THE MOVING OF LARGE MASSES.

[Footnote: For previous article see SUPPLEMENT 367.]

The moving of a belfry was effected in 1776 by a mason who knew neither how to read nor write. This structure was, and still is, at Crescentino, upon the left bank of the Po, between Turin and Cazal. The following is the official report on the operation:

"In the year 1776, on the second day of September, the ordinary council was convoked, ... as it is well known that, on the 26th of May last, there was effected the removal of a belfry, 7 trabucs (22.5 m.) or more in height, from the church calledMadonna del Palazzo, with the concurrence and in the presence and amid the applause of numerous people of this city and of strangers who had come in order to be witnesses of the removal of the said tower with its base and entire form, by means of the processes of our fellow-citizen Serra, a master mason who took it upon himself to move the said belfry to a distance of 3 meters, and to annex it to a church in course of construction. In order to effect this removal, the four faces of the brick walls were first cut and opened at the base of the tower and on a level with the earth. Into the apertures from north to south, that is to say in the direction that the edifice was to take, there were introduced two large beams, and with these there ran parallel, external to the belfry and alongside of it, two other rows of beams of sufficient length and extent to form for the structure a bed over which it might be moved and placed in position in the new spot, where foundations of brick and lime had previously been prepared.

FIG. 1.--REMOVAL OF A BELFRY AT CRESCENTINO IN 1776

"Upon this plane there were afterward placed rollers 3½ inches in diameter, and, upon these latter, there was placed a second row of beams of the same length as the others. Into the eastern and western apertures there were inserted, in cross-form, two beams of less length.

"In order to prevent the oscillation of the tower, the latter was supported by eight joists, two of these being placed on each side and joined at their bases, each with one of the four beams, and, at their apices, with the walls of the tower at about two-thirds of its height.

"The plane over which the edifice was to be rolled had an inclination of one inch. The belfry was hauled by three cables that wound around three capstans, each of which was actuated by ten men. The removal was effected in less than an hour.

"It should be remarked that during the operation the son of the mason Serra, standing in the belfry, continued to ring peals, the bells not having been taken out.

"Done at Crescentino, in the year and on the day mentioned."

A note communicated to the Academie des Sciences at its session of May 9, 1831, added that the base of the belfry was 3.3 m. square. This permits us to estimate its weight at about 150 tons.

FIG. 2.--MOVING THE WINGED BULLS FROM NINEVEH TO MOSULIN 1854

Fig. 1 shows the general aspect of the belfry with its stays. This is taken from an engraving published in 1844 by Mr. De Gregori, who, during his childhood, was a witness of the operation, and who endeavored to render the information given by the official account completer without being able to make the process much clearer.

In 1854 Mr. Victor Place moved overland, from Nineveh to Mosul, the winged bulls that at present are in the Assyrian museum of the Louvre, and each of which weighs 32 tons. After carefully packing these in boxes in order to preserve them from shocks, Place laid them upon their side, having turned them over, by means of levers, against a sloping bank of earth That he afterward dug away in such a manner that the operation was performed without accident. He had had constructed an enormous car with axles 0.25 m. in diameter, and solid wheels 0.8 m. in thickness (Fig. 2). Beneath the center of the box containing the bull a trench was dug that ran up to the natural lever of the soil by an incline. This trench had a depth and width such that the car could run under the box while the latter was supported at two of its extremities by the banks. These latter were afterward gradually cut away until the box rested upon the car without shock. Six hundred men then manned the ropes and hauled the car with its load up to the level of the plain. These six hundred men were necessary throughout nearly the entire route over a plain that was but slightly broken and in which the ground presented but little consistency.

The route from Khorsabad to Mosul was about 18 kilometers, taking into account all the detours that had to be made in order to have a somewhat firm roadway. It took four days to transport the first bull this distance, but it required only a day and a half to move the other one, since the ground had acquired more compactness as a consequence of moving the first one over it, and since the leaders had become more expert. The six hundred men at Mr. Place's disposal had, moreover, been employed for three months back in preparing the route, in strengthening it with piles in certain spots and in paving others with flagstones brought from the ruins of Nineveh. In a succeeding article I shall describe how I, a few years ago, moved an ammunition stone house, weighing 50 tons, to a distance of 35 meters without any other machine than a capstan actuated by two men.--A. De Rochas, in La Nature.

[NATURE.]

In the address delivered by Mr. Westmacott, President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers to the English and Belgian engineers assembled at Liege last August, there occurred the following passage: "Engineering brings all other sciences into play; chemical or physical discoveries, such as those of Faraday, would be of little practical use if engineers were not ready with mechanical appliances to carry them out, and make them commercially successful in the way best suited to each."

We have no objection to make to these words, spoken at such a time and before such an assembly. It would of course be easy to take the converse view, and observe that engineering would have made little progress in modern times, but for the splendid resources which the discoveries of pure science have placed at her disposal, and which she has only had to adopt and utilize for her own purposes. But there is no need to quarrel over two opposite modes of stating the same fact. Thereisneed on the other hand that the fact itself should be fairly recognized and accepted, namely, that science may be looked upon as at once the handmaid and the guide of art, art as at once the pupil and the supporter of science. In the present article we propose to give a few illustrations which will bring out and emphasize this truth.

We could scarcely find a better instance than is furnished to our hand in the sentence we have chosen for a text. No man ever worked with a more single hearted devotion to pure science--with a more absolute disregard of money or fame, as compared with knowledge--than Michael Faraday. Yet future ages will perhaps judge that no stronger impulse was ever given to the progress of industrial art, or to the advancement of the material interests of mankind, than the impulse which sprang from his discoveries in electricity and magnetism. Of these discoveries we are only now beginning to reap the benefit. But we have merely to consider the position which the dynamo-electric machine already occupies in the industrial world, and the far higher position, which, as almost all admit, it is destined to occupy in the future, in order to see how much we owe to Faraday's establishment of the connection between magnetism and electricity. That is one side of the question--the debt which art owes to science. But let us look at the other side also. Does science owe nothing to art? Will any one say that we should know as much as we do concerning the theory of the dynamo-electric motor, and the laws of electro-magnetic action generally, if that motor had never risen (or fallen, as you choose to put it) to be something besides the instrument of a laboratory, or the toy of a lecture room? Only a short time since the illustrious French physicist, M. Tresca, was enumerating the various sources of loss in the transmission of power by electricity along a fixed wire, as elucidated in the careful and elaborate experiments inaugurated by M. Marcel Deprez, and subsequently continued by himself. These losses--the electrical no less than the mechanical losses--are being thoroughly and minutely examined in the hope of reducing them to the lowest limit; and this examination cannot fail to throw much light on the exact distribution of the energy imparted to a dynamo machine and the laws by which this distribution is governed. But would this examination ever have taken place--would the costly experiments which render it feasible ever have been performed--if the dynamo machine was still under the undisputed control of pure science, and had not become subject to the sway of the capitalist and the engineer?

