JUNE
Scientific American
I, 1907.
BY S. LEONARD BASTIN.
To acquire a certain amount of weather lore should
be the object of every gardener.
A piec e
box.
A HOME-MADE lIAROllETEB.
All the changes which
plete.
In
this
connec·
Australia
10,610.
any other nation, her production amounting to 196,545
A square piece of thin wood may
give
the wood
After applying some
a finish
the frame
is
com­
tons, as against 180,360 tons in 1905.
Besides produc­
ing the largest quantity of spelter, America showed the
largest increase of any of the producing countries.
The next matter for consideration is the filling of
elementary study of meteorology is a matter in which
engage.
and Austria and Italy,
passage of the tube.
be cut to form the lid of the box.
associated with the well·being of plant life, that the
should
land, 9,460,
produced 1,010 tons, and the United States outranked
stain to
horticulturist
for the top of the box mUlii;t have an
archway scooped out in the center to allow for the
come about in the course of the year are so intimately
every
453
•••••
the small glass receptacle and the tube with mercury.
American Grain Losing Ground.
tion the possession of a fairly reliable barometer is
In filling the tube a funnel formed out of a sheet of
essential.
But 'in their cheapest forms the instruments
paper will be found useful. When the tube is full, place
the leading grain dealers of Europe,
that no decisive action would be taken at present with
At a
recent meeting of delegates representing
all
it was decided
are somewhat expensive, and considering that in es·
the finger over the orifice. Then invert the tube, and with­
sence the barometer is one of the simplest contrivances,
out admitting any air immerse the end in the mercury
regard to grain trade with' the United States, the de­
it occurred to the writer that it would not be a very
contained in the receptacle This is likely to be rather a
lay being for the purpose of giving American export­
formidable matter to make one.
As
a
if! well known, a barometer is nothing more than
difficult undertaking, and perhaps the best way of all
ers an opportunity to improve existing conditions; and
to accomplish it is to tie a
to afford them time to make a thorough investigation
piece
of skin or leather
contrivance
for
of
the
measuri ng
the
of
European
weight, of
air.
ers.
the
complaints
If,
deal­
however,
no improvement ap­
A glass tube closed
at one end and fill·
pears within a rea­
ed
sonable
with
mercury,
time,
it is
then immersed in a
declared
bath of the miner·
absolute boycott of
al without the ad·
American
mission
will
of
air,
is
the
instrument.
When
the
upright,
tube
the
an
grai n
instituted.
Even at the present
an elementary form
of
be
that
time there is abso­
lutely
is
no
American
col·
many
umn of quicksilver
sale
for
grain
in
localities,
is seen to fall four
this being especial­
or five inches, leav·
ly noticeable in the
ing
Rhenish - Westpha­
a
vacuum
at
the top.
It will be
lian district, where
evident
that
Argentinian
the
wheat
height of the mer·
has taken the place
cury in the tube reo
formerly
sponds to the varia·
that
tions in the weight
United States.
of
the
atmosphere
pressing
on
bath
of
mercury.
The
relations
of
the
movements
of
At
the
the
referred
cases
the "glass" to the weather are of course simple enough.
very tightly over the upper end of the tube after it i s
When the a�mosphere is heavy it causes the mercury
full;
column to rise, indicating fair weather; and conversely
knife
then immerse, and finally cut away with a pen­
the
twine which binds the
skin.
If this
has
by
the
meeting
to,
many
were
cited
wh e re
Filling the lUercury Tube.
Inserting ·the Tube in the Mercury Receptacle
held
from
American
grain arrived in ex­
tremely bad condition, being moldy and not grading
to sample,
and
in a number
very closely upon swindling.
of instances
bordering
Formerly there was a
when the atmosphere is under low pressure the mer­
been accomplished without letting in any air, the col­
most flourishing trade in all American grains in the
cury column subsides, indicating the approach of a storm.
umn of mercury will be observed to fall several inches.
Rhenish-Westphalian district.
For the construction of a home-made barometer, pur,chase about three-quarters of
a pound of mercury, a
If atmospheric bubbles are to be seen working their
.,. I"
way upward, the tube must be refilled.
glass tube three feet in length and c.Iosed at one end,
The Platinum Deposits of CalIfornIa.
The tube and receptacle must now be carefully re­
Members of the U.
and a small glass receptacle four or five inches long.
moved to the case.
This should be large enough to take the end of the
its position by looping wire round the tube in about
discoveries
long glass tube, allowing a quarter of an inch or so
four places, and
fornia.
all round.
The wood necessary for the construction of
The contrivance is best fixed into
twisting these tightly at the back:
The scale is easily prepared.
Consult a reliable bar­
now
in
S. Geological Survey, who are
San Francisco, are
of
platinum
investigating the
in several
counties
recent
in
Cali­
A bulletin will soon be issued on the tests of
black sands which were conducted on the Pacific coast
the frame is likely to be found in almost any house.
ometer in quiet weather,_and when this stands at 30.00,
and elsewhere more than a year ago.
It is desirable that this work should be taken in hand
make a slight mark in the woodwork opposite the level
started originally for the purpose of locating rich de­
of the mercury in the home-made article.
posits of platinum.
in the first place.
about
three feet
To make the frame take a board
three
inches
long
and four
On a piece
inches
of paper rule' out your scale for the two sides of the
Now cut two
The inquiry was
The investigation developed that
there is platinum in 120 places in the United States;
glass to the extent of about four inches; dividing each
but that some of the largest and most profltable flel-ds
strips of wood, say thirty inches long and one and a
into tenths.
for commercial exploitation are in Del Norte, Siskiyou,
quarter inches in width;
the inches up and down accordingly.
wide; make the whole nice and smooth.
Screw these to the board far
enough apart to allow the glass tube to be dropped in
paper on
Put the central inch at 30.00, and number­
Paste the slips of
either side of the tube, and cover the re­
between them, at the same time taking care to place.
ceptacle 'with the lid which has already been prepared,
them four inches from the bottom of the board. Along
and the instrument is complete.
the bottom of the board fasten a strip of wood suf­
be
ficiently wide
to
support
the glass receptacle.
Add
kept
in
an upright
position,
and Trinity counties, in California.
counties.
The barometer should
and must never be
hung where the sun will fall on it.
It is not claimed
Platinum is also
found in considerable quantities in Plumas and Butte
•
•
•
A tin mine in the extreme north of the province of
Kwangsi, China, is operated on a small scale, its pro­
two pieces of wood to either side of the board, these
that this contrivance will _work with extraordinary ac­
duct
to run up to where the two long strips terminate.
In
curacy, but if reasonable_ precautions are taken in its
Another tin mine is to be opened in the prefecture of
be formed the three sides of a little
construction, the instrument should record the varia-
Wuchow.
this way will
tions
in
being
exported
through
the
port
of
Wuchow.
pressure
with fair reliabil­
ity.
Reliable English
authorities
the
place
world's
pro­
duction of spelter
during
1906
the
at
tons
0
year
688,300
f
2,240
pounds each, show­
ing
slight
in­
crease
a
over
the
647,720
tons
pro­
duced in 1905.
the
Of
total produc­
tion
of 1906
rope
'is
Eu­
credited
with 491,045 tons,
of which Belgium
produced
tons;
150,060
Rhine,
67,-
615; the Nether-_
I a n d s, 1 4,4 2 0;
Great Britain, 51,670;
The Mercury 'rube
Inverted.
The Tube Immersed in the
Mercury Receptacle.
France
and
Spain, 52,940;
Sl­
Iesia, 134,180;
Po·
A HOME-MADE BAROMETER.
The Scale in
Place.
Fastening the Tube to the
Frame.
Seientif
454
THE WONDERFUL SULPHUR MINES OF LOUISIANA.
The
extraordinary
mineral
resources
verbial,
and
all
richness
of
the
things
and
United
extent
States
considered,
in
of
the
are
the
pro·
whole
range of the mining industry it would be impossible
to find a deposit which, relatively, in its richness
and purity exceeds the sulphur mines of Louisiana.
These are unique both in their geological formation
and in the originality and daring of the methods
adopted for the recovery of the metalloid.
The deposits in question
are situated near the
little town of Lake Charles near the coast of the
Gulf of Mexico, and close to the border between
LouLoiana
and Texas.
They belong to the
Union
Sulphur Company, to the untiring patience and in·
ventive
skill
of
whose
president,
Mr.
Herman
Frasch, is due the present ingenious and very suc·
cessful method of recovery.
Before proceeding to a
description of this method, it is necessary to make
clear the character of the deposits and the probable
method of their formation.
