Show MVENIUHH1 AND IMPR 1OOf For Keeping Food Hot A recent English Invention Is the heater shown In the illustration It In a very simple affair consisting only of a rectangular piece of metal on four lugs underneath which Is an nlioliol lamp arranged so as to heat the I metal evenly This Is very useful use-ful not only for heating plates but for keeping hot lea a ml > coffee and nil klpds of foods Like all alcohol lamps of recent make tho burner can be regulated so that the metal stand may tie heated to any degree desired The heat Is not strong enough under any conditions however to cook with but foods that arc to be served very hot may bo kept at the right temperature for an Indefinite time The heater Is mado In either copper or nickel ware and makes n very pretty addition to either sideboard or serving table Metallic Tantalum Metallic tantalum which is of such Interest at the present time was first prepared by Dr Werne von Bolton by submitting tantalum letroxldo to an aTlernntlng electric current In i a vacuum tube tt lC njgtal separating at tho cathode In a later process a mixed salt of tantalum fluoride and potassium fluoride Is reduced by potassium potas-sium and the resulting mixture of pure metal and oxide Is separated by fractional distillation Tho metal is sr ductile that It can bo drawn into a wire 1800 of an Inch li diameter Mixed with unaltered oxide it becomes harder than the diamond and tougher than the best steel and at moderate I cost It would bo the Ideal battleship armor As a lamp filament tantalum uses only half as much current as carbon car-bon for the same light A peculiarity of tantalum Is that It sometimes assumes as-sumes the passive state and a cell ol two electrodes of this metal with sulphuric sul-phuric acid as electrolyte will not allow al-low an alternating current to pass Substituting platinum for one electrode elec-trode tho current can pass lu one dl rcctlon only Smooth Electric Light Bulb The little point on the end of an electric light bulb must vanish It if small to bo sure but It sticks oul just enough to cause considerable breakage and If accidentally struck by a person It Is almost sure to cause T n slight wound George P McDonnell of St Louis has secured a patent oc nn apparatus for heating and annealing anneal-ing tho point The Illustration taker from his patent papers shows lion tho work Is done Concrete Railroad Ties Millions 1 ot dollars are Invested In wooden railroad ties In this country Tho wood Is getting high and something some-thing cheaper must bo found Concrete Con-crete offers a solution and many conCrete con-crete ties are In use throughout the Northwest but they do not give the same resiliency as wood and goon devices for holding the rails firmly are lacking A concrete tlo designed b > II E Perclval of Houston Texas Is a solid tie no steel being exposed anywhere and it has n special varl able cross section in order to keep It from becoming center bound and thus liable to unequal settlement The Inventor states that tho shape mus bo such as to distribute tho ecentrk pressure which ho claims to have done In this tie by cutting away the center for 4 I feet making It Vshaped Tho ends are made oval to give ar much wider bearing for the dlslnnr of 2 feet at each end The dimensions of the tic are S feet length 9 inch face and 9 Inches In depth Ho also claims that tho form of tho tic makes It a selftamper and thus easy tr maintain Under each rail Is n 2x9x14 Inch wood cushion which ha been previously treated by wood preserver pre-server and It Is mado In such shapp as to readily give to the pressure a a train passes over The rails are fast oned to the tie by a screw pin ten Inches long and Th Inch In diameter This spike passes through the woodc cushion and screws down Into a sock ot In the tie filled with a composition of galvanized steel and babbitt metal Tho ties arc reinforced with corrugated corru-gated iron bars Twelve Thousand Shots a Minute A now deathdealing Instrument has been invented A Lithuanian gentleman gentle-man M Feodor Troltz has contrived a gun worked by electricity which will fire from 4000 to 12 000 shots a I minute Tho range of this now weapon Is three miles and its destructive power if all claims on its behalf are genuine should put in tho shade such trivial toys as raagazino rifles Tho gun only requires one man to work it J |