The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 15, 1896, Page 25

/ THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, MARCE 15, 1896. 25 ID B. JAMES of this City! [z CALL as follows re- a new device for navi- the air: In your Sunday | March 1, appears, under | of “Human Flight,” | ributed by Otto Lillen- ying his ideas of muscu- I will not discuss the bility of his theory, or the absurd n2ed and published of the great inventor Edison, of building ships and in- flate the sails with gas, and sail through | the air the same as if they were on the ocean. Man has wanted to fly ever since he | knew the birds navigated the air, and many minds have given the subject great study. So far none have solved the prob- | lem farther than to go up ina balloon. | We all know that flying is not impossible, it is demonstrated by the flicht of & ousand different kinds of birds and in- that employ only mechanical means t of gravitation. They simply understa; w to do it. _ Inventors so far have not got on to the lives that promise success, and have made but little advance beyond the balloon. The day will surely arrive when the air will be navigable by aerial machines as safely as carriages are drawn through the streets, but inventors will have to discard | the anchor is tossed up and down, and so a comparative calm is created in which the vessel may ride out a storm in safety. Electrical Devices on Shipboard. Nearly all the electrical devices which are at present used on American vessels are the inventions of an American naval officer, Lieutenant Fi The latest form of his engine-room telegraph not only sig- nals by dial indication such orders as ‘'stop,’”” ‘“‘back,” etc., which are sufficient | | for the control of the engines of ships cruising aione, but conveys to the engi- neers explicit directions as to the number of revolutions of the propelling screws (cor- | responding approximately to a certain speec) that is necessary if ships are to cruise in fleet formation, and then auto- matically repeats back its message'and the fact that it has been obeyed to the sending station. Another ingenious appliance is the helm indicator, which enables the captain not only to inform the helmsman the exact at which the rudder is to be put, but the rudder itself automatically ack to him the information that the steering order has heen attended to. By means of these devices the captain of a ship can now control both the speed and the movements of the vessel with a rapid- ity and a deeree of certainty which has hitherto been impossible Still another inventio n of Lieutenant o 2@ WUAT MR. JAMES’ FLYING MACHINE W [Sketched by a g 7l i — ILL LOOK LIKE WHEN IN OPERATION. “Call” artist.] the fase of steam and electricity for a mo- | power, as they both involive too much htto be employed as practical agents, and must investigate other fields for niotors that will be adapted for the pur- rocket soars ‘into the air to a great | ght and with great force. What does | t? It is simply the combustion of the | material used turned into gas as it is| forced out of the tube as itis created, and | e expansion creates an impact against atmosphere while the rocket is speeded | a continuous recoil until the explosives I A are consumed. I suppose nearly every [ s aware that rockets are employed in carrying lines from distressed ships to the shore, and from the shore to ships. Think- ing over this, it has occurred to my mind that gas exploded in a chamber and discharged out of a bell- mouthed tube again the atmosphere would propel the vessel in proportion to the amount of gas used at each explo- | sion and the surface of the atmospkere covered by the mouth of the discharging tube. We also know what great force is exerted to expela cannon ball of a ton weight for miles from a cannon; it issim- ply the combustion of the powder into gas, and this same force will drive balls through plates of steel a foot thick. The power is there, if it can be controlled and harnessed. My idea for an aerial machine is to have a cigar-shaped cylinder with folding aero- planes on each side of it fastened to the car that would cover a large surface and open immediately, like parachutes, to pre- vent a too rapid descent and also a rudder on the forward end of the car and the ex- ploding chamber and tube on the other, 4s per sketches of side and end views. No matter how fast the machine was going through the air it could not create any vacuum and as it were there would always be air for the gas to operate upon as a ful- crum. 1 submit this idea for such men as Maxim and others that are experimenting in this field to think over. New Rail for City Roads. Commissioner Cotlisand Engineer North of the Public Works Department of New York City have adopted a new rail for the surface railway system of the city. The rail has already been approved by John D. Crimmins. It differs from that now used The New Rail. by the Broadway and Third avenue lines onlv in the heigat of the flange, marked A in the diagram, that of the new rail be- ing slightly higher in order to bring it to the level of the paving stones. ‘The