Pellet

“ Between her jaws was a clean-cut sand pellet. She placed it on the rim of the shaft opening, and, with deft touches from her lips, cemented it in station. She danced about it joyously, with fluttery wings, with airy, buoyant feet, moistened it here, kneaded it there. Once more she dived and dragged a second pellet up, and fixed this too upon the rim. So diving, digging, fixing, shaping, she raised a low ring-parapet.
Hour after hour she toiled
Hour after hour she toiled, tier after tier she {157} added, gluing each pellet firmly to the last, yet leaving open space between each junction. ”

“ It will be found advantageous [125] to place an undried pellet immediately above the charge, because the plasticity of such a pellet enables it to fill all the irregularities of the sides of the hole, and to securely seal the passage between the sides and the tamping, along which the gases might otherwise force their way. In coal blasting, soft shale is always used for tamping, because it is ready at hand, and heavy shots are not required. ”

“ He first tried the tube by blowing a pellet through it, and, if he felt he could blow through a longer tube, he added another piece of tin at the proximal end. The pellet is placed in the mouth, into which the butt of the tube is also introduced. The pellet is then worked into the tube with the tongue, and is propelled by a violent effort of the lungs. ”

“ About 3 ft. length of any straight metal or wooden tubing, 0.75 in. diameter, through which a pellet the size of a marble may be thrown, will serve well, but an even longer tube may be chosen. The pellet should be of clay or any putty, rolled in the hand to easily pass through the barrel without too much windage. It should not touch the mouth, but be lightly placed just in the orifice, by stopping which with the thumb the tube can be conveniently carried loaded, muzzle up, ready for the most rapid use. To propel the pellet the puff must be sudden and powerful. ”

“ Visibly the ball sinks into the cavity moment by moment as the earth is lowered for a space of half an inch in the surrounding soil, and continually forced upward outside of its circumference. In a few moments the pellet has sunk level with the ground, and in a few moments more the loose earth pushed upward has overtopped it and it is out of sight. ”

“ Quantita tively transfer the weighed sample to a small mortar and grind it thoroughly. Add between 75 and 100 mg dry KBr and mix it thoroughly with the ground sample. 4. Quantita tively transfer the mixture to the pellet press. Press the pellet according to the manufacturer’s instructions. NOTE: W eighing paper and a cam el’s hair brush are helpful in m ak ing the transfer. 5. Scan the pellet from 1000 cm -1 to 600 cm -1, using a blank KBr pellet as background. Rotate the pellet 90 degrees and obtain another spectrum. Measure and record the mean peak absorbance at 798 cm -1 for the sample. 6. ”

“ I command the one here (pointing to the one on your left) to travel invisibly to the centre serviette.” Turn the serviette over, and show the pellet has gone. Then lift the centre serviette with your left hand, and show the two pellets under it. Transfer it to your right hand, and, in replacing it, drop the concealed pellet. Then say: “We have now two pellets under the centre serviette, and one under this one” (pointing to the one on your left) . “I command this one to join its fellows.” Lift the serviette as you speak, and show the 77 pellet has gone ”

“ As economy of time is, in machine boring, the chief end to be attained, the tamping should be done with dried clay pellets previously prepared. This material gives the greatest resistance, and thereby ensures the maximum of useful effect; and if prepared [152] beforehand, in the manner described in the preceding chapter, the time consumed in tamping will be reduced to a minimum. An abundant supply of such pellets should always be ready at hand. In downward holes, such as are used in shaft sinking, the plastic clay pellet and sand may be employed. ”

“ We believe the notion of making shot by letting lead fall from a height is older than the date when Watts flourished. In the Watts story, too, we can find no reference to the essential tub of water at the base to cool the pellets. If they fell on to the hard ground before they were cold, they would be bruised and spoilt. At the same time a much more likely story is even more difficult to verify. ”

“ Obviously the fastest pellets lose speed at the greatest rate, and obviously, also, the leading pellets get least help and give most to their neighbours, by setting up air disturbance, or a breeze, in the direction of the load. ”

