Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 June 1886 — MECHANICAL. [ARTICLE]

MECHANICAL.

'’FT''', t 1 * The cost of manufacturing barbed wire is given as follows.: Cost of plain wire. $2.80; license,' 15 cents ; cost of manufacture and selling, 65 cents; total, $3.60. Barb wire has been sold as low as $3.25, but it is claimed that at the present cost of plain wire, barb wire cannot be produced for that, price. In order to render glue insoluble in water, even hot water, it is only necessary when dissolving glue for use to add a little potassium bichromate to the water and expose the glued part to the light. ’The proportion of bichromate jrilljrary with circumstances • lint for most purposes, about one-fifth of the amount of glue will suffice. A‘new, preservative lubricant which promises to be of great value in the arts is called pedro-vaseline. It is a clear liquid hydro-carbon, obtained from petrolatum by depriving it of twenty-five per cent, of solid paraffine. It is insoluble in water and does not grease, yet it lubrifies all bodies and preserves them from oxidation. It is endowed with the properties of water, alcohol, glycerine, and the fixed oils. For preserving bright steel articles, and probably as a watchmaker’s lubricant, it wilj prove valuable. . Some interesting particulars are given by M. Escalle, director of the important works at Tamaris, in regard to the employment of blocks of compressed eoal, in lieu of coke, for blast furnaces. With the ‘"ores of the country, which are argilo-silicidus and small, the quantity of compressed fuel em-' ployed is 20 per cent., but with those of Motka or'Pilhals it reaches regularly 30 per cent. It has been found'that by the use of these blocks a much higher temperature of hot blast is obtained, and that the proportion of combustible consumed, coke and compressed coal included, per ton of pig iron produced is less than until coke alone. M. Escalle attributes this result to the quantity of water, 1| per cent., contained in the compressed coal blocks used by him, as well as to the nature of the volatile matters. The volume of gas obtained per ton of the compressed fuel of these works was some 7,620 feet. A -cobbespondent of the Woodworker says about fastening a belt: “After quite a good experience with a great many ways of joining, I must say that above all others I prefer lapping and riviting, and I will give my reasons therefor. First, and above all other things, a riveted joint is the cheapest. I don’t mean cemented and riveted, but lapped and riveted, taking care to skive nicely, so that the joint will not be clumsy, making the scarf according to the size of the belt. Do not scarf the ends down too thin; if you do the rivets will be likely to tear out; A little practice in this style of fastening a belt will make you do a nice job, and if you once get used to it, I will warrant that you will never use any other method. It takes no more time, if as much, as it does to either lace or hook a belt with any device I have ever seen, and I have seen a great many. This style of fastening should be used over the mill, whether driving belts or not.” ■

A metallic telegraph* pole has been adopted by the Canadian Government for its telegraph lines on the Northwestern prairies. The pole is constructed of malleable galvanized iron, and 1| inches in diameter at the top, and 2i inches in diameter at the bottom, and weighs less than fifty pounds. The bottom of the pole is set into a claw-plate, upon which the earth is closely packed to a height of about two feet. Then another plate is put into place around the pole, and the earth is packed upon* it to the level of the ground. The claw-plate takes a hold in the ground at once, so that the pole becomes solidly fixed immediately after being set, which desideratum is only obtained by the ordinary wooden pole after it has been in the ground for at least a year. A recent test is said to have shown the great strength of the pole, as a heavy No. 6 government wire was strung, and the poles subjected to the greatest possible strain, but without moving them in the least. An electric motor for stre'et-car service has been put into use at Stratford, England, with acceptance. An engine consuming only two tons of coal a week will charge the batteries sufficient to do the work of forty-four horses each week. The electricity is supplied for the power from fifty storage cells discharging 280 amperes at the rate of forty to fifty an hour. By the application of a lever between the motor and the axle, so that while the motor whirls at a high rate of speed to develop the greatest efficiency the lever is brought into play as a man puts a bar under a weight to lift, the inertia of the loaded car is overcome. The motor is connected by pinions horizontally with a large stationary rack, and vertically with the wheels, so that when the engine starts the pinions gear into the rack, and so cauise the motor to revolve. Then the motor, by action of its fixed vertical shaft, 1 becomes the driving axle, and so the wheels go round. By means of clutches a backward or forward motion is secured without reversing the revolving motor.