Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1887 — MECHANICAL. [ARTICLE]

MECHANICAL.

A new regulator for governing the flow of gas into the furnace of a steam boiler is made by having two chambers, one for steam and the other for gas, each having a diaphragm in connection with valve-openings and connecting lever between the two, whereby an increase of pressure in the steamgenerator simultaneously moves the diaphragms in opposite directions, thus diminishing the flow of gas by reducing the size of the valve-opening. To convey the iron ore from the San Juan mines in Spain, which lie behind a mountain, to the trunk line, an endless chain railway two miles in length is used. From the tips on the trunk line to the summit of the mountain, which is 1,712 feet above them, is a distance of 2,790 yards, an average gradient of 20.4 per cent., the maximum gradient being 43 per cent. The surplus power on the one side of the mountain is utilized in hauling up the ore from the mine on the other.The measurement of the candlepower of electric or any other light is accomplished by comparing the shadow cast by a rod in the light of a standard candle with the shadow cast by the light to be tested. By moving the latter toward or away from the rod a point will be reached at which the shadow of both will be of equal intensity; and the intensity of each is directly proportional to the squares of their distance from the shadows; for instance, if the light to be tested is ten times the distance of the candle, its intensity of light, or illuminating power, is 100 times as great. A machine has been brought out for cutting up old timber into firewood, and tying it in bundles ready for sale. It consists essentially of a choppingknife actuated like a mortise chisel. The timber is fed into the machine in lengths of about six inches, and the chisel splits them up along the grain of the wood. They pass out of the machine into a box, which, by agitation, settles them into the smallest bulk. They are then formed into bundles by mechanical means, compressed, and bound by wire. A fire-wood-bundling machine, worked by a pedal for smaller requirements, has also been introduced.— Cassell’s. Retained in perfect running order in the United States Steamboat Inspector’s office in this city is an oscillating engine constructed in 1809 by Daniel French. It is only of model size, and is probably the first engine of the kind ever constructed. Its description is simple. Having its pistonrod attached directly to the crank-pin, as the crank revolves the cylinder oscillates upon trunnions, one on each side of it, through which the steam enters and leaves the steam-chest. The valves are within the steam-chests, oscillating with the cylinder. It is perhaps as satisfactory an engine of this class as has ever been built, for it is well known that the mechanism of the actuating valves in oscillating steam engines has seldom proved perfectly sat* is factory in its operation. —Louisville Courier-Journal.