June 6, 1913. THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. 1197 In this lamp the wick tube is so constructed that it has a permanent wick, the lower portion being well intermingled with the cotton wool, and sucks benzine from all parts of the container, conveying it to the flat burning wick passed down in front of the feeding wick. This latter wick will last for years ; the other may be changed in a moment or two. The wick is never out of contact with the cotton wool, and the latter therefore need not be changed so frequently. The wick tube does away with the partially concealed screw common to other makes of benzine lamps, and therefore reduces the possibility of misleading gas caps being formed by benzine which creeps up the side of such regulating screw. In the Hailwood lamp the upper part of the wick tube is completely closed in by the wick, and prevents the escape of benzine gas. The lamp is pro- vided with an internal perforated ring communicating with the benzine filling valve. Benzine can be forced in by a force pump, the benzine rushinground the per- forated tube and squirting in innumerable jets, and thoroughly saturating the cotton wool, the whole process being the work of a moment, as compared with the long time required with other types of lamps for filling with benzine. The lamp has recently been subjected to a long series of very severe tests by the Belgian Govern- ment at their testing station at the Frameries. In these tests it was subjected to a mixture of 8 per cent, of natural pit gas and air travelling at velocities ranging from 300 metres (984 ft.) to 900 metres (2,952 ft.) per Hailwood’s Electric Miners’ Lamp. (Ackroyd and Best Limited.) B A B E A- B- Sections of Hailwood Relighting Apparatus (Ackroyd and Best Limited). minute—the current travelling—(1) horizontally ; (2) descending at angle of 45 degs.; (3) ascending at angle of 45 degs.; (4) descending vertically; (5) ascending vertically—and successfully withstood every test. The illumination power of the lamp is about 1'10 candle power. A quantity of Hailwood electric lamps for miners’ use, also firemen’s lamps and acetylene lamps for mines and quarries, are also shown. In the Hailwood electric lamp, the upper part of the lamp is passed down and over the bottom, overlapping it to the extent of 2f in., whilst a clearance of in. is left between the walls of the upper and lower case, which, whilst allowing acid fumes to safely ventilate and get clear of the lamp, will not allow flame to pass out alive. It should be noted that there are no rubber washers employed to make a joint between the upper and lower part of the lamp. The electric bulb is contained in a glass G which is of exceedingly small outer diameter and has very thick walls, and has the unique formation of a top | in. thick at the part D, the top of the glass being flat, forming a strong bed against the crown plate of the lamp, an aperture U being formed in the crown plate to allow rays of light to pass through the thick upper end of the glass. This glass is also a very important factor in the Hail- wood lamp in tending to reduce the possibility of explosions from the shattering of the electric bulb, seeing that such a breakage in an explosive mixture of gas has been proved capable of igniting gas. Owing to the difficulty of obtaining electric bulbs with inter- changeable threaded necks, the lamps have been fitted with a patent lock nut, which gets a firm grip of the bulb neck, and does away with the unexpected falling out of the bulb. The glass sits on the plate K, which is screwed into the upper part of the lamp, and the opera- tion of the changing of the electric bulb can be done in a moment. For officials’ use or for exploration purposes, the lamp may be fitted with a lens for throwing forward a powerful ray of light. The diffused candle-power of the lamp with the aid of a rear reflector only is about 1'59-candle power. When fitted with lenses, the lamp may be made to read anything from 2 to 100 candle power, according to the focus of the lens and consequent concentration of the light. Where desired, the firm can supply a 4-volt lamp of larger dimensions or of rectan- gular shape. We also saw on this stand the well-known Hailwood relighting machine in its latest form, with gastight flametight chambers. For use with the benzene lamp a special new compact machine operated by means of dynamo was shown. The outer cover may be rotated in a manner somewhat similar to the rotation of a policeman’s lantern (see figs, herewith). This rotation closes up the entrance to the lamp chamber and causes handle F to come to the front into line with the shaft of the magneto dynamo fixed inside the magneto chamber. The handle may now be pressed into engage- ment with the shaft and rotated, electric current from the magneto machine being conveyed by the insulated wires to the contact terminals in the recessed dish in the lamp chamber, the current passing into the lamp and sparking in the vicinity of the wick tube and igniting the wick. The handle and magneto can only be operated when the chamber is closed. The Belgian Government have recently subjected this machine to a series of very severe tests in their testing gallery, and the apparatus has been proved to be perfectly safe. The chambers may be locked in the closed position, the keys being placed in charge of a workman engaged in the vicinity of the machine. Several machines for lighting safety lamps in the lamphouse are shown, some being operated by accumulators and some by small foot-driven dynamos. The exhibit further comprises iron cleaning tables, iron ampstands, Hailwood’s rapid check boxes, oil and benzene filling machines for