Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870 by Various

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[Illustration]

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF PRACTICAL INFORMATION, ART, SCIENCE, MECHANICS,
CHEMISTRY, AND MANUFACTURES.

NEW YORK, JANUARY 1, 1870.

Vol. XXII.--No. 1. [NEW SERIES.]

$3 per Annum [IN ADVANCE.]

* * * * *

Contents: (Illustrated articles are marked with an asterisk.)

*Engines of the Spanish Gunboats

The Torpedo Problem

Sugar Making in Louisiana

Sticking, or Court Plaster

*An Improved Hoisting Pulley Wanted

*Ferdinand De Lesseps--Chief Promoter of the Suez Canal

*An Ingenious Vent Peg

*A New English Patent Pulley Block

Plants in Sleeping Booms

*Improved Treadle Motion

*Improved Method of Catching Curculios

Remains of a Megatherium in Ohio

Artificial Ivory

American and English Kailway Practice Contrasted

Boiler Covering

Attachment of Saws to Swing Frames

Patent Decision

Inventions Patented in England by Americans

*Russ Improved Wood Molding Machine

A Lost Civilisation

*Girards "Palier Glissant"

A Happv New Year

The Suez Canal not yet a Failure

Tubular Boilers and Boiler Explosions

Professor Fiske's Lecture at Harvard

The Brighter Side

The American Institute Prizes Awarded to Steam Engines

A Protest against the Canadian Patent Law

American Railway Management

Scientific Lecture before the American Institute

The Battle Fields of Sceence

How French Bank Notes are Made

What the Newspapers Say

Chinese Method of Preserving Eggs

Steam Boiler Explosion

Editorial Summary

The Steven Breech Loading Rifle

* A Novel Improved Hand Vise

The Mound Builders of Colorado

*The Woven-Wire Mattress

Flouring Mill Hazards

Fire-Proof Building

The Decline of American Shipping

Aerial Navigation-A Suggestion

Putty Floors of Jewelers Shops and otherwise

Western Demand for Agricultural Implements

Economical Steam Engine

Friction and Percussion

Oiling a Preservative of Brownstone

Interesting Correspondence from China

Commumcation Between Deaf and Blind Mutes

Cheap Cotton Press Wanted

A Singular Freak of a Magnet

Preservation of Iron

The Bananas and Plantains of the Tropics

Putting Up Stoves

The Magic Lantern

The Largest well in the World--Capacity 1,000,000 gallons
of water per Day

Paper for Building

*Improved Muzzle-Pivoting Gun

Stock Feeding by Clock Work

Milk and What Comes of It

*Improved Hay Elevator

*Improvement in Lamp Wicks

Great Transformation

Answers to Correspondents

Recent American and Foreign Patents

New Books and Publications

List of Patents

* * * * *

Engines of the Spanish Gunboats.

In our description of these boats in No. 25, Vol. XXI., special mention
was made of the compactness of the engines.

It has frequently been urged as an objection against the twin screw
system that the double set of engines, four steam cylinders with
duplicates of all the working parts called for on this system, render
the whole too complicated and heavy for small vessels, preventing, at
the same time, the application of surface condensation. In the engines
of the Spanish gunboats, of which we annex an illustration from
_Engineering_, the designer, Captain Ericsson, has overcome these
objections by introducing a surface condenser, which, while it performs
the function of condensing the steam to be returned to the boiler in the
form of fresh water, serves as the principal support of the engines,
dispensing entirely with the usual framework. Besides this expedient,
each pair of cylinders have their slide frames for guiding the movements
of the piston rods cast in one piece. Altogether the combination, is
such that the total weight and space occupied by these novel twin screw
engines do not exceed the ordinary single screw engines of equal
power. Several improvements connected with the working gear have been
introduced.

[Illustration: ENGINES OF THE TWIN SCREW SPANISH GUNBOATS]

The outer bearings of the propeller shafts, always difficult to regulate
and keep in order on the twin screw system, are selfadjusting and
accommodate themselves to every change of the direction of the shafts.
This is effected by their being spherical externally, and resting in
corresponding cavities in the stern braces or hangers. The spring
bearings for supporting the middle of the shafts are also arranged on a
similar self-adjusting principle.

The thrust bearing is of peculiar construction, the arrangement being
such that the bearing surfaces remain in perfect contact however much
the shaft may be out of line. The reversing gear likewise is quite
peculiar, insuring complete control over the movement of the two
propellers under all circumstances. It is claimed that these engines are
the lightest and most compact yet constructed for twin screw vessels.

