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Show aaflaHw , JaHaaHHal j. SCIENTIFIC TOPICS. CUnrtENT NOTESOF DISCOVERY AND INVENTION. )loloriiian-a j.w i7-ln,rrinn.nl In "all l.kt,liw,ii hy ilr.ork. -Toy lu,H,n ., fife I rrrer A Kw Las ,,f Chil.lrrn l7 lulloon. tT llallnont I lf fruerter. M. Janet, a Iremh chemist, haa made n new use of children a toy balloons bal-loons which la likely to commend Itielf to aea travelers ll haa been experimenting experi-menting with the objeil of proving that by means of ruliher balloona," which may be carried In a very amall rompase, and readily nlled with air In time of danger, a person who knows nothing of awlmmlng an keep nfloit mo roughest weather lie puts the apparatus In a box about the alio of a lady's purse t consuls of a yard or two of whipcord, to which arc attarhed four "balloona ' rolled up ready for being be-ing blown out The rubber balls ahould be filled to only about one-half their full extent ao as to offer better resistance to the waves Mr. Janet Mvo n startling Illustration of the merit of the system h advocates Having Hav-ing faitened the apparatue to the upper Part of the body of iwo of hla children he threw them Into the water violently agitated by the opening of sluice gate! Tey were whirled Inio the eddies and drawn under by the force of the current. cur-rent. Hut their dlsippearance wat only momentary and they were Boon aeen striking out for a landing place They had evidently not made the allghtcat effort while In the eddy, leaving leav-ing the apparatus to do Ita own work Many strong awlmraera under the same condition! would have run a rlik of being be-ing drowned. Mfn.lln, hr nrrwnrk., Henry J Paine the firework! expert of Now York, haa recently Invented a pyrotechnic algnal which la dealgneu for the exchange of slgnata on land or ", and either during the day or night, ll provldea colored fire of different composition In round moulds, arranged arrang-ed Interchangeauiy and telescoping In tubes, the charge being placed In t.ie order desired, according to the signal to be given, nnd the whole Inserted In the hollow chamber of n rocket In mld-alr the coloted fire la Ignited, and tho samo with a parachute are blown out of the rocket h ad The fires burning burn-ing In successive iolor Indicate, the algnal, while support d In air by the parachuto The group of color holders may bo Ignited and elevated to a high point upon a flaa-inrr or the masthead of a vesrcl, or the samo mny bo connected con-nected upon tho nd of a stick to bo held In thfchand while burning. The Trlf.lltimpll. The Inventor of tho Telcdlagraph ,Ubopltur)aklng machine) la not an flWlriann, f.a. .lofkmakcr The machlno coctlata of two cylinders drlv-en drlv-en by clock work at the bending end, the drawing la made on tin foil In Insulating In-sulating Ink which Is wrapped around the cylinder and turned under a platinum plati-num point which makes contact with the tin foil except where It cro'sea one of tho Unci of the Ink drawing where It la momentarily Interrupted At the receiving end a almltar cylinder, turning turn-ing synchronously, hat upon Its surface sur-face n sheet of paper covered with car bon Impression paper, outside of which li a sheet of thin, semi-transparent paper, and tho break-circuit algnals operate a stylus which la pressed down on this surface, ao producing the llnca of the drawing. Motarman's New llaly. The myterlooa language used by e street car conductor In calling out tho names of streets haa long been the suo-Jrct suo-Jrct of wlttlclsma for tho paragraphrr It la a more serious matter to the ra..-) ra..-) authorities, who are constantly In i receipt nf complaints from passengers carried beyond tuelr destination, because be-cause of tbclr Inability to catch toe conductors words Hy the system ro-ccntly ro-ccntly Invented by Kdward C Uatea of Iloeton Mats he proposes to transfer this duty to the motormnn, whoso attention at-tention Is not diverted by collecting fares and making change. In order to mako thla duty convenient for tho man on the front platform a hinged mouthpiece mouth-piece Is fixed to tho under aide ot tho car roof on the end of a tubo leading Into the Interior of tho car Ho haa only to coll out tho atrect as It la np-proaihed np-proaihed and hla worde are carried Into the middle of tho car. whero ev-erybod ev-erybod can hear them When It hup-pena hup-pena that this particular end of tho car la being iu by tho conductor, the mouthpiece is turned up out of the wa ("minium Versus Htorl. Ithln a few yeara past the iiio of corundum has greatly Increased, partly aa a result of the discovery of corundum corun-dum deposits In North Carolina and Georgia More lately It