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supports 61⁄2 inches apart, and was broken at the first trial with a lead ball of 3 lbs. 10 ozs. weight falling on its center from a height of two feet. A piece of the same dimensions, which had been toughened, was then tried without alteration of circumstances. The lead ball of 3 lbs 10 ozs. was dropped upon the center of this plate from a height of 2 feet without effect, and afterward from an increased height up to 20 feet without effect.

[From the Engineering.]

COSMICAL DUST.

The attention of modern physicists has been directed to the particles of dust which are at all times floating in the air. Many of them come from the soil, but some are characterized by a special chemical composition and form, which show that they have reached us from the interplanetary

spaces.

In 1825, Brandes examined, during a number of successive months, the chemical substances contained in the rain-water near Salzuffen, in Germany. He found various organic and mineral substances, among which oxid of iron was especially noteworthy.

In 1851, M. Barral, in a series of analyses of the rain-water collected at the Paris Observatory, distilled 5.57 liters of water, which gave him a dry, yellowish residuum, weighing 183 milligrammes, a portion of which was insoluble in water, alcohol or ether. Its solution in aqua regia gave all the reactions of iron.

The idea of attributing these minute particles of iron to a fall of cosmical dust seems first to have occurred to Ehrenberg. After analyzing numerous specimens of dust which had fallen upon vessels at Malta and in the Indian Ocean, he at first sup posed that they were of African origin; but noticing their difference from any of the African sands in color, the great geographical distances which they must have traveled, according to his first hypothesis, and the amount of oxid of iron which they contained, he broached the theory that they had fallen from the upper layers of the atmosphere.

This hypothesis was adopted and extended by M. Nordenskjold. In a letter to M. Dubree, Sept. 9, 1872, he mentions finding, in a careful analysis of snow, soot-like particles, containing organic matter and minute pellets of metallic iron. Thinking that this dust might possibly have come from the chimneys of Stockholm, he requested his brother, who lived in a remote part of Finland, to collect and send him some snow, in which he found particles of the same description. In 1873 and 1874 he repeated his observations at Spitzbergen, and on the glacier of Inlandis, in the interior of Greenland, finding magnetic iron,

oxid of iron, nickel and cobalt, which satisfied him of the existence of a cosmical dust, falling imperceptibly and continually.

In 1875 and 1876, Gaston Tissandier and M. Young independently collected dust from the towers of cathedrals and other elevated places, which they subjected to chemical and microscopical examinations. By means of a magnet they discovered small spherical corpuscles with a slight roughness, which made many of them somewhat bottle-shaped, resembling in appearance iron which has been reduced to an impalpable powder and burnt in a hydrogen flame.

M. Young also collected snow at Montreux. Les Avants, Hospice of St. Bernard, and Channossal, being careful to avoid the lower layers, which might have been stained by vegetable debris The residues from the evaporation of the several samples were first dissolved in distilled water, which separated the chloride; then in pure chlorhydric acid, which showed no trace of iron. Chemical reagents showed the presence of iron in each of the residues, and there were often irregular particles which were attracted by the magnet. He found none of the characteristic globules. but M. Tissandier found them in the sediment of some snow which his brother collected on the side of Mont Blanc, at the Col-des-Fours, at a height of two thousand, seven hundred and ten meters.

M. Young proposes to continue his observations on a larger scale. He feels justified already in affirming that the interplanetary spaces are not destitute of solid materials, but they contain very minute metallic particles; that those particles, when drawn into our atmosphere, play an important part in the dispersion of light, as Tyndall has shown by his experiments; that they help to explain the luminous trains of bolides and the peculiar spectra of the aurora borealis; and that these microscopic aerolites, by their daily arrival, must increase the earth's mass, so as to afford an explanation, as M. Ch. Dufour has shown, of the moon's secular acceleration.

