98 
POPULAH SCIENCE KEYIEW. 
scriptions of the inhabitants of Chenango county was a self-moving pump, 
and, actuated by some concealed clock-springs, it was the delight and 
wonder of the vicinity. 
Rules to he Observed to Prevent Explosions of Boilers. — In the Bayerisches 
Industrie und Gewerbe Blatt/’ for September, Herr W. Born gives a 
series of rules which we have no doubt will be most valuable to engineers. 
If these rules were constantly adopted, we doubt not that explosions would 
be of far less frequency than they now are. 
The Great Pumping Engine of Chicago. — An immense pumping engine 
bas lately been completed and successfully operated in Chicago. It is of 
1,200 horse power, and consists of two machines connected by a single 
shaft. The two steam cylinders are each 70 inches in internal diameter, 
and allow a 20 ft. stroke of piston. The steam-chests are provided with 
double puppet-balanced valves, and the unhooking gear is arranged so that 
both engines may be controlled at the front of either. The flywheel is 25 ft. 
in diameter and weighs 33 tons. With the exception of the great machine 
at Haarlem, Holland, of which the diameter of the cylinder is 12 ft. and 
stroke 10 ft,, there is probably no larger pump in existence. 
Mechanics of the Proposed Channel Steamers. — W^ith regard to this 
interestingsubject wemayrefer to our original articles. Mr. Merrifield,r.It.S,, 
has there described the three principal vessels that are’ proposed, and how 
far each of them is likely to fulfil the desired result. 
A Mechanical Means for f reventing Hay-ricks from Heating has been 
just adopted at the late Prince Consort’s farm and the Norfolk farm at 
Windsor. A long perforated tube, fixed in short lengths which fit into 
each other, is built into the body of the rick as it is carried up, and 
surmounted by a cowl, which turns with the wind and provides a constant 
downward current ; an upward current is also arranged for in an inner 
tube, which is solid, opens at the bottom, and so completes the circulation. 
This invention is also adapted to granaries and ships in transit, but in these 
cases several arms are provided, running out from the central shaft at right 
angles, so as to distribute the air through the body of the grain. The use 
of perforated tubes for preserving grain, meal, &c., in storehouses, gi’anaries, 
and in barrels, is an American invention, and has long been in use in the 
United States. 
A huge Railway Tunnel. — A contract has lately been signed between the 
directors of the St. Gothard Bailway, Switzerland, and M. L. Favre, of 
Geneva, for the boring of a new railway tunnel through the Alps, which 
promises to surpass anything of the kind yet attempted. The length of the 
tunnel will be a little more than nine miles. Cost 2,000,000/. The work 
is to be finished within eight years ; and if sooner finished the contractor is 
to receive 200/. a day for each day in advance of the contract time. 
Improvement in Steel Manufacture . — At the Austrian Steel Works of 
Neuburg, Styria, Chevalier Stummer, of Trauenfels, has carried out a large 
series of experiments in order to weld the interior particles of cast steel to 
each other as strongly as possible, and to prevent the honeycomb, which is 
an accumulation of fine pores, filled with elastic gases, which are inclosed 
in the cooling metal. The principal result of these experiments is that it is 
quite possible, by exposing the semi-fiuid metal to great pressure, to unite 
