The Syracuse Journal, Volume 4, Number 41, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 8 February 1912 — Page 6

Syracuse Journal W. G. CONNOLLY, Publisher. SYRACUSE INDIANA HL... — STRONG MEN OF THE PAST Present Day Athletes Certainly Have No Superiority Over Their Predecessors. I It would seem that the Romans, who conquered 86 nations, recognized the secret of success in things military when they called their armies exercltus, bodies of drilled or exercised men. During the middle ages it was the custom of princes, and even of wealthy burghers, to keep runners who followed their carriages afoot while the horses were going at full gallop. Fast runners were in great demand, and if parents wanted to qualify their children for a position of that sort they began to train them from the earliest childhood, making them undergo a singular operation, namely, the removal of the spleen, which was supposed to have an influence upon the vigor of the lungs. From the town of Puebla, in Mexico, a sandy road leads across the hills to the Valley of Amozoc. Early in the morning that road is crowded with Indian peddlers and hucksters, who carry heavy baskets on their backs. They frequently come from a distant* of 10 or 12 miles, but make the whole trip at a sharp trot and without a single stop. Their children trot at their sides, carrying small bundles or bags, and thus learn their trade so gradually that they hardly feel the bardsft»s of it. It seems curious that a small, shortlegged dog can as a general thing outrun the tallest man. This has not al- I ways been the case. An ostrich proves 1 that two legs can go as fast as four j Want of exercise in man probably ac- • counts for the whole difference. Lifting weights has always been a favorite exercise for the lungs. There Is a story of a Grecian ' Samson, the athlete Milo of Crotona, who day after day carried a calf around the arena ana gained in strength as the calf gained in weight until finally he could carry a steer. We may well doubt whether the steer was quite fullgrown. There is, however, a case of record, apparently well authenticated, to the effect that one Winship of Boston practiced with dumb-bells and bagfuls of pig iron until he was able to lift (though only for a moment) the weight of the heaviest steer in Texas. Smallest Republic. The smallest republic in the world, without exception, is that of Tavolara, a little island situated about a dozen kilometers (seven and a half miles) ’ from Sardinia. It is a little more than a mile in length, and has a population of 55. The sovereignty of the island was accorded in 1836 by Charles Albert to the Bafteleonl family. Up to 1881 Paul I. reigned peaceably over his little island kingdom, but at his death the Islanders propleamed a republic. By the constitution of the republic the president is elected for ten years, and women exercise the franchise. 1 Always Lead Their Sheep. Much has been 5 made of the fact that the shepherds of Palestine lead their sheep. This custom has arisen, of course, through the absence of roads and the scanty nature of the pasturage found on the mountain sides. It would be impossible to drive the flocks from place to place unless dogs were employed, and there are no sheep dogs in eastern countries. Henec the shepherd goes on in front, the sheep - following behind, a shepherd boy as a rule bringing up the rear. This is the shepherd’s principal duty, to guide his sheep and find pasture for them. What Shall It Profit? Following is from a sketch of the late Joseph Pulitzer, in Harper’s Weekly, by one who knew r him: “He began life with the physical equipment of an athlete, but during his first 40 years he neglected all care of physical needs in his tremendous absorption in seeking success.” To paraphrase a Bible saying: “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own”— health? Wonderful African City. In many ways Is Kano a wonderful place to find in central Africa. This native cits has great enfolding walls 12 miles in circumference, pierced by 18 deep gateways, with platform and guardhousees and massive doors heavily damped with iron. Its written records date back nearly 800 years. Suburban Gossip. “That gentleman farmer cannot be getting on so well." "Why not?” “I notice he Is doing his own sowing.” Took His Word for It. "Walt a moment,"' said the budding novelist. "Til show you the proofs of my novel.” the other hastened away. “No, no.” he said. “I don’t need proofs. Your word is enough.”—Liverpool Mercury. The Present One. “What Is the dance of present events?” *Tt seems to be something of a Tin-key trot of the powers on the Persian carpet”

The IfcsLA Stiam + THE ROTARY KMT MOTOR ♦ • 1 UIcBIND I reduced to ns simplest terms 1,

W IKOLA TESLA, whose reputation must, naturally, stand upon the contributions he made In electrical engineering when the art was yet In Its eoi’parative infancy, Is by training and cl lice a mechanical engineer, with a stroiig len’’ ing to that branch of it, which ia covered by the term “steam engineering.” ( For several years he has devoted much of his time to improvements in thermodynamic conversion and the result of his theories and practical experiments is to be found in an entirely new form of prime movers now in operation in a large plant in New York. The basic principle which determined Tesla s investigations was the well known fact that when a fluid, steam.

