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Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870 Journal

Of Practical Information, Art, Science, Mechanics,

Chemistry, And Manufactures

Various

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January 1, 1870, by Various

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Title: Scientific American, Vol.22, No. 1, January 1, 1870

Journal Of Practical Information, Art, Science, Mechanics,

Chemistry, And Manufactures

Author: Various

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[Illustration]

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF PRACTICAL INFORMATION, ART, SCIENCE, MECHANICS,

CHEMISTRY, AND MANUFACTURES.

NEW YORK, JANUARY 1, 1870.

Vol. XXII.--No. 1. [NEW SERIES.]

$3 per Annum [IN ADVANCE.]

* * * * *

Contents: (Illustrated articles are marked with an asterisk.)

*Engines of the Spanish Gunboats

The Torpedo Problem

Sugar Making in Louisiana

Sticking, or Court Plaster

*An Improved Hoisting Pulley Wanted

*Ferdinand De Lesseps--Chief Promoter of the Suez Canal

*An Ingenious Vent Peg

*A New English Patent Pulley Block

Plants in Sleeping Booms

*Improved Treadle Motion

*Improved Method of Catching Curculios

Remains of a Megatherium in Ohio

Artificial Ivory

American and English Kailway Practice Contrasted

ads:

Boiler Covering

Attachment of Saws to Swing Frames

Patent Decision

Inventions Patented in England by Americans

*Russ Improved Wood Molding Machine

A Lost Civilisation

*Girards "Palier Glissant"

A Happv New Year

The Suez Canal not yet a Failure

Tubular Boilers and Boiler Explosions

Professor Fiske's Lecture at Harvard

The Brighter Side

The American Institute Prizes Awarded to Steam Engines

A Protest against the Canadian Patent Law

American Railway Management

Scientific Lecture before the American Institute

The Battle Fields of Sceence

How French Bank Notes are Made

What the Newspapers Say

Chinese Method of Preserving Eggs

Steam Boiler Explosion

Editorial Summary

The Steven Breech Loading Rifle

* A Novel Improved Hand Vise

The Mound Builders of Colorado

*The Woven-Wire Mattress

Flouring Mill Hazards

Fire-Proof Building

The Decline of American Shipping

Aerial Navigation-A Suggestion

Putty Floors of Jewelers Shops and otherwise

Western Demand for Agricultural Implements

Economical Steam Engine

Friction and Percussion

Oiling a Preservative of Brownstone

Interesting Correspondence from China

Commumcation Between Deaf and Blind Mutes

Cheap Cotton Press Wanted

A Singular Freak of a Magnet

Preservation of Iron

The Bananas and Plantains of the Tropics

Putting Up Stoves

The Magic Lantern

The Largest well in the World--Capacity 1,000,000 gallons

of water per Day

Paper for Building

*Improved Muzzle-Pivoting Gun

Stock Feeding by Clock Work

Milk and What Comes of It

*Improved Hay Elevator

*Improvement in Lamp Wicks

Great Transformation

Answers to Correspondents

Recent American and Foreign Patents

New Books and Publications

List of Patents

* * * * *

Engines of the Spanish Gunboats.

In our description of these boats in No. 25, Vol. XXI., special mention

was made of the compactness of the engines.

It has frequently been urged as an objection against the twin screw

system that the double set of engines, four steam cylinders with

duplicates of all the working parts called for on this system, render

the whole too complicated and heavy for small vessels, preventing, at

the same time, the application of surface condensation. In the engines

of the Spanish gunboats, of which we annex an illustration from

_Engineering_, the designer, Captain Ericsson, has overcome these

objections by introducing a surface condenser, which, while it performs

the function of condensing the steam to be returned to the boiler in the

form of fresh water, serves as the principal support of the engines,

dispensing entirely with the usual framework. Besides this expedient,

each pair of cylinders have their slide frames for guiding the movements

of the piston rods cast in one piece. Altogether the combination, is

such that the total weight and space occupied by these novel twin screw

engines do not exceed the ordinary single screw engines of equal

power. Several improvements connected with the working gear have been

introduced.

[Illustration: ENGINES OF THE TWIN SCREW SPANISH GUNBOATS]

The outer bearings of the propeller shafts, always difficult to regulate

and keep in order on the twin screw system, are selfadjusting and

accommodate themselves to every change of the direction of the shafts.

This is effected by their being spherical externally, and resting in

corresponding cavities in the stern braces or hangers. The spring

bearings for supporting the middle of the shafts are also arranged on a

similar self-adjusting principle.

The thrust bearing is of peculiar construction, the arrangement being

such that the bearing surfaces remain in perfect contact however much

the shaft may be out of line. The reversing gear likewise is quite

peculiar, insuring complete control over the movement of the two

propellers under all circumstances. It is claimed that these engines are

the lightest and most compact yet constructed for twin screw vessels.

* * * * *

The Torpedo Boat Problem.

The _Army and Navy Journal_ thinks the problem of a torpedo boat

capable of firing rapidly and with certainty, has at length reached a

satisfactory solution. It says:

"A boat has been completed which is proved by experiment to be faultless

in machinery and arrangement. On the 2d of December, Secretary Robeson,

Vice-Admiral Porter, and Commodore Case, Chief of the Bureau of

Ordnance, went to the Navy Yard at Washington, to witness the experiment

with this new engine of destruction. After examining the workings of the

machinery, and the manner of firing, one of the destructives was put in

the frame and the party proceeded to the shore to witness the result. A

torpedo of only thirty-six pounds was first run out with rapidity and

fired; but the result showed that this small amount of powder, even,

would have been sufficient to destroy any ship, by lifting her out of

the water and breaking her back, even if her bottom was not knocked out

altogether. Mud and water were thrown up together, and the concussion

was felt far up in the Navy Yard, the ground being shaken by the shock

of the powder against the bed of the river. The concussion felt on board

the torpedo-boat was not more than that caused by a wave striking a

vessel at sea.

"Several torpedoes were fired from the vessel, the explosion of

which the party witnessed on board, as they desired to ascertain for

themselves the effect of the shock. The result seemed satisfactory,

as no change whatever is contemplated in the machinery, which is very

simple, and 'works to a charm.' The torpedo vessel is the _Nina_, a very

strong iron boat of three hundred and fifty tuns burden, capable of

crossing the ocean, and having a speed of seventeen knots an hour. She

is not impervious to heavy shot, but can be made so, and is capable of

resisting any ordinary projectile that could be brought to bear on her

from the decks of a ship of war. Her decks will be made torpedo and

shot-proof, and several arrangements will be applied, now that it is

known that the torpedo system is a success. Such a vessel as the _Nina_,

attacking an enemy's squadron on our coast some dark night, or entering

an enemy's port, could destroy half the vessels in the harbor, and

easily escape as few vessels could overtake her. Such a vessel could,

for instance, enter the harbor of Havana, and destroy every vessel of

war in the port, under cover of darkness. A squadron supplied with such

boats to be used to attack, after the fight began, and the ships were

enveloped in smoke, would have a most decided advantage against an enemy

not thus armed for torpedo warfare. It is reported that our torpedo navy

will consist of twenty vessels, none of which will have a less speed

than twelve knots, and the fastest of them will go seventeen knots."

* * * * *

SUGAR MAKING IN LOUISIANA.

The New Orleans _Times_ contains, in a late number, an account of the

manufacture of sugar as conducted on the Poychas estate, from which we

extract portions containing the essential particulars of cane sugar

making as conducted in the southern portions of the United States.

"Reaching the Cane shed, the crop, dumped into piles, is received by a

crowd of feeders, who place it (eight or ten stalks at a time) on the

cane carrier. This is an elevator, on an endless band of wood and iron,

which carries them to the second story, where the stalks drop between

the rollers. An immense iron tank below, called a juice box, receives

the liquid portion, and another elevator bears the bruised and broken

fragments to the opposite side of the building, where they are dropped

into the bagasse burner.

"This invention, at its introduction, caused more scientific inquiry

and dispute, probably, than any other of the age, and settled beyond

question the possibility of combustion, without the use of atmospheric

air. The process consists in dropping the wet, spongy mass into a fire

of wood or coal, and closing the furnace doors. The steam arising from

the drying matter passes to a chamber in the rear, where, by the intense

heat, it is decomposed. Oxygen and hydrogen (both strong combustibles)

unite with the carbon, reaching there in the form of smoke, and a white

heat is the result.

"Cane juice, as it escapes from the mill, could scarcely be considered

inviting to either palate or vision. The sweet, slimy mass of fluid,

covered with foam, and filled with sticks, has more the appearance of

the water in a brewer's vat than anything which now suggests itself. A

small furnace, containing a quantity of burning sulphur, sends through a

tube a volume of its stifling fumes, and these, caught by jets of steam,

thoroughly impregnate the contents of the juice box. Having received its

first lesson in cleanliness, the liquid now rises through a tube to the

series of clarifiers on the second floor. They are heated by a chain of

steam pipes running along the bottom, and being filled, the juice slowly

simmers Much of the foreign substance rises in a scum to the surface

and is skimmed off by the sugar maker. It is further purified by the

addition of Thomaston or what is called sugar lime. At one half a peck

is considered sufficient for seven hundred and fifty gallons of juice,

but much depends upon the quantity of saccharine matter it contains.

Another set of pipes now permit the liquor to run into the evaporators,

in the boiling room below. These are also heated by circles of steam

pipes, and the liquid is first gently simmered, to enable any additional

foreign substance to rise to the surface and be skimmed off.

"After that the steam is turned on fully, and the juice boils until

it reaches the solidity of twenty-five degrees, as measured by the

saccharometer. This point attained, more pipes conduct it to a series

of square iron tanks called filterers. Each is provided with a false

bottom, covered with thick woolen blankets, and through these the juice

slowly drips into an immense iron vessel called a sirup tank.

"The process of cleaning has now been completed, and the sirup is pumped

into the covered vessel previously alluded to, called the vacuum pan.

"This is also heated by layers of steam pipes, and here the liquor boils

until the process of crystallization is completed. This end achieved,

another conductor permits the substance to slowly descend to a large

square iron tank, called a strike-pan. The process of emptying the

vacuum pan is technically called a "strike." We now find a reddish brown

substance, having somewhat the appearance of soft mortar.

"Men are at hand with square wooden boxes, and while the sugar is still

warm, it is placed in rotary cylinders, protected on the inside by wire

guards, called centrifugals.

"Placed on a horizontal, they revolve with a velocity which frequently

reaches 1200 a minute. The damp, dingy looking pile instantly spreads, a

broad circle of yellow is first visible on the inner rim of the machine,

and this slowly whitening finally becomes a shining ring of snowy sugar.

To effect this result requires the aid of nine steam boilers, three

steam engines, a vacuum pan, three large evaporators, five clarifiers,

five filters, an immense sirup tank, the juice box, mill, bagasse

furnace, and fifteen coolers.

"With the engineers, sugar makers, firemen, and laborers, thirty-eight

persons are constantly on duty in this sugar-house.

"Doubling this number, to give each the necessary rest, swells the

gathering to seventy-six souls, who, during the grinding season, find

employment at the sugar-house alone. This of course does not include the

laborers employed in gathering and bringing in the crop, and the

great number occupied in odd jobs and the extensive repairs which are

constantly going on."

* * * * *

Sticking, or Court Plaster.

This plaster is well known from its general use and its healing

properties. It is merely a kind of varnished silk, and its manufacture

is very easy.

Bruise a sufficient quantity of isinglass, and let it soak in a little

warm water for four-and-twenty hours; expose it to heat over the fire

till the greater part of the water is dissipated, and supply its place

by proof spirits of wine, which will combine with the isinglass.

Strain the whole through a piece of open linen, taking care that the

consistence of the mixture shall be such that, when cool, it may form a

trembling jelly.

Extend the piece of black silk, of which you propose making your

plaster, on a wooden frame, and fix it in that position by means of

tacks or pack-thread. Then apply the isinglass (after it has been

rendered liquid by a gentle heat) to the silk with a brush of fine hair

(badgers' is the best). As soon as this first coating is dried, which

will not be long, apply a second; and afterwards, if you wish the

article to be very superior, a third. When the whole is dry, cover it

with two or three coatings of the balsam of Peru.

This is the genuine court plaster. It is pliable, and never breaks,

which is far from being the case with many of the spurious articles

which are sold under that name. Indeed, this commodity is very

frequently adulterated. A kind of plaster, with a very thick and brittle

covering, is often sold for it. The manufacturers of this, instead of

isinglass, use common glue, which is much cheaper; and cover the whole

with spirit varnish, instead of balsam of Peru. This plaster cracks, and

has none of the balsamic smell by which the genuine court plaster is

distinguished. Another method of detecting the adulteration is to

moisten it with your tongue _on the side opposite to that which is

varnished_; and, if the plaster be genuine, it will adhere exceedingly

well. The adulterated plaster is too hard for this; it will not stick,

unless you moisten it on the varnished side.--_The Painter, Gilder, and

Varnisher's Companion_.

* * * * *

AN IMPROVED HOISTING PULLEY WANTED.

A gentleman of this city has sent us the accompanying diagram of an

improved hoisting pulley, for which he say she would be willing to pay

any reasonable price provided he knew where to obtain it--the wheel, not

the price. It is a pulley within a pulley, the friction of the outer one

upon the inner one--the latter being held by a ratchet and pawl-acting

as a brake in lowering weights, while both would turn together in

elevating weights. The idea is rather an ingenious one, but we are

confident our inventors can attain a like object by simpler means.

[Illustration]

* * * * *

THE VACUUM METHOD OF MAKING ICE.--An ice and cold producing machine has

been invented by Herr Franz Windhausen, Brunswick. The action of the

machine is based on the principle of producing cold by the expansion of

atmospheric air, which is accomplished by means of mechanical power. The

machines require no chemicals, nothing being used in them but water and

atmospheric air. They may be wrought by steam, water, or wind, and they

produce from 100 to 1,000 lbs. of ice per hour, according to size, at a

cost of from 2d. to 5d. per 100 lbs., this difference resulting from the

varying prices of fuel and the mode of working chosen. One of their uses

is to cool rooms, cellars, theaters, hospitals, compartments of ships,

etc.--_Builder_.

* * * * *

FERDINAND DE LESSEPS--CHIEF PROMOTER OF THE SUEZ CANAL.

[From the Phrenological Journal.]

The scheme of re-opening the canal of the Pharaohs between the

Mediterranean and Red seas, and thus connecting by a short cut across

the Isthmus of Suez the commerce of Europe and Asia, though long

entertained by the first Napoleon, may fairly be claimed for M. de

Lesseps. His attention was doubtless first drawn to it by reading the

memorable report of M. la Pere, who was employed by Bonaparte to make

a survey in 1798. The credit of designing and executing the great work

belongs alike to him. With the general plan, progress, and purpose of

the Canal, the American reader has, during the past few months, been

made tolerably familiar.

He is the son of Jean Baptiste Barthelemi, Baron de Lesseps, who was

born at Cette, a French port on the Mediterranean, in 1765. Jean

Baptiste was for five years French Vice-Consul at St. Petersburg. In

1785 he accompanied La Perouse on a voyage to Kamtchatka, whence he

brought by land the papers containing a description of the expedition.

In 1788 he was Consul at Kronstadt and St. Petersburg. From St.

Petersburg he was called, in 1812, by the Emperor Napoleon, to Moscow,

as _intendant_. From the latter city, in 1814, he proceeded to Lisbon,

and was stationed there as Consul until 1823. He died at Paris, May 6,

1834.

Ferdinand, the subject of this sketch, was born at Versailles in 1805,

and is consequently in his sixty-fourth year, though his appearance is

that of a man little past the meridian of life. Early in life he evinced

peculiar aptitude for the diplomatic career in which he has since

distinguished himself--a career as varied and romantic as it is

brilliant. In 1825 he was appointed _attache_ to the French Consulate at

Lisbon. Two years later found him engaged in the Commercial Department

of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. During the latter part of 1828

he was _attache_ to the Consul-General at Tunis; and in 1831 he was

dispatched by his Government as Consul to Alexandria. Hard work and

rapid promotion for _le jeune diplomat!_ But the most eventful period of

his long and wonderfully active career lay yet before him.

Seven years subsequent to his appointment at Alexandria, and

consequently when he was in his thirty-fifth year, he was sent as

Consul to Rotterdam. From Rotterdam he proceeded to Malaga in 1839, to

negotiate in behalf of French commerce with the Spanish Government. In

the latter part of the same year he was transferred to the Consulate

at Barcelona, where during the two subsequent years he was especially

active, and signally distinguished himself against the reign of

Espartero. In 1844 we again find him in Alexandria, whither he was sent

to take the place of Lavalette. But the time for the development of his

great project had not yet come. He did not long remain in the Egyptian

capital. Returning to his former position in Barcelona he was witness

to some of the scenes of the revolution of February. In 1848 he was

appointed French Minister at the court of Madrid. Remaining in the

Spanish capital about a year, he returned to Paris immediately after the

revolution of '48, and in May of the following year was dispatched as

Envoy of the French Republic to the Republican Government of Mazzini at

Rome, where he took a leading part in the abortive negotiations which

preceded the restoration of the Pope by a French army.

[Illustration]

In 1854 he received a commission from the _Societe d'etudes du Canal de

Suez_ at Paris to negotiate with Saeid Pacha for the construction of the

canal projected in 1816. Accordingly, toward the close of that year, we

again find him on the Isthmus, preparing for his great work. This time

he came to conquer. His mission was crowned with success, and the

necessary concession made in November of that year. A palace and a

retinue of servants were assigned to his use, and he was treated, as

a guest of the Viceroy, with the utmost respect. Great opposition

followed, especially from England; and it was not till January, 1856,

that the second and fuller concession was granted by Saeid Pacha, and a

_Compagnie International_ fully organized.

In 1858 M. Lesseps succeeded in raising two hundred millions of francs

in France, and in 1859 he proceeded to Egypt and planted the Egyptian

flag in the harbor of the ancient Pelusium, the great sea-port of Egypt

thirty centuries ago, where Port Saeid now stands. He laid, at the same

time, the foundation of a lighthouse, and proudly proclaimed the

work commenced. Fresh difficulties--chiefly of a political

nature--interposed, but the indefatigable Lesseps never despaired. In

1859 he had the satisfaction of seeing his company and work placed upon

a firm footing, though the final decision of the French Emperor was not

given till July, 1864. From that time to the present hour the Canal has

steadily progressed toward completion.

The personal appearance of M. de Lesseps is very striking. Though long

past middle age, he has a fresh and even youthful appearance. Both face

and figure are well preserved; his slightly curling gray hair sets off

in pleasing contrast his bronzed yet clear complexion, his bright eye,

and genial smile. He is somewhat over the medium stature, possessed of

a compact and well-knit frame, carries his head erect, and moves about

with a buoyancy and animation perfectly marvelous in one of his years

and experience. His address is that of the well-bred, well-educated

French gentleman that he is. His manner is winning, his voice clear and

under most excellent control, as all those who have listened to his

admirable lectures on the Canal at the late Paris Exposition cannot

fail to remember. What is perhaps most remarkable in a man so bred and

constituted, is that with great gentleness of speech and suavity of

manner he combines a strength of will and fixity of purpose worthy of

Napoleon or Caesar himself. Beneath that calm exterior lay a power which

needed but the stimulus of a great idea to develop.

Though beset by difficulties, laughed at, and maligned, he has never for

a moment swerved from his purpose or relaxed his efforts to accomplish

it. Neither the sneers of Stevenson and his associate engineers, the

heavy broadside of the "Thunderer," or the squibs of _Punch_, ever made

any visible impression on the purpose or action of Lesseps.--"My purpose

from the commencement was to have confidence," said he.

How bravely he has maintained his principle and redeemed his pledge let

the ceremonies which marked the completion and inauguration of his great

work tell--when sea sent greeting to sea; and let the keels of richly

laden argosies from Cathay and from Ind, which plow the waters of the

Canal, declare.

* * * * *

AN INGENIOUS VENT PEG.

The engraving illustrates an English invention of value in that it

provides a means of giving vent to casks from which liquids are to

be drawn, at the same time excluding the air when the drawing is

discontinued, and thus preventing deterioration in the liquid by undue

exposure to air.

[Illustration]

The principle on which it operates is that of admitting just so much air

as may be required to fill the vacant space produced by the withdrawal

of the liquor from time to time, and affording this air no egress, thus

hermetically sealing the barrel. This is effected by means of a valve

opening inward, at the upper portion of the peg, so long as the density

of the exterior air is in excess of that within. This action takes place

at the very instant of the flow of the liquid, and ceases with it; for

at that instant all further supply is shut off, there being no further

pressure.

* * * * *

THE LARGE TREES OF TEXAS.--The large court-house of Navarro county is

said to have been covered with shingles made from a single cedar tree.

The oaks, pecans, and cedars of that section of the country attain

an immense size. A pecan tree in Navarro county, on the banks of the

Trinity, measured twenty-three feet in circumference. The cedars are

often more than 100 feet high.

* * * * *

ELECTRIC MESSAGES.--Although it may require an hour, or two or three

hours, to transmit a telegraphic message to a distant city, yet it

is the mechanical adjustment by the sender and receiver which really

absorbs this time; the actual transit is practically instantaneous,

and so it would be from here to China, so far as the current itself is

concerned.

* * * * *

A New English Patent Pulley Block.

The following description of a new pulley block, which we take from the

_Ironmonger_, does not give as clear an idea of the invention as could

be desired, but it shows that invention in this field has not yet

exhausted itself:

[Illustration]

"The block is made on the differential principle. The lifting chain is

passed over two sheaves, each of which is geared internally, the one

having one or more teeth in excess of the other. Revolving around these

internal teeth is a pinion, actuated by an eccentric, which is keyed on

to a shaft passing through the center of the block, with a bearing at

each end in the outside frame of the block. At one end of this shaft

is a wheel with an endless hand chain passing over it; this gives the

motion to the eccentric shaft. The teeth of the internal pinion are

broad enough to gear into the teeth of both the sheaves, but as there is

more teeth in one than in the other, they (the teeth) are not exactly

opposite each other, and therefore will not admit the teeth of the

revolving pinion without moving; but the tooth of the pinion, acting as

a wedge, and entering with great power, pushes the one tooth forward and

the other tooth back; and this continually occurring, a continual rotary

motion is given to the sheaves, in opposite directions, with a power

which is proportioned to the number of the teeth, the throw of

eccentric, and the leverage gained by the diameter of the hand wheel.

The lifting chain is passed over the one sheave, then down, and up over

the other, the two ends being attached to a powerful cross bar, to which

is connected the lifting hook. By this means the weight is distributed

over the two sheaves and the two parts of the chain, increasing the

safety and diminishing the friction of the block.

"The blocks are very simple in construction, and are not at all liable

to get out of order; the construction being such that the weight cannot

run down, though the men lifting let go the chain. They hang quite plumb

when in action, and the men are able to stand clear away from under the

load, as the hand-wheel chain can be worked at any angle."

* * * * *

Plants In Sleeping Rooms.

The following from the able pen of Dr. J.C. Draper, in the January

number of the _Galaxy_, will answer some inquiries lately received on

the subject, and is a brief, but clear exposition of the injurious

effects of plants in sleeping apartments:

"Though the air is dependent for the renewal of its oxygen on the action

of the green leaves of plants, it must not be forgotten that it is only

in the presence and under the stimulus of light that these organisms

decompose carbonic acid. All plants, irrespective of their kind or

nature, absorb oxygen and exhale carbonic acid in the dark. The quantity

of noxious gas thus eliminated is, however, exceedingly small when

compared with the oxygen thrown out during the day. When they are

flowering, plants exhale carbonic acid in considerable quantity, and at

the same time evolve heat. In this condition, therefore, they resemble

animals as regards their relation to the air; and a number of plants

placed in a room would, under these circumstances, tend to vitiate the

air.

"While the phanerogamia, or flowering plants, depend on the air almost

entirely for their supply of carbon, and are busy during the day in

restoring to it the oxygen that has been removed by animals, many of the

inferior cryptogamia, as the fungi and parasitic plants, obtain their

nourishment from material that has already been organized. They do not

absorb carbonic acid, but, on the contrary, they act like animals,

absorbing oxygen and exhaling carbonic acid at all times. It is,

therefore, evident that their presence in a room cannot be productive of

good results.

"Aside from the highly deleterious action that plants may exert on the

atmosphere of a sleeping room, by increasing the proportion of carbonic

acid during the night, there is another and more important objection to

be urged against their presence in such apartments. Like animals, they

exhale peculiar volatile organic principles, which in many instances

render the air unfit for the purposes of respiration. Even in the days

of Andronicus this fact was recognized, for he says, in speaking of

Arabia Felix, that 'by reason of myrrh, frankincense, and hot spices

there growing, the air was so obnoxious to their brains, that the

very inhabitants at some times cannot avoid its influence.' What the

influence on the brains of the inhabitants may have been does not at

present interest us: we have only quoted the statement to show that long

ago the emanations from plants were regarded as having an influence on

the condition of the air; and, in view of our present ignorance, it

would be wise to banish them from our sleeping apartments, at least

until we are better informed regarding their true properties."

* * * * *

PATENT OFFICE ILLUSTRATIONS.--We are indebted to Messrs. Jewett &

Chandler, of Buffalo, N.Y., for advance sheets of the illustrations

designed to accompany the Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the

year 1868. We have frequently had occasion to commend the skill and

fidelity of these illustrations. They are most admirably done, and the

value of our Patent Office Reports is much enhanced thereby. In fact

without these illustrations the reports would be of little value.

* * * * *

Improved Treadle Motion.

It is well known that the ordinary means employed to propel light

machinery by the foot are fatiguing in the extreme and although the best

of these is the rock shaft with foot pieces, employed almost universally

in modern sewing machines, this requires the operator to sit bolt

upright, a position very trying to the back, and one which has been

shown to be productive of weakness and even permanent disease.

The device shown in the engraving employs only the swinging motion of

the leg to generate the required power.

[Illustration: GOODES' IMPROVED TREADLE MOTION.]

A pendulum, A, is pivoted to the underside of the table and carries a

heavy disk, B. To the central pivot of B is attached a foot piece, C.

The bottom of B is slotted, and through the slot passes a stationary

rod, D, which holds the bottom of the disk from vibrating while it

causes the upper part to reciprocate with the swinging of A.

To the upper part of B is pivoted a pitman which actuates the crank as

shown.

In operation the foot is placed upon the foot piece, and a swinging

motion is imparted by it to the pendulum, which is ultimately converted

into rotary motion by the crank as described. The heavy disk, B, gives

steadiness to the motion, and acts in concert with the fly wheel on the

crank shaft for this purpose; but it is not essential that this part of

the device should be a disk; any equivalent may be substituted for the

same purpose.

Patented, through the Scientific American Patent Agency, Oct, 26, 1869,

by E. A. Goodes For further information address Philadelphia Patent and

Novelty Co., 717 Spring Garden street, Philadelphia, Pa.

* * * * *

Improved Method of Catching Curculios.

This is a novel and curious invention, made by Dr. Hull, of Alton, Ill.,

for the purpose of jarring off and catching the curculio from trees

infested by this destructive insect. It is a barrow, with arms and

braces covered with cloth, and having on one side a slot, which admits

the stem of the tree. The curculio catcher, or machine, is run against

the tree three or four times, with sufficient force to impart a jarring

motion to all its parts. The operator then backs far enough to bring the

machine to the center of the space between the rows, turns round, and in

like manner butts the tree in the opposite row. In this way a man may

operate on three hundred trees per hour.

A bag and a broom are carried by the operator by which the insects are

swept from the cloth and consigned to destruction.

[Illustration: CURCULIO CATCHER.]

* * * * *

Remains of a Megatherium in Ohio.

The Columbus _State Journal_, of Dec. 6, says "there is now on

exhibition at the rooms of the State Board of Agriculture, or

headquarters of the Geological Corps, a section of the femur or thigh

bone of an animal of the mastodon species, the fossilized remains of

which were recently discovered in Union county. These remains were found

in a drift formation about three feet below the surface, and are similar

to the remains of the Megatherium found in other parts of the State.

Arrangements were made by Mr. Klippart, of the Geological Corps, to

have the skeleton or the parts thereof removed with proper care. Before

excavations had proceeded far bad weather set in, and work has been

abandoned. The section of the femur, upper part, with socket ball, is

about twenty inches in length, or about half the length of the thigh

bone. This would make the aggregate length of the bones of the leg about

ten feet. The ball is twenty-two inches in circumference, and the bone

lower down, of course, much larger. From the part of the skeleton

secured, it is estimated that the hight of the animal was twelve and a

half feet, and the skeleton entire much larger than the specimen now in

the British Museum. As this particular species, or remains thereof, have

been found only in Ohio, this specimen has been named the _Megatharium

Ohioensis_. The animals lived, it is supposed, in the period immediately

preceding the human period, and were after the elephant type."

Exhuming operations will be resumed in the spring, and if the skeleton

is removed in good shape or a good state of preservation, it will be set

up in the Echo room at the Capitol, where the fossils collected by the

Geological Corps are now being arranged and stored.

* * * * *

Artificial Ivory.

A process for producing artificial ivory has been published in a German

journal. The inventor makes a solution of india-rubber in chloroform and

passes chlorine gas through it. After this, he heats the solution to

drive off any excess of chlorine, and also the solvent, whereupon he has

left behind a pasty mass with which it is only necessary to incorporate

sufficient precipitated carbonate of lime or sulphate of lead, or,

indeed, any other dense white powder, to obtain a material which may be

pressed into molds to form whatever articles may be desired. The details

of this process are obviously incomplete, and the success of it may be

doubted. Only good and well masticated rubber could be employed, and

even then a dilute solution must be made, and any earthy impurities

allowed to deposit. In the next place, we are doubtful of the bleaching

action of chlorine on rubber, and, moreover, chloroform is, under some

circumstances, decomposed by chlorine. Lastly, it is clear that, to

obtain a hard material at all resembling ivory, it would be necessary to

make a "hard cure," for which a considerable proportion of sulphur

would be required. The simple purification of india-rubber by means of

chloroform, would, however, furnish a mass of a very fair color.

* * * * *

An iron car made of cylindrical form is now used on the Bengal Railway,

for the carriage of cotton and other produce. It is much lighter and

safer than the ordinary car. We believe in iron cars.

* * * * *

ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND.--At the rate old subscribers are renewing, and new

ones coming in, there is a prospect that our ambition to increase the

circulation of this paper to one hundred thousand will be gratified.

* * * * *

AMERICAN AND ENGLISH RAILWAY PRACTICE CONTRASTED.

A paper on "American Locomotives and Rolling Stock," read before the

Institution of Civil Engineers, in England, with an abstract on the

discussion thereon, has been forwarded to us by the publishers, William

Clowes and Sons, Stamford street and Charing Cross, London.

We have seldom met with a pamphlet of greater interest and value. The

whole subject of American as contrasted with English railroad practice

is reviewed, and the differences which exist, with the necessities for

such differences ably discussed. Mr. Colburn shows these differences

to be external rather than fundamental, and traces many of the

peculiarities of American construction to the "initiative of English

engineers." The cause for the adoption and retention of these

peculiarities he attributes to "the necessities of a new country and the

comparative scarcity of capital," and thinks that but for these causes"

American railways and their rolling stock would have doubtless been

constructed, as in other countries, upon English models, and worked, in

most respects, upon English principles of management.

He reviews the origin and introduction of American features of railway

practice, and points out as the distinguishing feature of American

locomotives and rolling stock the bogie, or swiveling truck. "Keeping

in mind the distinguishing merits of the bogie, the other differences

between English and American locomotives are differences more of costume

and of toilet than of vital principles of construction."

The author attributes the origin of the greater subdivision of rolling

weight and consequent coupling of wheels on American roads to the

comparatively weak and imperfect permanent way, estimating the maximum

weight per wheel as being for many years four English tuns, while three

tuns he considers, as more than the average for each coupled wheel of

American locomotives.

To follow the author through the whole of his able paper, and the

discussion which it elicited, would occupy more of our space than we

can spare for the purpose. We will, however, give in the author's own

language, an account of an experiment conducted by him in 1855 on the

Erie Railroad.

"In the autumn of 1855, the author, at the request of Mr. (now

General) M'Callum, the manager of the Erie Railroad, took charge of an

experimental train, which he ran over the whole length of the line and

back, a total distance of nearly 900 miles. The same engine was employed

throughout the run, occupying in all nearly three weeks, making an

average for each week day of about 50 miles. The line is divided into

four divisions, varying considerably in respect of gradients, and the

utmost load the engine could draw was taken in both directions over each

division. The maximum inclinations were 1 in 88. The results of the

experiments were so voluminous, that it will be sufficient to detail

the particulars of what may be termed crucial tests of adhesion and

resistance to traction.

"The engine had four coupled wheels and a bogie, the total weight in

working trim being 291/2 tuns, of which 17-7/8 tuns rested on the coupled

wheels available for adhesion. The coupled wheels were 5 feet in

diameter; the outside cylinders were 17 inches in diameter, and the

stroke 24 inches. The safety valves were set to blow off at 130 lbs.,

and the steam, as observed by a Bourdon gage, was seldom allowed to

exceed that limit. No indicator diagrams were taken, nor was any measure

taken of the wood burnt, all that could be consumed by the engine, in

maintaining the requisite steam, being supplied. The tender, loaded,

weighed 181 tuns. The train drawn consisted of eight-wheel wagons fully

loaded with deals. The average weight of each wagon was 5 tuns 8 cwt. 3

qrs., and of each wagon with its load 15 tuns 5 cwt. 3 qrs. nearly. The

wagons had cast-iron chilled wheels, each 2 feet 6 inches in diameter,

with inside journals 3 7/8 inches in diameter, and 8 inches long. All

the wagons had been put in complete order, and the journals, fitted with

oil-tight boxes, were kept well oiled. The gage of the line was 6 feet.

