Scientific Alnerican

A BOAT ON WHEELS. forty miles in eighty minutes. She answers her helm talns to Death Valley. Wilder becomes the speed, and BY JOHN L. VON BLON. perfectly and sails about as "close" to the wind as the you hang on frantically with both hands and find it The queerest ship that ever sailed is a yacht on ordinary water craft of her size. hard to catch your breath. The man at the helm and wheels, a graceful land-going clipper, that glides over A fast ride on "Desert Queen," amid surroundings the man hauling in canvas are too busy to see you the pathless stretches of sun-blistered plain, and car­ more desolate than the lonely sea itself, is a thrilling g.asp and shiver, but at last the sails are all lowered ries her plucky navigators to and from their gold mine and exciting experience. You go dodging between the and the wonderful voyage is ended. But then it has in the desert. Solitary gold hunters who have dots of greasewood and cacti as you leave the camp not begun to blow yet on the Mojave Desert! Thirty seen her white sails silhouetted against the bleak for the solitude when the wind rises. Here and there minutes later you could not stand anywhere on the brown background in their aimless wanderings have grotesque yucca trees stand like sentinels, with gaunt ground over which you have passed without a .post to brought to the outer world cling to! strange and ludicrous tales of a ••• phantom ship that sped by them SOME INTERESTING FEATURES like a bird on the wing. The OF THE KRUPP WORKS AT ESSEN. spectacle of a trim-built craft BY, BENRY L. GEIS8EL. such as ordinarily belongs to the One of the most attractive sea skimming over that barren features at the Columbian Expo­ expanse where not a drop of sition in Chicago was that of the water ever falls might well great Krupp works. Since that alarm less superstitious persons. time this firm has made no sim­ This vehicle was built by ilar €·xhibition, but it is just an­ Charles S. and Carl H. Hoyt, nounced that a display, which brothers, of Cleveland, 0., eight will cost over a million dollars, months ago, and has been con­ is being arranged for the indus­ stantly in use since, running trial exposition to be held in thousands of miles. Her own­ Diisseldorf. There is no indus­ ers have a gold mine in the trial plant in the world the story buttes near the station of Rosa­ of which is more interesting. mond, on the western border of Within a few German miles of the desert, and owing to lack of the Rhine, north of the Ruhr, a suitable site they established in fertile, undulating, yet not their camp nine miles away. attractive country, surrounded Between this place and the mine' by the most important coal is a remarkable dry lake. Its mines in Germany, lies the town surface is as hard as concrete, of Essen. With the exception and swept as smooth as a tennis of a time-honored cathedral, Es­ court by the sands forever sen, despite its age, can boast of driven over it by the fierce no historical relic of ancient winds rushing down through th e days. The square before the

Tehachepi Pass. While trudg­ YACHTING ON THE GREAT DESERT. town hall is embellished by a ing wearily over this level tract, bronze monument from the mas­ before a gale that almost blew them off their feet, arms outstretched to reach you; horned toad s scurry ter hand of the sculptor Schaper, representing not a one of the Hoyts suggested that if they had a wagon away over the hot sands, and lizards dart, looking like king or hero, but a man clad in a simple citizen's coat, with sails they might make the trip easier and quicker. blue streaks, for the shelter, but not always quickly whose right hand rests on an anvil, and whose pene­ This idea was followed out and with surprising suc­ enough, for the "Queen's" wheels have crushed many trating eyes are overhung by a thinker's brow. The cess. before they could move; jackrabbits go skittering granite pedestal bears in golden letters the words: With only saw and ax and hammer and knives for through the brush; and little ash-colored desert chip­ "ALFRED KRuPP." tools, the young men began the work of construction. munks scatter the sand about in their frenzied haste The town of Essen has erected this life-like statue The material available consisted of the odds and ends to get into their retreats; now and then a coyote, long in grateful commemoration for generations now and to to be found around a mining camp. The first requisite and gray and lean-the picture of starved want-rises come of her most distinguished son_ For this man, was a support for the machine, and for this the axle upon his scraggy hind legs and sniffs; occasionally sprung from an' old and honorable family in Essen, of an ordinary worn-out buggy was used, two iron you will run over a deadly "sidewinder'" (rattlesnake) within the time of half a generation, raised the small wheels 30 inches in diameter, which had done service and hear the whirring of the rattles, or pass the unknown country town to its present importance and on a farming implement, being attached. Other parts bleaching bones of some poor creature that suffered celebrity. He did not sit in the Council of Aldermen, were improvised with similar skill and ingenuity, the horrors of starvation and probably sucked the but in the small steel foundry, inherited from his fa­ and after a month of diligent application the work­ blood from its own parched tongue before the end ther, which employed hardly a dozen