Good condition. Shipped priority mail.
Fatima Gypsy cigarette ad on back cover.
Upper engraving represents submarines entering the lock at Gatun. Lower engraving shows submarines submerged and resting on the cradles.
DRYDOCKING IN PANAMA CANAL LOCKS.-[See page 328.]
----------- 2 -----------
THE present year will go down in the annals of
yacht racing as one of the most famous in the
history of this noble sport.
The coming again
to our shores of the indomitable Lipton, this time with
the fourth "Shamrock," has resulted in the construction'
of three defending yachts, one by the veteran Herreshoff,
another by his most able American competitor, Gardner,
and a third by one of the most promising of our younger
designers, Owens.
Particular interest attaches to this year's series of
contests, because of the fact that they will be held under
new rule of measurement, which discourages the
building of the extreme and almost freakish type of
yacht with which the public was made familiar in the
last series of "America" cup contests. The old rule en-
couraged the construction of a yacht of extreme beam,
draught, and over-all length, with a flat floor and full
énds, and carrying an enormous spread of sail.
new rule governing this year's contests encourages a
return to a more wholesome form, with a fuller and
deeper body and sharper ends-a type which, after the
races are over, is still serviceable for cruising because
of its greater head room and its easier motion in a sea-
Furthermore, the more limited draught enables
the yacht to enter harbors and cruise in waters which
are inaccessible to the older type. When it is remem-
bered that these manifest advantages are secured with-
out any sacrifice of speed, the all-round advantages of
a
The
way.
the new rule over the old will be manifest.
In Nicholson, one of the younger designers, the chal-
lenger has at his disposal the genius of the most suc-
cessful yacht designer, probably, in Great Britain.
"Shamrock IV" will also have the advantage of being
absolutely in charge of the most successful amateur
yachtsman to be found in the British Isles.
Mental Acrobatics
HAT perfection in the solving of scientific prob-
lems is an art to be acquired by training, prac-
tice, and experience is so obvious a truth as to
require no emphasis and to invite no contradiction.
Not so obvious is the fact that in the selection of
T:
problems for inquiry, in the mere asking of questions,
much depends on the judgment and common sense of
the inquirer. Indeed, it has been said that the great
man in science is recognized not so much by the means
he employs to attain his ends, as by the purposes toward
which he bends his efforts.
tutod
thet
----------- 3 -----------
greater than 500 miles.
Electric Dock Equipment.-Quite an extensive electric
outfit is used at the new docks on the Spree, at Berlin.
The docks are well laid out for handling grain, as well as
for receiving supplies of benzine in underground tanks,
coal, brick and other freight, and the port is connected by
tracks with the railroad. No less than 37 electric motors
are used for the ten main cranes, while 28 motors serve for
various conveyers for the grain docks. Numerous other
cranes besides winches and elevators take upward of 20
motors. The whole is a model plant. Some 200 railroad
cars are accommodated in the dock quarters, and most
of the material is handled by electric devices so as to
assure a rapid service.
Alternating Arc in Mercury Vapor.-It has commonly
been supposed that it is impossible to maintain an alter-
nating arc in mercury vapor, for low frequencies and
moderate voltages. In a paper read at the Paris Academy
of Sciences, it was shown that this can be done. The
quartz tube is full of mercury and ends in two reservoirs
in communication with the atmosphere. Placed in series
is a self-induction enabling the short circuit current to
be reduced to about 2½ amperes. The arc is started by
breaking the column in the middle by causing the mer-
cury to bubble. A true alternating are is established, the
two alternations being separated by a period of extinction
of about one thousandth of a second.
German Army Searchlight.-The German army is
making use of a type of field electric searchlight which
can be raised to quite a distance above the ground by
the use of a telescopic tubular pole, this being made in
four sections. By means of a hand winch, the tube is
extended to the desired height, so that the beam can be-
directed to advantage. The apparatus is mounted on a
two-wheel truck which is coupled to a second truck with
driver's seat so as to make a four-wheel wagon. On the
ground, the searchlight truck is uncoupled, and set at
the proper point. The mast portion is folded down flat
against the framework when not in use. Current comes
from a dynamo group on a special wagon.
