Part 26

Pins have become so very cheap in these days that we are rather careless with them, but the expression has continued to live although today when used, it means any allowance of money which a husband gives a wife for her personal expenses.

Pins were known and used as long ago as 1347 A. D. They were introduced into England in 1540. In 1824 an American named Might invented a machine for making pins which enabled them to be manufactured cheaply. About 1,500 tons of iron and brass are made into pins every year in the United States.

Why Do People Shake Hands With the Right Hand?

In the days of very long ago when all men were prepared to fight at any and all times because one could not know whether another approaching was a friend or an enemy, all men went armed. This was before the day of guns when the sword was the great weapon of defense.

Upon occasion when one man approached another, each had to decide whether the other came on a peaceful mission or not.

People in those days were mostly right handed as they are now and when fighting carried their swords in their right hands.

If, then, a man wished to speak with a stranger or, as might easily be necessary, to one who may even be known to be unfriendly, he put out his right hand upon approaching to show that he had no deadly or dangerous weapon in it. The other man could see this and knew from the extended open hand that no harm was intended and that the approach was peaceful. If, then, he was willing to meet the other, he also extended his right arm with the hand open to show him who was approaching that his fighting hand was empty also; and when they met each would grasp the hand of the other so that neither one could change his mind and assume a fighting attitude without the other having an equal warning.

How Did the Custom of Clinking Glasses When Drinking Originate?

In the days of the Roman gladiators, before a duel with swords, it became the custom of each of the participants to drink a glass of wine before fighting. Just before the fighting commenced two glasses of wine were brought and the gladiators drank. These two glasses of wine were provided by the friends of either one or the other of the gladiators. To guard against treachery, through some over zealous friend of the fighters furnishing poisoned wine was necessary. So before drinking and to show there was no treachery, the gladiators came close together and poured wine from one glass into the other back and forth until the wine in the glasses was thoroughly mixed. If the wine in one glass then had been poisoned, the poisoned wine would thus be in both glasses, and if there had been any treachery, both gladiators would be poisoned if they drank. The wine was poured from one glass to the other to show that there was no treachery.

This custom continued in use for a long time until the idea of drinking before a fight was abandoned. The custom, however, of showing friendliness in this way while drinking continued for a long time. Later it became a mere custom, however, to show a friendly spirit toward the one who was drinking with you, and when the danger of poisoned wine was past, the actual act of pouring the wine from one glass to another was changed to merely touching the glasses together. Thus today we have the friendly custom of touching glasses together long after the necessity of guarding against treachery while drinking has passed.

Why Cannot Fishes Live In the Air?

It is a curious thing isn’t it that if a boy falls into the water, he will drown if he cannot swim or someone does not help him out, and that if a fish falls out of the water onto the land, he will drown also, even though he knows how to swim, better than anything else he does. A boy cannot secure the air which he needs to live on if he is under the water, because there is not enough air for him there and a fish cannot secure enough air for him to live on when he is on land where the air is plentiful, because, the boy takes his air from the air itself and the fish gets his air out of the water.

To live by breathing the air we find on or above the land, it is necessary to have lungs and fishes do not have lungs. In the case of the boy under the water he would have to have gills to enable him to make use of the air which is in the water to live by and he has no gills.

A fish can only live a little while out of the water, but even so he can live longer out of the water than a boy can under the water.

Lest you read sometime of the flying fish and think they must be able to live out of the water, I will tell you before you ask the question that the flying fish never stays out of the water for more than a few seconds at a time. His flying leaps amount to little more than long leaps from wave to wave. He swims along very fast in the water, coming right up to the surface and out into the air and the speed at which he has been swimming regulates the distance he will go when he shoots into the air, as he has no means of propelling himself through the air, but only into it. He has, however, wing-like fins, which he spreads out when in the air and which enables him to glide through the air and thus remain in the air longer.

What Makes a Fish Move in Swimming?

This is a puzzling question, I am sure. Of course, you at once cause several other questions as soon as you ask this one such as the following: Does the water in front of him move out of the way and then close in behind him? If so, where does it go in the meantime? Does the fish move the water forward or up or down or what does he do?

The answer is, of course, in the movements of the fish’s tail. The fish in swimming is surrounded with water, top, bottom and all sides of him. The pressure of the water on the fish is the same at all points so that any motion made by him would have a tendency to make him move. As a matter of fact the tail in moving from side to side creates a current in the water from the head to the tail, or rather would produce an actual current if the fish remained perfectly still. Instead of making an actual current of water, the body of the fish is moved forward.

