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Two Clever Devices Used in Bo ring for Oil
BORING for oil is a com
plicated business requiring special instruments, apart from the drills. It is important to tell if a hole is deviating from the vertical, and at what angle. For this a .photoclinometer is used. This is a long tube containing a compass, a graduated glass with a steel ball moving freely under it, and a tiny camera which photographs compass, ball and glass. In the hole, photographs are taken by remote control, the position of the ball, which works like the bubble in a carpenter's level, showing the tilt, and the compass the direction. Then there is a dipmeter, which gives the direction and angle of dip of the geological formation. To do this, it sends out three separate electrical waves towards the surface, and these record a diagram of the breaks between the various layers of rock. A photoclinometer built into this second instrument helps in the calculation of the results.
Oil
Unusual Frankness of UNCONSCIOUS comment Expression by State `'d on the present state of Servant affairs in the transport industry was made the other day by an industrious servant of the State—a railway-owned Scammell mechanical horse. Emblazoned on its sides was the disclosure " British Ailways." In the opinion of the watcher, the sign-writer's error was a Well-deserved epithet, identifying, with little possibility of mistaken identity, the cause of current transport ailments. Perhaps it is uncharitable to foist the blame for the modern trend towards national ownership, particularly of road transport, on the railways. Nevertheless, the tendency of governments to take over road transport is greatly influenced by the increasing cost of operating railway services, their diminishing economic and social value and their continuing, but probably reduced, strategic importance. Perhaps we will one day see a nationalized brewer's lorry designated "British Aleways."
Alcohol water NTERFSTING experiments Injection with LowI in the use of low-octane octane Petrol . petrol, combined with the
injection of alcohol and water, have been carried out in America. The injection was performed automatically into the carburetter immediately the engine came under heavy load and in circumstances in which there would have been considerable knocking if low-class petrol had been used alone. It was reported at the time that 58octane fuel, plus the injection, made the combination give results equivalent to a petrol with an octane rating of 74 or higher. The injected mixture was comprised of 85 per cent, alcohol and 15 per cent. water. Raising the compression rate of the lorry's engine to 8.25 to 1 would normally have demanded an octane rating of at least 85, but 74 octane, together with the injected mixture, was found to work well. On a 1,000-mile trip the fuel consumption was about 107 gallons of 58-octane petrol and under nine gallons of alcohol-water mixture, or one gallon of the mixture every 112 miles. It was calculated that the injection occurred during some 20 per cent, of the time that the vehicle was running, and that while in use the mixture represented about 30 per cent, of the fuel used. The addition of the alcohol saved about 6 per cent, of petrol.
Did the Octopus AN interesting form of jet Give Clue to Jet 1—s• propulsion is that used by Propulsion ? , „ the octopus, thousands or
which are to be found now around about 50 miles of the coast of Brittany; some, with their tentacles extended, are nearly 3 ft. across, but they are quite harmless. They shelter under pieces of rock and in crevices, but the interesting point is to see them swimming away when disturbed. They proceed in a series of rapid jerks by absorbing water at the front and expelling it violently to the rear, the tentacles giving a remarkably well-streamlined effect. The jet is so strong that it will throw up small stones and sand when the creatures are near the sea bottom. If trodden upon, they may grip the foot, but are easily flung off.