Effect of the Eclipse on Radio-telegraphy.-The
British Association for the Advancement of Science has
issued a bulletin calling attention to the exceptional op-
portunities that will be afforded by the total eclipse of
the sun on August 21st for studying the effect of light
and darkness upon radiotelegraphy. The eclipse will be
total along a strip extending from Greenland across Nor-
way, Sweden, Russia and Persia to the mouths of the
Indus. In Russia, the duration of totality will be a little
mnin noints
----------- 4 -----------
a
Treating Yeast with Ozone.-A curious commercial
application of ozone has just been developed in the brew-
SE
ing industry. Samples of brewers' yeast treated with
SC
ozone for five minutes show greater fermenting power
st
than untreated yeast. During the first day or two, there
is no gain, but after that ozonized yeast exhibits fer-
ca
mentative power markedly in excess of untreated yeast.
The benefit comes from the inhibitive action of ozone on
th
th
objectionable organisms, and also because the weaker
yeast cells are eliminated and the stronger ones stimulated
in fermentative power.
over-production of yeast cells is a great source of loss
which will doubtless be lessened by ozonization.
e
In the brewing industry, the
fe
The Lost Russian Arctic Expeditions.-The Russian
government has at last decided to make a search for the
missing expeditions of Sedov, Russanov, and Brussilov,
and has bought two Norwegian vessels, the "Hertha"
and the "Eclipse," for this purpose. The "Hertha," with
a Russian crew,
t.
will
in quest of Capt. Sedov's expedi-
tion, which is supposed to have sailed last August from
go
t
the north coast of Nova Zembla for Franz Josef Land,
and has not since been heard from. The "Eclipse," with
a Norwegian crew, and under the command of the
veteran explorer Capt. Otto Sverdrup, will proceed to
the Kara Sea in hope of locating the expeditions of
Brussilov and Russanov, both of which have been missing
since the autumn of 1912. The former set out to attempt
the Northeast Passage, while the latter was last heard
from when en route from Spitzbergen to Nova Zembla.
The rescue ships are to sail from Christiania, June 24th.
f
Capt. Amundsen's North Polar Expedition, which, as
originally planned, was to have sailed in the summer of
1913, and was postponed for a year in order to give the
scientific staff more time for preliminary studies and
training, has now again been postponed for a year; this
time because it appears that the "Fram," the vessel in
which the expedition is to sail, cannot reach San Francisco
in time for an early start from that port. Last year, the
little vessel sailed from Buenos Ayres to Colon, in the
expectation of proceeding thence via the Panama Canal;
on account of the delay in the opening of the latter, this
route was finally abandoned, and the "Fram" started on
the long journey around the continent in which she is
now engaged.
tion will be turned to advantage, especially in giving the
explorers time to become expert in the use of aeroplanes,
three of which are to be included in the equipment of the
expedition,
The further postponement of the expedi-
----------- 5 -----------
825
Astronomy
The Duration of the Sun.-Adopting the well-known
hypothesis of Helmholtz, which attributes the production
of the heat emitted by the sun to its contraction, an idea
can be formed of the sun's duration. If one gives to the
sun a coefficient of expansion intermediate between that
of mercury and that of gas, one arrives at the conclusion
that it has taken one to three millions of years for the
sun to contract to its present radius; in particular, it
would have taken 10,000 years to contract from infinity
to a radius twice its present radius. Finally, the sun
will take 200 millions of years to contract from its present
radius to half that radius, and even then its temperature
at the surface will be 3,000 degrees.
Earth-Shine on the Moon.-When the sun has dis-
appeared beneath the horizon and we no longer re-
ceive its rays direct, it also happens that its light con-
tinues to reach us, indirectly and feebly, reflected by
the whole or part of the disk of the moon.
when a portion of the lunar disk is not illuminated
directly by the sun, it happens that it is feebly illumi-
nated by the earth-shine; that is to say, by the reflection
that those portions of the terrestrial surface which are
at that moment exposed to the sun.
has endeavored to determine the brightness of the light
received in this way by the moon and has measured the
intensity of this light compared with the intensity of
those parts of the lunar disk which are illuminated
directly by the sun.
on the moon is about 1,600 times feebler than the mean
brightness of those portions illuminated by the sun a
little before the first quarter.