The weather was most favorable, clear and dry, with the exception of a

single day of heavy rain.

"Upon about one hundred miles of the line, forming a portion of the

Susquehanna division, a train of one hundred wagons, weighing, with

engine and tender, 1,572 tuns was taken. The train was a few feet more

than half a mile in length.

"At one point it was stopped where the line commenced an ascent of 24

feet in four miles, averaging 1 in 880 up for the whole distance. There

were also long and easy curves upon this portion. The train was taken up

and purposely stopped on the second mile, to be sure of starting again

with no aid from momentum. The average speed was 5 miles an hour, and

neither was the pressure of steam increased nor sand used except in

starting from the stops purposely made. The engine, even were its full

boiler pressure of 130 lbs. maintained as effective pressure upon the

pistons throughout the whole length of their stroke, could not have

exerted a tractive force greater than (17 x 17 x 130 lbs. x 2 ft.)/ 5

ft = 15,028 lbs.; nor is it at all probable that the effective cylinder

pressure could have approached this limit by from 10 lbs. to 15 lbs. per

square inch. Supposing, however, for the sake of a reductio ad absurdum,

that the full boiler pressure had been maintained upon the pistons for

the whole length of their strokes, the adhesion of the coupled driving

wheels, not deducting the internal resistances of the engine, would have

been 15028/40050 3/8 of the weight upon them. In any case there was

a resistance of 4,011 lbs. due to gravity, and if even 120 lbs. mean

effective cylinder pressure be assumed, corresponding to a total

tractive force of 13,872 lbs., the quotient representing the rolling and

other resistances, exclusive of gravity, would be but 6.27 lbs. per tun

of the entire train; a resistance including all the internal resistances

of the engine, the resistance of the curves, easy although they were,

and the loss in accelerating and retarding the train in starting and

stopping. This estimate of resistance would correspond, at the observed

speed of 5 miles an hour (upwards of 3/4 of an hour having been consumed

on the 4 miles), to 185 indicated H.P., which, with the driving wheels,

making but 28 revolutions per minute, would be the utmost that an engine

with but 1,038 square feet of heating surface could be expected to

exert. This was the highest result observed during the three weeks'

trial, but one or two others are worthy of mention. On the Delaware

division of the same line, the train, of 1,572 tuns' weight, was run

over 5 consecutive miles of absolutely level line, at a mean rate of

9.23 miles an hour, and during the same day, over 5 other consecutive

miles of level at a mean rate of 9.7 miles per hour. On both levels

there were 141/2 chain curves of good length, and the speed, from 9 to 12

miles an hour, at which the train entered the respective levels, was not

quite regularly maintained throughout the half hour expended in running

over them. But if even 7 lbs. per tun of the total weight be taken as

the resistance at these speeds, the tractive force will be 11,004 lbs.,

which is more than one fourth the adhesion weight of 40,050 lbs. On

the next day, the same engine drew 30 wagons weighing 4661/2 tuns, or,

including engine and tender, 514 tuns nearly, up a gradient of 1 in

1171/2, three miles long, at a mean speed of 101/4 miles an hour. The

resistance due to gravity was 9,814 lbs., and supposing the other

resistance to traction to amount to no more than 7 lbs. per tun, the

total resistance would be 13,412 lbs., corresponding to a mean effective

cylinder pressure of 117 lbs. per square inch, and to a co-efficient of

adhesion of almost exactly one third.

"It is needless to repeat instances of much the same kind, as occurring

during the experiment referred to. The author is bound to say that they

were, no doubt, influenced by the favorable circumstances of weather,

and something is to be allowed also for the great length of train drawn,

very long trains having a less tractive resistance per tun on a level

than short ones, and something, possibly more than is commonly supposed,

may have been due to the use of oil-tight axle boxes, the saponaceous

compound known as 'railway grease' being nowhere in use on railways in

the States. It could not possibly be used, except in a congealed form,

in the severe American winters; and Messrs. Guebhard and Dieudonne's

experiments (_vide_ "De la resistance des trains et de la puissance des

machines." 8vo. Paris, 1868, p. 36) made in 1867, on the Eastern Railway

of France, showed a very considerable diminution in the resistance of

oil-boxed rolling stock as compared with that fitted with grease boxes.

But, weighed upon the other hand, are the facts, first, that the line

was of 6-feet gage, and, _pro tanto_, so much the worse for traction;

secondly, that the wheels were comparatively small, and the inside

journals of comparatively large diameter, the ratio of the former to the

latter being as 73/4 to 1, instead of 12 to 1 as on English lines. It is

difficult to believe that the length and steadiness of the double bogie

goods wagons, scarcely liable as they are to lateral vibrations, had not

something to do with the result, which is in some respects unique in the

history of railway traction. The result, although not absolutely showing

the real resistance to traction, nor the real adhesion of the engine,

presents this alternative; namely, that the resistance must have been

unusually small, or the adhesion unusually large."

In the discussion which followed some doubts were expressed as to the

accuracy of Mr. Colburn's conclusions, drawn from the experiments

described; but it was conceded by some who took part in the discussion

that some of the features of our practice might be advantageously copied

in England. For the most part, however, the opinion prevailed that the

features of our system, which are here regarded as almost indispensable,

could not be introduced into English practice with advantage.

* * * * *

BOILER COVERING.

BY C.M. O'HARA, C.E.

At the regular weekly meeting of the Polytechnic Association of the

American Institute, held on Thursday evening, the 25th ult., the subject

of boiler clothing was discussed at some length, but without any

decisive conclusion being arrived at respecting the most serviceable and

economical material for that purpose. It appeared from the testimony

adduced, that though there is a variety of substances in use, even those

which are practically acknowledged as being the most efficient are

far from coming up to the required standard of utility, and are

characterized by defects which are at once forced upon us by a little

close examination. Felt is an admirable non-conductor of heat, but owing

to its combustible nature it is quite unreliable when subject to the

heat of a high pressure of steam. A large fragment of this material

which had been taken off the boiler of a North River steamboat was

exhibited at the meeting, scorched and charred as if it had been exposed

to the direct action of fire. For these reasons felt covering is,

generally speaking, confined to boilers in which a comparatively low

pressure of steam is maintained. But even under the most favorable

circumstances of actual wear its durability is limited to a short

period.

Powdered charcoal possesses the elements of efficiency as a

non-conductor in an eminent degree; but its susceptibility of taking

fire militates strongly against its adoption as a boiler covering.

Besides the materials above mentioned, there are some which come under

the denomination of cements; but the use of such is somewhat at variance

with what a dull world would call "facts." Employing them as a clothing

for a vessel in which it is necessary to retain heat is certainly the

wrong way of doing a light thing, if the evidence of distinguished

experimenters be worth anything.

The researches of most well-informed physical philosophers go to prove

that the conducting properties of bodies are augmented by cohesion, and

that heat is conveyed profusely and energetically through all solid and

ponderable substances. Thus gold, silver, and others of the most solid

metals are the best conductors. Next to the pure metals in conducting

powers are rocks, flints, porcelain, earthenware, and the denser liquids

as the solutions of the acids and alkalies. As a further evidence to

prove that the passage of heat through all substances is increased

by cohesion, even some of those which are known to be among the best

conductors are deprived of this property by a division or disintegration

of their particles. Pure silica in the state of hard, rock crystal is

a better conductor than bismuth or lead; but if the rock crystal be

pulverized, the diffusion of heat through its powder is very slow and

feeble. Heat is conducted swiftly and copiously through transparent

rock salt, but pulverization converts the solid mass into a good

non-conductor. Caloric has for the same reason a stronger affinity for

pure metals than for their oxides.

Again, wood is known to be a better non-conductor when reduced to

shavings or sawdust than when in the solid state. It is probably on this

account that trees are protected by bark, which is not nearly so dense

and hard a body as the wood. Wool, silk, and cotton are much diminished

in conducting qualities when spun and woven, for the reason that their

fibers are brought closer together.

Count Rumford discovered that hot water, at a given temperature, when

placed in a vessel jacketed with a clothing of twisted silk, and plunged

into a freezing mixture, cooled down to 185 deg. Fah. in 917 seconds. But

when the same vessel was clothed with an equal thickness of raw silk,

water at the same heat and under the same process required 1,264 seconds

before it reached the same decrease of temperature. It was also found

by Sir Humphry Davy that even metals became non-conductors when their

cohesion was destroyed by reducing them to the gaseous state.

It is now generally admitted that, heat being motion, anything, which,

by the cohesion of particles, preserves the continuity of the molecular

chain along which the motion is conveyed, must augment calorific

transmission. On the other hand, when there is a division or

disintegration of atoms, such as exists in sawdust, powdered charcoal,

furs, and felt, the particles composing such bodies are separated from

each other by spaces of air, which the instructed among us well know are

good non-conductors of heat. The motion has, therefore, to pass from

each particle of matter to the air, and again from the air to the

particle adjacent to it. Hence, it will be readily seen, that in

substances composed of separate or divided particles, the thermal

bridge, so to speak, is broken, and the passage of heat is obstructed

by innumerable barriers of confined air. The correctness of

these assumptions has been so abundantly proved by experimental

demonstrations, that every mind that is tolerably informed on the

subject must be relieved of every shade of doubt respecting the greatly

superior non-conducting powers which bodies consisting of separate atoms

possess over those of a solid concrete nature.

The next matter of interest connected with the subject under notice is

its relation to the philosophy of radiation. It has long been known that

the emission of heat from a polished metallic surface is very slight,

but from a surface of porcelain, paper, or charcoal, heat is discharged

profusely. Even many of the best non-conductors are powerful radiators,

and throw off heat with a repellent energy difficult to conceive.

"If two equal balls of thin, bright silver," says Sir John Leslie, "one

of them entirely uncovered and the other sheathed in a case of cambric,

be filled with water slightly warmed and then suspended in a close room,

the former will lose only eleven parts in the same time that the latter

will dissipate twenty parts." The superior heat-retaining capacity which

a clean tin kettle possesses over one that has been allowed to

collect smoke and soot, lies within the compass of the most ordinary

observation.

The experiments of the eminent philosopher just mentioned furnish a

variety of suggestions on the radiation from heated surfaces. He found

that, while the radiating power of clean lead was only 19, it rose to 45

when tarnished by oxidation, that the radiating power of plumbago

was 75, and that of red lead 80. He also discovered that, while the

radiating power of gold, silver, and polished tin was only 12, that

of paper was 98, and lamp black no less than 100. He further says: "A

silver pot will emit scarcely half as much heat as one of porcelain. The

addition of a flannel, though indeed a slow conductor, far from checking

the dissipation of heat, has directly a contrary tendency, for it

presents to the atmosphere a surface of much greater propulsive

energy, which would require a thickness of no less than three folds to

counterbalance."

It is safe to infer from this analogy that the felt covering of boilers

should not only be of considerable thickness, but should be protected

by an external jacketing of some sort; for, though felt is a good

non-conductor, it is a powerful absorber and radiator, more especially

when it has been allowed to contract soot and dust.

Various experiments have lead to the general conclusion that the

power of absorption is always in the same proportion as the power of

radiation. It must be so. Were any substance a powerful radiator and at

the same time a bad absorber, it would necessarily radiate faster than

it would absorb, and its reduction of temperature would continue without

limit. It has, furthermore, been proved that the absorptive property of

substances increases as their reflecting qualities diminish. Hence, the

radiating power of a surface is inversely as its reflecting power. It is

for this reason that the polished metallic sheathing on the cylinders

of locomotive engines, and on the boilers of steam fire engines, is

not only ornamental but essentially useful. Decisive tests have also

established the fact that radiation is effected more or less by color.

"A black porcelain tea pot," observes Dr. Lardner, "is the worst

conceivable material for that vessel, for both its material and color

are good radiators of heat, and the liquid contained in it cools with

the greatest possible rapidity; a polished silver or brass tea urn is

much better adapted to retain the heat of the water than one of a dull

brown, such as is most commonly used."

A few facts like those above stated afford more decisive information

regarding the nature of heat than columns of theory or speculation. Yet

it is rather strange that when so many learned and reliable men have,

experimented so much and commented with such persuasiveness upon the

subtile agency of heat and the vast amount of waste that must accrue by

injudicious management, comparatively few have availed themselves of the

united labors of these indefatigable pyrologists; manufacturing owners

and corporations still persisting in having their steam boilers painted

black or dull red and leaving them exposed to the atmosphere. Some

persons, who pass themselves off very satisfactorily as clever

engineers, affect a contempt for the higher branches of science, and

assert, in a very positive and self-sufficient manner that experiments

made in a study or laboratory are on too trifling and small a scale to

be practically relied upon; that a tin kettle or a saucepan is a very

different thing to the boiler of a steam engine.

This may be so in one sense, but the same chemical forces which operate

upon the one will be just as active in a proportionate degree in their

action upon the other. It was said by Aristotle that the laws of the

universe are best observed in the most insignificant objects; for the

same physical causes which hold together the stupendous frame of the

universe may be recognized even in a drop of rain. The same observation

may be applied to the laws of heat in all their ramifications; for,

after all, our experiments are, in many instances but defective copies

of what is continually going on in the great workshop of nature.

It would be needless to insist on the wasteful and destructive effects

produced by the exposure of boiler surfaces to the open atmosphere.

Such a practice can be neither supported by experience nor justified by

analogy; and it is to be hoped that it may before long be consigned to

the limbo of antiquated absurdities and be satisfactorily forgotten.

Seeing that it cannot with any show of reason be affirmed that the

boiler covering materials in present use possess the requirements

necessary to recommend them; the question arises as to what is the best

means of achieving the object required. This is an inquiry which it is

the office of time alone to answer. As the problem is obviously one of

primary importance, and well worthy of the attention of inventors, it

is hazarding nothing to predict its satisfactory solution at no distant

date.

The plain truth is, boilers have of late become gigantic foes to

human life. Explosions have increased, are increasing, and should be

diminished; and they are, in many instances, caused by boilers being

strained and weakened by sudden contraction from having their surfaces

exposed when the fire has been withdrawn from them. Boilers are also

materially injured by the excessive furnace heat which it is necessary

to maintain to compensate for the large amount of caloric which

is dissipated from their surfaces, not only by radiation but from

absorption by the surrounding atmosphere.

As the views here laid down are drawn exclusively from the region of

fact and experiment, it is to be hoped that an enlightened sense of

self-interest may prompt those whom the subject may concern, to give it

that special attention which its importance demands.

* * * * *

Attachment of Saws to Swing-Frames.

To insure the efficiency of mill-saws, it is highly important to have

them firmly secured in the frames by which they are reciprocated.

Swing-frames for carrying saws are ordinarily of wrought iron or steel,

and made up of several pieces mortised and tenoned together in the form

of a rectangular frame or parallelogram, of which the longest sides are

termed verticals and the shortest crossheads or crossrails. In the case

of deal frames, the swing frame differs somewhat from that of a timber

frame, in having two extra verticals, which separate it into two equal

divisions. These are necessary in order that two deals may be operated

upon simultaneously, each division being devoted to a separate deal, and

likewise to enable the connecting-rod which works the frame to pass up

the center and oscillate on a pin near the top, thereby avoiding the

deep excavations and costly foundations required where the rod is

engaged with the pin at the bottom. The rack that advances the deals to

the saws passes through a "bow" in the connecting-rod and the middle

of the frame, the deals are placed on either side of it, on rollers

purposely provided. In sawing hard deals, the saws require to be

sharpened about every tenth run or journey, and every twentieth for

soft. Fifty runs, or one hundred deals, are reckoned an average day's

work; this is inclusive of the time required for changing the saws,

returning the rack for another run, and other exigencies. For attachment

to swing-frames the saws have buckles riveted to them; these are by

various modes connected to the crossheads. Each top buckle is passed

through the crosshead and is pierced with a mortise for the reception

of a thin steel wedge or key, by whose agency the blade is strained and

tightened. The edge of the crosshead upon which the keys bed is steeled

to lessen the wear invariably ensuing from frequently driving up the

keys. The distances between the blades are adjusted by interposing

strips of wood, or packing pieces, as they are termed, of equal

thickness with the required boards or leaves; the whole is then pressed

together and held in position by packing screws. The saws themselves are

subsequently tightened by forcing home the keys until a certain amount

of tension has been attained, this is ascertained only by the peculiar

sound which emanates from the blade on being drawn considerably tight

and tense. Great experience is required to accustom the ear to the

correct intonation, as in general the tensile strain on the saws

approximates so closely to the breaking point that one or two extra taps

on the keys are quite sufficient to rupture them.

Mr. Brunel, in the government saw-mills at Woolwich, adopted a method

of hanging saws by means of a weighted lever, like a Roman steelyard.

A cross-shaft affixed above the saws to the cornice of the main frame

carried a lever, weighted at one end and provided with a hook or shackle

at the other for engagement with the saw buckle. In using this apparatus

the blades were strained one at a time by linking the lever to the

buckle and then adjusting the movable weight until the desired tension

was acquired, after which the key was inserted into the mortise and the

lever released. This arrangement is not now in common use on account of

the trouble attending its employment, and at present the saws are merely

strained by hammering up the keys. The saw blades had usually a tensile

strain of upwards of one tun per inch of breadth of blade. It is to

be further observed that the cutting edges of the saws are not quite

perpendicular, but have a little lead, or their upper ends overhang the

lower about three eighths of an inch or one half of an inch, according

to the nature of the material to be sawn. The object of this is that the

saws may be withdrawn from the cuts in the ascending or back stroke, and

allow the sawdust free escape. The eccentric actuating the mechanism for

advancing the timber to the saws is generally set in such a manner that

the feed commences just at the moment when the frame has attained half

its ascending stroke, and continues until the entire stroke has been

completed. By this regulation the saws are not liable to be suddenly

choked, but come smoothly and softly into their work.--_Worssam's

Mechanical Saws_.

* * * * *

PATENT DECISION.

_In the matter of the application of William N. Bartholomew, assignor

to J. Reckendorfer, for letters patent for a design for Rubber

Eraser_--Letters patent for designs have increased in importance within

the past few years. Formerly but few were granted, now many are issued.

To this day they have made so little figure in litigation that but

three reported cases are known in which design patents have come into

controversy. With their increase, questions have arisen concerning their

scope and character, which have given rise to dispute and to inquiry as

to the correctness of the current practice of the office in this branch

of invention. While on the one hand, it is insisted that the practice

has always been uniform, and is therefore now fixed and definite; on the

other, it is asserted, that there has never been, and is not now, any

well-defined or uniform practice, either in the granting or refusal of

design patents.

The act of 1836 made no provision for the patenting of designs. The

earliest legislation upon this subject is found in the act of August 29,

1842, section 3; and the only legislation upon the subject is found

in this section and in section 11, of the act of March 2, 1861. The

definition of the subject matter, or, in other words, of a "design," is

the same in both acts. It is is follows:

"That any citizen, etc., who, by his, her, or their own industry,

genius, efforts, and expense, may have invented or produced any new and

original design for a manufacture, whether of metal or other material

or materials, any original design for a bust, statue, bas-relief, or

composition in alto or basso-relievo, or any new and original impression

being formed in marble or other material, or any new and useful pattern,

or print, or picture, to be either worked into or worked on, or printed,

or painted, or cast, or otherwise fixed on any article of manufacture,

or any new and original shape or configuration of any article of

manufacture not known or used by others, etc."

This definition embraces five particulars.

1. A new and original design for a manufacture.

2. An original design for a bust, statue, etc.

3. A new and original impression or ornament to be placed on any article

of manufacture.

4. A new and useful pattern, print, or picture to be worked into or

worked on, or printed, or painted, or cast, or otherwise fixed on any

article of manufacture.

5. A new and original shape or configuration of any article of

manufacture.

The first three of these classes would seem to refer to ornament only;

the fourth to ornament, combined with utility, as in the case of trade

marks; and the fifth to new shapes or forms of manufactured articles,

which, for some reason, were preferable to those previously adopted.

The disputed questions which have thus far arisen under these

definitions are:

1. What variations may be claimed or covered by the patent consistently

with unity of design.

2. Is a new shape of an article of manufacture, whereby utility is

secured, a subject of protection under this act; and

3. Is mechanical function of any kind covered by it.

As to the first of these questions, it seems to have been assumed that

the design spoken of in all parts of the sections referred to covered a

fixed, unchangeable figure, that the protection of letters patent did

not extend to any variation, however slight, but that such variation

constituted a new design, might be covered by a new patent, and might

safely be used without infringement of the first. This, it is said, is

the correct theory of the law, and has been the uniform adjudication of

the Office.

Neither of these statements is absolutely correct. The law by no means

defines a design with such strictness. The language is, "new and

original design for a manufacture," "new and original impression or

ornament," "new and original shape or configuration." It would seem to

be too plain for argument, that the new design, or impression, or shape,

might be so generic in its character as to admit of many variations,

which should embody the substantial characteristics and be entirely

consistent with a substantial identity of form. Thus, if the invention

were of a design for an ornamental button, the face of which was grooved

with radial rays, it would seem that the first designer of such a button

might properly describe a button of five rays, and, having stated that

a greater number of rays might be used, might claim a design consisting

generally of radial rays, or of "five or more" rays, and, that it could

not be necessary for him to take out a patent for each additional

ray that could be cut upon his button. So, if the design were the

ornamentation of long combs by a chain of pearls, it would seem that a

claim for such a design might be maintained against one who arranged

the pearls, either in curved or straight lines, or who used half pearls

only, and that such modifications if they had occurred to the designer,

might properly have been enumerated in his specification as possible and

equivalent variations. In short, I can see no reason, under the law, why

designs may not be generic, why what are called "broad claims," may

not be made to them, and why the doctrine of artistic or aesthetic

equivalents may not be applied to them.

This has been recognized to a greater or less extent in the

adjudications of the courts and in the practice of the Office.

One of the reported cases is that of Booth _vs_. Garelly 1, Blatch 247.

The design is described as consisting of "radially formed ornaments on

the face of the molds or blocks of which the button is formed, combined

with the mode of winding the covering on the same, substantially as

set forth, whether the covering be of one or more colors." The

specification, in "substantially" setting forth the design, contained

this language: "It will be obvious from the foregoing that the figures

can be changed at pleasure by giving the desired form to the face of the

mold by depressions and elevations which radiate from a point, whether

in the center of the mold or eccentric thereto."

In the consideration of the case by the Court no objection was made to

this statement or claim. In the case of Root _vs_. Ball, 4 McLean 180,

the learned judge instructed the jury that "if they should find that the

defendants had infringed the plaintiff's patent by using substantially

the same device as ornamental on the same part of the stove they would,

of course, find the defendant guilty. To infringe a patent right it

is not necessary that the thing patented should be adopted in every

particular; but if, as in the present case, the design and figures

were substantially adopted by the defendants, they have infringed the

plaintiff's right. If they adopt the same principle the defendants are

guilty. The principle of a machine is that combination of mechanical

powers which produce a certain result. And in a case like the present,

where ornaments are used for a stove, it is an infringement to adopt the

design so as to produce substantially the same appearance."

It has been the constant practice to grant patents for designs for fonts

of type, for sets of silver plate, for a series of printers' flourishes,

and the like. This class of cases has always passed without objection.

Two other cases which have arisen within the Office deserve notive.

The first was for a series of miniature shoulder straps, with emblems

denoting rank, provided with a pin, to be worn under an officer's coat,

upon his vest, or as a lady's breastpin. The drawing shows eight of

these pins with emblems of rank, varying from that of second lieutenant

to major-general, specification describing the brooch for a second

lieutenant goes on to say: "I propose to introduce, on some of them, the

different ornaments showing the respective ranks of the army, from a

major-generalship to a second lieutenancy. See Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,

8."

The second case was that of an application for a monogram visiting

card, on which the name was to be inscribed or printed in the form of a

monogram. The applicant filed a drawing, showing a card upon which was

a monogram of his own name. In his specification he gives certain rules

for forming such monograms, and then says: "It is manifest that the

form of the letters as well as the letters themselves can be changed as

required by circumstances or the taste of the individual for whom the

monogram is designed; and that the general form and outline of the

monogram may be varied; and indeed, must vary to be adapted to the

particular name it is required to represent."

The claim was for "a monogram, visiting card, or visiting card upon

which the name is inscribed or printed in the form of a monogram,

substantially as herein specified."

This application was rejected by the Examiner and Board of

Examiners-in-Chief, but was allowed by the Commissioner upon appeal.

It is true that, before and since this patent was issued, many patents

have been refused for what I have called generic designs. One man having

designed a tack head, ornamented with radial lines, was compelled to

take out one patent for his tack with six radial lines, and another for

the same tack with eight. There are other instances of like character,

but they only serve to show that the practice of the Office has not been

uniform, and that the true practice is still to be adopted and followed.

I have no hesitation in saying, in view of the premises, that a valid

patent may be granted for a new genus or class of ornaments as well as

for specific ornaments, though I do not doubt that, under the statute,

every species, variety, and individual having distinct characteristics

under such a genus might also be patented, the patent being subordinate

and tributary to that which covered the class. From the nature of this

subject-matter there must always be more latitude in the issue of

patents for trifling changes, or form, or outline, since it is only

necessary that such changes should constitute a new "design" to entitle

them to a patent of this class.

The second question relates to the elements of utility in patents for

designs.

Upon this point, it is said by my predecessor, in Jason Crane _ex parte_

Commissioners, December-May, 1869, p. 1, that the construction which has

been given to the act of 1842, by the Office, ever since its passage, is

that it relates to designs for ornament merely; something of an artistic

character as contradistinguished to those of convenience or utility.

The Board of Examiners-in-Chief, in the present case, say "The practice

of the Office has been uniform from the beginning, and has always

excluded cases like the present from the benefit of the laws relating to

designs." And, again, "The general understanding has always been that

the acts of 1842 and 1861 were intended to cover articles making

pretensions to artistic excellence exclusively."

In thus denying that a new "shape or configuration" of an article,

whereby utility or convenience is promoted, is the proper subject of

a patent under the acts referred to, the Office would seem to have

involved itself in the absurdity that if a design is useless it may be

patented; whereas, if it be useful, it is entitled to no protection.

Fortunately no such "uniform practice" has existed, and the Office is

relieved from so grievous an imputation. The practice seems to have been

taken for granted by the appellate tribunals, and, so far from being

as stated, is, as nearly as possible, the reverse of it. Articles have

been, and are being, constantly patented as designs which possess no

element of the artistic or ornamental, but are valuable solely because,

by a new shape or configuration, they possess more utility than the

prior forms of like articles Of this character are designs for ax heads,

for reflectors, for lamp shades, for the soles of boots and shoes, which

have been heretofore patented as designs, and to this class might be

added, with great propriety, that class of so-called "mechanical"

patents, granted for mere changes of form, such as plowshares, fan

blowers, propeller blades, and others of like character.

When, therefore, my learned predecessor in Crane's case added to this

number a box so designed as to hold with convenience a set of furs, he

did but confirm and not alter the practice of the Office, so far as it

can be gleaned from the patented cases. I am of opinion that the class

of cases named in the act as arising from "new shape or configuration"

includes within it all those mere changes of form which involve increase

of utility. This I take to be the spirit of the decision in Wooster

_vs_. Crane, 2 Fisher 583. The design was of a reel in the shape of a

rhombus. The learned Judge says "In this case, the reel itself, as an

article of manufacture, is conceded to be old and not the subject of

a patent. The shape applied to it by the complainant is also an old,

well-known mathematical figure. Now although it does not appear that

any person ever before applied this particular shape to this particular

article, I cannot think that the act quoted above was intended to secure

to the complainant an exclusive right to use this well known figure in

the manufacture of reels. The act, although it does not require utility

in order to secure the benefit of its provisions, does require that

the shape produced shall be the result of industry, effort genius, or

expense, and must also, I think, be held to require that the shape or

configuration sought to be secured shall, at least, be new and original

as applied to articles of manufacture. But here the shape is a common

one in many articles of manufacture, and its application to a reel

cannot fairly be said to be the result of industry, genius, effort,

and expense. No advantage whatever is pretended to be derived from the

adoption of the form selected by the complainant, except the incidental

one of using it as a trademark. Its selection can hardly be said to be

the result of effort even; it was simply an arbitrary chance selection

of one of many well-known shapes, all equally well adapted to the

purpose. To hold that such an application of a common form can

be secured by letters patent, would be giving the act of 1861 a

construction broader than I am willing to give it"

It would seem from this language that if there had been "advantage,"

that is, utility in the adoption of the form of the rhombus, that it

would have found more favor in the eyes of the Court.

This subject has been well discussed in the opinion of Commissioner

Foote in Crane _ex parte_. I concur in that opinion, except as to

the recital of the former practice of the Office, which a careful

examination has shown to be erroneous.

The third question may be readily disposed of. Modes of operation or

construction, principles of action, combinations to secure novelty or

utility of movement, or compositions of matter, can hardly be said to be

"shapes, configurations, or designs," but where the sole utility of the

new device arises from its new shape or configuration, I think it may

fairly be included among the subjects which the act of 1842 was designed

to protect.

The present case may, in view of the foregoing consideration, be

disposed of without difficulty. Letters patent are asked, by applicant,

for a new design for a rubber eraser, which consists in giving to the

eraser a cylindrical body, with ends beveled to an edge. The claim is

for the "cylindrical rubber eraser provided with a wrapper or case, as

herein shown and described"

In the body of the specification the applicant describes the mode of

making the eraser, and he also enumerates its advantages over erasers of

the ordinary forms.

The Examiner does not object to the application because of the utility

of the eraser, although the Board of Examiners in Chief seem to base

their decision upon that point alone, but he pronounces the form already

old in its application to artists' stumps, and he insists that the mode

of composition or construction can form no element, for the claim for a

design patent.

In the latter statement he is undoubtedly right. These patents are

granted solely for new shapes or forms, and the form being new it is

immaterial by what process that form is attained. The composition of

matter or the mode of construction is neither "design," "shape," nor

"configuration," and must be protected, if at all, under a patent of

another kind. I cannot say that the presence of such matter in the

specification would be objectionable if description merely, but it could

in no way be allowed to enter into, or to modify the claim.

As to the first ground of rejection, I think the Examiner is in error.

This purports to be a new form or shape of a distinct article of

manufacture, to wit: rubber erasers. If it be new, as thus applied, it

is immaterial whether pencils, or stumps, or pen holders, or anything

else may or may not have been made cylindrical. If they are not

substantially the same article of manufacture as erasers, the old form

applied to this new article is unquestionably entitled to protection.

The applicant has not defined his invention with entire accuracy. He

should strike from his claim the words "provided with a wrapper or

case," as those relate to construction and not configuration, and he

should insert the words "having the ends beveled to an edge" in lieu

of the phrase erased, or he should adopt the usual form of claim for

designs, viz: "The design for a rubber eraser, as shown and described."

As the claim stands, it ought not to be allowed, and the decision must

be affirmed, but the applicant will be allowed to amend as suggested.

(Signed) S.S. FISHER.

Commissioner of Patents

* * * * *

Inventions Patented In England by Americans.

[Compiled from the "Journal of the Commissioners of Patents."]

PROVISIONAL PROTECTION FOR SIX MONTHS.

3,201.--SEWING MACHINE.--H.A. House, Bridgeport, Conn. November 4, 1869.

3,211.--BORING TOOL.--Alexander Allen, New York city. November 5 1869.

3,215.--MODE OF AND DEVICES FOE SECURING STAIR RODS.--H. Uhry, New York

city. November 6, 1869.

3,229.--TRANSPORTATION OF LETTERS, PARCELS, AND OTHER FREIGHT BY

ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH.--A. E.

Beach, Stratford, Conn. November 9, 1869.

3,303.--RELOADING CARTRIDGE SHELL.--R.J. Gatling, Indianapolis, Ind.

November 16, 1869.

3,342.--WOODEN PAVEMENT.--I. Hayward and J.F. Paul, Boston, Mass.

November 20, 1869.

3,358.--MACHINERY FOR DISTRIBUTING TYPE.--O.L. Brown, Boston, Mass.

November 20,1869.

3,219.--WEIGHING MACHINE.--M. Kennedy, New York city. November 10, 1869.

3,260.--BRAN DUSTER.--W. Huntley and A. Babcock, Silver Creek, N.Y.

November 12, 1869.

3,339.--RAILWAY CARRIAGE.--E. Robbins, Cincinnati, Ohio. November 19,

1869.

3,341.--REVOLVING BATTERY GUN.--R.J. Gatling, Indianapolis, Ind. Nov.

19, 1869.

3,360.--SASH FASTENER.--S.L. Loomis, South Byron, N.Y. November 20,

1869.

3,363.--MAGNETIC MACHINES AND MAGNETS.--J. Burroughs, Jr., Newark N.J.

November 20, 1869.

* * * * *

Russ' Improved Wood Molding Machine.

A comprehensive description of this excellent machine was given upon

page 230, Vol. XVIII., of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. We now present our

readers with an engraving of it and a summary of its important features,

which doubtless render it equal if not superior to any machine of the

kind in market. The frame in which the feed rollers are arranged is so

hung to the frame-work of the molding machine, that it can be raised or

lowered at pleasure, in order to properly adjust the feed rollers for

action upon the "stuff," and it is also so constructed as to permit the

feed rollers to yield in case of variations in the thickness of the

"stuff" passing under them. The spindle of the side cutter-heads is hung

in a vertical frame arranged to be moved up and down, and laterally, to

adjust the cutter-head for action, and is provided at its upper end with

a box or bearing, whereby the bearing of the box is always kept upon the

spindle instead of at different points of the same as in other machines,

and this without interfering with the adjustability of the side

cutter-head. Thus uneven wear is avoided.