As to whether the water ahead of him opens up first and then the water behind him is a more difficult question to answer. To the appearance it would seem as if the water moved at both ends and sides at once, but according to scientific theory, the water at the head of the fish is displaced first.

Why Are Birds’ Eggs of Different Colors?

This is a wise provision of nature to help the mother birds hide her eggs away from the eyes of her enemies. In the animal kingdom every kind of life is the natural prey of some other kind of animal. A bird will have enemies which try to catch her as food. A bird cannot fight back, so must fly away when danger threatens, in order to save her life. This means that she must leave the eggs in the nest for the time being. At certain times she must also leave her nest and search for food for herself. In order that the eggs so left alone may have a better chance of not being discovered, nature has arranged matters so that the eggs take the color very much of the surroundings in which they are laid. Eggs of some birds are spotted or look like pebbles, because the mother bird lays them in the sand. Some of them are green, almost the color of the materials from which the bird builds the nest, and so the colors have a real, and to the birds, a valuable purpose.

Why Does a Hen Cackle After Laying an Egg?

The hen cackles because she is glad. She is glad because she has just accomplished something, which she was put on earth to do. If you study the life on the earth carefully with this in mind, you will discover that all kinds of life give expression in some form of gladness, when they have performed the things they are on earth for. It’s the hen’s way of expressing herself and letting the chicken world know. The dog wags his tail when he is pleased; boys and girls jump up and down when they are pleased, whether they have been doing anything commendable or not. No doubt also the actual laying of the egg causes some discomfort to the hen and the corresponding feeling of gladness would come naturally after the discomfort disappeared.

Why Will Water Run Off a Duck’s Back?

The reason that water runs of a duck’s back, is that the feathers of ducks are oily and, as water and oil will not mix, the water runs off instead of soaking in. The feathers on a duck are so thick on the body of the duck, top and bottom, that even if it were not for the oil which is on the feathers the water would have some difficulty in soaking through the feathers. But the main reason why the feathers on a duck’s back cause water striking them to run off is that the duck has an oil gland which is constantly producing grease or oil and which the duck uses in giving his feathers a thin coating of oil to make them slick with oil and when any water strikes the duck it runs off. Other birds which live in the water a great deal have this oil gland for the same reason.

THE STORY IN A STEEL RAIL

[Illustration: A Blast Furnace.

Molten iron is brought from the blast furnaces to the open-hearth furnaces, and dumped into a receptacle called a mixer, the capacity of which ranges from 400 tons to 1000 tons, depending upon the number of furnaces to be served.]

[Illustration: One-thousand-ton Mixer.]

Pictures in this story by courtesy of Bethlehem Steel Co.

[Illustration: INSIDE OF OPEN HEARTH FURNACE

Charging Side of an Open-hearth Furnace.

An open-hearth furnace consists of a long, shallow hearth, suitably enclosed in fire-brick, and bound together with steel binding. The furnace is heated by burning gas and air, which have previously been preheated, so that a temperature is obtained in the furnace ranging from 2900 to 3050 degrees Fahrenheit.]

[Illustration: Pouring Side of an Open-Hearth Furnace.

The open-hearth process consists of the purification of iron by oxidizing out the impurities and burning out the carbon of the iron until a tough and ductile steel is produced, which can be made of any desired composition by the addition of the necessary quantities of alloys just previous to tapping and pouring. The impurities in the iron are oxidized by the slag lying on top of the metal, and the burning out of the carbon, which is a very slow operation, is hastened by the addition of iron ore, the oxygen of which combines with the carbon of the iron and passes off is a gas going up the stack.

When an open-hearth furnace is ready for a charge, a variable amount of scrap, say 30 per cent of the total weight of material used for the heat, is charged into the furnace. With this scrap is charged sufficient lime or limestone to make the slag, as well as some iron ore to assist in reducing the carbon of the iron. In about two or three hours the required amount of molten iron is brought from the mixer in ladles, and poured into the furnace on top of the scrap, lime and ore.]

[Illustration: MOLTEN STEEL BEING POURED LIKE WATER

Molten Steel Being Poured Into Ladle.

