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[Illustration: cover]
[Illustration: _By permission of Messrs. Chance Bros, and Co., Ltd._
A HUGE LAMP
The marvellous arrangement of lenses and prisms which enables the
lighthouse to send out its guiding flashes, with the mechanism for
turning it. Made for "Chilang" Lighthouse, China _Frontispiece_]
MARVELS OF
SCIENTIFIC INVENTION
AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT IN NON-TECHNICAL LANGUAGE
OF THE INVENTION OF GUNS, TORPEDOES, SUBMARINES
MINES, UP-TO-DATE SMELTING, FREEZING, COLOUR
PHOTOGRAPHY, AND MANY OTHER RECENT
DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE
BY
THOMAS W. CORBIN
AUTHOR OF
"ENGINEERING OF TO-DAY," "MECHANICAL INVENTIONS
OF TO-DAY," "THE ROMANCE OF SUBMARINE
ENGINEERING," _&c., &c._
WITH 32 ILLUSTRATIONS & DIAGRAMS
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
LONDON: SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LTD.
1917
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. DIGGING WITH DYNAMITE 9
II. MEASURING ELECTRICITY 22
III. THE FUEL OF THE FUTURE 42
IV. SOME VALUABLE ELECTRICAL PROCESSES 55
V. MACHINE-MADE COLD 67
VI. SCIENTIFIC INVENTIONS AT SEA 78
VII. THE GYRO-COMPASS 90
VIII. TORPEDOES AND SUBMARINE MINES 98
IX. GOLD RECOVERY 109
X. INTENSE HEAT 123
XI. AN ARTIFICIAL COAL MINE 137
XII. THE MOST STRIKING INVENTION OF RECENT TIMES 149
XIII. HOW PICTURES CAN BE SENT BY WIRE 176
XIV. A WONDERFUL EXAMPLE OF SCIENCE AND SKILL 191
XV. SCIENTIFIC TESTING AND MEASURING 198
XVI. COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY 212
XVII. HOW SCIENCE AIDS THE STRICKEN COLLIER 220
XVIII. HOW SCIENCE HELPS TO KEEP US WELL 231
XIX. MODERN ARTILLERY 236
APPENDIX 245
INDEX 247
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A Huge Lamp _Frontispiece_
FACING PAGE
First Effect of the Dynamite 16
A Fine Crop 24
Apple-tree planted by Spade 48
Machine-made Ice 72
A Cold Store 80
Dassen Island Lighthouse 88
Measuring Heat 128
The Telewriter 184
A Miners' Rescue Team 208
Pneumatic Hammer Drill 216
An Artificial Coal Mine 224
Sectional view of a 60-pounder Gun 232
Rifles of different Nations 240
DIAGRAMS
FIG. PAGE
1. Principle of Galvanometer 30
2. String Galvanometer 31
3. Duddell Thermo-Galvanometer 39
4. Construction of a Voltmeter 64
5. The Working of a Refrigerating Machine 70
6. Hertz's Machine 155
7. Hertz "Detector" 156
8. 9. 10. Wireless Waves 158
11. A Wireless Antenna 164
12. Poulsen's Machine 166
13. 14. How Pictures are sent by Wire 177
15. Message received by Telewriter 189
MARVELS OF SCIENTIFIC
INVENTION
CHAPTER I
DIGGING WITH DYNAMITE
Most people are afraid of the word explosion and shudder with
apprehension at the mention of dynamite. The latter, particularly,
conjures up visions of anarchists, bombs, and all manner of wickedness.
Yet the time seems to be coming when every farmer will regard
explosives, of the general type known to the public as dynamite, as
among his most trusty implements. It is so already in some places. In
the United States explosives have been used for years, owing to the
exertions of the Du Pont Powder Company, while Messrs Curtiss' and
Harvey, and Messrs Nobels, the great explosive manufacturers, are busy
introducing them in Great Britain.