[Illustration: RUSS' MONITOR MOLDING MACHINE.]

The bed of the machine is formed with a series of slots or openings

provided with bridge bars so that the cutters may act upon the edges of

the stuff without danger of injury from striking the bed. The presser

shoe is also made adjustable for different thicknesses of the "stuff"

and self-yielding to variations in thickness, by a peculiar method of

hanging the bar, which carries the presser shoe, to the framework of the

machine.

The clamp which holds the press block which acts upon the "stuff" after

it has passed through the cutter, is of novel construction, and the

spindle of the side cutter-heads is so arranged in connection with a

loose pulley and the pulley-drums, that both cutter-heads are driven by

one belt and in the same direction.

The bed plate is provided with springs through which the side

cutter-heads are arranged, to move laterally or transversely with a

bridge-plate or plates, susceptible of adjustment independent of the

cutter-heads, whereby an adjustable support to the "stuff" is given as

it passes over the line of the openings in the bed.

Most machines have weighted pressure feed, but this having steel springs

adjustable by a screw and hand wheel, a heavy or light pressure can be

applied according to the work done or size of molding. The cutter-heads

are square and slotted so that any style of molding can be stuck by

putting cutters on all sides of the head, thus equalizing the cost and

lessening the power. The pressure shoe is arranged to hold the "stuff"

at the very point of contact with the cutters, and, as we have shown, is

readily adjusted to a long or short cutter, so that a small molding can

be made as smooth as a large one, and so as not to require any finishing

with sandpaper or a hand tool.

The machine has also a bevel track very useful for picture frame

molding, and a patent cap of great value for the cutters, and readily

applied to any slotted head or common head. The wrenches that go with

the machine, and the common malleable iron caps for the top cylinder,

are shown in detail. These machines are now running in Worcester,

Boston, and Fitchburg, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.: Philadelphia, Pa.;

Brattleboro, Vt.; Whitesboro, N. Y.; Charleston, S. C., and other

places, and, it is claimed, are capable of doing better work and more of

it than any machine now in use.

This machine is covered by several patents taken through the Scientific

American Patent Agency. It is manufactured by R. Ball & Co., of

Worcester, Mass, to whom write for further information.

* * * * *

A Lost Civilization.

At the last regular meeting of the American Geographical and Statistical

Society at its rooms in the Cooper Institute, Professor Newberry,

of Columbia College, delivered an address on the subject of his

explorations in Utah and Arizona Territories. The speaker commenced

by giving a short history of the circumstances under which the two

government expeditions to which he was attached were organized. He then

confined his remarks to the subject of the latter expedition, no account

of which has yet been published. Its aim was principally to explore the

region embraced by what is known as the old Spanish trail from Santa Fe

to California. After giving an interesting account of the topography of

the region traversed, he proceeded to speak of the traces which were

found on every hand of a former occupancy by a numerous population now

extinct. These were most numerous near the course of the San Juan river.

There were found ruins of immense structures, a view of one of which he

exhibited, built regularly of bricks, a foot in thickness, and about

eighteen inches in length, with the joints properly broken, and as

regularly laid and as smooth as any in a Fifth Avenue mansion. This

structure he said was as large as the Croton reservoir. Inside were

rooms nicely plastered as the walls of a modern house. There were also

traces of extensive canals, which had been constructed to bring water to

these towns, which were received into large cisterns. The lecturer also

exhibited pieces of pottery which he said abounded everywhere, showing

that in a former age all this vast region had been inhabited. He gave it

as his opinion that the depopulation of this region was attributable to

the fact that both to the north and the south were warlike hordes, and

from the incursions of one and the other of these, the peaceable Aztecs,

who had been the former denizens of the country, had been gradually

wiped out. The only people left here now were the Mokies, who lived

in towns inclosed within high, thick walls, and who were almost

inaccessible. These people were visited, and the explorers were received

by them with great hospitality. The speaker concluded by giving a short

account of the manners of the people and their customs, as far as an

opportunity was had to observe them.

* * * * *

GIRARD'S "PALIER GLISSANT."

The term "_palier glissant_," which does not admit of being very happily

translated into an English term of equal brevity, is the name given by

the inventor, Mr. Girard, to a frictionless support, or socket, designed

to sustain the axes of heavy wheels in machinery. Since it is a

contrivance deriving its efficacy from hydraulic pressure, it may,

without impropriety, be considered here. The friction of axles in their

supports is the occasion of a considerable loss of power in every

machine.

[Illustration]

The loss of power itself, though a real disadvantage, is nevertheless a

matter of secondary consequence compared with the attendant elevation

of temperature, which, were not means carefully provided for reducing

friction to the lowest point possible, might soon be so great as to

arrest the operation of the machine itself. It was stated in a public

lecture delivered in May, 1867, before the Scientific Association of

France, that, in a certain instance within the lecturer's knowledge, the

screw shaft of a French naval propeller became absolutely welded to its

support, though surrounded by the water of the sea, in consequence of

the great heat developed by its revolution.

The ordinary means of reducing friction is to apply oil, or some other

unctuous substance, to the parts which move upon each other. Some

disadvantages attend this expedient, but till a better is suggested

they have to be endured. The cost of the oil expended in maintaining in

proper condition the axles of the machinery in a foundery, or of the

rolling stock of a railroad, amounts to a large sum annually; while the

want of neatness which its use makes, to a certain extent, inevitable,

and the labor which must be constantly employed to prevent this want of

neatness from becoming much greater than it is, are serious items to be

set off against its positive usefulness.

The object of Mr. Girard is to get rid of all these drawbacks by the

simple expedient of substituting water for oil. It would not avail to

apply water precisely as oil is applied. Though any one's experience may

tell him that two smooth pieces of metal will slide more smoothly on

each other when they are wet than when they are dry, yet every one knows

also that oil facilitates the movement much more perceptibly than water;

and also, that in the case of oil there is no difficulty in maintaining

the lubricating film, whereas water easily evaporates, and in case of

the accident of even a moderate elevation of temperature, it would be

expelled from the joint entirely. Mr. Girard proposes, therefore, to

employ the water to act, first, by its pressure, to lift the Journal to

be lubricated; and secondly, by its fluidity, to form a liquid bed or

cushion between the journal and its box, on which the journal may rest

in its revolution, without touching the metal of the box at all.

The construction will be understood by referring to the figure. One of

the journals is represented as removed, and in the cylindrical surface

of the socket are seen grooves occupying a considerable part of the area

exposed. These grooves communicate, by an aperture in the middle, with

a tube which is represented externally, and which sends a branch to the

other journal, through which water under a heavy pressure is introduced

into the box beneath the journal. The effect of the hydraulic pressure

is to lift the axle, opening a passage for the escape of the compressed

water, which at the same time, because of its release from compression,

loses the power to sustain the weight. If, therefore, by the first

impulse, the axle is thrown upward to any sensible distance, it will

immediately fall back again, once more confining more or less completely

the water. After one or two oscillations, therefore, the axle will

settle itself at length in a position in which, while the water will

escape, it will escape but as a film of inappreciable thickness. In this

condition the journal turns upon a liquid bed, and the resistance to its

revolution is so excessively small that a slow rotation given by hand

to a wheel sustained by it will be maintained for many minutes without

perceptible retardation. In fact, the most striking illustration which

can be given of the immense superiority of the _palier glissant_ over

a support lubricated in in any other way, is furnished by placing two

precisely similar wheels or disks side by side, weighing five or six

pounds each, with a diameter of seven or eight inches, and journals

of half an inch in diameter; one of them furnished with _paliers

glissants_, and the other with boxes lubricated with fine oil. Give each

of them a velocity of rotation of about one revolution in a second; the

one lubricated with oil will come to rest before the other begins to

give evidence of any sensible retardation; but if at any moment the

stop-cock which supplies the water to the second be turned, this one

will also stop, and its stopping will be instantaneous.

It might be supposed that a journal supported in the manner above

described would be unsteady and liable to injurious vibrations. This is

not the case, and it is easy to see why not. When the journal is truly

in the middle of the socket, that is to say when there is an equal

distance between it and the wall of the socket on either side, it will

be equally pressed from both sides. But if it is in the least displaced

laterally, the pressure on the side toward which it moves will instantly

increase, while that on the other side will correspondingly diminish:

both causes transpiring to resist the displacement, and to maintain the

journal in the position of true equilibrium.

The water pressure by which these "slippery supports" are supplied must

be created by a force pump worked by the machine itself. The reservoir

need not be large as the expenditure of water is very minute in volume.

To the objection which may naturally be made, that the working of the

pump must be a tax on the motive power without return, a reply at once

simple and satisfactory is found in the experience of Mr. Girard, that

the working of the pump does not consume so much as half, and sometimes

not more than one one quarter, of the power which is lost in friction

when the ordinary modes of lubrication are employed; so that by the

adoption of this expedient the available power of the machine is

very sensibly increased after deducting all that is expended in the

performance of this additional work.

* * * * *

BEES BENEFICIAL TO FRUIT.--Dr. A. Packard, editor of the _American

Naturalist_, replies to a query in regard to the effects produced upon

fruit by the agency of honey bees, that all the evidence given by

botanists and zoologists who have specially studied the subject, shows

that bees improve the quality and tend to increase the quantity of

fruit. They aid in the fertilization of flowers, thus preventing the

occurrence of sterile flowers, and, by more thoroughly fertilizing

flowers already perfect, render the production of sound and well

developed fruit more sure. Many botanists think if it were not for bees,

and other insects, many plants would not bear fruit at all.

* * * * *

Steamboats on the American plan are to be introduced on Lake Geneva,

Switzerland. This will add very greatly to the comfort and pleasure of

tourists on that beautiful lake.

* * * * *

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

MUNN & COMPANY, Editors and Proprietors.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT NO. 37 PARK ROW (PARK BUILDING), NEW YORK.

O.D. MUNN. S.H. WALES. A.E. BEACH.

* * * * *

"The American News Company," Agents, 121 Nassau street, New York

"The New York News Company," 8 Spruce street

* * * * *

VOL. XVII., No. 1....[NEW SERIES.]...._Twenty-fifth Year_.

NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY, 1, 1870.

* * * * *

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Is the heartfelt wish conveyed in this beautiful and unusually large

number, to each and all of our friends and readers This holiday number

is worthy of note not only on account of its size, its rich table of

contents, and profuse illustrations, but because we publish this week

the largest edition ever sent out from this office.

Our readers may be surprised at our publishing the title page of the

volume again this week but they will please observe it is the title page

of Vol XXII, which we are now commencing The title pages will hereafter

be published with the first instead of the last number of each volume,

so as to bring it in its proper place for binding.

Subscriptions are pouring in from all parts of the country in the most

encouraging manner. Many have already secured the prize engraving, by

sending in the requisite number of names-but we feel obliged to confess

that there is now a considerable want of vitality in the competition

for the cash prizes. We expect however, that as soon as the new year's

greetings are fairly exchanged, that this opportunity to receive some

purse money will attract the attention of our enterprising readers The

times may be a little close just now, but we are confident that the

spring will open joyously, and we are quite sure that the people will

still want to know what is going on in the GREAT WORLD OF INDUSTRY,

which, it will be our duty to chronicle.

All lists intended to compete for the cash premium must be marked "Cash

prize list."

Once more we say a "Happy New Year" to all.

* * * * *

THE SUEZ CANAL NOT YET A FAILURE.

The daily press is giving currency to a great many facts in regard to

the present incomplete condition of the Suez Canal, and some journals

are arguing therefrom that it is a failure. As yet, ships of heavy draft

are unable to get through it. Some disasters to shipping have occurred

in the Red Sea after the canal has been passed, and it is not at

all improbable that more troubles will arise before everything goes

smoothly.

The Red Sea is comparatively unknown to navigators. It contains hidden

rocks which must be charted and buoyed before its navigation can be

rendered safe. Surely this ought not to take the world by surprise.

As to the canal itself, we are only surprised that it has reached its

present state of perfection and we advise those who now make haste to

prophesy ignominious defeat for one of the greatest enterprises of the

century, to suspend judgment for a time. New York journalists might

certainly call to mind with profit, the annual troubles attending the

opening of the canals in this State. Frosts heave and rats undermine,

and banks annually give way, yet these things are not regarded as

surprising. But upon the opening of a work, to which all the minor

canals in the world are like the rods of the magicians to Aaron's rod

which swallowed them up, it is expected that everything shall move

without difficulty, and that no oversight will have been committed.

Truly this would be to attribute a power of prevision to M. Lesseps

beyond what is human. The world can afford to wait a little till this

huge machine gets oiled. Great enterprises move slow at the outset. We

have yet unshaken faith in the ultimate success of the Suez Canal.

* * * * *

TUBULAR BOILERS AND BOILER EXPLOSIONS.

In our description of the novel steam boiler, published on page 209,

last volume, we made a quotation from several eminent writers and

experimenters on the subjects of heat and steam, to the effect that

the tubular system in steam boilers was wrong in theory and unsafe in

practice, and although this system has hitherto been extensively used on

account of some advantages which it secures, it has long been a serious

question with thinking men whether these advantages were not obtained at

too dear a rate.

While not prepared to admit all the force of the objections made to the

tubular system, there are arguments against it that it will not do to

treat lightly and which seem to us more and more forcible the more we

candidly reflect upon the subject. One of the most forcible of these

which occurs to us is, that in the tubular system the disruptive force

of unequal expansion is far more likely to become a cause of danger than

in the plain cylinder boiler. In such boilers the tension of expanded

tubes is transmitted to the shell, which are greatly strained without

doubt, often nearly to the verge of rupture. When this occurs it is

evident an unusual strain, caused by sudden generation of steam, would

act in concert with the expansion of the tubes, and we have no doubt

these causes combined have given rise to many an explosion when the

steam, acting singly, could never have produced rupture.

But while we give due weight to this argument, there is one often

referred to by our correspondents, and which we often see stated in

newspapers, as ridiculous as the one we have noticed is forcible. It

is that when, in such boilers, water, by carelessness or otherwise, is

allowed to fall below any of the tubes, the steam which surrounds them

is decomposed, and becomes an explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen

gases, ready to explode with terrible violence whenever the temperature

of the tubes shall have reached the proper point.

This argument is ridiculous, because it rests on no experimental basis.

It is a flimsy theory, entirely unsupported by any facts. Never has it

been proved that hot iron, at any temperature likely to be obtained in

steam boiler tubes, decomposes steam except by itself appropriating

the oxygen of the steam, and leaving the hydrogen, by itself no more

explosive than any other heated gas.

The sole object of the tubular boiler is to increase the heating

surface, without corresponding increase in other particulars. That it is

not the only means whereby this object can be secured has already been

demonstrated and we believe will hereafter be shown in divers ways. We

have no more doubt that the next fifty years will witness the total

abandonment of the tubular system, than we have that the world will last

that length of time.

* * * * *

AMERICAN RAILWAY MANAGEMENT.

There seems a growing opinion among railway managers that the sole

end and purpose of a railroad is to line the 6 pockets of, if not its

stockholders, at least its directors. In fact we not long since saw a

statement in a widely-circulated journal, that, as the sole purpose of

railroads is that the companies who own them should make money, it

is absurd to suppose they would be content to manage them in any way

whereby such a result would not be most likely to accrue.

The journal referred to, in making this statement a basis for an

argument in favor of railway consolidation, entirely ignored the rights

of the public from which railway corporations have obtained their

charters. In these charters certain privileges were granted, not out of

pure generosity, but with the understanding that certain benefits

were to accrue to the public. Its safety and convenience were to be

considered as well as the profits to the owners.

Every charter granted to these roads involves a contract on their part

to do the public a certain service, and in a large majority of cases

these contracts are to-day unfulfilled. Day after day sees the power to

control more and more centered in a few unscrupulous wily managers, and

the comfort and safety of passengers more and more disregarded; yet

still the people submit.

But they do not submit without complaint. Now and then a newspaper

correspondent grumbles, and the news of smashes that may be almost daily

seen in the papers gives a text for an occasional editorial blast, as

little heeded by the delinquent companies, as a zephyr is felt by an

oak.

Thus the New York _Times_, on the occasion of a recent railway disaster,

gives vent to a little mild denunciation. It says:

"The general rule in this country (to which there are indeed exceptions)

in regard to the purchase of railway materials is simply this: buy the

cheapest. First cost is the controlling and often the only question

entertained. The nature of the materials and processes to be used in the

manufacture of rails, for instance, are not mentioned. The buyers for

some of our roads, especially new roads, never make the slightest

allusion to quality, and never specify tests and inspections, but

simply go about among the mills, comparing and beating down prices, and

accepting the very lowest. More than one of our rail makers are to-day

rolling, under protest, rails upon which they decline to put their

trade-mark--rails made from the very cheapest materials, in the very

meanest manner--for all that is required is that they shall stick

together till they are laid. And if American makers will not roll them,

Welsh makers will. The late report of the State Engineer of New York

says: 'American railway managers, instead of offering anything like a

reasonable price for good iron rails, have made themselves notorious by

establishing as standard, a brand of rails known all over the world as

"American rails," which are confessedly bought and sold as the weakest,

most impure, least worked, least durable, and cheapest rails that can be

produced.' The State Engineer refers, in confirmation of this opinion,

to the statement of Mr. A.S. Hewitt, United States Commissioner to the

Paris Exposition, a statement not yet controverted; and to a statement

of Mr. Sandberg, an English engineer of note, in the London _Times_.

A leading American railway president and reformer has publicly said:

'There is a fear on my part that railway companies will themselves tempt

steel makers to send a poor article by buying the cheapest--first cost

only considered--_as they did with the ironmasters_.'"

This certainly is a blessed state of affairs. We have given privileges

to giant corporations, which they have improved so profitably, that they

now can defeat, in our Legislatures, any attempt to revoke them, and can

laugh at any demand for better management.

Disguise it how we may, the railroads have got the upper hand of the

people, and they seem likely to keep it, unless, indeed, their rapacity

shall react against themselves.

At the moment of this writing accounts reach us of the officers of a

prominent railway line intrenching themselves against the officers of

the law, and employing force to resist the service of precepts calling

them to account for alleged frauds upon the stockholders.

That the Legislature of this State has the power to put a stop to these

disgraceful proceedings, is certain; what it will do remains to be

demonstrated.

* * * * *

THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE PRIZES AWARDED TO STEAM ENGINES.

If there is anybody satisfied with the action of the managers of the

American Institute, in the matter of awarding prizes to the competing

engines exhibited at the recent fair, we have yet to meet that

complacent individual. Neither the exhibitors nor the general public

could be expected to accept with equanimity such a report as the

managers have made, because it is inadequate to give any real idea of

the relative merits of the engines tested. The exhibitors, at a large

expense, took their engines to the hall of exhibition, placed them in

position, and with them drove the machinery exhibited there; and now,

when in return they had a right to expect a decided, manly course on the

part of the managers, the oyster is swallowed and the contestants are

each politely handed a shell.

The conditions on which the general test was to be made contained, among

other specifications, these: that "the water supplied to and evaporated

in the boiler will be measured by means of a meter, and the coal burned

may also be weighed."

Only one of the conditions quoted was properly complied with. The coal

was weighed, but though a meter was used to measure the water, tests

made, we are informed, _after the trial of the engines_, showed that

the meter was so inaccurate as to completely invalidate any calculation

based upon its record of the water supplied. Nevertheless this has,

we are credibly informed, been made the basis of calculation; and the

amount of coal consumed during each trial has been rejected either as a

basis of calculation or a check on the inaccuracy of the meter.

Other prescribed regulations were observed with great care. The engines

were indicated in a masterly manner by a gentleman of great experience,

as the cards--tracings of which we have seen--bear ample testimony. The

temperature of the feedwater was 47 degrees; it should, in our opinion,

have been heated, but we waive this point. The state of the barometer

and temperatures of engine room and fire-room were observed; but

we respectfully submit, that with coal consumption left out of the

calculation, and the water consumption an unascertained quantity, the

question of relative economy, the vital point to be settled, is as

uncertain today as it was before the test.

In the _Tribune_ of December 20, appeared a statement of the test to

ascertain the accuracy of the meter used, which showed that in an

aggregate of twelve tests it varied nearly three per cent in its record

from the actual quantity delivered, while at times it was so erratic

that it varied in one instance over _ten per cent_.

Truly, considered in connection with this fundamental error,

temperatures of engine and boiler rooms, and states of barometer, will

not count for much with engineers.

An oversight like this would, however, never have been laid at the door

of the managers, however it might invalidate the test; but when the

utterly absurd decision announced in the papers, after a tedious delay

had led the public to expect an exhaustive statement, gave rise to

general disappointment and excited the utmost dissatisfaction, it became

manifest that a manly, straightforward course on their part was not to

be hoped for, and that any protest against the consummation of the farce

would be vain.

It is not for us to decide on the merits of the engines submitted to

test. It was for the judges to do this. We maintain that nothing that

the public will accept as a decision has been reached, and on behalf of

the public we protest that the managers have not only placed themselves

in a very unenviable position by their action in the premises, but have

done a lasting injury to the American Institute, the results of which

will be disastrously felt in future exhibitions.

The studied ambiguity of the report which awards two first prizes to

the competing engines, is no less apparent than the desire to shun

responsibility.

* * * * *

A PROTEST AGAINST THE CANADIAN PATENT LAW.

In July, 1869, the New Dominion Patent Law went into operation, but it

has not yet been approved by the Queen, and if rejected the Canadian

Parliament will perhaps try its hand again. Although Canadians may

freely go to all parts of the world and take out patents for their

inventions, they have always manifested a mean spirit and adopted a

narrow policy, in reference to inventors of other nations. Their present

patent laws are so framed as practically to debar all persons except

Canadians from taking patents; and the result is that American and

English inventions are pirated and patented in the Dominion, without so

much as a "thank you, sir," to the _bona fide_ originators.

A protest has been presented to her Majesty's Secretary of State for the

Colonies, asking that the new law may be rejected, on the ground that it

deprives the subjects of the Crown of their equal rights throughout

the empire. There is force in this objection, and Lord Granville has

promised that it shall be duly considered before the Queen is advised to

sign the law.

The probable result will be a revision of the Dominion patent code so as

to let in Englishmen but exclude the Yankees, from whom the Canadians

derive whatever of improvement, progress, and energy they possess.

* * * * *

THE BRIGHTER SIDE.

Ingratitude seldom enters into the composition of a true inventor, and

nothing in our business career has afforded us more pleasure than the

frequent letters addressed to us by those who have, during more than

twenty years, employed the Scientific American Patent Agency. We cannot

find room for all the pleasant missives that come to us from our

extensive list of clients, but we may give a few as samples of the many.

Mr. Daniel J. Gale, of Sheboygan, Wis., has recently secured through our

Agency Letters Patent for a "Perpetual and Lunar Calendar Clock." In the

fullness of his satisfaction he thus writes: "The fact is, I shall never

be able to thank you sufficiently for what you have done for me. I

sent you a copy of the paper printed here, which favorably notices my

improvement and your great Agency. The fees charged me for my patent

have been low enough. Already, by one of my own townsmen, I have been

offered $4,000 for my interest in the patent. But I must not take up too

much of your I time. Please allow me to add that I regularly receive

your valuable paper, the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, and that you may number me

as one of its stanch friends."

Mr. Edwin Norton, of Brooklyn, N.Y., in a recent note, says: "Allow me

to express my thanks for the promptness and efficiency with which the

business of obtaining a patent for my 'Cinder and Dust Arrester' has

been conducted through your Agency--and not only in this case but in

several previous ones. This is the _fourth_ patent obtained by me

through four Agency within nine months. It gives me pleasure to add my

testimony to that of many others, with respect to the very satisfactory

manner in which your Patent Agency is conducted."

Mr. E. J. Marstens says, in reference to his improved "Field Press"--"I

find everything correct. You certainly accomplished more than I expected

after the first examination by the Primary Examiner. I hope soon to be

able to give you another case."

Mr. S. P. Williams, an old client, writes as follows: "I received the

patent on my 'Trace Lock for Whiffletrees,' and I am truly pleased with

the prompt manner in which you have done the business. It is only a few

weeks since I made the application, and I expected that it would be as

many months before the patent could be granted."

* * * * *

PROFESSOR FISKE'S LECTURES AT HARVARD.

It certainly argues well for the intellectual character of the readers

of the New York _World_ that during the prevalent taste for sensational

journalism, it has found the publication of a series of philosophical

lectures acceptable. We thank our neighbor for thus making these

lectures available to the general public. Their ability is

unquestionable; and the calmness and candor which Professor Fiske brings

to the treatment of the subject is such as to add greatly to the force

of his logic.

The "positive philosophy" has been shown by Professor Fiske to be much

misunderstood, misapprehension not being confined solely to the ranks of

its opponents.

His exposition of some of the misconceptions on which Professor Huxley

has based some criticisms upon the writings of Comte, strikes us as

especially forcible; and the whole course of lectures proves Professor

Fiske to be one of the clearest and most able of American thinkers.

These lectures are followed as they appear, with great interest, and

their publication in the World we regard as a real and permanent benefit

to the public.

* * * * *

SCIENTIFIC LECTURES BEFORE THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE.

The announcement of these lectures came to hand too late for our last

issue, and the first has already been delivered. The course is as

follows: Friday, Dec. 17, The Battle Fields of Science, by Andrew D.

White, President of the Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. Friday, Dec.

24, How Animals Move, by Professor E. S. Morse, of the Peabody Academy

of Science, Salem, Mass. Friday, Dec. 31, The Correlation of Vital and

Physical Forces, by Professor G. F. Barker, of Yale College, New Haven.

Friday, Jan. 7, The Air and Respiration, by Professor J. C. Draper, of

the College of the City of New York. Friday, Jan. 14, The Connection

of Natural Science and Mental Philosophy, by Professor J. Bascom, of

Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. Friday, Jan. 21, The Constitution

of the Sun, by Dr. B. A. Gould, of Cambridge, Mass. Friday, Jan. 28,

The Colorado Plateau, its Canons and Ruined Cities, by Professor J. S.

Newberry, of Columbia College, New York.

The course is a good one, and ought to be, and doubtless will be, well

attended. Abstracts of the lectures will appear as delivered, in the

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.

* * * * *

THE BATTLE FIELDS OF SCIENCE.

LECTURE BY PROFESSOR WHITE, BEFORE THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE.

This lecture did not disappoint the expectations of those familiar with

the subject of the discourse, which, considering the difficulty of

restating familiar historical facts in such a manner as to clothe them

in a garb of originality, is high praise. Many, however, found great

difficulty in hearing the speaker at the back part of the hall, and some

left the room on that account. This was unfortunate, as the lecture will

scarcely be exceeded in interest by any subsequent one of the course.

The speaker said that "In all modern history, interference with science

in the supposed interest of religion--no matter how conscientious such

interference may have been--has resulted in the direst evils both to

religion and science, and _invariably_. And on the other hand all

untrammeled scientific investigation, no matter how dangerous to

religion some of its stages may have seemed, temporarily, to be, has

invariably resulted in the highest good of religion and science. I say

_invariably_--I mean exactly that. It is a rule to which history shows

not one exception. It would seem, logically, that this statement could

not be gainsaid. God's truth must agree, whether discovered by looking

within upon the soul or without upon the world. A truth written upon the

human heart to-day in its full play of emotions or passions, cannot be

at any real variance even with a truth written upon a fossil whose poor

life was gone millions of years ago. And this being so, it would also

seem a truth irrefragable; that the search for each of these kind of

truths must be followed out in its own lines, by its own methods, to its

own results, without any interference from investigators along other

lines by other methods. And it would also seem logically that we might

work on in absolute confidence that whatever, at any moment, might seem

to be the relative positions of the two different bands of workers, they

must at last come together, for truth is one. But logic is not history.

History is full of interferences which have cost the earth dear.

Strangest of all, some of the most direful of them have been made by

the best of men, actuated by the purest motives, seeking the noblest

results. These interferences and the struggle against them make up the

warfare of science. One statement more to clear the ground. You will not

understand me at all to say that religion has done nothing for science.

It has done much for it. The work of Christianity has been mighty

indeed. Through these 2,000 years it has undermined servitude, mitigated

tyranny, given hope to the hopeless, comfort to the afflicted, light to

the blind, bread to the starving, life to the dying, and all this

work continues. And its work for science, too, has been great. It has

fostered science often and developed it. It has given great minds to it,

and but for the fears of the timid its record in this respect would have

been as great as in the other. Unfortunately, religious men started

centuries ago with the idea that purely scientific investigation is

unsafe--that theology must intervene. So began this great modern war."

Professor White next reviewed the battle between science and theology

on the subjects of the "earth's shape, surface, and relations," "the

position of the earth among the heavenly bodies," in which Copernicus

and Galileo struggled so bravely and successfully for truth.

The lecturer said:

"The principal weapons in the combat are worth examining. They are very

easily examined; you may pick them up on any of the battle-fields of

science; but on that field they were used with more effect than on

almost any other. These weapons were two epithets--the epithets

'Infidel' and 'Atheist.' These can hardly be classed with civilized

weapons; they are burning arrows; they set fire to great masses of

popular prejudices. Smoke rises to obscure the real questions. Fire

bursts out at times to destroy the attacked party. They are poisoned

weapons. They go to the heart of loving women; they alienate dear

children; they injure the man after life is ended, for they leave

poisoned wounds in the hearts of those who loved him best--fears for his

eternal happiness, dread of the Divine displeasure. The battle-fields

of science are thickly strewn with these. They have been used against

almost every man who has ever done anything for his fellow-men. The list

of those who have been denounced as Infidel and Atheist includes almost

all great men of science--general scholars, inventors, philanthropists.

The deepest Christian life, the most noble Christian character has not

availed to shield combatants. Christians like Isaac Newton and Pascal,

and John Locke and John Howard, have had these weapons hurled against

them. Nay, in these very times we have seen a noted champion hurl these

weapons against John Milton, and with it another missile which often

appears on these battle-fields--the epithets of 'blasphemer' and 'hater

of the Lord.' Of course, in these days these weapons though often

effective in disturbing the ease of good men and though often powerful

in scaring women, are somewhat blunted. Indeed, they do not infrequently

injure assailants more than assailed. So it was not in the days of

Galileo. These weapons were then in all their sharpness and venom.

The first champion who appears against him is Bellarmine, one of the

greatest of theologians and one of the poorest of scientists. He was

earnest, sincere, learned, but made the fearful mistake for the world

of applying direct literal interpretation of Scripture to science. The

consequences were sad, indeed. Could he with his vast powers have taken

a different course, humanity would have been spared the long and fearful

war which ensued, and religion would have saved to herself thousands

on thousands of the best and brightest men in after ages. The weapons,

which men of Bellarmine's stamp used, were theological. They held

up before the world the dreadful consequences which must result to

Christian theology were the doctrine to prevail that the heavenly bodies

revolve about the sun, and not about the earth.

"The next great series of battles were fought on those great fields

occupied by such sciences as _Chemistry and Natural Philosophy_. Even

before these sciences were out of their childhood--while yet they were

tottering mainly towards, childish objects and by childish steps--the

champions of that same old mistaken conception of rigid Scriptural

interpretation began the war. The catalogue of chemists and physicists

persecuted or thwarted would fill volumes."

After alluding to many other battle-fields of science which might not

for want of time be dwelt upon at length the lecturer reviewed the

battle grounds of medicine and anatomy on which some of the severest

warfare has been waged.

The speaker here remarked that "perhaps the most unfortunate thing that

has ever been done for Christianity is the tying it to forms of science

and systems of education, which are doomed and gradually sinking. Just

as in the time of Roger Bacon excellent but mistaken men devoted all

their energies to binding Christianity to Aristotle. Just as in the time

of Reuchlin and Erasmus they insisted on binding Christianity to Thomas

Aquinas, so in the time of Vesalius such men gave all efforts to linking

Christianity to Galen. The cry has been the same in all ages. It is the

same which we hear in this age against scientific studies--the cry

for what is called '_sound learning_.' Whether standing for Aristotle

against Bacon, or Aquinas against Erasmus, or Galen against Vesalius,

or making mechanical Greek verses at Eton, instead of studying the

handiwork of the Almighty, or reading Euripides with translations

instead of Leasing and Goethe in the original, the cry always is for

'sound learning.' The idea always is that these studies are _safe_."

The speaker next proceeded to show that not alone in Catholic countries,

has such warfare been waged, and that even now in Protestant America the

fight is going on.

One of the fields on which the severest warfare had raged in Protestant

countries was that of Geology. "From the first lispings of investigators

in this science there was war. The early sound doctrine was that fossil

remains were _lusus naturae_--freaks of nature--and in 1517 Fracastor

was violently attacked because he thought them something more. No less a

man than Bernard Palissy followed up the contest, on the right side, in

France, but it required 150 years to carry the day fairly against this

single preposterous theory. The champion who dealt it the deadly blow

was Scilla, and his weapons were facts obtained by examination of

the fossils of Calabria, (1670). But the advocates of tampering with

scientific reasoning soon retired to a now position. It was strong, for

it was apparently based upon Scripture--though, as the whole world now

knows, an utterly exploded interpretation of Scripture. The new position

was that the fossils were produced by the deluge of Noah. In vain had

it been shown by such devoted Christians as Bernard Palissy that this

theory was utterly untenable; in vain did good men protest against the

injury sure to result to religion by tying it to a scientific theory

sure to be exploded--the doctrine that the fossils were remains of

animals drowned at the flood continued to be upheld by the great

majority as '_sound_' doctrine. It took 120 year for the searchers

of God's truth, as revealed in nature--such men as Buffon, Linnaeus,

Woodward, and Whitehurst--to run under these mighty fabrics of error,

and by statements which could not be resisted, to explode them.

