Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1899. Wonders Still Unfolding.

Manawatu Herald, 4 May 1899, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1899. Wonders Still Unfolding.

Year by year wonders are still unfolding, and the question arises when an end will come to the surprises we so constantly receive. Telegraphing without wires has only just been made public and proof given that it is practical, and now we get a new sensation in the announcement of " unlimited power at next to no cost." Some time ago Professor Dewar succeeded at an enormous cost in liquefying air, the first ounce that he made cost more than three thousand dollars. A little later he reduced the cost to five hundred dollan a pint, and this was looked upon as a great scientific achievement. A Mr Charles E. Tripier, of New York City, has gone further ia ibis matter and maoa-

faoturea liquid air at twenty cenfcß (tenpence) a gallon I The results of this auecess are almost beyond anticipation, as Mr Tripler says that the air can be HJfcde -without cost at all, as the machine trill keep on producing more liquid air than it takes to drive it so that there is always a surplus, which ii available for other purposes. The principle of the new force is simple to the last degree. It lies in the immense expansion in volume which takes place in any gubitance on passing from the state of liquid into the state of gas. When water passes into th« gaieous state as steam, we have the force which drives our steam machinery. When liquid air passes into the gaseous state, we have the new force. We have thus the promise of power for our engines at a nominal cost, and to us colonists depending on ocean traffic we have the hope of freights being reduced as steamers will not only save cost of coal, the space required for its storage, but also the labour of stokers. The steamer will make her own liquefied air with the engine that drives her ahead. It is claimed that the liquid air can be applied to any engine, and used a3 easily and as safely as steam. Mr Tripler has shown in his laboratory, that he can make liquid air, and does ao at the rate of fifty gallons a day at the cost first mentioned. His experiments have been shown before a meeting of distinguished scientists at the University of the City of New York, so that what haa been done appears to have been duly tested, but what may be done mu3t be left to the wildest imagination. A motive power of light weight and which manufacture its own fuel would appear to bo the one thing needed to bring aerial navigation to the front. The intense cold, under which liquefied air is produced, causes it to be so intensely cold that the ordinary air raises it more than 800 degrees above its ordinary boiling point, so that when applied to other substances it freezes pure alcohol. Mercury is frozen until it is as hard as granite. Iron and steel become as brittle as glass. Ordinary woollen felt can hardly be persuaded to burn even in a hot "fire, but if it is dipped in this concpntrated oxygen and lighted, it will explode and burn with all the violence of gun cotton. Mr Tripler thinks that by the proper mixture of liquid air with ootton, wool, glyoerine, or any other hydrocarbon, an explosive of enormous power could be made. We shall await further intelligence of this wonderful power with very much interest.