Page 4 Advertisements Column 1

Manawatu Herald, 14 May 1898, Page 4

A MODERNIZED WATER CLOCK. An Interesting; Arrangement For the Am» ateur to Try His Hand At. In these ; 'piping times of unerring precision of rato of a timepiece, no ono will nat-m-ally expect that a mechanism of thifl Ithiil should go unfalteringly and absolutely correct. In fact;, it will probably re-qui.-e to bo treated in conformity -with the atlvico of Captain Cuttle — viz, to "wind it once a day and niovo the hands forward about 15 minutes every morning and likewise 15 minutes at night, and you'll have ii watch on which you can rely." A description of this mechanism, found in a German work, is given by The Jew* elers' Circular as follows: U A thin arbor A rests upon two supports, S SI — a . straight and truly round knitting needle will answer the purpose y^ffi M A WATER CLOCK. woll. Ono of its ends protrudes beyond the dial fastened at SI and carries a hand. Tho hours only aro marked tipon the dial, and consequently this the only hand is the hour hand. "About in tho middle of the arbor A Is fixed a pulley, 13, with a deep groove. -\i-cur.cl this pulley is wrapped a thread, » ■ ,) on:l of which carries a cork float, F, ■ liilo a small center weight is attached to i ' ; o other end. Exactly underneath the float 1 is a bo called 'tulip' glass, which is filled ,ith water to the rim when the clock is : ' .'irtcd. A conduit, an' ordinary cotton v, Iclc, M, passes into an empty cylindrical vessel, R, which stands close by. "Tho natural consequence ensues. The v.-icli M acts to a certain degree as a si--7 hon, absorbing the water in the glass E rud discharging it into the lower vessel, It. In consequence of this the former empties slowly, while tho latter fills gradually. Tho sinking of tho water level naturally produces the samo with the float F, thereby actuating the pulley B, the arbor A and tho hour hand C. By a suitably large pulley, B, the hour hand can be made to icvolvo in as approximately correot time." : In spite of some difficulties, such, as getting a glass of exaotly the correct shape and tho pulley of the right size, readers of a mechanical turn of mind may find entertainment in endeavoring to construot this imitation of a clepsydra, or antique Roman watar clock. Scrap Steel Rolled Into Shape. i A psoccss has been discovered by which ecrap stcol can bo heated and rolled into shape, according to an exchange. The r , eccrct of tho invention is a mineral com- > position, which, blended with certain chemicals and" mixed with the scrap, enables tho mass to be heated, rolled and > welded without melting. Crosspieces of scrap aro placed in layers over a bottom ! piece, and tho composition is applied. finally a top piece is laid on, and the . whole ia strapped together with iron, mak- j ing a bundlo 2J4 inches thick, which is ( — lieated and rolled into any shapo required. A Remarkable Fact In Botany. It 13 a remarkable fact in botany that no species of flower ever embraces, in the colors of its petals, the whole range of the spectrum. Whero there are yellows and reds thcro aro no blues, when blue and red occur there aro no yellows, and when we havo blues and yellows there tire no reds. Tulips come nearer to covering the whole range of tho spectrum than any other species. They can be found ranging through reds, yellows and purples, but a blue on* has never been found, says a scientlflo journal. The Lavender orCommeroe. In parts of England lavender ia grown in largo quantities. The leaves and bio*soms of tho peppermint are put into the still, but lavender is only extracted from tho flowers of that plant. Most of the lav» <ender of commerce is grown andydistllled ;in the south of France, but it is claimed that no lavender has been produced to equal tho English perfume, and it fetohas six or seven times the price of tho best French lavender. The Whale In Miniature. j There seem to be records of but three lepcgimens of tho pygmy sperm whale hav- < iirijf been found on the Atlantic coast be- ' t.vi en Greenland and Capo Horn. 1 'i'hat ruany others have been stranded on oir coast is doubtless sure. A whale ad f, " i all and resembling as it does a porpoUe, ii found by an untrained observer, would do doubt be taken for the common por■pojsc, which is so frequently seen alonft PYGMY SPERM WHALE. on r New Jersoy coast during the spring f and summer months, says Popular Scienoe ■Isows, in which tho following facts are •found: Nearly all tho specimens have been found in tropical or subtropical seas, th^ ' pacific and ludian oceans having furnished ► most of them. It is not to be wondered at that cetacean 1 Htorature furnishes us little or nothing on ; t]io anatomy of this animal when we consider how few specimens have ever been Jfound. A spocimen was secured in February, 1894, by the Wistar institute, tJnlJvorsity of Pennsylvania. It is a male fweighlng 548 pounds, measuring 7 feel jlO}£ inches in length and 0 feet in girttt just posterior to the flippers. The skin w jdeop brown in color on the back and a> taiosfc white on tho ventral surface. This |Bpccimcn was found on the beach at $e£ 'Isle City, N.. J. The adult pygmy whale" [probably does not exoeed 10 feet in length. ). !Bo far as is known, it is most closely re* iatod to tho true sperm' whale.