"Strange as it may at first seem, the war on geology was waged more

fiercely in Protestant countries than Catholic, and of all countries

England furnished the most bitter opponents. You have noted already that

there are generally two sorts of attacks on a new science. First,

there is the attack by pitting against science some great doctrine in

theology. You saw this in astronomy, when Bellarmine and others insisted

that the doctrine of the earth's revolving about the sun is contrary to

the doctrine of the Incarnation. So now against geology it was urged

that the scientific doctrine that the fossils represented animals which

died before Adam was contrary to the doctrine of Adam's fall, and that

death entered the world by sin. Then there is the attack by the literal

interpretation of texts, which serves a better purpose generally in

arousing prejudice. It is difficult to realize it now, but within the

memory of the majority of those before me, the battle was raging most

fiercely in England, and both these kinds of artillery were in full play

and filling the civilized world with their roar. Less than thirty years

ago, the Rev. J. Mellor Brown was hurling at all geologists alike, and

especially at such Christian divines as Dr. Burkland, Dean Conybeare,

and Pye Smith, and such religious scholars as Professor Sedgwick, the

epithets of 'Infidel,' 'Impugner of the Sacred Record,' and 'Assailant

of the Volume of God.' His favorite weapon was the charge that these

men were 'attacking the Truth of God,' forgetting that they were simply

opposing the mistaken interpretations of J. Mellor Brown. He declared

geology 'not a subject of lawful inquiry;' he speaks of it as 'a dark

art,' as 'dangerous and disreputable,' as a 'forbidden province.' This

attempt to scare men from science having failed, various other means

were taken.

"To say nothing about England, it is humiliating to human nature to

remember the trials to which the pettiest and narrowest of men subjected

such Christian scholars in our country as Benjamin Silliman and Edward

Hitchcock. But it is a duty and a pleasure to state here that one great

Christian scholar did honor to religion and to himself by standing

up for the claims of science despite all these clamors. That man was

Nicholas Wiseman, better known afterward as Cardinal Wiseman. The

conduct of this pillar of the Roman Catholic Church contrasts nobly with

that of timid Protestants who were filling England with shrieks and

denunciations. Perhaps the most singular attempt against geology was

that made by a fine specimen of the English Don, Dean Cockburn of York,

to _abuse_ its champions out of the field. Without apparently the

simplest elementary knowledge of geology, he opened a battery of abuse.

He gives it to the world at large by pulpit and press; he even inflicts

it upon leading statesmen by private letters. But these weapons did not

succeed. They were like Chinese gongs and dragon lanterns against rifled

cannon. Buckland, Pye Smith, Lyell, Silliman, Hitchcock, Murchison,

Agassiz, Dana, and a host of of noble champions besides, pressed on the

battle for truth was won. And was it won merely for men of science?

The whole civilized world declares that it was won for religion; that

thereby has infinitely increased the knowledge of the power and goodness

of God."

The lecturer classed the present opposition of the Catholics to the Free

School system in this country among the long list of battles between

science and theology and concluded his lecture as follows:

"But, my friends, I will not weary you with so recent a chapter in the

history of the great warfare extending through the centuries. There

are cheering omens. The greatest and best men in the churches--the men

standing at centers of thought--are insisting with power, more and more,

that religion shall no longer be tied to so injurious a policy--that

searchers for truth, whether in Theology or Natural Science, shall work

on as friends, sure that, no matter how much at variance they may at

times seem to be, the truths they reach shall finally be fused into each

other. No one need fear the result. No matter whether science shall

complete her demonstration that man has been on the earth six thousand

years or six hundred thousand. No matter whether she reveal new ideas of

the Creator or startling relations between his creatures--the result,

when fully thought out, will serve and strengthen religion not less than

science. The very finger of the Almighty has written on history that

science must be studied by means proper to itself, and in no other way.

That history is before us all. No one can gainsay it. It is decisive,

for it is this: There has never been a scientific theory framed for the

use of Scriptural texts, which has been made to stand. This fact alone

shows that our wonderful volume of sacred literature was not given for

any such purpose as that to which so many earnest men have endeavored

to wrest it. The power of that volume has been mighty indeed. It has

inspired the best deeds our world has known. Despite the crusts which

men have formed about it--despite the fetters which they have placed

upon it--Christianity has blessed age after age of the past, and will go

on as a blessing through age after age of the future. Let the Warfare

of Science, then, be changed. Let it be a warfare in which religion

and science shall stand together as allies, not against each other as

enemies. Let the fight be for truth of every kind against falsehood of

every kind--for justice against injustice--for right against wrong--for

beauty against deformity--for goodness against vice--and the great

warfare which has brought so many sufferings, shall bring to the earth

God's richest blessings."

* * * * *

HOW FRENCH BANK NOTES ARE MADE.

When a new batch of French notes is to be printed, an equivalent number

of the choicely prepared and preserved sheets of paper is handed over

to the superintendent of the printing office. This office is among the

inner buildings of the Bank of France, and is governed by very rigorous

rules in all things. The operatives are all picked men, skillful,

active, and silent. The sheets, the ink, and the matrixes of the plates

are kept securely under lock and key until actually wanted. The

printing is effected by steam-worked presses. The ink is blue, and its

composition known only to a few of the authorities. An inspector goes

his rounds during the continuance of the operations, watching every

press, every workman, every process. A beautiful machine, distinct from

the press, is employed to print the variable numbers on the note; fed

with sheets of paper, it will number a thousand of them in succession,

changing the digits each time, and scarcely requiring to be touched

meanwhile; even the removal of one note and the placing of another are

effected by automatic agency. At every successive stage the note is

examined. So complete is the registration of everything that a record is

always at hand of the number of sheets rejected ever since the Bank of

France was established, be its defects in the paper, the printing, or

the numbering. When the master-printer has delivered up his packets of

printed and numbered sheets, each note is stamped with the signature of

the Secretary-General and the Comptroller. This completes the _creation_

of notes. The notes so created are kept in a strong box, of which the

Secretary-General and the Comptroller have keys, and are retained until

the day of _issue_. The chief cashier tells the Governor that he wants a

new supply of a particular denomination of notes, the Governor tells the

council, the council tell the secretary-general and the comptroller, and

these two functionaries open their strong box, and hand over the notes

demanded. The notes at this time are not really money; they do not

become so until the chief cashier has put his signature to each, and

registered its number in a book.

The life of a French bank note is said to average two or three

years, and does not terminate until the condition is very shaky

indeed--crimpled, pierced with pinholes, corner creases torn, soft,

tarnished, decrepit while yet young. Some have been half-burned; one has

been found half-digested in the stomach of a goat, and one boiled in a

waistcoat-pocket by a laundress. No matter; the cashier at the bank will

do his best to decipher it; he will indeed take an infinity of trouble

to put together the ashes of a burned note, and will give the owner a

new note or the value in coin, if satisfied of the integrity of the

old one. The bank authorities preserve specimens of this kind as

curiosities, minute fragments gummed in their proper position on a sheet

of paper. Very few of the notes are actually and irrevocably lost.

During the last sixty-seven years 24,000 bank notes of 1,000 francs each

have been issued, and of this number 23,958 had been returned to the

bank by the month of January 1869, leaving only 42 unaccounted for.

Whether these 42 are still in existence, or have seen burned into

uncollected ashes, or are at the bottom of the sea, or elsewhere, is not

known. Of 500-franc notes, 24,935 have been returned out of 25,000. The

bank holds itself morally and financially responsible for the small

number of notes unreturned, ready to cash them if at any time presented.

The bank sends the old notes again and again into circulation, if

verified and usable; but they are examined first, and any that are found

too defective are canceled by stamping a hole in them. These canceled

notes pass from one official to another, and are grouped in classified

bundles; the book that records the birth of each note now receives a

notification of its civil death, and after three years incarceration in

a great oak chest, a grand conflagration takes place. A huge fire is

kindled in an open court; the defunct notes are thrown into a sort of

revolving wire-cage over the fire; the cage is kept rotating; and the

minute fragments of ash, whirled out of the cage through the meshes,

take their flight into infinite space--no one knows whither. The Bank of

France prints a certain number of notes per day, and destroys a smaller

number, so as to have always in reserve a sufficient supply of new notes

to meet any emergency; but the actual burning, the grand flare-up takes

place only about once a month, when perhaps 150,000 will be burned

at once. The French go down to lower denominations than the Rank of

England, having notes of 100 francs and 50 francs, equivalent to L4 and

L2. There must be a great deal of printing always going on in the Bank

of France, seeing that in 1868 they issued 2,711 000 notes, of an

aggregate value of 904,750,000 francs (averaging about L13 each), and

burned 1,927,192, value 768,854,900 francs.

It _sounds_ a very dreadful thing for 30,000,000 sterling in bank notes

to be willfully burned in one year. But there is always a phoenix to

rise from its ashes; the bank can regenerate as fast as it kills. The

Bank of France, in 1846, put in circulation a beautiful crimson printed

note for 5,000 francs; but the French people did not like notes of so

high a denomination, and all but a very few of this kind have been

returned and canceled. On one occasion, a superb individual, wishing to

pay a dowry in handsome style, obtained twelve notes of 5,000 francs

each for the purpose; but they were returned the very next day by the

banker, who much preferred smaller notes for his general purposes. The

notes now regularly kept in circulation in France are those of 1,000,

500, 100, and 50 francs.

* * * * *

WHAT THE NEWSPAPERS SAY.

A VALUABLE PAPER.--Of all the journals published in the United States,

for the mechanic and scientific man, there is nothing that will in any

way compare with the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, published by Munn & Co., of 37

Park Row, New York. Whether as a work of reference, a record of current

scientific development, or as an organ and exponent of our inventors, it

stands alone for the general ability of its conduct, the voluminousness

and variety of its contents, the exactitude and extent of its knowledge,

and the correctness of its information. The SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN is a

credit at once to the press and our country, and the small price of

a yearly subscription ($3), purchases, it is quite safe to say, the

largest amount of solid value to be procured for a like expenditure in

the world. With our more intelligent mechanics it has long been a great

favorite, while to the inventor it is absolutely indispensable. It has

had many imitators and competitors in its day, but they have nearly all

died the natural death of a feeble inferiority.--_Argus_ (Brooklyn, N.

Y.)

* * * * *

THE GREAT JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCE.--There is a place in the

periodical literature of America which is occupied by only one journal;

namely, the well-known SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.

It is almost indispensable to a well-balanced intelligence, that a

certain proportion of its reading should be devoted to the industrial

arts and sciences, those natural manifestations of the high mental

development of the age. Every number of the journal has sixteen imperial

pages, embellished with engravings, as illustrations, which are gems of

art in themselves. It is most ably edited, and its usefulness is not

impaired by technical terms nor dry details.--_Milwaukee Sentinel._

* * * * *

THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.--This paper is the oldest in its peculiar

province in the United States, and was, for many years, the only one.

More recently others have arisen, and are following in its footsteps;

but the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN still maintains its position as the best

American journal of the inventive arts. Its Patent Office department

alone is invaluable to inventors, while its editorial articles,

illustrations, etc., give not only information, but a constant stimulus

to the productive faculty.--_Mobile Register_.

* * * * *

Among the papers which we could not very well do without is the

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, issued from the well-known office of Munn & Co., 37

Park Row, New York. Carefully edited, nicely printed, well illustrated,

it is not only a complete record of the progress of useful inventions,

but a trustworthy guide to many of the scientific topics that enlist

attention at the present day. No one can be a reader of this most

valuable journal, without being kept well informed as to current matters

of scientific discovery.--_Congregationalist_ (Boston).

* * * * *

THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.--In another column we publish the prospectus of

this great paper, and would direct our readers to it. It should be on

the work bench of every mechanic, and particularly the young men of our

country, upon whose intelligence and mechanical skill depends the

future dignity of labor and prosperity of American arts and

sciences.--_Monitor_ (Huntington, Pa.)

* * * * *

We could fill our pages with similar notices, but will close with the

following from our cotemporary _De Hope_, published at Holland, Mich.,

which we doubt not will be read with interest:

Wij plaatsen in dit Nummer het prospectus van den SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.

Het is een zeer schoon blad, dat vooral behoort gelezen te worden door

Handwerkslieden. Nieuwe uitvindingen, verbeteringen op het terrein van

werktuigkunde, enz, worden daar steeds in vermeld en beschreven. De

prijs is zeer matig voor zulk cen blad; drie dollars per jaar. Dat

belangstellenden de advertentie lezen.

* * * * *

CHINESE METHODS OF PRESERVING EGGS.

As much has been said of late about the mode of preserving eggs, it may

not be uninteresting to say a few words about the Chinese methods, as

related by a French chemist, M. Paul Champion, who has lately visited

that country, and published a very interesting book on the ancient and

modern industries of that curious people. A very common method is to

place the eggs in a mixture of clay and water; the clay hardens around

the eggs, and is said to preserve them good for a considerable time. But

another and much more elaborate method is also commonly practiced. An

infusion of three pounds of tea is made in boiling water, and to this

are added three pounds of quicklime (or seven pounds when the operation

is performed in winter), nine pounds of sea-salt, and seven pounds of

ashes of burnt oak finely powdered. This is all well mixed together

into a smooth paste by means of a wooden spatula, and then each egg is

covered with it by hand, gloves being worn to prevent the corrosive

action of the lime on the hands. When the eggs are all covered with the

mixture, they are rolled in a mass of straw ashes, and then placed in

baskets with balls of rice--boiled, we presume--to keep the eggs from

touching each other. About 100 to 150 eggs are placed in one basket. In

about three months the whole becomes hardened into a crust, and then the

eggs are sent to market; the retail price of such eggs is generally less

than a penny each. These eggs are highly esteemed in China, and always

served in good houses; but they have undergone a strange transformation,

which certainly would not recommend them to English palates; the yolk

has assumed a decidedly green tinge, and the white is set. When broken,

they emit that unpleasant sulphurous smell which would certainly cause

their instant banishment from our breakfast-tables. However, the Chinese

are admitted, even by Frenchmen, to be great _gourmets_; and we can

only say, therefore, that in questions of eating there is certainly no

disputing about tastes.

* * * * *

STEAM BOILER INSPECTION.

Mr. Alfred Guthrie, U.S. Inspector, informs us that the following

resolution was recently adopted by the Board of Supervising Inspectors:

Resolved, That a special committee be appointed, to whom shall be

referred the subject-matter of steam boiler explosions, who shall be

requested to take up the subject in all its varied complications, and

present the result of their inquiries, with their opinions of the real

causes of such explosions, accompanied by such information as may be

of practical benefit and general interest, to be reported at the next

annual meeting of the board for its consideration.

Mr. Guthrie, whose address will be at Washington, D.C. until January 10,

desires to receive suggestions from practical engineers upon the subject

of boiler explosions.

* * * * *

EDITORIAL SUMMARY.

Darkness of complexion has been attributed to the sun's power from

the age of Solomon to this day. "Look not upon me because I am black,

because the sun hath looked upon me." And there cannot be a doubt that,

to a certain degree, the opinion is well founded--the invisible rays in

the solar beams, which change vegetable color, and have been employed

with such remarkable effect on the daguerreotype, act upon every

substance on which they fall, producing mysterious and wonderful changes

in their molecular state, man not excepted.

* * * * *

The three companies under whose protection Chinese are brought into

California, keep an accurate account of the condition and employment

of the persons they import. From these books it appears that 138,000

Chinese have been brought into California. Of these, 10,426 have died,

57,323 have returned to China, and about 91,000 still remain on the

Pacific coast. But only 41,000 live in California. Of these 41,000,

9,300 are women, children, old and decrepit, or criminals confined in

the jails. The California authorities have at length decided to admit

Chinese testimony in the courts.

* * * * *

One of our subscribers residing in Maine has read our article "How to

Spend the Winter Evenings," and writes to us that up in his section they

have no trouble on that score. As soon as the day's work is over the

inhabitants commence the job of trying to get their rooms warm, and as

soon as a comfortable temperature is reached it is time to go to bed.

* * * * *

DESIGN PATENT DECISION.--We publish elsewhere a recent elaborate

decision of Commissioner Fisher, in which he reviews the laws and

former practice of the office in regard to applications for patents for

designs, with the view to the establishment of a uniformity of practice

in regard to design patents. The decision is one of much interest to

inventors and agents, and fully warrants its publication.

* * * * *

OIL PAPER HANGINGS.--A kind of oil paper hangings called "Oleo Charta"

is now made in England, which, it is asserted, is impervious to wet, may

be placed on new or damp walls without risk of damage or discoloration,

may be washed with soap and water as often as required, and will last

twenty years. The process of manufacture is not explained.

* * * * *

THE STEVENS BREECH-LOADING RIFLE.

This new arm, a patent on which, was obtained through the Scientific

American Patent Agency, June 11, 1867, is destined, in our opinion,

to become a formidable rival to the breech-loading rifles which have

already attained popularity. It is one of the most simple and effective

guns we have yet seen. Only three motions are required to load,

discharge the piece, and throw out the shell of the cartridge. The

breech-block is side-hinged, and it is opened and the shell is thrown

out by simply bringing the gun to half cock. The gun may, however, be

cocked without opening the breech by pressing the trigger while cocking.

The gun, when held in position, may be fired at the rate of forty shots

per minute. All the movements of the parts are directly backward and

forward; in our opinion the best that can be employed for this purpose,

and the least liable to get out of order. In short, the gun possesses

all the essentials of a first class rifle, and has advantages which we

think are not ordinarily met with in arms of this character.

* * * * *

A NOVEL FRENCH HAND VISE.

In using ordinary hand vises several inconveniences are met with. For

instance, if it is desired to work a piece of metal of a certain length,

it must necessarily be presented obliquely on the side of the jaw of the

vise, because of its screw, which is horizontal and forms a knob in the

axis of the vise. The consequences are, first, that on tightening the

nut of the horizontal screw vise the pressure is only exerted on the

side, and greatly tries the vise itself while obtaining an irregular

pressure; secondly, that as the piece to be worked is held obliquely,

however skilled the workman may be, he always finds himself cramped in

the execution of his work, particularly if of a delicate nature.

To avoid these inconveniences a Parisian mechanic has designed and

lately patented in England the neat form of hand vise of which we annex

illustrations, Fig. 1 being an elevation and Fig. 2 a longitudinal

section. In these views, A, is a wooden or metal handle pierced

throughout its length; this handle of metal may be made in one piece,

with the nut, and the conical ferrule. B is the ring or ferrule of the

handle; and C are the jaws of the vise worked by the adjusting screw,

D, and the springs, r r. E is a conical ferrule or shoulder, fixed or

movable, and serving to open or close the jaws of the vise accordingly

as the handle is turned right or left; this conical shoulder is

protected from wear by a tempered steel washer, v. G is a nut with

collar carrying the conical ferrule or shoulder, E, and the steel

washer, v, while H H are the joints of the jaws of the vise held by a

screw, I, which serves as a support to the adjusting screw.

[Illustration: FIG. 1. FIG. 2.]

This hand vise may be applied to a number of uses, and among others it

may be readily converted into a haft or handle for any kind of tailed

or shanked tool, such as files, wrenches, olive bits, chisels, or

screwdrivers, and may also serve as pincers or nippers. It is of very

simple construction.

* * * * *

THE MOUND-BUILDERS IN COLORADO.

New evidence of the existence of the Mound-Builders in the mountain

ranges of Colorado, similar to those in Montana, Utah, and Nevada, have

recently been discovered by Mr. C.A. Deane, of Denver. He found upon

the extreme summit of the snow-range structures of stone, evidently of

ancient origin, and hitherto unknown or unmolested. Opposite to and

almost north of the South Boulder Creek, and the summit of the range,

Dr. Deane observed large numbers of granite rocks, and many of them as

large as two men could lift, in a position that could not have been

the result of chance. They had evidently been placed upright in a line

conforming to a general contour of the dividing ridge, and frequently

extending in an unbroken line for one or two hundred yards. The walls

and the mounds are situated three thousand feet above the timber line.

It is, therefore, hardly supposable that they were built for altars of

sacrifice. They were not large enough for shelter or defense. The more

probable supposition is that, like the large mounds in Montana and

elsewhere, they were places of sepulture.

* * * * *

THE WOVEN-WIRE MATTRESS.

Most of our readers who attended the last Fair of the American

Institute, will recall an article in the furniture department, which

attracted much attention on account of its novelty and utility. We refer

to the wire mattress, or bed, manufactured by the Woven Wire Mattress

Company, of Hartford, Conn. To the ordinary mind a new invention is

interesting or not, in proportion to the probability of its coming into

every-day use, and many a good housewife lingers in admiration over an

improved sewing machine or cooking stove, to whom a new steam engine has

no attraction. For this reason it was that the wire mattress was sat on

and lain on by the numerous visitors at the Fair.

[Illustration]

The engraving presented herewith will give the reader, who has not seen

the article, a good idea of its appearance. It consists of a fabric

represented below, half an inch thick, composed of fine wire springs,

each one the length of the bed; all the three hundred spirals, being so

woven and braided together, in a double "weave," by machinery, that

a sort of wire cloth is produced. It differs from any other material

hitherto made, in that it has great strength and elasticity. There is,

in fact, no other device, except the air or water bed, which can compare

with it in its elastic properties.

[Illustration]

We are informed that nine hundred pounds of dead weight of wire were

placed on it for nearly five days, without injurious effects. This

fabric is stretched on a frame, as seen in the first engraving, the

proper tension is secured to suit the fancy, and the mattress is ready

for use. It is then set into the bedstead, like the ordinary spring bed,

except that only two slats are used to support it. Thus, with a slight

covering in summer, and a thin hair mattress for warmth in winter, a

most perfect sleeping arrangement is secured.

The first adaptation of the wire mattresses was for private houses, but

they have been found to have special advantages for hospital use. They

have been largely introduced into the Hartford Hospital, the Bellevue

Hospital, New York, and the Marine Hospital, Brooklyn, and have proved

to be, after months of the severest use, with all classes of patients,

a very great success for such purposes. The elastic flexible mattresses

yield to every motion and part of the body, much to the relief of the

suffering patient.

Another very great advantage is, that when carefully painted they are

always clean.

Pillows of the same materials are made soft and pliable by using a fine

wire and small coil. They are always cool, and afford the opportunity of

placing bags of ice under the head in case of sickness.

One of these mattresses and a bedstead and pillows complete--all of

which the Company make--furnish, with the addition of a folded blanket

or comfortable, a perfect outfit for hospital use.

They are particularly useful for ships' berths, as they dispense with

the ordinary bottom, and the sacking and thick mattress. Shippers know

this.

We are assured that a coating of paint, carefully applied to the

well-tinned wires will protect them from rust.

There can be no question but that these beds, with a light

covering--scarcely more than a sheet--are especially adapted for hot

climates. The Company have already orders for them for the Brazilian

market, and they have been introduced into many of the Southern States.

This wire fabric is adapted to other articles of furniture, and is used

in place of the ordinary springs in chairs, sofas, etc. For out-door

settees, lounges, car seats, and other like purposes, it is well

adapted.

Three patents have been issued to the Company on the wire mattress,

through the Scientific American Patent Agency. [See advertisement of the

Woven Wire Mattress Company on another page.]

* * * * *

Flouring Mill Hazards.

A correspondent, in discussing the causes of fires in flour mills, gives

the following facts and queries:

"F. Bertchey's mill, at Milwaukee, burned in September last. The fire

originated from a candle held near a bran or feed spout, reaching from

the upper to a lower floor. The ignition was instant, and attained

different points of the building at about the same moment.

"On November 20, 1868, Schmidt & Co's mill, at St. Louis, burned in a

similar manner, the light in this case being in a globe lamp, but the

conflagration was, nevertheless, quite as sudden and general as in the

first case cited. Other instances of like character have occurred quite

recently. And now the query is, What caused the disaster? Whence the

combustion?

"It has been conjectured that the bran-dust, or fine and dry powder,

passing down or up these conductors, may be the kindling cause of the

fire in these cases; but bran is not over combustible in itself, nor

do we know why it should become so when thus reduced to an impalpable

powder.

"Another theory is that a gas arises from the transmuting grain, which,

excluded from surrounding atmosphere in these close conduits, becomes

inflammable, and hence the results, as recited above, whenever a lighted

flame is brought in contact therewith.

"Be the cause gas or dust, the disaster is the same: and is it not a

phenomenon worth studying and remedying, so far as within the province

and control of those most interested?"

Some similar instances came under our personal observation while

adjuster for the Aetna at its western branch. The Star Mills at

Mascoutah, Ill., burned about the year 1864. They were grinding

middlings. About three o'clock in the morning the miller in charge went

up to the chamber (a large box extending through several stories), as he

had often done before, to jar the middlings down, they having clogged.

He carried a small, open oil lamp, which he placed on a beam, just

behind and above his head. He then opened a slide and thrust in a

shovel, which started the middlings down with a thump, raising a great

dust. As this dust issued in a thin cloud from the slide, it approached

and touched the lamp, when instantly, as if it had been coal gas, it

flashed, burning the miller's hair and beard, and filling the middlings

box with a sheet of flame, which spread with great rapidity and

destroyed the mill.

A mill at Dover, Ky., had accumulated a large quantity of middlings in

an upper story, when the weight caused some sagging, and a man was sent

up with a shovel to "even" the bin. His pressure was the "last straw,"

and the floor under the man broke through, pouring out a cascade of

middlings, which flowed down from story to story, filling the mill with

its dust. In a very few minutes it reached the boiler room, and the

instant it touched the fire it ignited with a flash, and the mills was

in flames instantly. It was totally destroyed.

In this last named case the gas theory will not apply. The dust was not

confined in a spout, but was floating free in the air throughout the

mill. The phenomenon was like the others mentioned, and seems to

indicate that the fine dust itself, when floating in the air, is the

fatal incendiary.

The subject is worthy of a scientific analysis, such as we have never

seen bestowed upon it. The facts are well authenticated, but the

philosophy of such ignition is not generally understood.--_Insurance

Monitor_.

* * * * *

Fire-Proof Buildings.

"It has long been a vexed problem with architects and builders, how to

make a building completely fire-proof without the enormous expense of

iron beams and girders, and even this has sometimes failed to prove a

complete protection. In the building of the National State Bank, the

architect estimated that it could not be made fire-proof in the ordinary

style for less than $6,000, and while hesitating as to the expense and

seeking to provide some remedy against the dampness incident to iron

beams, Mr. Fowler learned from the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN that Edwin May,

of Indianapolis, the well-known architect of our county jail, had taken

letters patent on a fire-proof lath for ceilings and inside partition

walls, together with a concrete floor for the protection of the upper

edge of the joist which by actual test had been demonstrated to be

fire-proof. After a critical examination of the invention upon its

merits, it was adopted, and the workmen are now engaged in putting

it in. Our citizens engaged in, or contemplating building, will be

interested in an examination of the work while in progress."

[We copy the above from the _Lafayette_ (Indiana) _Courier_, and in this

connection we make the following extract from a letter just received by

us from Mr. May, the inventor:

"You will see by the above notice one result of my advertisement in the

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. This is only a _mite_. I have more than I can do,

and I would say to inventors who are not realizing what they expected

from their patents, that one _illustrated advertisement_ in the

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN will effect more than a notice in all the newspapers

in the United States. This is saying a good deal but such is my belief."]

* * * * *

The Decline of American Shipping.

At a meeting of the New York Chamber of Commerce, held December 16, to

consider means for reviving American commerce, the following resolutions

were adopted:

Resolved, That this Chamber recommend to the Congress of the United

States, about to assemble, the modification of existing laws, so that

I. Foreign-built steamers may be imported free of duty, and privileged

to carry the American flag, provided they are American owned and not to

be employed in our coastwise trade.

II. That iron plates and such other material for the construction of

steamers as may be deemed advisable, be admitted free of duty.

III. That on all ship stores procurable in bond, drawback be returned,

as upon goods shipped for sale to foreign lands; and

Finally, That ample subsidies be granted to lines of steamers built

in American yards, to the end that competition with powerful foreign

organizations may be successfully inaugurated and sustained.

The Chamber ordered the resolutions engrossed, accompanied by a memorial

forwarded to Congress.

These resolutions, in our opinion, embody the solution of the question

under consideration, and we trust they may be speedily and favorably

acted upon by Congress.

* * * * *

Young men out of employment can easily obtain enough subscribers for the

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN to receive a cash prize of sufficient magnitude to

insure them a good salary for six weeks' work. Send for prospectus and

circulars.

* * * * *

CORRESPONDENCE.

_The Editors are not responsible for the Opinions expressed by their

Correspondents_.

* * * * *

Aerial Navigation--A Suggestion.

Messrs. Editors:--As a constant reader of your invaluable paper, many

subjects of deep interest come under my observation, and doubtless no

journal throughout the land contains more instructive reading--that

which tends to accelerate the progress of scientific investigation,

and promote the general interest of the people--than the SCIENTIFIC

AMERICAN. The series of articles under the head of "Aerial Navigation,"

commenced on page 309, volume XXI., has, perhaps, been read with as much

pleasure and interest as anything published in your valuable journal. I

say with pleasure--because it is really gratifying to mark the advancing

steps which inventors are making in this branch of science; and with

interest--because every new idea set forth, calculated to further the

success of aerial navigation, should be, and no doubt will be, regarded

as of great importance by every one. And, as the more suggestions placed

before the minds of those working for the improvement of any invention,

the greater number will they have from which to choose or experiment

upon, I would like to make one suggestion here, which may be of some

importance in the construction and operation of the "Aeroport," under

the supervision of Mr. Porter, of your city, a description of which is

given on pages 346-7, volume XXI., of your paper.

I suggest that the propelling wheels be placed in some other position

than that given in the said description. From what little knowledge I

possess of aerial navigation, I am persuaded that it would take less

power to propel the "Aeroport" at a given speed, if the wheels were

placed at the rear or front portion of the flying ship. My reason for

being thus persuaded is, that as the forward and aft halves of the float

are cone-shaped--the center being the base, and the front and rear

ends being the vertexes--there must be an increased velocity of the

atmosphere from front to aft as the aeroport advances. Consequently the

driving wheels being placed under the center or largest diameter of the

float, they must evidently revolve with greater rapidity in the current

of air passing between the float and the saloon, going in opposite

direction to that in which the aeroport is flying at a given speed, than

they would were they placed in front or behind where the atmosphere is

comparatively at rest. I take this view from the fact that steamboats

and other vessels proceed with greater speed, with a given power, _down_

stream than they do _up_ stream, mostly on account of the paddles

striking against the current flowing in the same direction in which the

vessel is rowing. The propelling wheels placed either at the front or

rear may have the axle extended through the end of the float to the

center, and the cog-wheel, for the chain, placed on the inner end of

the axle, and the chain descending through the bottom of the float, and

connected to the engine in the same manner as given in your paper. The

chain should be inclosed from the float to the saloon below, with a pipe

of the same material as the float, and sufficiently large to insure the

free action of the chain, and the axle of the propellers should be made

tight with suitable packing to prevent the escape of gas. However there

may be different arrangements employed for connecting the engine to the

wheels. A shaft extending directly under the float, and reaching

from the center to the axle supporting the propellers, and connected

therewith by means of side cog-wheels, might be used; and as the shaft

would necessarily diverge from a straight line with the said axle, the

shaft having the chain-wheel on the end directly over the engine and

connected therewith in the manner proposed by Mr. Porter, I would

suggest further that it would, perhaps, be preferable to place the

wheels at the front end, that the rudder might remain in its original

position, and the aeroport could swing behind the propellers on

encountering side currents of air, and could thus be more easily guided.

I firmly believe that Mr. Porter has taken "the right step in the right

direction" to accomplish that which has been so long sought, and which

evidently will be accomplished at some future time. The air will yet be

navigated by numerous flying ships, going from one city to another like

those that now cover the broad bosom of our oceans.

HIRAM VAN METER.

Macomb, Ill.

* * * * *

Puttying Floors of Jewelers Shops and Otherwise.

Messrs. Editors:--I am a reader of your valuable paper and find in

it much to interest, and many practical hints that are useful in my

vocation; I would not be without it for any consideration and I think

every mechanic in the land should take it, read it, and profit by the

reading.

I notice, in Vol. XXI, page 371, a communication headed, "Watch

Repairers' Shop," in which directions are given to fill the chinks in

the floor around the work-bench with soft pine and putty, etc., etc.;

this is all well enough, but will not prevent the breaking of pivots

should a balance wheel be dropped, neither will it prevent the wheel

being stepped upon and so rendered useless, as often happens.

I am a watch-maker and jeweler, and I never drop a wheel or part of a

watch on the floor. I have an apron about one yard wide, and in the

corners of it are eyelet-holes, so that I can pin it to the bench when I

am working; I have strings to it, but do not generally tie them around

me, but let it be loose in my lap as I have to jump up, to attend to

customers in the shop. In the shop where I learned my trade (in London,

England), every workman was _compelled_ to wear an apron, and so much

waste of property and valuable time was saved; the saving of _time_ in

_one week_ will more than pay the cost of the aprons.

Sidney Plains, N. Y,

GEO. C.L. KENT.

* * * * *

Western Demand for Agricultural Implements.

Messrs. Editors:--I often think, on perusing your very valuable journal

of science, and the numerous mechanical and scientific problems it

unfolds, that the tendency of the age is to supersede all manual labor

by machinery. Whether such a thing is possible is not the question for

me to consider; I only know that the tendency of universal human genius

seems directed to that end.

I make the above observation casually, in order to introduce a few ideas

on the subject of improvement in agricultural implements--the great

_desideratum_ of the West at this moment. Here nature has opened her

stores so munificently, that all the husbandman has to do is to plow,

sow, and garner the fruits of his labor. But two great improvements are

needed to enable the western farmer to keep pace with improvements in

the mechanic arts and other kindred employment. Indeed, we at the

West, particularly, need a good, cheap, steam plow that can be made

practicable for at least the better grade of farmers. The English plan

of moldboards, that overcome all possible traction and necessitate the

duplex stationary engines, with the cumbrous "artillery of attachments,"

may do for sluggish people but will never meet the wants of the Yankee

nation.

The steam plow suited to the genius of our people, must, to use a

vulgarism, "get up and go." It must possess sufficient power of

propulsion and traction to pulverize the ground better, deeper, and

more rapidly than the "old way." Such is the want of the great West

in reference to preparing the soil for crops. I do not know of such a

machine in use, nor do I believe in the theory of Dr. Brainard, that the

moldboard is the only plan for properly pulverizing the soil; for I am

satisfied that such plan is wholly inadmissible in steam plowing in

this country, for want of sufficient traction for self-propulsion, and

observation has taught me that a self-propelling plow is the only steam

plow our people will tolerate.

I have lately examined the drawings of a steam plow invented by a

gentleman of this city (which I am not at liberty to explain in detail)

that seems to meet the great want I have spoken of. The invention

consists in a very simple device, by which the whole force of

pulverizing the ground is applied to propel the machine, and if this be

not sufficient, an independent force may be applied, so arranged as to

govern the speed of the machine at the will of the operator. You will,

no doubt, in due time hear more of this machine, which seems to me to

meet the great want so long experienced in Western cultivation.

The next great want of the West is a practical grain binder, that shall

securely bind the grain as cut. The scarcity and high price of labor

renders such a machine an absolute necessity. The efforts to supply this

great want have been numerous, but with no flattering success so far as

I am able to learn, except the machine invented by a citizen of this

place, which has already made its mark by demonstrating that automatic

machinery can and does bind the grain as fast as cut. The machine I

speak of is yet in a chrysalis state, so to speak, but it has been

worked two years in the field, the last season without missing a bundle,

though not without the usual difficulties of all new machines in respect

to the workings of some parts--too weak, etc. It is believed that

the coming harvest will witness its triumphant success. If so, the

production of our staple cereal will be greatly cheapened. I shall

be glad to renew "old acquaintance," by a more detailed statement

hereafter.

I send enclosed the pay for another year of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN,

which I can no more do without than my accustomed dinner.

Madison, Wis.

* * * * *

Economical Steam Engine.

Messrs. Editors:--Permit me now to make a few remarks in regard to an

article on page 844, last volume of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, entitled

"Which is the Most Economical Steam Engine?" The principles laid down in

that article, I think are correct.

I run a saw-mill with an engine which fills those conditions nearer than

I ever saw, and I would like to give your readers a brief description

of it. The cylinder is 10-inch bore, and 14-inch stroke; steam chest

extends enough beyond the ends of the cylinder so that the steam travels

only 21/2 inches, the shortest distance possible, after leaving the valve

before it reaches the piston-head, and the space between the piston-head

and cylinder-head is only one-fourth of an inch, the bolt heads

being counter-sunk until even. Other things about this engine are in

proportion. With this engine attached to a direct acting circular mill,

I can saw 2,000 feet of hard-wood inch boards in one hour.

If any of your readers can beat this, I would like to hear from them.

JOHN CARNES.

* * * * *

Friction and Percussion.

Messrs. Editors:--In reply to "Spectrum," page 358, of last volume,

I will be brief. In his third paragraph he claims that he has merely

_suggested_ that friction and percussion may often be one and the same

thing; and immediately claims that in the case of the polished button

rubbing a planed pine board, the force which overcomes and levels the

undulations of the wood, is percussion, and that percussion is also the

cause of the heat; the microscopic hills and hollows on the shining

brass button skipping and jumping along the pine, produces little

infinitesimal bumpings, and so pound out the heat. This _little_ theory

should be known to the homeopaths--they could illustrate infinitesimal

quantities by it!

"Spectrum" treats my hammered horsenail illustration shabbily. After

indirectly acknowledging that there is a point where hammering will

no longer produce heat, he puts it on the grindstone, subjects it to

friction, and when it burns his fingers, throws his hat in the air and

shouts "Hurrah for _percussion!_" We agree perfectly, except that he

calls hammering, _condensation_; calls friction, _percussion_; and drops

friction from the mechanical dictionary altogether.

A railway car axle often heats and sets fire to the packing, when the

journal is smooth as polished glass; but I never heard of those parts

of the car which are constantly undergoing percussion, even getting

uncomfortably warm. The natives of the South Pacific produce fire by

rubbing pieces of dry wood together, but I never heard of their rapping

sticks for the same purpose. I have seen a new, sharp knife made hot

enough to raise a blister, whittling a clean dry stick of pine, and

I would like to have "Spectrum" tell us, if in all the above cases

percussion is the cause of the evolution of of heat, and what is

friction doing in the mean time.

New Albany, Ind.

C.C.H.

* * * * *

Oiling a Preservative of Brown Stone.

Messrs. Editors:--I have read the article entitled, "What is to Become

of our Brown Stone Fronts," and have waited to see what others have to

say. But with so much at stake, no body seems to know what to do or say.

Being a practical painter, it has been my lot to oil some of the best

fronts in New York, namely corner of 23d Street and 5th Avenue, No. 2,

West 23rd Street, also No. 1, West 30th Street; also the residence of

E.S. Higgins, the carpet manufacturer, done by other journeymen.

They were very dark in color for a few weeks, but now after two years,

they are bleached almost as light as they were at first.

These fronts were cleaned whenever necessary, and then oiled with fresh

raw linseed oil from the press, put on pretty much as carefully as in

ordinary varnish work. No second coat or lapping over of the oil. All

was put on at once that it would take without running down in streams.

The result: the oil penetrates into good dry stone probably 11/2 inches,

making the stone hard and flinty, as any stone cutter will soon find out

if he tries to trim it.

It keeps the damp and therefore the frost out of the stone, as will be

seen any foggy day, the damp running down in streams on the oiled stone,

and the unoiled stone absorbing the dampness. It is therefore necessary

to oil during dry weather.

The oil is especially beneficial to balustrades and carvings, as they

are generally got out of soft stone. It is also beneficial underneath

balconies and porches, as the sun never has a chance to dry the stone in

such situations before the frost flakes it.

This I send in part payment for the great deal I have learned from your

paper.

T.H. Rilley

New York City.

* * * * *

Interesting Correspondence from China.

Messrs. Editors:--Your paper seems to increase in interest. I brought

the back volumes from Madras to Pekin, and am glad to refer to them here

where I must depend upon myself.

I have been building and repairing premises since I came here last year.

I find the carpenters and masons are very much delighted with our tools,

especially our saws, planes, borers, vise, and hammers. Our lathe is a

wonder. They use only the ancient spindle turned backwards and forwards

by a treadle or by the left hand while the right guides the chisel or

turning-tool, which cuts only half the time. They use only the turning

saw, which often fails them because it cannot be used in splitting wide

boards in the middle, and in many other places. They are great sawyers,

however. They stand heavy pine spars on end, if rather short, say 8

feet, the common length of many intended for making coffins, and cut

them up into three-eighths or half-inch stuff with great patience. A

longer one they will lean over and prop up, raising it towards the

perpendicular as they advance. They must have some hard jobs. I have

just measured a poplar plank in front of a coffin manufactory, which I

found to be 5 ft. 3 in. at the butt, 3 ft. 10 in. at the top, 8 feet

long, and about 8 inches thick. For a crosscut saw they rig one like

our wood-saw. I am sure it would deeply interest you to make a visit to

Pekin and see how this ancient, patient, and industrious people do their

work. It is truly painful to see how much time they spend in making

the simplest tool for want of at least a few labor-saving appliances.

Doubtless you have their tools on show in New York. They are to me an

interesting study, though I have been long familiar with the rude tools

of the Hindoos. It is constantly suggested to me that we must have got

many hints from the Chinese, or else indeed they have taken hints from

the West; or again, which is perhaps the true solution, implements like

words have a common origin. I should think from what I have observed in

a short time, that the Chinese resemble the Europeans in their tools

more than the Hindoos--a thing I did not at all anticipate. A clever man

could write you an interesting chapter on the ways of the Pekinese,

the Chinese Manchus, Mongols, and the rest mixed together, though the

Chinese are confessedly the workers in wood, iron, and everything else.

The Manchus are mostly hangers on of the government, living mainly upon

a miserable monthly stipend.

The reading of your unequaled journal makes me interested in you as if

you were personal friends, and so I have run away with these pointless

remarks. I am sure you will excuse me, and not wonder that one wishes to

breathe now and then.

I was an old subscriber in Madras, and hope to be till I can read no

longer. My son, who perished at Andersonville, was a subscriber to the

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN till the day of his capture by Mosby.

Pekin, China.

P.R. Hunt.

* * * * *

Communication Between Deaf and Blind Mutes.

Messrs. Editors:--In a recent number of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN I notice

an ingenious method of teaching deaf and dumb persons to converse in

the dark, which is also applicable to blind mutes, and it brings to my

recollection a method which was in use among the "telegraph boys" some

years ago when I was one of them. Sometimes when we were visiting and

asked to communicate to a "brother chip," anything that it was not

advisable for the persons around us to know, a slight tap-tapping on the

table or chair would draw the attention of the party we asked to talk

to, and then by his watching the forefinger of the writer, if across the

room, or if near enough, by placing the hand of the writer carelessly

on the shoulder of the party we desired to communicate with, the

communication was written out in the telegraph alphabet or by taking

hold of his hand and writing upon the finger.

I think this method will be found much less complicated, if not quite as

rapid, as the method with both hands, and much more convenient, as it is

only necessary to have hold of one hand of the person communicated with,

and is more rapid than writing with a pen.

For the benefit of those not acquainted with the telegraph alphabet, I

give it:

A B C D E F G H I

.- -... ... -.. . .-. --. .... ..

J K L M N O P Q

-.-. -.- --- -- -. . . ..... ..-.

R S T U V W X Y

. .. ... - ..- ...- .-- ..-. .. ..

... .

The uninitiated will observe that O differs from I in the distance

between the dots, made thus: I by two quick strokes of the forefinger; O

by one quick stroke, slight pause, and another quick stroke; the dashes

are made by holding the finger down for a short space: thus SCIENTIFIC

AMERICAN would be written:

S C I E N T I F I C

... .. . .. . -. - .. .-. .. .. .

A M E R I C A N

.- -- . . .. .. .. . .- -.

In a very short time any one can learn to read by the sight or by the

touch. Anything which can add to the pleasure or comfort of these

unfortunates is of importance.

MAGNET

[Nothing can compensate for want of rapidity in a language designed for

colloquy. Although our correspondent found the Morse telegraph alphabet

a resource on occasion, he would scarcely be content to use it, and it

only for life, even if emancipation from it involved months of labor.

The motions required to spell SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN by the telegraph

alphabet are thirty-nine, but as the short dashes occupy the time of two

dots for each dash, and there are eight of these, eight more ought to be

counted in a comparison of it with an alphabet composed wholly of dots,

this would make forty-seven. To spell the same words in full by the mute

alphabet referred to would require only twenty-three motions. A still

greater disparity in rate would, we think, be found in an entire

colloquial sentence. Thus the sentence "Hand me an apple" would require,

by the mute alphabet, the time of fourteen dots, while with the

telegraph alphabet it would require the time of thirty-nine.--Eds.]

* * * * *

Cheap Cotton Press Wanted.

Messrs. Munn & Co.:--Please give us any information of cheap

cotton-presses, such as small neighborhoods, or single planters, in the

South could own. In particular, a press that will put 40 pounds cotton

into each cubic foot. We want cotton better handled, and to that end may

want small bales, say 150 pounds each. But these must be put into three

or four cubic feet, or they will cost too much for covering, ties, etc.

Perhaps you can furnish us with a wood-cut of some, or several, presses

worked by hand, or by horse-power, that will do good service, not cost

too much, be simple in operation, not require too much power, and be

effective as above. It may be for the interest of some of your clients

or correspondents to give us the facts, as we shall put them into

a report for circulation amongst the entire cotton interest of the

country.

Yours very truly,

WALTER WELLS, _Sec'y_.

National Association of Cotton Manufacturers and Planters, No. 11,

Pemberton Square, Boston, Mass.

* * * * *

A Singular Freak of a Magnet.

Messrs. Editors:--In my library hangs a powerful horseshoe magnet which

has a keeper and a weight attached of about three ounces. This weight

is sustained firmly by the attracting power of the magnet, and is not

easily shaken off by any oscillating motion, yet through some (to me)

unknown cause during each of the last ten nights the magnet has lost its

power, and the keeper and weight lie in the morning on the bottom of the

case where the magnet has hung for many years without a like occurrence,

except once on the occasion of a severe shock of an earthquake which

took place December 17, 1867.

There is no possible way for this magnet to be disturbed except by the

electric current; then why should its power thus return without the aid

of a battery or keeper? Will some one explain?

FLOYD HAMBLIN.

Madrid Springs, N.Y.

* * * * *

Speaking makes the ready man, writing the correct man, and reading the

full man.

* * * * *

PRESERVATION OF IRON.

BY PROF. HENRY E. COLTON.

"What is wanted is something equally applicable to large or small pieces

of iron, and which will answer to ward off the attacks not only of the

common atmospheric oxygen, but also remain unaffected by acids or salt

waters."

The above from a late number of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN states not only

the writer's ideas but also one of the greatest wants of the age. Iron

is daily being put to more and more varied uses. On land the great

question is what will prevent rust; on water, what will prevent rust and

fouling of bottoms of iron vessels. We will briefly summarize the many

patents granted for this purpose.

Eight are for sheathing of various kinds put on in varied modes. The

most practicable of these is a system prepared by Daft. Most iron

vessels are now constructed by every other plate lapping the edges of

the one between. He proposes, instead of having the plates all the same

width, to have one wide and one very narrow plate. This would leave a

trough between the two wide plates of the depth of the thickness of the

plates. He proposes to force into this trough very tightly pieces of

teak, and to the teak, thus embedded, he nails a sheathing of zinc. The

zinc is kept clean by slowly wearing away of its surface from action by

contact with the iron and salt water.

There are four patents, in which various, so-called, non-conducting

coats are put on the iron, and copper pigment in some form put on over

them. These have been specially condemned in England, as no matter how

good the non-conducting substance--and many are so only in name--it will

become rubbed off at some points, and there the bottom will be eaten

both by salt water and action of copper.

Coal tar and asphaltum are the subjects of patents in various forms.

One patent claims rubber or gutta-percha dissolved in linseed oil as a

vehicle in which to grind the pigment; another the same dissolved in

naphtha or bisulphide of carbon as a pigment; another hard rubber,

ground.

Enameling with different materials is proposed by some, while one

proposes to glaze the bottoms so that barnacles and grass would find a

slippery foothold.

Combinations of tallow, resin, and tar--mineral and pine--are patented

mostly to use over other paints.

Coal tar, sulphur, lime, and tallow, are the subject of one patent;

guano, red lead, and oil of another; while sulphur and silica are

claimed by a third.

Paints containing mercury, arsenic, and even strychnine, are the

subjects of several patents. A mixture of coal tar and mercurial

ointment of one.

Galvanism is proposed to be used in various ways--strips of copper and

zinc, or by galvanizing the plates before use. Black lead finds a place

in many compositions.

One patent, by a complicated process, effects a union of metallic zinc

and iron; this, granulated and ground fine, then mixed with red lead

and oil, makes the paint. It is said to be the best of all the patented

stuffs.

It is astonishing how many use oils derived from coal, peat, or resin,

and tars of the same.

There are about fifty patents for this object and with all of them

before their eyes, the British Society for the Advancement of Art still

hold the $5,000 reward for a pigment or covering which will perfectly

protect from rust and fouling. However they may puff their products for

selling, no one has the temerity to claim that they deserve the reward.

We think it would be difficult to find so many expedients ever before

adopted for the accomplishment of any one object. These are all English

patents, England having necessarily been obliged to use iron for vessels

from its cheapness as well as its consequent first introduction there.

In the United States no patents worth mentioning have been granted.

The first requisites for a pigment or coating for iron are, that it

should not contain any copper--the corrosive action of that metal on

iron being intense. Then if for work exposed to air it should form

such a coating as to be impervious to that gaseous fluid, and be

so constituted chemically as not to be oxidizable by it; if under

water--especially sea water--to be impermeable to moisture, so elastic

as not to crack, so insoluble as not to chloridize; to form a perfect,

apparently hard, coating: and yet wear just enough to keep off

incrustation, barnacles, or growth of grass. In fact, this slow wearing

away is the only preventive of fouling in iron vessels. Wooden bottoms

may be poisoned by solutions of copper--and that metal has no superior

for such uses, especially when it is combined in mixture with mineral

or resinous tars and spirits--these compounds, however, are not only

useless on iron bottoms, but also injurious. What then is _the_

substance: 1st. One of the oxides of lead (red lead). 2d. The purest

oxide of iron to be found. If properly made these articles can be

carried to no higher state of oxidation, and respectively, as to order

named, they have no superiors for body and durability. By preference,

1st, red lead, either out of or under water; 2d, Prince's oxide of iron

only, out of water. The color of these paints--the first red, the latter

brown, may be hidden by a coat of white or tinted color. If there were

to be had in combination as a white paint, an oxide of lead and an oxide

of zinc, it would be immensely superior to either, but that such has not

been produced is rather the fault of carelessness than of possibility.

Zinc protects iron with great effect, but it is too rapidly worn in the

effort to be of lasting value. Hence the great desideratum, the yet to

be, the coming pigment is a white oxide of lead or a combined white

oxide of lead and white oxide of zinc, without sulphates or chlorides.

Those materials answer very well for work exposed to atmospheric air,

and perhaps nothing will ever be found better; but a different need is

that for salt water. No mere protector of the iron from rust can be

found superior to pure red lead and linseed oil. We have seen a natural

combination of zinc, lead, and iron, which, in our experience, ranks

next; but the zinc is acted on by the chloride of sodium, and wears away

too much of the material. Red lead, however, while covering the iron

perfectly and effectually preventing rust, and also having but little

disposition to chloridize, when it does, will foul both with grass and

barnacles. Hence, the first desideratum being obtained, how shall we

accomplish the other. The prevention of fouling may be accomplished in

two ways: First, cover the vessel's bottom with two or even three coats

of red lead, and give each time to dry hard. Then melt in an iron pot a

mixture of two parts beeswax, two parts tallow, and one part pine resin;

mix thoroughly, and apply hot one or two coats. This mixture may be

tinted with vermilion or chrome green. It is not necessary to use any

poisonous substance, as it is only by its softness and gradual wear

that it is kept clean. Second, mix red lead and granular metallic zinc,

ground fine, or such a mineral as we have mentioned--crystalline and

granular in its character. Put on two or three coats, and allow each to

set--they will never dry hard. The zinc will slowly wear off, keeping

the whole surface clean, while there will be left enough coating of the

lead to preserve the iron from rust. The oil I would urge for these

pigments is linseed--as little boiled as possible, to be thinned with

spirits of turpentine. There seems to have been a mania for mixtures of

tar and resins, their spirits and oils; my experience fails to show me

any advantage for them on an iron bottom. They have neither elasticity

nor durability, while linseed oil has both in a pre-eminent degree, and

is no more likely to foul than they, when in a combination that does

not dry hard. Besides they are difficult to grind, inconvenient to

transport, and offensive to use.

Perhaps we have not, in the opinion of some, answered the want expressed

in the first paragraph. No pigment with the requisites of durability and

cheapness will resist the attacks of strong acids on iron. The first we

have mentioned will--all such as may float in our air from factories or

chemical works. Chemically it is converted by nitric acid and chlorine

into an insoluble substance--plumbic acid or the cyanide of lead. An

experience of more than three years, with almost unlimited means at our

command for experiment, demonstrates to us that we have indicated

the means of filling the other requisites asked for. It may be that

something new will be discovered, but we doubt it. Let any one tread the

road we have trod, investigate and experiment where and as much as we

have, and, if that place is, where we have not, and their experience

will be the same as ours.

* * * * *

THE BANANAS AND PLANTAINS OF THE TROPICS.

[For the Scientific American.]

Poets have celebrated the banana plant for its beauty, its luxuriance,

the majesty of its leaves, and the delicacy of its fruit; but never have

they sufficiently praised the utility of this tropical product.

Those who have never lived in southern countries are unable to fully

appreciate its value. Some look even with indifference upon the gigantic

clusters of this fruit, as they are unloaded from the steamers and

sailing vessels; and yet they deserve special attention and admiration,

for they are to the inhabitants of the torrid zone, what bread and

potatoes are to those of the north temperate zone.

The banana tree is one of the most striking illustrations of tropical

fertility and exuberance. A plant, which in a northern climate, would

require many years to gain strength and size, is there the production of

ten or twelve months. The native of the South plants a few grains, taken

from an old tree, in a moist and sandy soil, along some river or lake;

they develop with the greatest rapidity, and at the end of ten months

the first crop may be gathered, though the cluster and bananas are yet

small; but the following year one cluster alone will weigh some sixty or

more pounds. Even in the South they are always cut down when green, as

they lose much of their flavor when left to ripen or soften on the tree.

The trunk of the tree, if it may be so called, and which grows to a

hight of some fifteen feet, is formed only by the fleshy part of the

large leaves, some of which attain a length of eighteen feet, and are

two and a half feet in width. While from an upper sprout you perceive

the large yellow flowers, or already formed fruits, you see underneath a

cluster, which is bending the tree by its weight.

The plantain tree is much the same as the banana, with the difference,

however, that its fruit cannot be eaten raw, like the banana's, and that

it is much larger in size. Almost every portion of the banana tree is

useful. First of all, the nutritious fruit. The plantains when green and

hard, are boiled in water or with meat like our potatoes, or they are

cut in slices and fried in fat, when they are soft and ripe. There is a

singularity about the boiled plaintain, worthy of being mentioned. Pork

especially, and other meats are so exceedingly fat in the tropics that

they would be most disgusting or even impossible to eat with either

bread or potatoes, but the plaintain seems to neutralize or absorb all

the greasy substance, and the fattest meat is thus eaten by natives and

foreigners without the least inconvenience.

Ripe bananas are mashed into a paste, of which the natives bake a sort

of bread, which is very nourishing, though somewhat heavy. This paste,

which contains much starch, can be dried, and thus kept for a length of

time, which is often of great service to mariners. The young sprouts are

used and prepared like vegetables, and the fibrous parts of the stalks

of the majestic leaves are used like manilla for ropes and coarse cloth.

The utility of the leaves is a theme rich enough to fill a volume; they

are used to cover the huts, for table-cloths and napkins, or wrapping

paper. The dough of bread, instead of being put in a pan, into the oven,

is spread on a piece of plantain leaf; it will neither crisp nor adhere

to the bread when taken out. The Indians of America carry all their

products, such as maize, sugar, coffee, etc., in bags made of this leaf,

which they know how to arrange so well, that they transport an "arroba,"

or twenty-five pounds any distance without a single grain escaping, and

without any appliance other than a liana or creeper to tie it up with.

As to the medicinal qualities of the leaves, they are numerous. Indeed,

a book has been written upon them. I speak, however, from my own

experience. The young, yet unrolled leaves are superior to any salve

or ointment. If applied to an inflamed part of the body, the effect is

soothing and cooling, or if applied to a wound or ulcer, they excite

a proper healthy action, and afterwards completely heal the wound.

Decoctions made of the leaves are used among the natives for various

diseases.

Since the beginning of the world this plant has ranked among the first

in the Flora of Asia. The Christians of the orient look upon it as the

tree of Paradise which bore the forbidden fruit, and they think its

leaves furnished the first covering to our original parents. According

to other historians, the Adam's fig was the plant, which the messengers

brought from the promised land to Moses, who had sent them out to

reconnoitre. "It is under the shade of the _musa sapientium_, that," as

recorded by Pliny, "the learned Indians seated themselves to meditate

over the vicissitudes of life, and to talk over different philosophic

subjects, and the fruit of this tree was their only food." The Oriental

Christians, up to the present date, regard the banana almost with

reverence; their active fancy beholds in its center, if a cut is made

transverse, the image of the cross, and they consider it a crime to use

a knife in cutting the fruit.

In the holy language of the Hindoo, the Sanscrit, the Adam's fig is

called "modsha," whence doubtless, the word "musa" is derived. It is

generally believed that the plant came from India to Egypt in the

seventh century; it still forms a most important article of commerce in

the markets of Cairo and Alexandria. In the year 1516, the banana was

brought to the West Indian Islands by a monk, since which time it

has rapidly spread over the tropics of America, and is found to the

twenty-fifth degree north and south of the equator. It is equally

indispensable and is appreciated by the immigrant and by the native as

a beautifier of the landscape; affording shelter from the sun and rain,

and giving bread to the children; for if every other crop should fail,

the hungry native looks up to the banana tree, like a merchant to his

well-filled storehouse.

* * * * *

PUTTING UP STOVES.

BY MARK TWAIN.

We do not remember the exact date of the invention of stoves, but it was

some years ago. Since then mankind have been tormented once a year, by

the difficulties that beset the task of putting them up, and getting the

pipes fixed. With all our Yankee ingenuity no American has ever invented

any method by which the labor of putting up stoves can be lessened. The

job is as severe and vexatious as humanity can possibly endure, and gets

more so every year.

Men always put their stoves up on a rainy day. Why, we know not; but we

never heard of any exception to this rule. The first step to be taken is

to put on a very old and ragged coat, under the impression that when he

gets his mouth full of plaster it will keep the shirt bosom clean. Next,

the operator gets his hand inside the place where the pipe ought to go,

and blacks his fingers, and then he carefully makes a black mark down

the side of his nose. It is impossible to make any headway, in doing

this work, until this mark is made down the side of the nose. Having got

his face properly marked, the victim is ready to begin the ceremony.

The head of the family--who is the big goose of the sacrifice--grasps

one side of the bottom of the stove, and his wife and the hired girl

take hold of the other side. In this way the load is started from the

woodshed toward the parlor. Going through the door, the head of the

family will carefully swing his side of the stove around and jam his

thumb nail against the door post. This part of the ceremony is never

omitted. Having got the family comfort in place, the next thing is to

find the legs. Two of these are left inside the stove since the spring

before. The other two must be hunted after, for twenty-five minutes.

They are usually found under the coal. Then the head of the family holds

up one side of the stove while his wife puts two of the legs in place,

and next he holds up the other while the other two are fixed, and one of

the first two falls out. By the time the stove is on its legs he gets

reckless, and takes off his old coat, regardless of his linen.

Then he goes for the pipe and gets two cinders in his eye. It don't make

any difference how well the pipe was put up last year it will always be

found a little too short or a little too long. The head of the family

jams his hat over his eyes and taking a pipe under each arm goes to the

tin shop to have it fixed. When he gets back, he steps upon one of the

best parlor chairs to see if the pipe fits, and his wife makes him get

down for fear he will scratch the varnish off from the chairs with the

nails in his boot heel. In getting down he will surely step on the cat,

and may thank his stars that it is not the baby. Then he gets an old

chair and climbs up to the chimney again, to find that in cutting the

pipe off, the end has been left too big for the hole in the chimney. So

he goes to the woodshed and splits one side of the end of the pipe with

an old axe, and squeezes it in his hands to make it smaller.

Finally he gets the pipe in shape, and finds the stove does not stand

true. Then himself and wife and the hired girl move the stove to the

left, and the legs fall out again. Next it is to move to the right. More

difficulty now with the legs. Move to the front a little. Elbow not even

with the hole in the chimney, and the head of the family goes again to

the woodshed after some little blocks. While putting the blocks under

the legs, the pipe comes out of the chimney. That remedied, the elbow

keeps tipping over, to the great alarm of the wife. Head of the family

gets the dinner table out, puts the old chair on it, gets his wife to

hold the chair, and balances himself on it to drive some nails into the

ceiling. Drops the hammer on wife's head. At last he gets the nails

driven, takes a wire swing to hold the pipe, hammers a little here,

pulls a little there, takes a long breath, and announces the ceremony

concluded.

Job never put up any stoves. It would have ruined his reputation if he

had. The above programme, with unimportant variations, will be carried

out in many respectable families during the next six weeks.

* * * * *

THE MAGIC LANTERN.

The invention of the magic lantern dates back to 1650, and is attributed

to Professor Kircher, a German philosopher of rare talents and extensive

reputation. The instrument is simple and familiar. It is a form of the

microscope. The shadows cast by the object are, by means of lenses,

focussed upon something capable of reflection, such as a wall or screen.

No essential changes in the principles of construction have been made

since the time of Kircher; but the modern improvements in lenses,

lights, and pictures, have raised the character of the instrument from

that of a mere toy to an apparatus of the highest utility. By its

employment the most wonderful forms of creation, invisible, perhaps, to

the eye, are not only revealed but reproduced in gigantic proportions,

with all the marvelous truth of nature itself. The success of some of

the most celebrated demonstrations of Faraday, Tyndall, Doremus, Morton,

and others, was due to the skillful use of the magic lantern. As an

educator, the employment of this instrument is rapidly extending. No

school apparatus is complete without it; and now that transparencies

are so readily multiplied by photography upon glass, and upon mica, or

gelatin, by the printing press or the pen, it is destined to find

a place in every household; for in it are combined the attractive

qualities of beauty, amusement, and instruction.

The electric light affords, probably, the strongest and best

illumination for the magic lantern; then comes the magnesium light; but

their use is a little troublesome and rather expensive; next to these

in illuminating power is the oxy-hydrogen or Drummond light. The

preparation of the gases and the use of the calcium points involve

considerable skill.

Need has long been felt for some form of the magic lantern, having a

strong light, but more easily produced than any of those just mentioned;

and this has at last been accomplished, after several years' study and

experiment, by Prof. L.J. Marcy, 632 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa.

The "Sciopticon," is the name of his new instrument, and from actual

trial we find that it possesses many superior qualities. Its lenses

are excellent, and in illuminating power its light ranks next to the

oxy-hydrogen. The sciopticon light is produced from ordinary coal oil

by an ingenious arrangement of double flames, intensifying the heat and

resulting in a pencil of strong white light. Prof. Marcy's instrument

is the perfection of convenience, simplicity, and safety. Any one may

successfully work it and produce the most brilliant pictures upon

the screen. It is peculiarly adapted for school purposes and home

entertainment. Those who wish to do a good thing for young people

should provide one of these instruments. Photographic transparencies of

remarkable places, persons, and objects, may now be purchased at small

cost; while there is no end to the variety of pictures which may be

drawn by hand at home upon mica, glass or gelatin, and then reproduced

upon the screen by the sciopticon.

* * * * *

The Largest Well in the World--Capacity 1,000,000 Gallons of Water per

Day.

One of the grand necessities of the Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N.Y., that

of providing for a continual supply of water for all the purposes of

the Park developed itself, as the Commissioners progressed with their

stupendous undertaking. Mr. Stranahan, the President of the Board, after

carefully weighing the cost, the practicability, and importance

of having an independent water supply for the Park, advised the

Commissioners of the plan which had suggested itself, and the

calculations which had been made by the engineers relative to the

project, and the work was commenced, the first idea being to secure at

least a partial supply of water by means of a well constructed in the

Park. The subject was thus treated in the last annual report of Mr. C.C.

Martin, the engineer in charge:

"This well has been located on the south side of Lookout Hill, near the

lake, and work was commenced upon it late in the season. After a careful

consideration of various methods for sinking the well, it was decided to

build the wall and then to excavate the material from within, trusting

to the weight of the wall to force it down. Sixteen feet of the wall

were laid securely bolted together, before the excavation was commenced.

A derrick with a boom fifty-five feet in length was set up near the

wall, so that the sweep of the boom commanded the interior of it.

Iron buckets containing fourteen cubic feet each were obtained, and a

six-horse power hoisting engine purchased. With these appliances the

excavation was commenced, and carried on with slight interruption until

the work was suspended on account of the frost."

The well is now completed, and is one of the most important features of

the Park. It is worthy to rank as a feat of engineering skill with, any

of the great works of modern times. The Commissioners decided to put its

powers to the test yesterday afternoon, but owing to the unpropitious

weather of the forenoon the trial was postponed. Nevertheless,

Commissioners Stranahan, Fiske, and Haynes, with Mr. Martin, engineer in

charge, and Mr. John Y. Culyer, his assistant, were at the well. During

the last summer some difficulties were encountered in the sinking of the

wall, which were set down by superficial observers as the utter failure

of the enterprise. Mr. Stranahan received but little encouragement from

his fellow Commissioners, some of whom had never seen greater works

of engineering than the construction of street sewers. He assumed the

responsibility of seeing the work through, feeling that the whole thing

depended entirely upon the ability of the engineers, in which he had

abundant faith. All obstacles were surmounted; the work proceeded and

the well is now finished, and so far as is known, is understood to be

the largest one in the world.