He closes his paper with the following conclusions:

1. That iron exists in all the dust which has been accumulated in church towers by the winds of ages.

2. That this iron, floating in the atmosphere, is trapped in its fall by the snow, in which it is always found.

3. That its globular form indicates that it has been raised to a high temperature. 4. That facts tend to prove its celestial origin.

5. That it plays an important part in the physics of the globe; but that science, in order to fully understand it, should seek to estimate the phenomenon quantitatively, and study it in its variations.

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The Road.

[From the Railroad Gazette.] THE ECONOMY OF FUEL. The London Engineer recently contained an editorial in which some comparisons were made between English and American locomotives, and among others of the relative amount of fuel which each burns. It was stated that in 1875 the "goods" engines on the United Railroads of New Jersey burned nearly twice as much coal "as suffices the North British Railway Company for working the exceptionally heavy road between Edinburgh and Carlisle."

A correspondent of the same paper, Mr. J. E. Clanchy, who signs himself "Late Engineer First Section San Paulo Rio de Janeiro Narrow Gauge Railroad," in a letter on the same subject published in the issue of Jan. 25, says: "On the Itu & Jundiahy metre-gauge line a Baldwin engine and one from the Avonside Engine Works have worked alternately under the same conditions for some time, and naturally excited much interest as to their relative power; yet in the matter of fuel alone there has been a saving of 30 per cent. in the English engine."

is from 6 to 10 per cent. of the total operating expenses; so that a saving of 30 per cent. in that item would, in round numbers, amount to from two to three per cent. of the whole expenses.

Such figures as these often make very little impression, since a railroad manager quite naturally says this is not worth saving, because in doing so an equal amount must be expended for the improvements on the engines, for the cost of keeping account of the fuel, and for the maintenance of the requisite facilities for handling it. Thus it would be a very easy matter, on a small road, the operating expenses of which amounted to $100,000 per year, to expend two or three thousand dollars, in locomotives, wages to fuel agents, maintenance of fuel stations, etc. The same thing is true of roads which expend annually a half million, or one or two millions for operating expenses, for the saving in such cases of ten or fifteen, twenty or thirty, forty or sixty thousand dollars could easily be squandered in the effort to save it, with the disadvantage, too, that in the latter case more clerical force and more complication of accounts would result from such efforts at economy; still, notwithstanding the fact that most practical and experienced managers are inciined to this view, yet we are disposed to think that if the right kind of effort were made by the right kind of men, the risk of spending more than is saved could be eliminated, and that it could be shown in advance whether certain measures would pay or not; for, after all, that is the test which must be applied to any improvements which are made.

Now, if these statements are true, or rather if English engines can be made to do the same work with 30 per cent. less fuel than American engines consume, it is a matter of the most vital importance to railroad managers and railroad owners in this country. It will, however, be difficult, we fear, to induce them to give the subject serious consideration, owing to the fact that they are so accustomed to hear extravagant estimates of what can be accomplished by inventors and inventions, that such statements generally have very little influence on their minds. But in this case the statements are not made by inventors, nor is there any invention whose merits are being extolled. National prejudice might have some influence on the conclusions reached, and have led to some partiality, but it is to be feared that railroad managers who snap their fingers at such statements, if subjected to a cross examination, would be compelled to admit that they have not the necessary information concerning the consumption of fuel, on their own lines, to be able to make an intelligent comparison. This being the case, the question comes up whether it is wise to make a general denial without any evidence to sustain such an opinion. Whether the statements made by the Engineer are true or not, we will not undertake to show at present, but the point to which attention is directed is the fact that very many railroad managers do not know whether their locomotives are burning 30 per cent. more coal than they should or not. The cost of fuel

Attention has been called in these pages a number of times to the importance of keeping account of the fuel consumed by all the engines and of the work done by each. This is done on some roads, but still it is far from being general or even common. It is objected by many that to do this it is necessary not only to increase the clerical force, but to add materially to the force required to handle the fuel, and that to be able to measure or weigh it a considerable outlay is required to provide the necessary means for doing this. Besides, to determine the amount of fuel consumed without knowing how much work is done makes the record almost useless for purposes of comparison. To keep a record of the latter there is only one effectual way, which is to keep an account of the car mileage, the expense of which is apt to alarm those high in authority. Now admitting that the objections to incurring these expenses are valid, although it is not believed that they are, it is still hardly wise to turn a deaf ear to such statements as those made by the editor and the correspondent of the Engineer. If English engineers have the secret of making locomotives which burn 30 per cent. less fuel than those made here, locomotive-builders and master mechanics

exceed the limits imposed by physical conditions."

English engineers, however, avail themselves of one great advantage in the design of their locomotives that has been almost entirely disregarded here. The frames of American locomotives are usually from three to four inches wide, and extend the whole length of the machine. Consequently the fire-box must be confined in width to the available space between the frames, which on a 4 ft. 8 in. gauge seldom exceeds 43 or 44 inches. The outside of the

wide, whereas, in English engines, whose plate frames are from 4 to 14 inches thick, the fire-boxes are from 42 to 44 inches wide inside, and therefore the grates have about 25 per cent. more area than those of American engines of the same length. It must also be kept in mind that the weight of a wide fire-box is very little if at all greater than that of the narrow one, because the side plates of the latter must be contracted in order to bring the fire-box within the limits of the space between the frames. Therefore the other portion of the boiler may be made heavier, and consequently have more heating surface.

should not rest until the secret is revealed, and until our locomotives are made to do as well as those built abroad. We are not inclined to admit unreservedly that the difference in the consumption of fuel in English and American engines indicated in the Engineer really exists, without some more exact data obtained under conditions of working and supervision alike for both classes of engines, but still the statements referred to are sufficiently suggestive to indicate that it would be judicious to test the merits of some of the features in which English locomotive construction and work-fire-box is therefore only about 351⁄2 inches ing differs most from ours, even if this were not desirable without such suggestions. Before doing this, however, it might be well to point out that the smallest consumption of fuel, say per car per mile, may not in the end be the most economical. Thus in some experiments, a report of which will be found on page 450 of the "Catechism of the Locomotive," the consumption of coal with a train of 31 cars was 1.12 lbs. per car per mile, whereas with 41 cars it was 1.21 lbs., or a little over 7 per cent. more in the one case than in the other; but it must be kept in mind that the wages of the engineer and fire man alone cost as much as the fuel, and that in the one case they do over 33% per cent. more work than in the other, so that the cost of hauling the cars in the heavy train, although the consumption of fuel was 7 per cent. greater, really resulted in a saving of over 26 per cent. on the cost of fuel, owing to the greater amount of work done by the locomotive runner and fireman. If the wages of other train hands and other train expenses were taken into account, it would make the amount saved still greater. For this reason the tendency in American practice has, of late years especially, been to construct locomotives so as to haul the largest possible trains, without much regard to the economy of fuel, because, by doing this more money could be saved in the train expenses (chiefly the wages of the men) than in the cost of fuel. Now to haul a heavy train it is necessary to burn a large amount of fuel, and to do this a large fire-box and grate are needed. Therefore it will be found that generally in American practice, the fire-boxes of locomotives are made longer than those of English engines. Their weight being in proportion to their length, the other portions of the boiler must be re-making repairs than the American plan duced in size, so that usually the grates here are larger and the heating surface smaller than in locomotives built on the other side, of the Atlantic, thus reversing the axiom of Mr. D. K. Clark that "practically, there can never be too much heating surface, as regards economical evaporation, but there may be too little; and that, on the contrary, there may be too much grate area for economical evaporation, but there cannot be too little, so long as the required rate of combustion per square foot does not