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gas or water, is used as a vehicle of energy, the highest possible economy can be obtained only when the, changes in velocity and directions of the movei ment of the fluid are made as gradual and easy as 1 possible. In the present forms of turbines in which the energy is transmitted by pressure, re-action or . impact, as in the De [Laval, Parsons, and Curtiss types, more or less sudden changes both of speed ; and direction are involved, with consequent shocks, I vibrations and destructive eddies. Furthermore the ' introduction of pistons, blades, buckets, and inter- ! cepting devices of this general class into the path [ of the fluid involves much delicate and difficult me- ■ chanlcal construction which adds greatly to the cost both of production and maintenance. The theoretically perfect turbine would be one tn which the fluid was so controlled from the inlet to the exhaust that its energy was delivered to the driving shaft with the least possible losses due to 1 ; the mechanical means employed. The mechanically perfect turbine would be one which combined simplicity and cheapness of construction, durability.

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ease and rapidity of repairs, and a small ratio of weight and space occupied to the power delivered on the shaft. Mr. Tesla maintains that in the turbine which forms the subject of this article he has carried the steam and gas motor a long step forward toward the maximum attainable efficiency, both theoretical and mechanical. That these claims are well founded is, shown by the fact that in the plant where Mr. Tesla carried out his experiments, he is securing an output of 200 H.P. from a single-stage steam turbine with atmospheric exhaust, weighing less than 2 pounds per H.P. which is contained within a space measuring 2 feet by 3 feet, by 2 feet in height and which accomplishes these results with a thermal fall of only 130 8.T.U., that is about one-third of the total drop available. Furthermore, considered from the mechanical standpoint, the turbine is astonishingly simple and economical in construe-, tlon, and by the very nature of its construction should prove to possess such a durability and freedom from wear and breakdown as to place it tn these respects far in advance of any type of steam or gas motor of the present day. Briefly stated, Tesla’s steam motor consists of a set of flat steel disks mounted on a shaft and rotating within a casing, the steam entering with high velocity at the periphery of the disks, flowing between them in free spiral paths and finally escaping through exhaust ports at their center. Instead of developing the energy of the steam by pressure, reaction, or impact on a series of blades or vanes, Tesla depends upon the fluid' properties of adhesion and viscosity—the attraction of the steam to the faces of the disks and the resistance of its particles to molecular separation combining in transmitting the velocity energy of the motive fluid to the plates and the shaft. By reference to the accompanying photographs it will be seen that the turbine has a rotor which in the present case consists of 25 flat steel disks, one one thirty-second of an inch in thickness, of hardened and carefully tempered steel. The rotor as assembled is 3% inches wide on the face, by 18 inches in diameter and when the turbine is running at its maximum working velocity, the material is never under a tensile stress exceeding 50,000 lbs. per square inch. The rotor; is mounted tn a casing which is provided with two inlet nozzles for use in running direct and for reversing. Openings are cut out at the central portion of the disks and these communicate directly with exhaust ports formed In the side of the casing. In operation, the steam or gas as the case may be, is directed on the periphery of the disks through the nozzles (which may be diverging, straight or converging) where more or less of its expansive energy is converted into velocity energy. When the machine is at rest the radial and tangential forces due to the pressure and velocity of the steam cause it to travel in a rather short curved path toward the central exhaust opening, but as the disks commence to rotate and their speed increases, the steam travels in spiral paths-, the length of which increases until in the case of the present turbine, the particles of the fluid complete a number of turns around the shaft before reaching the exhaust, covering in the meantime a lineal path some 12 to 16 feet in length. During its progress from inlet to exhaust, the velocity and pressure of the steam are