When the scrap has all been melted, a test is taken to determine the amount of carbon remaining in the bath. Iron ore is added from time to time until the carbon in the bath has been reduced to the desired point, and the metal is sufficiently hot to pour. At this point “recarburizers” (consisting of Ferro-Manganese, Ferro-Silicon, and pig-iron, or coal) are added to get the required composition. The tap hole at the back of the furnace is opened, and the steel is allowed to run out into a ladle, the slag coming last and forming a blanket over the steel in the ladle.]

[Illustration: Crane Carrying Ingot and Soaking Pit Furnaces.

The ladle is picked up by an electric crane and carried over cast-iron moulds, which are set on cars, the steel being poured into the moulds, resulting in steel ingots. A sufficient amount of time is allowed for the steel to become chilled or set, when the cars are pushed under an electric stripper, where the moulds are removed from the ingots. After the ingots leave the stripper they are taken to the scales and weighed, and after weighing are put into the soaking pits. The pits get their name from the part they play in the heating of the steel for rolling. When the steel ingot is stripped the outside of the ingot is cool enough to hold the inside, which is still in a liquid state, and the steel is put into the soaking pits to allow the inside to settle into a solid mass, after which the ingot is reheated for rolling. The length of time in the soaking pits depends upon the size of the ingot, as the larger the ingot, the greater length of time is required to set.

When the steel is ready for rolling it is taken from the pits by overhead electric cranes, and placed into a dump buggy at the end of a roller line, which leads to the blooming mill. The dump buggy derives its name from the fact that when the ingot is placed into same in an upright position, the buggy, in order to place the ingot into a horizontal position on the roller line, dumps over, in the same way as if one were to rock too far forward in a rocking-chair, the dump buggy operating on the same principle.]

[Illustration: GETTING READY TO MAKE A RAIL

Blooming Mill and Engine.

The ingot travels down the movable-roller line to the blooming-mill rolls, which roll it down from a piece 19 inches by 23 inches to what is known as an 8 inch by 8 inch bloom, which is the size usually used in the manufacture of rails. The blooming mill derives its name from the fact that after an ingot is rolled in same it is no longer called an ingot, but a bloom.

After leaving the blooming mill the bloom travels along another roller line to the shears, where it is cut into two or three pieces, the number of pieces depending on the size of the rail which is to be rolled. The blooms are then lifted over the roller line at the shears by a transfer crane, and placed on a traveling roller line which connects with the rear of the reheating furnace. This furnace is about 35 feet long, and is so constructed that when the bloom is pushed in at the rear of the furnace, another bloom drops from the front or discharge end of the furnace.]

[Illustration: THE INGOT BECOMES A RAIL

The Ingot Becomes a Rail.

The bloom dropping out, being sufficiently hot to roll into rails, travels along another roller line to the roughing or first set of rolls. Here the bloom is given five passes in the rolls, and is then transferred to the strand or second set of rolls, where it receives five additional passes; after this operation it is transferred to the finishing or third set of rolls, in which it is given one pass. The bloom has now been converted into a rail, and the rail travels on another roller line to the hot saw, where it is cut into 33-foot lengths, this being the standard length in this country for all rails. The rails when hot are cut by the hot saw to lengths of about 33 feet 6¹⁄₂ inches, the allowance of inches being made for shrinkage in cooling. It is difficult to believe that steel shrinks to this extent, but this is a fact, and while the rails are cooling on the hotbeds they have the appearance of being animated, as they move first one way and then the other. After the rails are on the hotbed a sufficient length of time to cool, they are taken from the hotbed and placed on a traveling roller line, which takes them to an endless chain conveyor. The statement that rails are put on hotbeds for cooling seems paradoxical, but the hotbeds are so called because the rails are placed on them while hot, and are left there until they have cooled.

The endless-chain conveyor places the rails on another bed, from which they are picked up by an electric crane and distributed to the straightening presses, where all burrs (which have been caused by the hot-sawing operation) are removed before the rails are straightened. After straightening they are transferred to drill presses, where they have holes drilled into them for the accommodation of the splice bar, after which they are placed on the loading docks.]

[Illustration: After being carefully examined by the railroad company’s inspectors they are picked up from the loading docks by electric magnets attached to a crane, and are placed in cars ready for shipment.]

Who Made the First Felt Hat?

