Amador ledger., 1910-02-11

MISCELLANY
Reported weekly for the Ledger

The Electric Organ Blower-Pulling
Cars by Magnets Passing of the Big
Chimney-The Victories of Peace-A
Feverish Pulse-Sweet Flour-Word
lindness-Thunderst Telegraphy
-Cuba's Mine of Pitch.
The electrically-operated organ-blower
called the Rotasphere, " new English
apparatus, is designed to be attached to
the bellows handle of any ordinary large
organ. The handle is given its usual
reciprocating motion by the rotation of
crank, which is driven through chain
and sprocket gear, by bicycle wheel
having pneumatic tire. This wheel is
turned by the friction of hemisphere
of aluminium, which is mounted on the
spindle of shuntwound constant-speed
electric motor, and the rate is varied by
swinging the motor on a vertical pivot
so that the arc of contact OF the hemis-
phere with the tire is altered. The
speed change is automatic. chain
connects the organ reservoir with swing
ing motor and a spiral spring resists
the swing of the motor, so that as the
reservoir rises and falls the chain is
drawn in or pulled out, thus shifting the
arc of contact by its action on the
motor.
The magnetic wheels OF 0. Heinze, a
Massachusetts electrician, are expected
to give cars power to mount steep grades
without rack. The wheel contains
four magnet coils, outside OF which are
four segments forming part OF the tread
of the wheel, and ring Of IL per cent
manganese steel is clamped between
them and the wheel. BY properly tim
ing the energizing of the magnets, each
succeeding lsecton is attracted to the
rail just in advance of contact with it,
the current being cut off as soon as the
contact passes. On a l3,O0O-pound
truck, equipped with two 35 horse
power 550-yolt railway motors, a draw
bar pull of 2, 500 pounds was developed
with traction due to weight, but with
the wheels magnetized this was in
creased to 8, 500 pounds. or more than
300 per cent.
The factory chimney will soon disap-
pear. Mechanical draugbt is stated by
a Leeds engineer to cost only one-sixth
as much as chimney draught. and new
indicator tends to economy by showing
both the pounds of coal and the volume
of air used in making steam.
The war against mosquitoes strange
as it is, and at first ridiculed, is one
of the notable modern contests. In
1878, surgeon major Ross, then in the
Indian medical service, traced the life
history of the malarial parasite in mos
quitoes, showing how these insects con-
vey malaria from man to man, and in
190O surgeons Reed. Carroll, Agra
monte and Lazear, of the United States
army, proved that one species of mos
quito-the Stegomyia calopus-is the
sole carrier of yellow fever. The dis
coveries have made tropical lowlands
habitable. Mosquito regulations have
driven malaria from the Philippines and
the Panama canal zone; and through
similar measures Havana was reported
in November, 1902, to have had no case
of yellow fever for year; although
there were l244 cases, with 3l0 deaths,
in 1900 In the yellow fever district
about Rio de Janeiro, in South America,
the fight has been a strenuous Zone. In
new book, Sir Rubert W. Bocye, Dean
of the Liverpool school of tropical medi-
cine, states that Brazil had 4, 1852 deaths
from yellow fever alone in 1898; but the
practical application of the new know
ledge reduced the deaths to 948 in 1904.
Early in 1909 an effort was made to
complete the work. Not less than l53,-
67O breeding places of larvae were des-
troyed, $50, SIS miscellaneous water re-
ceptacles were examined, "A, 343 reser-
voirs and GOA, 283 regular water con-
tainers were overhauled as many as
8l4 $50 sinks and water-c closets were
oiled. with petroleum, and 2,545 cart
loads of tin cans, ETC., were removed
from yards. A ton and half of pyre-
thrum and 30 tons OF sulphur were used.
The labor had its reward, for when
summer CAME. through it brought more
than 45, 900 strangers, the Brazilian
capital was free from yellow fever.
The nnlse of q mouse is too ranid TO