* * * * *

The Torpedo Boat Problem.

The _Army and Navy Journal_ thinks the problem of a torpedo boat
capable of firing rapidly and with certainty, has at length reached a
satisfactory solution. It says:

"A boat has been completed which is proved by experiment to be faultless
in machinery and arrangement. On the 2d of December, Secretary Robeson,
Vice-Admiral Porter, and Commodore Case, Chief of the Bureau of
Ordnance, went to the Navy Yard at Washington, to witness the experiment
with this new engine of destruction. After examining the workings of the
machinery, and the manner of firing, one of the destructives was put in
the frame and the party proceeded to the shore to witness the result. A
torpedo of only thirty-six pounds was first run out with rapidity and
fired; but the result showed that this small amount of powder, even,
would have been sufficient to destroy any ship, by lifting her out of
the water and breaking her back, even if her bottom was not knocked out
altogether. Mud and water were thrown up together, and the concussion
was felt far up in the Navy Yard, the ground being shaken by the shock
of the powder against the bed of the river. The concussion felt on board
the torpedo-boat was not more than that caused by a wave striking a
vessel at sea.

"Several torpedoes were fired from the vessel, the explosion of
which the party witnessed on board, as they desired to ascertain for
themselves the effect of the shock. The result seemed satisfactory,
as no change whatever is contemplated in the machinery, which is very
simple, and 'works to a charm.' The torpedo vessel is the _Nina_, a very
strong iron boat of three hundred and fifty tuns burden, capable of
crossing the ocean, and having a speed of seventeen knots an hour. She
is not impervious to heavy shot, but can be made so, and is capable of
resisting any ordinary projectile that could be brought to bear on her
from the decks of a ship of war. Her decks will be made torpedo and
shot-proof, and several arrangements will be applied, now that it is
known that the torpedo system is a success. Such a vessel as the _Nina_,
attacking an enemy's squadron on our coast some dark night, or entering
an enemy's port, could destroy half the vessels in the harbor, and
easily escape as few vessels could overtake her. Such a vessel could,
for instance, enter the harbor of Havana, and destroy every vessel of
war in the port, under cover of darkness. A squadron supplied with such
boats to be used to attack, after the fight began, and the ships were
enveloped in smoke, would have a most decided advantage against an enemy
not thus armed for torpedo warfare. It is reported that our torpedo navy
will consist of twenty vessels, none of which will have a less speed
than twelve knots, and the fastest of them will go seventeen knots."

* * * * *

SUGAR MAKING IN LOUISIANA.

The New Orleans _Times_ contains, in a late number, an account of the
manufacture of sugar as conducted on the Poychas estate, from which we
extract portions containing the essential particulars of cane sugar
making as conducted in the southern portions of the United States.

"Reaching the Cane shed, the crop, dumped into piles, is received by a
crowd of feeders, who place it (eight or ten stalks at a time) on the
cane carrier. This is an elevator, on an endless band of wood and iron,
which carries them to the second story, where the stalks drop between
the rollers. An immense iron tank below, called a juice box, receives
the liquid portion, and another elevator bears the bruised and broken
fragments to the opposite side of the building, where they are dropped
into the bagasse burner.

"This invention, at its introduction, caused more scientific inquiry
and dispute, probably, than any other of the age, and settled beyond
question the possibility of combustion, without the use of atmospheric
air. The process consists in dropping the wet, spongy mass into a fire
of wood or coal, and closing the furnace doors. The steam arising from
the drying matter passes to a chamber in the rear, where, by the intense
heat, it is decomposed. Oxygen and hydrogen (both strong combustibles)
unite with the carbon, reaching there in the form of smoke, and a white
heat is the result.

