Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-11

describe their clay hatcheries. and the
inventions of principal importance dur
ing the progress Of artificial incuba-
ton in Europe and America.
The Egyptians, according ~ Arls-
totle, hatched eggs In vessels buried m
the ground and covered With manure,
but this primitive method was abandoned
Mt least two thousand years ago. From
that time the Egyptians have been hatch
ing chicks in large earthenwarc bake
ovens. In 1908, eighty-hvc million eggs
were so inc,batcd, and eiRhty-five per
! cent Of these eggs became chicks
The Egyptian hatchery Is built partly
underground The walls are of clay and
manure three feet thick, thoroughly bak
ed. The interior consists Of two floors and
six compartments on each floor After
the interior Of the sealed hatchery has
been thoroughly heated tv burning straw
| and manure in the fircplaccs, the eggs are
installed One compartment is filled every
three or four DAYS The hatchery is closed
all the time, except when the attendants
pass in or out The latter are 50 expert
that they can tell by feeling the eggs,
whether the temperature Is correct, also #
the germ in each egg is alive.
MATCHING IN EUROPE.
The earliest European attempt NJ in
cubntion was reported in France, about
1540 As was the case in Egypt, Reamurs
so-called egg hatcher used fermentlng
manure to maintain the proper heat. But
il was not until about 1850, when Iar-
BONNER invented an incubator heated BY
tank Of hot water with a lamp under
one end Of it. that much success was OBJ
tanned. In this machine the eggs were IN
drawer covered with a cloth. over winch
was spread one-half inch Of sawduat. The
eggs were removed once daily, turned,
and aired for 20 minutes. he aawdust
was replaced and sprinklcd with warm
water Many successful patches we're
made in this incubator. but II required TOO
much time to operate IT,
In lSS6 the principle Of circulating
water in pipes between two panes of glass
forming heating chamber, was discover
cd and that same year another inventor
used pan Of water under the eggs tn
provide moisture. These principles proved
advantageous and have been retained by
many incubators Of the present tine
AMERICANS GET BUSY.
During these years, American inventors
were giving much thought - the subject
Of artificial incubation In 1870, Graves Of
Boston brought forward hatcher with
hot water tank above the eggs, a moisture
pan below, and 4 chick nursery. his
machine enjoyed good sale and was sue
cessful Halsted, discovering that the in
terror Of the heating tank was hotter a
the center than at the edges originated
the principle Of circulating the hot water
from the boiler around the outside edges
of the tank first The Graves and Halstcd
machines used regulators, worked BY the
expansion OF alcohol or mercury IN glass
tubes
Designers Of incubators have all gone
to the sitting hen u ascertain what are
the Matching laws Of nature. No one has
ever tired 10 make short cut and improve
on nature without experiencing failure.
One of the best illustrations of copying
nature is found in the old Renwlck incu-
bator. Mr.. RenWick mounted clock On
top of his hatcher. connected hv levers 70
ventilators IN the egg chamber. Just as
the hen brings to her warm breast the cool
| eggs inside her wings numerous times daily
and moves the warmed center eggs where
they can remain for time m a cooler a.
mo>phere. 80 this inventor, by means Of ms
clock. maintained a minimum temperature
of 100 degrees FOR d tew hours. and then 2
maximum Temperature OF about lO4 0r
los This hot and cold variation con-
tinued throughout the hatch. It was 4
good idea, well worked CIT, but IN
fortunately it was too costly and com
plicated
Renwick also used rollers in the bottom
Of the. egg drawer, by which the entire
drawer Of eggs was rolled or turned az one
time We have q roller-tray incubator
today which uses gears turned by j crank
to make use Of this same prlncipie
FIRST POPULAR INCUBATOR.
These early incubatorS were %
elaborate and expensive that few poultry
men could afford them. They were all
heated by hot water, as the hot-aIr
principle of heating had not Yet been dis
covered. In 1877, Christy. an English
man. introduced his Hydro incubator,
People laughed ut the simple little IN
vention, worked by drawing off water
from tank twice a day and replacing
the water with that which was boiling. 1t
seemed impossible to hatch chicks IN this
crude way, but the Hydro did hatch more
chicks than the complicated machines and
there was great demand for II.
But good as this style vas, 1t soon lost
out because there was too much labor con
nected with it The inventors supplied
ttiG BpItltftl NNulktiltl ttNAN'AA1S 2lAtAAA
/ boiler at one end of the tank with pipes
| which circulated the heated water from
/ boiler to tank First, the lamp was kept
going a short time every u hours. but
gradually it VAS learned that the lamp
/ could better be kept in operation through
out the entire period. This principle IS
/ found III many OF our present day incu-
/ bators. During recent years, the Size OF
| the hot water tank or water pipes has been
materially reduced The object has been
to enable the regulator to respond more
| quickly to sudden changes of outside
/ temperatures.
| The majority Of the modern lamp
| heated incubators use Il small brass wafer,
| filled with a mixture Of ether and alcohol.
to control the temperature OF the egg
/ chamber At the Matching temperature
| these liquids volatili2e. The gas bulges out
| the sides OF the water, increasing the pres
| sure as the temperature increases, 50 that
| il is only necessary TO transmit this move
! ment to the heat supply to maintain the
| temperature We desire.
AMERICAN nor AIR HATCHERs.
Another type Of incubator, invented by
| one of the foremost poultry equipment
! manufacturers u the United States, IS
heated by the diffusion OF warmed fresh
/ air.
| The outside air is warmed around the
smoke Hue to the lamp, and introduced
into 4 large heating chamber above the
eggs. As the heated air cools, it dcscends
| -, tho puo chamber fhraluh : plat H.