Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 January 1910 — Science AND Invention [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Science AND Invention

Pure radliim never has been produced, the almost priceless metal always being In combination, either a chloride or a bromide. T ' k . The British government has organized a special department In connection with ,lts national physical laboratory for the investigation of problems of aerial construction and navigation. An automatic time signal sent out from the Hamburg observatory by telephone to all instruments connected with the system of that city has been heard as far as Copenhagen and Paris. In the spring of 1909 seventeen American robin redbreasts, male and female, after being confined for a time In a large aviary near Guildford, in Burred, England, were’ set at liberty. They built nests In the surrounding trees, and In a shdrt time there were some thirty, young robins added to the colony. Efforts are being made to retain them In the neighborhood during the winter, and it Is hoped that thus the American redbreast may become a permanent addition to the bird population of England.

The Electrician notes some Interesting facts about the ventilation of the great Simplon tunnel. The change from steam to electric traction has not altered the arrangements for ventilation. The two entrances, at Brigue, Switzerland, and Iselle, Italy, are covered, except at the moment when a train enters or leaves, by huge cloth icreens, —which are automatically raised and lowered by electricity. Two electric fans, n#arly 4 ten feet In diameter, and making 350 turns per minute, drive air Into the tunnel at Brigue at the rate of 1,000 liters per second, and a similar station at Iselle draws air from the tunnel. The airpressure on the screen at Brigue amounts to four kilograms per Bquare meter, while -on the screen at Iselle the pressure Is twelve kilograms per square meter. Max Bermann of Budapest has recently shown that the Bpark rays made by the Incandescent particles thrown off from iron and steel when put upon an emery wheel afford a means of testing the composition of tlje metals. Carbon steels, manganese Bteel, and steels containing tungsten and nickel, each give a characteristic spark, of different forms and colors, which are easily distinguishable. The form of the spark picture changes with the quantity of carbon. Even so slight a difference as .01 per cent of carbon, Mr. Bermann says, can be detected Id this manner. Pointed branching lines denote carbon steel; tool steel Bhowa the appearance of ’’blossom” on the branches; tungsten steel gives redstreaked rays and Bhining points, "with lltle balls thrown out of the formation,” and "an explosion appearance In the articulation” denotes the presence of molybdenum, vanadium or titanium.