Of course the electric telegraph affords an earlier and perhaps as good an illustration of the same fact. The discovery that electricity would pass along a wire and actuate a needle at the other end was at first a purely scientific one; and it was only gradually that its importance, from an industrial point of view, came to be recognized. Here again art owes to pure science the creation of a complete and important branch of engineering, whose works are spread like a net over the whole face of the globe. On the other hand our knowledge of electricity, and especially of the electrochemical processes which go on in the working of batteries, has been enormously improved in consequence of the use of such batteries for the purposes of telegraphy.

Let us turn to another example in a different branch of science. Whichever of our modern discoveries we may consider to be the most startling and important, there can I think be no doubt that the most beautiful is that of the spectroscope. It has enabled us to do that which but a few years before its introduction was taken for the very type of the impossible, viz., to study the chemical composition of the stars; and it is giving us clearer and clearer insight every day into the condition of the great luminary which forms the center of our system. Still, however beautiful and interesting such results may be, it might well be thought that they could never have any practical application, and that the spectroscope at least would remain an instrument of science, but of science alone. This, however, is not the case. Some thirty years since, Mr. Bessemer conceived the idea that the injurious constituents of raw iron--such as silicon, sulphur, etc.--might be got rid of by simple oxidation. The mass of crude metal was heated to a very high temperature; atmospheric air was forced through it at a considerable pressure; and the oxygen uniting with these metalloids carried them off in the form of acid gases. The very act of union generated a vast quantity of heat, which itself assisted the continuance of the process; and the gas therefore passed off in a highly luminous condition. But the important point was to know where to stop; to seize the exact moment when all or practically all hurtful ingredients had been removed, and before the oxygen had turned from them to attack the iron itself. How was this point to be ascertained? It was soon suggested that each of these gases in its incandescent state would show its own peculiar spectrum; and that if the flame rushing out of the throat of the converter were viewed through a spectroscope, the moment when any substance such as sulphur, had disappeared would be known by the disappearance of the corresponding lines in the spectrum. The anticipation, it is needless to say, was verified, and the spectroscope, though now superseded, had for a time its place among the regular appliances necessary for the carrying on of the Bessemer process.

This process itself, with all the momentous consequences, mechanical, commercial, and economical, which it has entailed, might be brought forward as a witness on our side; for it was almost completely worked out in the laboratory before being submitted to actual practice. In this respect it stands in marked contrast to the earlier processes for the making of iron and steel, which were developed, it is difficult to say how, in the forge or furnace itself, and amid the smoke and din of practical work. At the same time the experiments of Bessemer were for the most part carried out with a distinct eye to their future application in practice, and their value for our present purpose is therefore not so great. The same we believe may be said with regard to the great rival of the Bessemer converter, viz., the Siemens open hearth; although this forms in itself a beautiful application of the scientific doctrine that steel stands midway, as regards proportion of carbon, between wrought iron and pig iron, and ought therefore to be obtainable by a judicious mixture of the two. The basic process is the latest development, in this direction, of science as applied to metallurgy. Here, by simply giving a different chemical constitution to the clay lining of the converter, it is found possible to eliminate phosphorus--an element which has successfully withstood the attack of the Bessemer system. Now, to quote the words of a German eulogizer of the new method, phosphorus has been turned from an enemy into a friend; and the richer a given ore is in that substance, the more readily and cheaply does it seem likely to be converted into steel.

These latter examples have been taken from the art of metallurgy; and it may of course be said that, considering the intimate relations between that art and the science of chemistry, there can be no wonder if the former is largely dependent for its progress on the latter. I will therefore turn to what may appear the most concrete, practical, and unscientific of all arts--that, namely, of the mechanical engineer; and we shall find that even here examples will not fail us of the boons which pure science has conferred upon the art of construction, nor even perhaps of the reciprocal advantages which she has derived from the connection.

The address of Mr. Westmacott, from which I have already taken my text, supplies in itself more than one instance of the kind we seek--instances emphasized by papers read at the meeting where the address was spoken. Let us take, first, the manufacture of sugar from beetroot. This manufacture was forced into prominence in the early years of this century, when the Continental blockade maintained by England against Napoleon prevented all importation of sugar from America; and it has now attained very large dimensions, as all frequenters of the Continent must be aware. The process, as exhaustively described by a Belgian engineer, M. Melin, offers several instances of the application of chemical and physical science to practical purposes. Thus, the first operation in making sugar from beetroot is to separate the juice from the flesh, the former being as much as 95 per cent. of the whole weight. Formerly this was accomplished by rasping the roots into a pulp, and then pressing the pulp in powerful hydraulic presses; in other words, by purely mechanical means. This process is now to a large extent superseded by what is called the diffusion process, depending on the well known physical phenomena ofendosmosisandexosmosis. The beetroot is cut up into small slices called "cossettes," and these are placed in vessels filled with water. The result is that a current of endosmosis takes place from the water toward the juice in the cells, and a current of exosmosis from the juice toward the water. These currents go on cell by cell, and continue until a state of equilibrium is attained. The richer the water and the poorer the juice, the sooner does this equilibrium take place. Consequently the vessels are arranged in a series, forming what is called a diffusion battery; the pure water is admitted to the first vessel, in which the slices have already been nearly exhausted, and subtracts from them what juice there is left. It then passes as a thin juice to the next vessel, in which the slices are richer, and the process begins again. In the last vessel the water which has already done its work in all the previous vessels comes into contact with fresh slices, and begins the operation upon them. The same process has been applied at the other end of the manufacture of sugar. After the juice has been purified and all the crystallizable sugar has been separated from it by boiling, there is left a mass of molasses, containing so much of the salts of potassium and sodium that no further crystallization of the yet remaining sugar is possible. The object of the process called osmosis is to carry off these salts. The apparatus used, or osmogene, consists of a series of trays filled alternately with molasses and water, the bottoms being formed of parchment paper. A current passes through this paper in each direction, part of the water entering the molasses, and part of the salts, together with a certain quantity of sugar, entering the water. The result, of thus freeing the molasses from the salts is that a large part of the remaining sugar can now be extracted by crystallization.

