Scientific AInerican MAY 14, I9IO.

}'UEL ECONOMY AND OUR NATURAL RESOURCES. of 19.6 per cent for constant hard working on heavy
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
HE problem of preserving the natural wealth mountain grades; it gave an average of 11.6 per cent

T
EST ABLlSttED 1845 of the country may be attacked from two more dry steam per pound of coal than the non-super·
sides, the legislative and the mechanical. heater engine; and the boiler and its accessories
The operation of the first method may be proved to have a total higher efficiency of 15.8 per
MUNN &. CO Inc Editors and Proprietors
seen in the admirabl!" movement of the Federal govern­ cent. These figures were obtained by H. MacFarland,
.• .•

ment to prevent the ruthless waste of the country's the engineer of tests of the railroad, who expJains the
Published Weekly at natural resources which results from the improvident remarkable economies secured by the facts: First,
No. 301 Broa.dwa.y. New York methods by which they are gathered from mine, field, that superheated steam of high temperatures behaves
and forest. Only posterity will be able to estimate at somewhat like a gas, it being possible to extract a con­
CHARLE� ALLEN MU:'IJX. President
Jtil BrO:iflway. �ew York. its full value the recent legislation for the conserva­ siderable amount of heat befcre any condensation
FREOERICK r.OSVEH�E BEACH. Sec'y and T)'eas. tion of that natural wealth with which the United takes place; secondly, that for the same cut-off in the
::)(.i1 Broadway. )Jew York.
States has been so richly endowed. .:ylinder, the weight of steam required is less with
But after the fostering care of the government has superheated than saturated steam of the same pres­
TEnMS TO SUBSenJEERS. done all that it may to conserve by the prevention of sure; and thirdly, that, as compared with saturated
SlllJ:5cl'iptioa one year.... . . . . . . . ..... . _ .... . . . . . . . $3.00
waste. it remains for the consumer to so utilize the steam, superheated steam has greatly reduced thermo·
. . . . • . .

Pu�tage pl'<.:!paid ill United States find possesbions

)oiexlco, Cuba and Panama.
raw materials, as to obtain from them the maximum conductivity, and the amount of heat absorbed by the
Po�ta6e to For�ign COlllltrie� • • . • • • • • • . , . 81.50 per yenr extra.
CanUUlun po��agc........ ... . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . .. ,"j"5 per year extra. amount of useful output, whether in the form of power cylinder walls is only a fraction of what it would be
1'lIE SUEJ.Y1·IFIC AJIERJCA.Y pr.'-IJLJCA.TIOJ"-S. or of finished product, with the least possible amount were the steam saturated. The details of this system
:;,iemilic American (e8tablished 1845). $3.00 a yem of wastage. This, indeed, is one of the most impor­ of superheating as applied to locomotives of the Mallet
. . • • . . . . . . . . . • • • • • •

::)cienntic American ::;lIppiement tt::stablished 18,6). . ........ . . 5.00 ..

Amencun Homes and Gurdens . _ . . . ..... . ... . ........ 3.00 �;
tant and attractive objects of effort in the great indus­ type '(lill be found in an illustrated article published
The combined snbsCrlDtion rat.e5; antl rates to fOl'eign countries, includ­
ing Canmia. WIll be furn"ished 11 pan appiicuLioll. trial world. To the engineer of high professional in­ in our issue of January 29th of the present year.
1{cmir. by postal or express money oruer, or by bank draft or check.
stincts, it is not sufficient to do a certain work and Important as are the economies that have been made
MUNN & CO., Inc., a6l Broadway, New York.
do it fairly well; rather, it must be done with as close possible in the broad field of transportation, they are
an approximation to perfection as the conditions of exceeded in the even larger field of stationary engineer·
:\lEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 14th, 1910.
the art will allow. ing represented by the huge light and power plants
Economy of performance has been the constant for municipal and manufacturing service, where the
The Editor is always glad to receive for examinatIOn illustrated articles
on sut)ject8 of timely interest. If'the photographs are ,..harp. t-he articies aim of the industrial engineer, particularly in recent utilization of the exhaust steam in low-pressure tur­
BJif)l't� and the facts (tutheHtic. the contribntlOns will receive epeciaJ
f.ttention. Accepted articles will be paid for at regular space rates. years; and from time to time we have recorded bines has made possible economies of from 30 to 100
in these pages certain successive steps, some of them per cent-this last result having been attained at the
NEW QUEBEC BRIDGE DESIGN. epoch-making in their importance, in this constant en­ large station which furnishes power for the New York
CCORDING to a recent dispatch to one of the deavor to bring working efficiency into closer approxi­ subway.