lamps, &c Several gas observation machines are shown in ictual operation with town’s gas. The drum type is notable for its simplicity and accuracy. LASSEN AND HJORT. Messrs. Lassen and Hjort, of 52, Queen Victoria- street, E.O., who are well-known as the makers of one of the most widely used water-softening plants on the market, have arranged a very interesting exhibit, showing examples of both their large and small softeners. The principal exhibit on their stand is a measuring and mixing apparatus having a capacity of 30,000 gallons per hour, and fitted with their latest improved devices for rendering the metering of tbe water and the proportioning of the chemicals a matter of the utmost certainty and exactness. The improve- ments which Messrs. Lassen and Hjort have introduced into their measuring apparatus include a patent auto- matic locking gear for the tipping bucket, by means of which the quantity of water delivered at each oscillation is rendered absolutely constant, and a positive chemical discharge valve, which automatically measures and delivers an exactly adjusted and regulable quantity of chemical reagent at each discharge of water from the tipper. | Softener at the Houghton Main Colliery. (Lassen and Hjort.) The outstanding feature of the measuring and mixing apparatus is the device for the separate and exact measurement, in small, definite, a,nd predetermined quantities, of both hard water and softening reagents. This device renders it possible to treat water or effluents of any character with any reagent, or combination of reagents, in rigidly proportionate quantities which can be varied at will and adjusted to give any quantity desired over a wide range. The water to be treated I alternately fills each of the compartments of a two- I chambered tipper oscillating on a shaft working in | metal-lined bearings. When one of these compartments is full of water, the disturbance of equilibrium causes the tipper to overbalance, and, by so doing, to discharge its contents of water into the tank in which it is suspended; at the same time, the other compartment of the tipper is brought under the orifice of the inlet pipe and filled in its turn with hard water, to be discharged in the same manner when full. In other words, the incoming water makes the tipper oscillate backwards and forwards, measuring off at each oscillation a definite quant iy of hard water to be treated, and thus operating as a gravity water meter, by means of which the quantity of water passing through the plant may be ascertained with absolute accuracy at any time by affixing a counter to the tipper shaft. At each discharge of water from the tipper into the tank in which it works, a corre- sponding amount of water is displaced from this tank through a standpipe and shook into the reaction chamber of the softener, and here it receives at the same moment the requisite charge of chemical solution from the semi-circular chemical container. This is effected by means of the valve placed in the bottom of the chemical container, which is opened at each move- ment of the tipper, and caused to deliver into the reaction chamber the exact amount of softening reagent (in the majority of cases a mixture of lime and soda ash) required to soften it to the guaranteed figure. The valve can be adjusted to discharge any specified quantity of reagent required by the volume of water in the tipper compartment, so that the plant can be easily regulated while working without any necessity for changing the solution in the chemical container. Another important feature of the softener is the recently introduced patent locking gear, by means of which the oscillating receiver is prevented from tipping until it contains a predetermined quantity of water. By this means the tipping of the bucket is regulated to occur at the moment an exact number of gallons is contained in it. A link from the end of the tipper shaft operates a counter which registers the number of gallons in each compartment, and it is possible to arrive, with the greatest accuracy, at the amount of water passing through the plant. In practice this device is found greatly to enhance the smoothness with which the apparatus works and the regularity of the results obtained. BLEICHERT’S AERIAL TRANSPORTERS LIMITED. Among the exhibits of Bleichert’s Aerial Transporters Limited, a working automatic telpher on four supports is worthy of special notice. This runs backwards and forwaids on a rail 40 ft. long and is controlled by a contact lever from any desired point. On arrival at the front end of the rail it lowers the skip, for which a loaded one is substituted. The latter is then hoisted and conveyed to the unloading station, where it tips its contents and returns automatically to the loading point. Here it stops until the man in charge again puts on the current, when the skip will again be hoisted. The traffic is entirely automatic. In the foreground of this stand a model of a wire rope- way is to be noticed, which demonstrates how ropeway cars can be loaded at one end, and then pass over the most difficult ground to unload at the opposite end. Such ropeways have been installed in recent times to a far greater extent than formerly. We noticed two views of a plant built for the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Co. Limited, on which the new Bleichert coupling apparatus is employed, permitting with equal facility the negotiation of curves to the right and left or varying gradients. The line handles refuse and rubbish, which it automatically tips on to the dump, the cars then returning round the return sheave, and through the angle station, to the loading point, without any attendance on the open track.