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SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT NO. 447




NEW YORK, JULY 26, 1884

Scientific American Supplement. Vol. XVIII, No. 447.

Scientific American established 1845

Scientific American Supplement, $5 a year.

Scientific American and Supplement, $7 a year.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I.    CHEMISTRY.--The Bitter Substance of Hops.--By Dr. H. BUNGENER.
      --What gives hops their bitter taste?--Processes for obtaining
      hop-bitter acid.--Analysis of the same.

II.   ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS.--Improvements in the Harbor
      of Antwerp.--With engraving of caisson for deepening the
      river.

      Progress of Antwerp.--Recent works in the harbor.

      Bicycles and Tricycles.--By C.V. BOYS.---Advantages of the
      different machines.--Manner of finding the steepness of a hill
      and representing same on a map.--Experiments on ball bearings.--
      The Otto bicycle.

      The Canal Iron Works, London.

      Marinoni's Rotary Printing Press.--With 2 engravings.

      Chenot's Economic Filter Press.--With engraving.

      Steel Chains without Welding.--Method and machines for making
      same.--Several figures.

III.  TECHNOLOGY.--Some Economic Processes connected with the
      Cloth Making Industry.--By Dr. WM. RAMSAY.--How to save and
      utilize soap used in wool scouring.--To recover the indigo from
      the refuse.--Extraction of potash from _suint_.--Use of
      bisulphide of carbon.

IV.   PHYSICS. ELECTRICITY, ETC.--Thury's Dynamo Electric Machine.
      --5 figures.

      Breguet's Telephone.

      Munro's Telephonic Experiments.--9 figures.

      Apparatus for Maneuvering Bichromate of Potassa Piles from a
      Distance.--2 figures.

      Magnetic Rotations.--By E.L. VOICE.--1 figure.

      Lighton's Immersion Illuminator.--1 figure.

      Foucault's Pendulum Experiments.--By RICHARD A. PROCTOR.
      --4 figures.

V.    ARCHITECTURE, ART, ETC.--St. Paul's Vicarage, Forest Hill,
      Kent.--2 engravings.

      Designs for Iron Gates.--An engraving.

VI.   ASTRONOMY.--A New Lunarian.--By Prof. C.W. MACCORD.
      --With 3 figures.

VII.  GEOLOGY.--Coal and its Uses.--By JAMES PYKE.--Formation
      of carboniferous rocks and the coal in the same.--Processes of
      nature.--Greatness of this country due to coal.--Manufacture of
      gas.--Products of the same.

VIII. NATURAL HISTORY, BOTANY. ETC.--The Wine Fly.--The
      egg.--Larva.--Pupa and fly.

      The "Potetometer." an Instrument for Measuring the Transpiration
      of Water by Plants.--1 figure.

      Bolivian Cinchona Forests.

      Ferns.--Nephrolepis Davillioides Furcans and Nephrolepis Duffi.
      --2 engravings.

IX.   PHYSIOLOGY, HYGIENE, ETC.--The Upright Attitude of Mankind.
      --Review of a lecture by Dr. S.V. CLEVENGER, in which he
      tries to prove that man must have originated from a four footed
      being.

      Our Enemies, the Microbes.--Affections caused by the same.--
      Experiments of Davaine, Pasteur, and others.--How to prevent
      bacterides from entering the body.--5 figures.

X.    BIOGRAPHY.--Gaston Plante, the Scientist.--With portrait

      Warren Colburn, the American Mathematician.

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IMPROVEMENTS IN THE HARBOR OF ANTWERP.


The harbor of Antwerp, which, excepting those of London and Liverpool,
is the largest in Europe, has been improved wonderfully during the last
decade. Before 1870 it was inferior to the harbor at Havre, but now it
far surpasses the same. The river Scheldt, which is about 1,500 ft.
wide, was badgered out up to the vertical walls of the basin, so that
the largest ships can land at the docks. The river was deepened by the
use of caissons, in the lower parts of which the workmen operated in
compressed air. The annexed cut shows that part of one of the caissons
which projects above the surface of the water. The depth of the river at
low tide is about 26 ft., and at high tide about 39 ft. Some of the old
sluices, channels, basins, etc., which were rendered useless by the
improvements made in the river Scheldt have been filled up, and
thereby the city has been enriched by several handsome and elegant
squares.--_Illustrirte Zeitung_.