Inversely,
Mr. F. W. Very
The result is that the earth-shine
Distance of the New Star in Gemini.-In the spring
of 1912, considerable interest was excited by the sudden
appearance of a brilliant star which became visible to
the naked eye during some weeks in March and April.
After May it was no longer visible except in powerful
telescopes. Mr. Slocum has attempted to measure the
parallax of this star, and hence to deduce its distance
from us.
Parallax is a measure of the change of per-
spective a mo ving object presents when regarded from
two different positions. Advantage is taken of the revolu-
tion of the earth in its orbit, and measurements are made
at intervals of six months. Mr. Slocum, with the great
40-inch refractor at the Yerkes Observatory, has taken
fifteen photographs 'of the new star at three different
periods of six months. Six comparison stars were selected
as near the Nova as possible, and distributed approxi-
mately symmetrically round it.
results shows that the Nova is about 296 light years
A discussion of the
away, so that the sudden blaze of 1912 corresponded to
some catastrophe which occurred in the beginning of the
----------- 6 -----------
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
Moving Pictures Without a Screen
A Remarkable Development in Kinematography
By the English Correspondent of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
----------- 7 -----------
OME five years ago a German experi-
menter, Herr Messter, as a result of some
particular investigations, discovered that if
moving pictures were projected by reflection
in a certain manner, the stage could be set
with scenery and properties, as for a regu-
lar play, with the result that the usual white
screen could be eliminated, and that the
photographic figures could be moved about
within a certain area in such a manner as to
convey the illusion that living performers
were seen instead of photographic reproduc-
He pursued his experiments, but was
faced with the initial difficulty that only
small figures could be projected, and this fact
tended to destroy the illusion, since to main-
tain the latter, life-size portrayal of the per-
tions.
formers was imperative.
Another complex-
ity which troubled him was the destruction
of the coloring qualities owing to the high
light necessary.
This latter problem was
overcome by utilizing pierrots and clowns, in
which only black and white dress and make-
up were required. Such a limitation was a
handicap, but, nevertheless, when such pic-
tures were shown, considerable interest and
wonder as to how the effects were obtained,
were aroused. The fact that the figures were
dwarfish, and yet apparently endowed with
life, enhanced the mysterious effect.
By
patient experimenting the inventor at last over
came the latter deficiency, and having succeede
in getting his figures life size, public exhibition
of "Alabaster," as it was called, were given in
Vienna with great success.
The absence of the
familiar white screen proved an irresistible at-
traction.
At the Scala Theater in London the
pictures, upon their presentation, proved an in-
stantaneous success.
The explanation of the mystery is exceedingly
simple. Kinoplastikon is no more nor less than
a revival of the famous "Pepper's Ghost" idea,
adapted to the kinematograph. Singing and talk-
ing effects are obtained by electrically synchron-
izing a talking machine with the acting.
The accompanying diagram explains ex-
----------- 8 -----------
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
The Problem of Our Navy
VIII. -Mobilization and a Naval Reserve
By the Editor
----------- 9 -----------
Copyright 1913 Internationai News Service
ODERN wars begin with all the surprise and vio-
lent shock of an explosion of dynamite-as witness
the night attack by the Japanese destroyers at Port
Arthur, which, even before the declaration of war,
placed the Russian Pacific fleet out of commission and
gave to Japan the command of the sea.
The striking of the first telling blow and the ability
to follow it up are posssible only when the belligerent,
having set in motion a carefully prepared plan of
mobilization, is able swiftly to concentrate the whole
of his naval and military forces in the theater of war
-as witness the fact that following immediately upon
the Port Arthur attack, Japan transported to the main-
land an army of 100,000 men in four days time.
Наd Japan followed our оиn policy of unprepared-
ness, had she possessed no plan of mobilization, that is
to say, had she left the work of organizing an auxiliary
fleet to be done after war was actually upon her, as we
did in the Spanish war, months of valuable time would
have been lost, Russia would have been able to concen-
trate an overwhelming army in Korea and Manchuria,
and the defeat of Japan would have been inevitable.