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reduced until it leaves the exhaust at 1 or 2 pounds gage pressure. The resistance to the passage of the steam or gas between adjoining plates is approximately proportionate to the square of the relative speed, which is at maximum toward the center of the disks and is equal to the tanegential velocity of the steam. Hence the resistance to radial escape is very great, being furthermore enhanced by the centrifugal force acting outwardly. One of the most desirable elements in a perfected turbine is that of reversibility and we are ail familiar with the many and frequently cumbersome means which have been employed to secure this end It will be seen that this turbine is admirably adapted for reversing since its effect can be secured by merely closing the right hand valve and opening that on the left. It is evident that the principles of this turbine are equally applicable, by slight modifications of design, for its use as a pump and we present a photograph of a demonstration model which is in operation in Mr. Tesla’s office. This little pump driven by an electric motor of 1-12 H.P. delivers 40 gallons per minute against a head of 9 feet. The discharge pipe leads up to a horizontal tube provided with a wire mesh for screening the water and checking the eddies. The water falls through a slot in the bottom of this tube and after passing below a baffle plate flows in a steady stream about % inch thick 18 inches in width, to a trough from which it returns to the pump. Pumps of this character show an efficiency favorably comparing with that of centrifugal pumps, and they have the advantage that great heads are obtainable economically in a single stage. The runner is mounted in a two-part volute casing and except for the fact that the place of the buckets, vanes, etc., of the ordinary centrifugal pumps is taken by a set of disks, the construction is generally similar to that of pumps of the standard kind. In conclusion it should be noted that although the experimental plant develops 200 H.P. with 125 pounds at the supply pipe and free exhaust. It could show an output of 300 H.P. with the full <> pressure of the supply circuit. Furthermore Mr. Tesla states that if it were compounded and the exhaust were led to a low pressure unit, carrying about three times the number of disks contained in the high pressure element, with connection to a condenser affording 28% to 29 inches of vacuum the results obtained in the present high-pressure machine indicate that the compound unit would give an output of 600 H.P. without great increase of dimensions. This estimate is very conservative. The testing plant consists m ?wo identical turbines, shown in the illustration, connected by a carefully caHl. rated tension spring, the machine to the left being the driving element, the other the brake. In the brake element the is delivered to the blades in a direction opposite to that of the rotation of the disks. Fastened to the shaft of the brake turbine is a hollow pulley provided with two diametrically opposite narrow slots and an incandescent lamp placed inside close to the rim. As the pulley rotates two flashes of light pass out of the same and by means of reflecting mirrors and lenses, they are carried around the plant and fall upon two rotating glass mirrors placed back to back on the

shaft of the driving turbine so that the center line of the silver coatings coincides with the axis of the shaft. The mirrors are so set that when . there is no tension on the spring, the light beams . produce a luminous spot stationary at the zero of the scale. But as soon as load is put on, the j beam Is deflected through an angle which indi- ! cates directly the tension, The scale and spring are so proportioned and adjusted that the horsepower can be read directly from the deflections i noted. The indications of this device are very ■ accurate and have shown that when the turbine . is running at 9,000 revolutions under an inlet ' pressure of 125 lbs. to the square inch, and with free exhaust, 200 brake HP. are developed. The , consumption under these conditions of maximum of output is 38 lbs. of saturated steam per H.P. per hour —a very high efficiency when we consider that the heat-drop, measured by thermometers, is only 130 B.T.U. and that the energy transformation is effected in one stage. Since three times the number of heat units are available in a modern plant with superheat and high vacuum the above means a consumption of less than 12 lbs. per H.P. hour in such turbines adapted to take up the full drop. Under certain conditions, however, very high thermal efficiencies have been obtained which demonstrate that in large machines based on this principle, in Which a very small clip can be secuted, the steam consumption will be much lower and should, Mr. Tesla states approximate the theoretical minimum, thus resulting in nearly frictionless turbine transmitting almost the entire expansive energy of the steam to the shaft. The Hounded Deer "It doesn’t make any difference now,” said a hunter of long experience in the woods in an after supper talk at an Adirondack campfire, “inasmuch as the deer hound is no longer permitted to be a part of the hunt, but it is a fact that one long cherished belief of deer hunters is simply a backwoods fable. That belief is that a deer pursued by hounds when it is taken to a stream will invariably go down with the current instead of upstream, its instinct teaching it that if it goes up its scent will pass down with the water and the dogs will be enabled to follow it just as they did on dry land. “I long ago satisfied myself that water doesn’t carry the scent of a deer with it, but that on the contrary it destroys the scent. “If the water is deep • enough for the deer to swim it suits the fleeing animal best. If it is not the deer trots or lopes along through it. It does not bound as on land, for it must drink, and must drink as it goes. In the hounding days the hunter who believed that the deer always went downstream and acted in accordance" with tha. belief might recover the trail and he might not, while the hunter who knows better than to take stock in that belief would not be a great while in getting his dogs on the scent again. “Os course I am speaking of deer that took to the mountain stream and not those that found a pond or lake more convenient, it being the nature of deer to seek water if possible, when the dogs are on their tracks. In none of the streams where deer sought to throw the dogs off the scent could a person go many rods up or down without coming to some obstruction in the course of the deer which the animal would have to get over. “The hunter who knew would in the first place satisfy himself that the deer hadn’t gone straight j across the water, and would then go in one direction along the stream until he came to the first log or rock or other channel obstruction. If the deer had gone that way the obstruction in its path would be wet on top frbm the water that dropped from the deer as it climbed over it. If it was dry the hunter would know instantly that the quarry had not passed in that direction and the discovery of the spot where the deer had left the stream would be only a matter of time. “But the deer doesn’t have to take to water any more to elude the hounds, and it can make no difference now to old time believers in that fable how many score of deer they have lost through t|iat belief. Maybe there wouldn’t have been so many deer ia the woods today if more of the hunters contemporary with deer hounding had known better.”

