436 



METALLURGY. 



METEOROLOGY. 



occurs at temperatures much below the freezing 

 point. Prof. W. G. Roberts- A listen has detected 

 pronounced cases of surfusion in gold, copper, bis- 

 muth, antimony, and tin, and has also observed it 

 in alloys, of which the eutectic alloy in the bis- 

 muth-copper series is mentioned as presenting a 

 marked case. In studying the phenomena the 

 author has been able to trace the solubility curves 

 of certain metals in each other, in the same way 

 as was previously effected in the case of salts by 

 II. le Chatelier and by Dahms. The first experi- 

 mental evidence as to the identity of the behavior 

 of saline solutions and metallic alloys as regards 

 .selective surfusion has thus been afforded. It is 

 further shown by Prof. Roberts- Austen's experi- 

 ments and those of others that alloys may be 

 formed by the vaporization of certain metals in 

 a vacuum at as low a temperature as 50 C. The 

 results given in the author's paper reveal addi- 

 tional points of similarity between the behavior of 

 alloys and that of ordinary saline solutions. 



From studies of tne mechanical working of metals, 

 Mr. G. A. Faurie finds that stretching gives rise to 

 wavelike deformations on the surface. Under cer- 

 tain conditions, wavelike knots and swellings at 

 regular intervals can be recognized, but they are 

 usually rather vague; sometimes, however, they are 

 more distinctly developed. These knots occur in 

 wire, rods, or sheets, as soon as their length exceeds 

 their smallest diameter fifty times. They are sup- 

 posed to be caused by the action of the burden on 

 the lower end of the sample interfering with the 

 reaction at the upper end. 



The British Government's Committee on Danger- 

 ous Trades has reported, in effect, that the dangers 

 likely to arise during conversion by the Bessemer 

 process are generally adequately met and counter- 

 acted. They, however, make some recommendations 

 with a view to rendering the observance of proper 

 precautions more general and complete. They de- 

 scribe the advantage they enjoyed of seeing some 

 of the largest industrial undertakings in the world, 

 " where vast capital, unequaled experience, and 

 wonderful ingenuity have combined to produce in 

 the manufacture and handling of masses of molten 

 and red-hot metal an immunity from accident 

 which is remarkable." It is observed that " mighty 

 ingots of nearly white-hot steel and seething cal- 

 drons of molten metal can not be conveyed from 

 the place of one process to another, to be beaten or 

 rolled into rails or armor plates, or to be pounded 

 into molds or ladles for further distribution, with- 

 out incurring some amount of risk. As the slight- 

 est blunder or the most trivial oversight in the con- 

 struction or handling of the machinery might cause 

 a vessel containing molten steel to deal out death 

 to every person engaged in the process, it is ac- 

 knowledged to be most creditable to all concerned 

 that there is such general immunity. The princi- 

 pal recommendation made is as to control gear for 

 automatically locking the converter when by acci- 

 dent its regular or proper course of reversal or tilt- 

 ing is interfered with. One of the six recommen- 

 dations in reference to the use of converters is that 

 no one be allowed to remain in the pit while the 

 converter is being lowered, or during the process of 

 pouring. 



A system of furnace grate for obtaining perfect 

 combustion by distributing the air introduced across 

 the grate has been devised by M. Poillon, who also 

 claims to avoid injurious blowpipe flames. The air 

 inlets at the upper level of the grate which receives 

 the coal are. as small as is necessary completely to 

 burn the whole of the fuel with a minimum of air, 

 and at a slight pressure in order to avoid drawing 

 the ashes into the flues. The air inlets are wider 

 below than above for facilitating access of the air, 



and also for forcing the flames to spread in the 

 form of a fan, while the inlets of the first series of 

 plates or bars nearest the fire door are inclined 

 backward, so that the air issuing from them is 

 deflected toward the bridge. Careful trials of this 

 system, carried out at Louviers, France, are said to 

 have resulted in a saving of 32 per cent. 



The Jones mixer, the patent for which has been 

 declared valid by the United States Circuit Court 

 at Pittsburg, is a large covered vessel, lined with 

 fire bricks, holding from 200 to 300 tons of molten 

 iron. The metal is drawn from the blast furnaces 

 into ladles, in which it is carried to the mixer and 

 poured into it. The metal in the mixer is drawn 

 off from time to time into other ladles, which carry 

 it to the Bessemer converters. The mixer performs 

 the double function of storage, enabling the con- 

 verters to run regularly, while the rate of production 

 of the furnace is irregular ; and of mixing, by which 

 variations in the quality of the iron received by the 

 mixer from the furnaces are evened up, and the 

 quality of the iron delivered to the converter is 

 made practically uniform. 



The sand blast is now used for cleaning metallic 

 structures preparatory for painting. It has ben so 

 employed for removing the old paint and oil from 

 the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street viaduct, 

 New York, and it is similarly applied to locomo- 

 tive tenders. The foreman painter at the repair 

 shops of the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago and 

 St. Louis Railway is quoted as believing that, con- 

 sidering the thoroughness of the cleaning and the 

 durability of the work which follows, there is no 

 other method so economical. At the Erie Railway 

 shops crushed quartz sand or quartz and deposit 

 sand, mixed half and half, are used, with an air 

 pressure of between 100 pounds, and the boiler is 

 cleaned in about ten hours. 



A rust-proof paint invented by Dr. B. Kossmann. 

 of Charlottenburg, is composed of the peroxides of 

 the cerium group. They are incorporated with 

 linseed oil and varnish, to which is added as a 

 drier a portion of linseed oil boiled with a mixtun 

 of boric acid and the peroxides. The resulting 

 paint can be colored with graphite, lampblack, 

 heavy spar, etc., and is said to fulfill all the re- 

 quirements exacted of such a composition, namely, 

 a sufficient oxygen content to insure the resinifi- 

 cation of the linseed varnish, and freedom from any 

 metallic base capable of setting up an electric action 

 with iron, and so causing the formation of rust. 



METEOROLOGY. Temperature. Among th.- 

 general conclusions from his kite-flying experiments 

 at Blue Hill. Mass.. presented by A. Lawrence 

 Rotch to the Royal Meteorological Society in Octo- 

 ber, 1898, he finds, that as a rule the wind steadily 

 increases with elevation, confirming the measure- 

 ments made upon clouds. The tendency of the kites 

 as they rise is to come into a current from the west, 

 and it is possible, with no great difference in height. 

 to find currents almost diametrically opposed to 

 each other. The decrease of temperature with in- 

 creasing elevation varies under different condition--. 

 On most days when there are no clouds the tempera- 

 ture falls at the diabatic rate for un saturated air 

 or 1 F. for each 180 feet of ascent, to the height of 

 a mile or more. On fair days with clouds the fall 

 is at this rate to the base of the cloud : in the cloud 

 the rate of fall is slow, and it is still slower al>v 

 the cloud. The diurnal change in temperature in the 

 free air nearly disappears at about 2.500 feet, much 

 lower than has been hitherto supposed. During 

 calm nights there is a marked inversion of temper- 

 ature, so that the air near the ground is much 

 colder than at the height of a few hundred feet; 

 indeed, on some occasions the air may be colder at 

 the ground than at the height of several thousand 



