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12 THE MARINE RECORD. Avucus? 24, 1899. Almy’s Patent Sectional WATER TUBE BOILERS. Pintsch Gas Lighted Buoys. NOW USED IN 21 Passenger Boats from 70 to 160 ft. long. 61 Steam Yachts from 50 to 180 ft. long. U. S. TORPEDO BOAT «STILETTO.”’ Numerous freight and fishing steamers, launches and stationary boilers are giving most excellent results, ALMY WATER TUBE BOILER CoO., 178-184 Allens Ave., near Rhodes St., PROVIDENCE, R. I. Adopted by the English, German, French, Russian, Italian, and United States Light-House Departments for channel and harbor lighting. Over 800 gas buoys and gas beacons in service. Burn Continuously from 80 to 365 days and nights without atten- tion, and can be seen a distance of six miles. Controlled by THE SAFETY CAR HEATING AND LIGHTING Co. 160 Broadway, New York City. THE MAGNETIC NEEDLE. (CAMDEN J. WELLER IN THE ENGINEER. ) The name magnet (magnes lapis) was given to certain hard, black stones found in various parts of the world, nota- bly at Magnesia in Asia Minor, which possess the prop- erty of attracting tothem small pieces of iron. This magnet property as they deemed it, made the magnet stone famous; but it was not until the tenth or twelfth century that such stones were discovered to have the still more re- markable property of pointing north and south when hung up by athread. This property was turned to advantage in navigation, and from that time the magnet received its name of lodestone or, ‘‘leading stone.’’ The natural mag- net, or lodestone, is an ore of iron, known to mineralogists as magnetite. This ore is found in quantities in Sweden, Spain, the Isle of Elba, and Arkansas. While it is custom- ary to speak of the magnetic needle as pointing toward the north pole yet there are, in reality, but few places on the earth’s surface where the needle will point directly toward the geographical north and south poles. Theearth is a great magnet but the magnetic north pole of the earth is more than 1,000 miles away from the actual pole, being in latitude 70° 5’ N. and longitude 96° 46’ W. There appears to be two south magnetic polar regions. In consequence of this natual distribution, the compass needle will at some places be deflected west of true north and at other places to the east of true north. This angle between the magnetic meridian and the geo- graphical meridian ofa place-is called the declination of that place. The angle of this declination was discovered by Columbus in 1492. In order that ships may steer by the compass, magnetic charts must be prepared, and the decli- nation at different places accurately measured, which is done by the ‘‘azimuth compass.” As previously stated there are a few places where the mag- netic needle will point directly toward the north, there be- ing three such places in the United States—Lansiny, Mich. Columbus, O., and Charleston, S. C. The lines of magnetic force cause the magnetic needle to dip toward the earth as we approach the north. At the north pole the magnetic needle will point straight down. This ten- dency to point down is termed the inclination of the mag- netic needle. Another peculiarity of the laws of magnetic force is that the dip or inclination like the declination, dif- fers at different parts of the earth’s surface, and that it also undergoes changes from year to year. The ‘‘dip’’ in Lon- don for the year 1894 was 67° 18’, and in 1900 it will be 67° ‘9’. In 1900 the miagnetic needle will be deflected to the west at London, 16° 16’; at Berlin, 9° 30’; at Paris, 14° 30; at Rome, 10° 0’; at New York. 9° 12’; at Washington, 4° 35’; Capetown, 29° 24’; Tokio, 4° 6’. Also in the year 1900 the magnetic needle will point east of true north at St. Peters- burg 0° 30’; San Francisco, 16° 42’; Mexico, 8° 0’; Sydney, 9° 36’; Hobarton, 25° 0’; Bombay, o° 36’. I have already mentioned that both the declination and the inclination are subject to changes. Some of these changes take place very slowly, others occur every year and others again every day. Those changes which require many years to run their course are called secular changes. The variations of the declination previous to 1550 are not recorded ; the compass at London then pointed 11° east of true north. This easterly declination gradually decreased, until in 1657 the compass pointed true north. It then moved westward, attaining a maximum of 24° 27’ about the year 1816, from which time it has slowly diminished to its present value (16° 57’ in 1894). In London it requires about 320 years to complete the cycle of change. Both compass and dipping needle, if minutely observed, exhibit slight daily motions. About 7 a. m. the compass needle begins to travel westward with a motion which lasts till about I p. m.; during the afternoon and evening the needle travels back eastward, until about Io p. m.; after this it rests quietly, but in the summer time the needle begins to move again slightly to the west at about midnight, and returns again eastward before 7a.m. These delicate variations—never more than 10’ of arc—appear to be connected with the position of the sun. ‘The moon also exercises a minute influence upon the position of the needle. General Sabine discovered that there is a large amount of variation of the declination occur- ing about once every eleven years. These periods coincide with the periods at which there is a maximum of spots on the