24 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



diameter, and it is those in particular that have given so much 

 trouble. With the high speed of cable used, it was soon found 

 that the wheels were very rapidly destroyed ; or, if made of any 

 substance hard enough to resist the action of the cable, thev in 

 turn as rapidly destroyed the latter. This has at last been obvi- 

 ated by filling the dovetailed groove in the face of the wheels 

 with gutta percha, driven in hard ; and it is stated that wheels 

 so constructed have been in use 7 3 7 ears without injury. The 

 inventor, and the constructing engineers, Messrs. Stein & Co., of 

 Alsace, who have introduced the system, estimate that it is possi- 

 ble to transmit 120 horse-power 12 miles with a loss of but 21 

 horse-power. The cost is stated at 320 per mile for every- 

 thing, including cost of erection, and 1 per horse-power for the 

 terminal apparatus, which of course is small in comparison with 

 that of any system of transmission of the water itself for similar 

 distances ; and the only question remaining is the relative cost of 

 repairs. If the statement published may be relied on, these are 

 not excessive with the new system. The comparison with the 

 method of transmitting the water bodily, illustrates beautifully 

 the theoretical principle which is involved in this means of work- 

 ing, namely, the reduction of mass and the increase of velocity, 

 the quick-running rope carrying in itself all the power of the pon- 

 derous mass of water slowly flowing through an ordinary canal. 

 The importance of some system for the transportation of power 

 can hardly be overestimated, and it is a matter of surprise that 

 more serious attention has not been given to it by engineers. It 

 is certain that, looking forward at least to the time when our fuel- 

 beds shall be exhausted, as they one day will, such immense sup- 

 plies of power as exist at Niagara will not be permitted to run to 

 waste, and the first steps toward the practical accomplishment of 

 such a utilization of it are accordingly of peculiar interest. 

 Scientific American. 



TUBULAR WELLS. 



A new system of well-sinking has of late years proved very 

 successful in this country. It consists in forcing an iron pipe into 

 the ground, of a diameter of 1| inches and about 12 feet long, 

 pointed at one end, and perforated with holes about 16 inches 

 upward from the pointed end. A 56 Ib. weight, on the principle 

 of pile-driving, is let fall upon a movable iron clamp fitted round 

 the pipe, which is thus driven into the ground. The earth and 

 sand which first enter the pipe are pumped out, and the coarser 

 pebbles on the outside form a natural filter. Surface water is 

 never received in such a well, and the water is cold and fresh. 

 The process is cleanly, quick, and cheap, the price averaging 

 1 dollars per foot sunk; where no rock is to be drilled, a satis- 

 factory well can be obtained in half an hour, at a very trifling 

 expense. The system was applied with great success in the 

 Federal armies during the late war. 



