Writing Tech Brief By HackerNoon

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/the-collins-line-of-steamers. The Arctic was afterward run into by a French vessel at sea and only a few of her passengers were saved. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #project-gutenberg, #hackernoon-books, #books, #various, #scientific-american, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. The breaking up of the Baltic, the last of the famous Collins line of steamships, calls out a number of interesting facts with regard to the history of the several vessels of that fleet. There were five in all, the Adriatic, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Baltic. They were built and equipped in New York. Their dimensions were: Length, 290 feet; beam, 45 feet; depth of hold, 31½ feet; capacity, 2,860 tons; machinery, 1,000 horse power. In size, speed, and appointments they surpassed any steamers then afloat, and they obtained a fair share of the passenger traffic. A fortune was expended in decorating the saloons. The entire cost of each steamer was not less than $600,000, and notwithstanding their quick passages, the subsidy received, and the high rates of freight paid, the steamers ran for six years at great loss, and finally the company became bankrupt.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/efficiency-and-capacity-of-boilers. The duration in such cases may be reduced, and the “flying” method of starting and stopping employed. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #engineering-and-technology, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #babcock-and-wilcox-company, #ebooks, and more. This story was written by: @bwco. Learn more about this writer by checking @bwco's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Two of the most important operating factors entering into the consideration of what constitutes a satisfactory boiler are its efficiency and capacity. The relation of these factors to one another will be considered later under the selection of boilers with reference to the work they are to accomplish. The present chapter deals with the efficiency and capacity only with a view to making clear exactly what is meant by these terms as applied to steam generating apparatus, together with the methods of determining these factors by tests. Efficiency—The term “efficiency”, specifically applied to a steam boiler, is the ratio of heat absorbed by the boiler in the generation of steam to the total amount of heat available in the medium utilized in securing such generation. When this medium is a solid fuel, such as coal, it is impossible to secure the complete combustion of the total amount fed to the boiler. A portion is bound to drop through the grates where it becomes mixed with the ash and, remaining unburned, produces no heat. Obviously, it is unfair to charge the boiler with the failure to absorb the portion of available heat in the fuel that is wasted in this way. On the other hand, the boiler user must pay for such waste and is justified in charging it against the combined boiler and furnace. Due to this fact, the efficiency of a boiler, as ordinarily stated, is in reality the combined efficiency of the boiler, furnace and grate, and The efficiency will be the same whether based on dry fuel or on fuel as fired, including its content of moisture. For example: If the coal contained 3 per cent of moisture, the efficiency would be where 0.97 cancels and the formula becomes (31). The heat supplied to the boiler is due to the combustible portion of fuel which is actually burned, irrespective of what proportion of the total combustible fired may be.[54] This fact has led to the use of a second efficiency basis on combustible and which is called the efficiency of boiler and furnace[55], namely, The efficiency so determined is used in comparing the relative performance of boilers, irrespective of the type of grates used under them. If the loss of fuel through the grates could be entirely overcome, the efficiencies obtained by (31) and (32) would obviously be the same. Hence, in the case of liquid and gaseous fuels, where there is practically no waste, these efficiencies are almost identical.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/characteristics-of-arctic-winter. The North Pole itself is only shrouded in perfect blackness from November 13 to January 29, a period of seventy-seven days. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #project-gutenberg, #hackernoon-books, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #vol.43-no.25-december-18-1880, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Lieutenant Schwatka, whose recent return from a successful expedition in search of the remains of Sir John Fanklin's ill-fated company, combats the prevalent opinion that the Arctic winter, especially in the higher latitudes, is a period of dreary darkness. In latitude 83° 20' 20" N., the highest point ever reached by man, there are four hours and forty-two minutes of twilight on December 22, the shortest day in the year, in the northern hemisphere. In latitude 82° 27' N., the highest point where white men have wintered, there are six hours and two minutes in the shortest day; and latitude 84° 32' N., 172 geographical miles nearer the North Pole than Markham reached, and 328 geographical miles from that point, must yet be attained before the true Plutonic zone, or that one in which there is no twilight whatsoever, even upon the shortest day of the year, can be said to have been entered by man. Of course, about the beginning and ending of this twilight, it is very feeble and easily extinguished by even the