sun. ———— OO 2D OS VESSEL TRANSFERS. Latest transfers of vessel property recorded at the Mil- waukee customs office are the following: Schooner Lucia A. Simpson. Gustav T.Clausson to Charles J, Shanderson, of Milwaukee, one-third, $700; same to Henry Durbin, of South Milwaukee, one-third, $700; schooner Sardenia, William H. McDonald, of Sheboygan, to Max and Earnest Pfeil, of Mil- waukee, the whole, $500; schooner Eliza Day, Martin John- son, of Sheboygan, to Martin Mathison, John Mueller and Oscar Mueller, one-half, $700; steamer Nebraska, Fredrick D. Underwood, of Baltimore, Md., to William E. Fitzgerald, of Milwaukee, one-tenth, nominal consideration. Steamer Mary Mills, has been sold to the Hilty Lumber Co., for $2,000. A. Abrahamson, of Chicago, has sold the schooner Magda- lena to Ole Christiansen, of Detroit Harbor, Wis., for a nom- inalsum. Andrew Nelson, has sold the schooner John C. Bauer, to Thomas Thompson, also for a nominal amount. SS oe A SUCCESSFUL TOWING FEAT. An unusual and rather dangerous feat of towing was per- formed at Lachine, Que., on Thursday last. Davis & Sons, contractors for the Montreal waterworks, had a dredge and three scows working just abreast of the big chute in the Lachine Rapids, known as Verdun, or the Lost Channel. As the dredging job was completed they wished, if possible, to take the dredge and scows out of the rapids and use them elsewhere. When this was spoken of most men shook their heads as though the feat was impossible. The Calvin Wreck- ing Co., L’td., Kingston, Ont., being applied to, at once surveyed the channel and placed buoys on the shoals. Their wrecker, Capt. O’Brien, with two powerful steamers, was sent down and the steamers placed as near to the dredge and scows as possible without descending the rapids. From there about half a mile of steel wire cable was dropped down | to the dredge and scows, and with the powerful steam winches on one of the steamers they were drawn up one by one until they reached the stern of the first steamer, when both steamers put on full steam and towed them up the seething current through the Lachine bridge and thence into the canal. This is considered one of the most risky and successful towing jobs ever accomplished in the locality of the St. Lawrence. CORRESPONDENCE. 8@-We do not hold ourselves responsiblein any way for the views or opinions expressed by our correspondents. It is our desire that al sides of any question affecting the interests or welfare of the lake ma- rine should be fairly represented in THE MARINE RECORD. INVENTORS’ PROSPECTS. BUFFALO, Aug. 22, 1899. To the Editor of the Marine Record: “DEAR SiR: I have a good patentable invention, partly for marine uses; whichis the best way to put it on the market with advantage to myself? Respectfully, INVENTOR. If our correspondent has means sufficient to incur patent and advertising expenses he can work out his problem on the same lines as any other commercial speculator and take the same chances. But his question is a difficult one if, as is often the case, his funds are small, in which circumstances we would advise him not to put forward any claim fora patent until he hasasure chance of support after it is granted him. He may get any amount of promises, but he must have something tangible. At the least, his prospective backers ought to put down the money for patent expenses, which guarantees their good faith and makes them take an: interest in the venture afterwards. But, if they will do nothing till they see the patent granted, he may be quite sure he will get left. It is one thing to promise financial or commercial support, and it is quite another thing to advance funds. One word more. An invention, valuable enough to patent, original, and of practical benefit, is not always a commercial success. Interest capital, and go ahead with your invention, without being too squeamish regarding all your fancied rights. The way todoa thing is to do it.—Ep. NEW LIFE-SAVING STATIONS. Proposals were opened in the Treasury Department at Washington on Friday last for the construction of life- saving stations at Charlevoix and Grand Marais. The lowest bid for the work at Grand Marais, $4,576, was sub- mitted by Charles Hoertz, of Grand Rapids. Other bidders were Gearing Brothers, Ltd., Detroit, $6,632; Alexander Cam- eron, $4,624. Frank R. Speare, of Rockland, Me., submitted a bid of $6,280 for the Grand Marais station. Michigan bid- ders were; Henry C. Koumeier, Port Huron, $7,950; Gearing Brothers, Detroit, $7,284. Shipping—Destruction of Passenger’s Baggage—Negl gent Stowage.—Libelants were passengers on a trans-Atlan tic steamer, and their trunks, constituting their baggage, with those of other passenger, were broken to pieces, and the contents destroyed, during the voyage. The vessel en- countered unusually rough weather on the passage, and rolled heavily. A witness for libelants, who entered the compart- ment where the baggage was stowed immediately on the opening of the hatch at the end of the voyage, testified that he examined carefully, but could find no evidence that the trunks had been lashed or otherwise secured against moye- ment in rough weather, and the compartment was not filled. Held, that in the absence of any evidence on the subject from claimants, such testimony was sufficient to support the libelant’s contention of negligent stowage. The Kensing- ton, 94 Fed. Rep. (U. S.) 885.