ad- vantage, according to General Coilis, of this rail over the side-bearing rail now in renerel use is that the carve of the flange A ussists any wheel, the tire of which is 0 narrow that it can follow in the slot, to rise out of it. The curved portion catches the wheel and as the wheel rolls forward acts as an inclined plane to lift the wheel | easily and snioothly from the slot. A new sea anchor has been invented by Michael McCarthy of Middietown, Conn. The anchor is filled the o1l in such a way that the oil is diffused over the waves as Fiske, and the latest of all, is an electrical arrangement for accurately measuring and instantly indicating a ship’s speed. It is so adjusted that an index before the com- manding officer’s eyes shows him the speed of his vessel at all times,—Pittsburg Dis- patch. A Naval Salvage Tug. The French Government is the only one having a salvage tug attached to its navy. The boat has been in service only a few months, but during that time has proved | the value of her services. The Utileis a large boat of her kind, and is built with eral been substituted for sail as the pro- pelling power of vessels, it had been the fashion to talk of seamanship as moribund, and to infer that the conditions which made some knowladge of air and ocean currents a necessity to the successful commander in the past had now almost ceased to exist. The need, however, for meteorological knowledge in these days of costly hulls, machmeri; and armaments, of high speed and breathless urgency, not only remained, but had, become more pressing, giving ! birth to a newer seamanship. — London | Chronicle, A Useful Device. The two illustrations printed herewith show an ingenious and very simple device invented by a man in Camden, N. J., by which the old-style mouthpiece of the tin speaking-tube is done away with ana the -tube practically converted into a telephone. The great advantage of the device is that one may talk into the tuve and receive the answer without changing from mouth to ear. One of the cuts shows the device in opera- tion. The receiver, which is fitted with a rubber cushion for the ear, is attached to an inner rubber tube through which the talker receives an answer to what he may say. In this respect it is just like the tele- phone, no change of ?o!ilion being neces- sary at either end of the line while the conversation is going on. For all interior communication the de- vice seems to be admirably adapted to its purposes, as it 1s simple, cheap and free from liabijlity to get out of order. CATS AND DOGS AS TEACHERS. Kept in Menageries to Imphrt Better Manners to Lions and Tigers. If you were to obtain entrance to James A. Bailey’s big menagerie one of these bright winter days—a privilege money can- not buy—you would be astonished to see what a number of cats and dogs make themselves at home in the buildings which quarter so many queer beasts from all parts of the globe. The dogs are of all sorts and sizes; huge and voracious Danes and wolf hounds and the tiniest pets. The cats are large, hand- gome, bright-looking fellows, famous mousers some of them, and have that air of sleek and well-fed respectability shown | only by cats of breeding who are well | treated. | “Why is it,”” asked a recent visitor, | “that with so many wild animals you keey | so many domestic ones? I should thin! " SALVAGE TUG UTILE, BUILT FOR THE FRENCH NAYVY. fine lines that give her an elegant appear- ance. The hull is entirely of steel; the length between perpendiculars is 155 feet 10 inches, and the beam 23 feet 7 inches. The hull is divided into four water-tight compartments. The two pumps are of considerable ca- pacity; they can be used either for lifting or for delivering an efficient jet of water 1n case of fire. Together they have a duty | of 800 tons for the former and 300 tons for the latter purpose per hour. The contract made by the French Navy Department with the builders specified that the main engines should develop 600 horsepower with a speed of 120 revolutions, and with a steam pressure in the high-pressure cylin- der of not more than 50 per cent. The horsepower developed on a trial was 740. Meteorology in Naval Warfare. In a paper read at the Royal United Ser- vice [nstitution, Whitehall, yesterday after- noon, Lieutenant M. W. Campbell Hepworth, R.N.R., F. R. Met. Soc., pointed out the importance of meteor- ology as a factor in naval warfare. By meteorology he meant the science which treated, not only of the atmosphere and its phenomena, but also of the waters | under it, as mainly owing their move- ments to its control. Given two opposing fleets equal in all conditions other- wise, the victory in a series of en- gagements should be to the fleet in the direction of whose movements meteorology gave the greatest aid. He held that in naval wars of the future the successful operator would possess, among many quelifications, a deeper knowledge than now generally obtained of the direction and velocity of ocean streams, the height, direction and value of ocean tides, the changes in the direction of the winds, and the complicated resultant ef- fects upon the