It will perhaps be interesting first of all to see what this
terror-striking compound is. One essential feature is the harmless gas
which constitutes the bulk of our atmosphere, nitrogen. Ordinarily one
of the most lazy, inactive, inert of substances, this gas will, under
certain circumstances, enter into combination with others, and when it
does so it becomes in some cases the very reverse of its usual peaceful,
lethargic self. It is as if it entered reluctantly into these compounds
and so introduced an element of instability into them. It is like a
dissatisfied partner in a business, ready to break up the whole
combination on very slight provocation.
And it must be remembered that an explosive is simply some chemical
compound which can change _suddenly_ into something else of much larger
volume. Water, when boiled, increases to about 1600 times its own volume
of steam, and if it were possible to bring about the change suddenly
water would be a fairly powerful explosive. Coal burnt in a fire
changes, with oxygen from the atmosphere, into carbonic acid gas, and
the volume of that latter which is so produced is much more than that of
the combined volumes of the oxygen and coal. When the burning takes
place in a grate or furnace we see nothing at all like an explosion, for
the simple reason that the change takes place gradually. That is
necessarily so since the coal and oxygen are only in contact at the
surface of the former. If, however, we grind the coal to a very fine
powder and mix it well with air, then each fine particle is in contact
with oxygen and can burn instantly. Hence coal-dust in air is an
explosive. It used to be thought that colliery accidents were due
entirely to the explosion of methane, a gas which is given off by the
coal, but it has of recent years dawned upon people that it is the
coal-dust in the mine which really does the damage. The explosion of
methane stirs up the dust, which then explodes. The former is
comparatively harmless, but it acts as the trigger or detonator which
lets loose the force pent up in the innocent-looking coal-dust. Hence
the greatest efforts in modern collieries are bent towards ridding the
workings of dust or else damping it or in some other way preventing it
from being stirred up into the dangerous state.
So the essential feature of any explosive is oxygen and something which
will burn with it. If it be a solid or liquid the oxygen must be a part
of the combination or mixture, for it cannot get air from the
surrounding atmosphere quickly enough to explode; and, moreover, it is
generally necessary that explosives should work in a confined space away
from all contact with air. So oxygen, of necessity, must be an integral
part of the stuff itself. But when oxygen combines with anything it
usually clings rather tenaciously to its place in the compound and is
not easily disturbed quickly, and that is where the nitrogen seems to
find its part. It supplies the disturbing element in what would
otherwise be a harmonious combination, so that the oxygen and the
burnable substances readily split up and form a new combination, with
the nitrogen left out.
Of all the harmless things in the world one would think that that sweet,
sticky fluid, glycerine, which most of us have used at one time or
another to lubricate a sore throat, was the most harmless. As it stands
in its bottle upon the domestic medicine shelf, who would suspect that
it is the basis of such a thing as dynamite?
Such is the case, however, for glycerine on being brought into contact
with a mixture of sulphuric and nitric acids gives birth to
nitro-glycerine, an explosive of such sensitivity, of such a furious,
violent nature, that it is never allowed to remain long in its primitive
condition, but is as quickly as possible changed into something less
excitable.
Glycerine is one of those organic compounds which is obtained from
once-living matter. Arising as a by-product in the manufacture of soap,
it consists, as do so many of the organic substances, of carbon and
hydrogen, the atoms of which are peculiarly arranged to form the
glycerine molecule. To this the nitric acid adds oxygen and nitrogen,
the sulphuric acid simply standing by, as it were, and removing the
surplus water which arises during the process. So while glycerine is
carbon and hydrogen, nitro-glycerine is carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and
oxygen. In this state they form a compact liquid, which occupies little
space.
The least thing upsets them, however. The carbon combines with oxygen
into carbon dioxide, commonly called carbonic acid gas, the hydrogen and
some more oxygen form steam, while the nitrogen is left out in the cold,
so to speak. And the total volume of the gases so produced is about 6000
times that of the original liquid. It is easy to see that a substance
which is liable suddenly to increase its volume by 6000 times is an
explosive of no mean order.