ML JILLS BIG Documents Covering Wide Range Expenses Come to Speaker. Uncle Sam’s "Read Wen" Who Are “On the Wing” All the Year— Expend Enormous Sums of Money. Washington—Executive documenta that dribble along in the mail of the speaker of the house show where great sums of government money go with every passing year.* Legislators who were real solons in da?y and have long since passed thq way of all legislative solons preached, and practiced the doctrine of publicity, now ! supposed to be a modem thought. By i enactments which first and last numI bered scores, if not hundreds, they I Imposed upon the departments the I necessity of making transactions pubi lie. But these reports are. chiefly ; tabulation* and columns of figures., Os. course, up-to-date people, 1 as a rule, pay little heed to ®uch aa output. They are too busy to scan and analyze. Who cares that 1100 were paid to a civil engineer to make’a survey of Podnnk creek with a view to its improvement when an appropriation from congress chuld be obtained? Who cares that tho trav = !lng' expenses of Special Agent, Bill j Jones, investigating land frauds on . the public domain, amounted to T9BT { within a few months? But most of these comparative.y I small expenses, which run into millions annually, are all reported in de tail' t 6 congress. It would not be correct to say that the expenditures are Improper.' Very many of them cannot be avoided if the government is ; to be run efficiently. And yet the fact i remains that there probably coiild be nuclf curtailment without impairing •fficiency in the public service. Travttf bills, for instance, have inireased during the last lecade. It has become net attraction of offide-holding at Washington that one ha? the opportunity of seeing the world without expense, as enlistment 1 posters for the army «<nd navy allur--1 Jvsly announce. The bureau chief 1 who cannot get in a pleasant trip or I two everjy year to some distant part ; of the country is rather siow. He is j looked j|pwn upon by h£e mere Gnter- ' prisingdftdleagues. There are literally hundreds of ! ‘government men,” as they are often I railed out in the states, who are "on ' the wing” nearly all of the year. They ; have a great variety of missions. Some I are connected with the score and i more of commissions and others are j special agents, inspectors and the 1 like. of course, are within tile law. Otherwise they could not draw their expense money. Primarily congress is as much to blame as beads of departments if there are abuses. The comptroller of t the currency, a stem official, must approve of every Item as coming within the law. Secretary of Agriculture Wilson has lust reported that . "expediwes for travel” in bis department for the year amounted to $197,509.85. That Is Only one of tSe nine departments. Some spent much less for travel and some spent a vast deal more. But the department of agriculture serves as a fair example. There were 76 different accounts, and some accounts carried expenses for a number of men. Postal officials travel morfe probably, than those of the other departments of the government, except it be the army and navy. That, however, is a service very near the people. As the post office department is wellnigh self-supporting now, according to the method of bookkeeping followed by its accountants, all these postal journeys are paid for out of the proceeds of postage stamp sales. The war department has the great travel account of aM the government departments. Officers and enlisted men must be transported long distances and by the thousands and tens of thousands. There is a smaller but none the ies| fat travel account for the navy. The interior department, administering great affairs and enterprises in the west, likewise spends big sums upon its travelers. The government has become a ajammoth business enterprise. There must be Washington men from time to time upon the grpund. Inspection alone costs millions of dollars. U. S. LEADS IN WARSHIP BUILDINCt ’ • The naval intelligence office has made good a statement contained in Secretary Meyer’s annual report of great interest to shipbuilding circles by showing that with the exception of Great Britain the United States can and does turn out cheaper and bigger warships, and in less time, than any other maritime power. The naval inI telligence office has just issued a little pamphlet concerning “Some of the Principal Navies of the World,” in-I tended to answer many requests fori Information from debating societies* Journals and periodicals, as well a< Trom individuals, concerning the relaf tlve strength of the principal navalj powers. On the basis of the tonnage* already completed, the United State,? stands second t<l Great Britain, bu,‘. Germany will occupy that enviable place as soon as the vessels bow building are completed. One point of interest in this report is that the big 21.825-ton dreadnought Utah was built here in two years and six months, while the best performance of the British yards last J ear

