116 



Popular Science Monthly 



plants are wild grown upon waste land 

 and are annually reproduced every six 

 months in some localities. The yield is 

 from one to two tons of dry pulp on an 

 average per acre. 



By the processes and methods patented 

 by Col. Marr, the yields of pulp for paper 

 purposes and the yields of fiber for bag- 

 ging and other cordage are much beyond 

 anything heretofore obtained and record- 

 ed. By using either zinc sulphate or 

 chloride, his processes render the gums, 

 resinous matter, wax and fats, the silica 

 and the cementitious carbohydrates solu- 

 ble in water. In five hours from the raw 

 material to the finished product, oak, 

 beech, birch, maples, gums and poplars 

 yield in available pulp an average of 

 eighty-five per cent of the weight of the 

 wood. It is not necessary to chop wood 

 as fine for reduction by his processes as 

 with processes now in use. 



To possess comm.ercial value a fiber 

 must be available in large quantity, the 

 supply must be more or less constant, the 

 product must be readily marketed, and it 

 must be cheap. The fibers obtained from 

 marsh growths, by the processes patented 

 by Col. Marr, fulfill all these requirements. 



What Is It? A Naval Architectural 

 Puzzle 



AT the Water Sports Carnival held 

 . annually at Copenhagen, Denmark, 

 any inventor can demonstrate his devices, 

 provided they are in tangible shape and 

 have something to do with sport or loco- 

 motion in water. The contests are usually 

 staged on Sortedamsoen. 



In the scene shown, the catamaran with 

 a rear paddlewheel, at the right, is an old 

 contraption dating back to the first 

 bicycle days. The similar craft to the left, 

 is fitted with a heavy keel to steady it, and 

 the float is hollow .and very shallow. It 

 obeys the rudder better than the cata- 

 maran. Mystery centers in the queer tub 

 in the middle with its ambitious stream- 

 line contours and its electric wires 

 dangling at the side. Its wake does not 

 indicate great speed, and the flag does not 

 seem to unfurl in the breeze. It appears 

 that the pilot has storage batteries on 

 board and that he is driving two motors 

 in watertight compartments in the pon- 

 toon, which motors, in turn, drive two 

 Archimedian screws or similaj contriv- 

 ances to take in water and to expel it. 



) Uli<l<'rw<>.i<l iimi ITiiil,.rw.M>.l 



Denmark has many good mechanics who think more of having fun in some new way with 

 their contraptions than of making money by exploiting their inventiveness commercially 