“ These pellets combine the pure, concentrated, active principles of several vegetable alteratives, and the result is, that within the small compass of a few grains he has most happily blended and chemically condensed these properties so that their action upon [pg 309] the animal economy is sanative and universal. They awaken the latent powers, quicken the tardy functions, check morbid deposits, dissolve hard concretions, remove obstructions, promote depuration, harmonize and restore the functions, equalize the circulation, and encourage the action of the nervous system. ”

“ The upper border, consisting of pellets or studs, is an example of the neglect of measurement and calculation, which I imagine to have been common, in ancient times previous to commencing operations on the ornamental carving; for the pellets are not all of the same size, as if the consequence of there not being space to complete the last-worked like the others. ”

“ All the essential nutritive elements are put together in the form of pellets, each of which contains from one to two hundred times as much nourishment as an ounce of an ordinary article of diet. These pellets, diluted with water, will form all that is necessary to support life. ”

“ In making them up to the requisite diameter, a little excess should be allowed for shrinkage, since it is essential that they fit tightly into the hole. When the charge has been put in, and covered with a wad of hay, or a handful of sand or rubbish, one of these pellets is inserted and pushed home with a wooden rammer. Considerable pressure should be applied to make the clay fill the hole completely, but blows should be avoided. ”

“ It derives its name from these pellets, which have the appearance of rows of beads. Mr. Gosse furnished an excellent account of the architectural instincts of Melicerta ringens: “An animalcule so minute as to be with difficulty appreciable by the naked eye, inhabiting a tube composed of pellets, which it forms and lays one by one. It is a mason who not only builds up his mansion brick by brick, but makes his bricks as he goes on, from substances which he collects around him, shaping them in a mould which he carries on his body. ”

“ Tanks for drinking-water are objectionable; if indispensable, they must never be lined with lead, galvanized iron, or zinc. They should be constructed of iron, or wood lined with tinned and planished copper. The overflow should discharge upon the roof, or be trapped and discharge into an open sink, never into any soil or waste pipe or water-closet trap, nor into the drain or sewer.
45. Rain-water leaders must never be used as soil, waste, or vent pipes; nor shall any soil, waste, or vent pipe be used as a leader.
46. When within the house, the leader must be of cast-iron, with leaded joints ”

“ Although glowing with metallic lustres, and beautiful in its adaptation and every movement, the kingfisher builds but a careless nest, a loose structure of dry fish bones—the hard indigestible parts of its food which, in common with birds of prey, it has the power of ejecting in pellets by the mouth. ”

“ These devices for the stilling of the water and collection of the sediment are made in various forms and all sizes and capacities, and are located at the sides or back of the boiler setting and even on top of the boiler. There is a system where pipes in a coil are fixed in the sides of the furnace and exposed to its greatest heat, and which, owing to their enlarged area, act as most efficient reservoirs. In all these devices there is an upflow pipe connected with the lower and coolest water, and a return pipe connecting with the top of the water where it is hottest. ”

“ A furnace under cover will afford more heat for your consumption of fuel than one exposed to the wintry blast, and the gardener will not so much dread the task of stoking on a bitter winter night as he will be likely to do in the case where the glare of the fire and the blinding snow assail his eyes at the same time, and his fingers are frozen at the very moment that his face is flushed with looking into the disposition of the burning fuel.
In the construction of a plant house the first matter of importance is to determine the purpose to which it is to be applied. ”

“ Firing with Straw.—The operation of burning straw under a boiler consists in the fuel being fed into the furnace only as fast as needed. When the straw is handled right, it makes a beautiful and very hot flame and no smoke is seen coming from the stack. The whole secret of getting the best results from this fuel is to feed it into the furnace in a gradual stream as fast as consumed. When this is done complete combustion is the result. ”

“ The tall smoke pipe rose to a considerable height above the roof of the barn; and to guard against fire we carefully protected with sheet iron everything round it and round the fire box. As the boiler was already worn out and unsafe for steam, we put no water into it and made no effort to prevent the tubes from shrinking. For fuel we used slabs from the sawmill. The fire box and boiler gave forth a great deal of heat, which rose through the layer of grass on the poles. ”