slightest mists, but nevertheless it exists, and is quite appreciable on clear cold days, or nights, properly speaking. The North Pole itself is only shrouded in perfect blackness from November 13 to January 29, a period of seventy-seven days. Supposing that the sun has set (supposing a circumpolar sea or body of water unlimited to vision) on September 24, not to rise until March 18, for that particular point, giving a period of about fifty days of uniformly varying twilight, the pole has about 188 days of continuous daylight, 100 days of varying twilight, and 77 of perfect inky darkness (save when the moon has a northern declination) in the period of a typical year. During the period of a little over four days, the sun shines continuously on both the North and South Poles at the same time, owing to refraction parallax, semi-diameter, and dip of the horizon.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/chimneys-and-draft. The makers furnish a non-drying oil for the liquid, usually a 300 degrees test refined petroleum. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #engineering-and-technology, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #babcock-and-wilcox-company, #ebooks, #steam-its-generation-and-use, and more. This story was written by: @bwco. Learn more about this writer by checking @bwco's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. The height and diameter of a properly designed chimney depend upon the amount of fuel to be burned, its nature, the design of the flue, with its arrangement relative to the boiler or boilers, and the altitude of the plant above sea level. There are so many factors involved that as yet there has been produced no formula which is satisfactory in taking them all into consideration, and the methods used for determining stack sizes are largely empirical. In this chapter a method sufficiently comprehensive and accurate to cover all practical cases will be developed and illustrated. Draft is the difference in pressure available for producing a flow of the gases. If the gases within a stack be heated, each cubic foot will expand, and the weight of the expanded gas per cubic foot will be less than that of a cubic foot of the cold air outside the chimney. Therefore, the unit pressure at the stack base due to the weight of the column of heated gas will be less than that due to a column of cold air. This difference in pressure, like the difference in head of water, will cause a flow of the gases into the base of the stack. In its passage to the stack the cold air must pass through the furnace or furnaces of the boilers connected to it, and it in turn becomes heated. This newly heated gas will also rise in the stack and the action will be continuous. The intensity of the draft, or difference in pressure, is usually measured in inches of water. Assuming an atmospheric temperature of 62 degrees Fahrenheit and the temperature of the gases in the chimney as 500 degrees Fahrenheit, and, neglecting for the moment the difference in density between the chimney gases and the air, the difference between the weights of the external air and the internal flue gases per cubic foot is .0347 pound, obtained as follows:

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/decisions-relating-to-patents. The decision of the Board of Examiners-in-Chief is reversed, and priority awarded to Dickson. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #project-gutenberg, #hackernoon-books, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #vol.43-no.25-december-18-1880, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. Reissued patent No. 5,774 to Shubael Cottle, February 24, 1874, for improvement in chains for necklaces, declared void, the first claim, if not for want of novelty, for want of patentability, and the second for want of novelty. Neither the tubing, nor the open spiral link formed of tubing, nor the process of making either the open or the closed link, nor the junction of closed and open spiral links in a chain, was invented by the patentee. All improvement is not invention and entitled to protection as such. Thus to entitle it it must be the product of some exercise of the inventive faculties, and it must involve something more than what is obvious to persons skilled in the art to which it relates.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/utilization-of-waste-heat. The gases available for this class of work are almost invariably very dirty. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #engineering-and-technology, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #babcock-and-wilcox-company, #ebooks, #steam-its-generation-and-use, and more. This story was written by: @bwco. Learn more about this writer by checking @bwco's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. While it has been long recognized that the reclamation of heat from the waste gases of various industrial processes would lead to a great saving in fuel and labor, the problem has, until recently, never been given the attention that its importance merits. It is true that installations have been made for the utilization of such gases, but in general they have consisted simply in the placing of a given amount of boiler heating surface in the path of the gases and those making the installations have been satisfied with whatever power has been generated, no attention being given to the proportioning of either the heating surface or the gas passages to meet the peculiar characteristics of the particular class of waste gas available. The Babcock & Wilcox Co. has recently gone into the question of the utilization of what has been known as waste heat with great thoroughness, and the results secured by their installations with practically all operations yielding such gases are eminently successful. The power that can be obtained from waste gases depends upon their temperature and weight, and both of these factors vary widely in different commercial operations. Table 52 gives a list of certain processes yielding waste gases the heat of which is available for the generation of steam and the approximate temperature of such gases. It should be understood that the temperatures in the table are the average of the range of a complete cycle of the operation and that the minimum and maximum temperatures may vary largely from the figures given.