SCIENCE AND INVENTION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2282, 28 May 1921, Page 4

SCIENCE AND INVENTION.

BIGGER. WOMEN.

The director of physical education at the University of Pennsylvania states that statistics of women’s colleges covering a period of GO >%irs shows the average college girl to to-day is lin. taller than the college gii’l of 1860. These statistics also prove the modern girl is 01b. or 71b. heavier.

OLYMPIC AS AN OIL BURNER. Since the Olympic was equipped as an oil-burning ship, she has undergone enlargement of her tank capacity. Last year it amounted to 5,0G8 tons. She has now a capacity of 7,555 tons of oil. The one-way consumption of oil, taken as an average over a period of voyages, is nearly 3,600 tons a voyage. The conversion to oil released about one thousand tons of space for cargo in the old bunkers, and other space has been' used for pump rooms, etc.

A- SUBSTITUTE FOR CORK,

A chemical works litis been carrying on experiments with a view to finding a substitute for cork, says a Prague correspondent in the Times Trade Supplement, and these have now led to tangible results. Turf treated by a special patented process furnishes a "material for insulation and building purposes that is said to be, in most respects, not inferior, and in some superior, i:o cork. The product is reported to be equally light, firm, and sound-proof, to possess great insulating properties, and to be damp-proof.

RECENT EGYPTIAN FIND

Thousands of mummified bodies of the sacred ibis have been found by the French savant, M. Lacan, in the underground necropolis of the famous ruined temple at Loir Mediae!',, Egypt, Each bird was in an elaborately decorated vase of earthenware embedded in a sort of cardboard formed by a conglomeration of papyri, which totalled hundreds of thousands of written documents. M. Lacan says the find was one of the most important of the late discoveries in Egyptology, The work of deciphering the documents will take years. POROUS BRICKS FROM SLAG.

The Slag which is a by-product in foundries has long been used both in making bricks and in cement, but a. new method of employing it has recently been devised in Germany. This consists in the production of extremely light bricks, resembling pumice stone in weight and appearance, and employed mainly for building inside walls. The slag employed in making those brinks is passed horizontally in a molten form through water. The steam which arises mingles intimately with the jot of molten slag, and thus produces, in escaping, an artificial pumice stone, in what is probably the same manner that natural pumice is formed.

FSIXG WASTE [’APER

Waste paper as -itch is worth little, and, furthermore, it is a menace a haul any plant. It should be baled and shipped direct to the mill in order to gel il out of I lie way,' and realise ils I'ull value. An ituleslniclible. all-steel, hand-power baler has recently been introduced, which serves the purpose of I lie average plain. It luts a la rev open top, easy to till, and may be readily operated by anyone. The litter and waste of the plant are placed in the machine, and in a few minutes arc converted into compact bales occupying but little space, and representing a minimum lire risk. It may be used for baling paper, rags, wood or steel shavings, leather scraps, excelsior, (doth clippings, and so on. It is interesting to note that the paper barrels which are now being manufactured in America, are made only from chip board, which in turn is made front waste paper, rope, and other odds and ends. The conservation of such waste must result in cheaper chip board.

JACKING UP A ROAD

With as little seeming formality its one would jack up the rear wheels of an automobile for repairing nail-perforated tyres, a section of highway near Las Cruces, New Mexico, was saved from costly damage of a powerful washout by unusual methods. The undermining influences of heavy rains* deprived the sandy subgrade of its sustaining powers, which in turn left the concrete slabs with but frail support. The exigency for immediate action taxed the ingenuity of

the engineer of the United States Bureau of Public Roads, who quickly adopted the novel procedure of jacking up the'road bed and rammed wet sand into the rain-washed dug-outs as a support for the concrete slabs. The collapse of the pavement was averted, and as a tribute to the material employed and the workmanship engaged in building the highway the concrete slabs were restored to their former bed without having developed a crack or

Haw. Until the sandy subgrade could be rebuilt the washed shoultli ers of the road were protected with i brush as a precaution against fur- • ther erosion in the event of another gully washing rain. The undercut gaps in the subgrade were rapidly refilled and consolidated. Where the slabs had departed from the true line of their original formation, wooden stringers were inserted under them near the outer edge. The concrete was elevated to its correct position by use of hand-operated jacks bearing on the stringers. Once the slabs were reinstated to the proper grade cribbing was placed un-

der the stringers and the jacks displaced. Forthwith the sand was restored as a support to the slabs, previous wetting contributing to its consolidation. The latter accomplishment was insured by use of a heavy ran;, suspended from a tripod, and operated by four men.