Scientific American Supplement, No. 365, December 30, 1882

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Scientific American Supplement, No. 365,?by Various

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December 30, 1882, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Scientific American Supplement, No. 365, December 30, 1882
Author: Various
Release Date: July 6, 2006 [EBook #18763]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration]

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 365

NEW YORK, DECEMBER 30, 1882.
Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XIV., No. 365.
Scientific American established 1845
Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.
Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
I. ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS.--Louis Favre, Constructor of the St. Gothard Tunnel.--2 figures.--Portrait and monument at Turin to commemorate the tunneling of the Alps 5817
The New Harbor of Vera Cruz.--New artificial harbor for Vera Cruz.--Capt. Eads's plan.--1 figure.--Plan of harbor and improvement 5818
Cost of Power to Make Flour 5818
Driving gear Mechanism for Lift Hammers.--2 figures 5819
De Junker and Ruh's Machine for Cutting Annular Wheels.--3 figures 5819
Recent Hydraulic Experiments.--Results of experiments on the flow of water in the Ganges Canal 5819
The Germ: Shall It be Retained in Flour? By Arthur Atkins 5820
Wheat Tests 5820
II. TECHNOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY.--Apparatus for Manufacturing Gaseous or Aerated Beverages.--11 figures.--Bicarbonate of soda apparatus. Generator. Washer.--Suction pump.--Saturator.--Apparatus for using carbonate of lime.--Apparatus completely mechanical in operation 5815
Detection and Estimation of Fusel Oil 5816
On Silicon.--Curious formation of silicide of platinum 5816
Stannous Nitrates.--The formation of explosive compounds in machines by the corrosion of bronze and tin solder 5816
Metallic Thorium. By L.F. Nilson 5816
Friedrich W?hler.--Obituary notice of the great German chemist 5816
Apparatus for Printing by the Blue Process. By Channing Whitaker.--3 figures 5820
III. ELECTRICITY, LIGHT, HEAT, ETC.--Spectrum Gratings 5822
A New Pocket Opera Glass.--4 figures 5822
Atoms, Molecules, and Ether Waves. By JOHN TYNDALL. Action of heat and light on molecules.--Heat as an agent in exploring molecular conditions.--The results of a recent incursion into the extra-sensible world of atoms and molecules 5823
Apparatus for Measuring Electricity at the Upper School of Telegraphy. By E. MERCADIER.--5 figures. Constant vibrator.--The Electrical tuning fork. Arrangement for testing electric piles.--Very rapid electric tuning fork.--A vibrating micrometer 5824
IV. NATURAL HISTORY.--Our Origin as a Species. By RICHARD OWEN.--The Neanderthal skull.--Differential characters between the lowest Homo and the highest Simia 5825
The Aba or Odika. By Dr. W.H. BACHELER.--A remarkable tree of West Africa 5826
California Cedars 5826
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APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING GASEOUS OR AERATED BEVERAGES.
The apparatus employed at present for making gaseous beverages are divided into two classes--intermittent apparatus based on chemical compression, and continuous ones based on mechanical compression.
The first are simple in appearance and occupy small space, but their use is attended with too great inconveniences and losses to allow them to be employed in cases where the manufacture is of any extent, so the continuous apparatus are more and more preferred by those engaged in the industry.
Continuous apparatus, however, other than those that we now propose to occupy ourselves with, are not without some defects, for the gas is produced in them intermittingly and at intervals, and more rapidly than it is used, thus necessitating the use of a gasometer, numerous and large washers, complicated piping, and, besides, of an acid cock.
To get rid of such drawbacks, it became necessary to seek a means of rendering the production of the gas continuous, and of regulating it automatically without the aid of the operator. Mr. Mondollot has obtained such a result through a happy modification of the primitive system of the English engineer Bramah. He preserves the suction and force pump but, while applying it to the same uses, he likewise employs it, by the aid of a special arrangement, so as to distribute the sulphuric acid automatically over the chalk in the generator, and to thus obtain a regular and continuous disengagement of carbonic acid gas. The dangers and difficulties in the maneuver of an acid cock are obviated, the gasometer and its cumbersome accessories are dispensed with, and the purification is more certain, owing to the regularity with which the gas traverses the washers.
In the accompanying plate we have figured three types of these apparatus. The first that we shall describe is arranged for the use of bicarbonate of soda. This apparatus consists (1) of a generator, C D, (2) of a double washer G G, (3) of a suction pump, P, and (4) of a saturator, S (See Figs 1 to 9).
The Generator.--This consists of a cylindrical leaden receptacle, D, on the bottom of which rests a leaden bell containing apertures, c, at its base. A partition, c, into which is screwed a leaden tube, C, containing apertures divides