Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1910-01-07

MISCELLANY
Reported weekly for the Ledger

Rat Observation-Disclosures Machines
Efficiency Beef Education Pic
tnres by Wirel ss-Instantaneous Ra-
kilograms Only Cannon Can Sink
Balloons--Improving Sea Power
Peat Fuel Used at the Bog-Heating
by Quartz Tubes.
The novel method of electrocuting
rats now in use at the electric station of
Charlottenburg, near Berlin, has been
patented by M. Yon Brederheini, and
is trap enticing its victims by bait
AS the animal enters, circuit is closed,
turning on the electric current A set
of wires is so arranged as to come into
contact with the creatures body, and
is instaneous, with no appreciable COM
bustion. number of the traps can be
mounted together in box, and they can
be adapted for destroying mice and other
animals. A special contact to ring an
alarm bell or light lamp is desirable,
as this gives warning that the trap
should be set again. The stations
three-phase cnrrent, working at l20
volts, seems to be sufficient to kill rats,
but direct current at 220 volts can be
used if desired
Considering the various aeroplanes,
an engineering authority finds that for
each horse. power the Wright biplane
weight 4l.6 pounds and spreads 216
square feet of surface the Farman BIZ
plane, 24.2 pounds, and 80 esquare feet,
and the Curtiss biplane, 1873 pounds,
and 9 square feet. OF the monoplanes,
the Antoinette weighs 20.8 pounds and
spreads 73 square feet per horse power:
the Bleriot 1872 pounds and six square
feet. Smallest of all, having weight
and surface less than one-fifth as great
as the Wright machine is the Demoselle
of Santos Dumont, a little monopane
that for each horse power weighs only 8
pounds and spreads 38 square feet of
surface.
AS contribution toward the solution
of the food problem, the British Ma
tional Sea Fisheries Protection Associa-
tion is seeking larger use of fish by
handbooks explaining the dietetc i'm
portance and the best and most at
tractve methods of preparation. With
small amount of skill and very simple
appliances it. can be given a little ap-
preciated variety of appetizng forms,
and with an allowance for waste and the
somewhat less nutritive value per
pound, it is a much more economical
food than meat With its greater
economy and special value for children
and young people, it is believed to
deserve greater place in the dietary of
the people.
For telegraphing sketches or photo
graphs without wires, G. ]. DeCuillen-
Garcia. Spanish engineer, proposes to
use two ordinary wireless stations of
any system For the usual transmittar
and receiver he substitutes two equal
cylinders, rotated uniformly by clock
work or otherwise, and each carrying
tracing stylus describing helical path
on the surface of its cylinder. The
sketch placed on the metal cylinder at
the transmitting lend is drawn in in
suiating ink. The current passing be-
tween the stylus and the cylinder is
broken as the stylus crosses the ink,
and this causes a relay to close the
circuit sending out Hertzian waves. At
the receiving end the cylnoer is covered
with paper moistened with potassium
ferrocyanide or other solution. AS the
Hertzian waves arrive, a current passes
through the stylus. giving black line
on the paper, and as the two cylinders
are turning in the same time this line
corresponds to the path of the sending
stylus across theink. When each cylin-
der has been completely traversed by its
Stylus, the lines received have the form
of the original drawing. For sending
photographs, the positive or negative is
produced in relief in bichromated gela-
inc, and the transmitting apparatus is
somewhat modified. AS the stylus ira
verses the relief, which varies in height
for light and shade. sensitive lever
causes four different contacts to be made.
One contact leads the current to the re-
lay through smooth-edge disc, and the
other contacts Iead thrOttoh toothed d;ccc