Science Sittings

New Zealand Tablet, 8 June 1911, Page 1075

Science Sittings

BY ‘VOLT*

The Shape of Eggs. There was recently held before the Zoological Society of London. a mathematical discussion of the difference in the shape of eggs. A few eggs, like those of the owl and: the tortoise, are spherical, or nearly so; a few, like the grebe’s'or the cormorant’s, are elliptical, with, symmetrical ends; the great majority, like the hen’s, are ovoid, or, blunter at one end than the other. The hen’s egg is always laid blunt end foremost. Eggs that are the most unsymmetrical are also eggs of large size relatively to the parent bird. The yolks of eggs are spherical, whatever the form of the entire egg may be. This has been shown to be ; due "to’‘their being enclosed in a fluid, the ‘.white,: which makes the pressure everywhere on the surface of the yolk practically constant. Famous Engineering Feat. "... The final obstruction to the Loetschberg tunnel through the Bernese Alps was pierced on -March 31, after five and a-half years’, work and the expenditure of £4,000,000. . It is the third longest tunnel in Europe, being about nine miles. St. Gothard tunnel is nine and one-quarter miles long, and the Simplon twelve and one-half miles. The Loetschberg tunnel is designed to give the Simplon Tunnel Railway line a direct connection with the railways which traverse Switzerland from north to south. It means a direct through route from Milan to Berne, and thence to Calais and Boulogne. The distance from Milan to Calais by this route will be nearly eighty miles less than the existing routes. It will afford the traveller from London a direct route to Milan, avoiding the old roundabout routes by way of Mont Cenis and through the St. Gothard and the Simplon. Fifty lives were lost during the work t.f construction and several Hundred persons were injured. World’s Largest Locomotive. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company is just completing in its Topeka shops the largest railway locomotive in the world. It is an articulated compound engine, and it is for use in hauling freight trains over the Arizona grades. This locomotive is 121 feet long. It will be operated tender foremost as the great length of the boiler obstructs the view of the engineer. Oil will be used for fuel, as no man could shovel coal into it fast enough to keep up the 225 pounds of steam pressure required. The boiler is of the sectional non-explosive type. The locomotive has duplicated compound air pumps, power reversing apparatus, and two electric headlights, one in front and .. one at the rear. The locomotive weighs 750,000 pounds, and rests on ten pairs of driving wheels, two leaders under the pilot, and two trailers under the cab, making twenty-four wheels under the locomotive itself and twelve under the tender. The articulated type of locomotive is in reality two separate sets of engines with their wheels connected by one long rigid boiler of tremendous steam capacity. The rear engine is rigidly attached to this boiler, while the forward engine supports it by a massive slide so as to let the locomotive go around the curves. Laying Bricks. There are now eminent consulting engineers who are' engaged by industrial heads to study their establishments from top to bottom with a view to finding by scientific study the methods of working, accounting, and handling labor which will improve on the old traditional habits. Some extraordinary results have been attained. What scientific management means is admirably illustrated by the story of bricklaying, as told by an expert. Ordinarily a brick mason makes eighteen different sets of motions in laying a single brick. He bends over, in the first place to pick up one brick, and in lifting it he lifts ten pounds of brick and about a hundred pounds of brick mason —the upper part of bis own body. In laying 1000 bricks in a day’s work he lifts 100,000 pounds of brick mason. This was an obvious waste of labor. So a common laborer was hired to put the bricks where the masons would not have to stoop for them. _. Another thing is that when a mason picks up a handmade brick, which is always a little thicker at one side than on the other, he tosses the brick up, turning it over until his touch tells him which side is, the top before he puts lb in place in the wall. The cure for this- was to have all the bricks piled top up before they were brought to the masons. Then, further, every one has seen the mason tap his brick several time to settle it into the —more waste of time. The cure was to make the mortar thinner, so that the weight of the brick would settle it into the edit position." This was scientific management, * motion study.’ It raised the day’s work for the average brick mason from 1000 up to 2700 bricks a day, and in individual cases to much higher figures. The mason made only six motions where he used to make eighteen, r . r 'y . y ;.