Another instance in point comes from a paper dealing with the question of the construction of long tunnels. In England this has been chiefly discussed of late in connection with the Channel Tunnel, where, however, the conditions are comparatively simple. It is of still greater importance abroad. Two tunnels have already been pierced through the Alps; a third is nearly completed; and a fourth, the Simplon Tunnel, which will be the longest of any, is at this moment the subject of a most active study on the part of French engineers. In America, especially in connection with the deep mines of the Western States, the problem is also of the highest importance. But the driving of such tunnels would be financially if not physically impossible, but for the resources which science has placed in our hands, first, by the preparation of new explosives, and, secondly, by methods of dealing with the very high temperatures which have to be encountered. As regards the first, the history of explosives is scarcely anything else than a record of the application of chemical principles to practical purposes--a record which in great part has yet to be written, and on which we cannot here dwell. It is certain, however, that but for the invention of nitroglycerine, a purely chemical compound, and its development in various forms, more or less safe and convenient, these long tunnels would never have been constructed. As regards the second point, the question of temperature is really the most formidable with which the tunnel engineer has to contend. In the St. Gothard Tunnel, just before the meeting of the two headings in February, 1880, the temperature rose as high as 93° Fahr. This, combined with the foulness of the air, produced an immense diminution in the work done per person and per horse employed, while several men were actually killed by the dynamite gases, and others suffered from a disease which was traced to a hitherto unknown species of internal worm. If the Simplon Tunnel should be constructed, yet higher temperatures may probably have to be dealt with. Although science can hardly be said to have completely mastered these difficulties, much has been done in that direction. A great deal of mechanical work has of course to be carried on at the face or far end of such a heading, and there are various means by which it might be done. But by far the most satisfactory solution, in most cases at least, is obtained by taking advantage of the properties of compressed air. Air can be compressed at the end of the tunnel either by steam-engines, or, still better, by turbines where water power is available. This compressed air may easily be led in pipes to the face of the heading, and used there to drive the small engines which work the rock-drilling machines, etc. The efficiency of such machines is doubtless low, chiefly owing to the physical fact that the air is heated by compression, and that much of this heat is lost while it traverses the long line of pipes leading to the scene of action. But here we have a great advantage from the point of view of ventilation; for as the air gained heat while being compressed, so it loses heat while expanding; and the result is that a current of cold and fresh air is continually issuing from the machines at the face of the heading, just where it is most wanted. In consequence, in the St. Gothard, as just alluded to, the hottest parts were always some little distance behind the face of the heading. Although in this case as much as 120,000 cubic meters of air (taken at atmospheric pressure) were daily poured into the heading, yet the ventilation was very insufficient. Moreover, the high pressure which is used for working the machines is not the best adapted for ventilation; and in the Arlberg tunnel separate ventilating pipes are employed, containing air compressed to about one atmosphere, which is delivered in much larger quantities although not at so low a temperature. In connection with this question of ventilation a long series of observations have been taken at the St. Gothard, both during and since the construction; these have revealed the important physical fact (itself of high practical importance) that the barometer never stands at the same level on the two sides of a great mountain chain; and so have made valuable contributions to the science of meteorology.

Another most important use of the same scientific fact, namely, the properties of compressed air, is found in the sinking of foundations below water. When the piers of a bridge, or other structure, had to be placed in a deep stream, the old method was to drive a double row of piles round the place and fill them in with clay, forming what is called a cofferdam. The water was pumped out from the interior, and the foundation laid in the open. This is always a very expensive process, and in rapid streams is scarcely practicable. In recent times large bottomless cases, called caissons, have been used, with tubes attached to the roof, by which air can be forced into or out of the interior. These caissons are brought to the site of the proposed pier, and are there sunk. Where the bottom is loose sandy earth, the vacuum process, as it is termed, is often employed; that is, the air is pumped out from the interior, and the superincumbent pressure then causes the caisson to sink and the earth to rise within it. But it is more usual to employ what is called the plenum process, in which air under high pressure is pumped into the caisson and expels the water, as in a diving bell. Workmen then descend, entering through an air lock, and excavate the ground at the bottom of the caisson, which sinks gradually as the excavation continues. Under this system a length of some two miles of quay wall is being constructed at Antwerp, far out in the channel of the river Scheldt. Here the caissons are laid end to end with each other, along the whole curve of the wall, and the masonry is built on the top of them within a floating cofferdam of very ingenious construction.

There are few mechanical principles more widely known than that of so-called centrifugal force; an action which, though still a puzzle to students, has long been thoroughly understood. It is, however, comparatively recently that it has been applied in practice. One of the earliest examples was perhaps the ordinary governor, due to the genius of Watt. Every boy knows that if he takes a weight hanging from a string and twirls it round, the weight will rise higher and revolve in a larger circle as he increases the speed. Watt saw that if he attached such an apparatus to his steam engine, the balls or weights would tend to rise higher whenever the engine begun to run faster, that this action might be made partly to draw over the valve which admitted the steam, and that in this way the supply of steam would be lessened, and the speed would fall. Few ideas in science have received so wide and so successful an application as this. But of late years another property of centrifugal force has been brought into play. The effect of this so-called force is that any body revolving in a circle has a continual tendency to fly off at a tangent; the amount of this tendency depending jointly on the mass of the body and on the velocity of the rotation. It is the former of these conditions which is now taken advantage of. For if we have a number of particles all revolving with the same velocity, but of different specific gravities, and if we allow them to follow their tendency of moving off at a tangent, it is evident that the heaviest particles, having the greatest mass, will move with the greatest energy. The result is that, if we take a mass of such particles and confine them within a circular casing, we shall find that, having rotated this casing with a high velocity and for a sufficient time, the heaviest particles will have settled at the outside and the lightest at the inside, while between the two there will be a gradation from the one to the other. Here, then, we have the means of separating two substances, solid or liquid, which are intimately mixed up together, but which are of different specific gravities. This physical principle has been taken advantage of in a somewhat homely but very important process, viz., the separation of cream from milk. In this arrangement the milk is charged into a vessel something of the shape and size of a Gloucester cheese, which stands on a vertical spindle and is made to rotate with a velocity as high as 7,000 revolutions per minute. At this enormous speed the milk, which is the heavier, flies to the outside, while the cream remains behind and stands up as a thin layer on the inside of the rotating cylinder of fluid. So completely does this immense speed produce in the liquid the characteristics of a solid, that if the rotating shell of cream be touched by a knife it emits a harsh, grating sound, and gives the sensation experienced in attempting to cut a stone. The separation is almost immediately complete, but the difficult point was to draw off the two liquids separately and continuously without stopping the machine. This has been simply accomplished by taking advantage of another principle of hydromechanics. A small pipe opening just inside the shell of the cylinder is brought back to near the center, where it rises through a sort of neck and opens into an exterior casing. The pressure due to the velocity causes the skim milk to rise in this pipe and flow continuously out at the inner end. The cream is at the same time drawn off by a similar orifice made in the same neck and leading into a different chamber.