The felt hat is as old as Homer. The Greeks made them in skull-caps, conical, truncated, narrow- or broad-brimmed. The Phrygian bonnet was an elevated cap without a brim, the apex turned over in front. It is known as the “cap of liberty.” An ancient figure of Liberty in the times of Antonius Livius, A.D. 115, holds the cap in the right hand. The Persians wore soft caps; plumed hats were the headdress of the Syrian corps of Xerxes; the broad-brim was worn by the Macedonian kings. Castor means a beaver. The Armenian captive wore a plug hat. The merchants of the fourteenth century wore a Flanders beaver. Charles VII, in 1469, wore a felt hat lined with red, and plumed. The English men and women in 1510 wore close woolen or knitted caps; two centuries ago hats were worn in the house. Pepys, in his diary, wrote: “September, 1664, got a severe cold because I took off my hat at dinner”; and again, in January, 1665, he got another cold by sitting too long with his head bare, to allow his wife’s maid to comb his hair and wash his ears; and Lord Clarendon, in his essay, speaking of the decay of respect due the aged, says “that in his younger days he never kept his hat on before those older than himself, except at dinner.” In the thirteenth century Pope Innocent IV allowed the cardinals the use of the scarlet cloth hat. The hats now in use are the cloth hat, leather hat, paper hat, silk hat, opera hat, spring-brim hat, and straw hat.

What Is the Hottest Spot on Earth?

The hottest regions on earth is said to be along the Persian Gulf, where little or no rain falls. At Bahrein the arid shore has no fresh water, yet a comparatively numerous population contrive to live there, thanks to the copious springs which break forth from the bottom of the sea. The fresh water is got by diving. The diver, sitting in his boat, winds a great goat-skin bag around his left arm, the hand grasping its mouth; then he takes in his right hand a heavy stone, to which is attached a strong line, and thus equipped he plunges in, and quickly reaches the bottom. Instantly opening the bag over the strong jet of fresh water, he springs up the ascending current, at the same time closing the bag, and is helped aboard. The stone is then hauled up, and the diver, after taking breath, plunges in again. The source of the copious submarine springs is thought to be in the green hills of Osman, some 500 or 600 miles distant.

Where Do We Get Ivory?

Ivory is a hard substance, not unlike bone, of which the teeth of most mammals chiefly consist, the dentine or tooth-substance which in transverse sections shows lines of different color running in circular arcs. It is used extensively for industrial purposes and is derived from the elephant, walrus, hippopotamus, narwhal, and some other animals. The ivory of the tusks of the African elephant is held in the highest estimation by manufacturers; the tusks vary in size, ranging from a few ounces in weight to 170 pounds. Holtzapffel states that he saw fossil tusks on the banks of rivers of Northern Siberia which weighed 186 pounds each. Ivory is simply tooth-substance of exceptional hardness, toughness, and elasticity, due to the firmness and regularity of the dentinal tubules which radiate from the axial pulp-cavity to the periphery of the tooth.

How Did Trial by Jury Originate?

~WHY JURIES HAVE TWELVE MEN~

A jury consists of a certain number of men selected according to law and sworn to inquire into and determine facts concerning a cause or an accusation submitted to them, and to declare the truth according to the evidence. The custom of trying accused persons before a jury, as practised in this country and England, is the natural outgrowth of rudimentary forms of trial in vogue among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors. The present system of trial by jury is the result of a gradual growth under the English Common Law. There is no special reason why twelve is the usual number chosen for a complete jury except the necessity for limiting the number. In a grand jury the number according to law must not be less than twelve nor more than twenty-three, and twelve votes are necessary to find an indictment. The ancient Romans also had a form of trial before a presiding judge and a body of judices. The right of trial by jury is guaranteed by the United States Constitution in all criminal cases, and in civil cases where the amount in dispute exceeds $20. A petit or trial jury consists of twelve men, selected by lot from among the citizens residing within the jurisdiction of the court. Their duty is to determine questions of fact in accordance with the weight of testimony presented and report their finding to the presiding judge. An impartial jury is assured by drawing by lot and then giving the accused, in a criminal case, the right to dismiss a certain number without reason and certain others for good cause. Each of the jurymen must meet certain legal requirements as to capacity in general and fitness for the particular case upon which he is to sit, and must take an oath to decide without prejudice and according to the testimony. A coroner’s jury or jury of inquest is usually composed of from six to fifteen persons, summoned to inquire into the cause of sudden or unexplained deaths.

Can Animals Foretell the Weather?