The outer wall is fifty feet in diameter, two feet thick, and fifty-four

feet high. The inner curb, or wall, is thirty-five feet in diameter and

two feet thick, having a depth of ten feet. The masonry, as seen from

the top of the structure, is a marvel of neatness and solidity. The

water surface in the well is thirteen feet above high-tide level, and

the depth of water in the well is fourteen feet. The pump foundations

are entirely independent of the walls. This plan was adopted so as to

obviate any possible difficulty which might arise from displacement. The

pump is the Worthington patent, and, with a pressure of forty pounds, is

capable of raising one million gallons of water every twenty-four hours

a height of 176 feet, and is competent to a lift of 180 feet.

The boiler house is a neat, pressed-brick structure trimmed with Ohio

stone, standing on the surface near the mouth of the well. The interior

of the well is reached by a spiral stairway built in the wall, and

commencing in the boiler house. In this way the engineer is able to

reach the pump. It is a fact worthy of notice in connection with the

construction of the wall, or rather the sinking of it, that the outer

wall rests upon four feet of wooden cribwork, two feet thick, and having

an iron shield. The inner wall is built upon a similar crib only two

feet deep, also shielded with iron.

The Commissioners were led to the construction of this well in presence

of the danger at any time of some accident taking place in connection

with the Brooklyn Water Works which would render it necessary for the

Water Board to cut off the Park supply so as to secure the citizens from

suffering. This well has more than the necessary capacity to supply the

Park abundantly with water, yielding most when most is needed. This is

established by the discovery that the time of drought from which the

well is, or may be, likely to suffer, occurs in the Fall. Besides these

facts, it further appears that in order to furnish the supply of water

to the Park the Water Board would have to go through the process of

pumping their water twice to convey it to the required elevation, equal

to 225 feet from its original level.

The work of the well will be to supply the pools at an elevation of 133

feet. From the pools the water is conducted to the lake. Besides this,

there is an independent connection with the lake by which, as necessity

may suggest, the water can be directed to the lake, a lift of only

seventy feet. The lake, when completed, will occupy an area of fifty

acres, which will be kept continually supplied with fresh water, the

arrangements being such, or to be such, as will insure a permanent

change of water, and prevent any of the evils that may arise from

stagnancy. The well is fed from the earth, consisting of a circuit of

two miles, with a fall of five feet to the mile. For this reason it does

not appear easy to exhaust the supply, as when the water is pumped out

to four or five feet from the surface of the well it is replaced at a

rate equal to the demand. Every allowance has been made for evaporation

from the lake and pools, and the supply is regarded as inexhaustible.

Another important fact here suggests itself; that is, that sufficient

rain falls during the season in the area of two miles around the well

to make the supply perennial. The Prospect Park well is a credit to

Brooklyn.--_New York Times_.

* * * * *

PAPER FOR BUILDING.

Our readers will find in another column an advertisement of this new

building material which is now attracting much attention in the West,

and of which we have received very favorable reports. It has been

recently tested in Chicago with the result we are informed of fully

establishing its utility. It is said that a house twenty-two feet long,

sixteen wide, and fourteen high, can be covered on the outside for less

than $9; and a house thirty-six feet by twenty-two, and twenty feet

high, for $20. The building can be done at any season, and can be

finished with great speed, and there are said to be numerous other

advantages connected with the use of the paper. It differs from ordinary

paper in consistency, compactness and solidity. In the manufacture it

is subjected to a pressure of hundreds of tuns, which squeezes out the

liquid matter, leaving a substance of the right thickness. It is said to

be proof against damp and gnawing of vermin, and it being an excellent

non-conductor of heat, must make a warm dwelling in winter and a cool

one in summer. It is used in the place of plastering for inside walls.

* * * * *

The Prussian Government has military maps of every foot of its territory

so complete that every hill, ravine, brooklet, field, and forest is

delineated with perfect accuracy. It is a common boast of Prussian

military men, that within the space of eight days 848,000 men can be

concentrated to the defense of any single point within the kingdom, and

every man of them will be a trained and well-equipped soldier.

* * * * *

Improved Muzzle-Pivoting Gun.

We are indebted for the following able description and criticism of this

Prussian gun to our able contemporary, _The Engineer_.

Viewed as a piece of mechanism, nothing can well be more beautiful

in mutual adaptation of parts to the fulfillment of given and

rather recondite movements, and in point of execution, than this

muzzle-pivoting arrangement of Herr Gruson's; but having said this we

are compelled to add, as impartial engineering critics, that it is

nothing more.

[Illustration: GRUSON'S SYSTEM OF MUZZLE-PIVOTING APPLIED TO MONITORS.]

A very few words of description, aided by the very clear engraving

annexed, will suffice to make the arrangement plain to every mechanical

reader. The entire structure is metallic, chiefly of cast iron or of

steel. Upon the platform of the casemate, or deck of the ship, or

turret, is laid the heavy bed or traverse plate, cast hollow in iron,

holding the vertical pivot at its forward end, on which the gun slide

traverses in azimuth, and at its rear end the segment plate, bolted down

and separately adjustable as to position upon the bedplate. The slide is

also a ponderous hollow casting, the upper surfaces of which, on which

the gun carriage runs forward or recoils, are curvilinear in a vertical

plane, so that the inclination to the horizon is greatest at the rear

end. At the rear end of the slide it traverses upon two heavy cast-iron

turned conical rollers, which are geared together and actuated by the

winch handle and spur gear, seen in our engraving; by these the slide

is practically held fast in any position on the bedplate. The gun

itself--in the model, a steel breech-loader, on the Prussian regulation

system, very slightly modified--is sustained between two high and

ponderous cheek plates of cast iron, which constitute the sides of the

carriage, and which are connected together strongly at the lower edges

by a heavy base or bottom plate, and at the top by two light cross

distance bolts. The muzzle and breech extremities of the piece project

well beyond those cheeks. Along the bottom of the trough of the

carriage, directly under the gun, lies a nearly horizontal hydraulic

press cylinder, the pump and handle actuating which are seen in the

figures to the proper left of the gun, and the supply of water for which

is contained in the hollow bottom of the carriage. On each side cheek of

the carriage is formed, by curved planing, a circular segmental race,

opening inward or toward each other, rectangular in cross section and

into each of which is fitted a segmental block just filling it up, and

occupying a portion of its length so as to slide easily up or downward

through the whole range of the arc or segment.

The center point of the length of each of those blocks carries one side

of the gun, which is connected also with the two heavy radius bars

seen outside the cheeks, and pivoted close to the segment races on the

outside, and with a system of link work between the gun itself and the

crosshead of the ram of the hydraulic cylinder, which gives motion

to the gun in elevation or depression, through a vertical arc, the

imaginary center of which, and of the segments of the side cheeks, is

situated in the horizontal diameter across the muzzle of the gun. This

is in brief the muzzle-pivoting part of the arrangement, of which, were

it worth while to go into its details, we should need some further

diagrams to make it quite clear. Nor is it worth while to go into

the description of various minor points of refinement about the gun

mounting, such as the very exposed long tangent scale seen in the

figure, by which the elevation or depression is read off, nor the still

more exposed and rather ricketty arrangement by which the rear sight

is arranged to rise and fall with the gun, and allowance for dispart

avoided. The recoil of the gun is resisted through and by the segment

blocks in the side cheeks, and by the heavy radius bars, etc., and

thus transferred to the carriage itself. This moves upon four

eccentro-concentric rollers, in all respects identical with those

brought before the Ordnance Select Committee of Woolwich by Mr. Mallet,

in 1858--then rejected, after some time adopted, and brought into use in

our own service, where they are now universal, and from which they have

been adopted into every artillery in the world, and, we understand,

without the slightest recognition of the inventor's rights. On the axle

of each of these rollers is keyed a circular eccentric cam plate, those

at the same side being connected together by a linking bar so as to move

in concert. Adjustable tripping plates attached to the sides of the

slide, are so arranged that when the loaded gun has been run forward its

carriage base rests hard down, with its full weight upon the top faces

of the slide, and thus the recoil is made under the full resistance due

to the friction of the entire load. Arrived at the highest point, it

rests there until loaded. The cam plates being then given a slight

motion of rotation by the help of socket levers--the rectangular

projections to be received by which are seen on the top edges of the cam

plates in the figure--the carriage, by its own commenced descent, gets

again upon its rollers, and runs forward upon these at once into firing

position. The two elevated horns which are seen standing up at the rear

part of the slide above the roller frame are designed to receive the

thump of the two short buffer-blocks--seen at the rear part of each

carriage cheek--in the event of the recoil not being wholly expended in

raising the weight of gun and carriage, etc., along the curved racers

of the slide. These buffer-blocks bear against plugs of vulcanized

india-rubber secured in the bottoms of the buffer cylinders.

We have thus, though very briefly, described the whole of this mounting.

As a carefully thought out and elaborated piece of elegant mechanical

complication Herr Gruson's muzzle-pivoting carriage attracted much

attention at Paris, in 1867, and its merits were regarded as great by

those whose thoughts went little further perhaps. We should have been

glad had it been in our power to have joined in its praise. We are,

however, obliged honestly to say that, however highly creditable to its

designer as an ingenious and capable mechanism, it shows that he has

never realized to himself as a practical artillerist the primary, most

absolute, and indispensable conditions of construction for a serviceable

muzzle-pivoting gun for either land or sea service.

As to the general merits, or general conditions, of muzzle-pivoting,

however, once in doubt at first, these are admitted now by all; and

the latter resolve themselves almost into this--that system of

muzzle-pivoting must be best which, while preserving the essential point

of leaving the muzzle of the gun free of any direct attachment, i.e.,

with an imaginary, not an actual, pivot of vertical arc motion, shall be

_the simplest possible_ in its parts, have the least details, the fewest

parts capable of being struck by splinters or shot, and all its parts of

such materials and character as to receive the smallest amount of injury

if so struck. In every one of these aspects Herr Gruson's mounting is at

fault. With parts and movements far more ingeniously adapted than those

of the crude and unskillfully designed muzzle-pivoting carriages of

Captain Heathorn, also exhibited at Paris, and much exhibited and

exposed since, the Gruson mounting is even more complicated, expensive,

and liable to injury of every sort to which a gun carriage can be

conceived liable. We may even venture to affirm that ponderous as

was the mass of cast iron, etc., in the Paris model carrying only a

12-pounder gun, were it all enlarged in such ratio as might appear to

suit for a 10-inch 25-tun rifled gun of the British type, the almost

proverbial relations, between weight, velocity of impulse, and

brittleness of cast iron, would show themselves, in the whole machine

going to pieces within a very few rounds.

* * * * *

Stock Feeding by Clock Work.

Mr. F. B. Robinson, of North Haven, Conn., has invented a very neat

arrangement, whereby horses or stock can be fed at any time required

with certainty and without personal attention at the time of feeding.

His invention consists of a hopper with a drop bottom in which the

provender is placed. A latch secures the drop bottom, the latch engaging

with a spring catch. A simple arrangement of clock work on the principle

of the alarm clock, may be set to release the spring at any hour or

minute desired, when the drop falls and the provender falls through a

chute into the feeding trough. This invention may be adapted to feeding

any number of horses or cattle, only one clock being required. We regard

the invention as one of much value. By its use much neglect of careless

attendants may be obviated, and a farmer without help, might leave home

for an evening's entertainment, or absent himself on business, without

fear that his stock would suffer. Besides being so convenient the cost

of the apparatus is a mere bagatelle.

* * * * *

Milk, and What Comes of It.

Orange County has long been a laud flowing with milk and--butter. Three

or four of these most beautiful autumn days were spent by us, says a

writer in _Harper's Weekly_, among the farmers which are supposed to

butter our New York city bread, and qualify our tea and coffee. Recent

mechanical improvements have taken away much of the traditional romance

of the farm, but, on the whole, the loss is more than made up by the

gain of perfect system and wonderful adaptation. Instead of four or

five cows, known by such names as Brindle, Bess, and Sukey, milked by

rosy-cheeked maidens, we have now droves of fifty or a hundred, milked

by men, who know them only as "good" or "poor milkers."

In some fine farms a large and luxuriant pasture, with running brooks

and border of woodlands, affords, with the herd feeding in it, a

beautiful picture; and the substantial barns constructed to keep the

cattle comfortably cool in summer and warm in winter, with ample

drinking troughs and stalls for fastening up at night, are indicative of

the good shelter at hand when winter storms drive the cows indoors. To

the farmyards the cows are brought night and morning, in summer, to be

milked. The strained milk is put into large cans holding forty quarts,

such as the milkmen use in distributing it through the city. These cans

are then put into tanks made in some cool running stream, where the

water comes nearly to the top of the can. Frequent stirring is necessary

until the animal heat is quite gone. The milk is then fit to be sent

to the cars. This process can never safely be omitted for, paradoxical

though it may seem, milk is "fresher" and sweeter when it reaches the

consumer if it is delayed at the farm for at least twelve hours. Even

in hot weather, it is more certain to keep sweet when twenty-four or

thirty-six hours elapse between the milking and the using in the city.

There has been much discussion as to the best means of cooling milk

for market, and patent pails have been tried in which the milk passes

directly from the cow through small, coiled tubes surrounded by ice.

But this rapid cooling does not work well, and practical experience

indicates that the old simple process is the best. Every well-appointed

farm must have, therefore, a cool and unfailing stream of water. There

are two such streams in one of the farms we visited. One passes through

the barn, furnishing drinking troughs for the cattle, and a tank for

cooling milk in winter. The other, running through the pasture, supplies

a trout-breeding pond, and furnishes a tank for summer use. In a little

hut under the trees, the milk cans are kept in a stream, which even

the severe drought of last summer did not dry, nor the heat raise to a

temperature of 60 deg..

We are assured most positively that none of the spring water finds its

way over the mouth of the can into the milk. Its dilution, of which

there is so much just complaint, must be done, if at all, in the city,

for the wholesale buyer is said to have such means of testing the milk

as effectually protects him against the farmer. May the man be busy at

work who is to give each family such a protection. We have heard it said

that one end of a small piece of common tape placed in a pan of milk

will carry from it all the water into another vessel in which the other

end of the tape should be placed; but we have never found this a safe

test.

Strange to say, no butter is made on these large milk farms. The supply

for the family is obtained from market, or, more rarely, from a neighbor

who churns all his milk for the accommodation of those who send all

theirs to the city. Our notions of the way to make butter were decidedly

overturned on going to such a dairy. No setting of the milk in shallow

pans for cream to rise; no skimming and putting away in jars until

"churning day," when the thick cream was agitated by a strong arm until

the butter came, then worked and salted. Instead, there is a daily

pouring of the unskimmed soured milk into a common churn, perhaps

somewhat larger than ordinary. The dasher is fastened to a shaft, which

is moved by a crank. The crank is turned by means of a nearly horizontal

wheel some eight or ten feet in diameter, which is kept in motion by a

dog, sheep, or calf standing on it, something after the manner of the

old tread-mill.

When taken from the churn, the butter is worked by hand as of old. The

farmer with whom we have talked said he was about determined to send his

milk to the creamery, since butter-making made it so hard for the women.

Surely woman is less a drudge than she used to be. If, after being

relieved from the labor of churning, the remaining working of the butter

is considered too hard for the farmer's wife, the day of a woman's

redemption must be near at hand.

Only one butter farm, have we been able to find, and not enough is made

there to supply the immediate neighborhood. Where, then, does all the

Orange county butter come from? Mostly from the West. Farmers buy

from the vicinity of the Alleghenies, and even further west, large

quantities, which they sell in the original packages or repack in pails.

Since railroads have become so numerous, New York drinks up all the milk

in Orange county, and must butter her bread elsewhere.

The largest institution for the disposition of milk is the Creamery,

which is, in other words, a cheese factory. Here is brought the milk

which the farmers themselves are unable properly to prepare for market,

for want of cool springs or sufficient help. Received here, it is placed

in deep but narrow tin pails holding twelve or fourteen quartz. These

are floated in large tanks of water. From these pails the cream is

carefully taken and sent to market. The skimmed milk is then placed in

a large vat and heated, by means of steam pipes to about 80 deg.. Then the

rennet is put in. From twenty to thirty minutes suffices for curdling,

and the mass is then stirred to separate the curd from the whey. After

which it is heated still more; and then the whey, passing off through a

strainer, goes to feed hogs, while the curd remains in the vat, to be

salted and worked before putting into the presses. In two or three hours

the curds become hard enough for the canvas to be put upon them ready

for the shelves. Very carefully they must then be watched, lest the

fly lying in wait for them makes in them a snug house for her family.

Greasing and turning must be a daily labor, and some weeks must pass

before they are sufficiently cured for market.

For the benefit of city consumers, who are paying ten and twelve cents a

quart for milk, from a tenth to a quarter of which is not infrequently

pure Croton, we may add that the highest price the farmer ever gets for

his milk is seven cents a quart; and he sometimes sells it for as low as

two cents and a half. Our friends, the milkmen, have, therefore, it will

be seen, a pretty good margin for freight and profit.

* * * * *

Improved Hay Elevator.

The method most generally used for elevating hay is evidently not

the most economical application of the power of horses for the

accomplishment of the purpose desired. The tackle involves a great deal

of friction, and as the quantity which can be thus raised at once is,

probably, on the average, not more than from 150 to 200 lbs, much more

time is employed in re-adjusting the fork, than would be the case if a

larger quantity were elevated.

The invention under consideration supplies a means whereby it is claimed

hay may be unloaded with far greater facility than heretofore, with less

labor to the team and with fewer hands than are at present employed.

A primary gear wheel is propelled horizontally by a lever worked by

a horse. The primary gear impels a pinion keyed to the shaft of a

windlass, upon which is wound the elevating rope, whenever the clutch,

A, is made to operate through the cord and lever, B. This cord runs over

a pulley on the under side the wood framework at C, and its further end

may be held in the hand of the workman on the hay load, who, when he has

properly adjusted the fork, pulls the cord which operates the clutch,

and the "fork-full" of hay is at once elevated. The cylinder of the

windlass, not being keyed to the shaft, only operates when the clutch is

closed by the cord.

The horse, or horses which furnish power to the machine, may, therefore,

keep on traveling in the same direction, and no time is lost in stopping

and backing, as in the method in general use.

[Illustration: DERR'S CAPSTSTAN FOR ELEVATING HAY FORKS.]

There is no doubt but that this is a cheap, durable, and desirable

machine, and one that can be used to great advantage, not only for the

elevation of hay, but for many other purposes. We think it would be

found a decided improvement in discharging cargoes of coal from barges,

and for handling coal in storage yards.

The inventor claims that twice as much hay can be raised in a given time

by its use, as can be done by the old method; and it dispenses with one

hand at the barn or stack.

A coupling at D, enables attachments to be made, which extend the

usefulness of the machine very much. It may be used as a power for

driving wood saws, cutting fuel, thrashing, and other work where a

simple horse power is desirable.

Address for further information, Wm. Derr, Tiffin, Ohio.

* * * * *

COMPETITORS FOR PRIZES.--The interest that our friends have taken in

obtaining additional names to send with their own subscriptions to the

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN for the coming year, is without a parallel. The

clubs sent by competitors for the cash prizes are not so many or so

large as we expected, but the number of applicants for the steel plate

engraving exceeds our expectation.

* * * * *

The Emperor of France is said to be interested in the art of flying and

to have given money to fledge some inventions.

* * * * *

IMPROVEMENT IN LAMP WICKS.

Our engravings show a novel substitute for the cotton lamp wick. The

wick, two forms of which are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, are made of

glass, and are filled preferably with pulverized gypsum, although any

finely-ground stone, mineral, or metal may be employed. The bottom of

the glass tube is closed by wire gauze, or other suitable strainer,

through which the fluid flows; and is carried by the capillary

attraction of the pounded material to the top of the wick.

Thus a permanent wick is obtained, which may be employed with any form

of lamp, and will last for an indefinite time. It may also be used in

connection with an open cup, which the inventor terms a poor man's

lamp. A perforated card is laid upon the top of the cup or tumbler as a

support to the wick.

[Illustration]

It may be used either with or without a chimney, and it is claimed that

with good kerosene oil it is perfectly safe, and consumes less of it,

while it may be also used as a candle.

Patented through the Scientific American Patent Agency, September 14,

1869, by Edward D. Boyd, of Helena, Ark.

Address for rights, etc., the patentee, as above, or Jos. P. Branch, 277

Fulton street, Brooklyn, N.Y.

* * * * *

Great Transformation.

Seven years ago, says the Port Said correspondence of the London _News_,

there was nothing to distinguish Ismailla or the smiling lake before you

from the rest of the desert, and all was sand. It is the canal which has

raised up the numerous handsome villas and fine gardens. Fresh water is

all that is needed to turn the arid desert into a fruitful soil; and the

supply of this is provided by the subsidary canal which the company

has formed side by side with that broad salt one which now unites two

worlds. Wonderful stories are told of the productiveness of the gardens,

and a walk through any of those belonging to the leading officials

stationed at Ismailla is to verify them all. Vines with large bunches of

grapes pendent from their branches; orange trees with green fruit just

showing a golden tint; ivy, roses, geraniums from England, and an

endless variety of rich tropical plants are all flourishing. In the

centre of the town is a square with trees and a building clothed with

rich creepers in its midst. Everything here looks French. A handsome

boulevard runs down to the point of embarkation, the streets and squares

are on the true Parisian model, and there are _cafes_, billiard rooms,

and _cafe chantants_ which might easily belong to Nantes or Lyons. There

are of course huge gaps where the houses and shops will be; the roads

are, many of them, still of sand; camels draw carts, and generally

pervade the place in long strings; but with all this you are kept in a

state of wonder during your stay at Ismailla at the marvelous conversion

which has taken, place under your eyes.

* * * * *

American agricultural implements are highly praised in newspaper reports

of the Metropolitan Cattle Show, held recently in London.

* * * * *

Moore's Rural New Yorker

For Dec. 25 contains a splendid full page Engraving of the PRIZE FOWLS

at the recent State Poultry Show--the Best Poultry Picture ever given in

an American newspaper.--Also, a magnificent CHRISTMAS PICTURE, and other

fine Illustrations. For sale by all Newsdealers; price 8 cents. See

advertisement of RURAL in this paper.

* * * * *

BUSINESS AND PERSONAL.

_The Charge for Insertion under this head is One Dollar a Line. If

the Notices exceed Four Lines, One Dollar and a Half per line will be

charged._

* * * * *

To ascertain where there will be a demand for new machinery or

manufacturers' supplies read Boston Commercial Bulletin's manufacturing

news of the United States. Terms, $4.00 a year.

Ties, timber, and lumber seasoned by steam, without a building. Costs

$2, worth $20 per M. Stops eramacausis. H.G. Bulkley, N.Y.

Wanted--Light Machinery or Articles to Manufacture. Work done in a neat,

prompt manner. Address W.E. Bradner & Co., 13 Mulberry st., Newark, N.J.

Pyrites wanted--Containing Gold, Silver, or Copper. Address A.G. Hunter,

Jackson, Mich.

Those wishing articles of metal or light machinery manufactured, will

find it for their interest to address J.B. Heald, Milford, N.H.

One horizontal stationary steam engine, with variable cut-off, 60-H.P.;

one plain do., 25-H.P.; one do., 20-H.P.; one Portable 12-H.P., on hand

and for sale low. Albertson & Douglass Machine Co., New London, Conn.

For sale cheap--Good 2d-hand plate iron. 50 plates 3-8 thick, 42 inches

wide, 120 inches long. Been used 3 months for a floor. Price 3 cents per

lb. Address box 1352, Norwich, Conn.

The head draftsman of a locomotive works, just closed, desires another

engagement. Familiar with stationary, marine, or locomotive machinery.

Unexceptionable references. Watkins, 13 Dutch st., N.Y.

Wanted--Iron Planer about 4 ft., describe same and price, Geo. S. Grier,

Milford, Del.

Wanted--Best Water Filter for Household purposes. Frank Alexander, Box

3769, New York.

A Brick Machine wanted. Address A. Hansen, Sumter, S.C.

For Sale for want of use--A 3-Horse portable steam engine and boiler, in

perfect running order. Address B.S. Nichols & Co., Burlington, Vt.

Patent Rights bought and sold by R.T. Bradley & Co., 131 Fourth st.,

Cincinnati, Ohio.

Peck's patent drop press. For circulars, address the sole manufacturers,

Milo Peck & Co, New Haven, Ct.

Every wheelwright and blacksmith should have one of Dinsmore's Tire

Shrinkers. Send for circular to R.H. Allen & Co., Postoffice Box 376,

New York.

For Small Engine Lathes, with foot-power, Hand Lathes, Bolt or Terret

Cutters, Planers, etc., address W.E. Bradner & Co., Newark, N.J

Aneroid Barometers made to order, repaired, rated, for sale and

exchange, by C. Grieshaber, 107 Clinton St., New York.

Foundery and Machine Business.--Experience with some capital, wants an

engagement. South or West preferred. Address Box E.E., Catskill, N.Y.

Foreman in a Machine Shop--A person having ten years experience in

that capacity is desirous of forming a new engagement. Address, with

particulars, Postoffice Box 119, La Crosse, Wis.

Makers of Pipe Cutting and Tapping and Screwing Machines send circulars,

without delay, to Forest City Pipe works, Cleveland, O.

For Best Spring-bed Bottoms address S.C. Jennings, Wautoma, Wis.

Parties having patents or patent goods to sell, send for The National,

Buffalo, N.Y., $1 per year, 10c. single copy.

Back Nos., Vols., and Sets of Scientific American for sale. Address

Theo. Tusch, No. 37 Park Row, New York.

Mineral Collections--50 selected specimens, including gold and

silver ores, $15. Orders executed on receipt of the amount. L. & J

Feuchtwanger, Chemists, 55 Cedar st., New York.

The Babcock & Wilcox Steam Engine received the First Premium for the

Most Perfect Automatic Expansion Valve Gear, at the late Exhibition of

the American Institute. Babcock, Wilcox & Co., 44 Cortlandt st., New

York.

For best quality Gray Iron Small Castings, plain and fancy Apply to the

Whitneyville Foundery, near New Haven, Conn.

Keuffel & Esser, 71 Nassau st., N.Y., the best place to get 1st-class

Drawing Materials, Swiss Instruments, and Rubber Triangles and Curves.

Foot Lathes--E.P. Ryder's improved--220 Center st., N.Y.

Those wanting latest improved Hub and Spoke Machinery, address

Kettenring, Strong & Lauster, Defiance, Ohio.

For tinmans' tools, presses, etc., apply to Mays & Bliss, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Mill-stone dressing diamond machine, simple, effective, durable. Also,

Glazier's diamonds. John Dickinson, 64 Nassau st., New York.

Send 3-cent stamp for a circular on the uses of Soluble Glass, or

Silicates of Soda and Potash. Manufactured by L. & J.W. Feuchtwanger,

Chemists and Drug Importers, 55 Cedar st., New York.

Glynn's Anti-Incrustator for Steam Boiler--The only reliable

preventative. No foaming, and does not attack metals of boiler. Liberal

terms to Agents. C.D. Fredricks, 587 Broadway, New York.

Cold Rolled--Shafting, piston rods, pump rods, Collins pat. double

compression couplings, manufactured by Jones & Laughlins, Pittsburgh,

Pa.

For solid wrought-iron beams, etc., see advertisement. Address Union

Iron Mille, Pittsburgh, Pa., for lithograph, etc.

Machinists, boiler makers, tinners, and workers of sheet metals read

advertisement of the Parker Power Presses.

Diamond carbon, formed into wedge or other shapes for pointing and

edging tools or cutters for drilling and working stone, etc. Send stamp

for circular. John Dickinson, 64 Nassau st., New York.

The paper that meets the eye of manufacturers throughout the United

States--Boston Bulletin, $4.00 a year. Advertisements 17c. a line.

Winans' boiler powder, 11 Wall st., N.Y., removes Incrustations without

injury or foaming; 12 years in use. Beware of Imitations.

* * * * *

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

_Correspondents who expect to receive answers to their letters must,

in all cases, sign their names. We have a right to know those who seek

information from us; besides, as sometimes happens we may prefer to

address correspondents by mail.

SPECIAL NOTE.--This column is designed for the general interest and

instruction of our readers, not for gratuitous replies to questions of

a purely business or personal nature. We will publish such inquiries,

however, when paid for as advertisemets at $1.00 a line, under the head

of "Business and Personal."

All reference to back numbers should be by volume and page._

* * * * *

C.H.G., of N.Y.--To make pure nitrate of silver, dissolve pure silver in

pure nitric acid, evaporate the solution to dryness, or, if crystals are

preferred, evaporate until the solution is sufficiently concentrated

to form crystals. If you can not get pure silver, you may purify it by

dissolving coin in nitric acid, filtering the solution and precipitating

the silver in the form of a chloride by hydrochloric acid. Next wash the

precipitate with hot water until the washings cease to redden litmus

paper. Next mix the pure chloride of silver while yet moist with its own

weight of pure crystallized carbonate of soda, place the mixture in a

covered porcelain crucible and heat very gradually until the fusing

point of silver is reached. The reduced silver will be pure and may be

removed by breaking the crucible. Wash the button thoroughly with hot

water to remove the flux. In dissolving the pure silver thus obtained in

nitric acid, it is better to use an excess of acid; the excess will be

driven off by heat in evaporation.

G.B., of Iowa.--Nominal horse power is merely a conventional expression

for diameter of cylinder and length of stroke, and does not apply to the

actual power of the engine. It is found by multiplying the cube root of

the stroke in feet by the square of the diameter in inches and dividing

the product by 47. This rule is based upon the postulate established by

Watt, that the speed of a piston with two feet stroke is 160 feet per

minute, and that for longer strokes the speed varies as the cube roots

of the length of the stroke. It is needless to say this rule is not

observed in modern practice, yet the expression, nominal horse power, is

like many other relics of past time still retained. The above rule does

not apply to high pressure engines. For such engines Bourne has given

the following rule: Multiply the square of the diameter of the cylinder

in inches by the cube root of the stroke in feet, and divide by 15.6.

The real power of an engine is estimated from the mean effective

pressure in the cylinder--not the boiler--and the speed of the piston.

Your data are insufficient to determine the horse power of your boiler.

The horse power of boilers is estimated from the extent of heating

surface when the grate and all other things are correctly proportioned,

but with them as with engines, only actual test will positively

determine it. The pipe you mention ought to be enlarged as proposed.

W.H.R., of Mass.--Pressure acts independently of the mode of

application. A tun laid upon the head of a wedge would produce the same

effect as though it were applied through toggles. When, however, a

weight is dropped its effect increases as the square of its velocity.

J.B., of N.Y.--We recommend you to get "Appleton's Dictionary of

Mechanics." Also send for descriptive catalogue to Henry Carey Baird,

Philadelphia, from which you will be able to judge for yourself what

works are suited to your requirements.

T.D.H., of Mass.--Ammonia, in a weak solution, may be used to cleanse

the scalp, but is not recommended for the purpose. Borax in solution is

better. The supposed preservation of the color of the hair by its use is

a mistake.

F.B.H., of Ill.--So far as we know, nothing better than the flax seed

bag has been discovered for packing the lower end of tubes in artesian

wells. We have never heard of any trouble arising from the method and

think you will have none.

L.G. of Mass.--Express the decimal ratio of the diameter of a circle to

the circumference to which you refer, as a mixed vulgar fraction, and

you will have what you ask for, if we understand your query.

A.H.S., of Sandwich Islands.--We know of no substance that in our

opinion, could be used advantageously to paint the interior of

sheet-iron evaporating pans for concentrating cane juice.

L.B., of Wis.--We would be glad to assist you but the data you furnish

are not sufficient. The accurate solution of such a problem involves the

higher mathematics.

A.H.M.--All animal and mineral oils are destructive to rubber. Linseed

oil will not dissolve it. Oils should not be allowed to get on rubber

belting.

T.W.J., of Pa.--For your rollers try some emery mixed in a solution of

gum shellac in good alcohol.

E.B., of Mass.--The patent can be corrected by reissue.

J.M.T., of Ind.--To find the proper area for a safety valve port, when

the evaporating surface is properly proportioned to the engine power,

multiply the square of the diameter of the piston in inches by the speed

in feet of the piston per minute, and divide the product by 375 times

the pressure on the boiler per square inch. Having decided upon the

length of the lever, the distance of the valve stem from the fulcrum,

and the point from which the weight will be suspended, the weight

necessary will be found by multiplying the area of the valve port in

inches into the pressure per square inch in the boiler in pounds, and

this product into the distance of the center of the valve stem from

the fulcrum in inches, and dividing the product thus obtained by the

distance from the fulcrum to the point of suspension of the weight in

inches. The quotient will give the weight in pounds.

A.K.S., of Ohio.--The inclination of the poles of a planet to the plane

of its orbit, determines its zones and also its seasons. The inclination

of the earth's axis is twenty-three and one half degrees. This places

the tropics the same distance each side of the equator, and the polar

circles the same distance from the poles. The torrid zone is therefore

forty-seven degrees wide, and the temperate zones each forty-three

degrees wide. As the planets vary in their inclination of their axis

to the planes of their orbits, it follows that their zones and seasons

differ from those of the earth.

W.H.C., of Texas.--The teeth of a circular wood saw to be driven by

foot-power, should be not larger than those of the ordinary hand

crosscut. The fly-wheel ought to have a rim weighing from eighty to one

hundred pounds, and it should be, for a 12-inch saw, not less than a

foot in diameter. It should be placed on the saw arbor. The belt should

not run on the fly-wheel, but on a special pulley, and the treadle and

crank motion should be so adjusted that the foot will move through an

arc of from 10 to 12 inches.