weather, and of the vary- ing carrent and tides in wind systems, as well as of the various types of weather in different seasons. This knowl- edge should pertain not only to our native shores, but to the great trade routes and to the coast lines of many near and dis- tant countries. Since steam had in gen- you would have enough to do feeding and caring for the former.” “AE, there is where you sho%youri mor- ance,” said the attendant. ‘“We wouldn’t | let one of these little fellows go for a good deal if there were none to replace them. The psychological effect of those animals is a very big consideration.” ““The what?" *“Phe psychological effect. Oh, you needn’t laugh. mean what Isay. You have no ideawhat a soothing effect these little domestic animals have on our caged ones. When the latter see members of their own families, so to speak, happy and | contented in their quarters it does notseem { 8o strange and horrible as it would other- wise appear to be shut up so close to men. 1 have seen a lion or a tiger or some otifer member of the feline race watch a domes- tic cat for hours, with a look of gquestion- ing and surprise. If it saw one of the men | stroke the latter and note that the animal showed signs of pleasure, the bigger ani- mal seemed to_grow tranquil itself under the optical spell. There’sa lot of uncon- scious hypnotic suggestion about our little animals, and one of the reasons why our menagerie is so successful, I believe, is be- cause we have so many domestic animals in our midst. = RE *‘You have often heard it said that lions and tigers can never be raised in captivity, but we are doing it all the time. One of our secrets of success is that we let con- tented cats raise families in sizht of the cages of the larger animals. The latter note_the pleasant object-lesson and are cured of the mania of eating their young as they do in less successful menageries.”— New York World. Weighing Common Alr. The weight of air has often been tested by compressing it in receptacles by the air pump. That it really has weight when so comg:eued is shown by the fact that the weight of the vessels is increased slightl bg niling them with compressed air ani that such vessels become specifically, “lighter” as soon as the air contained in them is exhausted. Many elaborate ex- Everiments on the weight of air have proven hat one cubic foot weighs 536 grams, or 1 something less than one and a quarter ounces. The experiment on the weight of air 1s supposed to be made at the surface of the earth, with_ the temperature at 50 deg. Fahrenheit. Heated air or air at high elevations is much lighter. Adventures of a Maestro.* Mascagni, or M. Intermezzo, as an Eng- lish composer called him, recently made a journey to Berlin under great difficulties. He aoes not understand a word of Ger- man, and his torrents of excited Italian left the Teuton officials either totally un- movea or heartily amused.- In Munich both Mascagni and his luggage wounld have been left behind save for the kindly assistance of a kindly siranger, who acted as interpreter and rescued him from his | difficulties. Full of gratitude the com- | poser was about to press a liberal tip on his benefactor, who turned out to be Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern. His next adventure turned was to encounter a Frenchman who was™®o pleased to meet | the maestro that he changed the plans of his journey just to see the composer at work on his new opera. As neither could understand the other, conversation was out of the question. In relating s ad- ventures to Sir Arthur Sullivan, Mascagni said: *“Those Frenchmen was easily satis- fied.”—New York World. How the Czar Bought a Picture. A kind-hearted act of the Czar at a re- cent charity bazaar at the Winter Palace has excited much comment in St. Peters- burg. On a certain day the school-chil- dren, for whose benefit the bazaar was held, were permitted tb'see the works of art, and each child was presented with a lottery ticket as a present. One of these tickets happened to draw a valuable prize, the picture of *‘Charity,” by the French artist Berthier. Add the happy winner was a Jittle girl belonging to one of the poorest families in the city. The Czar had greatly admired the picture and made inquiries as to who had won it. Hearing | that it had fallen to the share of a poor | little girl in humble life, the Czar offered | to buy it, and the sale was closed for $4000. The money will be invested in a marriage | portion for the child, who already fings herself an object of much juvenile atten- tion. Starboard and Larboard. The words *‘starboard” and *‘larboard,” as used in the nautical vocabulary, are from the lItalian words questa borda, meaning “this side,” and quella borda, “that side.”” Abbreviated, these two phrases appear as sta borda and la borda, and by corruption of languages were soon rendered ‘‘Jarboard’” and ‘‘starboard” by the English sailors. Years ago an order of the admiralty discontinued the use of “larboard” and substituted ‘‘port.” An Improved Churn, An inventive genius bas given to the | world an improved churn. Itis arranged on a long rocking seat, so that the usually irksome duty of churning can be combined Rocking Churn. with a pleasant rock and perusal of the latest novel. It is said that by the time the “‘plot begins to thicken’” the cream follows suit, and before the pointisreached where “they marry and live happy ever after’” the butter is ready to remove to the cooler.