"Cane juice, as it escapes from the mill, could scarcely be considered
inviting to either palate or vision. The sweet, slimy mass of fluid,
covered with foam, and filled with sticks, has more the appearance of
the water in a brewer's vat than anything which now suggests itself. A
small furnace, containing a quantity of burning sulphur, sends through a
tube a volume of its stifling fumes, and these, caught by jets of steam,
thoroughly impregnate the contents of the juice box. Having received its
first lesson in cleanliness, the liquid now rises through a tube to the
series of clarifiers on the second floor. They are heated by a chain of
steam pipes running along the bottom, and being filled, the juice slowly
simmers Much of the foreign substance rises in a scum to the surface
and is skimmed off by the sugar maker. It is further purified by the
addition of Thomaston or what is called sugar lime. At one half a peck
is considered sufficient for seven hundred and fifty gallons of juice,
but much depends upon the quantity of saccharine matter it contains.
Another set of pipes now permit the liquor to run into the evaporators,
in the boiling room below. These are also heated by circles of steam
pipes, and the liquid is first gently simmered, to enable any additional
foreign substance to rise to the surface and be skimmed off.

"After that the steam is turned on fully, and the juice boils until
it reaches the solidity of twenty-five degrees, as measured by the
saccharometer. This point attained, more pipes conduct it to a series
of square iron tanks called filterers. Each is provided with a false
bottom, covered with thick woolen blankets, and through these the juice
slowly drips into an immense iron vessel called a sirup tank.

"The process of cleaning has now been completed, and the sirup is pumped
into the covered vessel previously alluded to, called the vacuum pan.

"This is also heated by layers of steam pipes, and here the liquor boils
until the process of crystallization is completed. This end achieved,
another conductor permits the substance to slowly descend to a large
square iron tank, called a strike-pan. The process of emptying the
vacuum pan is technically called a "strike." We now find a reddish brown
substance, having somewhat the appearance of soft mortar.

"Men are at hand with square wooden boxes, and while the sugar is still
warm, it is placed in rotary cylinders, protected on the inside by wire
guards, called centrifugals.

"Placed on a horizontal, they revolve with a velocity which frequently
reaches 1200 a minute. The damp, dingy looking pile instantly spreads, a
broad circle of yellow is first visible on the inner rim of the machine,
and this slowly whitening finally becomes a shining ring of snowy sugar.
To effect this result requires the aid of nine steam boilers, three
steam engines, a vacuum pan, three large evaporators, five clarifiers,
five filters, an immense sirup tank, the juice box, mill, bagasse
furnace, and fifteen coolers.

"With the engineers, sugar makers, firemen, and laborers, thirty-eight
persons are constantly on duty in this sugar-house.

"Doubling this number, to give each the necessary rest, swells the
gathering to seventy-six souls, who, during the grinding season, find
employment at the sugar-house alone. This of course does not include the
laborers employed in gathering and bringing in the crop, and the
great number occupied in odd jobs and the extensive repairs which are
constantly going on."

* * * * *

Sticking, or Court Plaster.

This plaster is well known from its general use and its healing
properties. It is merely a kind of varnished silk, and its manufacture
is very easy.

Bruise a sufficient quantity of isinglass, and let it soak in a little
warm water for four-and-twenty hours; expose it to heat over the fire
till the greater part of the water is dissipated, and supply its place
by proof spirits of wine, which will combine with the isinglass.
Strain the whole through a piece of open linen, taking care that the
consistence of the mixture shall be such that, when cool, it may form a
trembling jelly.

Extend the piece of black silk, of which you propose making your
plaster, on a wooden frame, and fix it in that position by means of
tacks or pack-thread. Then apply the isinglass (after it has been
rendered liquid by a gentle heat) to the silk with a brush of fine hair
(badgers' is the best). As soon as this first coating is dried, which
will not be long, apply a second; and afterwards, if you wish the
article to be very superior, a third. When the whole is dry, cover it
with two or three coatings of the balsam of Peru.

This is the genuine court plaster. It is pliable, and never breaks,
which is far from being the case with many of the spurious articles
which are sold under that name. Indeed, this commodity is very
frequently adulterated. A kind of plaster, with a very thick and brittle
covering, is often sold for it. The manufacturers of this, instead of
isinglass, use common glue, which is much cheaper; and cover the whole
with spirit varnish, instead of balsam of Peru. This plaster cracks, and
has none of the balsamic smell by which the genuine court plaster is
distinguished. Another method of detecting the adulteration is to
moisten it with your tongue _on the side opposite to that which is
varnished_; and, if the plaster be genuine, it will adhere exceedingly
well. The adulterated plaster is too hard for this; it will not stick,
unless you moisten it on the varnished side.--_The Painter, Gilder, and
Varnisher's Companion_.

* * * * *

AN IMPROVED HOISTING PULLEY WANTED.

