C62 



Popular Science Monthly 



Gas Flows Back to the Earth 



IN the Midway oil-field of California 

 natural gas is being returned to the 

 earth from one pocket to another. Two 

 flowing oil wells on this lease produce a 

 considerable quantity of gas along with 

 the oil. Already there is more gas than 

 is needed for fuel or domestic purposes 



Too much natural gas is obtained from a California 



oil-field. For that reason it is piped back into natural 



underground reservoirs for future use 



in the field. Instead of permitting this 

 gas to go to waste it is carried by pipe 

 lines to a hole that was drilled for oil 

 several years ago. Under natural pres- 

 sure the gas finds an outlet at about 

 five hundred feet. Apparently it is 

 being stored away in underground reser- 

 voirs at that depth. 



Buying Telephone Poles by Weight 



SOME of the telephone and telegraph 

 companies have adopted a plan of 

 weighing poles which they buy as a 

 means of as- 

 certaining 

 just how well 

 seasoned they 

 are. Men who 

 are experienced 

 in handling 

 poles are able to 

 calculate with a 

 remarkable de- 

 gree of accuracy 

 the approxi- 

 mate weight of 

 a pole that has 

 been properly 

 seasoned . 

 Should a pole 



prove to be much heavier than their 

 estimate, it has not been properly sea- 

 soned as a general rule ; the over- weight 

 is due to the presence of sap in the wood. 

 The accompanying illustration shows 

 a weighing device which is utilized by 

 one concern. A tripod supports a long 

 lever, the short end of which is a few 

 inches in length and the long end twelve 

 or fifteen feet. To the short end is at- 

 tached a simple weighing device consist- 

 ing of a balance-arm and sliding and 

 fixed weights. Hanging from 

 this bymeansof heavy chains 

 are two sets of wood tongs. 

 The pole is slid between 

 the tripod to such a position 

 that its weight will be about 

 evenly distributed on either 

 side. The points of the 

 tongs are embedded in the 

 wood, then the long arm of 

 the lever is brought down 

 and the pole is lifted from 

 the ground and its weight 

 ascertained. The leverage is 

 so great that one man is 

 generally able to lift the average pole. 

 Only the well-seasoned poles are dipped 

 in the preserving bath. This bath adds 

 greatly to the life of the base of the 

 pole, as the chemical, which is kept hot 

 by a fire beneath the vat, enters every 

 pore and crack in the base. 



THE East will have to look to the 

 West for progressive ideas. Palo 

 Alto, California, a town of about 7,000 

 population, has a town incinerator of a 

 daily capacity of 30 tons of mixed refuse. 





Before dipping in the preserving bath, telephone poles are weighed to 

 determine whether or not they are well seasoned 



