Popular Science MoutJihj 



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As Flexible as India Rubber but 

 Infinitely Stronger 



A WONDERFUL pipe-metal is now in 

 use which seems to be able to stand 

 any amount of rough usage. Our illustra- 

 tion depicts instances of torture to which 

 it has been subjected without destruction. 

 The section that 

 looks like a piece of 

 crumpled rag was 

 in an Oklahoma oil 

 well when it was 

 "shot" with one 

 hundred and seventy 

 quarts of nitro-glycerin. 

 It shrank from eighteen 

 feet to sLx feet in the 

 process, but declined to 

 break. 



The twisted piece 

 is a section of eight-inch 

 pipe, weighing about twen- 

 ty-eight pounds to the foot, 

 and having walls five-six- 

 teenths inch thick. As a 

 pipe it is not of much 

 further use, but as a proof 

 of metallic strength it is a 

 masterpiece. The figure- 

 eight knot is tied in a pipa having a ten- 

 sile strength of fifty-eight thousand pounds 

 per square inch. 



These are only typical instances of 

 what this uncanny metal will withstand. 

 A twenty-six-length pipe, five hundred 

 feet long, was blown bodily out of a Texas 

 gas well. It lay across the landscape, 

 twisted and turned like a gigantic frozen 

 snake, but all its welds and joints, and the 

 metal itself held on like grim death. 

 The joints held, the welds held, and the 

 metal itself was intact. There was not a 

 break or flaw anywhere throughout its 

 great length. As will be seen from our illus- 

 tration, it is twisted and contorted like a 

 garden hose, and when one considers that 

 it is welded metal it is indeed wonderful. 



Lengtben Your Cast with 

 Mercury Fishing Line 



the 



This piece of pipe was originally eighteen 

 feet long. Nitro-glycerin crumpled it up 



This pipe has a tensile strength of 

 58,000 pounds to the square inch 



713,000 inch pounds twist- 

 ed this without fracture 



ANOVf]L improvement in fishing lines 

 is one which is made half of mercury. 

 The process by which it is prej)ared is one 

 which makes the fibers of the line absorb 

 a mercury compound. This compound is 

 many times heavier 

 than the fiber of the 

 line itself, so that 

 the finished fishing 

 line will be consid- 

 erably heavier, 

 though of even I-33 

 diameter, than the or- 

 dinary. 



A plain fiber fishing 

 line of relatively small 

 diameter is immersed 

 in a bath containing a 

 mercury compound. 

 The mercury is then made 

 to precipitate out of the 

 solution and in through the 

 crevices between the fibers. 

 The fishing line is next tak- 

 en and dressed with a 

 mercury ointment. When 

 this dries, the thin fishing 

 line will be coated with a smooth, glossy 

 surface. Then when the line is cast the 

 friction between it and the rings of the 

 fishing rod, as the line plays out, is much 

 less than with other lines. 



Moreover, the smaller diameter of the 

 line makes the resistance of the air upon 

 it less than in other cases. The drag of 

 flowing water will also be reduced. There- 

 fore not only will the cast of a line be 

 greatly lengthened with this line, but, in 

 addition to this, the line will "stay put." 

 Now, all you disciples of Ike Walton, 

 here is a new departure. Try it out on 

 your next expedition after the fickle trout 

 or black bass. We stake an editorial blue 

 pencil, though, that you're scared to try 

 it out on a "musky." 



Lying like a gigantic frozen snake across the landscape, this piece of pipe has all -^ . 

 and welds unbroken after being blown bodily from a gas well in the southern oil fields 



