A NEW SNOW PLOW.

To Build Big Airship MR. R. JULIAN P. THOMAS, the New York aëronaut, has given a contract for the building of the largest airship in the world. The ship is to be three hundred feet long, pointed in the shape of a perfecto cigar, and is to be driven by a thirty-horse-power engine. The contract calls for a speed of twenty-five miles an hour. This great ship is to be built by Charles K. Hamilton, the man whom President Diaz of Mexico has engaged for two years with the hope of outstripping all the rest of the world in solving the problem of human travel.

An Improved Snow
Plow

THE accompanying illustration shows an improved form of wedge-shaped plow, which was recently tested, and proved to work very satisfactorily.

It was found that the ordinary wedgeshaped plow, when driven into a drift which sloped, say, from right to left, tended to a greater lateral pressure on the right of the locomotive than on the left, owing to the greater volume of snow on the right, and thus the engine was in some cases derailed. With the new form of divider, the snow is scooped up and thrown clear of the locomotive on both sides, instead of being banked up.

The construction is inexpensive. The trams and beams are of timbers 6 inches by 42

inches, and the boarding on top is of planks 8 inches by 11⁄2 inches, all bound together by wrought-iron knees. The divider is of 3-16 inch steel plates, stiffened by tee-bars 3 inches by 2 inches by 5-16 inch, and angles 2 inches by 2 inches by 5-10 inch. The plow stands ten feet six inches from the top of

the rail to its highest point. Its dimension are the utmost available for the standard gauge; its breadth being seven feet six inches at rail for twelve inches upwards, tapering then to nine feet for a length of four feet. It is fixed to the engine by hook-bolts attached to the outside edge angle-iron, buffer-beam and life-guard, and its nose is kept one and one-half inches above the top of the rail by supporting cast-iron runners.

Hydraulic Turbines in

South

THE hydraulic turbines of the Southern Power Company's station at Great Falls, S. C., were placed in operation for the first time a few weeks ago, when water was turned through the gates. Six of the turbines are now in service. The equipment includes six horizontal Allis-Chalmers hydraulic turbines direct connected to 3,000 K. W., 3 phase, 2,200 volt generators. The turbines operate at 225 revolutions per minute under a seventy-two-foot head, and the normal development is 32,000 electrical horsepower.

Actual building operations at this plant

were begun in August, 1905; the building of the dam at Mountain Island occupied eight months and the concrete wall at the power house was completed in one year. The dam is ten feet wide at the top and eighty feet wide at the base. It is one hundred and five feet high and six hundred and fifty feet long from hill to hill. There are 100,000 cubic yards of masonry in both of the walls. The putting of concrete on this dam is said to have broken the record.

Huge Floating Dock THERE has recently been constructed

for Rotterdam, Holland, a most interesting modern floating dock having a

lifting capacity of nearly - 16,000 tons. The accompanying illustrations show the details of construction. The dock was towed by several tugs at the head and at the stern, to its permanent berth in the Maashaven. The New Amsterdam, a twin-screw steamer of 17,000 tons belonging to the Holland-American Line, is shown in the dock.

All of the machinery, including the tackle and gear, as well as the leakage pumps and capstans, are operated by electricity. The electric current required for driving the motors on the dock is supplied by a storage battery and electrical insulation, about half an hour's walk from the dock. It is also of interest to note that all of the pumps and valves are worked from a single point, this being particularly important from an economical standpoint. The water level in every compartment is clearly visible by pneumatic indicators, and every form of labor saving device and modern convenience has been installed that is possible.

New Engine Fire-Box DURING the past ten years construct

ors of locomotives have made vain endeavors to find some better construc

FIG. 1. THE BROTAN WATER-TUBE FIRE-Box.

tion to replace copper fire boxes, which are not only costly to maintain, but the walls of which have to be sustained by hundreds of bolts and stays.

Mr. Brotan, inspector and superintendent of the workshops of the Royal and Imperial Austrian State railway, at Gmünd, has now invented a water-tube fire-box, which has been in use for some time, with the very best results.

Upright seamless steel tubes, arranged in rows, with their ends rolled into a cast-steel pipe, form the boundary at the sides and rear of the rectangular combustion chamber, from which the gases of combustion pass forward through the iron tube plate into the fire tubes of the boiler. In order that the foremost water tube may adapt itself to the curvature of the tube plate, the lateral wall tubes are bent so as to correspond to the circumference of the fire-tube boiler. To the rearmost lateral wall tubes there are connected the rear wall pipes, which are arranged close together in concentric curves and encircle the fire door. The space under the fire door and tube plate is lined with fire clay. The upper tube ends are rolled from below radially into the rear portion of the steam collector of a second boiler lying above the firetube boiler, and projecting towards the rear; this second boiler carries the steam dome, and is connected to the fire-tube boiler by means of three stays.

