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mines at Cherry Creek, near Kamloops, some 3,727 tons of magnetite were shipped to Nelson for use there in the smelter as a flux.

There was some $190 worth of platinum produced from the Similkameen district this past year. This is the only locality where ABRAHAM E. SMITH,

the metal is saved.

VICTORIA, June 8, 1903.

Consul.

NEW CONTROLLER OF BOILER WATER.

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As several inquiries have of late reached this office (Rotterdam) from the United States on the subject of machinery to prevent incrustatio of boilers, I think that a description of a comparatively recently invented apparatus, which is used largely on Dutch steamers and in Dutch factories, where carbonate of soda is added to the water to prevent incrustation, will be of interest.

My attention was called to the apparatus by Messrs. Van der Laan & Co., owners of the American showrooms of this city, who have also provided me with the data for the description. The apparatus in question, the "Erfmann boiler-water controller," controls the composition of the boiler water and indicates the amount of carbonate of soda to be added to it.

As will be seen from the accompanying cuts, the apparatus consists of two graduated vessels, marked, respectively, 1 and 2 (fig. 1, with a pipette or inner tube), and a base containing a filter. These are fitted in a case (fig. 2) as shown in the cut. The case also contains three drop bottles (two for chemicals and one for boiler water), a box of filter papers, and a cleaning brush, compactly fitted for use under any conditions and especially handy for use on steamships.

On opening the case the directions for use are found inside of the By following these failure is said to be impossible. The base of the apparatus slides into two dovetail catches and is easily removable. All the other parts are provided with proper receptacles to insure safety and to minimize the risk of breakage.

Bottle I contains a yellow liquid and bottle 2 a colorless liquid. The bottles are made in such a way that the flow of liquid can be regulated to a nicety by the finger tip on the air inlet..

To operate the apparatus one has only to observe the directions, as follows:

Place a piece of filter paper in the filter (above the perforated plate, to avoid tearing). Vessel is then placed in position, with cock closed, and filled to mark A with hot water taken from the boiler. The yellow liquid is then added to the height of mark B and the contents shaken to mix them properly. Next, vessel 2 is

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FIG. 2.-CASE CONTAINING APPARATUS, DROP BOTTLES, ETC.

placed in position, with inner tube P inserted, whereupon all cocks are opened. The liquid in vessel 1 (which has become thick) passes through the filter and rises into vessel 2 in a clear state. Only a certain quantity can rise, and, as it would be unsatisfactory to leave this to the manipulator, the pipette, or inner tube P, is used to obtain the exact quantity. When the fluid has reached the maximum level in vessel 2 (that is, when it has risen in the pipette P), all the cocks are closed and the pipette and its contents removed. The remainder is the proper quantity for testing.

Take vessel 2 and from bottle 2 add the colorless liquid drop by drop until a change of color from yellow to red is observed. When the vessel is shaken this red tinge will disappear. The process of adding drops should, however, be continued until the red tinge remains permanent after shaking the mixture.

Result.-The level at which the reddish fluid stands indicates, on the graduated scale, as follows:

A. By the number of degrees (or lines) below zero the quantity in ounces of soda ash required to be added daily for each ton of boiler capacity, each line indicating 1 ounce per ton.

B. By the number of degrees above zero the presence already of an excess of soda. In this event the quantity of soda added daily must be decreased accordingly.

C. If the level stands at zero, then the water is not corrosive or liable to cause incrustration and the daily additions are correct in quantity. By boiler capacity is understood the normal quantity of water that is always kept in the boiler.

How to add the soda. -The first time the boiler water is tested or examined, it naturally contains a great deal in the shape of harmful elements, especially if the boiler has been in use for a long period. If when tested the controller indicates 5 ounces per ton (which means that the boiler water is of a bad nature), then, if dealing with a boiler. which holds 16 tons of water, it is necessary to put into the boiler at once 16 times 5 ounces (5 pounds) of soda. This will make the water in the boiler harmless.