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PROGRESS OF ANTWERP.


Antwerp is now the chief port on the Continent. Since 1873 the progress
has continued, and made very rapid advances. In 1883 the tonnage of the
port reached 3,734,428 registered tons. This marvelous development is
partly due to the position of Antwerp as the embarking point from the
Continent of Europe to America, and partly also to the recent additions
and changes which have been carried out there, and which, now nearly
completed, have made this cosmopolitan port one of the best organized in
the world. This is so well known that vessels bound for Switzerland with
a cargo of corn from Russia pass Marseilles and go two thousand miles
out of their way for the purpose of unloading at Antwerp. No other port,
in fact, offers the same facilities. There is not another place in the
world where fifty vessels of 3,000 tons can come alongside as easily as
the penny boats on the Thames run into the landing.

[Illustration: CAISSONS FOR DEEPENING THE RIVER AT ANTWERP.]

Since the opening of the St. Gothard Tunnel nearly all the alimentary
provisions that Italy sends to the British Isles pass through Antwerp.
In 1882 82,000,000 eggs and 30,000 pounds of fruit were shipped there
for England. The greater part of these came from Italy. Antwerp has
become also an important port for emigrants; 35,125 embarked in 1882,
out of which number 3,055 were bound for New York. The city was always
destined, from its topographical position, to be at the head of a very
considerable traffic; political reasons alone for many years prevented
this being the case. These have happily now disappeared, and, since
1863, when the "Scheldt was liberated," the progress of commerce has
been more rapid than even the most ardent Antwerp patriot dared hope. At
that date the toll of 1s. 11d. on all vessels going up the river, and of
71/2d. on vessels going down, was abolished, and reforms were introduced
among the taxes on the general navigation; the tax on tonnage in the
port itself was abolished, and the pilot tax was lowered. The results of
these measures became immediately apparent. Traffic increased with
such rapidity that in 1876 the crowding on the quays was such that the
relation of the tonnage to the length of the quay was about 270 tons per
yard, which is four times as great as at Liverpool.

A few words now, briefly, as to the nature of the important works[1]
completed at Antwerp. They were commenced in 1877, and have opened for
the port an era of prosperity such as was never experienced even during
the sixteenth century, the zenith of her splendor. These works have
cost L4,000,000, and have necessitated the employment of 12,000 tons
of wrought iron, of 490,000 cubic yards of brickwork and concrete, of
32,000 cubic yards of masonry, and of more than 3,300,000 cubic yards
of earthwork in filling and dredging, etc. The quay walls run the whole
length of the town, a distance of rather more than two miles. It rests
on a foundation laid without timber footings, and giving a depth of
twenty-six feet at low water, sufficient drawing for the largest ships
afloat. Beyond this wall are the real quays, which consists of first a
line of rails reserved for hydraulic cranes serving to unload vessels
and deposit their cargo railway trucks; secondly, a second line of rails
parallel with the first, on which these trucks are stationed; thirdly,
sheds extending toward the town for a width of one hundred and fifty
feet, and covered with galvanized iron sheetings. A third line of rails
parallel with the two others runs from end to end of these sheds, and a
number of lines placed transversely with this one connect it by means of
spring bridges with, fourthly, four more lines also parallel with the
quays, whence the goods start for the different stations, and thence to
their destinations. The total width of these immense constructions is
about three hundred and twenty feet. Such is their magnitude that about
six hundred houses had to be pulled down to make place for them. A
railing running along their entire length cuts them off from the town.

