Soft Pig Iron
This iron is usually termed gray pig iron, to distinguish it from the hard irons, which are lighter in color, even to whiteness. A chemical analysis of a really soft pig iron should exhibit about the following percentages of constituent elements: Graphitic carbon.....3.36 per cent. Silicon.....2.78 per cent. Phosphorus.....0.40 per cent. Manganese.....0.40 per cent. Sulphur.....0.01 per cent. Combined carbon.....0.20 per cent. Any addition over the quantities given, except for graphite and silicon, would tend to increase the hardness. See GRAY PIG IRON; SOFTENERS.
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Soft Solder
The soft solder most frequently used consists of 2 parts of tin and 1 of lead. The following table gives the composition of various soft solders with their respective melting points:
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Soft-blast
The blast is termed "soft" when it is feeble and lacks force. A too low pressure of blast burns the fuel without melting at full duty, and below a certain amount of pressure the fuel would burn away, leaving the metal unmelted. See BLOWER; BLAST-PRESSURE; COMBUSTION.
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Soft-centre Steel
Bar steel with a hard surface enclosing a tough centre core of mild or soft steel. This steel is used especially for making articles that, besides having a hard-tempered surface, must possess the strength of mild steel. The mild-steel ingot is cast, hammered down, and treated in the cementation-furnace until the surface has been carburized to the depth required, when it is again subjected to the process of rolling or hammering down to the size and shape of bar needed. See CEMENTATION; BLISTER-STEEL. Softeners are a class of pig iron containing such softening qualities as will destroy, or at lest neutralize, opposite qualities existing in other irons; or they may wholly consist of another metal to alloy with iron, as aluminum or aluminum ferro-silicons, etc. The softening elements in pig iron are graphitic carbon and silicon, while combined carbon, phosphorus, manganese, and sulphur may be classed as hardeners. It is an established fact that all pig irons low in the latter elements, and which are at the same time high as to the former, are recognized as softeners, because of the remarkable quality of silicon to change chemically combined carbon to graphitic carbon; in other words, changing hard iron to soft, and enabling the founder to use up large quantities of inferior irons, at reduced cost, by the simple admixture of another iron that costs no more than any other ordinary brand; and all this without any deteriorating effect on the resultant castings. See SCOTCH PIG IRON; SILICON; ANALYSIS.
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Sognefjord
an extensive fjord on the W. coast of Norway, exhibiting magnificent rock and glacier scenery.
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Sokoto
or SACKATOO, a large town in Central Africa, on the Sokoto or Rima river, which falls into the Niger. It is surrounded by lofty walls, is fairly well built, and has regular streets, a royal residence, several mosques, manufactures of cotton cloth, and carries on an extensive trade. Pop. at one time given at 80,000. The same name belongs to an extensive Fellata Kingdom, of which the town was formerly the capital, though Wurno has now that rank; area, over 100,000 square miles.
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Sol
in Roman mythology, the sungod, identified with the Greek Helios. See Helios
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Solar Apex
or sun's goal, a point in the Constellation Lyra, not far from the bright star Alpha Lyræ, toward which the sun and the whole solar system have been found to be moving at the rate of about twelve miles per second. The opposite point in the heavens is known as the sun's quit.
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Solar Cycle
in chronology, a term applied to one of those artificial periods made use of in chronological researches. It comprehends a period of 28 years, compounded of 7 and 4, the number of days in a week, and the number of years in the interval of two leap years. This cycle remained undisturbed till the end of the 19th century; but in consequence of the year 1900 not being reckoned as a leap year, the whole cycle was then overthrown. It may, however, be reconstructed after 2000, that year being reckoned as leap year; it will then last till 2100.
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Solar Day
The period during which the sun is above the horizon or shines continuously on any given portion of the earth's surface. Also called astronomical day, since the length of this day is continually varying, owing to the eccentricity of the earth's orbit and the obliquity of the ecliptic, a mean solar day is employed which is the average period of one revolution of the earth on its axis, relative to the sun considered as fixed. In astronomy and navigation the day is reckoned from noon to noon, but the civil day is reckoned from midnight to midnight. The mean solar day is uniformly equal to twenty-four hours.
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Solar Parallax
the angle subtended by the radius of the earth at a distance equal to that of the earth from the sun. More exactly, it is the angle subtended by the equatorial radius of the earth at the mean distance of the sun, though this would be called, when speaking exactly, the mean equatorial horizontal parallax of the sun. It is, as nearly as we know it today, almost 8.8", with an uncertainty of probably not more than 0.01" or 0.02" different from this in either direction. This corresponds to a distance of the sun a little less than
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Solar Time
Sun time. Time marked by the diurnal revolution of the earth with regard to the sun. A mean solar day is the average length of all the solar days in the year. The difference between true and mean time is called the equation of time. There are only four days in the year when the apparent and mean time are the same, and the equation of time nothing. These are December 24th, April 15th, June 15th, and August 31st. Between December 24th and April 15th, and between June 15th and August 31st, the apparent is always before the mean time, whilst in the remaining interval it is later.
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Solberg
THORVALD, an American public official, born at Manitowoc, Wis., in 1852. He served on the staff of the Library of Congress from 1876 to 1889 and became register of copyrights in 1897. He took an active part in the effort to secure international copyright and attended the various international copyright congresses, being the official delegate of the United States to the congresses at Paris, Berlin, and Luxembourg. Besides having contributed to many American and foreign journals, he wrote: "Annual Reports Copyright Business" (1897-98, 1916-19); "Copyright Enactments, 1883- 1906" (1906); " Copyright in England" (1902); "Copyright in Canada and Newfoundland" d" (1903); "Report on Copyright Legislation " (1904); "Foreign Copyright Laws " (1904); "Copyright in Congress-Bibliography and Chronological Record" (1905 ); "Memorandum Draft of a Bill to Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright " (1905-6); "International Copyright Union-Report on the Berlin Conference of 1908"; "Report on Copyright Relations with South American Republics" ( 1915).
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