Steel sleepers for railways, in lieu of the rough wooden ones formerly employed, are now coming into greatly extended use, and there are few railways where they are not being tried either experimentally or adopted permanently. In the underground workings of collieries, the maintenance of wooden sleepers forms an important item of expense, and there is every hope that steel sleepers will take their place. Mr Colquhoun, the general manager of the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, has invented a form of steel sleeper for this particular purpose. Its sides are corrugated, and it has two projecting fangs at each end, which clutch the ground upon which it is laid. The complete weight of the sleeper and its fittings is only sixteen and a half pounds. It has been on trial in some of the South Wales collieries, and has given every satisfaction.
The Lancet lately called attention to a singular tradition bearing upon infant mortality, which is widely circulated and believed in. An inquest was held upon a child five weeks old which had been found in bed suffocated beside her mother. Death was attributed to a cat getting on the bed and sucking the breath of the child. There seemed to be no evidence against the cat; indeed, the animal did not appear upon the scene. The Lancet points out that death was no doubt due to overlaying by the parent, and that ‘breath-sucking’ is probably a myth, or it would ere now have been proved by observation.
An American inventor, Mr A. Hardt, has patented an arrangement for using very small slack coal as fuel for boiler-firing. The apparatus consists of two fireclay retorts—very much after the pattern of the retorts used in gas factories—which are placed immediately above the ordinary firebox. Each retort has a slide in the bottom, which can be withdrawn so as to empty it of its contents. In addition to this, each has a tube of fireclay reaching from the back part of the retort into the fire beneath. The action of the apparatus is as follows: The retorts are charged with slack, which by the heat of the fire is gradually coked, while the gas evolved from it is carried to the fire beneath. When all the gas has been driven off, the sliding bottom of the retort is withdrawn, and the coke falls into the furnace, to form fresh fuel. Two retorts are employed, so that one can always remain at work while the other is being recharged.
Mr F. Siemens has invented a new method of repairing furnace-linings while at a white-heat, which will be found very useful in steel and glass furnaces where high temperatures are necessarily employed. Under such temperatures, the sides of furnaces become softened, and quartz powder or sand projected against the soft places will readily adhere. Mr Siemens’ apparatus for compassing this end consists of a small wagon, upon which are mounted a fan and a movable pipe like a fire-hose, which can be made to direct a blast in any required direction. The nozzle attached to the pipe is introduced into the furnace-doors, and the sand is blown against the particular part of the furnace-lining which may require reparation.
The tricycle is being gradually applied to so many different purposes, that it can no longer be regarded as a means merely of healthy exercise. Traders use it largely for the delivery of small parcels; postmen in country districts depend upon it as a useful steed; the military genius of the Germans is turning it to account for the battlefield; and in many ways its value is receiving increased recognition. Its last application is in the form of an auxiliary to the fire brigade. The tricycle in question embodies the following parts: It contains a hosereel, with a quantity of hose specially constructed to wind up into a very small compass; a light double-pump fire-engine, capable of throwing twenty-five gallons of water per minute; a collapsible cistern to hold water; and a simple fire-escape with descending ropes and bag. Two men can run the tricycle at full speed, and the pedal action can afterwards be applied to pumping. The apparatus has been introduced by Mr Glenister, chief of the volunteer fire brigade of Hastings, in conjunction with Mr J. C. Merryweather of London.
The French scientific journal La Nature describes and illustrates a machine for making a product which is coming into favour in various different employments under the name of wood-wool. As its name implies, this material is simply wood cut into such fine shavings that it answers many of the purposes to which wool is commonly applied. Although it was at first intended merely as a packing material, it was soon found that it had a much more extended field of usefulness. It is being employed for stuffing mattresses, as bedding for cattle, for the filtration of liquids, &c. It is elastic like horsehair, and is beautifully clean in use. The wood used by preference is Riga fir; and the machine will produce, without any necessity for skilled labour, more than fifteen hundred pounds of ‘wool’ per day of ten hours.
A cart-wheel without axle, axle-boxes, grease-boxes, and journals, seems to be something akin to an impossibility; but such a thing has been produced and exhibited at the Palace of Industry, Paris, by M. Suc. Its principle is this: Suppose that we have two grooved rails, and that we place one on the ground with its groove uppermost. In this groove we then place a number of steel balls, and above them we place the other rail with its groove downwards. Thus placed, the two grooves are facing one another, while the balls are embraced by both, so that if we push the upper rail, it will slide over the lower one, owing to the simple rotation of the balls. Imagine the two rails to be bent into a circle, with the balls still between them, and we have the principle of M. Suc’s axleless wheel. The inner part is fixed to the wagon; and the outer part, consisting merely of a grooved rim, works round it with the balls between. The thing seems to be wonderfully ingenious; but we doubt whether it would work so well as the old-fashioned form of wheel. A dusty road would try its powers to the utmost.
A somewhat elaborate plan for keeping railway foot-warmers hot has been devised by M. Tommasi, a French electrician. He proposes that after the foot-warmers have been charged with their hot solution of acetate of soda—as is commonly done on the French railways, and on some few lines in Britain—the heat should be kept up by electricity. The current to maintain this heat would be obtained from a dynamo driven off an axle of the carriage-wheels, and would be carried to all the foot-warmers throughout the train. We should think that it would be a far easier and less expensive plan to utilise some of the waste heat from the locomotive, which might be applied to the carriages by means of pipes. Has this plan ever been tried?
The cultivation of tobacco in Kent is an experiment which many agriculturists are observing with keen interest. So far, the experiment has been a success, and this in spite of very unfavourable weather, and the presence of unusual quantities of destructive pests in the shape of insects. We are told that earwigs have done a great amount of damage to the plants, for they have been chewing tobacco ever since the leaves came to maturity. According to the opinion of experts, Kent is the most suitable place in this country for the culture of tobacco. Not only is the soil suited to the growth of the plant, but the same oast houses which are used for drying the hops, and whose conical tops form such a noteworthy feature of the Kentish landscape, can be readily adapted to drying the tobacco leaves. It is thought, indeed, that hops and tobacco might be grown on the same land, and form a combined industry which would pay well.
M. l’Hoste, the French aëronaut who recently crossed the Channel by means of a balloon, made use of a piece of apparatus which seems to represent some advance in the art of aërial travelling. This contrivance was dragged in the water of the Channel from a rope attached to the balloon. By this means the aërostat was kept at a certain height above the water. But it served a further purpose than this. By its means water was drawn up into the car and utilised as ballast. Formerly, ballast once thrown out of the car could not be recovered; but by this invention it can be picked up when the balloon is travelling over water. We may note that Mr Green, one of the most celebrated balloonists, made use of an inverted cone, attached to a rope, when travelling over water. This cone acted as an anchor to the balloon, keeping it a certain height above the water, and at the same time allowing it to drift along.