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/learning-to-tie-knots. A common jackknife and a few pieces of clothes line are the main appliances needed to impart the instruction with. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #project-gutenberg, #hackernoon-books, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #vol.43-no.25-december-18-1880, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. A correspondent suggests that it would be a handy accomplishment for schoolboys to be proficient in the handling, splicing, hitching, and knotting of ropes. He suggests the propriety of having the art taught in our public schools. A common jackknife and a few pieces of clothes line are the main appliances needed to impart the instruction with. He concludes it would not only be of use in ordinary daily life, but especially to those who handle merchandise and machinery. Any one, he adds, who has noticed the clumsy haphazard manner in which boxes and goods are tied for hoisting or for loading upon trucks, will appreciate the advantage of practical instruction in this direction. Probably a good plan, he further suggests, would be to have one schoolboy taught first by the master, and then let the pupil teach the other boys. Our correspondent thinks most boys would consider it a nice pastime to practice during recess and at the dinner hour, so that no time would be taken from study or recitation time.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/gaseous-fuels-and-their-combustion. This is best accomplished by an attachment which permits the blowing out of the burners by steam. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #engineering-and-technology, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #babcock-and-wilcox-company, #ebooks, #steam-its-generation-and-use, and more. This story was written by: @bwco. Learn more about this writer by checking @bwco's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Of the gaseous fuels available for steam generating purposes, the most common are blast furnace gas, natural gas and by-product coke oven gas. Blast furnace gas, as implied by its name, is a by-product from the blast furnace of the iron industry. This gasification of the solid fuel in a blast furnace results, 1st, through combustion by the oxygen of the blast; 2nd, through contact with the incandescent ore (Fe2O3 + C = 2 FeO + CO and FeO + C = Fe + CO); and 3rd, through the agency of CO2 either formed in the process of reduction or driven from the carbonates charged either as ore or flux. Approximately 90 per cent of the fuel consumed in all of the blast furnaces of the United States is coke. The consumption of coke per ton of iron made varies from 1600 to 3600 pounds per ton of 2240 pounds of iron. This consumption depends upon the quality of the coal, the nature of the ore, the quality of the pig iron produced and the equipment and management of the plant. The average consumption, and one which is approximately correct for ordinary conditions, is 2000 pounds of coke per gross ton (2240 pounds) of pig iron. The gas produced in a gas furnace per ton of pig iron is obtained from the weight of fixed carbon gasified, the weight of the oxygen combined with the material of charge reduced, the weight of the gaseous constituents of the flux and the weight of air delivered by the blowing engine and the weight of volatile combustible contained in the coke. Ordinarily, this weight of gas will be found to be approximately five times the weight of the coke burned, or 10,000 pounds per ton of pig iron produced. With the exception of the small amount of carbon in combination with hydrogen as methane, and a very small percentage of free hydrogen, ordinarily less than 0.1 per cent, the calorific value of blast furnace gas is due to the CO content which when united with sufficient oxygen when burned under a boiler, burns further to CO2. The heat value of such gas will vary in most cases from 85 to 100 B. t. u. per cubic foot under standard conditions. In modern practice, where the blast is heated by hot blast stoves, approximately 15 per cent of the total amount of gas is used for this purpose, leaving 85 per cent of the total for use under boilers or in gas engines, that is, approximately 8500 pounds of gas per ton of pig iron produced. In a modern blast furnace plant, the gas serves ordinarily as the only fuel required. Table 49 gives the analyses of several samples of blast furnace gas.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/liquid-fuels-and-their-combustion. Care should be taken where this fuel is used to install a suitable apparatus for straining it before it is fed to the burner. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #engineering-and-technology, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #babcock-and-wilcox-company, #ebooks, #steam-its-generation-and-use, and more. This story was written by: @bwco. Learn more about this writer by checking @bwco's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Petroleum is practically the only liquid fuel sufficiently abundant and cheap to be used for the generation of steam. It possesses many advantages over coal and is extensively used in many localities. There are three kinds of petroleum in use, namely those yielding on distillation: 1st, paraffin; 2nd, asphalt; 3rd, olefine. To the first group belong the oils of the Appalachian Range and the Middle West of the United States. These are a dark brown in color with a greenish tinge. Upon their distillation such a variety of valuable light oils are obtained that their use as fuel is prohibitive because of price. To the second group belong the oils found in Texas and California. These vary in color from a reddish brown to a jet black and are used very largely as fuel. The third group comprises the oils from Russia, which, like the second, are used largely for fuel purposes. The light and easily ignited constituents of petroleum, such as naphtha, gasolene and kerosene, are oftentimes driven off by a partial distillation, these products being of greater value for other purposes than for use as fuel. This partial distillation does not decrease the value of petroleum as a fuel; in fact, the residuum known in trade as “fuel oil” has a slightly higher calorific value than petroleum and because of its higher flash point, it may be more safely handled. Statements made with reference to petroleum apply as well to fuel oil.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/new-miscellaneous-inventions. The terrible disaster in the Brooklyn theater is serving as a stimulus to induce the invention of devices looking to the prevention of a like occurrence. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #volume-31-no.8-feb.24-1877, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. William Maynard, New York city.—This invention relates to an improved construction of apparatus for the hydration of gases, and more particularly chlorine gas for the manufacture of chlorine water for use in the industrial arts of bleaching, etc. It consists mainly in a case having an inlet for the water above, an inlet for the gas below, and provided with an intermediate water percolating medium; combined with a reservoir located below the level of the case and having a water-sealed communication therewith, which reservoir receives the hydrated gases, and which water seal prevents the heavy gas in the case from passing out through the bottom inlet. The case for the percolation of water and the absorption of the gas is made of conical shape, with the largest diameter at the bottom, to produce the greatest absorption of the heavy gas when first admitted; while horizontal partitions, or shelves, in said case are provided with upwardly projecting tubes which hold a permanent surface of water on the said partition or shelves. The tubes permit, by their peculiar shape, the water to pass down on one side and the gas up on the opposite side of said tube, while their alternating arrangement in the alternating shelves gives a zigzag and long continued passage to the gas and water in moving in opposite directions through the case.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/solid-fuels-other-than-coal-and-their-combustion. Tan bark is burned in isolated cases and in general the remarks on burning wet wood fuel apply to its combustion. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #engineering-and-technology, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #babcock-and-wilcox-company, #ebooks, #steam-its-generation-and-use, and more. This story was written by: @bwco. Learn more about this writer by checking @bwco's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Wood —Wood is vegetable tissue which has undergone no geological change. Usually the term is used to designate those compact substances familiarly known as tree trunks and limbs. When newly cut, wood contains moisture varying from 30 per cent to 50 per cent. When dried for a period of about a year in the atmosphere, the moisture content will be reduced to 18 or 20 per cent. Wood is usually classified as hard wood, including oak, maple, hickory, birch, walnut and beech; and soft wood, including pine, fir, spruce, elm, chestnut, poplar and willow. Contrary to general opinion, the heat value per pound of soft wood is slightly greater than the same value per pound of hard wood. Table 41 gives the chemical composition and the heat values of the common woods. Ordinarily the heating value of wood is considered equivalent to 0.4 that of bituminous coal. In considering the calorific value of wood as given in this table , it is to be remembered that while this value is based on air-dried wood, the moisture content is still about 20 per cent of the whole, and the heat produced in burning it will be diminished by this amount and by the heat required to evaporate the moisture and superheat it to the temperature of the gases. The heat so absorbed may be calculated by the formula giving the loss due to moisture in the fuel, and the net calorific value determined. In designing furnaces for burning wood, the question resolves itself into: 1st, the essential elements to give maximum capacity and efficiency with this class of fuel; and 2nd, the construction which will entail the least labor in handling and feeding the fuel and removing the refuse after combustion. Wood, as used commercially for steam generating purposes, is usually a waste product from some industrial process. At the present time refuse from lumber and sawmills forms by far the greater part of this class of fuel. In such refuse the moisture may run as high as 60 per cent and the composition of the fuel may vary over wide ranges during different portions of the mill operation. The fuel consists of sawdust, “hogged” wood and slabs, and the percentage of each of these constituents may vary greatly. Hogged wood is mill refuse and logs that have been passed through a “hogging machine” or macerator. This machine, through the action of revolving knives, cuts or shreds the wood into a state in which it may readily be handled as fuel. Table 42 gives the moisture content and heat value of typical sawmill refuse from various woods.