50 



SCIENTIFIC NE\VS. 



[May 2nd, 1887. 



however, fair to say that to some extent this is due to the 

 business-like arrangements made by the Executive Com- 

 mittees. The mechanical section alone will have a really 

 grand display of the latest developments of industrial 

 machinery, and the planning of this section reflects the 

 greatest credit on its managers. It is too soon yet to attempt 

 any description in detail, but we have seen enough to justify 

 us in promising our readers a most interesting and instruc- 

 tive exhibition. 



The Newcastle Engineering and Mining Exhibition, 

 to be opened by the Duke of Cambridge on May nth, also 

 promises well. It is to be held in the very centre of the 

 engineering and mining industries, and should afford ample 

 field for the necessary exhibits. The Corporation have 

 placed an extensive area at the disposal of the executive, 

 and the covered portion of the exhibition will extend over 

 241,000 feet, of which some 59,000 feet will be devoted to 

 mining operations. The erection of the building will cost 



_;^2I,000. 



The exhibits are divided into lourteen sections, some of 

 which are of great local importance, such as " Coal Mining 

 and Products," and " Chemical Industries." The mining 

 division is expected to contain a large variety of interesting 

 exhibits. In this class there is to be a working model of a 

 coal mine, built entirely of coal, and about 150 yards long 

 by 50 yards wide. This will show the exact method of 

 working a coal-mine. There is a class for sundry products, 

 which include rope, silk, canvas, hats, lace, tobacco, etc., etc. 

 The division for " Art Industries " promises to be well sup- 

 ported with loans of pictures. 



This undertaking should be a great success, and tend still 

 further to the development of a locality which has played 

 so important a part in mining and engineering. 



The whole building will be lighted by electricity, and it 

 is said that there are in course of construction some 

 remarkable novelties in electrical engineering. The lights 

 of the theatre will be so arranged that they can be reduced 

 from sixteen-candle power to about one-candle power at the 

 will of the stage manager. This is arrived at by arranging 

 resistance coils of iron wire outside the theatre, with a switch 

 board placed on the stage. From the Electrical Review we 

 learn that there will be an electrical smithy, where experi- 

 ments will be made in the welding of metals by the assist- 

 ance of a strong current. There will also be shown an 

 electrical rivetting machine of an entirely novel character, 

 and an electrical railway will be another attraction. 



War and Invention. — Under this heading our contempo- 

 rary, Scientific American, again reminds its readers that war 

 in European countries offers a large field for labour-saving 

 appliances. As a very large percentage of the effective man- 

 hood of each nation is sent to the field or into garrison, there 

 is not only a call for purely warlike inventions, but for many 



connected with the arts and manufactures. It is also pointed 

 out, that a machine that can be managed by a woman will 

 take precedence in war time of one requiring the care of a 

 man. Attention is called to the fact that one of the impor- 

 tant requisites of a land campaign, is an efficient transport 

 service for food, ammunition, clothing, arms, hospital stores, 

 general supplies, and for the sick and wounded. In fact, 

 anything which simplifies or lessens the cost of transport 

 becomes a necessity to a great army. A long list is then 

 given of the many subjects for invention which would re- 

 ceive a special impetus from a great war, adding that 

 the inventor will readily add the thousand-and-one de- 

 velopments and subdivisions of the list. The moral is, 

 that there is enough to show that the inventive genius of 

 the American people can be actively and profitably em-" 

 ployed, in case the great European powers should unhappily 

 prefer war to peace. 



Some New Experiments with Fibres. — Mr. C. V. Boys, 

 M.A., has recently read a very interesting paper before the 

 Physical Society " On the Production, Preparation, and 

 Properties of the Finest Fibres," in the course of which he 

 described somecurious experiments, and revealed someunex- 

 pected qualities possessed by the substances experimented 

 on. For certain purposes ' in connection with delicate 

 scientific instruments fibres of great tenacity, and unaffected 

 by " torsional fatigue " are required. Mr Boys appears to 

 have succeeded in producing fibres of quartz less than 

 —^ inch in diameter, possessing a tenacity of about fifty 

 tons on the square inch, and quite free from " torsional 

 fatigue." His method of production as applied to glass is as 

 follows : — A rod of the substance is held at one end, while 

 the other end is cemented to the tail of a straw arrow 

 arranged to be projected by a cross-bow. The middle part 

 of the rod is heated to the required temperature ; the string 

 of the cross-bow is then suddenly released, projecting the 

 arrow with great velocity, and drawing out a long fine fibre. 

 By this means fibres of glass less than -~^ of an inch can be 

 made. Mr. Boys exhibited an annealed glass spiral capable 

 of weighing a millionth of a grain fairly accurately. He 

 has experimented on many minerals, and with quartz has 

 obtained the result alluded to above. Garnet, when treated 

 at low temperatures, yields fibres exhibiting the most beau- 

 tiful colours. The following experiments will doubtless be 

 repeated by many of our readers who possess a suitable 

 machine. Mr. Boys found that if sealing-wax, or any simi- 

 lar sticky substance, is melted in a cup and put upon the 

 conductor of an electrical machine, it will begin to throw 

 out threads in an extraordinary way ; the fibres are large 

 when the resinous matter is very hot, each fibre shooting 

 out as a cylinder with remarkable speed, then breaking 

 into beads. These minute beads can be made to patter 

 against a drum head, and make a noise upon it like falling 

 rain ; the cup containing the wax should be inclined from 

 the operator, and from the electrical machine before the 

 latter is worked, or both will be covered with the most in- 

 visible sticky web imaginable ; a cup of burnt indiarubber 