A gentleman of this city has sent us the accompanying diagram of an
improved hoisting pulley, for which he say she would be willing to pay
any reasonable price provided he knew where to obtain it--the wheel, not
the price. It is a pulley within a pulley, the friction of the outer one
upon the inner one--the latter being held by a ratchet and pawl-acting
as a brake in lowering weights, while both would turn together in
elevating weights. The idea is rather an ingenious one, but we are
confident our inventors can attain a like object by simpler means.

[Illustration]

* * * * *

THE VACUUM METHOD OF MAKING ICE.--An ice and cold producing machine has
been invented by Herr Franz Windhausen, Brunswick. The action of the
machine is based on the principle of producing cold by the expansion of
atmospheric air, which is accomplished by means of mechanical power. The
machines require no chemicals, nothing being used in them but water and
atmospheric air. They may be wrought by steam, water, or wind, and they
produce from 100 to 1,000 lbs. of ice per hour, according to size, at a
cost of from 2d. to 5d. per 100 lbs., this difference resulting from the
varying prices of fuel and the mode of working chosen. One of their uses
is to cool rooms, cellars, theaters, hospitals, compartments of ships,
etc.--_Builder_.

* * * * *

FERDINAND DE LESSEPS--CHIEF PROMOTER OF THE SUEZ CANAL.

[From the Phrenological Journal.]

The scheme of re-opening the canal of the Pharaohs between the
Mediterranean and Red seas, and thus connecting by a short cut across
the Isthmus of Suez the commerce of Europe and Asia, though long
entertained by the first Napoleon, may fairly be claimed for M. de
Lesseps. His attention was doubtless first drawn to it by reading the
memorable report of M. la Pere, who was employed by Bonaparte to make
a survey in 1798. The credit of designing and executing the great work
belongs alike to him. With the general plan, progress, and purpose of
the Canal, the American reader has, during the past few months, been
made tolerably familiar.

He is the son of Jean Baptiste Barthelemi, Baron de Lesseps, who was
born at Cette, a French port on the Mediterranean, in 1765. Jean
Baptiste was for five years French Vice-Consul at St. Petersburg. In
1785 he accompanied La Perouse on a voyage to Kamtchatka, whence he
brought by land the papers containing a description of the expedition.
In 1788 he was Consul at Kronstadt and St. Petersburg. From St.
Petersburg he was called, in 1812, by the Emperor Napoleon, to Moscow,
as _intendant_. From the latter city, in 1814, he proceeded to Lisbon,
and was stationed there as Consul until 1823. He died at Paris, May 6,
1834.

Ferdinand, the subject of this sketch, was born at Versailles in 1805,
and is consequently in his sixty-fourth year, though his appearance is
that of a man little past the meridian of life. Early in life he evinced
peculiar aptitude for the diplomatic career in which he has since
distinguished himself--a career as varied and romantic as it is
brilliant. In 1825 he was appointed _attache_ to the French Consulate at
Lisbon. Two years later found him engaged in the Commercial Department
of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. During the latter part of 1828
he was _attache_ to the Consul-General at Tunis; and in 1831 he was
dispatched by his Government as Consul to Alexandria. Hard work and
rapid promotion for _le jeune diplomat!_ But the most eventful period of
his long and wonderfully active career lay yet before him.

Seven years subsequent to his appointment at Alexandria, and
consequently when he was in his thirty-fifth year, he was sent as
Consul to Rotterdam. From Rotterdam he proceeded to Malaga in 1839, to
negotiate in behalf of French commerce with the Spanish Government. In
the latter part of the same year he was transferred to the Consulate
at Barcelona, where during the two subsequent years he was especially
active, and signally distinguished himself against the reign of
Espartero. In 1844 we again find him in Alexandria, whither he was sent
to take the place of Lavalette. But the time for the development of his
great project had not yet come. He did not long remain in the Egyptian
capital. Returning to his former position in Barcelona he was witness
to some of the scenes of the revolution of February. In 1848 he was
appointed French Minister at the court of Madrid. Remaining in the
Spanish capital about a year, he returned to Paris immediately after the
revolution of '48, and in May of the following year was dispatched as
Envoy of the French Republic to the Republican Government of Mazzini at
Rome, where he took a leading part in the abortive negotiations which
preceded the restoration of the Pope by a French army.