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/new-agricultural-inventions. The old queen must be put with the new colony, and half of the bees must be put in each box and shut up, and put on a stand. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #volume-31-no.8-feb.24-1877, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Ezra Peak, Montana, Kan.—This invention is so constructed that it may be easily raised from and lowered to the ground, and adjusted to work at any desired depth in the ground. It is claimed to be of lighter draft than plows constructed in the usual way, also to be simple in construction and inexpensive in manufacture. The wheels, the faces of which are notched to give them a slight up-and-down movement as they are drawn forward, slightly jar the plows, and thus cause them to be easier drawn than when smooth wheels are used. The shaft can be provided with a ratchet wheel and pawl to hold it in any position into which it may be turned; and to it is attached a rope or chain, the other end of which, is attached to the forward end of the frame, so that by turning the shaft the plows may be raised from, lowered to, and adjusted to work at any desired depth in the ground.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/new-books-and-publications. A readable little periodical, well calculated to amuse the little ones for whom it is intended. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #volume-31-no.8-feb.24-1877, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Archology, Or The Science Of Government. By S.V. Blakeslee. Price $1.25. New York and San Francisco: A. Roman & Co. This book is a very metaphysical treatise on theories of government and the duties of citizens to the law, each other, and themselves. Theoretical politics are little in favor with thinking men of this day; and the social difficulties of our age will have to be solved by practical wisdom founded on experience. The people that knows that a certain course of legislation has destroyed an empire, and that a contrary policy has developed one, will care little as to whether or not "the will controls the feelings by mediate and indirect force." We are unable to find in this book any attempt to apply the finely worded theories stated to practical use and popular instruction in political science. Graphical Analysis Of Roof Trusses, For The Use Of Engineers, Architects, And Builders. By Charles E. Greene, A.M., Professor of Civil Engineering in the University of Michigan. Chicago, Ill: George H. Frost. The author of this work truly says that any designer who fairly tries the graphical method will be pleased with the simplicity and directness of the analysis, even for apparently complex forms. The hindrance to the general use of the method is the want of knowledge of the higher mathematics, which are largely used in most treatises on the subject. Professor Greene has avoided this stumbling block, and given us a treatise which may be understood and appreciated by any one of common school education. We therefore give his work a hearty commendation, and we hope that every carpenter and builder may be induced to analyze the stresses which affect the different parts of structures, which he can readily do by carefully reading this volume.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/the-extension-of-the-plague. Let us hope so; for of all pestilences which have ever scourged humanity, and desolated empires, none approach in magnitude those of the plague. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #vol.-17-no.2-july-14-1877, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Our recent English medical exchanges mention, with undisguised apprehension, the fact that already early this spring authentic observers state that the plague has broken out in Bagdad, and is rapidly increasing there; and information from other sources renders it probable that the disease has shown itself in other places in the vicinity of that city, some of which have not suffered before since the new development of the disease in Mesopotamia, three or four years ago. The progress of the epidemic in and about Bagdad last year shows that each year since its reappearance in that district it has covered a wider area, and it will be remembered that last year it crossed the Turco-Persian frontier, and broke out at Shuster, in Khuzistan. From the phenomena of the epidemic to this period it was feared, especially by the physicians on the spot, that, if it should recur in the present year, it must be expected to extend over a still wider area, and show itself in even a more aggravated form than had yet been observed. This opinion is concurred in by Surgeon-Major Colville, the medical officer attached to the British Embassy at Bagdad, and is expressed in his official report, on the subject of the last and previous year's outbreak.