West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1914-12-24
BURNING CLASSES.
Powerful Lenses With a Few OF
Their Fiery Feats.
PENN's MARVELLOUS MACHINE.

The Heat Rays From This Mirror Lens
Were So intense That They Meiteo
oarnsts. Flint. Steel and iron ana
Did Other Wonderful Things
II is written that when the Roman
ships besieged Syracuse Archin,,.d,..
burned them To ashes by means OF mir
! ross and l'rsr.ius X alsu said To- nav,
otsstroyed the navy Of vitalinn when
those galieys Desieged Byzantium. b,
: n1euns of burning glnsSps Aud there
B tile wvnderfui story OF i'toiemy'~
mirror. which. placed an the tower oi
the Fharo~ ~ Alexandra. represented
accurately everything thni fr,li,sptiYd
IN all Egypt. on hotir mnd and water
With which nm eneiny'~ hs,.i you'd IN.
seen iOD iengnes away
Descartes branded the Sfor, of Arrm
medes mirrors as fabulous tsui kir
cher believed II To be- true au, u,u,i..
mnny experiments To prove hiS ,.un
tention He tried the effect of mum
! Der OF plane mirrors Hnd with nv. 81
tnv~s;ime size. placed IN n frame cun
trfved tc throw me rays reflected from
Them To the same spot az a distance of
more tin,n iOO feet aud the degree of
heat obtained led him TO ronrludp thnt
BY increasing the number of mirrors he
could Increase the heat To any desired
degree He made voyage To Svra
ctise TO inform himself exactly OF local
conditions From his observations he
was convinced that the Roman gnlleys
could not have been more than thirty
PAGES. or less than loo feet FROM tn.
place where Archimedes mounted hiS
unique engine of destruction
Buffon CONSTRUCTED n machiDp con
sisting OF u number OF mirrors, ana
In his first experiment. using twenty
-FOUR mirrors he set Dire to pitch and
tow az n distance of seventy feet
Then. with kind of lsolyhrdron con
sisting of itiS pieces of plain looking
glass. each piece six inches suunrc
boardS OF beechwood were set on trr
at distance OF l,ia feet Next there
were employed 3n plain mirrors. each
eight Inches long and six br,md. aud
WITH all the mirrors i'm IISe wood
could be igniteSi at u distance of 22J
feet The last machine of this nature
constructed by Buffon contained i0O
!. mirrors. each six inches square. and
with the rays from this he could melt
lead and Tin at n distance OF I5O feet
The most fiowcrful burning mirror of
modern times was constructed by one
Hpti-an English artisan lie succeeded
iif producing burning lens no less
Dvthan three feet In diameter. and this
cost the man who was financing th,.
experiment inward OF $3.lO0 Its pow
fer was astonishing. and the hnrtIpst
and most solid substances. such ns
iron. flint and steel melted like wax
when exposed 10 It's immense focus
only few seconds being required 4
dthmnntl weighing ten grains was OK
posed To the RAYS fol thirty minutes
and WIS reduced to six grains hy rh.
process During the operation the
stone oIeied and foiiaied like the
leaves of a flower aud emitted Whi:ish
fumes. bui when u had closed ngain
Il still bore II polish and was identical
in shlpe. ibongb foar grains tighter
and prolwriionately smaller Ten rut
garnets melted aud ran together in
n few seconds In fact nothing was
found thai could resist the terrible
bent generated This remnrkaulc una
chine was ufterward taken 10 china
by an officer connected with lhe Rrit
isb embassy and finally lost sight of
With these mn1ern experiments to
consider the tale OF the burmng OF
Mar'elius ships seems more prOhahie
la RrOcuuierc. traveller uf the III
teentb century snys that az Itan,nS IT,
they nude mirrors of steel that mas
niiied objects like burning glnsspS
The telescope was not invented ul
early IN the Sevriitrenfh century
This would seem corrobOrntive evi
dencr cOurernina l'tolrm, Euergetcs
mirror wbirh i.a Bro,Uuierp does moi
mention mnd of wbich he perhaps npv
or heard ---slnfeda. IN his description
kof E9y1f <ay$ihaf the wUuderTnl mir
ro' WIS made OF chinese iron and that
|spon after recommendation prevailed
the christians destroyed u 10y stratn
gem
In q work published ~ Mnrseillps ~
1853 Father Abbat argues ingpnlnusl,
iD favor Vf the probable existence of
the mirror hut contends that it, puw
er was far less than recorded ~ the
legend
IL this mirror existed nv sHys. ~
~ probaiile that II was ihr oniy one oi
lts kind nud that no oth,r means nnd
then he''n found of viewing diStnm
objpstr distinctly II must therefor.
have been runsidereti ~ u Rreilt won
der IN Those tiues Hnd must have ill-d
with nSfonishmrnt ail vino SaW ~ 81
fest~ ",en though itS pnr,t~ nnd nnr
bteb 80 than those IT y small fci
pxssnn II Is naturn to thfrt
thHi tlr'~e effects were cxuggrr,lfrd hr
yoDd all Probability snd even pusslbin
~ as cnmmDplS happens 70 rurp ano
admlribic nHchinrs md invcniinns
Emmefi tamphpli Han ~ Ceveinna
I.twdpf
a Disclosure
f-iffle Willie was iusfrurfed tt nj.