But the fact that it is liable to make this change on a comparatively
slight increase in temperature or after a concussion makes it too
dangerous for practical use. It needs to be tamed down somewhat. This
was first done by the famous Nobel, who mixed it with a fine earth known
as kieselguhr, whereby its sensitiveness was much decreased. This
mixture is dynamite.
It will be seen that the function of the "earth" is simply to act as an
absorbent of the liquid nitro-glycerine, and several other things can be
used for the same purpose. Moreover, there are now many explosives of
the dynamite nature but differing from it in having an active instead of
a passive absorbent, so that the decrease in sensitivity is accompanied
by an increase in strength. For example, gelignite, which is being used
for agricultural purposes in Great Britain, consists of nitro-glycerine
mixed with nitro-cotton, wood-meal and saltpetre. The wood-meal acts as
the absorbent instead of the kieselguhr, while the nitro-cotton is
another kind of explosive and the saltpetre, one of the ingredients in
the old gunpowder, provides the necessary oxygen for burning up the
wood-meal. Nitro-cotton is made in much the same way as nitro-glycerine,
except that cotton takes the place of the glycerine. Cotton is almost
pure cellulose, another organic substance, like glycerine insomuch as it
is composed of carbon and hydrogen, but, unlike it, containing also
oxygen. Treated with nitric acid it also forms a combination of carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, which is called nitro-cotton,
nitro-cellulose, or gun-cotton.
It may be asked, why, if these two substances are thus similar, need
they be mixed? The answer is that although alike to a certain degree
they are not exactly the same, and the modern manufacturer of explosives
in his strife after perfection finds that for certain purposes one is
the best, and for others another, while for others again a combination
may excel any single one.
For some work another kind of explosive altogether is to be preferred.
This is based upon chlorate of potash, a compound very rich in oxygen,
which it is prepared to give up readily to burn any other suitable
element which may be at hand. A well-known explosive of this class is
that known as cheddite, since it was first made at a factory at Chedde,
in Savoy.
For the sake of simplicity, however, I propose in the following
descriptions to refer to all these explosives under the common term
"dynamite," since that will probably convey to the general public an
idea of their nature better than any other term or terms which I could
choose.
So now we come to the great question, how can the modern farmer benefit
by the use of high explosives such as these? The answer is, in many
ways. Let us take the most obvious one first.
A farmer has been ploughing his land and growing his crops upon it for
years. Perchance his forefathers have been doing the same for
generations. Every year, for centuries possibly, a hard steel
ploughshare has gone over that ground, turning over and over the top
soil to a depth of six to eight inches. Each season the plants, whatever
they may be, grow mainly in that top layer. They take the goodness or
nourishment out of it and it eventually becomes more or less sterile. By
properly rotating his crops he mitigates this to a certain extent, in
addition to which he restores to the land some of its old nitrogenous
constituents by the addition of manure. Yet, do what he will, this thin
top layer is bound to become exhausted. And all the while a few inches
lower down there is almost virgin soil which has scarcely been disturbed
since the creation of the world.
Nay, more, that virgin soil, with all its plant food still in it, is not
only doing little for its owner, it is positively doing him harm. For
every time his plough goes over it it tends to ram it down flat; every
time a man walks over it the result is the same; every horse that
passes, everything that happens or has happened for centuries in that
field, tends to make that soil just below the reach of the ploughshare a
hard, impervious mass, through which only the roots of the most strongly
growing plants can find a way, and which tends to make the soil above
it wet in wet weather and dry in dry weather. Thus roots have to spread
sideways instead of downwards; or, growing downwards with difficulty,
each plant has to expend vital energy in forcing its roots through the
hard ground which it might better employ in producing flowers or fruits.
And there is no natural storage of water. A shower drenches the ground.
In time it dries, through evaporation into the air, and then when the
drought comes all is arid as the Sahara.
That hard subsoil is known by the term "hard-pan," and, as we have seen,
it is produced more or less by all that goes on in the field. Even worse
is the case--a very frequent one too--wherein there is a natural stratum
of clay or equally dense waterproof material lying a few feet down.