Mobilization is defined in the Dictionnaire Militaire
as "the passage from a peace to a war footing, the
period during which a 'navy' should be provided with
everything which is necessary for it to go into a cam-
paign and at once begin active operations."
The same authority goes on to say:
important that this period should be as short as pos-
sible, for upon its efficient and complete achievement
often depends the fate of the first encounters.
fore, each nation has spared no pains to foresee in all
their details the complex operations necessary to be
carried out during this period of transition, so that
"It is naturally
There-
when the time arrives, they may be executed without
disorder, omissions or loss of time."
Have we any such elaborate system of mobilization?
The last attempted mobilization occurred in
the
North River, New York, in October, 1911, when there
were assembled no less than 127 ships, including 31
battleships-an imposing array of naval materiel, which,
if the individual ships had been fully manned and pro-
visioned, and replete with full supplies of coal and
ammunition, and if the fleet as a whole had included
11 the auxiliaries necessary to enable it to keep the
ould have been a most formidable fighting force.
t were the facts?
Ins in full commission were more or less
officers and men, in order to furnish
t in handling the ships that were
----------- 10 -----------
Drydocking in Canal Locks
By C. W. Fisher, Naval Constructor, United States
Navy
ON December 12th, 1913, five submarines of the
United States Navy with their mother ship or
tender, the "Severn," arrived at Cristobal, Canal Zone.
These boats are known as "C-1," “C-2," “C-3," "C-4,"
They were tied up alongside their mother
and "C-5."
ship, upon which the crews and officers live and mess,
at one of the new concrete piers built by the Panama
Railroad Company. This unique flotilla attracted great
interest on account of its peculiar appearance, and its
daily exercises in the harbor of Colon, where the small
boats dived and maneuvered.
After four months of this duty it was found neces-
sary to place the five submarines in drydock for the
usual overhauling, testing and cleaning bottoms from
the accumulation of barnacles and other marine growth.
The small drydock at Mount Hope, near Cristobal,
which was built many years ago by the French, and
which is supposed to serve for all docking purposes
until the big docks now under construction at Balboa
are completed, about eighteen months hence, was un-
fortunately not available, on account of its being in
constant use repairing the dredges at work on the big
slide at Culebra. It was, therefore, necessary to devise
some other scheme for docking these vessels, and it was
decided to utilize one of the great locks at Gatun for
this purpose.
Accordingly, on March 8th, 1914, the old "Severn,"
well known to many a midshipman, having served for
years as a practice ship for the Naval Academy, now
divested of her sails and machinery, was towed up to
Gatun, accompanied by the five little submarines under
their own power.
When the interesting fact became known that the
very first navy vessel of any nation was about to pass
through the locks of the Panama Canal and to enter
Gatun Lake, large numbers of spectators gathereu
upon the walls of Gatun locks to witness this event, and
on March 8th, 1914, the "Severn" was locked through
End tied up to the approach wall of the Gatun locks m
tun Lake, thus recording an important event in the
of the Panama Canal. On the following morn-
9th, the submarines were locked through
of Gatun and drydocked in the upper
gar-shaped, and in order to land
----------- 11 -----------
Aviation in the British Army
N important statement was made by Col. Seely
A recently with regard to the progress of aviation in
the British army.
The present position of Great Britain may be sum-
marized as follows:
1. The army has transferred its airships-there never
were many-to the navy.
2. The army, in future, will concentrate on aero-
planes, which are being improved every day.
How many, then, of these all-necessary aeroplanes
are possessed by the British army? The answer is 161,
of which 100 were added during the last twelve months.
There are to be eight squadrons, complete in men and
machines, by the end of the coming financial year, and
the total number required will be 250-50 for the Cen-
tral Flying School, and 200 for the eight squadrons,
twenty-five to each.
mitted, if you want ten machines to be ready at a given
moment, you must have twenty to draw on. Each aero-
plane, in a word, must have a spare machine as its
fellow, and the two can only count as one, so delicate
are these machines, with so many things to go wrong
and to give way.
