better Roots for Plants-Library Disin-
fection-Boring Holes at Long Range.
Correspondence of The Union News)
The Malcomess multiplication is a novel and
ingenious South African invention for increas-
ing the water pumped by a windmill. 1t con-
sists of two toothed pinions carried in bracket
attached to the connecting rod of the windmill
and moving up and down on toothed racks, of
which the center one is attached to the pump
rod, while the side racks are fastened with the
main frame of the apparatus to the standpipe.
By this arrangement the pump rod is made to
travel twice the distance of the windmill con-
Meeting rod. In many cases-often in pumping
from bore holes of six inches or less in dame
ter-the attachment does not diminish the num-
Der of strokes of the windmill, and the doubling
of the length of stroke doubles the pumping
capacity.
The wet carbonized peat of DIR. NJ. Ekenberg,
as brought to the notice of the British Iron and
Steel Institute, seems to be practical solution
of the problem of removing the water from raw
The failure to remove the water by mechanical
pressure proves to be due to the presence Of a
small proportion of a Shiny hydrocelluiose from
decayed plants, and the discovery that this sub
stance can be destroyed by heating is the basis
of the new process. The pulped raw peat is
pumped through tubes heated to 2O0o c., and
carbonized in the presence of superheated water.
The water is afterward pressed out by a COM
urna of lot mr. ThQ in Gal
have one fourteenth to one seventeenth of the
water of raw peat-or about the same as air
dried peat-and can be used direct in gas pro-
ducer or further dried in a Ignite -briquetting
plant. They promise cheap and efficient fuel
for electric generation or other purposes.
-
curious and remarkable purple-blue glow
has been observed by Rev. H. v. Gill in a vacuum
tube in which strip Of palladium foil is heated
by the electric current. 1t seems to be result
Of some reaction between the gases of the tube
and the disintegrated palladium.
-
The gasoline motor plow of the Gas Motor
Works of Deutz near Cologne, is designed to
take the place of the steam plow. and is claimed
to be an important advance In agricultural ma
chinery. Though gasoline is more costly than
coal, the fuel expense for plowing by the new
method proves to be about the same as by the
old. Steam plows are drawn back aud forth by
a strong rope between two heavy locomotives.
but the single gasoline locomotive travels to
and fro across the field pulling one of its two
multiple blade plows at each trip. Being re-
versible, with an equal pull in each direction,
the locomotive avoids the trouble of turning
around, a slight turn of the wheels giving the
shift through the blowing width. From IL to p
acres can be plowed in IL hours and the driver
does this with only occasional assistance from
another man, while the steam plow requires the
constant services of five men. Having only
fifth of the weight of the steam plow, the new
machine needs no special permit for travelling
on ordinary roads and bridges.
-
The So called "dew- ponds ron hilltops in south
ern England still continue to be a perplexing
scientific puzzle. 1t has been suggested that
these artificial basins, with bottoms of straw
covered with layer of pebble-strewn clay,
keep the ground beneath abnormally cool and
cause much dew to be deposited at night, while
preventing it from entirely evaporating by day.
This theory, probably the best yet offered, does
net meet with general approval. Proof of the
interest aroused is found in the fact that a
British firm has begun making miniature dew
essentially of one shallow metal tray inverted
within another, and it is asserted that these.
when placed in garden or other open space,
keep filed in the driest summer. The makers
explain that the dew collected on the cover is
kept from evaporation in the reservoir beneath.
The moisture does not all collect on top, how
ever, and an experiment of six weeks has shown
free condensation on the under side of the cover.
-
Grating alfalfa roots on roots of the straw
berry vine is the method by which an Oregon
rancher claims to have produced three crops of
berries in season. The long alfalfa roots reach
the moisture in the soil even in the driest
summer.
-"
The disinfecton of books is attempted only in
a small way. When libraries find that books
have been exposed to contagion, the suspected
volumes are destroyed or treated with formalde-
hyde, but regular and complete disinfection has
been too expensive and uncertain to be consid
cred in large libraries. A member of the Paris
Municipal Council, NJ Marsoulan, now claims to
have devised simple process for the wholesale
sterilizing at intervals of books that are much
circulated. The first part Of the process is
vacuum cleaning, and the apparatus called the
"beater'-comprises a frame to which many
books are fixed at once, with powerful ventil-
ating fan which forces the leaves open in sue
cession, and pump that carries the released
dust to a tank of carbolic acid solution. The
second apparatus is known as the cell" 1t is a
skeleton cage of metal in several tiers, on which
the opened volumes are held by clips, and
which, when loaded, is pushed on rails into an
oven heated to 1879 Fair. In short time the
germs are practically all destroyed, without
damage to the books.
In cold weather the escape of air from closed,
warm rooms through the porosity of walls and
the leakage around doors and windows is much
greater than is usually supposed. In some ex-
periments by Arthur D. Little of Boston, the
room of 6l5 cubic feet was in the second story of
an ordinary clapboarded frame dwelling and
the interior walls and ceilings were plastered
and papered, the single window made as tight as
possible by putty, and the inner door was fitted
with weather strips, Even in this room, natural
causes made almost two complete changes of
air an hour, as shown by tests of the carbonic
acid. 1t would be interesting to know how the
rate changes with the differences between out
side and inside temperature, and what differ
ence gives an ordinary tight family living
room safe ventilation.
+AF
novel machine lately patented is designed
for boring in ceilings and overhead beams. 1t
is supported on a staff with a foot resting on
the floor, and the height can be adjusted so as
to bring the boring tool against the ceiling or
beam. By hand crank the operator bores the
holes without climbing.
~ n eT0nIA