Beyond the reach of any plough, this hard stratum can be broken up by
the use of dynamite. The usual method is to drive holes in the ground
about fifteen to twenty feet apart and about three or four feet deep,
right into the heart of the hard layer. At the bottom of each hole is
placed a cartridge of dynamite with a fuse and a detonator. This latter
is a small tube containing a small quantity of explosive which, unlike
the dynamite, can be easily fired, and initiates the detonation of the
cartridge.
When these miniature earthquakes have taken place all over a field a
very different state of things prevails. The "hard-pan" has been broken.
The explosive used for such a purpose has a sudden shattering power,
whereby it pulverises the ground in its vicinity rather than making a
great upheaval at the surface. The sudden shock makes cracks and
fissures in all directions, through which roots can easily make their
way. Moreover, it permits air to find an entrance, thereby aerating the
soil in such a way as to increase its fertility. The heat, or else the
chemical products of the explosion, seem to destroy the fungus germs in
the ground. Finally a natural storage of water is set up. Heavy rain,
instead of drenching the upper soil, simply moistens it nicely, while
the surplus water descends into the newly disturbed layers, there to
remain until the roots pump it up in time of drought.
It is stated that an acre of hay pumps up out of the soil 500 tons of
water per annum, so it is easy to see what an important feature this
natural water-storage is.
Farmers say that their crops have doubled in value after thus dynamiting
the subsoil.
This operation has been spoken of as a substitute for ploughing, but
that may be put down to "journalistic licence," for while it truly
conveys the general idea, it is hardly correct. The ordinary plough
turns over about eight inches, the special subsoil plough reaches down
to about eighteen inches, but the dynamite method loosens the ground to
a depth of six or seven feet. Corn roots if given a chance will go
downwards from four to eight feet. Potatoes go down three feet, hops
eight to eighteen feet and vines twenty feet, so it is easy to see how
restricted the plants are when their natural rooting instincts are
restrained by a hard layer at a depth of eighteen inches or so.
The holes are made by means of a bar or drill. A great deal depends, of
course, upon the hardness of the soil. Sometimes a steel bar has to be
driven in by a sledge-hammer. At others a pointed bar can be pushed down
by hand. In some cases it will be found that the best tool to employ is
a "dirt-auger," a tool like a carpenter's auger, which on being turned
round and round bores its way into the earth. However it may be done,
one or more cartridges of dynamite are lowered into the finished hole,
one of them being fitted with the necessary detonator and fuse. Then a
little loose earth or sand is dropped into the hole until it is filled
to a depth of six inches or so above the uppermost cartridge. Above that
it is quite safe to fill the hole with earth, ramming it in with a
wooden rammer. This is called "tamping," and it is necessary in order to
prevent the force of the explosion being wasted in simply blowing up the
hole. What is wanted is that the explosion shall take place within an
enclosed chamber so that its effect may be felt equally in all
directions. The holes are generally about an inch and a half or an inch
and three-quarters in diameter.
There are two ways of firing the charges. One is by means of fuses. The
detonator is fastened to one cartridge and a length of fuse is attached
to the detonator, which passing up the hole terminates above the ground.
The fuse is a tube of cotton filled with gunpowder, and it burns at the
rate of about two feet a minute. Thus if three feet of fuse be used the
man who lights it has a minute and a half in which to find a place of
safety from falling stones.
The other way is by electricity. In this case an electric fuse is
attached to the cartridge and two wires are led up the hole. These are
connected to an electrical machine, which causes a current to pass down
into the fuse, where, by heating a fine platinum wire, it fires the
detonating material with which it is packed. This detonating material in
turn fires the dynamite.
The advantage of the electrical method is that twenty or thirty holes
being simultaneously connected to the same machine can all be fired at
once.