has been found In Ontario Originally corundum was derived almost exclusively from India. Hanking next to the diamond In hardness, hard-ness, it his long been employed for grinding remi and other materials. At present the use of "corundum wheels" li spreading These wheels are com- poaed of eorttndnra grains firmly et' menled together, and are aald to be twice as effective and durable aa emery wheela They are employed Instead of steel niM for cutting down metal surfaces, sur-faces, and In place of grindstones for sharpening loola A corundum wheel It la averred will grind off a pound of Iron In one-eighth of the time and at one-seventh of the coat required lo do the same work with a file mprmemeni n., jui,,,., Everything which lends to the Im-pnnctnent Im-pnnctnent of the roadbed of a railway Is a etep In the direction of Incrransi comfort of the passenger and both railroad authorities and rldera are Interested In-terested In nny Improvement of this nature Ureal claims are made for the rail patented by Daniel Mlnthorn. of western New York The familiar T" rail la disponed with entlreli. and a rail on n triangular base aubetltuted Thla Is made In two parts The head la formed separately with grooves on the under side, and can be mado of high gride ateel. while the bnae, which may be of Inferior metal, li made tn-nnguUr, tn-nnguUr, as r-tated. nnd ahown In the cut After the baio la laid un the Ilea, the head la slid In plicc. ita outwardly bent flanges fitting Into the groves of the rnllhead The great advantage of this Is In avoiding the wear and tear or rail Joints At thla point the paa-aago paa-aago of the heavy cnglnca Is particular ly severe, and an absolutely amoo'li Joint la almost Impossible The depression de-pression In tho tracka at these places, made by the passage of the trains, la hard not only on the rolling stock but the passengers, and the Inventor of this rail proposes to overcome tmi by extending the end of the head rail beyond tho end of the base, so that the rail will be practically Jolntless Another feature la that after the head haa become worn on one aldo It can esall) be taken off nnd turned without removing tho triangular support It Is. also stated that tho Interior of toe rail may be utilized as n conduit to contain telephone or telegraph wire, thus avoiding the stringing of them on poloa nt the side of the road Itnln Slid MlrrnlH-a. Sir William Crookea and I'rof James Dewar, whllo examining the condition of tho Itlvcr Thames, have mule an Interesting In-teresting observation on Ike effect of rain In Incmulng the number of microbes mi-crobes In the stream After a hard rain, lasting several days, they found that the microbes wcro about six times aa numerous In Thames water at they were before the rain, and when fair weather set In again the number of mlcrohea rapidly decreased Tho Increase, In-crease, tt Is believed, came from both the air and Iho land, but In this rase, fortunately, the microbes were all of harmless sprclea. nECENT INVENTIONS. Shipping tags are provided with a concealed fastener by bending tho corners cor-ners under and Inserting tacks In the folded portion, to bo driven In by striking strik-ing tho face of the tag, whereby the fasteners are rendered Invisible nnd Inaccesslblo save by rupture ot the tag. An Englishman has designed an automatic au-tomatic egg tester which presents the eggs In a single row to the rays of a lamp for examination, having an end-leaa end-leaa chain of carriers which draw the eggs slowly over a slotted opening In the top ot the chamber containing the light A link cult button without aprlngs has been patented.conslstlng of a short shank attached to each head of the button, with a projection on one shank ami an Is-shaped alot on the other, to lock the telescope portions, the pressure pres-sure of tho cuff holding them In place Mops are easily wrung by a new pall attachment, formed of a pair of brack-eta brack-eta fastened on opposlto sides ot the pall nnd carrying pivot pins, which enter the slota of sliding plates, operated oper-ated by a foot lover to draw a pair of rollers together and squeeze the cloth. Ink will not dry up In a new Inkstand, Ink-stand, which has a closed chamber In which the Ink Is placed, with a cylinder cylin-der suspended In tho center, to bo depressed de-pressed by the pen and cause the Ink to How Into a cone at the top, falling Into tho reservoir again aa toon aa the pen la removed. An Improved blcjcle lock, patented by a Colorado man, haa the crank shaft recencd at several places, with a key operated mechanism In the tube under the saddle, which moves n amall rod, having a head at the lower end to fit In one of tho notrhea In the abaft. |