workmen. This men turned out a stanch "boat," 14 feet long, 8 feet came. steel foundry, however, rose to world-wide fame, and across in front and tapering to the rear, with a mast These are familiar scenes, and at first you notice grew beyond all limits. At the time of Alfred 15. feet high, mainsail 10 feet on the boom and 10 feet them. Then the wind grows stronger and the pace Krupp's death, in 1887, the number' of employes and on the mast, jib and jibboom to match. A steering madder. You tie a string to your hat and anchor it workmen of his works was 25,000. contrivance like those on hook-and-ladder trucks was to your suspender; your handkerchief is whipped from On April 1, 1901, the number of hands employed in devised, and "Desert Queen" stood ready for her trial your neck and goes sailing and writhing up and away all the Krupp works, including 3,823 engineers and trip. The initial run office men, amounted to was doomed to end in 46.077. A few figures, disaster. While tear­ for which the writer is ing along b e for e a indebted to the courtesy strong wind at a ter­ of the administration of rific rate the machine the Krupp works (who got beyond control and also, by the way, sup­ a sudden gust brought plied the photographs her to grief with a reproduced with this. crash. Bruised men, article), show the im­ broken timbers and mense extent of Krupp's wrecked sails littered establish ments. the ground. Neither of During the year 1900 the Hoyts will ever for­ the works at Essen con· get· the experience, for sumed 937,172. tons of they will always bear coal, or an average of the marks of the cas­ 3,123 tons per day, rep­ ualty as a reminder. resenting four railroad Nothing daunted, they trains of 40 cars, each set to work rebuilding, of a capacity of 20 tons. and after many days re­ The other Krupp works paired the damage and consumed 655,125 tons, mad e necessary im­ making a total of 1,592,- provements, and now 296 tons, or 5,307 tons she carries her owners per day. The consump­ and their tools and sup­ tion of water at the Es­ plies to and from the sen works, during the mine daily, and often same year, amounted to on Sundays and holi­ 660,000,000 cubic feet, or days they take out ex­ equaled the annual cursion parties of half IN THE GUN SHOPS AT ESSEN. water consumption of a dozen people, usually the city of Amsterdam. admiring visitors who have gone many miles to see -away out of sight almost before you realize that it is The gas consumption at the Essen works in 1900 was the sight. Hundreds have been attracted to Rosa­ gone. The wind here is different from any that ever 665,000,000 cubic feEo1t, as compared with 660,000,000 mond from all directions for a look at "Desert blew in any other part of the world. The "Queen" is cubic feet consumed in 1900 by the city of Breslau. Queen." fairly fiying now and but a little sail is up. The air The number of gas-lights outside of the workshops was Speed is the astonishing quality of the craft, and is filled with sand and pebbles as large as buckshot, 2,658, and that within the shops 43,012. The gas works almost beyond belief. Time and again she has sailed and they pelt you h;u-d; all around towering spirals of of the Krupp works is the sixth largest in the German fifty miles an hour on the dry lake in favorable winds. dust-small end of the spiral down-go springing Empire. On the open desert she has been speeded up consider­ across the plain, whirling up sand to feed the terrible The electric plant of the steel works includes seven ably, and once is said to have made a straight run of storm that is sweeping fro� the Sierra Madre Moun- distributing stations, 125 �nes o! calM, 1,062 arc APRIL 19, 1902. Scientific American 277

lights, 9,097 incandescent lights, and 304 motors. The calibers, with a charge of 93 pounds of smokeless rounds, the resi"tance and working of the mechan­ Tailroad system of the Essen works has a combined powder, fired a 174-pound shell a distance of 22,120 isms of the· completed guns and carriages are tested. length of 68 miles, and the rolling stock includes 44 yards, or 12.6 miles. The curve of the trajectory This ground also serves for ascertaining whether the :locomotives and 1,920 cars, while the telegraph system would have passed over the Alps near Mont Blanc ballastic capacities of the guns are satisfactory. An­ has a length of 52 miles and 37 stations, equipped with and its summit, which re'aches an altitude of ?1.594 other illustration shows one of the 5,000-ton hydraulic 58 Morse apparatus. Besides their own system, forging presses. Four cylindrical columns sup­ 18,037 telegrams were dispatched and received port a solid transom, from the lower side of which from the State Telegraph. The telephone service protrudes an iron cylinder 3.4 feet in diameter, includes 39 stations, with 358 apparatus, the which carries the hammer. A crane brings from length of the wire lines being 278 miles. The one of the open-hearth furnaces the mass of hot ,average daily calls during 1900 were 1,100. steel, which is put on the anvil, and the ram de­ Krupp's fire brigade consists of 110 men, !l6 scends slowly and noiselessly upon the ingot, flat­ -€lectric signal stations, and 492 fire hydrants. tening it like a piece of butter. The hydraulic There were in operation at the Essen works pressure used is 8,500 pounds per square inch, ·during the year 1900: 1,600 various ovens and yielding a total pressure of 5,000,000 kilogrammes, fires, 4,555 