Show SA S enli TOR aa p IA it IT VJ s 1 J 0 0 ot at tho the united states bureau of mines have recently perfected six devices ive five of 0 which indirectly involve the tha saving of human ufa and tho the sixth tile tho saving front from waste of natural resources lu in each instance application has been mado made for patent in order to retain these devices for tho the use of the people without tile the payment of royalty and to prevent any commercial concern from raining gaining a monopoly in their manufacture perhaps the moat important of the inventions that are to be dedicated to tho the free use UBO of the people relate to imi im prove ments in the rescue apparatus worn by miners following disasters this apparatus which supplies oxygen to the rescuer permits him to enter poisonous gases and carry on his work for a period of two hours in tile the bureau of mines experience with th this I 1 device three rescuers have lost their lives and in each instance it to Is believed their deaths were due to certain defects in the apparatus this led to a desperate attempt upon the part of the engineers to construct an apparatus that would be reasonably sate safe the engineers found considerable difficulty in the absorption of the poisonous matter of the breath in the apparatus and also in the reduction of the high pressure oxygen carried in the tanks on the back of the rescuers doth both problems were submitted to william E gibbs consulting engineer of the bureau and after research covering several months the solution of at both lems Is announced in applications for patents the caustic soda which Is used in the apparatus in taking up the poisonous exhalations exha lations ot of the breath has been so adjusted as aa to permit a continuous flow of the expired air A series of successful experiments have already been made upon this device the second problem the reduction of the oxygen pressure of 2000 pounds to the square inch to the proper amount needed by the rescuer has haa been accomplished by the invention of a new type of valve the apparatus at present reduces the oxygen pressure but supplies the oxygen at a constant rate no matter how much the wearer needs with the new valve the supply of oxygen Is regulated by the demands of the wearer of the apparatus and no oxygen goes to waste through a relief valve as in the devices now in use in making these improvements prove ments for safety mr air gibbs has succeeded in reducing the weight of tho the breathing apparatus fully 40 per cent the apparatus at present weighs 40 pounds which proves a serious handicap to the rescuer in his work A third invention Is that of a collapsible lap sible mine cage for use in rescue work following a mine disaster often the mine cage Is so badly shattered by the effect of explosions that it cannot be operated in such instances it Is claimed the collapsible cage would save hours of delay in rescue work and perhaps bo be the means of saying saving many lives tho the designer of this athla cage Is george S rice the chief mining en kinear of the bureau of mines i W paul engineer in charge of the mine rescue work of the bure bureau au of mines Is the inventor of an electrical signaling device for use in shafts especially ally following disasters with this device a person descending a shaft will be able to signal the hoisting engineer it if the man on the cage is overcome and the apparatus falls from his hands bands a circuit is immediately closed and a gong in the engine hause gives a sudden warning such a device it is claimed by mr air paul would f have been useful nt at the cherry mine fire in illinois several years ago where so many men lost their lives the rescue crows there bad to subject themselves to unnecessary dangers in descending sc the wrecked shaft because of lack of means of 0 signaling the device Is so arranged that in the absence of human intelligence to direct the giving of a prearranged code of signals the gong on the surface and in the engine house would ring continuously which in every case would bo be the signal to hoist immediately tito the bureau has also applied for a number of patents on processes for extracting tr vanadium uranium and ra turn from ores such as ore these processes aro are the result of tho the work of the denver colo laboratory a 0 the bureau of mines and their pur 1 pose la 18 to reduce the cost of making radium and to prevent tho the monopoly which goes with tho the so called secret processes tito tho patents parents have been asked for in tho the names of richard 13 moore in charge of tile the denver laboratory and karl kithil his assistant with tile tho great demand for radium in tho the treatment of cancer tho the bureau of mines looks upon this invention as all another I 1 ther possible memis meana of davir saving ig human life it Is estimated that tha t these new methods will cut the c oat cost of rad am fully one half mid and perhaps more they are to be for the uso use of any citizen of tile united states still another engineer of the bureau alfred C heggenn Heg gein in charge of oil all investigations has invented a new type of to control casing heads beada for oil wells a device that will at olice shut oft off the flow of gas or oil in ks new well and in that way stop the enormous waste of these resources that has been going on for years in the united states the new valve h has been tried out in the gushing cushing field of oklahoma and has proved successful it la in said that in the past it has been difficult to control many of the wells and that millions of dollars worth ot at oil and gas have gone to waste this new device which like the other patents Is to be dedicated to the public Is expected to stop much of this waste |