Writing Tech Brief By HackerNoon

The question, however, is not so much one of original outlay, but which of the two journals gives most for the money.

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Our English cotemporary, Engineering, appears to have seriously exercised itself in the perusal of our good-natured article on "English and American Scientific and Mechanical Engineering Journalism," which appeared in the Scientific American, February 4th; at least, we so judge from the tenor of an article in response thereto, covering a full page of that journal. The article in question is a curiosity in literature. It deserves a much wider circulation than Engineering can give it, and we would gladly transfer it to our columns, but for its exceeding length—a serious fault generally, not only with Engineering's articles, but most other technical journals published in England. It would scarcely do for them to be brief in their discussions, and above all other things, spice and piquancy must always be excluded. Engineering evidently labors under the conviction that the heavier it can make its discussions, the more profoundly will it be able to impress its readers. Hence, we are equally astonished and gratified to find a gleam of humor flashing out from the ordinary sober-sided composition of our learned contemporary. The article came to us just as we were laboring under an attack of dyspepsia, and its reading fairly shook our atrabilious corpus. We said to ourselves, "can it be possible that Engineering is about to experience the new birth, to undergo regeneration, and a baptism of fire?" The article is really worth reading, and we begin to indulge the hope that at least one English technical is going to try to make itself not only useful, but readable and interesting. And what is most perplexingly novel in this new manifestation, is the display of a considerable amount of egotism, which we had always supposed to be a sinful and naughty thing in technical journalism. And, as if to magnify this self-complaisance, it actually alludes to its "own extensive and ever-increasing circulation in America." Now to show how small a thing can impart comfort to the soul of our cotemporary, we venture to say that the circulation of Engineering in this country cannot much exceed three hundred copies per week.

The fourteenth annual convention of the American Institute of Architects began in Philadelphia, November 17.

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The fourteenth annual convention of the American Institute of Architects began in Philadelphia, November 17. Mr. Thomas U. Walter, of Philadelphia, presided, and fifty or more prominent architects were present. In his annual address the president spoke of the tendency of the architectural world as decidedly in the direction of originality. But little attention is paid to the types of building drawn from the works of by-gone ages or to the mannerisms of the more recent past. Progress in the development of the elements of taste and beauty, and the concretion of æsthetic principles with common sense in architectural design, are now everywhere apparent. The responsibilities of architects are greater than they have ever before been; the growing demand of the times calls for intelligent studies in all that relates to architecture, whether it be in the realm of æsthetics, in sciences that relate to construction, in the nature and properties of the materials used, in the atmosphere that surrounds us, or in the availability of the thousand-and-one useful and ingenious inventions that tend to promote the convenience and completeness of structures.

This season he has only run twice.

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St. Blaise, the property of Sir Frederick Johnstone, was bred by Lord Alington, and is by Hermit from Fusee. This is an unexceptionable pedigree, for Hermit is now as successful and fashionable a sire as was even Stockwell in his palmiest days, while Fusee was far more than an average performer on the turf, and won several Queen's Plates and other races over a distance of ground. St. Blaise is by no means a big colt, standing considerably under sixteen hands. His color is about his worst point, as he is a light, washy chestnut, with a bald face and three white heels. He has a good head and neck, and very powerful back and muscular quarters, added to which his legs and feet are well shaped and thoroughly sound. His first appearance was made in the Twenty-fourth Stockbridge Biennial at the Bibury Club Meeting, when he won easily enough; but there were only four moderate animals behind him. A walk-over for the Troy Stakes followed, and then Macheath beat him easily enough for the Hurstbourne Stakes, though he finished in front of Adriana and Tyndrum. For the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood, he ran a dead-heat with Elzevir, to whom he was giving 7 lb.; and Bonny Jean, in receipt of 10 lb., was unplaced. A 7 lb. penalty seemed to put him completely out of the Dewhurst Plate; but he must then have been out of form, as, on the following day, it took him all his time to defeat Pebble by a neck in the Troy Stakes. This season he has only run twice. His fourth in the Two Thousand was by no means a bad performance, considering that he was palpably backward; and his victory of last week is too recent to need further allusion. Porter, his trainer, can boast of several other successes in the great race at Epsom; but Charles Wood had never previously ridden a Derby winner. St. Blaise was unfortunately omitted from the entries for the St. Leger, but has several valuable engagements at Ascot next week, and appears to have the Grand Prize of Paris, on Sunday, at his mercy.--Illustrated London News.

Taking into consideration the plant as a whole, it would appear that the auxiliary machinery, under such conditions, is more efficient than the main engines.