machines and machine tools, 132 steam or 5,000 tons. When this press makes only twelve hammers, 30 hydraulic presses, 316 stationary strokes a minute, and by each of them compresses ,steam boilers, 497 steam engines, 558 cranes. In the ingot two inches, this would correspond to .addition to the Essen works, the firm of Friedr. the work of 666 horses. Krupp owns and operates the Annen Steel Works, The Krupp works, however, are not only en­ formerly Asthiiwer & Co., which Krupp acquired gaged in the manufacture of deadly weapons and in f866, and whose proprietor he made a member war material, but many other articles are made. .of his directorate. These works supply chiefly Steel rails, wire, iron and steel in bars and rods, ,gun barrels, ship and railway materials, rudder structural iron, steel and iron wheels, armor­ .frames, locomotive and car wheels, etc. About plates, sheet iron, steel forgings, steel castings, 1,000 hands find employment at Annen. anchors, rudders, stems for vessels, steel shafts During the year 1893, the Gruson works of and cranks, springs, and many other things are Buckau-Magdeburg became Krupp's property. turned out in immense quantities. These works make a specialty of the man\lfacture The present owner of the firm of Friedrich ,of iron-clad turrets, mining machinery, etc. Last Krupp is Herr Friedrich Alfred Krupp, son of Al­ year some 4,000 men were employed at the Buckau fred Krupp, and grandson of Friedrich Krupp. works. Last year the German Emperor, while visiting the The Germania Shipbuilding Yards, at Kiel, wera Krupp family at their palatial country residence .added to the Krupp properties in 1896. The yard::; at Hiigel, near Essen, bestowed upon Mr. Krupp, .have turned out many battleships, cruisers, tor­ who is a close friend of His Majesty, the rank of :pedo-boats, etc., and built also the Imperial yacht an "Actual Privy Councilor of Commerce," which "Hohenzollern." position, in Prussia, carries with it the title of The firm furthermore owns and operates four "Excellency." At various times the Krupps have 'metallurgical works with large blast furnaces at been offered a baronetcy, but they always politely Duisburg, Neuwied, Engers, and Rheinhausen; 5000 TON HYDRAULIC PRESS, declined, urging that they would rather rank steel works at Sayn, four coal among the "first citizens" than mines, 500 iron ore mines in Ger­ among the "last noblemen" of the :many, several mines in Spain, a empire. 'proving ground at Meppen, three Though Mr. Krupp dictates the sea-going steamers, several clay, policy of his immense enterprise brick and stone yards, sawmills, -of which he is the sole owner­ -€tc. in person, yet the general admin­ One of the most interesting feat­ istration rests with a "Directo­ -ures is the Meppen proving ground, rium," composed of twelve mem­ where heavy guns are tested. bers. The directorium is com­ 'The middle yoke of the great posed of financiers, engineers, mil­ traveling cranes for handling itary, naval, commercial and tech­ heavy guns is calculated to carry nical experts of highest standing. 200 tons, and the cranes, by their It is a kind of cabinet, over which -combined capacity, lift a 120-ton the gun-king presides. 17-inch gun from its 16-axle trans­ ••• -portation car and place it on the ,carriage. The big gun and its Some observations on the struc­ Iour brothers are the largest in ture of Nelumbo, contributed by H. the world. Their armor-,2iercing H. Lyon to the Minnesota Botani­ projectile weighs 2,000 pounds; it cal Studies for 1901, throw con­ is of the height of a tall man, and siderable doubt on the correctness when propelled by a charge of 904 of the present position of the pounds of brown prismatic pow­ PROVING GROUNDS AT MEPPEN, SHOWING THE TRAVELING CRANE FOR SHIFTING Nymphffiaceffi in the natural sys- der, it has an initial velocity of HEAVY GUNS. tern. According to him the fibro- 1,980 foot-seconds, and lj,n initial vascular bundles are closed and -€nergy of 60,000. foot tons. The proving ground is feet, and would have risen above the top of Mont are placed irregularly in the stem. The embryo at no also equipped with a complete meteorological observa­ Blanc. Although this is the longest range ever time possesses two distinct cotyledons. The single tory, in order to determine the resistance of the air, reached in an experiment, it is by no means the limit cotyledon is at first quite undivided, but subsequently the velocity and force of the wind, the density of the which to-day can be obtained. becomes deeply two-lobed, each lobe growing rapidly air, temperature and barometric variations, etc. Some One of the cuts shows a view of the Essen shooting downward outside the endosperm. The structure of :years ago, in the presence of the German Emperor range. This place is situated right in the works. the ripe seeds conforms more closely to the monocotyle­ and Herr Krupp, a 9.45-inch coa!'t-defense gun, of 40 Pronerly speaking, it is not a shooting range, but donous than to the dicotyledonous type. The develop­ rather a very extensive ment of the embryo closely resembles that of Pistia. and costly testing place On these grounds the author proposes that the order for the gun s hops . Nymphffiaceffi be removed from the Dicotyledons and Here. by a number of placed among Monocotyledons in series Helobiffi.

ONE OF THE KRUPP STEAM HAMMERS, SHOWING THE CRANE FOR- HANDLING A GROUP OF FIELD GUNS AT THE PROVING GROU1l1lJS, MA.TERIAL ON THE ANVIL. MEPPEN.