When the boiler is fed continuously it may, upon testing, be found the following day that a need for 4 ounces per ton is indicated, which means that since the 5 pounds were added such a quantity of impure elements has entered the boiler that 16 times 4 ounces (4 pounds) of soda is required to neutralize them. Then 4 pounds is added at once; and as new water is being fed, another 4 pounds should be added during the time the boiler is in use that day. The latter quantity, however, should be dissolved in a tank or bucket to enable the boiler to take it up during the working-day. If on the third day the controller indicates zero the adding of 4 pounds of

soda per working-day may be continued and it will after that be sufficient to test the boiler water once or twice a week.

As stated before, the quantity of carbonate of soda required for one workday is dissolved in a small tank or bucket, which can be connected by means of a cock and tube to the feed-pump suction pipe, as shown at A (fig. 3), regulating it in such a way that it will take up the contents of the tank gradually during the time the boiler is in use each day. When several boilers used for different purposes are fed by one pump, then the soda must be added direct to each boiler. This may be done by means of a soda cup, as in B. The soda cup may, however, be placed right on the boiler C.

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How to blow off effectively.-The soda ash having caused the impurities to sink to the bottom of the boiler in the form of a soft mud, this may be removed by occasionally blowing off. This should be done when the boiler is not in use-for instance, in the morning before firing up, and even then with the blow of the cock only just opened. It is not necessary to blow off longer than is required to lower the water level about 2 inches, and it is useless to blow off under high pressure, as the water circulation would keep the mud stirring and only a small portion of it would be removed. Seagoing steamers can therefore only rarely blow off; but, owing to the use of condensers, the boilers on such steamers do not require it so frequently. In their case corrosion is feared more than incrustation.

It is claimed that the apparatus is a remarkable labor saver, and the fact that the Holland-America Steamship Company, of this city,

used to employ 30 men to clean out the boilers after every home trip of one of their steamers across the Atlantic, besides laying up their steamers once in three years for two months for a thorough cleaning out, while at present, with the aid of the apparatus described, the boilers are cleaned out by means of a hose in a couple of hours, seems to warrant the claim.

ROTTERDAM, June 16, 1903.

S. LISTOE,

Consul-General.

NEW INVENTIONS.

Prevention of the warping of xylolithe floors.--An Austrian inventor claims to have discovered a method of preventing the warping of floors constructed of xylolithe (a mixture of sawdust, burnt magnesite, and magnesium chloride). He does this by fixing sheet-iron, open-work, or reticulated plates to the foundation and embedding them in the plastic material. For covering iron floors in ships, etc., the reticulated plates are laid loosely on the foundation and a series of crosscuts are made in the partially hardened xylolithe covering by thin knife blades to allow for expansion.

Plastic flooring.-A German invention deals with the manufacture of plastic compositions for flooring purposes. Ash, moistened with a solution of sulphate and chloride of magnesium, is mixed with kaolin, or clay, and talc; gypsum and magnesite are then added. The mixture is stamped and rolled in place while cool to form the bed or foundation of a jointless floor. When the bed has hardened,

a surface layer composed of asbestos and sawdust moistened with magnesium, sulphate, and chloride and mixed with kaolin, or clay, and talc, gypsum, and magnesite is applied.

Cylindrical blank piercing.—As outlined in a recent German invention, a tube or other hollow body is formed from a cylindrical blank by piercing it with a pointed mandrel while the blank is held in at divided matrix, or die. The blank is first held endwise by a block and wedge arrangement until the mandrel has penetrated sufficiently to force some of the hot metal into cavities in the matrix. The swellings thus produced serve to hold the blank in place, after the block and wedge have been removed, till it has been completely pierced. The tube produced is considerably longer than the blank, and therefore a relatively longer mandrel has to be used. The swellings are removed by subsequent rolling or drawing.

Seamless pipes and tubes.—In another German invention, relating to the manufacture of seamless pipes and tubes, a set of nested tubular blanks is rolled or drawn on a mandrel so that tubes of various

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