Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-03-26

The Heat Rays From This Mirror Lens
Were So Intense That They Melted
carnets. Flint. Steel and Iron and
Did Other Wonderful Things.
1t is written that when the Roman
ships besieged syracuse Archimedes
burned them TO ashes by means of mir-
rors. and Iroclus is also said to nave
destroyed the navy of Vitalian when
those galleys besieged ~Byzantium, By
means of burning glasses And there
Is the wonderful story of Ptolemy's
mirror. which. placed on the tower OF
the Pharos at Alexandria. represented
accurately everything that t~ranspired
In all Egypt. on both land and water.
with which an enemy's 1eet could be
seen 100 leagues away.
Desoartes branded the story of Archi-
medes' mirrors as fabulous. But kir-
cher believed it to be true and made
many experiments TO prove his con-
tention He tried the effect of II num-
Der of plane mirrors and with five of
the same size. placed in u frame, Con-
trived to throw the rays reflected from
them to the same spot at a distance OF
more than 100 feet. and the degree or
heat obtained led him to conclude that
by increasing the number of mirrors he
could increase the heat to any desired
degree. He made a voyage to SYRIA
cuse TO inform himself exactly of local
conditions. From his observations he
was convinced that the Roman gallcys
oo,,lH mt houo Hmm fnnfn fhan thirty
PAGES. or less than 100 feet. from the
place where Archimedes mounted his
unique engine of destruction.
Button constructed a machine con-
sisting of a number of mirrors, and
in his first experiment. using twenty
four mirrors. be set fire to pitch n
tow at a distance of seventy feet
Then. with a kind of polyhedron. CON
sisting of lis pieces of plain looking
glass. each piece six inches square.
boards of beechwood were set on fire
at a distance of 165 feet. Next there
were employed 300 plain mirrors, each
eight inches long and six broad. and
with all the mirrors in use wood
could be ignited at a distance of 225
ACCL II iaSt AldNAi4C vi lilo
constructed by Button contained 400
mirrors. each six inches square. aud
with the rays from this he could melt
lead and tin at a distance of $50 feet
The most powerful burning mirror of
modern times was constructed by one
Penn. an English artisan. He succeeded
In producing a burning lens no less
AHo fhr1o frnk l., HsarnoAar nd this
cost the man who was financing the
experiment upward of $500. Its pow
er was astonishing. and the hardest
and most solid substances. such as
iron. flint and steel. melted like a
when exposed to its immense focus.
only a few seconds being required. A
diamond weighing ten grains was ex-
posed to the rays for thirty minutes
and was reduced to six grains by the
process. During the operation the
stone opened and foliated like the
leaves of a flower and emitted whitish
fumes: but when it had closed again
it still bore a polish and was identical
In shape. though four grains lighter
and proportionately smaller. Ten cut
garnets melted and ran together In
a few seconds. In fact, nothing was
found that could resist the terrible
heat generated. This remarkable ma
chine was afterward taken to China
by an officer connected with the Brit
ish embassy and finally lost sight of.
With these modern experiments to
consider. the tale of the burning OF
Marcelus' ships seems more probable
La Brocquiere. a traveller of the if
teenth century. says that at Damascus
they made mirrors of steel that mag
nifed objects like burning glasses"
The telescope was not invented till
early In the seventeenth century.
This would seem corroborative EVIL
dence concerning Ptolemy Euergetes'
mirror. which La Brocquiere does no
mention and of which he perhaps new
er heard. Abulfeda. in his description
of Egypt. says that the wonderful mir
ror was made of Chinese iron and that
soon after Mohammedanism prevailed
the Christians destroyed it by strata
gem.
In a work published at Marseilles in
1863 Father Abbat argues ~ingeniousiy
In favor of the probable existence of
the mirror. but contends that its pow
err was far less than recorded in the
legend.
"If this mirror existed. he says. 1T
is probable that 1t vas the only one OF
its kind and that no other means had
then bear found OF viewing distant
objects distinctly Ii must therefore
have been considered as a great Won
der in those times and must nave filed
with establishment all who saw its eff
fects. Even though its effects had not
been greater than those of a small tel
escope > : 1t is natural to think
that those effects were exaggerated be-
yond all probability and even possible.
ty. as commonly happens to rare and