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The geological survey of the State of Pennsylvania
lten~s and Noveltiee.
<)i I
These are all five-ton plants, consisting of two five-rob vessels, and accessories, and. they work only eleven turns, or five and a half days per week. The blooming trains employed at Troy, Cambria, North Chicago~ Joliet and Bethlehem, are capable of rolling more than the average product of the Bessemer works. The first of these was erected ~t Troy in 1870; the feeding tables were first applied by 5Jr. Fritz to the Cambria mill, and have since been applied to all the mills, with some modifications. The Troy and Bethlehem mills roll ingots %urteen inches square, weighing ow.r a. ton, to make three rails each. The other mills at present roll twelve inch two-rail ingots. The production of rails from blooms has been more uniform because the rail train was a highly perfected machine long before the Bessemer process was introduced. The Cambria mill has often produced ,,ver 1000 tons of rails per week, from a twenty-one inch train. Probably the best week's running on record, all things considered, was the Troy, ending April 25, 1871, viz., 1012 tons of sixty-two pound rails, in eleven turns, from nine furnaces and a twenty-one inch mill ; of these there was ~ot o~e second cluallt~J rail~ and there were but 3½ per cent of short rails.
The Geological Survey of the State of Pennsylvania.-It is with great satisi:action that we record the fact that a new geological survey of the State of :Pennsylvania has been ordered. The bill providing for it passed the Legislature on the 14th of May, and the same day received the signature of the Governor. After ordering the survey, the bill makes an appropriation of $35,000 per annum for three years, to carry it into effect. The entire control of the survey is placed in the hands of a board of ten commissioners, together with the Governor, who is the ez o~cio president. This board is to have the appointing of the geologist-in-chief, is to fix the salaries of all the appointees, and to have the disbursing of all moneys. The geologist, when appointed, is to have the appointing of his assistants. He is to submit to the board a plan for the survey ; if approved by them, it is to be carried out under his directi~,n, and he is to be responsible fi)r its execution. The board, as appoh~ted by Gov. Hartranft, is composed as fl,llows: z~io Pattie,-, tIazleton; Win. A. Ingham, Philadelphi~ ; It,tory S. Eckert, Reading : Henry McCormick, ttarrisburg : James Macfarlane, Towanda: Jolm B. Pearce, Philadelphia; Robt. B. Nitson, Clearfield; Danie! .I. ~torcll, Johnstown; Henry W. OIL
372
~di~orial.
ver, Pittsburg ; S. Q. Brown, Venango county. We quote, with our cordial endorsement, the following remarks of U. S. Mining Commissioner Raymond, in the Engineering and _~Iining Journal of May 23d : " T h e names of these gentlemen afford a satisfactory guarantee that the duty entrusted to them will be conscientiously and intelligently performed. So far as the selection of a State geologist is concerned, their task will be easy. Professor J. P. Lesley is so generally acknowledged to be the right man for the place, that his appointment will be but the formal recognition and record of an overwhelming public sentiment in his favor. We congratulate the citizens of Pennsylvani~ that this great work has been taken up at a time when a great scientific worker, specially qualified for it and interested in it, is at hand to direct its execution."
Investigation of :Prof. Thurston's Methods of T e s t i n g . We are gratified to be able to note that the Government has taken notice of the admirable testing apparatus of Professor Thurston, and has appointed a Commission to investigate i~ and its results. We take the following statement of it from the '~ New York Tribune," of May 4th : The Secretary of the Navy has recently directed a Board, consisting of representatives of the Naval Academy and of the several Bureaus of the Navy Department, to examine the method of determining the useful qualities of iron, ~tee], bronze and other materials of construction recently devised by Prof. R" Fl. Thurston, of the Stevens Institute of Technology, and to report upon the Autographic Recording Apparatns made at the Institute. This Board, consisting of Chief Engineer Danby, Naval Constructor Hanscomb, Commander Meade, Prof. Greene, LieutenantCommander White, and other officers~visited the Stevens Institute at Hoboken on Saturday, and spen~ several hours inspecting the apparatus, discussing the new method, examining new designs, and making experiments. They also madeashort tour of inspection through the buildings of the Institute, and in the afternoon returned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in a steamer.
