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Alzen, a New Metal A NEW metal which is attracting con

siderable attention in Germany, and which gives promise of becoming of no little importance to many branches of industry has received the name "alzen," the name being a compounding of the first letters of aluminum and zinc, of which it is composed. In alzen there are two parts of aluminum and one of zinc.

It is claimed for the new metal that it equals cast iron in strength, but that it is much more elastic, and that it has a great superiority over iron in that it does not rust easily, and takes a very high polish.

THE SELF-RAISING FIRE LADDER USED IN VIENNA,

Owing to its texture, the new metal is capable of filling out the most delicate. lines and figures of forms in casting, which, because of its strength and elasticity, will not be easily mutilated.

For Fighting Fire

LONDON, Glasgow, Vienna and sev

eral other European cities are fighting their fires with self-raising fire escapes. The extending is done by means of patent gas-raising machines bolted on the main ladders. Double automatic safety catches are fitted to all sliding ladders for securing them at any height. These catches are automatically released

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before lowering simply by giving half a turn with the handle.

As soon as the ladder is unlocked and swung into position the catches secure the ladders and they stand firm though walls fall and flames rage. They can withstand a severe shock of water and there being but little wood about them, they are safe even though placed where the fire shoots.

A New Electric Lamp THE "Osram" electric lamp is a new

invention on the German market after many experimental but successful tests. It replaces the carbon filament

Bridge Spans Canyon IN building railroads in the Republic of

Mexico the engineers have been frequently required to construct bridges over curious formations. This picture shows a bridge on the Mexican National Railroad which spans Chone Canyon. The canyon is a rift in the rocks which have been worn away by the action of the weather, the walls on either side being eaten away as if by acid. The canyon traverses a portion of the Mexican desert where the rainfall is very slight. At the point crossed by the bridge it is over 200 feet deep and as the photograph shows the walls are almost perpendicular, making the region very picturesque.

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RAILROAD BRIDGE OVER CHONE CANYON, MEXICO

for glow lamps by fine wires of wolfram, which are claimed to employ only one

third of the energy heretofore required.

The latest test showed that after use of 1,000 hours there was an average loss of brilliancy of 6.3 per cent, in the case of 25-candle power lamps and 3.6 per cent, in the 32-candlepower lamps. Of the sixteen lamps tested eleven were not in the least damaged, and capable of continued use. This new lamp shares with other lamps of its kind the drawback that it can only be used hanging downward, but it is claimed by the inventor that this, the only disadvantage, can easily be over

come.

Nitrates from India

AMERICANS have invaded India, where, on the River Jhelum they are building a 20,000 horse power hydraulic works. This river has a fall for eighty miles of its length averaging thirty-one feet to the mile, and a potential horse power of 1,000,000. The minimum discharge is 30,000 gallons per second. The cliffs which wall in the Jhelum River are of limestone. The recent discovery of the fact that by the agency of powerful electric currents the nitrogen of the air can be extracted and mixed with lime for fertilizer will make this new power plant

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OIL RESERVOIR, CALIFORNIA FIELDS, IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION.

of world-wide value, being so, happily situated as it is with respect to lime deposits.

How Oil is Stored THE illustrations show the method of

storing oil in the oil fields of California, while the producers are waiting to market the commodity. The attempt was originally made to store the oil in steel tanks, but this method was discovered to be too costly and too slow. Storage reservoirs excavated in the ground were therefore substituted. At first the cisterns were lined with cement. This also was found to be too expensive, and the

earth is, therefore, simply well tamped and then the oil is turned in. A crust forms on the bottom and sides and practically no oil is lost through seepage.

In order to prevent a loss of oil from exposure to sun and wind the reservoirs are roofed over. A cheap frame work of joist is at first constructed within the reservoirs, and upon this frame work a roof is laid, composed of common inch boards, covered over with tin, sheet iron or tar paper. It is thus that cheap storage room, quickly and easily made, is obtained, the oil from the wells being conducted to the storage reservoirs by means of specially built pipes and conduits.

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generally adopted, although experiments are also being made with all-steel and reinforced cement ties. As a result, an industry of considerable magnitude has been developed in this country. At Brainerd, Minnesota, e. g., a plant is being built that will have a capacity of from 3,000 to 5,000 creosoted ties a day.

The process of impregnating the ties ties are first loaded upon steel hand cars, with the preservative is as follows: The fasces or bundles. The cars are then where they are chained together in shoved into a specially prepared retort,

into which the track leads. Then the

huge door is closed and sealed and the preservative fluid is turned on under great pressure. After the pores of the wood have become saturated, the creosote is pumped off into storage tanks. When this has been done the retort is unsealed, and the tie-laden cars are shoved out at the end opposite to that at which they entered. Other cars take their place, and so the process is continued.

The all-steel tie is made flat and as thin as is practicable in order that it may have the greatest amount of elasticity possible. The cement tie is reinforced.

PART OF NEW CREOSOTING PLANT UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT BRAINERD, MINN.

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with iron straps, and is said to render very satisfactory service. No substitute, however, is "just as good" as wood. Hence the industry of creosoting ties is rapidly increasing in importance.

Fate of Old Engines AN

N interesting question in connection with the present electrification of many of the steam railroad lines in the suburban service is the final disposal of their locomotives. It can hardly be imagined that the engines will be converted into scrap, and yet, if electricity should become the motive power on the steam railroads within the next few years, there would be a great number of steam locomotives thrown out of service and a vast amount of invested capital lying idle. Even the electrification of the suburban service of the New York Central's lines entering New York City, will throw out of service upward of half a hundred steam locomotives, while similar changes on other great lines are rapidly adding to this list of displaced engines.

The average value of the serviceable locomotives on the different trunk lines today can be placed at $14,000 each. Some cost a good deal more, and are worth nearly double this amount, but there are many others whose days of usefulness are short and their value is below this average.

The New York Central and other

large roads have added entirely new electric locomotives to their stock, and the displaced steam engines are being utilized in other branches of the system.

A number of steam locomotives have been equipped with electric motors in an experimental way, and they have demonstrated their ability to perform satisfactorily the work demanded of them. The Pennsylvania has several old steamconverted locomotives employed in the short-haul traffic near the Pittsburg iron and steam terminals, and the New England roads have also converted a number of steam engines into electric locomotives for short-haul service. In nearly all of these instances, the locomotives were of the old types, and their years of usefulness were short. Their service in the new field was sufficiently long to prove experimentally the value of such converted locomotives.

"Some way will certainly be found to utilize the old steam locomotives," said an official of one of the large Eastern roads to the writer, "if we are ever confronted with the problem of adopting electricity as the motive power for both long and short distance traffic. They will certainly not be sent to the scrap pile yet awhile. If they cannot be converted into electric locomotives of the most powerful kind, they can at least be utilized for lighter traffic while newly-designed electric locomotives are built for the heavier and faster service."

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