The condor of Peru has spread wings 40 feet, feathers 20 feet, quills 8 inches round.
In England, a quarter of wheat, comprising 8 bushels, yields 14 bushels 2-1/2 pecks, divided into seven distinct kinds of flour, as follows: Fine flour, 5 bushels 3 pecks; bran, 3 bushels; twenty-penny, 3 bushels; seconds, 2 pecks; pollard, 2 bushels; fine middlings, 1 peck; coarse ditto, 1 peck.
The ancient Greek phalanx comprised 8,000 men, forming a square battalion, with spears crossing each other, and shields united.
The Roman legion was composed of 6,000 men, comprising 10 cohorts of 600 men each, with 300 horsemen.
The ancient battering ram was of massive timber, 60 to 100 feet long, fitted with an iron head. It was erected under shelter to protect the 60 or 100 men required to work it. The largest was equal in force to a 36-lb. shot from a cannon.
Pile Driving on Sandy Soils.—The greatest force will not effect a penetration exceeding 15 feet.
Various Sizes of Type.—It requires 205 lines of Diamond type to make 12 inches, of Pearl 178, of Ruby 166, of Nonpareil 143, of Minion 128, of Brevier 112-1/2, of Bourgeois 102-1/2, of Long Primer 89, of Small Pica 83, of Pica 71-1/2, of English 64.
Wire ropes for the transmission of power vary in size from 3/8 to 7/8 inch diam. for from 3 to 300 horse power; to promote flexibility, the rope, made of iron, steel, or copper wire, as may be preferred, is provided with a core of hemp, and the speed is 1 mile per minute, more or less, as desired. The rope should run on a well-balanced, grooved, cast iron wheel, of from 4 to 15 feet diam., according as the transmitted power ranges from 3 to 300 horse; the groove should be well cushioned with soft material, as leather or rubber, for the formation of a durable bed for the rope. With good care the rope will last from 3 to 5 years.
Cannon balls go furthest at an elevation of 30 degrees, and less as the balls are less; the range is furthest when fired from west to east in the direction of the earth's motion, which for the diurnal rotation on its axis, is at the rate of 1,037 miles per hour, and in its orbit, 66,092 miles.
The air's resistance is such that a cannon ball of 3 lbs. weight, diameter, 2.78 ins. moving with a velocity of 1,800 feet per second, is resisted by a force equal to 156 lbs.