[Transcribers note 1: changed from 'words']

During the course of last year 4,379 vessels entered the port of
Antwerp, gauging a total of 3,734,428 tons, which places Antwerp, as I
have already stated, at the head of European ports. In 1882 the tonnage
of Havre was only 2,200,000, that of Genoa 2,250,000, and of Bilboa
315,000, owing to its iron ore exports. Among the English ports a few
only exceed Antwerp. London is still the first port in the world, with
a tonnage of 10,421,000 tons, and Liverpool the second, with 7,351,000
tons; Newcastle follows with 6,000,000 tons, also in excess of Antwerp,
but both Hull and Glasgow are below, with respectively 1,875,000 and
2,110,000 tons.--_Pall Mall Gazette_.

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BICYCLES AND TRICYCLES.

[Footnote: A recent lecture before the Society of Arts, London.]

By C.V. BOYS.


The subject of this paper is one of such wide interest, and of such
great importance, that it is quite unnecessary for me to make any
apology for bringing it to your notice. Exactly two months ago, I had
the honor of dealing with the same subject at the Royal Institution. On
that occasion I considered main principles only, and avoided anything in
which none but riders were likely to take an interest, or which was in
any way a matter of dispute. As it may be assumed that the audience here
consists largely of riders, and of those who are following those matters
of detail, the elaboration, simplification, and perfection of which
have brought the art of constructing cycles to its present state of
perfection, I purpose treating the subject from a totally different
point of view. I do not intend, in general, to describe anything,
assuming that the audience is familiar with the construction of the
leading types of machines, but rather to consider the pros and cons
of the various methods by which manufacturers have striven to attain
perfection. As a discussion on the subject of this paper will doubtless
follow--and I hope makers or riders of every class of machine will
freely express their opinion, for by so doing they will lend an interest
which I alone could not hope to awaken--I shall not consider it
necessary to assume an absolutely neutral position, which might be
expected of me if there were no discussion, but shall explain my own
views without reserve.

The great variety of cycles may be grouped under the following heads:

  1. The Bicycle unmodified.
  2. The Safety bicycle, a modification of 1.
  3. The Center-cycle.
  4. The Tricycle, which includes five general types:
  (a.) Rear steerer of any sort.
  (b.) Coventry rotary.
  (c.) Front steerer of any sort (except e).
  (d.) Humber pattern.
  (e.) The Oarsman.
  5. Double machines: sociables and tandems.
  6. The Otto.

It is perfectly obvious that not one machine is superior to all others
in every respect, for if that were the case, the rest would rapidly
become extinct. Not one shows any signs of becoming extinct, and,
therefore, it may be assumed that each one possesses some points in
which it is superior to others, the value of which is considered by
its riders to far outweigh any points in which it may be inferior. The
widely varying conditions under which, and purposes for which, machines
are used and the very different degrees of importance which differently
constituted minds attach to the peculiarities of various machines, will,
probably, prevent any from becoming extinct. Nevertheless, the very
great advantages which some of these possess over others will, no doubt,
in time become evident by the preponderance of the better class of
machines.

The bicycle, which surpasses all other machines in simplicity,
lightness, and speed, will probably, for these reasons, always remain a
favorite with a large class. The fact that it requires only one track
places it at a great advantage with respect to other machines, for it is
common for a road which is unpleasant from mud or stones to have a hard,
smooth edge, a kind of path, where the bicyclist can travel in peace,
but which is of little advantage to other machines. Again, the bicycle
can be wheeled through narrow gates or door ways, and so kept in places
which are inaccessible to tricycles. One peculiarity of the bicycle,
and to a certain extent of the center-cycle, is that the plane of the
machine always lies in the direction of the resultant force, that the
machine leans over to an amount depending on the velocity and the
sharpness of the curve described. For this reason all lateral strain on
the parts is abolished, and if we except the slipping away of the wheel
from under the rider, which can hardly occur on a country road, an upset
from taking a curve too quickly is impossible. This leaning to either
side by the machine and rider gives rise to that delightful gliding
which none but the bicyclist or the skater can experience. In this
respect the bicycle has an enormous advantage over any machine, tricycle
or Otto, which must at all times remain upright, and which must,
therefore, at a high speed, be taken round a curve with discretion.