[Illustration]

In 1854 he received a commission from the _Societe d'etudes du Canal de
Suez_ at Paris to negotiate with Saeid Pacha for the construction of the
canal projected in 1816. Accordingly, toward the close of that year, we
again find him on the Isthmus, preparing for his great work. This time
he came to conquer. His mission was crowned with success, and the
necessary concession made in November of that year. A palace and a
retinue of servants were assigned to his use, and he was treated, as
a guest of the Viceroy, with the utmost respect. Great opposition
followed, especially from England; and it was not till January, 1856,
that the second and fuller concession was granted by Saeid Pacha, and a
_Compagnie International_ fully organized.

In 1858 M. Lesseps succeeded in raising two hundred millions of francs
in France, and in 1859 he proceeded to Egypt and planted the Egyptian
flag in the harbor of the ancient Pelusium, the great sea-port of Egypt
thirty centuries ago, where Port Saeid now stands. He laid, at the same
time, the foundation of a lighthouse, and proudly proclaimed the
work commenced. Fresh difficulties--chiefly of a political
nature--interposed, but the indefatigable Lesseps never despaired. In
1859 he had the satisfaction of seeing his company and work placed upon
a firm footing, though the final decision of the French Emperor was not
given till July, 1864. From that time to the present hour the Canal has
steadily progressed toward completion.

The personal appearance of M. de Lesseps is very striking. Though long
past middle age, he has a fresh and even youthful appearance. Both face
and figure are well preserved; his slightly curling gray hair sets off
in pleasing contrast his bronzed yet clear complexion, his bright eye,
and genial smile. He is somewhat over the medium stature, possessed of
a compact and well-knit frame, carries his head erect, and moves about
with a buoyancy and animation perfectly marvelous in one of his years
and experience. His address is that of the well-bred, well-educated
French gentleman that he is. His manner is winning, his voice clear and
under most excellent control, as all those who have listened to his
admirable lectures on the Canal at the late Paris Exposition cannot
fail to remember. What is perhaps most remarkable in a man so bred and
constituted, is that with great gentleness of speech and suavity of
manner he combines a strength of will and fixity of purpose worthy of
Napoleon or Caesar himself. Beneath that calm exterior lay a power which
needed but the stimulus of a great idea to develop.

Though beset by difficulties, laughed at, and maligned, he has never for
a moment swerved from his purpose or relaxed his efforts to accomplish
it. Neither the sneers of Stevenson and his associate engineers, the
heavy broadside of the "Thunderer," or the squibs of _Punch_, ever made
any visible impression on the purpose or action of Lesseps.--"My purpose
from the commencement was to have confidence," said he.

How bravely he has maintained his principle and redeemed his pledge let
the ceremonies which marked the completion and inauguration of his great
work tell--when sea sent greeting to sea; and let the keels of richly
laden argosies from Cathay and from Ind, which plow the waters of the
Canal, declare.

* * * * *

AN INGENIOUS VENT PEG.

The engraving illustrates an English invention of value in that it
provides a means of giving vent to casks from which liquids are to
be drawn, at the same time excluding the air when the drawing is
discontinued, and thus preventing deterioration in the liquid by undue
exposure to air.

[Illustration]

The principle on which it operates is that of admitting just so much air
as may be required to fill the vacant space produced by the withdrawal
of the liquor from time to time, and affording this air no egress, thus
hermetically sealing the barrel. This is effected by means of a valve
opening inward, at the upper portion of the peg, so long as the density
of the exterior air is in excess of that within. This action takes place
at the very instant of the flow of the liquid, and ceases with it; for
at that instant all further supply is shut off, there being no further
pressure.

* * * * *

THE LARGE TREES OF TEXAS.--The large court-house of Navarro county is
said to have been covered with shingles made from a single cedar tree.
The oaks, pecans, and cedars of that section of the country attain
an immense size. A pecan tree in Navarro county, on the banks of the
Trinity, measured twenty-three feet in circumference. The cedars are
often more than 100 feet high.

* * * * *

ELECTRIC MESSAGES.--Although it may require an hour, or two or three
hours, to transmit a telegraphic message to a distant city, yet it
is the mechanical adjustment by the sender and receiver which really
absorbs this time; the actual transit is practically instantaneous,
and so it would be from here to China, so far as the current itself is
concerned.

* * * * *

A New English Patent Pulley Block.

The following description of a new pulley block, which we take from the
_Ironmonger_, does not give as clear an idea of the invention as could
be desired, but it shows that invention in this field has not yet
exhausted itself:

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