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Before water fed into a boiler can be converted into steam, it must be first heated to a temperature corresponding to the pressure within the boiler. Steam at 160 pounds gauge pressure has a temperature of approximately 371 degrees Fahrenheit. If water is fed to the boiler at 60 degrees Fahrenheit, each pound must have 311 B. t. u. added to it to increase its temperature 371 degrees, which increase must take place before the water can be converted into steam. As it requires 1167.8 B. t. u. to raise one pound of water from 60 to 371 degrees and to convert it into steam at 160 pounds gauge pressure, the 311 degrees required simply to raise the temperature of the water from 60 to 371 degrees will be approximately 27 per cent of the total. If, therefore, the temperature of the water can be increased from 60 to 371 degrees before it is introduced into a boiler by the utilization of heat from some source that would otherwise be wasted, there will be a saving in the fuel required of 311 ÷ 1167.8 = 27 per cent, and there will be a net saving, provided the cost of maintaining and operating the apparatus for securing this saving is less than the value of the heat thus saved.

The saving in the fuel due to the heating of feed water by means of heat that would otherwise be wasted may be computed from the formula:

The libraries might either be united, or arranged in adjoining rooms; and such a system would greatly facilitate the inquiries of scientific persons.

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This idea has occurred to several persons, as likely to lead to considerable advantages to science. If the various scientific societies could unite in the occupation of one large building, considerable economy would result from the union. By properly arranging their evenings of meeting, one meeting-room only need be required. The libraries might either be united, or arranged in adjoining rooms; and such a system would greatly facilitate the inquiries of scientific persons.

Whether it would be possible to reunite in any way the different societies to the Royal Society, might be a delicate question; but although, on some accounts, desirable, that event is not necessary for the purpose of their having a common residence.

The Medico-Botanical Society might, perhaps, from sympathy, be the first to which the Royal Society would apply; and by a proper interchange of diplomas, [A thing well understood by the INITIATED, both at HOME and ABROAD.] the two societies might be inoculated with each other. But even here some tact would be required; the Medico-Botanical is a little particular about the purity of its written documents, and lately attributed blame to one of its officers for some slight tampering with them, a degree of illiberality which the Council of the Royal Society are far from imitating.

When proper care is taken to suit the compound to the water in use, the results secured are fairly effective.

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All natural waters contain some impurities which, when introduced into a boiler, may appear as solids. In view of the apparent present-day tendency toward large size boiler units and high overloads, the importance of the use of pure water for boiler feed purposes cannot be over-estimated.

Ordinarily, when water of sufficient purity for such use is not at hand, the supply available may be rendered suitable by some process of treatment. Against the cost of such treatment, there are many factors to be considered. With water in which there is a marked tendency toward scale formation, the interest and depreciation on the added boiler units necessary to allow for the systematic cleaning of certain units must be taken into consideration. Again there is a considerable loss in taking boilers off for cleaning and replacing them on the line. On the other hand, the decrease in capacity and efficiency accompanying an increased incrustation of boilers in use has been too generally discussed to need repetition here. Many experiments have been made and actual figures reported as to this decrease, but in general, such figures apply only to the particular set of conditions found in the plant where the boiler in question was tested. So many factors enter into the effect of scale on capacity and economy that it is impossible to give any accurate figures on such decrease that will serve all cases, but that it is large has been thoroughly proven.

While it is almost invariably true that practically any cost of treatment will pay a return on the investment of the apparatus, the fact must not be overlooked that there are certain waters which should never be used for boiler feed purposes and which no treatment can render suitable for such purpose. In such cases, the only remedy is the securing of other feed supply or the employment of evaporators for distilling the feed water as in marine service.

When no liquid is present the specific heat of saturated steam is negative. 

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Pure water is a chemical compound of one volume of oxygen and two volumes of hydrogen, its chemical symbol being H 2 O.

The weight of water depends upon its temperature. Its weight at four temperatures, much used in physical calculations, is given in Table 10 .

The holidays are here, and it's time to give back to the HackerNoon community through guides. Explore what makes a guide a 'top story' from an editor's POV.

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The holidays are here, and it's time to give back to the HackerNoon community through guides. Today, we'll explore what makes a guide a 'top story' from an editor's perspective. Our featured story, 'Unveiling the Power of PM and P3M Algorithms on GPUs' by @resetius, delves into using these algorithms to simulate the cosmos.

Rains are not only valuable for the moisture which they supply, but for what they bring to us from the atmosphere.

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Snow is often called the "poor man's manure;" and if it is true that it has any manurial value, the farmer's prospects for the next season are certainly flattering. The body of snow upon the ground in all the Northern and Middle States is very great, and millions of acres of land are covered by it as with a blanket of the whitest wool. It is probable that seldom, perhaps never, has so wide an area of our country been covered as during this month of January, 1877. The question whether snow is capable of affording to lands any of the elements of fertility is one often asked; and in reply, the Boston Journal of Chemistry says that it probably is. The atmosphere holds ammonia and some other nitrogenous products, which are without doubt brought to the soil by snowflakes as well as by rain drops. Experiments both here and abroad would seem to prove the truth of this conclusion.

Ralph Benko, based in Metro DC, is an entrepreneur in digital startups, a policy advocate, and a writer.

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I am the co-founder and the general counsel to the newly fledged think tank Washington Power and Light, to F1R3FLY.io, to the Celestial Metaverse LLC, and senior counselor to the American Blockchain PAC whose advisory board was chaired by Dr. W. Scott Stornetta, co-discoverer of the blockchain.