A.H.B., of Pa.--We advise you to use a battery in coating the small

gray castings, of which you write, with copper. It will be all the more

satisfactory in the end. The best polishing material to put in with them

in the tumbler we think would be leather cuttings and sweepings.

They will not need returning to the tumbler after being coppered.

We recommend you to get "Byrne's Practical Metalworkers Assistant,"

published by Henry Carey Baird, Philadelphia.

J.H.G., of Tenn.--Don't put oil in your boiler to prevent incrustation.

It will not probably do any good, and it will cause much foaming, while

besides that it is a waste of heat, it is injurious to engines.

S.S.R., of Tenn.--No ammoniacal engines are, so far as we are aware,

running in this country.

C.E.C., of Ohio.--The varnish for patterns is common shellac varnish. It

is sometimes made black by lampblack.

* * * * *

RECENT AMERICAN AND FOREIGN PATENTS.

_Under this heading we shall publish weekly notes of some of the more

prominent home and foreign patents_.

* * * * *

MOP.--Philip Cook, Jr., Sioux City, Iowa.--This invention relates to a

new and useful improvement in mops, whereby they are so arranged that

they may be wrung or freed from water when in use by moving the slides

connected with the handle and head of the mop.

VENTILATING HORSE COVER.--Charles P. Eager, Boston., Mass.--This

invention relates to a new horse cover, which is so arranged that it

will be entirely waterproof, and nevertheless permit a free escape of

air from the body of the animal.

CAR COUPLING.--S.O. Campbell, Tipton, Mo.--This invention relates to a

new car coupling, which is so arranged that it will be self-coupling

and retain the coupling pin ready to lock as long as the link is not

inserted.

GAS STOVE.--Wm. J. Hays, New York city.--This invention has for its

object to construct a gas stove, with an extender radiating surface, and

with proper air channels, so that with a comparatively small amount of

heat, the air in an ordinary-sized room can be properly warmed.

SCRIBE HOOK FOR WEATHER BOARDING.--John Nester, Portland, Oregon.--This

invention relates to a new scribe hook for weather-boards, which will be

generally useful and adaptable to the purposes for which it is intended

and to provide an adjustable spur and marker.

RAILROAD SMOKE CONVEYER.--Lemuel Powell, Milford, Conn.--The object of

this invention is to prevent the smoke and ashes, issuing from the smoke

stack of a locomotive, from entering the cars of the train and from

thereby preventing the proper ventilation of the cars.

DRILL FOR BORING POLYGONAL HOLES.--J.C. Broadley, Franklin, N.J.--This

invention relates to a new implement for boring polygonal, oval,

star-shaped, or holes of other suitable form, in metal, wood, or other

material. The invention consists chiefly in arranging the pattern, which

regulates the shape of the hole to be bored, on the upper part of the

drill shank, and in having the bit shanks, which are pivoted to the

lower part of the drill shank, held by means of springs against the

inner edges of the inverted cup-shaped pattern.

ROOFING.--H.G. Noble, Selma, Ala.--This invention relates to

improvements in roofing, and consists in covering roofs with sheet

metal, laid on the rafters and nailed down at the edges, so as to be

considerably concaved between them, the joints on the rafters being

covered by inverted caps or troughs. The concave form of the sheet

is designed to prevent the sheet metal from cracking, to which it is

subject by expansion and contraction when laid on flat.

WASHING MACHINE.--John J. Kimball Naperville, Ill.--This invention

relates to improvements in washing machines, and consists in an improved

arrangement of operating mechanism for revolving a vertically suspended

shaft with a crank at the top, and carrying within the tub a corrugated

or roughened rubber, for action on the clothes. The invention also

comprises an improved arrangement of the rubber, whereby it is made

capable of sliding up or down on the shaft, according to the amount of

clothes to be acted on.

BOLT CUTTER.--O.E. Butler and S.P. Dunham Marshalltown, Iowa.--This

invention relates to improvements in hand instruments for cutting bolts,

and consists in the combination with the handles of an instrument,

such as patented to the inventors, January 19, 1869, as an improved

instrument for sharpening horseshoes, of a cutting pin of peculiar

construction, whereby the said tool is adapted, when this cutter is

applied in substitution of the cutter and jaw, is used for sharpening

horseshoes, to cut off the ends of bolts with great facility.

SHAFT TUG LUGS FOR HARNESS.--T.J. Magruder, Marion, Ohio.--This

invention relates to improvements in the construction and application of

shaft tug lugs for harness, and consists in forming the said lugs with

broad and long plates, properly curved to suit the curve of the pad, and

connecting the latter to the under sides of the skirts and to the

pads in a way to stiffen the skirt and to hold the stud securely from

breaking loose, the said lugs being made solid with a screw nut at the

end to confine the bearing straps, or hollow, with female screw threads

near the base, and bolts screwing into the said female threads to secure

the bearing straps and to admit of readily applying or removing the

straps so that the harness may be adapted for use either as single or

double harness.

HARNESS BUCKLE.--J.W. Burch, Fayette, Miss.--The object of this

invention is to provide buckles for harness and other uses, with tongues

constructed in the form of leather punches, whereby they may be used at

any time required for punching holes.

HUMMING-WHEEL TOY.--A.F. Able, New Orleans, La.--This invention relates

to improvements in humming wheel toys, having for its object to provide

an improved holding apparatus for supporting and maintaining the proper

tension on the cords, and designed to support the cords of two or more

wheels at the same time.

COMBINED CLOTHES IRONING TABLE AND CLOTHES DRYER.--William P. Adams,

Brooklyn, N.Y.--This invention relates to a new and useful improvement

in an article for the laundry, and consists in an adjustable ironing

table, and in combination therewith a clothes dryer.

SEED AND GRAIN STRIPPER.--J.F. King and H.A. Rice, Louisiana, Mo.--The

object of this invention is to provide a seed and grain stripper,

with light and strong fingers, capable of adjustment as to hight, and

arranged in a way to vary the spaces between the teeth at the point of

stripping the heads for straw of different sizes.

CLOTHES WRINGER.--M.M. Follett, Lake City, Minn.--This invention relates

to a new apparatus for applying pressure to the rollers of a wringer

with an object of obtaining equal and adjustable power without any

danger to the rubber of the rollers or to the articles to be dried.

AUGER HANDLE.--James Swan, Seymour, Conn.--The object of this invention

is to provide a cheap, simple, and durable handle for augurs for boring

in wood, one which shall require no fitting except to make the augur

enter the socket, and which shall be of such size and shape that the

shanks of ordinary augurs shall enter without any fitting at all.

CANDLESTICK.--H. Zahn, San Francisco, Cal.--This invention relates to a

new and useful improvement in candlesticks, and consists in the use of a

thumb screw in combination with the candlestick tube, whereby the candle

is kept steady, and in a perpendicular position in the stick, and firmly

held without the use of springs or other attachment.

WASHING MACHINE.--J.S. Merchant, Hopedale, Ohio.--This invention relates

to new and useful improvements in machines for washing clothes.

PACKING CASES FOR OIL CANS.--John McLeod Murphy, New York city.--This

invention consists of an arrangement especially adapted for use with

cans provided with an improved cut off nozzle, which is the subject of

an application for a patent, made by the same inventor and bearing even

date herewith, which said improvement comprises the application to the

ordinary vertical nozzles of a lateral spout connected to the side, and

arranged to open an escape passage for the contents when the said spout

is turned with the right position, which position is that best adapted

for pouring from the can into another vessel, and in which the said

spout projects through a slot in the side of the packing case in closing

it, the said case being provided with an opening and a door for closing

the same adapted for it.

WASHING MACHINE.--Edward Heim, Pittsburgh, Pa.--This invention relates

to a new machine for washing clothes, and consists in the introduction

of several improvements whereby the machine is adapted to thoroughly

clean coarse as well as fine articles without injury to the same, and in

a comparatively short time.

PADLOCK--John S. Rankin, Ann Arbor, Mich.--The object of this invention

is to provide a simple, cheap, and efficient construction and

arrangement of the locking and operating parts of padlocks. The

invention consists in an improved and simple compound tumbler bolt and

relative arrangement thereof with the bow and bow spring.

GRAIN DRILL.--Jacob F. Gibson, Chestnut Level, Pa.--This invention

relates to a seed tube pivoted in its drag bars, in such manner that it

may yield to an immovable obstruction.

PROPELLING MACHINERY OF COTTON GINS.--Wm. L. May, Linwood, Ala.--This

invention has for its object to effect such arrangement of machinery as

will enable a cotton gin to be run at a materially reduced expense.

SNOW PLOW.--Thomas L. Shaw, Omaha, Nebraska.--This invention relates to

a snow plow, for a locomotive engine, which takes up a load of snow, is

then borne back out of the cut by the engine, and dumps its load when

arrived at a clear space.

BEEHIVE.--W.T. Kirkpatrick, Tamarva, Ill.--This invention relates to

improvements in beehives, and consists in the combination with beehives

in a peculiar way, of a moth box, and moth passage thereto, calculated

to entice the moths away from the bee passage and prevent them from

entering thereat.

SEEDING MACHINE.--M.F. Lowth and T.J. Howe, Owatonna, Minn.--This

invention relates to that class of seeders which employ a revolving

cylinder, having pockets in its periphery, and placed at the bottom of

the hopper which contains the seed, the function of the pockets being to

receive seed, when right side up, and drop it when inverted.

UPRIGHT PIANO.--Geo. C. Manner, New York city.--This invention consists

in placing the strings of an upright piano in an inclined position in

the frame instead of a perpendicular one, as heretofore, for the purpose

of enabling the hammer handle to be pivoted so near the strings that

when the hammer head is driven up against them, it shall necessarily

fall back again by its own weight.

CARPET CLEANER.--Alexander Stevenson, New York city.--This invention

relates to new and useful improvements in carpet cleaning devices,

having for its object to provide a simple and efficient apparatus

consisting of a yielding bed, brushing rollers, moving rollers, and a

beating apparatus, whereby the carpet, being bound upon a roller, or

rollers, may be moved along, from time to time, over the said yielding

bed and brushing rollers, and be beaten and brushed.

COTTON CULTIVATOR.--I.W. Burch, Fayette, Miss.--This invention comprises

a pair of plows suspended from the frame of a truck so as to work on

both sides of the row, for "barring off" or scraping the weeds and earth

away from the row, also, a pair of rotary cutters having oblique blades

for throwing away from the plants, and designed, also, to work on both

sides of the rows, and closer to the plants than the plows, both sets of

devices having vertical vibration.

WATER WHEEL--Geo. W. Cressman and Burt Pfleger, Barren Hill, Pa., and

Nice Keely Roxborough, Pa.--This invention relates to improvements in

turbine wheels designed to produce an arrangement of the gates within

the bucket rim (the water being secured from below, and the wheel being

made hollow, for the reception of the water, and to provide space for

the said gate), in a manner calculated to relieve the wheel of pressure

from the water, either in an upward or downward direction.

ATTACHING FLY AND MOSQUITO BARS TO WINDOWS, DOORS, ETC.--James Hebron,

Buffalo, N.Y.--This invention relates to improvements in attaching fly

and mosquito bars to window sashes or frames, doors, or other light

frames to be used in combination with window frames or doors, and

consists in attaching one edge of the cloth to a round or other shaped

bar or rod of wood or metal, by binding thereon and sewing, passing the

thread spirally around the bar or rod, and then securing the rod to the

sill or frame, either on the surface thereof, or in a groove formed

therein, then stretching the cloth across the window and securing it by

clamping another rod down upon it by staples, either in a groove or

not, and, in some cases, securing the ends in a similar way. It is also

proposed to stretch the cloth over or under these rods.

ADJUSTABLE STOVEPIPE THIMBLE.--H.N. Bill, Willimantic, Conn.--This

invention relates to improvements in thimbles for the passage of

stovepipes through the walls into flues, and consists in providing a

vertically-sliding thimble plate in a metallic frame, having a long

opening, and adapted for insertion in an opening through the wall, so as

to support the thin plate at or about the line of the face of the flue

wall, so that the plate may be drawn up or down to vary the hight of the

thimble for pipes of different vertical lengths. The invention, also,

comprises an improved mode of attaching the thimbles to this plate by

means of radial studs at the rim, separated from the main part of the

rim and bent inward so as to pass through slots in the thimble plate

around the hole, to engage behind the edge of the plate by turning the

thimbles on their axes a short distance after being passed through the

slots, while the main part of the rims of the said thimbles bear against

the front face of the thimble plate and cover the slots when so turned.

COMBINED HAY RAKE AND TEDDER.--John C. Mills, Palmyra, N.Y.--This

invention relates to a new and useful improvement in combining two

important agricultural machines in one (or combining a tedder with a

hay rake), and it consists in the construction of the tedder and the

arrangement of the same in combination with the rake. Patented Dec. 7,

1869.

POST-HOLE AUGER.--Geo. Seeger and Chas H. Shaffer, Clark's Hill,

Ind.--This invention relates to a post hole boring apparatus, mounted

upon a wheelbarrow, and the invention consists in providing the barrow

with legs that may be either turned up out of the way or adjusted at any

required angle so as to keep the barrow level when on uneven ground.

SELF-DROPPER FOR REAPERS.--T.F. Lippencott, Conemaugh, Pa.--This

invention has for its object to furnish an improved self-dropper for

reapers, which shall be so constructed as to operate automatically, to

fall and deposit the grain and to rise to receive another supply, making

the gavels all of about the same size.

PLOWING MACHINE.--Albert Bondeli, Philadelphia, Mo.--This invention has

for its object to furnish an improved machine for preparing the ground

to receive seed, and which shall be so constructed and arranged as to

prepare the ground more thoroughly and put it in better condition to

receive seed, and which shall be so constructed and arranged as to

prepare the ground more thoroughly and put it in better condition to

receive the seed than when the ordinary plows are used.

EXPANDING TRIPLE SHOVEL PLOWS.--Edward Wiard, Louisville, Ky.--This

invention has for its object to furnish an improved triple shovel plow,

which shall be so constructed and arranged that the shovels may be

conveniently expanded and contracted, or set at any desired pitch, and,

at the same time, in such a way as to be securely held in any desired

position.

SEWING MACHINE.--L.W. Lathrop, Nyack, N.Y.--This invention relates to

improvements in sewing machines, and consists in certain improvements

in mechanism for forming the loop, and for conveying the binding thread

through the same, in a manner to prevent the contact of the binding

thread spool, or its carrier, with the thread of the needle, and thereby

to avoid wearing the same, and to produce more easily operating parts;

also, a secure, permanent, and reliable arrangement of apparatus, and

calculated also to be more certain to form the stitch.

POETABLE DERRICK.--J.R. Hammond, Sedalia, Mo.--This invention has for

its object to furnish an improved derrick, simple in construction,

effective in operation, and easily moved from place to place, designed

especially for use in connection with the improved rake, thrasher,

loader, and stacker, patented by the same inventor Nov. 30, 1869, but

equally applicable for other uses.

WAGON SEAT FASTENER.--Charles Collins, Vernon Centre, N.Y.--This

invention relates to improvements in means for holding detachable wagon

or sleigh seats to the boxes, and consists in the application to the

seat risers of hooks with spring stops, adapted for engaging staples in

the boxes below the said hooks, and for being held in such engagement

by the spring stops, until disengaged by the operator for removing the

seats.

VELOCIPEDE.--William Volk, Buffalo, N.Y.--This invention relates to a

new three-wheeled velocipede, which is so arranged that the driving

wheels, although mounted on separate axles, will make equal numbers

of revolutions, as long as the machine is to be kept in a straight

direction, while they can be disconnected when the device is to be

turned in a circle.

COFFIN HANDLES.--Clark Strong, Winsted, Conn.--This invention relates

to new and useful improvements in coffin handles, and consists in the

construction, arrangement, and combination of parts.

LOOM.--Lyman Stone, Nelson, N.H.--This invention relates to improvements

in power looms, and has for its principal object to provide an

arrangement and construction of the same, calculated to furnish looms of

equal or greater efficiency than those now in use, but occupying very

much less space, so as to economize materially in room, where large

numbers are used on a floor, as is the case in factories; not only in

respect of the space occupied by the loom itself, but also in respect of

the space required for the passages or aisles between the rows of looms.

The invention also comprises improved let-off and take-up mechanisms,

also, an improvement in cloth beams; also, an improved picker motion,

inducing a novel adjusting arrangement for the picker operating cams,

also, an improved construction of treadle cams, whereby an equal

capacity of throw is obtained with less size and friction, and with

less power, and whereby they are guarded to prevent accidents to the

attendant while cleaning when the loom is in operation.

PAPER FILE.--C.W. West, Shiloh, N.J.--This invention relates to a new

paper file, which is a compound of two bars that can be tied together so

that the paper will be securely clasped between them; the strings for

tying them being arranged in a peculiar manner to draw them firmly

together.

ROLLING BLOTTER.--C.A. Gale, Demopolis, Ala.--This invention has for

its object to provide an improved rolling blotter, which shall be so

constructed and arranged that the blotting pads maybe conveniently

removed when required, and replaced with new ones.

DUMP WAGON.--Daniel Willson, Ishpeming, Mich.--This invention has for

its object to furnish a simple, strong, and convenient dump wagon, which

shall be so constructed and arranged that it maybe dumped when required,

by backing the team.

SEWING MACHINE SOAP HOLDER.--Mary Dewey, New Albany, Ind.--This

invention relates to a new device for soaping the cloth that is fed

under the needle of a sewing machine, and consists in the attachment of

a tubular soap holder to the presser foot of a sewing machine.

MONKEY WRENCH.--Samuel Zarley, Niantic, Ill.--This invention has for its

object to furnish an improved monkey wrench, which shall be simple in

construction, strong, durable, and easily and quickly adjusted to the

nut to be unscrewed.

ANIMAL TRAP.--Adam Brown, Bridgeport, Oregon.--This invention relates

to improvements in traps for rats, squirrels, and other animals, and

consists in the application through an opening in the side of a box,

of a detachable chute extending some distance into the box, forming

a passage thereinto the walls of which are armed with spring points

arranged in the usual way to permit ingress and prevent egress; the

floor of the passage is elevated to form a chamber below for inclosing

the bait, so that it cannot all be readily devoured. The invention also

comprises in connection with the above, the application to the side

walls of the box, which is open at the top, of projecting sheets of

metal to prevent the animals from climbing out; also the application to

the top of tilting shelves for discharging any animals that may climb up

the outside of the box, and on to the same.

SHINGLE PACKER.--Robert Taylor, West Pensaukie, Wis.--This invention

relates to improvements in apparatus for pressing and holding the

bunches of shingles for binding them, and consists of the arrangement on

a suitable bench, having end walls for gaging the piling of the shingles

at the thick ends, of a pair of vertically sliding bars, a transverse

passing bar, and a set of gear wheels, shaft, and hand lever, the said

wheels gearing with the vertically sliding bars which are toothed for

the purpose in such a way that the hand lever may be used to force the

transverse bar, which is connected to the upper end of the sliding bar

down upon the bundle of shingles across the center, pressing and holding

the bundle till fastened.

REGISTERING APPARATUS FOR VEHICLES.--Thomas Ollis, Netherfield road,

South Liverpool, England.--This invention consists in the application of

apparatus similar to that used for stamping or indorsing purposes for

registering or indicating the number of passengers that have traveled by

an omnibus or other vehicle.

STEAM AND CALORIC ENGINES.--Alexander Hendry, Victoria, British

Columbia.--This invention consists in an improved arrangement of

jacketed cylinders, and jacketed furnace, constituting a water space,

for generating steam by the radiating heat of the furnace, and arranged

to envelope the cylinders with water to prevent injury by the gases and

heat; also an improved arrangement of chambered pistons, for keeping the

same filled with water to counteract the action of the heat upon

the same, also, certain improvements in chambered valves, and valve

operating devices, the said chambered valves and rods being supplied

with water, also to prevent injury by the heat and the gases, and the

invention also comprises an arrangement of the furnace calculated

to separate and distribute the gases and effect the most perfect

combustion.

COTTON BASKETS.--R.S. Myers, Washington, N.C.--This invention relates to

improvements in baskets for carrying cotton, especially when ginned

and consists in providing the cotton baskets of the ordinary form and

construction with large holes through the center of the bottom, whereby

in emptying the said baskets the operator may insert his hand and

push the cotton out by one effort in a mass, whereas, by the present

arrangement it must be pulled out from the mouth, which takes much more

time, as in this way it only comes out in small quantities.

NOTE CASE.--Alphonzo Button, Dunkirk, N.Y.--This invention relates

to improvements in note or paper cases or files for inclosing notes,

papers, bills, etc., in a simple, cheap, and convenient portable

package for the use of bankers and other business men. It consists of a

cylindrical case of leather or other light suitable material having an

opening from end to end covered by a flap, a central revolving spool,

and a web of flexible substance connected to and wound on the spool so

as to be drawn out through the opening and wound up again, on which web

any suitable arrangement of narrow flaps folding over from the edges and

connected by elastic bands, in a way to secure papers, notes, etc., in

different and separate sections, may be arranged as now arranged in

pocket books.

PUMP.--A.C. Judson, Grand Rapids, Ohio.--This invention consists in the

arrangement of two dish shaped metal disks with a diaphragm of leather

between them, and another leather diaphragm above, adapted for the

better support of the water in lifting; it also consists of an

arrangement for operating the pump rod without lateral vibration, so

that it may be packed tightly in the tube to prevent foul matter and

vermin from getting in.

PANELING, MOLDING, AND CARVING MACHINE.--A.S. Gear, New Haven,

Conn.--This machine performs all of the work of the well known Variety

Molding Machine, and in addition molds and carves any desired pattern

of panel work, and simultaneously dovetails both mortise and tenon.

The wood to be carved is fastened firmly to the bed of the machine by

movable clamps adjustable to suit any required size of wood, and the

cutters are fastened to a spindle moved by a universal joint in any

direction upon the bed of the machine. The cutter is guided by hand,

the guide resting against the pattern. The carving can be gaged to any

required depth, and made to conform to any required pattern. A fan blows

away chips as fast as they are produced, leaving the work constantly in

view of the operator. The same tool which cuts the mortise also cuts the

tenon, the two pieces of work to be dovetailed being clamped together to

the end of the table. Every kind of finish hitherto made upon the edges

of lumber, and which has heretofore been mitered and glued upon the face

to create a finish, is planed, beaded, and molded upon the piece itself

by this machine.

WASHING BOILERS.--John P. Sherwood, Fort Edward, N.Y.--This invention

has for its object to improve the construction of that class of washing

boilers in which the clothes are washed by the water as it boils being

projected down upon the clothes to percolate through them, and thus

remove the dirt. And it consists in the construction and combination of

the various parts.

TOY VELOCIPEDE.--H.C. Alexander, New York city.--This invention has for

its object to furnish an improved toy velocipede.

BRICK MACHINE.--Thomas Smurfit, Davisville, Mich.--This invention has

for its object to furnish an improved brick machine, which shall be

strong, durable, simple in construction, and effective in operation,

making the bricks rapidly and well.

TRUNKS, ETC.--Thomas B. Peddie, Newark, N.J.--This invention has for its

object to improve the construction of trunks, valises, portmanteaus,

pellesiers, traveling bags, etc., so as to adapt them to receive and

carry a portfolio in such a way that while carrying it safely, it may be

conveniently removed when required for use.

SEED PLANTER.--David C. Woods, Waxahatchie, Texas.--This invention has

for its object the construction of a seed planter, which will deposit

the seeds in the requisite quantities and the proper distances apart,

and which will cover and mark the hills, so that a plowman will not be

at a loss where to start at the commencement of a new row, and after

having passed around tree stumps or other obstructions, as he can always

see the marks on the preceding rows.

WASHING MACHINE.--Joseph Balsley, Bedford, Ind.--This invention has

for its object to improve the construction of the machine known as the

"Egyptian Washing Machine," so as to make it more convenient in use and

more effective in operation.

DENTAL IMPRESSION CUP FOR LOWER JAW.--Robert V. Jenks, Paterson,

N.J.--This invention has for its object to furnish an improved

impression cup for use in taking a cast of the lower jaw, to form a

model of said jaw to fit the plate upon, which shall be so constructed

as to enable the dentist to take a more perfect cast than is possible

with impression cups constructed in the ordinary manner.

SHOW CARD SUSPENSION RING.--H.S. Griffiths, New York city.--This

invention has for its object to furnish an improved suspension ring for

suspending show cards, which shall be simple in construction and easily

attached to the cards, and which shall, at the same time, be so formed

as to take a firm hold upon the card, and not be liable to tear out.

REFRIGERATOR.--Samuel Ayres, Danville, Ky.--This invention relates to

improvements in refrigerators, and consists in certain improvements in

the construction and arrangement for excluding the external atmosphere,

distributing the cold by means of the ice, and also the water resulting

therefrom; for economizing space, and for providing convenient access to

all the different parts.

CINDER AND DUST ARRESTER FOR CAR WINDOWS.--Edwin Norton, Brooklyn,

N.Y.--This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for preventing

the cinders and dust from being blown into the cars, when in motion,

through the open windows, and consists in the application to the cars

at the sides of the windows, on the exterior, by hinging thereto or

by other equivalent connection, small guard plates of wood or other

substance to project outwardly in a right or other suitable or preferred

angle, at the side of the window, to arrest the cinder and dust moving

rearward alongside of the car, and conduct it below the windows, the

said guard plates being arranged so that those on the side of the

windows in the direction of the movement of the train may be adjusted to

the operating position while the others are folded back against the side

of the car.

HOSE COUPLING.--William J. Osbourne, New York city.--This invention

relates to a new and useful improvement in couplings for hose pipe,

whereby the parts of a hose are united in a more perfect manner than by

the ordinary hose coupling.

SAW GUIDE.--John Trunick, Muscatine, Iowa.--This invention relates to

a new and useful improvement in means for guiding circular saws and

keeping them to the true saw line.

SQUARE, GAGE, AND LEVEL.--Josiah Potts, Milwaukee, Wis.--This invention

relates to a new and useful improvement in a tool for mechanics' use and

consists in combining with a try square, a spirit level and a surface

gage.

EXTENSION MUFF BLOCK.--C.F. Butterworth, Troy, N.Y.--This invention

relates to a new and useful improvement in blocks for forming and

stretching muffs in the process of manufacturing that article.

HAY AND GRAIN ELEVATOR.--John Dennis, Oswego, N.Y.--This invention has

for its object to furnish an improved device, to be used in connection

with the improved hay and grain elevator, patented by the same inventor,

September 21, 1869, and numbered 95,006, for the purpose of moving the

whole load of hay or grain when elevated to any desired part of the barn

before unloading it.

MILLER TRAP FOR BEEHIVES.--T.L. Gray, Thomasville, Tenn.--This invention

relates to a device for catching millers, or other insects, in their

attempts to gain entrance into beehives.

VALVE GEAR.--Thomas E. Evans, William R. Thomas, and Joshua Hunt,

Catasauqua, Pa.--This invention relates to a new and useful improvement

in the mode of operating valves of steam engines, more especially

designed for pumping engines, but applicable to other purposes or to

valves of steam and water engines generally.

WATER WHEEL.--Henry W. McAuley, De Soto, Wis.--This invention consists

in certain improvements in the form and arrangements of the buckets and

in chutes for delivering the water thereto.

SELF-LOADING HAY WAGON.--James Capen, Charlton, Mass.--This invention

relates to improvements in hay loaders, and consists in the application

to the rear end of a hay wagon of an endless elevator case and rake, the

latter having spring teeth, and arranged for adjustment by means of

a hand lever at the front and suitable connecting devices; and the

elevator is connected with one or both of the hind wheels of the wagon

by machine chains or belts for operation.

ELEVATOR.--Francis Stein and Henry Haering, New York city.--This

invention consists in the application to a pair of vertical ports or

ways with toothed racks, of a carriage or platform having a shaft

provided with a gear wheel at or near each end, and gearing into the

toothed rack; also, having in suitable cases sliding on the posts a set

of hoisting gears, gearing with the toothed racks and operated by hand

cranks, and provided with ratchet wheels, holding pawls, and friction

apparatus, arranged in a peculiar way for elevating the platform,

holding it in any desired position or governing its descent.

FOLDING AND EXTENSION TABLE.--C. Mayer, Sullivan, Ill.--This invention

relates to improvements in tables, and consists in arranging the side

rails of the top of the frame, which are enlarged at the center and

hinged to the posts for folding against the cross rails, when the top,

which is detachably connected, is removed, for economy of space and

convenience, in packing for transportation or storage; also in arranging

the legs for folding up against the under edge of the cross rails; also

in an improved arrangement of the side rails for extension.

MANUFACTURE OF SCOOPS.--S. Geo. Knapp, Woodhaven, N.Y.--This invention

relates to an improved mode of manufacturing sheet-metal flour, grain,

and other scoops, and consists in forming the bowls in one piece of

metal, without seams or joints, by stamping up sheets of metal into the

form of a trough, with a flange around the top, and cutting the same

transversely in the center, with blanks for the bowls of two scoops, to

be finished by trimming or shaping the cut ends, turning down the flange

at the top, for stiffening either over wire or not and attaching the

handle; the object being to produce scoops with bowls formed in one

piece, and shaped at the base or in the part where the handles are

connected, and to smoothly effect an economy of labor by stamping two

blanks at one blow of the drop press, and also to control the metal

under the action of the drop better in shaping the deep curved part of

the base so as to upset and stiffen the blanks thereat.

BORING MACHINE.--E.C. Barton, Bloomsburg, Pa.--This invention relates to

improvements in wood-boring machines, whereby it is designed to provide

a simple and efficient arrangement of frame operating devices and

feeding table for boring light articles to be presented to the machine

by hand.

HASP LOCK.--E.R. Culver, New London, Conn.--This invention relates

to improvements in that class of locks where the locking devices are

incased within a hasp, and a hook is used in connection with the hasp

for locking, or independently for fastening the door without locking.

WATER WHEELS.--W.J. Thompson, Springfield, Mo.--This invention relates

to improvements in that class of horizontally running wheels, which

receive the water from above or below on curved buckets taking the water

at one side and discharging it at the other, and it consists of an

improved arrangement of vertically oscillating gates, which, when open,

form chutes for the water; it also consists of an improved means for

working the gates.

PIPE COUPLING.--J.D. Ware, Savannah, Ga.--This invention relates to

improvements in pipe couplings, and consists in forming a dovetailed

groove across the end of one part, with an annular recess in the bottom

around the bore for a packing ring, and fitting on the other part a

dovetailed projection for engaging in the groove, and in arranging on

one of the parts an eccentric ring to work against the head of the

projection and force it tightly into the groove.

FIRE GRATES.--G.W. Everhart, Louisville, Ky.--This invention relates to

improvements in that class of fire grates used for heating rooms, and

consists in so arranging them as to provide a clear air space between

the basket and the walls of the fire-place, both at the back and ends,

for the admission of air more directly at these parts, for the better

combustion of the coal and the gases arising therefrom; it also consists

in providing a recess in the hearth or bottom of the fire-place under

the grate, for the reception of ash pans of greater capacity than can be

contained on the top of the hearth, whereby a much larger quantity of

cinders and ashes may be received and retained, so that less frequent

removals of the same will be required.

APPARATUS FOR SEWING SADDLERY AND OTHER LEATHER, OR STRONG

MATERIALS.--Auguste Jacques Hurtu and Victor Joseph Hautin, Paris

France.--This invention relates to apparatus more especially applicable

for sewing leather, saddlery, harness, and other similar work with waxed

thread, and consists first, in the improved apparatus of this invention,

two needles are employed, the one sewing as an awl, and the other

carrying the thread; the two needles have at the same time a vertical

movement and also an adjustable horizontal movement. The needles are

operated alternately, so that the needle may pass the thread through the

hole made just previously by the awl, before the leather has been

moved forward. By this means the sewing may be carried on with great

regularity, and the material be turned in any direction in order to

execute small designs. Secondly, the invention relates to improvements

in the arrangement of the shuttle, whereby it is caused to pass through

the loops formed by the waxed thread without touching it.

PACKING AND ATOMIZING CAN.--F.L. Palmer, Sr., New York city.--This

invention relates to improvements in cans for packing insect powder

and other like finely powdered substances which, in use, require to be

delivered in atomic jets for penetrating crevices where insects secrete

themselves, and it consists in providing such cans with stoppers having

nozzles, through which stoppers or nozzles the passages are temporarily

closed in a way to be readily opened for use; also, in providing the

cans with nozzles at or near the bottom temporarily plugged in which

tubes may be connected so that the powder may, when required for use,

be readily blown out in atomic jets, whereby the said cans are made to

subserve the uses of packing cans and discharging atomizing cans, with

but trifling additional expense, whereas, at the present time, users of

such powders are compelled to buy expensive atomizing cans, to which

the powder must be transferred from the packing cans, before it can be

properly used, or in the absence of such cans the powder is scattered in

an ineffectual and wasteful way in or about the resorts of the insects.

REMEDY TOR RHEUMATISM.--H.H. Munroe, Louisville, Ky.--This invention

relates to a new and useful improvement in a remedy for rheumatism.

* * * * *

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Dramatic Styles.

The author of this valuable treatise is Prof. Charles A. Wiley, of Fort

Plain, N.Y. The instructions are valuable and the selections admirable;

and we can very cordially recommend it to all who would improve either

in speaking or reading. Such a book is worthy a place in every family.