was to turn out the Monarch, dis placement 22,500 tons, in one year and eight months. Germany took two years and eight months from the time the keel was laid to commission the battleship Helgoland of 22,440 tons; France took three years and one month to complete the battleship Danton, 18.029 tons, while Japan consumed five years and one month in building the battleship Aid, of 19,800 tons. In the matter of cost, too, the American shipbuilders make a good showing. The 20,000-ton dreadnought North Dakota cost $8,472,150; the German Helgoland, $11,239,800; the Japanese Satsuma, of 19,350 tons, .cost $9,262,800. and the French Voltaire, $10,520,000. Even the British ship builders were driven hard by their American competitors, for the Superb. 1,400 tons, smaller than the North Dakota, cost $8,158,828, while the big Lion; of 26.350 tons, or about’ the size of our New York, cost $9,125,875 with out her guns and stores. KAW DESCENDENT PRESIDES. For the first time in the history of the senate a member of that body with Indian blood in his veins was selected as its presiding officer by a vote of the senate itself. When Vice-President Sherman’s niother-in. law, Mrs. Babcock of Utica, N. Y., died recently it was that there should be a presiding officer chosen by the senate during the a.bsence hf the vice-president. Under the rules of the senate, the vice-presi-dent may temporarily call some one to the chair and in this manner Sen ator Curtis of Kansas has presided over the senate iki times past. In cases of extended absence, however, the senate must hive a president pr ■ tempore to wield the gavel It will be recalled that many futile hours were used in the last session of the present congress in trying to elect a president pro tempore of the senate Senator Gallinger ol New Hampshire was the choice of a large majority of the republicans, but he was opposed by the progressive republicans., who hold the balance of power in the sen ate, on the ground that he had not kept full faith with them in the mak ing up of the senate committee in the last session. Consequently, the senate has been unable to elect a president pro tempore. So that Vice-President Sherman might leave Washington to attend the funeral’of his relative, a compromise was agreed, to whereby Senator Gal linger nominated Senator Curtis to preside over the senate for a week and this motion was unanimous!} agreed to. Senator Curtis’ grandmother was a Kaw Indian. He was born in Kan sas and served eight terms in the house of representatives before his election to the senate. In 1903 he received 1,600 acres of land in Okla homa as a part of the Kaw allotment. He shares in the boner of representing the native Americans in the senate with Senator Owen of Oklahoma, whose mother was a member of the Cherokee nation. AEROPLANE FLEET FOR ARMY. Before the end of the present fiscal year the army will own twenty aero planes, distributed among army posts, some even going to the Philippines. General Allen, the chief signal officer is asking congress for an appropria tion to buy as many more of the machines during the next fiscal year, and with |hat number at his disposal he believes it will be possible to dem onstrate thoroughly the utility of aer oplanes for military purposes. Information as to the results obtained by the Italian officers who have used aeroplanes in the war with Tur key in Tripoli is eagerly awhited. but so far the details of the operations of the Italian military aviation have been carefully guarded. It has become evident that there must be a substantial addition to the number of officers in the signal corps if the branch of the service is to re main charged with the handling ff! aeroplanes in the military operations. The machines might be intrusted to civilian experts, but to make them of value for military purposes they must be manned by officers trained in military science and able to do scientific scouting w«rk. BIG GUNS STAND TEST. It has become known that the big guns of the heavy defenses guarding the southern entrance to New York harbor were given- an extraordinary test recently inXhe presence of Secretary of Stimson and General Weaver, of coast artillery. The dTy was a raw one, the then standing at about five de above zero, while a gale of fifty qrfes velocity swept over the harbor ■ho soldiers were obliged to operate Se delicate range-finding instruments With their bare hands, and so bitter Kas the cold that the gun carriages Fworked stiffly and did not return to the [ loading position after discharge, ma king loading operations much harder Under all these difficulties, however splendid results were attained. Two targets were towed by a tug at a dis tance of three and a half to four miles from the batteries, and there is nc doubt that every shot at them would have been a hit on the battleships ol the dreadnought type. This was the first time the coast artillery ever held fire command 'service practice undei such unfavorable conditions of wind and weather. Secretary Stimson wa« greatly pleased with the results.