The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1916-01-20
bI)RNIn, 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 Melted
Gsrnets, Flint. Steel and Iron and
Did Other Wonderful Things
II IL written that when the Roman
ships besieged Syracuse ArchinedeS
burned them to ashes by means Of mir
rors, and i'roclus Is also said to have
destroyed the navy of Vitalian when
those gaileys 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 TRANSFERRED
In all Egypt, on both land and water.
with which an enemy's fleet could he
seen 100 leagues away
DcSclrtes branded the story OF Archi
uiedes mirrors as fabulous. But klr
cher believed it to be true and made
many experiments to prove his con
teution He tried the effect OF ii mum
Der Of plane mirrors and with five OF
the same size, placed In frame. con
trived to throw the rays reflected from
them to the same spot ut II distance VI
more than 100 feet. and the degree OF
heat obtained led him to conclude that
by increasing the number of mirrors he
could Increase the heat to any desired
degree He made & voyage to SYRIA
clSe to inform himself exactly OF local
conditions From his observations he
was convinced that the Roman gafleyS
could not have been more than thirty
p.ces, or less than 100 feet from the
place where Archimedes mounted his
unique engine of destruction
Button constructed machine con
sisting of II number Of mirrors. and
In his first experiment. using twenty
four mirrors. he set fire to pitch and
tow ri u distance of seventy feet
Then with kind of io!yhedron. con
sisting of 1853 pieces of plain looking
glass. each piece six inches square.
boards of beech"oo wer" set OIL tire
a: a distance of 100 feet Next there
were employed $50 plain mirrors, each
eight inches long and six broad. and
with nll the mirrors in use wood
could be ignited mt II distance Of 227
! feet The last machine of this nature
constructed by Button contained 4N
| mirrors. each SIX inches square, and
with the rays from this he could melt
lead and tin at n distance OF 40 feet
The most powerful burning mirror OF
modern times was constructed by one
| Penn an English nrtiSan He succeeded
in producing burning lens no less
than three feet in diameter. and this
cost the man who WAS financing tn,
experiment upward of S,.500 Its pow
er was astonishing. and the hardest
and most solid substances. such n:
iron flint and steel. melted like wa,
when exposed to its immense focus
/ only few seconds being required 4
diamond weighing ten grains was ex
posed to the rays for thirty minute:
and was reduced to SIX grains Ivy TIN
process During the operation thu
stone opened and foliated like th'
leaves Of flower and emitted whitisl
: fumes: but when Ii had closed Hgail
1t still bore a polish and WAS idrntir;'
in shape though four grains ligllte
and proportionately smaller Ten Gu
garnets melted and ran together II
a few seconds In fact. nothing wa
found that could resist the terribi
beat generated This remarkable ma
chine was afterward taken to Chin
BY an officer connected with the Brit
7 ish embassy. and finally lost sight OF
With these modern experiments t
, consider. the tale Of the burning o
MarceIus' ships seems more probable
:. La Rr0cuuiere. Il traveller Of the fiji
r teenth century. says that at Damasrn
: they made mirrors OF steel that mag
r niied objects like burning glasses.
!, The telescope was not invented ii
D early in the seventeenth century
!, This would seem corroborative ev
: dence concerning ptolemy Euergete:
mirror. which La Brocquere does nt
mention and Of which he perhaps ne,
er heard AbulfedH. In his de$rriptin
!. Of Egypt. says that the woneertni mi
rar WIS made OF Chinese iron and til;
= soon after MulHInlnrdaiIiSm prevaile
the Christians destroyed II ny Strat:
/. gem
In II work published Ht Mar>riilaS
I7ts, Father Abbat argues lngeniuuSl
. Ii favor OF the probable exiS1enre
i the mirror but contends that its pov
O er wis far less than recorded in II
It legend
i 'If this mirror existed. hr says. -
}, is probable that it was the only one {
!, its kind and that no other means b;
then been found Of viewing distal
:. objects distinctly 1t must therefor
=, have been considered as Il great wo
r. der In those times an :: must have fillt
# with establishment all who saw itS e
n fects Even though its effects had m
/, been greater than those OF il small te
escope e" 1t Is natural to thir
: that those effects were exaggerated b
J yond all probability and even possibi
: ty. as commonly happens to rare III
. admirable machines and Inventions
Emmett Campbell Hall in Clevelar
Lender.
The Color of the Eye.