Mat 12, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



725 



determine the radiation of the apparatiis. 

 From data thus obtained the amount of 

 moisture in the saturated steam was de- 

 termined. This method is similar to that 

 employed by Mr. George H. Barrus in one 

 of the older forms of his calorimeters. The 

 particular problem to be investigated was 

 how much moisture would be contained in 

 steam at atmospheric pressure after it had 

 passed through two separators of a certain 

 form. The tests showed that the steam at 

 atmospheric pressure leaving the separa- 

 tors contained about one tenth of one per 

 cent, of moisture, a result which was within 

 the probable error of the instrument, for 

 which reason it was fair to conclude that 

 the steam was dry. 



The paper will be published in the Engi- 

 neering Review. 



G. W. Bissell, professor of mechanical 

 engineering, Iowa State College, Ames, la., 

 next presented a paper on 'Hot Blast Heat- 

 ing and Ventilating,' giving results of ex- 

 periments on the heating and ventilation 

 of the new engineering building of Iowa 

 State College. This building is equipped 

 with Sturtevant hot blast apparatus, the 

 Paul system of vacuum steam heating, and 

 the Powers system of temperature regula- 

 tion. The total steam condensation was 

 measured hourly, and continuous records 

 were kept for two months. Forty-three 

 separate tests were made at steam pres- 

 sures, varying from 5 to 25 pounds and 

 with air pressures varying from 0.6 to 1.5 

 inches. The paper gave a series of tests 

 showing the coefficients of condensation 

 with one or more sections of coils in use, 

 and at different steam pressiires, and with 

 different quantities of air being forced over 

 the coils. The paper was published in the 

 Engineering Eeview. 



In a case where a man Avas killed by the 

 bursting of an elbow on a steam main near 

 which he was working, the question arose 

 as to the number of pieces into which such 



would be broken if it were struck with a 

 hauuner when iinder steam pressure. D_ 

 S. Jacobus, professor of experimental en- 

 gineering, Stevens Institute of Technology,. 

 Hoboken, N. J., presented the results of." 

 tests which he had made on fittings of the- 

 same size and weight as the one which 

 caused the accident and on some similar 

 fittings. The former was an extra hea'vy 

 elbow for a three-inch standard pipe. The 

 smaller fittings which were tested were of 

 two-inch standard size and of the ordinary 

 weight. In the tests, the elbows were 

 broken by hitting them with a hammer 

 swung by hand when they were subjected 

 to pressures of 80 and 100 pounds per 

 square inch. The hammer, together with 

 its handle, weighed four pounds. The fit- 

 tings were struck on the outside directly 

 over each of the screw threads at points, 

 directly opposite the neck and in the plane- 

 passing through the pipe centers. The- 

 extra heavy three-inch elbows broke in two 

 nearly symmetrical halves, the plane of 

 breakage being that passing through the 

 pipe centers. The two-inch fittings of 

 ordinary weight broke in two to four or 

 more irregular pieces. The paper was 

 published in the Engineering Record. 



L. E. Loewenstein, of the Department of 

 Mechanical Engineering, Lehigh Univer- 

 sity, South Bethlehem, Pa., next presented 

 a paper on ' Some of the Scientific Fea- 

 tures and Development of the Steam Tur- 

 bine.' As the author is the American 

 translator of Professor Stadola's German 

 work on this subject, the paper was of much 

 interest to the audience which heard it. 



In a third paper by Professor Jacobus, 

 the angular displacement of the revolving 

 fields of two alternating current electric 

 generators when connected in parallel was 

 determined by actual measurements and 

 compared with the computed amounts. 

 The results were found to agree very closely 

 with each other. The generators on which 