A
New York dailies, the Quebec Bridge Board mation to theoretical efficiency. Wh�t we have said
DOES RADIUM EXIST IN THE PURE STATE?
"after extended investigation," has approved applies with particular force in the field of steam en­
HE French scientist G. Le Bon doubts whether

T
a plan for the superstructure of a cantilever gineering, in which it may be said that at the last
metallic radium exists. In fact, we are only
bridge to take the place of the one which collapsed analysis, the object of all improvements is to lessen the
acquainted with the salts of the supposed
several years ago. It is also announced that tenders consumption of fuel for a given amount of work. Fuel
metal, such as the chloride or bromide, and
for construction will be accepted either on this design economy, moreover, apart from its direct connection
the probability of its existence is deduced only from
or on satisfactory alternative designs submitted by with the profit. and loss account of any industrial enter­
the presence of some rays of the speCLrum and an
bidders. It is stated, furthermore, that the Dominion prise, has a most important bearing upon the ques·
atomic weight which is somewhat theoretical, seeing
government will require not only that the contracting tion of the conservation of natural resources. The
that it has varied according to the observers. l\l.
firm accept full responsibility for the project, whether world's coal supplies are by no means unlimited. The
Le Bon has been of the opinion for eight years past
it be constructed on the Board's design or from its own consumption, enormous as it is at present, is increas·
that the existence of radium is doubtful. He consid­
plans, but also that the firm make a very large cash ing at an accelerating rate; and every reduction that
ers that the properties of the supposed metal might
deposit as guarantee of successful completion of the is made in the average amount of fuel which must be
be due to certain unknown combinations analogous to
work. burned to secure a given amount of work, means that
the equally unknown combinations which give phos­
"The design now approved by the Commission," says the life of our coal and oil fields is prolonged to ex­
phorescence to some of the sulphides. It is observed
the dispatch, "is that which was sharply criticised a actly that extent.
in fact that a pure sulphide is never phosphorescent,
few months ago in an American scientific periodical"; At the present time there are two important develop­
but when mixed with some traces of different bodies
and we are informed in this connection that the Cana· ments which promise to give economical results whose
it becomes brilliantly phosphorescent. This point has
dian government "has decided that the criticism then value it would be difficult to overestimate. In both
been discussed in various papers presented to the
made did not justly apply." We are further told that cases they have to do with the transportation of freight
Academie des Sciences. He had occasion to mention
"the Board, while convinced that the designs will make in bulk; the one relating to the engines of slow-speed
his views about radium to the late Prof. Moissan, and
a safe and satisfactory bridge, is not disposed to close cargo beats, the other in the motive power of those
this well-known chemist had in fact come to the same
the door to other designs." huge freight trains which are so characteristic of
conclusion, having the idea of separating radium from
Since the SCIEXTI FIC A:lIEHICAX is the only journal American railroads.
its compounds. Death overtook him before he could
that has printed the plan of the new design drawn up The reduction in the cost of transporting water­
carry out these researches. A tenth of a gramme of
by the Board, and subjected it to extended criticism borne freight has been made possible, or soon will be,
substance would be needed by a good chemist, but
,,·e presume that we are the American scientific periodi­ by the successful application of mechanical reduction
probably several operations would be required in addi·
cal referred to. The plan and discussion .was printed gear to cargo ships of moderate speed-a problem to
tion. An expense of $10,000 would be incurred. M.
in our issue of February 12th; and our readers will which some of the ablest engineers and the most re­
Le Bon thinks that from chloride of radium we would
remember that we took exception to the design on the nowned manufacturing firms in the world are now de·
extract simply barium and nothing more. The ex·
ground that it was not only of inferior merit, consid­ voting close attention. MacFarland and McAlpine, and
periment, even through transforming a body worth
ered from the bridge engineer's stand-point, but that Westinghouse, in this country, and the Hon. Charles
$20,000 a gramme into a comparatively worthless
if constructed it would be the "ugliest bridge of monu­ Parsons, in England, have independently produced a
metal, would be of great interest, for it would prove
mental proportions among those hitherto proposed or gear which will enable slow and moderate-speed steam­
that radio·activity which gives out considerable force
built." Objection was also made to the design on ships to utilize the highly economical fast-running
can be produced by certain combinations.
the ground ·that, because of its narrow width, it would steam turbine for driving'slow-speed propellers with a • • •