Centrifugal action is not the only way in which particles of different specific gravity can he separated from each other by motion only. If a rapid "jigging" or up-and-down motion be given to a mixture of such particles, the tendency of the lighter to fly further under the action of the impulse causes them gradually to rise to the upper surface; this surface being free in the present case, and the result being therefore the reverse of what happens in the rotating chamber. If such a mixture be examined after this up-and down motion has gone on for a considerable period, it will be found that the particles are arranged pretty accurately in layers, the lightest being at the top and the heaviest at the bottom. This principle has long been taken advantage of in such cases as the separation of lead ores from the matrix in which they are embedded. The rock in these cases is crushed into small fragments, and placed on a frame having a rapid up-and-down-motion, when the heavy lead ore gradually collects at the bottom and the lighter stone on the top. To separate the two the machine must be stopped and cleared by hand. In the case of coal-washing, where the object is to separate fine coal from the particles of stone mixed with it, this process would be very costly, and indeed impossible, because a current of water is sweeping through the whole mass. In the case of the Coppee coal-washer, the desired end is achieved in a different and very simple manner. The well known mineral felspar has a specific gravity intermediate between that of the coal and the shale, or stone, with which it is found intermixed. If, then, a quantity of felspar in small fragments is thrown into the mixture, and the whole then submitted to the jigging process, the result will be that the stone will collect on the top, and the coal at the bottom, with a layer of felspar separating the two. A current of water sweeps through the whole, and is drawn off partly at the top, carrying with it the stone, and partly at the bottom, carrying with it the fine coal.

The above are instances where science has come to the aid of engineering. Here is one in which the obligation is reversed. The rapid stopping of railroad trains, when necessary, by means of brakes, is a problem which has long occupied the attention of many engineers; and the mechanical solutions offered have been correspondingly numerous. Some of these depend on the action of steam, some of a vacuum, some of compressed air, some of pressure-water; others again ingeniously utilize the momentum of the wheels themselves. But for a long time no effort was made by any of these inventors thoroughly to master the theoretical conditions of the problem before them. At last, one of the most ingenious and successful among them, Mr. George Westinghouse, resolved to make experiments on the subject, and was fortunate enough to associate with himself Capt. Douglas Galton. Their experiments, carried on with rare energy and perseverance, and at great expense, not only brought into the clearest light the physical conditions of the question (conditions which were shown to be in strict accordance with theory), but also disclosed the interesting scientific fact that the friction between solid bodies at high velocities is not constant, as the experiments of Morin had been supposed to imply, but diminishes rapidly as the speed increases--a fact which other observations serve to confirm.

The old scientific principle known as the hydrostatic paradox, according to which a pressure applied at any point of an inclosed mass of liquid is transmitted unaltered to every other point, has been singularly fruitful in practical applications. Mr. Bramah was perhaps the first to recognize its value and importance. He applied it to the well known Bramah press, and in various other directions, some of which were less successful. One of these was a hydraulic lift, which Mr. Bramah proposed to construct by means of several cylinders sliding within each other after the manner of the tubes of a telescope. His specification of this invention sufficiently expresses his opinion of its value, for it concludes as follows: "This patent does not only differ in its nature and in its boundless extent of claims to novelty, but also in its claims to merit and superior utility compared with any other patent ever brought before or sanctioned by the legislative authority of any nation." The telescope lift has not come into practical use; but lifts worked on the hydraulic principle are becoming more and more common every day. The same principle has been applied by the genius of Sir William Armstrong and others to the working of cranes and other machines for the lifting of weights, etc.; and under the form of the accumulator, with its distributing pipes and hydraulic engines, it provides a store of power always ready for application at any required point in a large system, yet costing practically nothing when not actually at work. This system of high pressure mains worked from a central accumulator has been for some years in existence at Hull, as a means of supplying power commercially for all the purposes needed in a large town, and it is at this moment being carried out on a wider scale in the East End of London.

Taking advantage of this system, and combining with it another scientific principle of wide applicability, Mr. J.H. Greathead has brought out an instrument called the "injector hydrant," which seems likely to play an important part in the extinguishing of fires. This second principle is that of the lateral induction of fluids, and may be thus expressed in the words of the late William Froude: "Any surface which in passing through a fluid experiences resistance must in so doing impress on the particles which resist it a force in the line of motion equal to the resistance." If then these particles are themselves part of a fluid, it will result that they will follow the direction of the moving fluid and be partly carried along with it. As applied in the injector hydrant, a small quantity of water derived from the high pressure mains is made to pass from one pipe into another, coming in contact at the same time with a reservoir of water at ordinary pressure. The result is that the water from the reservoir is drawn into the second pipe through a trumpet-shaped nozzle, and may be made to issue as a stream to a considerable height. Thus the small quantity of pressure-water, which, if used by itself, would perhaps rise to a height of 500 feet, is made to carry with it a much larger quantity to a much smaller height, say that of an ordinary house.

