122 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



COMBINED LOG AND SOUNDING LINE. 



This instrument, recently patented in the United States by Adolphe 

 Percoul, of Marseilles, France, and which is designated as a "sounding log," 

 serves both the purpose of the common log, viz. that of ascertaining the 

 speed of the ship, and also to take soundings without " heaving the vessel 

 to." It consists of a buoy and a lead line, with some other simple appen- 

 dages. When used as a log, the line is fastened to the bottom of the buoy 

 with the lead hanging some distance below it, the other end of the line 

 being wound on a reel like the common log reel. When the lead and buoy 

 are thrown overboard, the log remains stationary on the surface of the water, 

 where it is held upright by the weight of the lead, which is held suspended 

 from it, and the line is unwound by the motion of the vessel, the same as the 

 common log line. The only difference between this line and that of the com- 

 mon log is, that it has colored marks in place of knots, as knots would inter- 

 fere with the operation of sounding. When the instrument is to be used for 

 taking soundings, the line is allowed to run over a pulley at the bottom of the 

 buoy, the freedom of its movement being only very slightly checked by the 

 friction of a spring. The lead is drawn by the line close up to the buoy, and 

 both are thrown overboard ; the vessel still continues on its course, while the 

 reel is held for the line to run out. The buoy remains on the surface of the 

 water where it was thrown in, and the weight of the lead keeps the buoy 

 upright, and throws the line over the pulley of the buoy until the lead touches 

 the bottom, which is known by the buoy turning over on one side, in conse- 

 quence of the weight no longer acting upon it. When the buoy falls over, 

 the friction of the spring on the line is so much increased that the buoy 

 remains fast on the line while line and lead are drawn on board the vessel. 

 The distance from the buoy to the lead is of course the depth of water. 



MIXING WHEAT FLOUR WITH PAINTS. 



Mr. J. Gattman, of Philadelphia, has discovered a method of manufacturing 

 paints by grinding crude colors in a composition of water, flour, or its equivalent, 

 rosin, or its equivalent, fish oil, or any drying or undrying oil, in a proper propor- 

 tion and manner, and by which the paint thus manufactured may be produced 

 at a cheap rate, and afterwards thinned with water to the required consistency. 



UTILIZATION OF WASTE STEAM. 



What may be done by economizing the waste water and steam of engines, 

 is shown by an experiment recently made in Wales, by Mr. D. Llewellyn, 

 From a small 8-cnch cylinder engine employed by him for agricultural pur- 

 poses, he conducted a jet of steam for twenty minutes daily, through an inch 

 iron pipe, into a bed of rough stones, covered by a glazed frame ; a journal 

 of the temperature was kept, from which it appeared, first, that although steam 

 was introduced among the stones for only twenty minutes a day, the ther- 

 mometer was raised from 51 to 68 in the first twenty-four hours: second, 

 that the temperature continued to rise for many hours after the second 

 application of steam, until the thermometer readied 108; third, that at the 