The wide fire-box has also another advantage, from the fact that it is nearly square, and therefore the heat evolved during the process of combustion is not conducted away so rapidly, and therefore higher temperatures and a more perfect combustion are attainable. If a fire box is long and narrow, the heat is conducted away from the fire very rapidly, and it is conceivable that it might be made so narrow that the fire would not burn at all, especially with anthracite coal. The object to be aimed at in a locomotive is to retain the heat in the fire during the process of combustion, and then expose it to as much surface as possible afterwards, so as to transmit it to the water. The first end, it is thought, is accomplished better by a wide fire-box than with a narrow one, and the last by a large amount of heating surface. In both of these features the English engine is superior to the American type. Nevertheless, these advantages are attained by a form of construction which is in many ways inconvenient, and which affords less facilities for

does. With the frames and fire-box constructed on the English plan the springs must be placed below the frames, and there is not sufficient room for the equalizing beams on the sides of the fire-box. Nevertheless, the advantages to be gained by this method of construction are sufficiently great to merit the attention of American master mechanics. While it would be great folly to close our eyes to any advantages which the English designs have over ours, yet in making comparisons like those in

As has

The Engineer, the fuel consumption should
not be taken into account alone.
been pointed out a good many times in these
pages, the whole train expenses made up
the cost of transporting freight and passen-
gers, and the engine which will haul cars
under any given conditions at the least to-
tal cost is the most economic engine for
that special purpose, even though its con-
sumption of fuel is greater than that of
some other engine which is not capable of
hauling so heavy a train. At the same
time in attempting to accomplish the one
end we should not lose sight of the other.

This subject is, however, larger than the amount of space which can now be devoted

to it, and therefore we will be obliged to

return to it hereafter.

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A RAILROAD VELOCIPEDE. The Golden (Colorado) Globe, tells the following little story: "Mr. Johnson, a traveling musician, being in Garland, Colorado, and anxious to depart, manufactured a railroad velocipede with which he proposes to travel into Texas. Having become possessed of two two-wheeled velocipedes, such as were in common use a few years ago, he proceeded to fasten them together to run on a railroad. Wooden axles were constructed so that the machine could be adapted to any gauge of track, a broader tread was placed on the wheels, to which were added flanges made of whiskey barrel hoops, levers were fitted to give means for using the hands as well as the feet to gain motive power; the whole arrangement was given a coat of red paint, and it was placed on the track at Garland ready for service. The machine weighs about forty pounds, and is easily handled. The operator sits on a seat resting across what were the twoseats of the old velocipedes.

"Johnson mounted his novel traveling apparatus at Garland, and arrived here without accident, having made the trip at the rate of about fifteen miles per hour. He remained in this city a day or two and, altering the gauge of his car to suit that of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Road, he started out on Friday afternoon for the East. Our informant tells us that he saw Johnson near Goldsmith's ranch, and tried to keep up with his car on a good horse, but the animal was soon distanced. The engineer of the eastern-bound passenger train met Johnson at Apishapa yesterday.

Correspondence.

OPTIMISM.

AUSTIN, MINN., March 31, 1878. MESSRS EDITORS: We can hardly make ourselves believe it, when we see the names of some of our oldest, and, as we thought, most tried and true members, on the black list in the past three months or more. The terrible ordeal is past.

"Johnson is an old railroad man, and always provides himself with a time card, so that he can keep out of the way of the reg: ular trains. His apparatus is so light that it can be moved from the rails in a moment."

Optimism is prevalent with most of the Brothers in our yet noble order, and it shall reign supreme, but we cannot help expressing surprise and sorrow as we read the names of some of our expelled members in our last JOURNALS, men whom we have met in convention time and again, and Brothers whom we always looked to for advice. These same expelled Brothers were the strongest advocates of right and justice, and I can but remark again, what has come over them? why have they done thus? It is almost enough to make distrust get the better of the strongest mind or the best character; but we say again, this ordeal we have just passed through was what the Brotherhood wanted. It is our only trial to see who would be true. It had to come some time; it has come, , and we have passed it and are safe. The battle has been fought; we are victorious, with a loss of but very few men from our ranks.

The London Engineer says, editorially, that "bar steel of Sheffield make cannot be sold in Sheffield because American steel as good can be had for less money.

