The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-11-25
ERICAN | INVENTIONS
vJJI-SCIENTIFIC APPARATUS
.By FREDERIC ] HASKIN

hydraulic methods. and must con-
dense the light gathered on twenty
six inch glass into a little thread OF
light which will pass through a PIN
hole. There must be measuring ma
chimes which will register pressure
of a million pounds on the one hand,
or the effort required To crack a nut
or break an eggshell on the other
There must be methods of producing
cold OF such intensity that hydrogen
gas may be transformed into liquid
and then frozen into solid ice. Such
temperature extended over the
earth's surface would transform It's
entire atmosphere into liquid air and
then freeze IL solid as block OF ice.
on the other hand, the scientist
must make heat so intense that
steel boils like a tea-kettle and passes
on into gas like the steam from the
kettle. Not content with that heat
he has forced the notch still higher
10 900 degrees. which is twice as hot
as is necessary TO boil steel. Every
known substance melts under such
heat. Iron would go like ice before
a blowpipe; steel would melt like but
ter In a furnace: even nickel and
platinum, most refractory OF all met
ais. would behave like beeswax In u
bake oven. One of those who has
produced such heat is Il. @. Atchison
of Niagara Falls. IL melts his fur
naces every time he fires them; but
not until II has given him carborun-
dunn. the hardest known substance.
The value OF one piece Of scientific
apparatus often depends upon the use
OF another. The spectroscope renders
It's most remarkable service when
used i'm connection with fine gratings
for the analysis OF rays OF light. These
gratings must have as many az 100
600 lines 10 the inch. OF course, H. Is
impossible for any human hand 10
draw that many perfect lines TO an
inch. and so IL becomes necessary To
have a machine to do such work. The
Rowland dividing engine was one OF
the answers to this necessity, and its
diamond point draws lines on hard
steel at the race of more than 100000
to an inch. These gratings sell NJ as
much as $50 per square inch \
square foot OF these lines would cost
more than $1,000.
Another instance of how two great
render single service Is that OF the
telescope and the camera With the
finest telescope In existence the eye OF
the astronomer can see no more stars
in proportion 10 the total number
known TO him. that the naked eye can
see in proportion to those visible to
the telescope-aided eye. Finally, some
astronomer happened to think of TAX
ing a picture of the heavens through
a telescope. Since then the photo
graphic plate has revealed TO man
kind the presence of countless mil.
lions Of stars which the human eve
has never seen, even through the
greatest of telescopes. II is expected
that In the coming years the photo
graphic plate, made a thousand times
more sensitive to light than the hui
man eye, will tell astronomers OF the
world stories OF the universe more
wonderful than any present power OF
prediction.
IL the meteorological wants to know
about the weather he invents mechan-
isms which tell him. II the ocean
ographer wishes TO explore the caverns
OF the deem, he deyises deep-sea Their
mometers. pressure gauges, and even |
apparatus. IL the nat |
lralist wants picture OF the most |
timid bird or the most dangerous ami
NAL In the world, be produces appar.
atus which will not fail him when the |
moment arrives. The
same Is true in every walk OF scien-
lihc life. The scientist usually is
great discoverer because he Is first a
great inventor.
Tomorrow-Efects OF Invention.