Col. Seely also stated that he was providing for a
large increase in the provision of spare parts, and for
the creation of an Inspection Department. He spoke of
his anxiety to do anything to lessen the risk of flying,
and surprised the House of Commons by saying that
there had only been six days in the year-barring Sat-
urdays and Sundays-on which there had been no army
flights; that there had not been a fatal accident to offi-
cer or man belonging to the military wing proper; and
not a single breakage of any main part in the air.
The newest aeroplanes have an average speed of from
But, as Col. Seely frankly ad-
sixty to sixty-six miles an hour.
The Current Supplement
N this week's issue of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUP-
PLEMENT L. D. Allen writes on the manufacture and
use of bearing metals.-E. E. Fournier d'Albe in an arti-
cle "The Radiation Problem" gives a general survey of
modern theories of radiation, with special reference to
the "quantum" or "atomic" theory of light energy.-J.
Whitman Bailey contributes an article entitled "A Com-
parison of Rivers."-The special organs by which ani-
mals are enabled to maintain their equilibrium and
sense of the vertical direction form the subject of an
article by W. Baunacke.-In an article on the wasteful-
----------- 12 -----------
în the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN of March 21st, 1914, you
published an article of mine under the title "The Big-
gest Bird that Ever Lived." The title which I gave the
article was "The Largest Fossil Bird Known."
your attention to this difference in titles because I do
I call
not wish to assume the responsibility of calling the ex-
tinct bird that I described "The Biggest Bird that Ever
Lived."
Washington, D. C.
R. W. SCHUFELDT.
Increasing Motor Output
To the Editor of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN :
In the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN of March 14th, 1914,
page 227, you published, under the heading "Electricity,"
a note calling attention to a method to increase the
amount of power which a given electric motor can be
called upon to furnish, and you attribute the method de-
scribed to Messrs. Brown, Boveri & Co.
Permit us to state that the invention in question must
be credited to Maurice Leblanc, and that it is covered
in the United States in particular by two patents,
815,356 and 815,357, granted March 20th, 1906.
patents were assigned to Mr. Westinghouse.
Messrs. Brown, Boveri & Co. are our licensees.
These
SOCIÉTÉ ANONYME WESTINGHOUSE.
Scientific Photographs Wanted for the Royal
Photographic Society Exhibition
To the Editor of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN :
The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain is
holding its fifty-ninth annual exhibition in August
and September of this year. This is the most repre-
sentative exhibition of photographic work in the world,
and the Society is anxious to make it more interna-
tional in character. It is very desirable that American
scientific photography should be fully represented at
the exhibition, and in order to enable this to be done
with less work to the exhibitor, I have arranged to col-
lect and forward American work intended for the scien-
tific section.
This work should consist of prints showing the use
of photography for scientific purposes, and its applica-
tion to spectroscopy, astronomy, radiography, biology,
etc. Photographs should reach me not later than Fri-
day, July 10th.
framed.
They should be mounted, but not
I should be glad if any worker who is able to send
photographs will communicate with me as soon as pos-
sible so that I might arrange for the receiving and entry
C. E. KENNETH MEES.
of the exhibit.
Research Laboratory, Kodak Park, Rochester, N. Y.
----------- 13 -----------
S30
SCIENTIFICAMLIIorin
Forge furnace heating heavy work for the hammer.
Forge furnace burning a blast of coal dust. A great saving of fuel.
Powdered Coal for Fuel
Burning Coal Dust in Jets Like Oil
od
o By Harry N. Holmes
----------- 14 -----------
HE use of powdered coal as a fuel has been devel-
oped to successful practice. It possesses all the ad-
vantages of burning an oil spray and the additional one
of greater economy.
bustion chamber intimately mixed with a blast of air
and is there completely burned with little or no smoke.
Like oil, it is blown into the com-
The comparison of values is interesting. Assuming
that there are 19,000 British thermal units in a pound
of oil and an average of 13,500 British thermal units in
a pound of bituminous coal, and that gas producers will
give 85 per cent efficiency, the following values are
Oil at 44 cents per gallon, 28,600 British
thermal units for 1 cent; producer gas from coal at
deduced :
$3.10 per ton, 69,673 British thermal units for 1 cent;
powdered coal, slack, at $2.75, 98,181 British thermal
units for 1 cent.