The water-tube fire-box has one and a half times the heating surface of a normal fire-box; but, as is well known, water tubes possess greater heating power, and work with greater efficiency than the fire tube heating surface; the fuel is consequently better utilized so that steam is

generated more quickly and economically. To this must be added the more uniform draught supplied to the fire, due to the larger combustion chamber and the quicker circulation produced by the water from the bottom of the boiler having to pass from the sole pipe into the fire-box tubes from below, so that, by avoiding all eddying of the water, the steam is enabled to rise upwards much more easily in the steam collector. But little water is also carried along with the steam, so that dry steam is obtained.

During the trial runs officially made in Trieste the locomotives used distinguished themselves for their great steaming power economy in fuel consumption, dry steam, and rapid heating, while the official tests made during four years of working them have shown that there has been hardly any deposit or accumulation of furring; this is due to the rapid circulation.

It is also expected that, with such a fire-box, repairs in connection with locomotives will be considerably reduced; of

course the extent of repairing needed by copper fire-boxes is one of their drawbacks. Apart from the necessary regular renewal of the stay bolts, the whole of a copper fire-box has to be renewed about every six years, and if sulphurous coal is used, every three years; this causes a great loss of time and money. Added to this, their use is becoming more dangerous, due to the steadily-increasing steam pressure employed. Water-tube fire boiler systems, on the contrary, can bear any steam pressure, so that all fear of explosion is out of the question.

Two old friends on the street, locking arms, strolled slowly along, discussing various topics. Personal ones were touched upon at last, and, after exchanging family solicitudes for several moments, the Judge asked the Major: "And dear old Mrs. your aunt? She must be rather feeble now. Tell me, how is she?"

"Buried her yesterday," said the Major. "Buried her? Dear me, dear me! Is the good old lady dead?"

"Yes; that's why we buried her," said the Major.-Argonaut.

Mixed as to Definitions

HUNGRY HIGGINS-Wot! You don't know wot a miser is? A miser is a man that denies hisself the necessaries of life when he has the money to buy 'em.

Aunt Mary's Glorious Finish

A DEAR old New England spinster, the embodiment of the timid and shrinking, passed away at Carlsbad, where she had gone for her health. Her nearest kinsman, a nephew, ordered her body sent back to be buried-as was her last wish-in the quiet little country churchyard. His surprise can be imagined, when on opening the casket, he beheld, instead of the placid features of his aunt Mary, the majestic port of an English General in full regimentals, whom he remembered had chanced to die at the same time and place as his aunt.

At once he cabled to the General's, heirs explaining the situation and requesting instructions.

They came back as follows: "Give the General quiet funeral. Aunt Mary interred today with full military honors, six brass bands, saluting guns."-H. P. Hunter in Lippincott's.

His Money's Worth LAUNDRY MAN-"I regret to tell you, sir, that one of your shirts is lost."

CUSTOMER-"But here I have just paid you twelve cents for doing it up."

"Quite right, sir; we laundered it before we lost it."-Harper's Weekly.

For Justice's Sake

A CHICAGO lawyer tells of a justice of the peace in a town in southern Indiana whose ideas touching the administration of justice were somewhat bizarre. On one occasion, after all the evidence was in and the plaintiff's attorney had made an elaborate argument, the defendant's attorney rose to begin his plea.

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed the Court. "I

don't see no use in your proceeding, Mr. Brown. I have got a very clear idea now of the guilt of the prisoner at the bar, and anything more from you would have a tendency to confuse the Court. I know he's guilty and I don't want to take no chances."-Harper's Weekly.

As It Often Is

"WHAT a murderous looking individual the prisoner is!" whispered an old lady in a crowded court room. "I'd be afraid to get near him."

"Sh!" warned her husband. "That ain't the prisoner. He ain't been brought in yet."

Well Intended

"GOOD-BY, Jessie!"

"Good-by, Auntie May. I hope I'll be a great, big girl before you come to make us another visit."-Woman's Home Companion.

Misinterpreted

THE story is told of a young Oregon girl, a favorite in society, but who was poor and had to take care not to get her evening gowns soiled, as her number was limited. At a dance not long ago a great, big, red-faced, perspiring man came in and asked her to dance. He wore no gloves. She looked at the well-meaning but moist hands despairingly, and thought of the immaculate back of her waist. She hesitated a bit, and then she said, with winning smile:

"Of course I will dance with you, but if you don't mind, won't you please use your handkerchief?"