Many times I have said to the Brothers, and have heard it remarked by many, that we were in too much of a hurry for quantity and did not pay enough attention to quality. The list shows it, and at the same time reminds us how some of these expelled members got up in their Divisions, and in public, and expressed themselves as willing to give half of their earnings to sustain the cause; but when it came to the dollar, the almighty dollar, that was altogether another thing; things had changed, but their pay remained the same. But, again, there are exceptions to be made with some of them, for circumstances over which they had no control put them where they are. sorry for that, and hope they will avail themselves of the first opportunity to come back to us, which, of course, all will do who think that there is any show for their redemption.

We are

I sincerely hope that every Brother of this Brotherhood will not fail to read Bro. Arthur's editorial in February JOURNAL. There is the truth, plainly told, for those to whom some portions of it refer will see it, and will not need to have any one call their attention to it I am glad to know-are we not all of us, Brothers, glad to know-that we have a man at our head who does not fear to publish to the world the wrongdoings and rascality of some of the dishonest members who have been thrown out. Well done, good and faithful servant; show them up at every opportunity.

We wonder how men, with the years of experience as lccomotive engineers that some of them have had, can do as these men have done; how can they, when they think how the engineers were before there was any Brotherhood? Their condition then and now-compare it any of you who were there; took at them in any light you wish to, morally, intellectually, financially or otherwise, and we leave it for your answer, and we know what that will be. We all know what it has done for us. When you hear a dissatisfied Brother say the Brotherhood has never done him any good, you know what answer to make him, and he invariably drops the conversation then and there. A prominent railroad man, not a member of our order, said to me the other day, "You will destroy your organization, if you are not careful." I says, "How?" "Why," said he, "by the looks of my JOURNAL you will have them all expelled." I said that was "good riddance to bad rubbish. We have got thousands to back us up yet and more coming in, and have not lost any that are a real loss in the past six months." This surprised him; he had nothing further to offer. I have not met a Brother yet who was true to his obligation but what is of the same opinion, and says we are doing now what should have been done long ago, purging our Divisions of all unworthy members, and we know that by doing this we will save ourselves trouble in the future and stand upon a firmer foundation than ever before since our organization was founded.

Now, Brothers, a few words more and I will close. Let us be true to one another

wherever and whenever we meet, and under any and all circumstances let no ill-feeling arise between any of us: help every Brother when a stranger among us, and make him feel that he is not among strangers; select officers for our Divisions who can always attend our meetings, and Brothers who will deprive themselves occasionally of a pleasure to attend meetings; and last, but not least, live up to the letter of the Constitution and By-Laws and sustain our Grand Officers. This must be practiced well and all will end well. And now to all members in good standing, we thank you for your faithfulness. We know now how you will act in the future, and can govern ourselves accordingly. Wishing you all safely up and back every trip, I am yours, Fraternally,

S. O. BRIETY.

DANVILLE, ILL., Jan. 20, 1878. MESSRS. EDITORS: Please excuse my trespassing upon your kind indulgence, and I hope the readers of the JOURNAL will pardon me for taking up so much space where matters of more importance might, perhaps, be presented. True, we feel, or should feel, deeply interested in each others' welfare; but this seems to have ceased to be a virtue. Adversity seems to be forced upon many, where brotherly kindness should be administered, and we seem to grope our way through darkness, with no friends to minister to our wants. Even brothers give each other the cold shoulder, seemingly for personal gratification and revenge, without any previous animosity, when the hand of kindness and fellowship should be given to lighten our difficulties as we struggle through life. Discontent and adversity are with us at every turn of life; all feel gratified with their own success and feel indifferent to others that by chance are more unfortunate; and especially among railroad employes is this mode practised to a great extent. A man may work on a line of road for years with success, and gain reputation as a first-class man; all pay honor to him. But as time rolls on, the sad intelligence comes to headquarters that this man has had a wreck; no matter whether caused by his neglect or that of some one

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