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/warming-and-ventilation-of-railroad-cars. We trust that before this journal concludes its series of articles thus commenced Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #project-gutenberg, #hackernoon-books, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #vol.14-no.12-march-18-1871, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. There has been enough of denunciation against the present general method of warming and ventilating railway cars. It produces no effect on the corporations who could, if they would, adopt appliances that would not burn people to death in cases of accident, nor regularly and persistently poison them with bad air. There is no lack of ways and means; the problem is simple and easily solved; nay—a not very extensive search through the Patent Office records will show that it has been solved already; perhaps not in the most practical and perfect manner, but still solved so well, as, were it not for corporation cupidity, would greatly add to the comfort and safety of passengers. The real problem is how to compel corporations to recognize the fact that the public has rights they are bound to respect. It is the disregard of these rights that fills our cars with smoke, dust, and exhalations, and puts box stoves full of hot coals in the corners, ready to cook the human stew whenever a frisky car shall take a notion to turn a somersault. The invention needed is a conscience for corporations—an invention, by the way, scarcely less difficult than the one advertised for in our last issue, namely, a plan for preventing the sale of intoxicating liquors and tobacco in New Jersey.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/moneyed-men. Courage has saved many an army, even when ammunition was low; and many a foe has been scattered by one yell of defiance when there was not a cartridge left. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #volume-31-no.8-feb.24-1877, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. The Cleveland Herald said, twenty years ago, during a stringency of the times, that moneyed men are the veriest cravens on earth: so timid, that on the least alarm they pull their heads, turtle-like, within their shells, and, snugly housed, hug their glittering treasure until all fear is removed. The consequence is that a few days' disturbance of the monetary atmosphere brings on a perfect dearth of not only the precious metals, but even of paper money, their representative. Moneyed men never adopt the tactics of mutual support; hence, as soon as a shot is fired into the flock, they scatter, each looking out for himself, each distrustful of the other, and each recognizing only the great law of selfishness, which is to take care of number one. Courage has saved many an army, even when ammunition was low; and many a foe has been scattered by one yell of defiance when there was not a cartridge left.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/classification-of-fuels. Gas-house coke is generally softer and more porous than oven coke, ignites more readily, and requires less draft for its combustion. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #engineering-and-technology, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #babcock-and-wilcox-company, #ebooks, #steam-its-generation-and-use, and more. This story was written by: @bwco. Learn more about this writer by checking @bwco's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Fuels for steam boilers may be classified as solid, liquid or gaseous. Of the solid fuels, anthracite and bituminous coals are the most common, but in this class must also be included lignite, peat, wood, bagasse and the refuse from certain industrial processes such as sawdust, shavings, tan bark and the like. Straw, corn and coffee husks are utilized in isolated cases. The class of liquid fuels is represented chiefly by petroleum, though coal tar and water-gas tar are used to a limited extent. Gaseous fuels are limited to natural gas, blast furnace gas and coke oven gas, the first being a natural product and the two latter by-products from industrial processes. Though waste gases from certain processes may be considered as gaseous fuels, inasmuch as the question of combustion does not enter, the methods of utilizing them differ from that for combustible gaseous fuel, and the question will be dealt with separately. Since coal is by far the most generally used of all fuels, this chapter will be devoted entirely to the formation, composition and distribution of the various grades, from anthracite to peat. The other fuels will be discussed in succeeding chapters and their combustion dealt with in connection with their composition.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/the-hercules-beetle. The head, thorax, and legs are shining black; the elytra, or wing-covers, are olive-green, dotted with black spots, and are much wrinkled. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #project-gutenberg, #hackernoon-books, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #vol.43-no.25-december-18-1880, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. In the handsome engraving herewith are shown the male and female of the Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules) of Brazil. The family of the Dynastidæ comprises some of the largest and most beautiful of the beetle race, and all of them are remarkable for enormous developments of the thorax and head. They are all large bodied and stout limbed, and by their great strength abundantly justify their generic name, Dynastes, which is from the Greek and signifies powerful. The larvæ of these beetles inhabit and feed upon decaying trees and other rotting vegetable matter, and correspond in size with the mature insects. Most of them inhabit tropical regions, where they perform a valuable service in hastening the destruction of dead or fallen timber. An admirable example of this family of beetles is the one here represented. In the male of the Hercules beetle the upper part of the thorax is prolonged into a single, downward curving horn fully three inches long, the entire length of the insect being about six inches. The head is prolonged into a similar horn, which curves upward, giving the head and thorax the appearance of two enormous jaws, resembling the claw of a lobster. The real jaws of the insect are underneath the lower horn, which projects from the forepart of the head. The under surface of the thorax-horn carries a ridge of stiff, short, golden-yellow hairs, and the under surface and edges of the abdomen are similarly ornamented.