622 



SCIENTIFIC NEAA/S. 



[June 29, iS 



RECENT INVENTIONS. 



The following list has been coini>iled especially for the Scientific 

 News hy Messrs. "W. P. Thompson and Boult, Patent Agents, of 

 12%, High Holbom, London, W.C.; Newcastle Chambers, Angel 

 Row, Nottingham ; Ducie Buildings, Bank Street, Manchester ; 

 and 5, Lord Street, Liverpool. 



Stake.— Mr. Kemp, of Streatham Common has patented 

 a " Stake for supporting and watering plants.'' It con- 

 sists of a tube wliich has its lower end sloped off, 

 and is near that end perforated with holes. The upper 

 mouth of this tube is funnel shaped, and a flanged plug 

 is inserted in the mouth of the tube to receive the blows 

 necessary to drive the stake into the ground. The plant 

 to be supported is tied as usual to the stake. For 

 watering the plant the plug, is taken out of the tube, and 

 the water poured down it, which will then find its way 

 out through the perforations into the soil close to the 

 roots of the plant. 



Electric Measurement. — An instrument for electric 

 measurement has been patented by Messrs. W. Emmott 

 and J. H. Rider, Halifax. This invention consists of a 

 soft iron needle free to move in a magnetic field, and 

 made of such form that varying quantities of iron are 

 brought into the field as the strength of it is varied. 

 Any variation of the strength of the field causes the 

 needle to rotate on its axis without altering its distance 

 as a whole from the magnetic poles. This is accom • 

 plished by making the outer edge of the needle of a 

 circular form while the thickness varies ; the rotary 

 movement of the needle is counteracted by gravity. 



Fuze. — Messrs. J. H. Burke and A. Leather have 

 patented a centrifugal percussion fuze for shells. The 

 invention consists in a shell fuze in which the pellet 

 carrying the detonating cap is prevented from moving 

 forward to strike the needle point by the interposi- 

 tion of guards, which are kept in position bj^ springs 

 under all circumstances except when the fuze is made to 

 spin. A spring arrangement is fitted to the side of the 

 pellet to prevent it from creeping forward during flight, 

 but sufficiently weak to permit the pellet to move against 

 a needle point when the shell has a sudden check. A 

 spring automatic shutter is also fitted to close the hole 

 through which the safety pin passes, on the latter being 

 removed. 



Utilisation of the Sun's Heat.— Professor Morse 

 of Salem, Massachusetts, has devised an ingenious 

 method of utilising the heat of the sun. He places out- 

 side a building, in such a position that the sun shines 

 directly upon it, a shallow box, the bottom of which is 

 of corrugated iron, and the top of glass ; the heat rays 

 of the sun pass through the glass, and are absorbed bj' 

 the iron, heating it to a high temperature, and by a 

 system of ventilation a current of air is passed through 

 the apparatus and into the room to be heated. It is 

 stated that by this means the air has been heated on 

 sunny days to about 90 deg. Fahr. 



Dynamo-Electric Machine. — Mr. J. P. Hall has 

 patented a dynamo-electric machine. To carry out this 

 invention the bed-plate, the standards for carrying the 

 pedestals, and the keeper are cast together in one piece, 

 and each core of the magnet is formed of one piece of 

 wrought iron, the core embracing that portion on which 



the wire is wound, which is circular in section, and also 

 the upper portion, which is of any form. Holes are 

 bored through the keeper slightly reduced in diameter to 

 form a shoulder, which rests upon the bed, and the cast- 

 iron keeper is made of such section that its resistance is 

 not greater than that of the wrought-iron parts of the 

 circuit. The magnet cores are wound with wire, and then 

 placed in the holes in keeper prepared for them and 

 secured in position by a screw. 



Circulating Air. — Mr. J. H. Dinsmore has patented 

 means for heating, drying, and circulating air. Described 

 in respect to a linen-drying closet. The air used is 

 heated by contact with gas-heated surfaces at the lower 

 portion of the closet. The heated air ascends to the 

 upper part of the closet, and there passes out by a pipe. 

 It is then led round and redehvered into the lower por- 

 tion, this circulation being rendered automatic by causing 

 the hot air coming from the closet to become partially 

 cooled by exposure of a part of the pipe through which 

 the air is led to the cooler air. In the cooling a quantity 

 of vapour is deposited upon the internal surface of the 

 pipes. The condensed vapour is led away by a trap. 

 The air is cooled to as small an extent as possible, that 

 is, the air is cooled only to such an extent as will cause 

 it to deposit as much vapour as will keep it in a con- 

 dition that will absorb readily fresh vapour given off 

 from the clothes at each rotation of the air. 



Lighting Railway Carriages by Electricity. — 

 Messrs. J. L. Yuly and H. W. Andrews, of Southsea, 

 Hampshire, have patented a method of lighting railway 

 carriages bj' electricity. The object of this invention is 

 to provide a n:eans by which the speed of a dynamo 

 worked by tl-.e rotation of the carriage axles can be 

 altered to suit the speed at which the train is running, 

 and to automatically switch the storage batteries on and 

 off when the train is running too slowly or quickly. A 

 wide drum is placed on the axle of one pair of wheels, 

 and open and crossed belts passing around it drive three 

 pulleys on a countershaft, the middle pulley being fixed, 

 and the others loose. Expanding pulleys are keyed to 

 the countershaft and to the axle of the dynamo. These 

 pulleys have their bosses, by means of which they are 

 keyed to their shafts, formed into conical driving pulleys, 

 which by means of belts drive similar cones on short 

 shafts parallel to the other shafts. These short shafts 

 have ordinary driving pulleys keyed to them, which by 

 means of belts drive similar sized pulleys on the sleeves 

 carrying the expanding cog wheels. The sleeves carry- 

 ing the cog wheels run loose on the dynamo shaft and on 

 the countershaft, and are kept in gear with their respec- 

 tive pinions by means of collars. By shifting the belts 

 along the cones, the bevel cog wheels are made to run 

 faster or slower than their respective expanding pulleys, 

 and thus set the pinions in motion and increase the 

 diameter of the expanding pulleys. The belt slipping 

 devices are fitted with springs, so that when the hand- 

 lever is released the belts immediately move to the 

 middle of the cones. Storage batteries supply the 

 current to the lights while the train is stationary, or is 

 travelling too slow to work the dynamo, and switches 

 are connected to a suitable governor, which is attached 

 to the djmamo or countershaft, so as to disconnect the 

 batteries from and connect the dynamo with the lights 

 when the speed of the dynamo reaches the requisite 

 number of revolutions. 