To further this economy in operation a minimum of
attention is required, for the best equipment is almost
automatic in many details.
Oil stoking requires little
attention, and the two operations are similar in this as
in other respects. The absence of smoke is the natural
result of the perfect combustion, as every minute par-
ticle of coal dust is completely burned in a proper in-
stallation. The intense heat obtainable by this coal dust
jet will develop many special applications. One of the
greatest advantages of this method of furnace firing is
its adaptability to any grade of fuel, even coal that
has no value on the grate bars. Anthracite, bitu-
minous, lignite, coke breeze, all are grist to this
Experts consider that coal with
sort of mill.
45 per cent ash has no steam raising value what-
ever when burned in the old way, but Barmhurst
has obtained profitable results with coal of 52
per cent ash in a coal dust jet. This method
of firing makes possible a tremendous develop-
ment of the low-grade coals of the West.
There are four simple requirements which ab-
solutely must be obeyed :
First-The coal must be dried so that it con-
tains not over one per cent of moisture.
Second-The coal must be pulverized to a
high degree of fineness.
Third-It must be blown into a chamber hot
enough to cause instant deflagration.
Fourth-It must be supplied with air suffi-
cient to yield the oxygen necessary to burn the
carbon of the coal at once to carbon dioxide:
Drying the coal is essential for two reasons.
Coal containing much more than one per cent
moisture is not easily ground to a fine powder.
Furthermore if this moisture were not removed
----------- 15 -----------
The Taxicab Service of New York City
By Harry Chapin Plummer
T
RULY magnificent distances are those compassed
by Father Knickerbocker in that vehicle which is
so characteristic of the twentieth century-the taxicab.
There are three thousand of those restless, snorting,
erratic conveyances in service in the streets of Greater
New York, and, barring a limited area in the Borough
of Brooklyn and isolated sections of the Bronx and
Queens, they are mostly all concentrated in the district
(Concluded on page 336.)
----------- 16 -----------
AGO
A LIGHT FOR AIR CRAFT WHI CH
IS THE EQUIVALENT OF A MARINE
THE LAMP RECEI VES CURRENT
NAVIGATING LIGHT.
FROM A STORAGE BATTERY.
Aeroplane lamps with lights of different colors, for showing their path and signaling their position when flying at night.
Aeroplane Lamps
A Light That Shows "Port'" and "Starboard " and Also Throws White Beams Forward and to the Rear
By Dr. Alfred Gradenwitz
----------- 17 -----------
DIRIGIBLES are generally equipped with lamps
fixed to the right and left, respectively, which, like
those of ships on rivers or at sea, indicate the direction
of traveling by red and green lights. In a similar man-
ner, it would be desirable to fit aeroplanes with two
lamps giving out lights of different colors, thus enabling
their position on the ground and their path through the
air to be signaled and collision with other air craft to
be prevented.
A manufacturer in Berlin has designed a special
aeroplane lantern which would seem to comply with
all requirements to be satisfied by such lamps.
constituting no material extra load on the aeroplane
and needing, under way, no attendance or supervision,
it allows its position or direction of flight to be ascer-
tained with all desirable accuracy.
While
This aeroplane lamp comprises a lantern casing in-
side of which there is arranged a 10 candle-power metal
filament lamp whose light is so reinforced by an annu-
lar lens, that the luminous intensity actually given out
amounts to about 40 Hefner candles.
The lamp is
plainly visible, even in foggy weather, to a distance of
Since the light is given out uni-
formly on all sides, the lamp is surrounded by a lumin-
ous ring. In order also to signal the direction of flight
by means of this lamp, red and green glasses are so
arranged in the interior of the annular lens that the
forward portion of the luminous ring (about 10 degrees)
appears white, whereas the adjoining part to the right
(about 110 degrees) is colored green and the left-hand
The rearward portion be-
about three miles.
part of equal length, red.
tween the red and the green parts (about 130 degrees)
This simple arrange-
again gives out a white light.
ment of the optical system enables any aeroplane
equipped with the lamp to be sighted (and its direc-
tion of flight ascertained) at sufficient distance, the ob-
server seeing more or less of the red or the green
light beside the white.