The perfect and instantaneous steering of the bicycle, combined with
its narrowness, counteract, to a great extent, the advantage which the
tricyclist has of being able to stop so much more quickly, for
the bicyclist can "dodge" past a thing for which the rider of the
three-wheeler must pull up. In one other respect the bicyclist has an
advantage which, though of no real importance, has great weight with
many people. The bicycle well ridden presents a picture of such perfect
elegance that no one on anything else need expect to appear to advantage
in comparison.

The chief disadvantage of the bicycle is the fact that a rider cannot
stop for any purpose, or go back a little, without dismounting. For town
riding, where a stoppage is frequently necessitated by the traffic, this
perpetual mounting and dismounting is not only tiresome, but wearying,
so much so that few bicyclists care to ride daily in town.

The position of the rider on a bicycle, with respect to the treadles,
is by no means good, for if he is placed sufficiently far forward to be
able to employ his weight to advantage without bending himself double,
he will be in so critical a position that a mere touch will send him
over the handles. He has, therefore, to balance stability and safety
against comfort and power; the more forward he is, the more furiously he
can drive his machine, and the less does he suffer from friction and the
shaking of the little wheel; the more backward he is, the less is he
likely to come to grief riding down hill, or over unseen stones. The
bicyclist is no better off than the rider of any other machine with a
little wheel, the vibration from which may weary him nearly as much as
the work he does. The little wheel as a mud-throwing machine engine is
still more effective on the bicycle than it is on any tricycle, for in
general it is run at a higher speed.

I now come to the usual complaint about the bicycle. There is a fashion
just now to call it dangerous and the tricycle safe. But the difference
in safety has been much exaggerated. The bicyclist is more likely to
suffer from striking a stone than his friend on three wheels, but then
he should not strike one where the tricyclist would strike a dozen.
Properly ridden, neither class of machine can be considered dangerous;
an accident should never happen except it be due to the action of
others. People, carts, cattle, and dogs on the road are liable to such
unexpected movements, that the real danger of the cyclist comes from the
outside; to danger from absolute collapse, due to a hidden flaw in
the materials employed, every one is liable, but, the bicyclist more
remotely than the tricyclist, owing to the greater simplicity of his
machine. The bicyclist, though he has further to fall in case of an
accident from any of these causes, is in a better position than the
tricyclist, for he is outside instead of inside his machine; he can in
an instant get clear.

It would appear that many tricyclists consider accidents of the kind
next to impossible, for in several machines the rider is so involved
that an instantaneous dismount without a moment's notice, at any speed,
is absolutely impossible. There remains one objection, which, however,
should be of next to no importance--the difficulty of learning the
bicycle prevents many from taking to the light and fast machine, because
they are afraid of a little preliminary trouble.

The chief objections to the bicycle, then, are the liability of the
rider to go over the handles, the impossibility of stopping very
quickly, and the inability to remain at rest or go backward, and the
difficulty of learning.

The first two of these are, to a large extent, overcome in the safety
bicycles, but not without the introduction of what is in comparison a
certain degree of complication, or without the loss of the whole of the
grace or elegance of the bicycle. On almost all of these safety bicycles
the rider is better placed than on the unmodified bicycle, but though
safer, I do not think bicyclists find them complete in speed, though, no
doubt, they are superior in that respect to the tricycle. Though they do
not allow the rider to stop without dismounting, the fatigue resulting
from this cause is less than it is with a bicycle, owing to the fact
that with the small machines the rider has so small a distance to climb.
Of these machines, the Extraordinary leaves the rider high up in the air
on a full-sized wheel, but places him further back and more over the
pedals. The motion of these is peculiar, being not circular, but oval, a
form which has certain advantages.

In the Sun and Planet