BUBAL ENGINEERING. 815 



for the Belgian section of the Exposition Universelle at Liege in L905, giving a com- 

 plete bill <>t' materials used and an accounl ofthe society which built the plant. 



Wind for electric power, F. von Lepel (Mitt. Deut. Landw. Gesett., 20 (1905), 

 No. ■'/■'>, pp. 373-375, figs. 2). — The author believes that while wind power has been 

 limited hitherto to pumping and grinding, neither of which operations requires con- 

 stant speed, by connecting a dynamo and accumulating the currenl in a storage bat- 

 ter}', all ordinary need.-- for farm power, including heal and light, may be met. 



A crude device which allows the drive belt to Loosen and .-lip mm it- pulley is 

 proposed to regulate speed and prevent injury t«> the dynamo, but the method of 



stepping up the speed from 12 revolutions per minute al the mill to '.ton at the dynamo 



is not described. An editorial note appended says: 



"The article . . . is based partly on material furnished by windmill maker-, and 

 does not give data for- an estimate of the actual power of windmills. The statement 

 of actual work done by Swedish plant- seem- too high . . . for according to the 

 assertions of German makers, consider-ably larger mills would be required for the 

 same service. Many attempts have been made in Germany to use wind for electric 

 power, but it is known to us that all the large electric concerns strongly believe it to 

 be impracticable . . . on account of the unsteady power and speed." 



Replying to this comment I lT (1906), No. I, pp. 3, 4) Dr. von Lepel refers to a 

 book on the subject by Prof. La ('our for quantitative data, and deplores the lack of 

 interest on the part of large manufacturers in small plant- for farms. 



A letter is also published from a Dresden firm urging the necessity of auxiliary 

 steam or gas power in addition fosterage batteries, and describing a successful wind- 

 electric plant for 120 lamps run by a modern 24-ft. mill, using a horsepower machine 

 with four horses for auxiliary power. 



The electrical value of wind power (Sci. Amer., 93 (1905), No. 21, pp. 394, 

 395). — A description ofthe plant of C. F. Brush in Cleveland, Ohio, which has been 

 in use for sixteen years to run 100 16-eandlepower lights, and a plant in W'ittkeil in 

 Schleswig that develops 30 horsepower in an 8-mile wind, for lighting a town. 

 Other methods which substitute compressed air or elevated reservoirs for the expen- 

 sive storage battery are suggested, but it is admitted that the problem is as yet 

 unsolved. 



British progress in pumps and pumping engines, P. R. Bjorling London: 

 Archibald Constable & Co., 1905, pp. XII 92, figs. 97). — This brief practical treatise 

 on British pumps is the second volume of a series called National Engineering and 

 Trade Lectures, edited by B. II. Morgan, and is a review of the various kinds of 

 pumps, with notes on their selection for general and special purposes, intended to 

 stimulate colonial and foreign trade in British machinery. 



The farm automobile, (I. Voigtmann I /."//<///•. Maseh. u. (.'n-iitr, <; i iuon\, X<>. /, 

 ]>}>. 1-5, figs. 8). — An improved gasoline traction engine is described, with a discus- 

 sion of its advantages over fuel-burning engines. The illustrations show held trials 

 of the machine. 



Construction and ventilation of farm buildings (Bui. Maine l>'j>i Agr., '? 

 i 1905), No. 3, }>{>. 77-99). — This bulletin contains five short articles and eight pages 

 of correspondence relating to barn- and -ilos. 



Implements and machinery at the Smithfield Show | Impl. and Mach. /.'< .. 

 (190<!\, No. 369, pp. 1033-107 .', figs. 31 I.— This report contains notes on 120 exhibits. 

 The machines that seem to attract the most interest are swath turner.-, farm traction 

 motors, milking machines, and combined planters and manure Bpreaders. An ingen- 

 ious turnip thinner is described, and a number of root and feed cutters. Ma iy new 

 farm engines and motors are noticed. 



Farm machinery in Belgium during the past twenty-five years, J. Pvro 

 (Ann. Gembloux, Jo' (1906), No. 1, j>j>. 1-12). — A cursory and somewhat technical 