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/report-of-the-judges-of-group-1-department-v-of-the-exhibition-of-the-american-institute-for-1870. Moreover, the circumstances under which the trials were respectively performed, render the comparison difficult, if not unfair. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #vol.14-no.12-march-18-1871, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. The labors of the judges in this department were much lighter in the last exhibition than in the preceding one, and we are happy to say, were, in our opinion, so far as the award of premiums is concerned, much more fairly performed. The award of two first premiums to two competing engines could scarcely be repeated this time, as there was in reality no competition. The Allen engine was the only important one entered, and of course received the first premium. The engine is, however, one that evidently could have competed favorably with those previously exhibited. We are in receipt of advanced sheets of the judges' report pertaining to the critical examination of this engine, being a record and account of experiments performed under the supervision of Washington Lee, C. E. The experiments were very comprehensive, and comprised approved tests, of each important detail, usually made by expert engineers. The report is too voluminous for reprint or even for condensation in our columns. In looking it through, we are satisfied that the experiments were accurately made, and that the engine exhibited great working efficiency and economy. As the engine has been recently illustrated and described in our columns, we deem it unnecessary to dwell upon the details of its construction. The water test of the previous exhibition was employed, the water being this time measured, with indisputable accuracy, in a tank, instead of by a meter as before.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/self-reliance-necessary-to-success. For want of self-reliance and decision of character, thousands are submerged in their first essays to make the voyage of life. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #volume-31-no.8-feb.24-1877, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Self-reliance, conjoined with promptitude in the execution of our undertakings, is indispensable to success. And yet multitudes live a life of vacillation and consequent failure, because they remain undetermined what to do, or, having decided that, have no confidence in themselves. Such persons need to be assured; but this assurance can be obtained in no other way than by their own successes in whatever they may attempt for themselves. If they lean upon others, they not only become dissatisfied with what they achieve, but the success of one achievement, in which they are entitled to but partial credit, is no guaranty to them that, unaided, they will not fail in their very next experiment. For want of self-reliance and decision of character, thousands are submerged in their first essays to make the voyage of life. Disappointed and chagrined at this, they underestimate their own capacities, and thenceforward, relying on others, they take and keep a subordinate position, from which they rise, when they rise at all, with the utmost difficulty. When a young man attains his majority, it is better for him, as a general rule, to take some independent position of his own, even though the present remuneration be less than he would obtain in the service of others. When at work for himself, in a business which requires and demands foresight, economy, and industry, he will naturally develop the strong points of his character, and become self-reliant.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/combustion-may-be-defined-as-the-rapid-chemical-combination. If less than this amount of air is supplied, the carbon burns to monoxide instead of dioxide and its full heat value is not developed. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #engineering-and-technology, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #babcock-and-wilcox-company, #ebooks, #steam-its-generation-and-use, and more. This story was written by: @bwco. Learn more about this writer by checking @bwco's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Combustion may be defined as the rapid chemical combination of oxygen with carbon, hydrogen and sulphur, accompanied by the diffusion of heat and light. That portion of the substance thus combined with the oxygen is called combustible. As used in steam engineering practice, however, the term combustible is applied to that portion of the fuel which is dry and free from ash, thus including both oxygen and nitrogen which may be constituents of the fuel, though not in the true sense of the term combustible. Combustion is perfect when the combustible unites with the greatest possible amount of oxygen, as when one atom of carbon unites with two atoms of oxygen to form carbon dioxide, CO2. The combustion is imperfect when complete oxidation of the combustible does not occur, or where the combustible does not unite with the maximum amount of oxygen, as when one atom of carbon unites with one atom of oxygen to form carbon monoxide, CO, which may be further burned to carbon dioxide. Kindling Point—Before a combustible can unite with oxygen and combustion takes place, its temperature must first be raised to the ignition or kindling point, and a sufficient time must be allowed for the completion of the combustion before the temperature of the gases is lowered below that point. Table 30, by Stromeyer, gives the approximate kindling temperatures of different fuels.