The metal filament lamp is so designed that heavy
shocks, as produced on landing, will exert no influence
on it.
Moreover, its fitting is carried by a substantial
spring, damping any jerks.
The incandescent lamp is fed from an Edison accumu-
lator, arranged close to the driver's or observer's' seat,
which complies with all requirements of the case.
Re-
plenishing with potash is only necessary every eight
to twelve months, according to the actual strain on
Refilling is effected exclusively with
Inclinations up to 45 degrees and
the accumulator.
pure distilled water.
----------- 18 -----------
The first aeroplane in Jerusalem.
Motorcycle fitted with a revolving cylinder motor.
An armored motor car.
PUNA
----------- 19 -----------
Telt it.
First Aeroplane in Jerusalem
DURING the last few months the aero-
plane has made its appearance in
many strange places, not the least among
these being the ancient city of Jerusalem.
It was during his flight from Constan-
tinople to Cairo that M. Bonnier, the
French airman, passed over the Holy City
in his monoplane, descending upon the his-
toric plain of Rephaim, a short distance
south of Jerusalem. It was on this plain
that King David met and defeated the
Philistines. Never, in modern times, was
the city so excited.
It poured out en
masse to see the airman and his machine
-Christians, Jews, and Moslems.
photograph depicts the airman about to
leave for Cairo. The Holy City may be
Our
seen on the extreme left and the Mount of
Olives on the right.
Revolving Cylinder Motor on a
Motorcycle
HE revolving cylinder internal combus-
tion motor, which failed so dismally
on the single make of automobile on which
it was used, but which since has "proved"
itself in connection with the aeroplane, is
due to have a tryout in motorcycle ser-
A machine mounting a three-cylin-
der motor of that type has been developed
by a Connecticut inventor who now is com-
vice.
pleting arrangements to manufacture the
machine in great numbers.
The motorcycle, which is pictured here-
with, does not differ widely, exclusive of
the motor, from accepted practice. The
motor is mounted inside the rear wheel
----------- 20 -----------
disadvantages, time will tell.
Floating on the Dead Sea
HE wonderful buoyancy of the Dead
Sea, that strange inland sheet of water
in Palestine, is proverbial.
T
It is some
47 miles long by 9 miles wide, and lies no
less than 1,200 feet below the surface of
the Mediterranean, the lowest-lying lake
on the face of the globe. Its waters are
so bitter that fish cannot live in them.
We get an idea of its density when it is
stated that in a tom of water from the
Atlantic there is 31 pounds of salt against
187 pounds from a like quantity in the
Dead Sea. The result is that it is impos-
sible for a human being to sink in these
waters, and the accompanying photograph
depicts a tourist reading his guide book
while floating on the surface of the water.
Mexican Armored Motor Car
HE accompanying photograph shows
a standard American two-ton motor
truck chassis which has been converted
into a motor car by the Mexican Constitu-
tionalists.
It was not known to what use the
chassis was to be put when delivery was
made to a southern dealer, but the result
pictured is a striking reminder of the
adaptability of the motor chassis, and
shows the ingenuity displayed by the pro-
gressive Constitutionalists. Interior space
of the armored body is used for carrying
ammunition, rifles, etc., while the deadly
fire of machine guns can be directed
through small portholes in the walls. The
car is fitted with armored wheels for oper-
ation upon the railroad, where a continu-
ous stretch of track remains, or by quick
adjustment the wheels can be changed to
run over the roads directly into the Zona
Guerra.
Two of the World's Seven Wonders
SPIRITED voting contest has just
A been concluded in Germany to decide
which are the seven wonders of the twen-
After the enormous vol-
tieth century.
of votes cast were counted, it was
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A Smoke and Fume Monitor
By W. W. Strong
ANY furnaces are not placed so that
the fireman can see the top of the
smokestack. Neither does the manager of
the power plant often see the black fuel
issuing from the top of the stack.
other words, small account is given to this
item of waste and the source of a fume
and smoke nuisance in many cases.
In
Naturally a fireman is not careful about
the part of his work to which no one pays
any attention. The result is carelessness,
and it is to this carelessness and lack of
interest that much of the trouble of smoke
inspectors is due.
smoke monitor is to furnish an ever-pres-
The purpose of the
ent educational guide to the fireman, a
conscience ever ready to prick at his con-
tentment if he is not firing properly.