not have sufficient rigidity, the Forth bridge, loss of efficiency in the transmission gear of only two M. Georges Claude of Paris brings out the follow­
which is of less span, having a ratio of width to per cent. Parsons has gone so far as to test the new ing points regarding the future uses of oxygen, see·
length of 1 to 14, whereas the ,Quebec bridge would installation against the old reciprocating engines, in ing that this latter is now being produced on a com­
have a ratio of only 1 to 20. We objected, further­ a cargo ship of 4,500 tons displacement; and he has mercial scale from liquid air. He shows that oxygen
more, to the height of the towers, which in the proved, in a series of comparative tests, that the cargo can increase by 40 per cent the yield of the reactions
Board's design, is to be only 290 feet, as against a ship of the future can be driven at present speeds with which serve as the base of the fixation of nitrogen by
height of 315 feet in the bridge which fell at Quebec, a saving in the coal bill of from 17 to 20 per cent. the electric arc, and it can improve the manufacture of
2.nd of 330 feet in the Forth bridge. We showed also :\low since about two-thirds of the world's shipping are ozone by nearly 300 per cent. Such results promise
that the effect of low height and narrow width had made up of freight steamer3, it can be seen that when to be of great interest in many of the industries. The
been to unduly increase the weight of the structure, some form of this system has been generally applied, Belgian firm of Ougree Marihaye has recently ordered
·
the Quebec bridge requiring the enormous average as it undoubtedly will be, there will be a great aggre­ from the Paris Liquid Air Company three apparatus
weight of 24 tons of steel (half of it nickel steel) per gate reduction in the consumption of fuel by the for producing oxygen, and these each have a yield of
linear foot, as against a weight of only 10 tons of world's merchant marine. For fuller information re­ 200 cubic yards of pure oxygen per hour. Such appar-·
carbon steel per linear foot in the Forth bridge-an garding this epoch-making device, reference is made to atus will be used for experiments in blast furnace
increase out of all proportion to the heavier loading articles published in the SCIEXTTFTC AMERICA=" of Feb­ working, to observe the action of a considerable pro··
of the proposed Quebec structure. ruary 12th and April' 23rd of this year. portion of oxygen mixed with the air, which is sent
The value of the Board's decision to invite outside Equally important are the economies in the trans­ into the blast furnaces. As to the price of oxygen.
designs depends upon the length of time that is portation of railroad freight which are now rendered although this may be comparatively high when \ye
allowed to bidders for the proper preparation of plans possible by the perfection of appliances for the use of consider only small quantities, the result changes when
·
for a structure of this great importance. The Board superheated steam. Although the application of super­ we come to using oxygen apparatus of the present
has taken about two years to prepare its own plan; heat has been practised for several years in Europe, kind, and we may count upon a price of 0.64 cent per
and if outside bidders are to be limited to a few it is of comparatively recent introduction in this coun­ cubic yard with apparatus of a large output such as we
months' time, it is scarcely likely, in view of the heavy try; but although our engineers have been a little late mention. However, even larger apparatus can be built
penalties imposed, that they would be prepared to put in taking hold of the problem, they have done such in which no less than 1,000 cubic yards of gas per
in bids which they must, perforce, have thrown to­ good work that on one of our leading western roads, hour can be produced, working at a pressure of 10'
gether very hastily. If the competition is to be thrown the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, superheated steam atmospheres and furnishing 1.5 cubic yards per horse­
open to the designers and bridge builders of the is being used on a number of the largest freight en­ power hour. In such case the price per cubic yard
United States and Europe, not only should abundance gines with conspicuous success. In a series of tests will fall as low at 0.5 cent. By using hydraulic power
of time be given for the working up of the necessary with two identical compound freight engines running the cost of production can be still lowered. Oxygen
plans and estimates, but it would be advisable for the over the same stretch of road under identical condi­ plants of the present kind wilJ be of great advantage in
Canadian government to arrange for the plans, both of tions, one, a 4-cylinder compound using saturated the way of small space occupied, seeing that a small
the Quebec Bridge Board and of outside bidders, to steam, and the other a similar 4-cylinder compound factory occupying 60 by 100 feet can hold all the ma­
be subjected to the award of an independent Board, with a superheater of the Jacobs type added, the super· terial needed for producing 50 million cubic yards of
preferably international in character. heater engine showed a decrease in coal consumption oxygen annually, with about 15 employees.

© 1910 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC