February 15, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



115 



doubled, the position of the chimney being in the centre of the 

 future station. Adjoining the power-station a new car-house has 

 been erected, with capacity for twenty-six cars. The cars, when 

 in this house, rest on skeleton tracks, under which the inspectors 

 can walk, and, by aid of incandescent lamps with flexible connec- 

 tions, can examine and inspect the machinery of each car. After 

 the party had fully examined the workings of the power-station, 

 and listened to the explanations of its operation from the engineer 

 in charge, they reboarded the electric cars, and were carried quickly 

 out Beacon Street and Harvard Avenue to the terminus of the 

 road at Oak Square, Brighton. To a great many in the party this 

 trip was the first ever made on an electric railway, and the excla- 

 mations of surprise and delight were universal. On the return trip 

 the cars were speeded to ten or twelve miles an hour in places, and 

 much praise was bestowed upon the easy starting, which was 

 prompt though without jar, the complete control over the car, and 

 the ease of the car in rounding curves and in speeding. Each of 

 the cars was brilliantly lighted by five incandescent lights of i6 

 candle-power each, — three inside the car, and one on each plat- 

 form. These lamps had the municipal cut-out ; and, when one 



about 3.500 pounds, is 6 feet in height, and occupies a space 8 feet 

 long by 2i feet wide. 



For tensile strength, the machine will test specimens up to i8 

 inches in length, li inches square. If inches in diameter if round, 

 and 2f by i inch if flat, allowing for a 25-per-cent elongation in the 

 longest specimens, and more for those of shorter length. For 

 transverse strains, it will test specimens from 6 to 20 inches in 

 length ; and for compression, specimens up to 8 inches long and 

 surfaces up to 6 inches in diameter. The pulling head has a move- 

 ment of 23 inches. The machine has four different speeds for ten- 

 sile and transverse tests, and two for compression, as follows : 

 transverse and tensile, 4 inches per minute, i inch per minute, i 

 inch in 3^ minutes, and i inch in 10 minutes; compression or re- 

 versing, 4 inches per minute, and l inch in 3I minutes. 



Power is applied by levers and friction-pulleys for starting, stop- 

 ping, and reversing ; and for changing the speeds, a hand-wheel 

 and tumbling ball are used. In compression tests, and in tests of 

 material not ductile, when the pressure is run up rapidly, there is 

 an arrangement of friction-gears, similar to those of a hoisting- 

 engine, which gives an extremely slow and steady motion to the 



breaks, the increase of candle-power in the remainder calls the at- 

 tention of the conductor, who inserts a new lamp. The visitors 

 left Boston for their respective homes full of enthusiasm over the 

 application of electricity to street-railways, and with a better knowl- 

 edge of the advantages which electric power has for this purpose 

 over any other power. 



THE KIEHLE TESTING-MACHINE. 



Testing-machines have become a necessary part of the equip- 

 ment of all manufacturing establishments and constructive works, 

 government and private, where the strength of materials must be 

 accurately determined. Among the testing-machines now in use, 

 those made by the firm of Riehle Brothers of Philadelphia stand 

 prominent as examples of good workmanship, strength, accuracy, 

 and convenience in use. The accompanying illustration shows one 

 of these machines. It is a vertical screw-power machine for test- 

 ing materials by tensile, transverse, and compression strains, and 

 has a capacity of 60,000 pounds. Other machines made by the 

 same firm range in capacity from 10,000 to 200,000 pounds. The 

 levers on the machines of all capacities are adjusted to the United 

 States Government standard. 



The machine shown in the engraving is adapted for those whose 

 requirements do not call for one of greater capacity. It weighs 



screw, thus enabling the operator to make the test with ease and 

 accuracy. The bearings are of hardened steel balls, which do 

 away with much of the friction incident to this class of testing- 

 machines. 



THE FLEISCHMANN SYSTEM OF GARBAGE- 

 ■ '■ '; '^ DISPOSAL. 



One of the systems of garbage-disposal which seems to be one 

 of the best is that known as the Fleischmann, and is now in prac- 

 tical operation in Buffalo. In speaking of this system, the Sanitary 

 Inspector says : — 



" The Fleischmann system of garbage-extraction consists prin- 

 cipally of two processes. The garbage, as it is hauled in, is shov- 

 elled through man-holes into driers below. There are two of these 

 driers, each receiving at one charge 5,000 pounds of garbage. 

 Each drier consists of a double-walled metallic cylinder, between 

 the walls of which steam at a pressure of about eighty pounds is 

 admitted. In the interior of each drier, a rake revolves, constantly 

 stirring up the garbage. These rakes are composed of steam-pipes 

 into which steam of the same pressure is admitted, but the steam 

 is not admitted into the chamber which contains the garbage. The 

 steam which arises by the drying of the garbage is drawn out of 