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/alexander-bain-electrician. Photographs of him by Mayall were recently presented to the Society of Telegraph Engineers and the American Society of Telegraphers at Philadelphia. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #various, #scientific-american, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. This ingenious man, whose inventions in connection with the electric telegraph entitle his name to be held in grateful remembrance, died in January last at the new Home for Incurables at Broomhill, Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, Scotland, and on Saturday his remains were interred in the burying ground in the neighborhood of that town known as the Old Aisle Cemetery. Mr. Bain, who was about sixty-six years of age, was a native of Thurso. He was the inventor of the electro-chemical printing telegraph, the electro-magnetic clock, and of perforated paper for automatic transmission of messages, and was author of a number of books and pamphlets relating to these subjects. Sir William Thomson, in his address to the Mathematical Section of the British Association at its meeting in Glasgow last year, said: "In the United States Telegraphic Department of the Great Exhibition at Philadelphia, I saw Edison's automatic telegraph delivering 1,015 words in 57 seconds. This was done by the long neglected electro-chemical method of Bain, long ago condemned in England to the helot work of recording from a relay, and turned adrift as needlessly delicate for that." Mr. Bain was stricken by paralysis, and suffered from complete loss of power in the lower limbs. For some time he had received a pension from the government, obtained for him, we believe, through the instrumentality of Sir William Thomson. Mr. Bain was a widower, and has left a son and daughter, the former of whom is in America, and the latter at present on the Continent. Photographs of him by Mayall were recently presented to the Society of Telegraph Engineers and the American Society of Telegraphers at Philadelphia.—The Engineer.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/test-for-sulphur-in-organic-compounds. The substance to be tested is heated in a solution of caustic lime and oxide of lead in glycerin. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #various, #scientific-american, #vol.-17-no.2-july-14-1877, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. H. Vohl recommends the following as the best method of detecting sulphur in organic compounds: The substance to be tested is heated in a solution of caustic lime and oxide of lead in glycerin. The latter is prepared as follows: One volume of distilled water is mixed with 2 volumes of pure glycerin and heated to boiling; freshly prepared slaked lime is added, little by little, until it is saturated. Freshly precipitated hydrated oxide of lead, or moist litharge, is added in excess, and the liquid allowed to boil gently for a few minutes, then tightly corked and left to cool, after which the clear liquid is decanted from the sediment into a glass vessel that can be tightly corked. If into this solution be introduced and heated any organic which contains sulphur, like hair, feathers, horn, albumen, and the like, it will at once turn black from the formation of sulphide of lead. The great delicacy of this test is evident from the fact that, when pure wheat bread is boiled with this reagent, it turns yellow at first and then dark gray in consequence of the presence of sulphur in the gluten of the bread.

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/transmission-of-pressure-in-fluids. The three manometers are filled to the same level with mercury, the quantity being adjusted by means of a pipette. Check more stories related to writing at: https://hackernoon.com/c/writing. You can also check exclusive content about #non-fiction, #scientific-and-technical, #hackernoon-books, #project-gutenberg, #books, #various, #scientific-american-supplement, #no.-711-august-17-1889, and more. This story was written by: @scientificamerican. Learn more about this writer by checking @scientificamerican's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. The young student of physics occasionally has difficulty in grasping the laws of pressure in fluids. His every day experience has taught him that a push against a solid body causes it to push in the same direction, and he often receives with some doubt the statement that pressure applied to a fluid is transmitted equally in every direction. The experiments ordinarily shown in illustration of this principle prove that pressure is transmitted in all directions, but do not prove the equality of transmission, and in spite of all the text books may tell him, the student is apt to cling to the idea that a downward pressure applied to a liquid is more apt to burst the bottom than the side of the containing vessel.