The above are only a few of the many instances which might be given to prove the general truth of the fact with which we started, namely, the close and reciprocal connection between physical science and mechanical engineering, taking both in their widest sense. It may possibly be worth while to return again to the subject, as other illustrations arise. Two such have appeared even at the moment of writing, and though their practical success is not yet assured, it may be worth while to cite them. The first is an application of the old principle of the siphon to the purifying of sewage. Into a tank containing the sewage dips a siphon pipe some thirty feet high, of which the shorter leg is many times larger than the longer. When this is started, the water rises slowly and steadily in the shorter column, and before it reaches the top has left behind it all or almost all of the solid particles which it previously held in suspension. These fall slowly back through the column and collect at the bottom of the tank, to be cleared out when needful. The effluent water is not of course chemically pure, but sufficiently so to be turned into any ordinary stream. The second invention rests on a curious fact in chemistry, namely, that caustic soda or potash will absorb steam, forming a compound which has a much higher temperature than the steam absorbed. If, therefore, exhaust-steam be discharged into the bottom of a vessel containing caustic alkali, not only will it become condensed, but this condensation will raise the temperature of the mass so high that it may be employed in the generation of fresh steam. It is needless to observe how important will be the bearing of this invention upon the working of steam engines for many purposes, if only it can be established as a practical success. And if it is so established there can be no doubt that the experience thus acquired will reveal new and valuable facts with regard to the conditions of chemical combination and absorption, in the elements thus brought together.

WALTER R. BROWNE.

One of the most remarkable and interesting mechanical arrangements at the Imperial Navy Yard at Kiel, Germany, is the iron clad plate bending machine, by means of which the heavy iron clad plates are bent for the use of arming iron clad vessels.

Through the mechanism of this remarkable machine it is possible to bend the strongest and heaviest iron clad plates--in cold condition--so that they can be fitted close on to the ship's hull, as it was done with the man-of-war ships Saxonia, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, each of which having an iron strength of about 250 meters.

IMPROVED HYDRAULIC PLATE PRESS.

One may make himself a proximate idea of the enormous power of pressure of such a machine, if he can imagine what a strength is needed to bend an iron plate of 250 meters thickness, in cold condition; being also 1.5 meters in width, and 5.00 meters in length, and weighing about 14,555 kilogrammes, or 14,555 tons.

The bending of the plates is done as follows: As it is shown in the illustration, connected herewith, there are standing, well secured into the foundation, four perpendicular pillars, made of heavy iron, all of which are holding a heavy iron block, which by means of female nut screws is lifted and lowered in a perpendicular direction. Beneath the iron block, between the pillars, is lying a large hollow cylinder in which the press piston moves up and down in a perpendicular direction. These movements are caused by a small machine, or, better, press pump--not noticeable in the illustration--which presses water from a reservoir through a narrow pipe into the large hollow cylinder, preventing at the same time the escape or return of the water so forced in. The hollow cylinder up to the press piston is now filled with water, so remains no other way for the piston as to move on to the top. The iron clad plate ready to undergo the bending process is lying between press piston and iron block; under the latter preparations are already made for the purpose of giving the iron clad plate such a form as it will receive through the bending process. After this the press piston will, with the greatest force, steadily but slowly move upward, until the iron clad plate has received its intended bending.

Lately the hydraulic presses are often used as winding machines, that is, they are used as an arrangement to lift heavy loads up on elevated points.

The essential contrivance of a hydraulic press is as follows:

One thinks of a powerful piston, which, through, human, steam, or water power, is set in a moving up-and-down motion. Through the ascent of the piston, is by means of a drawing pipe, ending into a sieve, the water absorbed out of a reservoir, and by the lowering of the piston water is driven out of a cylinder by means of a narrow pipe (communication pipe) into a second cylinder, which raises a larger piston, the so-called press piston. (See illustration.)

One on top opening drawing valve, on the top end of the drawing pipe prevents the return of the water by the going down of the piston; and a barring valve, which is lifted by the lowering of the piston, obstructs the return of the water by the ascent of the piston, while the drawing valve is lifted by means of water absorbed by the small drawing pipe.--Illustrirte Zeitung.

Uber Land und Meer, which is one of the finest illustrated newspapers published in Germany, gives the following: We recently gave our readers an insight into the establishment ofUber Land und Meer, and to-day we show them the machine which each week starts our paper on its journey around the world--a machine which embodies the latest and greatest progress in the art of printing. The following illustration represents one of the three fast presses which the house of Hallberger employs in the printing of its illustrated journals.

With the invention of the cylinder press by Frederick König was verified the saying that the art of printing had lent wings to words. Everywhere the primitive hand-press had to make way for the steam printing machine; but even this machine, since its advent in London in 1810, has itself undergone so many changes that little else remains of König's invention than the principle of the cylinder. The demands of recent times for still more rapid machines have resulted in the production of presses printing from a continuous roll or "web" of paper, from cylinders revolving in one given direction. The first of this class of presses (the "Bullock" press) was built in America. Then England followed, and there the first newspaper to make use of one was theTimes. The Augsburg Machine Works were the first to supply Germany with them, and it was this establishment which first undertook to apply the principle of the web perfecting press (first intended for newspaper work only, where speed rather than fine work is the object sought) to book printing, in which far greater accuracy and excellence is required, and the result has been the construction of a rotary press for the highest grade of illustrated periodical publications, which meets all the requirements with the most complete success.

IMPROVED FAST PRINTING PRESS FOR ENGRAVERS

The building of rotary presses for printing illustrated papers was attempted as early as 1874 or 1875 in London, by theTimes, but apparently without success, as no public mention has ever been made of any favorable result. The proprietor of theLondon Illustrated Newsobtained better results. In 1877 an illustrated penny paper, an outgrowth of his great journal, was printed upon a rotary press which was, according to his statement, constructed by a machinist named Middleton. The first one, however, did not at all meet the higher demands of illustrated periodical printing, and, while another machine constructed on the same principle was shown in the Paris Exposition of 1878, its work was neither in quality nor quantity adequate to the needs of a largely circulated illustrated paper. A second machine, also on exhibition at the same time, designed and built by the celebrated French machinist, P. Alauzet, could not be said to have attained the object. Its construction was undertaken long after the opening of the Exposition, and too late to solve the weighty question. But the half-successful attempt gave promise that the time was at hand when a press could be built which could print our illustrated periodicals more rapidly, and a conference with the proprietors of the Augsburg Machine Works resulted in the production by them of the three presses from whichUber Land und MeerandDie Illustrirte Weltare to-day issued. As a whole and in detail, as well as in its productions, the press is the marvel of mechanic and layman.

As seen in the illustration, the web of paper leaves the roll at its right, rising to a point at the top where it passes between two hollow cylinders covered with felt and filled with steam, which serve to dampen the paper as may be necessary, the small hand-wheel seen above these cylinders regulating the supply of steam. After leaving these cylinders the paper descends sloping toward the right, and passes through two highly polished cylinders for the purpose of recalendering. After this it passes under the lowest of the three large cylinders of the press, winds itself in the shape of an S toward the outside and over the middle cylinder, and leaves the press in an almost horizontal line, after having been printed on both sides, and is then cut into sheets. The printing is done while the paper is passing around the two white cylinders. The cylinder carrying the first form is placed inside and toward the center of the press, only a part of its cog-wheel and its journal being shown in the engraving. The second form is placed upon the uppermost cylinder, and is the outside or cut form. Each one of the form cylinders requires a separate inking apparatus. That of the upper one is placed to the right at the top, and the bottom one is also at the right, but inside. Each one has a fountain the whole breadth of the press, in which the ink is kept, and connected with which, by appropriate mechanism, is a system of rollers for the thorough distribution of the ink and depositing it upon the forms.

The rapidity with which the impressions follow each other does not allow any time for the printing on the first side to dry, and as a consequence the freshly printed sheet coming in contact with the "packing" of the second cylinder would so soil it as to render clean printing absolutely impossible. To avoid this, a second roll of paper is introduced into the machine, and is drawn around the middle cylinder beneath the paper which has already been printed upon one side, and receives upon its surface all "offset," thus protecting and keeping perfectly clean both the printed paper and the impression cylinder. This "offset" web, as it leaves the press, is wound upon a second roller, which when full is exchanged for the new empty roller--a very simple operation.

The machines print from 3,500 to 4,000 sheets per hourupon both sides, a rate of production from twenty-eight to thirty-two times as great as was possible upon the old-fashioned hand-press, which was capable of printing not more than 250 copies uponone sidein the same time.

The device above described for preventing "offset" is, we believe, the invention of Mr. H.J. Hewitt, a well known New York printer, 27 Rose Street.

Five new cannons, the largest yet manufactured in France, have been successfully cast in the foundry of Ruelle near Angouleme. They are made of steel, and are breech loading. The weight of each is 97 tons, without the carriage. The projectile weighs 1,716 pounds, and the charge or powder is 616 pounds. To remove them a special wagon with sixteen wheels has had to be constructed, and the bridges upon the road from Ruelle to Angouleme not being solid enough to bear the weight of so heavy a load, a special roadway will be constructed for the transport of these weapons, which are destined for coast defences and ironclads.

The illustration represents a house recently reconstructed. The dining-room wing was alone left in the demolition of the old premises, and this part has been decorated with tile facings, and otherwise altered to be in accordance with the new portion. The house is pleasantly situated about a mile from Stoke Church of historic fame, in about 15 acres of garden, shrubbery, and meadow land. The hall and staircase have been treated in wainscot oak, and the whole of the work has been satisfactorily carried out by Mr. G. Almond, builder, of Burnham, under the superintendence of Messrs. Thurlow & Cross, architects.--The Architect.

WOODLANDS, STOKE POGES, BUCKS

The following article appeared in a recent number of theLondon Times:

The subject of the cultivation and commercial utilization of the China grass plant, or rhea, has for many years occupied attention, the question being one of national importance, particularly as affecting India. Rhea which is also known under the name of ramie, is a textile plant which was indigenous to China and India. It is perennial, easy of cultivation, and produces a remarkably strong fiber. The problem of its cultivation has long being solved, for within certain limits rhea can be grown in any climate. India and the British colonies offer unusual facilities, and present vast and appropriate fields for that enterprise, while it can be, and is, grown in most European countries. All this has long been demonstrated; not so, however, the commercial utilization of the fiber, which up to the present time would appear to be a problem only partially solved, although many earnest workers have been engaged in the attempted solution.

There have been difficulties in the way of decorticating the stems of this plant, and the Indian Government, in 1869, offered a reward of £5,000 for the best machine for separating the fiber from the stems and bark of rhea in its green or freshly cut state. The Indian Government was led to this step by the strong conviction, based upon ample evidence, that the only obstacle to the development of an extensive trade in this product was the want of suitable means for decorticating the plant. This was the third time within the present century that rhea had become the subject of official action on the part of the Government, the first effort for utilizing the plant dating from 1803, when Dr. Roxburg started the question, and the second from 1840, when attention was again directed to it by Colonel Jenkins.

The offer of £5,000, in 1869, led to only one machine being submitted for trial, although several competitors had entered their names. This machine was that of Mr. Greig, of Edinburgh, but after careful trial by General (then Lieutenant Colonel) Hyde it was found that it did not fulfill the conditions laid down by the Government, and therefore the full prize of £5,000 was not awarded. In consideration, however, of the inventor having made abona fideand meritorious attempt to solve the question, he was awarded a donation of £1,500. Other unsuccessful attempts were subsequently made, and eventually the offer of £5,000 was withdrawn by the Government.

But although the prize was withdrawn, invention did not cease, and the Government, in 1881, reoffered the prize of £5,500. Another competition took place, at which several machines were tried, but the trials, as before, proved barren of any practical results, and up to the present time no machine has been found capable of dealing successfully with this plant in the green state. The question of the preparation of the fiber, however, continued to be pursued in many directions. Nor is this to be wondered at when it is remembered that the strength of some rhea fiber from Assam experimented with in 1852 by Dr. Forbes Royle, as compared with St. Petersburg hemp, was in the ratio of 280 to 160, while the wild rhea from Assam was as high as 343. But, above and beyond this, rhea has the widest range of possible applications of any fiber, as shown by an exhaustive report on the preparation and use of rhea fiber by Dr. Forbes Watson, published in 1875, at which date Dr. Watson was the reporter on the products of India to the Secretary of State, at the India Office. Last year, however, witnessed the solution of the question of decortication in the green state in a satisfactory manner by M.A. Favier's process, as reported by us at the time.

This process consists in subjecting the plant to the action of steam for a period varying from 10 to 25 minutes, according to the length of time the plant had been cut. After steaming, the fiber and its adjuncts were easily stripped from the wood. The importance and value of this invention will be realized, when it is remembered that the plant is cultivated at long distances from the localities where the fiber is prepared for the market. The consequence is, that for every hundredweight of fiber about a ton of woody material has to be transported. Nor is this the only evil, for the gummy matter in which the fiber is embedded becomes dried up during transport, and the separation of the fiber is thus rendered difficult, and even impossible, inasmuch as some of the fiber is left adhering to the wood.

M. Favier's process greatly simplifies the commercial production of the fiber up to a certain point, for, at a very small cost, it gives the manufacturer the whole of the fiber in the plant treated. But it still stops short of what is required, in that it delivers the fiber in ribbons, with its cementitious matter and outer skin attached. To remove this, various methods have been tried, but, as far as we are aware, without general success--that is to say, the fiber cannot always be obtained of such a uniformly good quality as to constitute a commercially reliable article. Such was the position of the question when, about a year ago, the whole case was submitted to the distinguished French chemist, Professor Fremy, member of the Institute of France, who is well-known for his researches into the nature of fibrous plants, and the question of their preparation for the market. Professor Fremy thoroughly investigated the matter from a chemical point of view, and at length brought it to a successful and, apparently, a practical issue.

One great bar to previous success would appear to have been the absence of exact knowledge as to the nature of the constituents of that portion of the plant which contains the fiber, or, in other words, the casing or bark surrounding the woody stem of the rhea. As determined by Professor Fremy, this consists of the cutose, or outer skin, within which is the vasculose containing the fiber and other conjoined matter, known as cellulose, between which and the woody stem is the pectose, or gum, which causes the skin or bark, as a whole, fiber included, to adhere to the wood. The Professor, therefore, proceeded to carefully investigate the nature of these various substances, and in the result he found that the vasculose and pectose were soluble in an alkali under certain conditions, and that the cellulose was insoluble. He therefore dissolves out the cutose, vasculose, and pectose by a very simple process, obtaining the fiber clean, and free from all extraneous adherent matter, ready for the spinner.

In order, however, to insure as a result a perfectly uniform and marketable article, the Professor uses various chemicals at the several stages of the process. These, however, are not administered haphazard, or by rule of thumb, as has been the case in some processes bearing in the same direction, and which have consequently failed, in the sense that they have not yet taken their places as commercial successes. The Professor, therefore, carefully examines the article which he has to treat, and, according to its nature and the character of its components, he determines the proportions of the various chemicals which he introduces at the several stages. All chance of failure thus appears to be eliminated, and the production of a fiber of uniform and reliable quality removed from the region of doubt into that of certainty. The two processes of M. Favier and M. Fremy have, therefore, been combined, and machinery has been put up in France on a scale sufficiently large to fairly approximate to practical working, and to demonstrate the practicability of the combined inventions.

The experimental works are situated in the Route d'Orleans, Grand Montrouge, just outside Paris, and a few days ago a series of demonstrations were given there by Messrs. G.W.H. Brogden and Co., of Gresham-house, London. The trials were carried out by M. Albert Alroy, under the supervision of M. Urbain, who is Professor Fremy's chief assistant and copatentee, and were attended by Dr. Forbes Watson, Mr. M. Collyer, Mr. C.J. Taylor, late member of the General Assembly, New Zealand, M. Barbe, M. Favier, Mr. G. Brogden, Mr. Caspar, and a number of other gentlemen representing those interested in the question at issue. The process, as carried out, consists in first treating the rhea according to M. Favier's invention. The apparatus employed for this purpose is very simple and inexpensive, consisting merely of a stout deal trough or box, about 8 ft. long, 2 ft. wide, and 1 ft. 8 in. deep. The box has a hinged lid and a false open bottom, under which steam is admitted by a perforated pipe, there being an outlet for the condensed water at one end of the box. Into this box the bundles of rhea were placed, the lid closed, steam turned on, and in about twenty minutes it was invariably found that the bark had been sufficiently softened to allow of its being readily and rapidly stripped off by hand, together with the whole of the fiber, in what may be called ribbons. Thus the process of decortication is effectively accomplished in a few minutes, instead of requiring, as it sometimes does in the retting process, days, and even weeks, and being at the best attended with uncertainty as to results, as is also the case when decortication is effected by machinery.

Moreover, the retting process, which is simply steeping the cut plants in water, is a delicate operation, requiring constant watching, to say nothing of its serious inconvenience from a sanitary point of view, on account of the pestilential emanations from the retteries. Decortication by steam having been effected, the work of M. Favier ceases, and the process is carried forward by M. Fremy. The ribbons having been produced, the fiber in them has to be freed from the mucilaginous secretions. To this end, after examination in the laboratory, they are laid on metal trays, which are placed one above the other in a vertical perforated metal cylinder. When charged, this cylinder is placed within a strong iron cylinder, containing a known quantity of water, to which an alkali is added in certain proportions. Within the cylinder is a steam coil for heating the water, and, steam having been turned on, the temperature is raised to a certain point, when the cylinder is closed and made steam-tight. The process of boiling is continued under pressure until the temperature--and consequently the steam pressure--within the cylinder has attained a high degree.

On the completion of this part of the process, which occupies about four hours, and upon which the success of the whole mainly depends, the cementitious matter surrounding the fiber is found to have been transformed into a substance easily dissolved. The fibrous mass is then removed to a centrifugal machine, in which it is quickly deprived of its surplus alkaline moisture, and it is then placed in a weak solution of hydrochloric acid for a short time. It is then transferred to a bath of pure cold water, in which it remains for about an hour, and it is subsequently placed for a short time in a weak acid bath, after which it is again washed in cold water, and dried for the market. Such are the processes by which China grass may become a source of profit alike to the cultivator and the spinner. A factory situate at Louviers has been acquired, where there is machinery already erected for preparing the fiber according to the processes we have described, at the rate of one ton per day. There is also machinery for spinning the fiber into yarns. These works were also visited by those gentlemen who were at the experimental works at Montrouge, and who also visited the Government laboratory in Paris, of which Professor Fremy is chief and M. Urbainsous-chef, and where those gentlemen explained the details of their process and made their visitors familiar with the progressive steps of their investigations.

