Messrs. J. & E. Hall, Dartford, exhibit at the International Health Exhibition, London, in connection with a cold storage room, two sizes of Ellis' patent air refrigerator, the larger one capable of delivering 5,000 cubic feet of cold air per hour, when running at a speed of 150 revolutions per minute; and the smaller one 2,000 cubic feet of cold air per hour, at 225 revolutions per minute. The special features in these machines are the arrangement of parts, by which great compactness is secured, and the adoption of flat slides for the compressor, instead of the ordinary beat valves, which permits of a high rate of revolution without the objectionable noise which is caused by clacks beating on their seats. The engraving shows the general arrangement of the apparatus. Figs. 1 to 4 show details of the compression and expansion valves, which are ordinary flat slides, partly balanced, and held up to their faces by strong springs from behind. The steam, compression, and expansion cylinders are severally bolted to the end of a strong frame, which though attached to the cooler box does not form part of it, the object being to meet the strains between the cylinders and shaft in as direct a manner as possible without allowing them to act on the cooler casting. Each cylinder is double acting, the pistons being coupled to the shaft by three connecting rods, the two outer ones working upon crank pins fixed to overhung disks, and the center one on a crank formed in the shaft. The slide valves for all the cylinders are driven from two weigh shafts, the main valve shaft being actuated by a follow crank, and the expansion and cut off valves from the crosshead pin of the compressor. The machines may be used either in the vertical position as exhibited, or may be fixed horizontally; and it is stated that the construction is such as to admit of speeds of 200 and 300 revolutions per minute respectively for the larger and smaller machines, under which conditions the delivery of cold air may be taken at about 7,000 and 2,600 cubic feet per hour. Messrs. Hall also make this class of refrigerator without the steam cylinder, and arranged to be driven by a belt from a gas engine or any existing motive power.
A GAS RADIATOR AND HEATER.
A GAS RADIATOR AND HEATER.
There is now being introduced into Germany a gas radiator and heater, the invention of Herr Wobbe. It consists, as will be seen in engraving above, of a series of vertical U-shaped pipes, of wrought iron, 50 millimeters (2 inches) in diameter. The two legs of the U are of unequal length; the longer being about 5 feet, and the shorter 3 feet (exclusive of the bend at the top). Beneath the open end of the shorter leg of each pipe is placed a burner, attached to a horizontal gas-pipe, which turns upon an axis. The object of having this pipe rotate is to bring the burners into an inclined position—shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 2—for lighting them. On turning them back to the vertical position, the heated products of combustion pass up the shorter tube and down the longer, where they enter a common receptacle, from which they pass into the chimney or out of doors. Surrounding the pipes are plates of sheet iron, inclined at the angle shown in Fig. 2. The object of the plates is to prevent the heated air of the room from passing up to the ceiling, and send it out into the room. To prevent any of the pipes acting as chimneys, and bringing the products of combustion back into the room, as well as to avoid any back-pressure, a damper is attached to the outlet receptacle. The heated gas becomes cooled so much (to about 100° Fahr.) that water is condensed and precipitated, and collects in the vessel below the outlet. Each burner has a separate cock, by which it may be kept closed, half-open, or open. To obviate danger of explosion, there is a strip of sheet iron in front of the burners, which prevents their being lighted when in a vertical position; so that, in case any unburned gas gets into the pipes, it cannot be ignited, for the burners can only be lighted when inclined to the front. In starting the stove the burners are lighted, in the inclined position; the chain from the damper pulled up; the burners set vertical; and, as soon as they are all drawing well into the tubes, the damper is closed. If less heat is desired, the cocks are turned half off. It is not permissible to entirely extinguish some of the burners, unless the unused pipes are closed to prevent the products of combustion coming back into the room. The consumption of gas per burner, full open, with a pressure of 8/10, is said to be only 4-3/8 cubic feet per hour.
CONCRETE WATER PIPES.
Concrete water pipes of small diameter, according to a foreign contemporary, are used in parts of France, notably for water mains for the towns of Coulommiers and Aix-en-Provence. The pipes were formed of concrete in the trench itself. The mould into which the concrete was stamped was sheet iron about two yards in length. The several pipes were not specially joined to each other, the joints being set with mortar. The concrete consisted of three parts of slow setting cement and three parts of river sand, mixed with five parts of limestone debris. The inner diameter of the pipes was nine inches; their thickness, three inches. The average fall is given at one in five hundred; the lowest speed of the current at one foot nine inches per second. To facilitate the cleaning of the pipes, man-holes are constructed every one hundred yards or so, the sides of which are also made of concrete. The trenches are about five feet deep. The work was done by four men, who laid down nearly two hundred feet of pipe in a working day; the cost was about ninety-three cents per running yard. It is claimed as an advantage for the new method that the pipes adhere closely to the inequalities of the trench, and thus lie firmly on the ground. When submitted to great pressure, however, they have not proved effective, and the method, consequently, is only suitable for pipes in which there is no pressure, or only a very trifling one.