The large number of
boreholes which have been sunk have revealed the
presence, at great depth, of a vast extinct geyser,
whose
operations
geological
ages,
deposited
in
Miocene.
must
the
the
have
sulphur
tertiary
ceased
far
layers
having
age,
either
back
in
been
Eocene
Wall of Sulphur, Showing a Pocket of Liquid Sulphur Long After Exteri()r
or
After passing down, first through 200 feet
of clay and then through 200 feet of quicksand, and
to the bottom of the well, whence it is
80 feet of sand and gravel, the
raised to the sU:'face by means of :::n
presence of
a
vast cone
drills
or mountain
revealed the
of
limestone,
approximately oval in form, the lip of the cone having
air pump.
On
the
surface
it is
al­
lowed to congeal in the form of huge
a width of about 200 feet, and the mouth measuring
square
from one·third to one mile across.
broken up and loaded on to the cars
top of the
cone
is
covered by
a
A portion of the
deposit of broken
After the drills had penetrated
masses,
and
subsequently
is
for shipment.
limestone, which varies in thickness from nothing to
150 feet, at the edges.
The
details
follows:
of
the
process
are ,as
A well is drilled in much the
through this overlying stripping, they entered a huge
same
deposit of sulphur and limestone, consisting of about
bottom of the sulphur bed.
Down this
30 per cent of l imestone and 70 per cent of pure suI·
well
pipes,
phur.
within the other, until it extends not
feet
Below this was found a deposit of gypsum 450
in
thickness,
�eposit of salt.
and underlying the gypsum
is
a
Surrounding and covering the walls
as
run
for
petroleum,
a system
of
to
the
one
quite to the b�ttom 'of the welL
0lltermost pipe
and summit of this cone, with its valuable contents, is
eter;
side
The discovery of this mine resulted from the efforts
way
is
a bed of sand.
The
is 10 inches in diam­
within this is a 6·�nch pipe, in­
of
within
which
'
a
that
is a
3-inch
1 -inch
pipe,
pipe.
and
Water,
of a company which was formed in 1868 to search for
heated in a battery of boilers to a tem­
petroleum,
perature of 335 deg. F., is forced down
g
the
oozin s from
presence
the
of
surface
which
of the
was
ground.
indicated
by
Two years
later, attempts were made to extract the sulphur which
the borings for petroleum had revealed;
possibility
of
controlling
the
waters 'of this region, which
abundant
but the im·
sub·surface
is almost at sea level,
through
the
annular
space
bet,,-een
issues
through
a number
of perfora·
tions in the side of the pipe at a point
two or three feet above the bottom of
the well.
ordinary mining methods abortive.
great
The present successful system may be said to date
the
10-inch and the 6-inch pipes, and
rendered all attempts to recover the sulphur by the
The water, because of its
heat
and
pressure,
forces
its
way through the seams and crevices
from the year 1891, when the first patents on a process
of the limestone rock, attacking and
for recovering sulphur by liquefaction were taken out;
melting the sulphur, and causing it,
but it was not until the year 1895 that the inventor
because
succeeded
drain down to the bottom of the welL
in
securing
the
property
containing
this
of
its
superior
gravity,
to
deposit, and not until seven years later that the many
Here it enters the bottom of the pipe
difficulties in the way of mining the sulphur in this
through a number of perforations, and
novel manner were overcome and the process brought
passes up through the annular space
to a state of perfection which made the new method a
between the 6-inch pipe and the 3-inch
financial success.
pipe.
Union
Sulphur
The quality of the product of the
Company
is
excellent,
showing upon
analysis a purity of more than ninety·nine per cent.
Briefly stated, the sulphur is melted by means of
superheated water which is forced down into the de·'
posit through iron pipes.
insoluble in water,
Breaking Down and Lo
of Mass Had Solidified.
The melted sulphur, being :
a..'ul. of greater specific gravity, faUs'-
Normally, the two columns of
liquid, water and sulphur, would stand
in
equilibrium
whose
height
at
would
different
be
levels,
inversely
as
their respective specific gravities, the
water column being twice as high as
the
liquid
sulphur
column;
so
that
Solid Mass of Pure Sulphur, 40 J<'eet High, Af
Panoramic View ot the Sulphur Recovel'Y Works, Showing the Thl
T"E WONOERFUL SUL"