Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1885 — MECHANICAL. [ARTICLE]

MECHANICAL.

Tiiedco instruction ol a ship railway to connect tl«l Bay of Fundy with the Gull of St. Lawrende lias now been finally decided on. ! This will not exactly make Nova Scotia lan island, but ships of 1000 tons and under will be able to reach St. John from Montreal, Quebec and other ports on the St Lawrence without having to encircle the dangerous Nova Scotian coast, a saving of GOO miles. The ship railway, which is to he seventeen miles long, will he supported by a subsidy of $300,001) per year for twenty years, from the Canadian Government. “Tkhnf,” plate can easily he distinguished from properly tinned sheet iron by the sense of touch when handled by experienced persons, unless the terne coating contains an unusually small proportion of lead. Fordoz’s test may, however, be depended upon as final. Clean the surface of the suspected plate, using a little ammonia to remove every trace of grease, and dry thoroughly ip a gentle heat, after applying a drop of nitric acid. Let, a drop of the officinal solution of iodide of potassium fall on the place where the nitric acid was .laid. A yellow spot will appear if tho least lead is present. This test, as~has been shown, is a good one for examining the quality of enamels of cooking vessels.

The restoratioh of steel to its original quality, after it has been burned in the forge, has been tested in the case of various classes of steel in common use for tools, and with varying degrees of success. Sometimes it is found that this accidental burning can be repaired by hammering tbe piece of steel while hot, but not often to profit. This alteration, known as burning, is explained to be due to a more or less considerable decarburation of the metal, and among the processes that have been devised for it 3 treatment the following is said to have given good results: The piece of metal is brought to a red heat and suddenly plunged into a mixture compounded of two parts of pitch, the same proportion of train oil, one part of tallow, with the additioh of a small quantity of common salt. This operation is repeated two or three times. It is stated on good authority that there are now 314 cotton mills in the South, having 1,276,422 spindles and 21,873 looms, while at the time the census was taken in 1880, the Sonth had only 180 mills, with 713,989 spindles and 15,222 looms. The largest increase in the number of mills waarmade in North Carolina, where a gain of forty-three mills and 110,595 spindles is shown, while Georgia made an increase of 139,156 spindles and twenty-two mills. In 1880, the value of manufactured cotton produced at tjhe South was a little over $21,000,000, while in 1883 the value had risen to between $35,000,000 and $40,000,000. Luring the last three years and a half $2,000,000 has been invested by new and old Southern cotton mills in machinery, tho bulk of which has, been paid to northern and western machinery manufacturers.

An ingenious machine has been invented in England for rolling out cut glass into sheets. The machine, or table, is portable, being mounted on wheels so that it can be moved with ease to any part of the glass works. The moulding tables are of cast iron, and of widths varying from two feet •nine inches to fonr feet two inches, and tuo surface is either plain, ribbed, checkered or formed with any device which it is desired to impress on the glass. On each aide of the table a rack is mounted on the lrame of thß carriage, and gearing into each rack is a toothed wheel mciinted on a shaft, which' also carries a plain iron drum the width of the table. The melted glass is poured on the table in front of the roller* which is then passed to and ffo by means of hand wheels, and the glass is thus spread out into a sheet. An adjustable guide is plaeed at the back of the roller to regulate its travel, and means are provided for varying the thickness of the sl|eet rolled. 4