Welding Metals

1895

An elaborate account is given in the Bulletin de l'Academie Royale de Belgique of Spring's remarkable researches in the welding of metallic bodies by simple pressure at temperatures far below their fusing point.

The metals were put in the shape of cylinders bounded by plane surfaces, great care being taken as to their purity, and having been mounted in a stirrup and pressed together by means of a hand screw they were placed in a heating oven and kept at a constant temperature between 200 degrees and 400 degrees for from 3 to 12 hours.

The most perfect joints were produced with gold, lead and tin, and the worst with bismuth and antimony. Two cylinders thus welded together could be put in a lathe, one of them only being held in the chuck, while the other was being worked upon by a cutting tool, without coming apart. They could be separated with the aid of pinchers, but then a rough breakage was produced which did not coincide with the original plane of separation.

It appeared that the more crystalline the bodies the less do they exhibit this phenomenon of incipient liquefaction, which begins to show in the case of platinum, for instance, at 1,600 degrees below its fusing point, and that such a liquefaction or softening actually takes place was proved by cutting a delicate spiral 0.2 mm. deep on the end surface of a piece of copper weighing 130 grams and placing it upon a sheet of mica. After keeping it at 400 degrees for eight hours the spiral had entirely disappeared.

Odd Indian Foot Race

1917

A foot race among the Tarahumare Indians is a most picturesque scene, especially after nightfall, when the course is lit up by flaming torches carried by the eager friends of the runners, who steadily pursue their way, the only silent people in the excited crowd.

How in this weird fitful light the men contrive to keep the ball in view is a mystery. One would think that so small an object would be lost to the flickering torchlight; but Indians have wonderful eyes as well as wonderful muscles, and somehow the ball survives all perils and is there at the finish.

In these races the runners receive no prizes, but only honor and glory and the admiration of the women, which no doubt fully repays them. It is, however, customary for those who win wagers on the race to give some part of their winnings to the men who have won; but this is optional.


Splinterless Goggles

Splinterless goggles are a new development that is expected to be of great value in military gas masks and for aviators, as well as for machinists, welders and other workers requiring protection for the eyes.

The lenses consist of two layers of optical glass separated by a layer of celluloid, the whole being perfectly welded together. The product is claimed to have the advantages of ordinary glass without its dangerous splintering on being broken, and the strength of celluloid without its inflammability and lack of rigidity. The heat insulating effect of the celluloid is said also to prevent clouding by moisture.

Ship Rigger Braves Death

1905

His Vocation Is One of the Most Perilous There Is

Men who delve deep into the bowels of the earth and those who rear buildings to great heights in the skies represent the extreme in perilous endeavor. The men who work downward, according to statistics, face far greater danger than those who toil slowly skyward. Yet here is an altitudinous calling fraught with peril every minute, says the Detroit Free Press. It is the ship rigger's job, and, compared with steeple climbing, it is much the more onerous.

The men engaged in it are as well trained as circus athletes, though in the rigging of a ship the performers are carefully safeguarded. The ship rigger, however, does not know at what minute a rotten bit of timber or a worn rope may give way and precipitate him to death. With a wider use of steam vessels the decline of sailing ships is a natural result, so that now the rigger does not find as much work to do as in the palmy days of the fast clipper when American commerce whitened every sea.


Test Weldless Chain

There have been sent to the navy yard, Boston, for testing, several samples of a new kind of chain, in which the links are made of thin steel and molded without welding. It is believed that this weldless chain is stronger than the other chains now in use in the navy, and if the tests prove this it will probably be generally adopted for use by the bureau of equipment.