On the Devitrification of Glass.--Some curious specimens of crystallized glass were lately sen~ to M. Peligot by M. Vieleau, director of a glass manufactory at Blanzy, which were taken from a furnace which had been for some time out of use. These crystals differed completdy, both in aspect and in mode of formation, from all Lhe specimens of devi~rified glass heretofore examined by 5I. Peligot: ]'hey were well developed prisms, twenty to thirty millimetres in le~gtb, and r,:c: i],~] in ~Jlc,~pcal-a~:eec~ystals of sulphur and of bismuth
<)i I
These are all five-ton plants, consisting of two five-rob vessels, and accessories, and. they work only eleven turns, or five and a half days per week. The blooming trains employed at Troy, Cambria, North Chicago~ Joliet and Bethlehem, are capable of rolling more than the average product of the Bessemer works. The first of these was erected ~t Troy in 1870; the feeding tables were first applied by 5Jr. Fritz to the Cambria mill, and have since been applied to all the mills, with some modifications. The Troy and Bethlehem mills roll ingots %urteen inches square, weighing ow.r a. ton, to make three rails each. The other mills at present roll twelve inch two-rail ingots. The production of rails from blooms has been more uniform because the rail train was a highly perfected machine long before the Bessemer process was introduced. The Cambria mill has often produced ,,ver 1000 tons of rails per week, from a twenty-one inch train. Probably the best week's running on record, all things considered, was the Troy, ending April 25, 1871, viz., 1012 tons of sixty-two pound rails, in eleven turns, from nine furnaces and a twenty-one inch mill ; of these there was ~ot o~e second cluallt~J rail~ and there were but 3½ per cent of short rails.
The Geological Survey of the State of Pennsylvania.-It is with great satisi:action that we record the fact that a new geological survey of the State of :Pennsylvania has been ordered. The bill providing for it passed the Legislature on the 14th of May, and the same day received the signature of the Governor. After ordering the survey, the bill makes an appropriation of $35,000 per annum for three years, to carry it into effect. The entire control of the survey is placed in the hands of a board of ten commissioners, together with the Governor, who is the ez o~cio president. This board is to have the appointing of the geologist-in-chief, is to fix the salaries of all the appointees, and to have the disbursing of all moneys. The geologist, when appointed, is to have the appointing of his assistants. He is to submit to the board a plan for the survey ; if approved by them, it is to be carried out under his directi~,n, and he is to be responsible fi)r its execution. The board, as appoh~ted by Gov. Hartranft, is composed as fl,llows: z~io Pattie,-, tIazleton; Win. A. Ingham, Philadelphi~ ; It,tory S. Eckert, Reading : Henry McCormick, ttarrisburg : James Macfarlane, Towanda: Jolm B. Pearce, Philadelphia; Robt. B. Nitson, Clearfield; Danie! .I. ~torcll, Johnstown; Henry W. OIL
372
~di~orial.
ver, Pittsburg ; S. Q. Brown, Venango county. We quote, with our cordial endorsement, the following remarks of U. S. Mining Commissioner Raymond, in the Engineering and _~Iining Journal of May 23d : " T h e names of these gentlemen afford a satisfactory guarantee that the duty entrusted to them will be conscientiously and intelligently performed. So far as the selection of a State geologist is concerned, their task will be easy. Professor J. P. Lesley is so generally acknowledged to be the right man for the place, that his appointment will be but the formal recognition and record of an overwhelming public sentiment in his favor. We congratulate the citizens of Pennsylvani~ that this great work has been taken up at a time when a great scientific worker, specially qualified for it and interested in it, is at hand to direct its execution."
Investigation of :Prof. Thurston's Methods of T e s t i n g . We are gratified to be able to note that the Government has taken notice of the admirable testing apparatus of Professor Thurston, and has appointed a Commission to investigate i~ and its results. We take the following statement of it from the '~ New York Tribune," of May 4th : The Secretary of the Navy has recently directed a Board, consisting of representatives of the Naval Academy and of the several Bureaus of the Navy Department, to examine the method of determining the useful qualities of iron, ~tee], bronze and other materials of construction recently devised by Prof. R" Fl. Thurston, of the Stevens Institute of Technology, and to report upon the Autographic Recording Apparatns made at the Institute. This Board, consisting of Chief Engineer Danby, Naval Constructor Hanscomb, Commander Meade, Prof. Greene, LieutenantCommander White, and other officers~visited the Stevens Institute at Hoboken on Saturday, and spen~ several hours inspecting the apparatus, discussing the new method, examining new designs, and making experiments. They also madeashort tour of inspection through the buildings of the Institute, and in the afternoon returned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in a steamer.
On the Devitrification of Glass.--Some curious specimens of crystallized glass were lately sen~ to M. Peligot by M. Vieleau, director of a glass manufactory at Blanzy, which were taken from a furnace which had been for some time out of use. These crystals differed completdy, both in aspect and in mode of formation, from all Lhe specimens of devi~rified glass heretofore examined by 5I. Peligot: ]'hey were well developed prisms, twenty to thirty millimetres in le~gtb, and r,:c: i],~] in ~Jlc,~pcal-a~:eec~ystals of sulphur and of bismuth