TWO:The forest round Kandy is glorious, an exuberance, a crush of trees growing as thick as they can stand, the dense tangle of boughs and leaves outgrown by some enormous ficus, or tall terminalia, whose sharp, angular roots have pushed through the soil while its trunk, twisting in a spiral, has made its way to a prodigious height, ending a thick dome of foliage. This, again, is overgrown by delicate creepers decking the green mass with their flowers. Spreading banyans, with a hundred stems thrown out like branches and ending in roots, form colonnades of a rosy grey hue like granite, and might seem to be the vestiges of some colossal church with a dark vault above, scarcely pierced here and there by a gleam of blue light from the sky beyond. Among these giants of the forest dwells a[Pg 131] whole nation of bending ferns as pliant as feathers, of clinging plants hanging in dainty curtains of flowers from tree to tree. Sometimes between the screen of flowers a bit of road comes into view, deep in impalpable brick-red dust, of the same tint as the fruits that hang in branches from the trees.In the little white church, all open windows, mass was performed by a priest with a strong Breton accent. During the sermon, to an accompaniment of parrots' screaming and kites' whistling, there was a constant rustle of fans, which were left on each seat till the following Sunday. The church was white and very plain; French was spoken, and little native boys showed us to our places on benches. Old women in sarees were on their knees, waving their arms to make large signs of the cross. A worthy Sister presided at the harmonium, and the little schoolgirls sang in their sweet young voices[Pg 144] airs of the most insipid type; but after the incessant hubbub of bagpipes and tom-toms their music seemed to me quite delicious, raising visions in my mind of masterpieces of harmony and grace.
A hydrocyclone (liquid cyclone) injects treatment solution into stationary equipment to perform separation, classification, and concentration, and is an innovative separator with a very simple structure and no drive unit.
Structure of a hydrocyclone (liquid cyclone)
A suspension containing fine particles of several micrometers or more is supplied to a cylindrical container circumferentially at high speed. And as a result it starts to rotate and a centrifugal force is generated. At this time a gravitational acceleration of several tens of thousands of G is generated in the circumferential direction, and thus leading to fast sedimentation and concentration of the fine particles. The separated concentration can be freely selected by changing the supply rate (supply pressure and flow rate) and the flow ratio of the outlet. Our hydrocyclone (liquid cyclone) was designed and manufactured to classify and concentrate fine particles, and so has a small element.
THREE:All the sick were sudras, Hindoos of the lowest caste. All the rest, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisiyas, would rather die at home, uncared for, than endure the promiscuous mixture of caste at the hospital, and contact with their inferiors. Even the sudras are but few. There is an all-pervading dread of a hospital, fostered by Indian bone-setters and sorcerers, stronger even than the fear of the pestilence; the people hide themselves to die, like[Pg 33] wounded animals, and their relations will not speak of an illness for fear of seeing anybody belonging to them taken to the hospital.
- Equipment costs can be reduced.
- Operating costs can be reduced.
- Maintenance costs can be reduced.
- Any change in raw material and product can be easily addressed.
- Large amounts can be treated in a small area.
- Separation and cleaning are easy because of the simple structure.
- Simplified control
- This equipment can be operated in synchronization with external devices.
- Alarm and interlock mechanism.
THREE:The artist sat at work in a corner of the window, copying minutely, for the thousandth time perhaps, a Taj or a Moti Musjid. Quite unmoved while his[Pg 226] shopman displayed his wares, he worked on with brushes as fine as needles; but when, on leaving, I asked him where I could procure some colours I needed, "Then the sahib paints?" said he; and he rose at once, insisted on my taking a seat, pressed me to accept a little sandal-wood frame, as a fellow-artist, and then would positively paint my portrait.
- Classification and concentration for the manufacture of inorganic powder materials
- Classification of ceramic materials
- Removal of fine particles, including iron powder
- Removal of fine particles from pigments
- Removal of fine organic particles from solvents
- Separation of starch and yeast
- Removal of fine particles from high-temperature strong acid solutions
- Removal of fine particles from low-temperature solutions