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King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 655, 28 March 1914, Page 7

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A SANITARY DKINKIIv.J !,'.'-'".■. An ingenious adap(.:iii-.'..*i .' eke sanitary drinking idea loth-, oldfashioned country pump ro.:.c--i..ng its supply of water from a v-cli,, has been made by a rural mail' carrier and inventor of Oblong, III: Working the pump handle, up ; n! down three or four times'fills tho "cyiinter at the top. This cylinder holds a gallon of water,, which io.vs --out through the spi'ggot and ova:'o.vs the bubbling bowl. The a'.:.!.-.'.'nfc'of water pumped into tli3 cylinder by the few strokes of the haa"lb is sufficient to keep the bowl baei.lirg long enough for three or foVr persons to drink. —"Popular Mechanics." TANTALUM WRITING PENQ. The excellent properties of tan'nliiii; suggested the idea of u.si ■;•• ,h:s r.ietai for writing pens. Most of tiie pens now used are of steel, whose elasticity gives tho desired pliability to the pens. But. the-.oteel ;;tn rusts easily and is-attached by inir. Gold is rust-proof and not so attacked. But gold alone is too ;;oft for use in pen nibs, ant the extreme points must have :.oaie aard metal like irid'ium soldered to them to make them durable, v.-hi eh is a complicated and expensive task. Tantalum was found to be a perfect substitute,, combining the i liable and elastic tenacity of -the steel with the chemical stability of ■h; "gold. Some very intonating tests have been made by Keintzo and Dlehkert of Berlin. The tantalum metal was cut, formed and split like, an ordinary steel pen. Then the points were bent, ground shaped, and. hardened by a special hardening pro-f-'ss which was ,'oiml to rrr.atly : ro'ong the life of the pens. Oomr arative tests were ;i:ade hot ween steel, gold and tantalum pen. points ori six miles of paper, and th? results showed the hardened tanta'um* pen to be fnr :aiperi6:' io '. he others. The chemical tests showed these pens to be proof against the ait:;«:k of every ink used, although tke reus were exposed to the action o' tho, same for several weeks.—-"Vulkan." DIAMONDS IN AUSTRALIA. It may come as a surprise to.many people to learn- that there is ,-? valuable field being worked in Australia, an-.! parcels of diamonds are regularly sent to cutters in Amsterdam. It is said that (.-opc-tou, •in New loath Wales', promises to be an active field for years yet. The allu- ' .'a! diamond deposits occur" in outVcrs of drifts of ancient rivers, covered over by later 1 osaltic flow. These ancient streams extend over widespread areas, and the drifts aed fiiornond washes arc form! chiefly renting on- the granatc bedrock. The main Copeton workinr is the Deep Shaft Mine. It has been working with success for four years, and annually thousands of care.r.i' of diamonds are-won from it. l-.cc n'.ly two trial washings were taken' from a rich face. .One . gave 450 diamonds and two boarts (black' din,r.ionds) as a result, and the other •117 diamonds. From another face washings * produced pareelci which averaged two diamonds to the carat throughout the ~ returns. i At tho breaking down of a rich wash, recently 46 diamonds were picked out cf a rich deposit. . Another working of excellent promise is the Streak of Luck Mine . on the same field. PISHING AT BIARRITZ.. In the neighbourhood cf.Fiarritz, in Houth-Western France,. ;n cviunal method of taking rish from the sea has been invented by tho inhabitants along shore. Two poles fo-'tv or, fifty feet tall, and 'pi a red clh'-. or nine yards apart, are erected on the beach. By means of pulleys a continuous line, running o.or tho tops ot the poles and attached 1 .a I .so to the_top of another pole rlarea GOO yards out in the sea, can #e altornately drawn either ■ shorewa'd or seaward. > Short lines with hooks end bait hang from the crain lirup ;.nd when.they.are loaded with Ssh the fisherman, sitting by his i.ttle *abin on shore, draws in his "take," robadts his hooks, and by vailing in the opposite direction re fleers the row of baited lines in the !r":a. This apparatus is est led a "va et vient," or ""go and co:rw." •A NEW TYPE OF- T>"!.\ STRAINER. The ordinary tea ntra'n.r has the disadvantage of ', v rcta:nh;r; «, r.ma.ll i:i:r.ntity of tea in ;-•-.?th vrhieh (ten drips on the ta'iUr: Intb. This fault; ra - ;» "Popular J'.cebanies," is c'.aincd io be in a new type of strainer placed on the market in Trail'C. It i:; a rod of twisted wire rrith a tuft oi liner ,!:•;; r.t its lower one!. Tke n:.ethod o"~ inserting ■ it in the :wo ;t c: the •■■ot is clearly shown. r j.h; re.v;on tea docs not drip fro;-; thr: -■. iro, r.5 in the old type of stv;...;n-.ir. :r, ::a : d to' be because of the fici.-r.e:3s ,n-\ c!o;e proximity of- the wifer,, the tea remaining in the 'cist aftar pouring being drawn back into the spout by capillary action The *. millstone, discarded by a mill at South Dover, N.Y.. many roars ago, has been at subject of surmise for years, and seemingly, none of the surmises were fulfilled. After the stone had been discarded i-ome time, a seedling popped it.-; head through the eye, and. as the- seedling grew into a ,tree, peo;:ie began to watch and prophesy as to what would happen wken it at last filled the stone. Some insisted that it would burst the stone just as a wedge of wood will . split v - a slab, and others believed the tree would uimply expand, above its stone collar and reach' its natural proport' -ns.