These d
The smoke monitor rings a bell and turns
on a red light at the furnace door when
the furnace is emitting smoke of a density forbidden by
the city ordinance. The smoke monitor works day and
night, and a recording mechanism can be attached to it.
Besides the smoke monitor there should be a set of
directions telling the fireman just what to do when
the bell is ringing.
The smoke monitor is a very compact piece of appa-
ratus, and is entirely electrical in its action.
from 60 to 100 watts of energy, and this is the only cost
of maintenance, since there are no moving parts to the
It uses
apparatus to get out of repair.
In the illustration the monitor is shown with all
the parts together, though it is probably more conveni-
ent to place the bell B, the red lights RL, and the relay
R by themselves, while the transformer T is placed near
the stack.
The transformer is a comparatively light
one, giving about 20,000 volts potential (when on the
110 circuit) across the spark gaps SG. In parallel with
this spark gap is a similar one placed in the smokestack.
When there is little, if any, smoke in the stack the.
resistance is low and the discharge takes place in the
stack.
When smoke of a given density (say one third
black) appears in the stack, the resistance is so in-
creased that the discharge takes place at SG, and this
discharge is a series of oscillatory sparks. The remain-
der of the apparatus consists of a coherer and relay
and operates in the same way as in wireless telegraphy,
turning on a bell and red lights whenever sparking
----------- 22 -----------
Simple Patent
Lifeboat Arrangements on the "Britannic
T is certain that, up to within the last two or three
years, the development of the lifeboat and its means
for launching has lagged far behind the development of
the ocean liner itself. To-day, however, a great deal
of thought is being directed, not merely to the construc-
tion of the lifeboats themselves, but to the provision of
strong and effective means for getting them quickly
and safely overboard, even when they are loaded to
their full capacity. We present two drawings which
show the admirable way in which Harland & Wolff
have worked out the problem on their new liner, the
"Britannic," which will make her maiden trip to this
port during the present year. The lifeboats are nested,
two deep, in groups of five, and each group is served
by a pair of powerful electrically-operated davits. The
old boat davits have always seemed to us to be rather
primitive affairs, lacking in the necessary strength and
rigidity; but no such charge can be laid against the
The main members
22
installation on the "Britannic."
of the davits are of stiff lattice work construction,
hinged at the decks and capable of swinging through a
wide arc. Each pair can be swung over so far inboard
that it can pick up a lifeboat from the center of the ship
and swing it out so far outboard that the risk of its
being crushed against the ship's side is practically elim-
Access to the boats is gained by stairways
inated.
which lead to platforms running between the several
tiers of boats, from which the passengers can step con-
These stairways and platforms
veniently into place.
are not shown in our illustration; but they are sc
arranged that the loading of the boats can be ex-
peditiously done and without any confusion or crowd-
ing. The boat lowering gear is driven by electric mo-
tors of such power and so arranged that the lowering
can be done very speedily, the boats being maintained
on an even keel and released immediately
on reaching the water.
A Smoke and Fume Monitor
By W. W. Strong
M
ANY furnaces are not placed so that
the fireman can see the top of the
smokestack. Neither does the manager of
the power plant often see the black fuel
issuing from the top of the stack.
In
other words, smal account is given to this.
----------- 23 -----------
bristle, owing
to
TUS
nature.
A Simple and Convenient Fish Rod
A
N ingenious combination of a spring balance and
fishing rod can be made without disturbing the gen-
All' that is needed is to
eral appearance of the rod.
hollow the end so as to make a regular tube, or else fit
on a short piece of tube.
tached a spring, and the lower end of the spring carries
Part way up the tube is at-
The weight of the
a short hook for hanging the fish.
fish thus draws down the end of the spring in the same
way as in the usual spring balance, and by cutting a
small window in one side of the tube, a scale can be
put on a piece of glass fitted in the window, correspond-
ing to a pointer attached to the spring. The whole is
simply a spring balance, built into the end of the fishing
rod, and it is all inclosed and not in the way at ordi-
nary times.