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Newly-invented circular computer of marked accuracy
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CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
Wind-deflecting Mask for the Use of L o c o m o t i v e Engineers.
A~,~o~. (Scientific American, vol. cxiv, No. 3, January 15, I 9 1 6 . ) - A few years ago an engineer on a Canadian railroad was tried for killing several passengers as a result of a rear-end collision between his engine and a passenger train ahead. His defence was simply that the weather was 4 °0 belo.w zero, a 4o-mile wind was blowing, the severity of which was greatly increased by the speed of his train, and it was a human impossibility to withstand the cold long enough to get even a glimpse ahead from the open wind,ow. The other windows were so incrusted with ice that they might as well have been solid walls, for all that could be seen through them. The engineer won his case on the strength of his testimony, but as a result o.f the case a mask was invented which eliminates the discomforts of looking forward in bitter cold weather and gives the eng!neer a clear and unobstructed vision, without even glass intervenmg. The result is secured by deflecting the air currents downward as they enter the mask, and by forming a suction or draft at the bottom all air is drawn away from the engineer's face. So perfect are the results secured that a match held at the back of the shield burns steadily. The space between the deflecting partitions at the top and those at the bottom of the mask is open, and it is through this space that the engineer secures a clear view of the track ahead. The device is being generally adopted by the Canadian railroads as a safety measure and for the greater comfort of their enginemen.
Newly-invented Circular Computer of Marked Accuracy. ANON. (Scienti~c American, vol. cxiv, No. 3, January 15, 1916. ) In an endeavor to provide a computer of great accuracy for the use of engineers, Louis Ross, a civil engineer of San Francisco, has devised a new instrument that is at once compact, simple, inexpensive, and, most important of all, has an accuracy equivalent to a slide-rule IOO feet long. The new computer consists essentially of a graduated dial rotating under a slotted cover, a floating guide, and a slide mounted at the right of the slot. The dial carries a scale of numbers reading to five significant figures throughout. The slide carries a miniature of the dial scale reading to three figures. It co6perates with the dial, checks and points out the precise answer and locates the decimal point. F o r instant ,or approximate results the slide alone may ,be used. The variable graduations of the ordinary slide-rule are replaced by uniform graduations along a spiral curve so proportioned that the angular motion of the index represents the logarithm of the scale reading. The length of the scale, according to the inventor, is I2O times as great as the A and B scales in the ordinary Io-inch slide-rule, although the instrument is only 8 inches in diameter. The new computer is made of metal throughout, and the graduations are engraved on silvered metal surfaces. It is slightly over 8 inches in diameter and weighs less than one pound.
CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
Wind-deflecting Mask for the Use of L o c o m o t i v e Engineers.
A~,~o~. (Scientific American, vol. cxiv, No. 3, January 15, I 9 1 6 . ) - A few years ago an engineer on a Canadian railroad was tried for killing several passengers as a result of a rear-end collision between his engine and a passenger train ahead. His defence was simply that the weather was 4 °0 belo.w zero, a 4o-mile wind was blowing, the severity of which was greatly increased by the speed of his train, and it was a human impossibility to withstand the cold long enough to get even a glimpse ahead from the open wind,ow. The other windows were so incrusted with ice that they might as well have been solid walls, for all that could be seen through them. The engineer won his case on the strength of his testimony, but as a result o.f the case a mask was invented which eliminates the discomforts of looking forward in bitter cold weather and gives the eng!neer a clear and unobstructed vision, without even glass intervenmg. The result is secured by deflecting the air currents downward as they enter the mask, and by forming a suction or draft at the bottom all air is drawn away from the engineer's face. So perfect are the results secured that a match held at the back of the shield burns steadily. The space between the deflecting partitions at the top and those at the bottom of the mask is open, and it is through this space that the engineer secures a clear view of the track ahead. The device is being generally adopted by the Canadian railroads as a safety measure and for the greater comfort of their enginemen.
Newly-invented Circular Computer of Marked Accuracy. ANON. (Scienti~c American, vol. cxiv, No. 3, January 15, 1916. ) In an endeavor to provide a computer of great accuracy for the use of engineers, Louis Ross, a civil engineer of San Francisco, has devised a new instrument that is at once compact, simple, inexpensive, and, most important of all, has an accuracy equivalent to a slide-rule IOO feet long. The new computer consists essentially of a graduated dial rotating under a slotted cover, a floating guide, and a slide mounted at the right of the slot. The dial carries a scale of numbers reading to five significant figures throughout. The slide carries a miniature of the dial scale reading to three figures. It co6perates with the dial, checks and points out the precise answer and locates the decimal point. F o r instant ,or approximate results the slide alone may ,be used. The variable graduations of the ordinary slide-rule are replaced by uniform graduations along a spiral curve so proportioned that the angular motion of the index represents the logarithm of the scale reading. The length of the scale, according to the inventor, is I2O times as great as the A and B scales in the ordinary Io-inch slide-rule, although the instrument is only 8 inches in diameter. The new computer is made of metal throughout, and the graduations are engraved on silvered metal surfaces. It is slightly over 8 inches in diameter and weighs less than one pound.