By permission of Messrs. Chance Bros. and Co., Ltd. A Huge Lamp
The marvellous arrangement of lenses and prisms which enables the lighthouse to send out its guiding flashes, with the mechanism
for turning it. Made for "Chilang" Lighthouse, China Frontispiece
MARVELS OF
SCIENTIFIC INVENTION
AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT IN NON-TECHNICAL LANGUAGE OF THE INVENTION OF GUNS, TORPEDOES, SUBMARINES MINES, UP-TO-DATE SMELTING, FREEZING, COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY, AND MANY OTHER RECENT
DISCOVERIES OF SCIENCE
BY
THOMAS W. CORBIN
AUTHOR OF
"ENGINEERING OF TO-DAY," "MECHANICAL INVENTIONS OF TO-DAY," "THE ROMANCE OF SUBMARINE ENGINEERING," &c., &c.
WITH 32 ILLUSTRATIONS & DIAGRAMS PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
LONDON: SEELEY, SERVICE & CO. LTD.
1917 [Pg 5]
CONTENTS
page
I.
Digging with Dynamite
9
II.
Measuring Electricity
22
III.
The Fuel of the Future
42
IV.
Some Valuable Electrical Processes
55
V.
Machine-made Cold 67
VI.
Scientific Inventions at Sea 78
VII.
The Gyro-Compass 90
VIII.
Torpedoes and Submarine Mines
98
IX.
Gold Recovery 109
X.
Intense Heat 123
XI.
An Artificial Coal Mine 137
XII.
The Most Striking Invention of Rece
nt Times
149
XIII.
How Pictures can be sent by Wire
176
XIV. A Wonderful Example of Science and Skill 191
XV. Scientific Testing and Measuring 198
XVI. Colour Photography212
XVII. How Science aids the Stricken Collier 220
XVIII. How Science helps to keep us well 231
1
XIX. Modern Artillery 236
Appendix 245
Index 247
[7]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A Huge Lamp Frontispiece facing page
First Effect of the Dynamite 16
A Fine Crop 24
Apple-tree planted by Spade 48
Machine-made Ice 72
A Cold Store 80
Dassen Island Lighthouse 88
Measuring Heat 128
The Telewriter 184
A Miners' Rescue Team 208
Pneumatic Hammer Drill 216
An Artificial Coal Mine 224
Sectional view of a 60-pounder Gun 232
Rifles of different Nations 240
DIAGRAMS
fig. page
1. Principle of Galvanometer 30
2. String Galvanometer 31
3. Duddell Thermo-Galvanometer 39
[8]
4. Construction of a Voltmeter 64
5. The Working of a Refrigerating Machine 70
6. Hertz's Machine 155
7. Hertz "Detector" 156
8. 9. 10. Wireless Waves 158
11. A Wireless Antenna 164
12. Poulsen's Machine 166
13. 14. How Pictures are sent by Wire 177
15. Message received by Telewriter189
[9]
MARVELS OF SCIENTIFIC INVENTION
CHAPTER I
DIGGING WITH DYNAMITE
Most people are afraid of the word explosion and shudder with apprehension at the mention of dynamite. The latter, particularly, conjures up visions of anarchists, bombs, and all manner of wickedness. Yet the time seems to be coming when every farmer will regard explosives, of the general type known to the public as dynamite, as among his most trusty implements. It is so already in some places. In the United States explosives have been used for years, owing to the exertions of the Du Pont Powder Company, while Messrs Curtiss' and Harvey, and Messrs Nobels, the great explosive manufacturers, are busy introducing them in Great Britain.
It will perhaps be interesting first of all to see what this terror-striking compound is. One essential feature is the harmless gas which constitutes the bulk of our atmosphere, nitrogen. Ordinarily one