—Philadelphia Inquirer. Electric Lights for the Microscope. Professor H. von Heurck has applied to the microscoge an electric light apparatus, by the use of which he is independent of the time of day for his scientific investiga- | tions, His system of lighting is very effective, and at the same time its con- struction is inexpensive. He uses, all told, three lamps. The first one, A, is | | placed above the object to be examined, | and is particilarly adapted for opaque objects. It is attached to the objective roper by a small ring, and can be turned in all directions. Several points at the arm B enable the operator to turn the light around to nnr desired point. The second lamp, B, is also a small Jamp, and may be easily moved about by the sliding frame of the microscope upon which it rests. The third and largest lamp, C, takes the place of the ordinary reflector, and its universal joint equally allows adjustment at any desired point.” A small rheostat, D,is provided and fastened to the base of the microscope for the purpose of regulating the current of the electric lights. A small switch on the stand at B | enables the operator to turn on any or all of the lamps at one and the same time. | i | gas-proof and that the gas with which it will be charged at_the point, of ascension will not.leak and will retain its buoyancy | until Andree and his two companions ! either reach the S. A. ANDREE, POLAR BALLOONIST. lpol& or, baffled, land on the most northerly part of the American | Continent. A curious feature of the balloon is the bie guide rope of coccanut fiber weighing 1000 ~ kilograms, a weight sufficient to maintain the balloon ata height of about 600 feet, at which elevation the explorers can study the regions over which they pass and which will enable M. Steindberg, the photographer, to picture them, The expedition will start from Gothen- burg on a specially chartered steamer, the Virgo, and will reach Northwestern Spitz- bergen in two weeks. There the explorers will debark and erect a temporary house, a picture of which is presented here. In this bouse the balloon will be charged with ‘gas carefully made by experts. It will require some time to make the gas and charge the envelope, but M. Andree 3xylascts to get away in the balloon early in uly. The Pole Nord will carry three persons— M. Andree, who is a capable aeronaut: Professor Gustav_Ekholm, the scientific observer, and Dr. Nils Steindberg, physi- cian and photographer. Andree does not know how long he will be in the air before he finds an air current that will drift him over the pole, but he expects the Pole Nord will be able to stay aloft three weeks and cover a distance of 3000 miles, and the balloon will be provisicned forthat period. This novel expedition is exciting the | greatest interest in scientific circles in Eu- rope, and many steam yachts will escort the Virgo as far as Spitzbergen and their distinguished passengers witness the as- cension of the Pole Nord. Every possible comin%;ency of Arctic travel has been pro- vided for; and as the Swedes have gener- ally been very fortunate in Arctic explora- tion, Andree’s compatriots are hopeful that good luck will attend hir and success crown his novel and daring attempt to uollve the world-old mystery of the north pole. Growers of Orchids. It is comm only supposed that Mr. Cham- berlain ‘13- the greatest amateur orchid- grower 1n the world, but this is far from being the case. His collection is worth $75,000 to $100,000. ‘The collection of the Dowager Empress of Germany, however, is worth nearly double that of Mr. Cham- berlain. Miss Alice Rothschild is a most enthusiastic norticul turist, her collection of roses alone being valued at $50,000. The Archduke Joseph of Austria owns $200,000 worth of flowers. W.W. Astor recently paid $6000 to an English grower for the stock of a single variety of rose tree. Baron Schroeder of Egham possesses the distinction of owning the most valuable zarden in the world. If his orchids alone were put upon the market they would un- questionably realize $500,000.—New York World. Scientifi otes. Experiments recently made show that soapsuds will reduce a sea almost as well as oil. It is expected that the electric light of | the future will be obtained by the utilizing of broken or alternate currents. A physician asserts that 99 per cent of what are termed colds are nothing more nor less than the poisoning of the mucous membrane by impure air. An expert is responsible for the opinion that the heart of a cyclist accomplishes in twenty-four hours a” labor equal to lifting 100 tons one foot from the earth. The .process of electro-zincing is being preferred in England to galvanizing, es- vecially for the tubes of boilers for marine work. The adhesion of the zinc to the To the Pole by Balloon. 