“ Every twenty yards along these small pipes a standard is erected about five feet high, on the top of which is a rose like that on a gardener's watering-pot. When the water is turned on at the tanks the pressure attained from its height forces it along the pipes up through the standards, and a few seconds later the whole field is being deluged with an artificial rainfall as if from a myriad fountains. Three times a day the clover crop is thus watered. ”

“ The gases formed by the decomposition of organic matter in the sewer itself, or in the soil-pipe, have a certain expansive force which is greatly increased by the elevation of temperature, caused, for example, by the discharge of hot water into the pipe or sewer. ”

“ A rush of wind up the mouth of a sewer, or a heavy dash of rain which fills the sewer and reduces the air space, so increases the pressure of the gas within the sewer and soil pipe that the ordinary water-traps are not able to resist it. ”

“ Soil or sand, to the depth of six to ten inches, is usually placed upon the tanks, and used as a plunging bed for pots containing cuttings; or the cuttings are sometimes inserted in the bed itself.
Any arrangement by which vapor from the tanks is admitted to the roots of plants is to be avoided, for however desirable a moist bottom heat may be, it is found from experience that the soil is frequently rendered a mass of puddle, in which no living roots can exist.
A portion of the covering of the tank may be made moveable to allow moisture to escape into the house when required. ”

“ The water pumps, which in winter are exposed to the effects of the external air, should have a casing round them of boards from the level of the ground to half their height above it, which casing should be stuffed with dry hay, straw, or shavings, and well rammed ”

“ To take a sample of soil gas, V is lifted above U. The air is driven from U and escapes through O, which acts as a true valve. When the mercury has completely filled U the pinch-cock X is opened and V depressed gradually. The gas coming from the soil is thus collected in U. A few cubic centimeters of the soil gas are collected in this way, the pinch-cock X is again closed and V is raised in order to drive the whole of the contents of U 286again through O. In this way the whole of the air which the capillary vessel originally contained is removed and all parts of it remain filled with soil gas. ”

“ In the marine boiler the course taken by the products of combustion is as follows; the coal enters through the furnace doors on to the fire-bars, the heat and flames pass over the fire bridge into the flame or combustion chamber, thence through the tubes into the smoke-box, up the up-take and funnel into the air. ”

“ In many of the fields, explosives are used to promote the flow of oil, and when the well “comes in” to production, the ordinary methods of bailing or pumping are resorted to. Compressed air is also used for bringing about and sustaining production. The quantity of air and the periods of admission naturally vary with the diameters of the wells, the amount of gas present, the level of the liquid, etc., which latter also determines the pressure of air necessary. ”

“ The steam delivered by a boiler is the basis of the measurement of its capacity or power. A boiler horse-power is the delivery of 33,320 B.T.U. per hour. It is approximately equal to the raising of 30 pounds of water per hour from a temperature of 100° Fahrenheit, to steam at a pressure of 70 pounds per square inch, or to 34 pounds of water per hour changed to steam from and at 212° Fahrenheit, at atmospheric pressure. The horse-power of a boiler is sometimes approximated by the area of its grate or heating surface. ”

“ When quite certain that everything is in good condition, put a good armful of shavings or fine wood upon the grate, then upon this some larger pieces of wood to form a bed of coals, and then a little of26 the fuel that is to be used while running. Sometimes it is better to light before putting on the regular fuel, but in any case give it plenty of air. Close the fire doors, and open the ash pit, giving the chimney full draught. ”

“ The best form of apparatus is that which consists of boiler and circulating pipes, and it is always advisable to place the boiler in a separate apartment, even if a portion of the plant house has to be screened off by means of glass for the purpose. However careful we may be to provide ready exit for the products of combustion, a gas-flame of sufficient power to afford the amount of heat required must prove prejudicial to plants when in close proximity to them. ”