And now let us think of another kind of farming, in which fruit trees
are concerned. With a large tree the need of plenty of underground space
for its roots would seem to be more important even than in the case of
annual plants like wheat. Yet we know very well that the usual procedure
is to dig a small hole just about big enough to accommodate the roots of
the sapling when it is planted, while the ground all round is left
undisturbed. The assumption is that the tree will, in time, be able to
push its roots through anything which is not actually solid rock. So
much is this the case that one authority has thought fit to warn
tree-growers in this picturesque fashion. "When planting a tree," he
says, "forget what it is you are doing, and think that you are about to
bury the biggest horse you know." How many people when planting any tree
dig a hole big enough to bury a horse? It is fairly safe to reply, only
those who do it by dynamite.
[Illustration: _By permission of Dupont Powder Co., Wilmington, Delaware_
FIRST EFFECT OF THE DYNAMITE
Clearing a field of tree stumps by blowing them up with
dynamite.--_See_ p. 16]
The method of working is to bore a hole nearly as deep as the hole you
want to blast. At the bottom place a powerful charge, far stronger than
you would use for "subsoiling," as just described. That will not only
blow a hole big enough for you to put your tree in, but it will loosen
the ground all around the hole for yards. The main debris from the hole
will fall back into it, but that will not matter much, since, being all
loose, it is an easy matter to remove as much as is necessary to plant
the young tree. The advantages are the same as those enumerated in the
previous case--namely, the loosened ground gives more scope for the
roots--apple-tree roots want twenty feet or so--the ground holds
moisture better, and the explosion kills the fungus germs. In addition
to these there is the advantage that to blast a hole like this is
cheaper than digging it.
And that the advantages are not merely theoretical is shown by the fact
that trees so planted actually do grow stronger, bigger and quicker than
precisely similar ones under the same conditions, but set in the
ordinary way with a spade.
And not only do new trees thus benefit; old trees can be helped by
dynamite. Many an existing orchard has been improved by exploding
dynamite at intervals between the rows of trees. Care has to be taken to
see that the disturbance is not so violent or so close as to damage the
trees, but that can be easily arranged, and then the result is that the
soil all around the trees is loosened, the roots are given more freedom
and the water-storing properties of the ground are greatly improved.
Again, how often a farmer is troubled with a pond or a patch of marshy
ground right in the midst of his fields. It is of no use, and simply
serves to make the field in which it occurs more difficult to plough and
to cultivate--besides being so much good land wasted. Now the reason for
the existence of that pond or marsh is that underneath the surface there
is an impervious layer in which, as in a basin, the water can collect.
Make a hole in that and it will no more hold water than a cracked jug
will. And to make that hole with dynamite is the easiest thing in the
world.
If the pond be merely a collection of water which occurs in wet weather,
but which dries up quickly, there simply needs to be drilled a deep hole
and a fairly strong explosion caused at the bottom of it. How deep the
hole must be depends upon the formation of the earth at that point, and
how low down is the stratum which, being waterproof, causes the water to
remain. It is that, of course, which must be broken through, and so the
explosion must be caused at a point near the under side of that layer.
With a little experience the operator can judge the position by the feel
of the tool with which he makes the hole. If the pond is permanent but
shallow, men can wade to about the centre, there to drill a hole and
fire a shot. If it be permanent and deep, then the work must be done
from a raft, which, however, can be easily constructed for the purpose.
Once broken through, the water will quickly pass away below the
impervious stratum and useless land will become valuable.
The same may be done on a larger scale by blasting ditches with
dynamite. This is in many cases much cheaper than digging them. A row of
holes is put down, or even two or three rows, according to the width of
the proposed ditch. In depth they are made a little less than the depth
of the ditch that is to be. And for a reason which will be apparent they
are put very close together, say three feet or so apart. Preparations
may thus be made for blasting a ditch hundreds of feet long and then all
are fired together. The earth is thrown up by a mighty upheaval, a ditch
being produced of remarkable regularity considering the means by which
it is made. The sides, of course, take a nice slope, the debris is
thrown away on both sides and spread to a considerable distance, so
that, given favourable conditions and a well-arranged explosion, there
is constructed a finished ditch which hardly needs touching with spade
or other tool.