8. A. Andree, a Swedish explorer, ex- | pects to start for the pole during the com- | ing summer. | The balloon isnow building at Vaugirard, | a suburb of Paris, and will be completed in time for the start of the expedition, | 'which has been fixed by Andree for the | last week of May or the early part of June. The balloon, which has been christened “Pole Nord,” will be made of silk, spe- | cially woven on the best looms of Lyons. The diameter of the “Pole Nord” will be | 2014 meters, its capacity 4500 meters. The ‘ bag will be made of three thicknesses of | silk, bound together by an adhesive varnish | specially prepared for the purpose.. It is calculated that the balloon will be | | iron is considered superior to that obtained by the.old process. A New York physician announces a sure cure for seasickness. He says if one takes a thirty-grain dose of bromide of sodium three times a day for two or three days before sailing the terrors of the deep nesd not affright the possessor of the weakest small incandescent lights might be fitted- in the helmets of the physicians and litter- bearers. These lights would announce to the wounded the approach of succor. Dr. Chandler has discovered in the con- stellation Pegasus a little, variable star which may be fairly said to wink. Two or three times in the course of a single night this curious star can be seen to fade and then brighten like a signal-light. For about two and three-quarter hours it gets fainter and fainter; then comes a chanze, ‘| and at the end of two and three-quarters { hours more it is as bright as at the begin- | ning. Unfortanately, it can only be seen ! with a telescope. Yet it ranks among the suns, The*amount of dampness in an fapart- ment may be tested by closing doors and windowsand leaving a piece of fresh quick- lime in the room for twenty-four hours. 1f three-quarters of an ounce of water is | absorbed by the lime the room may be considered “unhealthy. The amount of water absorbed is determined by weighing the lime. The photographic rifle is said to have proved a great success with the Emperor of Germany and his guests on a deer hunt. A littie camera is fixed to the gun and exposes a plate at the instant the shot is fired. The plate is quickly developed in a pocket-bath. The picture shows whether the animal was struck, and enables the hunter to avoid a fruitless chase if he has missed his game. Popular science.used to mean pleasing and graphic experiments made on lecture platforms with apparatus which produced pyrotechnical results. It used to mean the publication of startlinF and sensational tales based on some laboratory experi- ment which nad in it all the fascinations of a black art. Popular science to-day is something altogether different. It 1s the science of the scientist, explained in rerms that are easily understood, and given to the world in the language of men who are not sensationalists and who labor for the advancement of a higher civilization out of the pare love of such labor. Rear-Admiral S. Makaroff of the Russian navy is the inyentor of the Makaroff ram- guard, which, though it was devised but a short time ago, has received much favor- able comment from authorities in mari- | time matters. It is designed to minimize | the effects of collisions at sea such as re- sulted in the sinking of the Elbe and the British man-of-war Camperdown, two well-known disasters. The unprotected sharp edge of a steamer or the ram of a warship now penetrates the skin of the modern iron vessel in a collision as a | hatchet penetrates the side of a tin can, | and water-tight compartments have been | found an inadequate protection. Admiral | Makaroff has suggested that the prow of a steamer or the ram of a warship be pro- | tected with a false nose which shall be | strong enough to cut the water, but in case of collision would flatten out and oppose a | broad surface to the other vessel's side. | The invention is being generally adoptea | in the Russian navy. What it The teeth—fi saves : ‘ A small sample bottle free, If you mention the The gums—from softening. The breath—from impurity. The pocket—money. NEW TO-DAY. By using liquid Sozodont _every day, the powder (in_same package) twice a week, you get the most you possibly can ' for the money, " rom decay. San Francisco CALL. Address the Proprietors of Sozodont, HALL & RUCKEL, Wholesale Druggists, New York City. stomach. A substitute for natural skin for wounds, which is entirely absorbed during the heal- ing process, is made in Germany from the muscular coating of the intestines of ani- mals, This is divested of mucous mem- brane, half dizested in a pepsin solution, then treated with tannin and gallic acid. Experiments, recently made in France regarding the lighting of a field of battle with electric searchlights did not result favorably. It is suggested, however, that EL ECTRIC LAMP MOUNTED ON THE MICROSCOPE. e Agood thing-pu ftleAx LUG sh it along The largest piece of D tobacco ‘ever sad foriocents GRATEFUL-COMFORTING. EPPS’S COCOA BREAKFAST—SUPPER. 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