With regard to the rhea treated at Montrouge, we may observe that it was grown at La Reolle, near Bordeaux. Some special experiments were also carried out by Dr. Forbes Watson with some rhea grown by the Duke of Wellington at Stratfield-saye, his Grace having taken an active interest in the question for some years past. In all cases the rhea was used green and comparatively freshly cut. One of the objects of Dr. Watson's experiments was, by treating rhea cut at certain stages of growth, to ascertain at which stage the plant yields the best fiber, and consequently how many crops can be raised in the year with the best advantage.

This question has often presented itself as one of the points to be determined, and advantage has been taken of the present opportunity with a view to the solution of the question. Mr. C.J. Taylor also took with him a sample of New Zealand flax, which was successfully treated by the process. On the whole, the conclusion is that the results of the combined processes, so far as they have gone, are eminently satisfactory, and justify the expectation that a large enterprise in the cultivation and utilization of China grass is on the eve of being opened up, not only in India and our colonies, but possibly also much nearer home.

This new heating apparatus consists of a cast iron box, E, provided with an inclined cover, F, into which are fixed 100 copper tubes that are arranged in several lines, and form a semi-cylindrical heating surface. The box, E, is divided into two compartments (Fig. 5), so that the air and gas may enter simultaneously either one or both of the compartments, according to the quantity of heat it is desired to have. Regulation is effected by means of the keys, G and G', which open the gas conduits of the solid and movable disk, H, which serves as a regulator for distributing air through the two compartments. This disk revolves by hand and may be closed or opened by means of a screw to which it is fixed.

Beneath the tubes that serve to burn the mixture of air and gas, there is placed a metallic gauze, I, the object of which is to prevent the flames from entering the fire place box. These tubes traverse a sheet iron piece, J, which forms the surface of the fire place, and are covered with a layer of asbestos filaments that serve to increase the calorific power of the apparatus.

GOMEZ'S APPARATUS FOR HEATING BY GAS.FIG. 1.--Front View. Scale of 0.25 to 1. FIG.2.--Section through AB. FIG.3.--Plan View. FIG. 4.--Section through CD.FIG. 5.--Transverse Section through the Fireplace. Scale of 0.50 to 1.

The cast iron box, E, is inclosed within a base of refractory clay, L, which is surmounted by a reflector, M, of the same material, that is designed to concentrate the heat and increase its radiation. This reflector terminates above in a dome, in whose center is placed a refractory clay box. This latter, which is round, is provided in the center with a cylinder that is closed above. The box contains a large number of apertures, which give passage to the products of combustion carried along by the hot air. The carbonic acid which such products contain is absorbed by a layer of quick-lime that has previously been introduced into the box, N.

This heating apparatus, which is inclosed within a cast iron casing similar to that of an ordinary gas stove, is employed without a chimney, thus permitting of its being placed against the wall or at any other point whatever in the room to be heated.--Annales Industrielles.

Since the introduction of the process of gas-singeing in finishing textiles, many improvements have been made in the construction of the machines for this purpose as well as in that of the burners, for the object of the latter must be to effect the singeing not only evenly and thoroughly, but at the same time with a complete combustion of the gas and avoidance of sooty deposits upon the cloth. The latter object is attained by what are called atmospheric or Bunsen burners, and in which the coal gas before burning is mixed with the necessary amount of atmospheric air. The arrangement under consideration, patented abroad, has this object specially in view. The main gas pipe of the machine is shown at A, being a copper pipe closed at one end and having a tap at the other. On this pipe the vertical pipes, C, are screwed at stated intervals, each being in its turn provided with a tap near its base. On the top of each vertical table the burner, IJ, is placed, whose upper end spreads in the shape of a fan, and allows the gas to escape through a slit or a number of minute holes. Over the tube, C, a mantle, E, is slipped, which contains two holes, HG, on opposite sides, and made nearly at the height of the outlet of the gas. When the gas passes out of this and upward into the burner, it induces a current of air up through the holes, HG, and carries it along with it. By covering these holes with a loose adjustable collar, the amount of admissible air can be regulated so that the flame is perfectly non-luminous, and therefore containing no free particles of carbon or soot. The distance of the vertical tubes, C; and of the fan-shaped burners is calculated so that the latter touch each other, and thus a continuous flame is formed, which is found to be the most effective for singeing cloth. Should it be deemed advisable to singe only part of the cloth, or a narrow piece, the arrangement admits of the taps, D, being turned off as desired.--Textile Manufacturer.

In many industries there are operations that have to be repeated at regular intervals, and, for this reason, the construction of an apparatus for giving a signal, not only at the hour fixed, but also at equal intervals, is a matter of interest. The question of doing this has been solved in a very elegant way by Mr. Silas in the invention of the apparatus which we represent in Fig. 1. It consists of a clock whose dial is provided with a series of small pins. The hands are insulated from the case and communicate with one of the poles of a pile contained in the box. The case is connected with the other pole. A small vibrating bell is interposed in the circuit. If it be desired to obtain a signal at a certain hour, the corresponding pin is inserted, and the hand upon touching this closes the circuit, and the bell rings. The bell is likewise inclosed within the box. There are two rows of pins--one of them for hours, and the other for minutes. They are spaced according to requirements. In the model exhibited by the house Breguet, at the Vienna Exhibition, there were 24 pins for minutes and 12 for hours. Fig. 2 gives a section of the dial. It will be seen that the hands are provided at the extremity with a small spring, r, which is itself provided with a small platinum contact, p. The pins also carry a small platinum or silver point, a. In front of the box there will be observed a small commutator, M, (Fig. 1). The use of this is indicated in the diagram (Fig. 3). It will be seen that, according as the plug, B, is introduced into the aperture to the left or right, the bell. S, will operate as an ordinary vibrator, or give but a single stroke.

FIG. 1.--SILAS' CHRONOPHORE.

P is the pile; C is the dial; and A is the commutator.

It is evident that this apparatus will likewise be able to render services in scientific researches and laboratory operations, by sparing the operator the trouble of continually consulting his watch.--La Lumiere Electrique.

FIG. 2.

FIG. 3.

[THE GARDEN.]

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