It not being feasible to fire a lot of holes electrically, the limit
being about thirty, the simultaneous explosion of perhaps hundreds has
to be brought about in some other manner, and usually it is accomplished
by the simple device of putting the holes fairly near together and
firing one with a fuse. The commotion set up by this one causes the
nearest ones to "go off," they in turn detonating those farther on, with
the result that explosion follows explosion all along the line so
rapidly as to be almost instantaneous.
A farmer who is troubled by a winding stream passing through his land,
cutting it up into awkward shapes, can straighten it by blasting a ditch
across a loop in the manner just described. In the case of low-lying
land, however, ditches are obviously no use, since water would not flow
away along them. In that case the principle suggested just now for
dealing with an inconvenient pond can sometimes be used, for if the
subsoil be blasted through at several points it is very likely that
water will find a way downwards by some means or other.
And the list of possible uses is by no means exhausted yet. A man
opening up virgin land often finds old tree stumps his greatest bother.
He can dig round them and then pull them out with a team of horses, but
by far the simpler way is with a few well-placed dynamite cartridges,
for they not only throw up the stump for him, but they break it up,
shake the earth from it, and leave it ready for him to cart away or to
burn.
Boulders, too, can be blown to pieces far more easily than one would
think. The charges may be put underneath them as with the tree stumps,
but in many cases that is not necessary, all that is needed being some
dynamite laid upon the top of the rock and covered with a heap of clay.
So sudden is the action of the explosive that its shock will break up
the stone underneath it. Yet another way, perhaps the most effective of
all, is to drill a hole into the stone and fire a charge inside it. It
behoves the onlooker then to keep away, for the fragments may be thrown
three or four hundred feet, a fair proof that the stone will be very
thoroughly demolished.
Even in the digging of wells explosives may be useful. In that case the
holes are made in a circle, and they slant downwards and inwards, so
that their lower ends tend to meet. The result of simultaneously
exploding the charges in these holes is to cut out a conical hole a
little larger in size than the ring and a little deeper than the point
at which the explosion took place. The bottom of that hole can be
levelled a little and the operation repeated, and so stage by stage the
well will proceed to grow downwards.
The thought that naturally occurs to one is this. All the operations
described may be very well, the cost may be low, and the effect good,
but are they sufficient to compensate for the risks necessarily
dependent upon the use of explosives? The doubt implied in that
question, natural though it be, is based upon prejudice, with which we
are all more or less afflicted. The art of making these explosive
substances has been brought to such a pitch that with reasonable care
there is no risk whatever. The greatest possible care is used in the
factory to see that all explosives sent out are what they are meant to
be, and that they can therefore be relied upon to behave according to
programme and not to play any tricks. That is the first step, and what
with competition between makers, Government inspection, and searching
inquiry into the slightest accident, and the desire of each maker to
keep up the credit of his name, it is safe to say that modern explosives
may be relied upon to do their duty faithfully. The second step in the
process of securing safety is that the powerful explosive, the one that
does the work, is made very insensitive, so that it is really quite hard
to explode it. With reasonable care, then, it will never go off by
accident. On the other hand, the sensitive material, which is easy to
"let off," is in very small quantities, so small that an accident with
it would not, again with reasonable precautions, be a serious matter.
Fuse, too, is very reliable nowadays. The man who lights the fuse may be
absolutely sure that he will have that time to get to a place of safety
which corresponds to the length of fuse which he employs. With
electrical firing, too, it is quite easy to arrange that the final
electrical connection shall not be made until all are at a safe
distance, so that a premature explosion is impossible.
In many of the cases described, the shock takes place almost entirely
within the earth and there is very little debris thrown about.
Indeed the only danger which is to be feared with these operations is
about on a par with that which every farm hand runs from the kick of a
horse. Any careful, trustworthy man could be quite safely taught to do
this work, and with the assistance of a labourer he could do all that is
necessary. Given a fair amount of intelligence, too, he would take but
little teaching. Altogether there is no doubt that the use of explosives
is going to have a marked effect upon farming operations in the near
future.