Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 11 October 1906, Page 35

Science Siftings

By •Volt'

... A Motor Sleigh. A simple. and speedy motor sleigh has been invented, which makes a speed of 20 to 35 miles an hour, carrying a load of four to eight people. The motorpower is a wheel, which grips the ice and snow and is set in motion by an engine. A Combination Chair. • A chair and life-preserver is a recent invention. The chair, which resembles the ordinary folding-chair has a hollow back in which there is a cork life-preserver. It is ready for immediate use and every chair is a life raft*-; no adjustment is necessary, v all that needs be done is for the shipwrecked passenger to • cling to his chair and he is safe. Artificial Silk. About seven tons of artificial silk is now made daily in different parts of the world. The basis of it is a solution of cellulose or vegetable fibre, which forms a thick, ropy liquid that may be drawn out into fine threads and dried. These products are not more than half as strong as real raw silk. A New Life-Boat. The United States Life-Saving Service has introduced a new form of boat. Like all the others it is self-righting, selM>ailing, non-sinkable, but in addition to the sails and oars found on such boats it has a gasoline engine, which propels 'the boat, relieves the crew of the most exhausting kind of labor, and enables the men to husband their strength for the work of assisting shipwrecked people. A Glass Bridge. Colorado is about to astonish the world with a glass bridge. Across the gorge of the wonderful Crrand Canon of the Arkansas River, near Canon City, a suspension bridge has been built more than 2600 feet above the surface of the river. Its 'floor is of plate glass, so that tourists may look down into the wonderful gorge, the deepest in the Rockies. The floor of the bridge is about a mile and a half above sea level. An electric railway from Canon City will carry travellers to the edge of the gorge. The Value of Fresh Air. * In the museum connected with the Edinburgh University, is an exhibit that is a striking object lesson of the value of fresh air. A professor, has scoured the lungs of an Eskimo, a Londoner and a coal miner. He has -them preserved by chemical process and they are now side by side in a glass case. The Eskimos lungs are pure white, the Londoner's lungs X^ a ™ ty *>™ wn and the miner's lungs are a jet black. The Eskimo had kept his lungs clean not because he knew more about breathing than the Londoner or the coal, miner, but because he lived in a land of. snow fields and spent his time in the open air. „. ? Harnessing the Waves., a ,nd A £, P^ at + S 575 7 ich the waves can * c harnessed and made to furnish motive power for all .human c n onSsts S S^S? *? * Calif ° rnian ' ThiT inveK consists of one or more barges— scow-like floats launched upon the sea and anchored at such a dit tance from the shore .as to be always in deeD water AWS W h iU ++ Ope ' ra^ Un \ form * and EaU Neither: Along the 'bottom ot each /float runs a metal track upon which are two little cars,- one at each end' Kar rS h X7« We & ht \~ ; rhe " Cars are connected 'd| a akL Se \ S J£ c a + \ tOCks to? roll back and forth, of nfotSfc ft at the same time operating a' pair nnS^fi a> st + ea <iy,.- stream* with sufficient' force to while, -the sun shines or the breeze wafts fri«?kiv-