SPECIMENS OF FANCY TURNING EXECUTED ON THE HAND OR FOOT LATHE. With

Geometric, Oval, and Eccentric Chucks, and Elliptical Cutting Frame. By

an Amateur. Illustrated by Thirty exquisite Photographs. Philadelphia:

Henry Carey Baird, Industrial Publisher, 406 Walnut Street.

The beauty of these photographs is indescribable; they must be seen to

be appreciated. The designs from which they were taken were executed by

a gentleman well known to us, and who is undoubtedly one of the most

expert turners on this continent. The price of the work by mail, free of

postage, is $3.00.

THE NATIONAL WAGES TABLES, Showing at a glance the Amount of Wages, from

Half an Hour to Sixty Hours at $1 to $37 per Week, also from One Quarter

of a Day to Four Weeks, at $1 to $37 per Week. By Nelson Row, Publisher,

No 149 Fulton street, New York.

This little work, which our readers will find advertised in another

column, must prove an almost indispensable help in the counting rooms of

establishments employing large numbers of workmen at varying rates of

wages. It is one of the best things of the kind we have ever seen, and

we give it earnest commendation.

DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING. By Miss Leslie. Price, by mail, $1.50.

Henry Carey Baird, of Philadelphia, has just published a new edition of

Miss Leslie's "Old Standard and Renowned Cookery," being the sixtieth

edition of a book which has stood the test of time and practice, and is

a valuable aid in every household.

BENNY.

S.R. Wells, of this city, has published in pretty form "Benny," a

Christmas ballad, by Annie Chambers Ketchum, a poem which has already

appeared in the _Phrenological Journal_.

The prospectus of EVERY SATURDAY, for 1870, by Fields, Osgood & Co. of

Boston, promises to give us that excellent journal in a new and enlarged

form, with the additional attraction of illustrations, engraved from

designs by leading European artists. This publication will therefore

hereafter present weekly, not only the cream of European literature, but

the cream of European art. The high character of the publishers of this

journal is an ample guarantee that this promise will be fulfilled in the

most satisfactory manner.

LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, for January, also presents a varied and select

bill of fare, containing among other things, Part XIII. of Robert

Dale Owen's novel "Beyond the Breakers," "The Fairy and the Ghost,"

a Christmas tale, with six amusing illustrations; a curious and

interesting article on "Literary Lunatics," by Wirt Sikes, "Our

Capital," by William R. Hooper, and very much more excellent matter in

the way of stories poems, and essays.

The "Mobile Weekly Register," the oldest Democratic paper in the South,

is said to have reached a larger circulation than was ever attained by

any journal South of Mason and Dixon's line. It is full of interesting

varied matter, having an able agricultural department, presided over by

the veteran editor and successful agriculturist, Hon. C.C. Langdon. Its

general literature, poetry, stories, etc., make it highly acceptable

to the ladies. The year will open with a new continued story, of deep

interest, by one of the most distinguished writers of the day. The price

was recently reduced to $3.00 per year, which, for so large a paper (12

pages), is extremely cheap.

We have received the January number of "Demorest's Mirror of Fashions,"

a work that interests the ladies. Also "Demorest's Young America," a

fine magazine for boys and girls. Both these serials are well published

by Mr. and Madame Demorest of this city.

* * * * *

U.S. Patent Office

How to Obtain Letters Patent for New Inventions.

Information about Caveats, Extensions, Interferences Designs, Trade

Marks; also, Foreign Patents.

For a period of nearly twenty-five years, MUNN & CO. have occupied the

position of leading Solicitors of American and European Patents, and

during this extended experience of nearly a quarter of a century, they

have examined not less than fifty thousand alleged new inventions, and

have prosecuted upward of thirty thousand applications for patents, and,

in addition to this, they have made, at the Patent Office, over twenty

thousand preliminary examinations into the novelty of inventions, with a

careful report on the same.

The important advantages of MUNN & CO.'S Agency are, that their practice

has been ten-fold greater than that of any other Agency in existence,

with the additional advantage of having the assistance of the best

professional skill in every department, and a Branch Office at

Washington, which watches and supervises, when necessary, cases as they

pass through official examination.

CONSULTATIONS AND OPINIONS FREE.

Those who have made inventions and desire a consultation are cordially

invited to advise with MUNN & CO. who will be happy to see them in

person at the office, or to advise them by letter. In all cases, they

may expect an HONEST OPINION. For such consultations, opinion, and

advice, NO CHARGE is made. A pen-and-ink sketch and a description of the

invention should be sent.

TO APPLY FOR A PATENT,

a model must be furnished, not over a foot in any dimension. Send model

to MUNN & CO., 37 Park Row, New York, by express, charges paid, also, a

description of the improvement, and remit $16 to cover first Government

fee, and revenue and postage stamps.

The model should be neatly made, of any suitable materials, strongly

fastened, without glue, and neatly painted. The name of the inventor

should be engraved or painted upon it. When the invention consists of an

improvement upon some other machine, a full working model of the whole

machine will not be necessary. But the model must be sufficiently

perfect to show with clearness the nature and operation of the

improvement.

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

is made into the patentability of an invention by personal search at the

Patent Office, among the models of the patents pertaining to the class

to which the improvement relates. For this special search, and a report

in writing, a fee of $5 is charged. This search is made by a corps of

examiner of long experience.

Inventors who employ us are not required to incur the cost of a

preliminary examination. But it is advised in doubtful cases.

COST OF APPLICATIONS.

When the model is received, and first Government fee paid, the drawings

and specification are carefully prepared and forwarded to the applicant

for his signature and oath, at which time the agency fee is called for.

This fee is generally not over $25. The cases are exceptionally complex

if a higher fee than $25 is called for, and, upon the return of

the papers, they are filed at the Patent Office to await Official

examination. If the case should be rejected for any cause, or objections

made to a claim, the reasons are inquired into and communicated to the

applicant, with sketches and explanations of the references; and should

it appear that the reasons given are insufficient, the claims are

prosecuted immediately, and the rejection set aside, and usually WITHOUT

EXTRA CHARGE TO THE APPLICANT.

MUNN & CO. are determined to place within the reach of those who confide

to them their business, the best facilities and the highest professional

skill and experience.

The only cases of this character, in which MUNN & CO. expect an extra

fee, are those wherein appeals are taken from the decision of the

Examiner after a second rejection; and MUNN & CO. wish to state very

distinctly, that they have but few cases which can not be settled

without the necessity of an appeal; and before an appeal is taken, in

any case, the applicant is fully advised of all facts and charges, and

no proceedings are had without his sanction; so that all inventors who

employ MUNN & CO. know in advance what their applications and patents

are to cost.

MUNN & CO. make no charge for prosecuting the rejected claims of their

own clients before the Examiners and when their patents are granted, the

invention is noticed editorially in the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.

REJECTED CASES.

MUNN & CO. give very special attention to the examination and

prosecution of rejected cases filed by inventors and other attorneys. In

such cases a fee of $5 is required for special examination and report,

and in case of probable success by further prosecution, and the papers

are found tolerably well prepared, MUNN & Co. will take up the case and

endeavor to get it through for a reasonable fee, to be agreed upon in

advance of prosecution.

CAVEATS

Are desirable if an inventor is not fully prepared to apply for a

Patent. A Caveat affords protection, for one year, against the issue

of a patent to another for the same invention. Caveat papers should be

carefully prepared. The Government fee on filing a Caveat is $10, and

MUNN & Co.'s charges for preparing the necessary papers are usually from

$10 to $12.

REISSUES.

A patent when discovered to be defective, may be reissued by the

surrender of the original patent, and the filing of amended papers. This

proceeding should be taken with great care.

DESIGNS, TRADE MARKS, AND COMPOSITIONS

can be patented for a term of years, also, new medicines or medical

compounds, and useful mixtures of all kinds. When the invention consists

of a medicine or compound, or a new article of manufacture, or a new

composition, samples of the article must be furnished, neatly put up.

Also, send a full statement of the ingredients, proportions, mode of

preparation, uses, and merits.

PATENTS CAN BE EXTENDED.

All patents issued prior to 1861, and now in force, may be extended for

a period of seven years upon the presentation of proper testimony. The

extended term of a patent is frequently of much greater value than the

first term; but an application for an extension, to be successful,

must be carefully prepared. MUNN & Co. have had a large experience in

obtaining extensions, and are prepared to give reliable advice.

INTERFERENCES

Between pending applications before the Commissioners are managed and

testimony taken; also, Assignments, Agreements, and Licenses prepared.

In fact, there is no branch of the Patent Business which MUNN & Co. are

not fully prepared to undertake and manage with fidelity and dispatch.

FOREIGN PATENTS.

American inventors should bear in mind that five Patents--American,

English, French, Belgian, and Prussian--will secure an inventor

exclusive monopoly to his discovery among ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY

MILLIONS of the most intelligent people in the world. The facilities of

business and steam communication are such, that patents can be obtained

abroad by our citizens almost as easily as at home. MUNN & Co. have

prepared and taken a larger number of European Patents than any other

American Agency. They have Agents of great experience in London, Paris,

Berlin, and other Capitals.

A Pamphlet, containing a synopsis of the Foreign Patent Laws, sent free.

Address

MUNN & CO., 37 Park Row, New York.

* * * * *

Official List of Patents.

Issued by the United States Patent Office

FOR THE WEEK ENDING DEC. 14, 1869.

_Reported Officially for the Scientific American_

SCHEDULE OF PATENT OFFICE FEES:

On each caveat $10

On filing each application for a Patent (seventeen years) $15

On issuing each original Patent $20

On appeal to Commissioner of Patents $20

On application for Reissue $30

On application for Extension of Patent $50

On granting the Extension $50

On filing a Disclaimer $10

On an application for Design (three and a half years) $10

On an application for Design (seven years) $15

On an application for Design (fourteen years) $30

In addition to which there are some small revenue-stamp taxes. Residents

of Canada and Nova Scotia pay $500 on application.

_For copy of Claim of any Patent issued within 30 years_ $1

_A sketch from the model or drawing, relating to such portion of a

machine as the Claim covers, from_ $1 _upward, but usually at the price

above-named_.

_The full Specification of any patent issued since Nov. 20,1866, at

which time the Patent Office commenced printing them_ $1.25

_Official Copies of Drawings of any patent issued since 1836, we can

supply at a reasonable cost, the price depending upon the amount of

labor involved and the number of views.

Full information, as to price of drawings, in each case, may be had by

addressing_

MUNN & CO.,

Patent Solicitors, No. 37 Park Row, New York.

* * * * *

97,751.--FLUTING MACHINE.--Henry B. Adams, New York city.

97,752.--ELASTIC WASHER FOR CARRIAGES, ETC.--George W. Billings,

Chicago, Ill. Antedated December 4, 1869.

97,753.--ADJUSTABLE WAGON BOTTOM AND CHUTE.--Abraham Bitner, Jr.,

Lancaster, Pa.

97,754.--MODE OF TREATING CONGLOMERATES OF CAST IRON.--Thomas

Schoenberger Blair, Pittsburgh, Pa.

97,755.--ANIMAL TRAP.--John Blume, Mount Pleasant, Md.

97,756.--ELECTRO-MAGNETIC ADVERTISING FRAME.--Joshua Brooks, (assignor

to himself and Benjamin E. Corlew), Boston, Mass., Antedated December 1,

1869.

97,757.--LAMP EXTINGUISHER.--Wm.I.Bunker, Yankton, Dakota Territory.

97,758.--MACHINE FOR POLISHING THE EDGES OF BOOT AND SHOE SOLES.--Robert

F. Burns, Albany, N.Y.

97,759.--BEEHIVE.--Peter Campbell, Carrolltown, Pa.

97,760.--RAILWAY GATE.--Peter Campbell, Carrolltown, Pa.

97,761.--REDUCING ORES.--Thomas J. Chubb, Williamsburg, N.Y. Antedated

June 14, 1869.

97,762.--MACHINE FOR BENDING AND FOLDING SHEET METAL.--James B. Clark

and Lucas C. Clark, Plantsville, Conn.

97,763.--SAW SWAGE.--Joseph S. Clark, New York city.

97,764.--SASH HOLDER.--Nelson C. Cole (assignor to himself and Leverett

H. Marvin), Beaver Dam, Wis.

97,765.--MACHINE FOR CRIMPING AND FORMING THE FRONT OF

BOOTS.--Christopher Day, Mineral Point, Wis. Antedated November 30,

1869.

97,766.--WATER HEATER FOR CULINARY PURPOSES.--Royal E. Deane, Brooklyn,

N.Y.

97,767.--PUMP.--Joseph W. Douglas, Middletown, Conn., assignor to W.& B.

Douglas.

97,768.--DEPURATOR.--S. C. Frink and L. D. Harlan, Indianapolis, Ind.

97,769.--SHUTTER FASTENER.--Charles B. Goodrich, Jr., Boston, Mass.

97,770.--Suspended.

97,771.--MANUFACTURE OF GLUE.--George Guenther, Chicago, Ill., assignor

to himself and E. H. Heymann, New York city.

97,772.--SHADE RINGS FOR LAMP BURNERS.--Hiram W. Hayden (assignor to

Holmes, Booth & Haydens), Waterbury, Conn.

97,773.--LAMP.--Hiram W. Hayden (assignor to Holmes, Booth & Haydens),

Waterbury, Conn.

97,774.--FLUTING MACHINE.--Frederick Hewitt, Bloomfield, N.J.

97,775.--WAGON BRAKE.--Abram C. Jaques, Levenworth, Kansas.

97,776.--WICK-TRIMMER FOR LAMPS.--E.C.Jenkins, Jr., Worcester, Mass.

Antedated December 11, 1869.

97,777.--LUMBER DRYER.--Jesse.B. Johnson and Thomas E. Johnson,

Indianapolis, Ind.

97,778.--TURBINE WATER WHEEL.--Julius H. Jones, Charlton, Mass.

97,779.--HYDRAULIC ENGINE.--Henry J. King and Benton L. Beebe,

Middletown, N. Y.

97,780.--BREECH-LOADING REVOLVING FIREARMS.--Francois Alexandre Le Mat,

New Orleans, La., assignor to Charles Pietroni, London, England.

97,781.--COMPOSITION FOR COVERING STEAM BOILERS AND FOR OTHER

PURPOSES.--Ferdinand Leroy (Ferdinand Leroy, administrator), of

Commercial Road, London, England, assignor to himself and P. A. Victor

Le Luoez, England.

97,782.--WINE AND CIDER MILL.--Edward C. Lewis, Benton Harbor, Mich.

97,783.--EXCAVATOR.--John R. Lewis, Piper City, Ill.

97,784.--BAND TIGHTENER.--Francis M. Lottridge, Portland, Ind., assignor

to himself, James M. Templer, and James C. Jay. Antedated December 14,

1869.

97,785.--CLOD FENDER.--Francis M. Lowden and John D. Lowden, Lawrence,

Ind.

97,786.--SHAFT TUG LUG FOR HARNESS.--T.J.Magruder, Marion, Ohio.

97,787.--SHIPS OR VESSELS FOR CARRYING LIQUID CARGO.--John W. Marshall,

Gilman Joslin, and Nelson Curtis, Boston, and Oliver Edwards, Brookline,

Mass.

97,788.--FASTENING FOR CORSETS.--Frank W. Marston, Boston, Mass.

Antedated November 30, 1869.

97,789.--CART SADDLE.--W.B.McClure, Alexandria, Va.

97,790.--POTATO DIGGER.--Philip C. McManus, Troy, N.Y. Antedated

December 7, 1869.

97,791.--WASHING MACHINE.--J.S.Merchant, Hopedale, Ohio.

97,792.--RAILWAY RAIL.--James Montgomery, Croton Landing, N.Y.

97,793.--WASHING MACHINE.--Wm. Morgan, Middlebrook, Va.

97,794.--COMPOUND FOR TREATING RHEUMATISM.--H.H.Munroe, Louisville, Ky.

97,795.--SCRIBE HOOK.--John Nester, Portland, Oregon.

97,796.--ROOFING.--H.G.Noble, Selma, Ala.

97,797.--DEVICE FOR FASTENING PISTONS TO PISTON RODS.--Anthony T.

Norgan, Palo Alto, Pa. Antedated December 7, 1869.

97,798.--ATTACHABLE AND REMOVABLE CALKS FOR HORSESHOES.--G.S. Norris,

Baltimore, Md.

97,799.--HARNESS FOR HORSES.--John Palen, Lockport, assignor to Nathan

T. Healy, Medina, N.Y.

97,800.--RAILWAY CAR BRAKE.--Thomas Payne, Detroit, Mich.

97,801.--SAW MILL.--A. Perin, Paris, France.

97,802.--SPOKE SHAVE.--Joseph A. Perley (assignor to himself and Wm. H.

Perley), Lynn. Mass.

97,803.--ORGAN BELLOWS.--J.R.Perry, Wilkesbarre, Pa.

97,804.--APPARATUS FOR SETTING CATS IN METALLIC CARTRIDGES.--William C.

Pickersgill (assignor to Providence Tool Company), Providence, R.I.

97,805.--CAP-EXTRACTOR FOR CARTRIDGES.--William C. Pickersgill (assignor

to Providence Tool Company), Providence, R.I.

97,806.--APPARATUS FOR SETTING BULLETS IN CARTRIDGES.--William C.

Pickersgill (assignor to Providence Tool Company), Providence, R.I.

97,807.--SMOKE AND SPARK CONVEYER FOR RAILROAD TRAINS.--Lemuel Powell,

Milford, Conn.

97,808.--CONVERTIBLE END-BOARD AND PLATFORM FOR WAGONS.--Thomas T.

Powell and John F. Burroughs, Lawn Ridge, Ill.

97,809.--MACHINE FOR MAKING FLY NETS.--A. Prutzmann, Canton, Ohio.

97,810.--BURGLAR PROOF SAFE.--George W. Putnam, Boston, Mass. Antedated

November 27, 1869.

97,811.--HORSESHOE BEVELER.--Ephraim Quinby, Comstock, Mich. Antedated

Dec. 1, 1869.

97,812.--PADLOCK.--J.S.Rankin, Ann Arbor, Mich.

97,813.--SHIP WINDLASS.--Elisha R. Ritch, South Boston, Mass.

97,814.--REIN-GUIDE FOR HARNESS.--Lemuel Richmond, Derby, Vt.

97,815.--CHURN.--Stacy Risler, Locktown, N. J.

97,816.--PAPER-CUTTING MACHINE.--T. C. Robinson, Boston, Mass., assignor

to G. H. Sandborn, New York city.

97,817.--STONE-POLISHING MACHINE.--Henry Schofield (assignor to himself

and C. D. Clarke). Philadelphia.

97,818.--TWIST DRILL.--Socrates Scholfield, Providence, R. I.

97,819.--SMOKE-CONSUMING FIRE BOXES.--G. H. Smith, Galesburg, Ill.

97,820.--CHURN.--Samuel Smith, Yohogany, Pa.

97,821.--REPEATING FIRE-ARM.--William Sidney Smoot, Washington, D.C.

97,822.--PNEUMATIC ENGINE.--Robert Spear, New Haven, Conn.

97,823.--MACHINE FOR POLISHING WOOD.--W. F. Spear, Worcester, Mass.

97,824.--CARPET BEATER AND CLEANER.--Alexander Stevenson, New York City.

97,825.--MODE OF FORMING "BURNER CONES" OF LAMPS.--C. St. John and C. E.

Marston, Charlestown, Mass.

97,826.--LOOM.--Lyman Stone, Nelson, N. H.

97,827.--COFFIN HANDLE.--Clark Strong, Winsted, Conn.

97,828.--PLOW.--Z. W. Sturtevant, Dunstable, Mass.

97,829.--SAFE.--T. J. Sullivan, Albany, N. Y.

97,830.--AUGER HANDLE.--James Swan, Seymour, Conn.

97,831.--STOVE SHELF.--Gr. L. Swett, Leominster, Mass.

97,832.--RAILWAY RAIL.--J. F. Tallant, Burlington, Iowa.

97,833.--TOOL FOR CABINET MAKERS.--R. W. Tanner (assignor to himself and

Samuel J. Davenport), Albany, N. Y. Antedated Dec. 11,1869.

97,834.--TICKET BOX FOR RAILROAD PASSENGER TRAINS.--Asahel Todd, Jr.,

Pultneyville, N. Y.

97,835.--HYDRANT.--T. Van Kannel, Cincinnati, Ohio.

97,836.--RETICULE WICKER BASKET.--Joseph Venet, New York city.

97,837.--VELOCIPEDE.--Wm. Volk, Buffalo, N. Y.

97,838.--SILVERING GLASS, AND PROTECTING THE SAME.--H. B. Walker, New

York city.

97,839.--STEELYARD.--P. H. Walker (assignor to himself and J. L.

Trowbridge), Boston, Mass.

97,840.--BARREL.--D. H. Waters, Grand Rapids, Mich.

97,841.--BARREL.--D. H. Waters, Grand Rapids, Mich.

97,842.--CAR SPRING.--Cyrenus Wheeler, Jr., Auburn, N. Y.

97,843.--METALLIC CARTRIDGE.--Rollin White, Lowell, Mass.

97,844.--APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING IRON.--S. M. Wickersham, Allegheny, Pa.

97,845.--MAKING PIANO LEGS.--Henry Willoghs, New York city.

97,846.--DUMPING WAGON.--Daniel Willson, Ishpeming, Mich.

97,847.--HARVESTER KNIFE GRINDER.--Edwin L. Yancey, Batavia, N. Y.

97,848.--CANDLESTICK.--H. Zahn, San Francisco, Cal.

97,849.--MONKEY WRENCH.--Samuel Zarley, Niantic, Ill.

97,850.--HUMMING-WHEEL TOY.--A. F. Able, New Orleans, La., assignor to

himself and A. D. Finley.

97,851.--IRONING TABLE AND CLOTHES DRYER.--W. P. Adams, Brooklyn, N. Y.

97,852.--SAWSET.--Daniel Agnew, Vincennes, Ind.

97,853.--MODE OF PROTECTING THE ENDS OF VULCANIZED RUBBER HOSE.--H. A.

Alden, Matteawan, N. Y.

97,854.--LAMP BURNER.--Joseph Bell Alexander, Washington, D.C.

97,855.--GATE FOR SWINGING BRIDGES.--Lauritz Anderson, Chicago, Ill.

97,856.--BUTTONHOLING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES.--S. J. Baird,

Staunton, Va.

97,857.--OIL BLACKING FOR LEATHER.--J. L. Baumer, Columbus, Ohio.

97,858.--HEAD BLOCK FOR SAW MILLS.--C. B. Beall, Hamilton, Ohio.

97,859.--CHURN DASHER.--A. Belt, Newton, Iowa.

97,860.--COMBINED SHOVEL AND SIFTER.--F. S. Bidwell, Mystic Bridge,

Conn.

97,861.--STOVEPIPE THIMBLE.--Horatio N. Bill, Willimantic, Conn.

97,862.--DIVING BELL.--H. C. Billings, Brooklyn, N. Y.

97,863.--HOE.--Lewis Billings, Gallipolis, Ohio.

97,864.--STEAM GENERATOR.--Edward Bourne, Pittsburgh, Pa.

97,865.--STEAM GENERATOR.--Edward Bourne, Pittsburgh, Pa.

97,866.--RIVETS AND WASHERS.--Edward Bourne, Pittsburgh, Pa.

97,867.--WAGON BRAKE.--William H. Bradt, New Scotland, N.Y.

97,868.--DRILL FOR BORING POLYGONAL HOLES.--J.C. Broadley (assignor to

himself and Jas. Stout), Franklin, N. J.

97,869.--WATER WHEEL.--J. D. Bryson and J. H. Hartsuff, Newcastle, Pa.

97,870.--COTTON CULTIVATOR.--I. W. Burch, Fayette, Miss.

97,871.--BUCKLE.--I. W. Burch, Fayette, Miss.

97,872.--CLAMP.--Mathias Burkhardt, Cincinnati, Ohio.

97,873.--DINNER PAIL.--N. C. Burnap, Argusville, N. Y.

97,874.--BOLT CUTTER.--O. E. Butler and S. P. Dunham, Marshalltown,

Iowa.

97,875.--PADLOCK.--S. G. Cabell (assignor to F. B. Cabell), Quincy, Ill.

97,876.--RAILWAY CAR COUPLING.--S. 0. Campbell, Tipton, Mo.

97,877.--WRENCH AND SAW SET COMBINED.--G. J. Capewell, West Cheshire,

Conn.

97,878.--MACHINE FOR DRESSING MILLSTONES.--J. S. Carr, Alliance, Ohio.

97,879.--CAR TANK COVER.--L. C. Cattell, Cleveland, Ohio.

97,880.--MANUFACTURE OF RUBBER SPONGE.--Edwin Chesterman, Tremont, N. Y.

Antedated Nov. 17, 1869.

97,881.--VALVE FOR WATER ENGINES.--Abraham Coates (assignor for one

half, to James Martin Hunt), Watertown, N. Y.

97,882.--SHUTTLE FOR LOOMS.--John H. Coburn, Lowell, Mass.

97,883.--WAGON SEAT FASTENING.--Charles Collins, Vernon Centre, N. Y.

97,884.--HARVESTER.--Robert Conarroe (assignor to himself, H. Young, and

A. C. Stauffer), Camden, Ohio.

97,885.--MOP.--Philip Cook, Jr., Sioux City, Iowa. Antedated Dec. 10,

1869.

97,888.--RAILWAY SWITCH.--J. B. Cox, James O'Connor, and Michael

Cahalan, Columbus, Ga.

97,887.--SLIDE VALVE.--Isaac Craft (assignor to himself, T. J. Williams,

and C. M. Greve), Cincinnati, Ohio.

97,888.--WATER WHEEL.--G.W. Cressman, and Bert Pfleger, Barren Hill, and

Nice Keely, Roxborough, Pa.

97,889.--TREATING WHISKY AND OTHER ALCOHOLIC SPIRITS.--J. C. Crossman

and Obadiah Marland, Boston, Mass., assignors t themselves and A. E.

Tilton, New York city.

97,890.--DISINTEGRATING MILL.--G. B. Davids (assignor to himself and

Talbot Denmead), Baltimore, Md,

97,891.--MACHINE FOR COMPOSING AND DISTRIBUTING TYPE.--Isidore

Delcambre, Paris, France.

97,892.--SOAP-HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES. Mary Dewey, New

Albany, Ind. Antedated Dec. 10, 1869.

97,893.--CONCRETE FOR PAVING AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.--J. E. Dotch,

Washington, D. C. Antedated Oct. 14, 1869

97,894.--APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES BY MEANS OF CHEMICAL

AGENTS.--J. W. Douglas (assignor to W. Douglas and B. Douglas),

Middletown, Conn.

97,895.--LOOM TEMPLE.--Warren W. Dutcher (assignor to Dutcher Temple

Co.), Hopedale, Mass.

97,896.--VENTILATING HORSE COVER.--C. P. Eager (assignor to P. B.

Eager), Boston, Mass.

97,897.--MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL.--Wm. Ennis, Philadelphia, Pa.

97,898.--SEEDING MACHINE.--James Finlayson, Albany, Oregon.

97,899.--CLOTHES WRINGER.--M. M. Follett, Lake City, Minn.

97,900.--BLOTTING PAD.--C. A. Gale, Demopolis, Ala.

97,901.--MANUFACTURE OF NUTS.--J. W. Gaskill and Jas. Christie,

Phillipsburg, N. J.

97,902.--FIRE PLACE.--E. H. Gibbs, New York city.

97,903.--GRAIN DRILL.--Jacob F. Gibson, Chestnut Level, Pa.

97,904.--CARTRIDGE MACHINE.--Jabez H. Gill, Philadelphia, Pa.

97,905.--FIELD ROLLER.--Robert Glover, Tonawanda, N. Y.

97,905.--CORN PLANTER.--Henry Gortner, Nashport, Ohio.

97,907.--HINGE.--D. R. Gould (assignor to himself and O. H. Green),

Chestertown, N. Y.

97,908.--RADIAL DRILLING MACHINE.--G. A. Gray, Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio.

97,909.--BUCKLE.--F. F. Greenwood, Horsney, England. Patented in

England, Sept. 16, 1868.

97,910.--TOOL FOR CARVING WOOD.--L. L. Gunther, Chicago, Ill.

97,911.--PORTABLE DERRICK.--James R. Hammond, Sedalia, Mo.

97,912.--COAL STOVE.--B. R. Hawlev, Normal, Ill.

97,913.--GAS STOVE.--W. J. Hays, New York city.

97,914.--CONDENSING COLUMN FOR STILLS.--A. Hazzard, St. Louis, Mo.

97,915.--STOVEPIPE DRUM.--W. Hearle, Beamsville, Canada, assignor to C.

L. Spencer, trustee, assignor to Wm. Hearle and A. B. Johnson.

97,916.--MEANS FOR ATTACHING MUSQUITO BARS TO WINDOW BLINDS, DOORS,

ETC.--James Hebron, Buffalo, N. Y.

97,917.--WASHING MACHINE.--Edward Heim, Pittsburgh, Pa.

97,918.--RAILWAY CAR COUPLING.--Noah Hill, Leavenworth City, Kansas.

97,919.--FIFTH WHEEL FOR CARRIAGES.--Richard Hoadly, Toulon, Ill.

97,920.--FRUIT JAR.--D. I. Holcomb, Henry county, Iowa.

97,921.--CORN CULTIVATOR.--J. C. Holmes, Wyoming, Pa.

97,922.--FRUIT JAR.--Thos. Houghton and H. H. Houghton, Philadelphia,

Pa.

97,923.--CONDENSER.--John Houpt, Springtown, Pa.

97,924.--PROPELLING APPARATUS.--Robert Hunter, New York city.

97,925.--HEDGE TRIMMER.--A. H. Hussey, Mount Pleasant, Ohio.

97,926.--FENCE.--Daniel Johnson, Cranberry, Ohio.

97,927.--SAW SET.--J. M. Jones, Commerce, Mo.

97,928.--RUBBER SPRING FOR USE IN SHIPS, CARS, AND FOR OTHER

PURPOSES.--J. A. Joyner, New York city.

97,929.--CARPET STRETCHER AND TACK HOLDER.--F. W. Judd, New Britain,

assignor to himself and E. M. Judd, New Haven, Conn. Antedated Dec.

9,1889.

97,930.--PUBLIC URINAL.--William M. Kepler, Cincinnati, Ohio.

97,931.--WASHING MACHINE.--John J. Kimball, Naperville, Ill.

97,932.--GRAIN STRIPPER.--J. O. King and Hiram A. Rice, Louisiana, Mo.

97,933.--BEEHIVE.--W. T. Kirkpatrick, Tamarva, Ill.

97,934.--LATCH.--G. W. Large, Yellow Springs, Ohio.

97,935.--SEWING MACHINE.--L. W. Lathrop, Nyack, N. Y.

97,936.--MANUFACTURE OF DRY WHITE LEAD.--G. T. Lewis, Philadelphia, and

E. O. Bartlett, Birmingham, Pa.

77,937.--CHURN.--F. A. Lindal, Stockton, N. Y.

97,938.--SEEDING MACHINE.--M. F. Lowth and T. J. Howe, Owatonna, Minn.

97,939.--FERTILIZER OR GUANO.--Orazio Lugo, Baltimore, Md.

97.940.--FURNACE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ULTRAMARINE.--H. A. Ludwig. New

York city.

97,941.--MANUFACTURE OF ULTRAMARINE.--H. A. Ludwig, New York city.

97,942.--WARDROBE.--A. G. Mack (assignor to himself and George Shelton),

Rochester, N. Y.

97,943.--UPRIGHT PIANO.--G. C. Manner, New York city.

97,944.--BOOT CRIMPER.--F. P. Marcy, Keokuk, Iowa. Antedated Dec. 4,

1869.

97,945.--MECHANISM FOR DRIVING COTTON GINS.--Wm. L. May, Linwood, Ala.,

assignor to W. J. May.

97,946.--MEAT CHOPPER.--Arthur McCarter, Salem, Ohio.

97,947.--GATE.--F. H. McGeorge, Corning, N. Y.

97,948.--CONSTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS.--Alexander McPherson, Santa Cruz,

Cal.

97,949.--GALVANIC BATTERY.--J. R. McPherson, Beloit, Wis.

97,950.--GAGE FOR CIRCULAR SAW TABLE.--R. N. Meriam, Worcester, Mass.

97,951.--SEWING MACHINE FOR SEWING BOOTS AND SHOES.--Daniel Mills, New

York city, assignor to Charles Goodyear, Jr., Ne Rochelle, N. Y.

97,952.--PROPELLER.--S. B. Morey, San Francisco, Cal.

97,953.--CAST-STEEL TUBE OR INGOT.--C. B. Morse, Rhinebeck, N. Y.

Antedated Dec. 8,1869.

97,954.--PACKING CASE FOR OIL CANS.--J. McLeod Murphy (assignor to J. L.

Graham), New York city.

97,955.--TIGHTENING AND GUIDING BELT.--C. K. Myers (assignor, for one

half, to Peter Weybrich), Pekin, Ill.

97,956.--FIRE-PLACE FUEL MAGAZINE STOVE.--J. J. Myers, (assignor to B.

C. Bibb), Baltimore, Md.

97,957.--CORN PLANTER.--J. B. Parker, Knob Noster, Mo.

97,958.--SAWING MACHINE.--Archibald Perry (assignor to himself and Jacob

Fisher), Richland, Ind. Antedated Dec. 3,1869.

97,959.--MECHANICAL MOVEMENT.--Osgood Plummer, Worcester, Mass.

97,960.--TEACHERS' REGISTER.--W. S. Poulson and W. N. Poulson, Cadiz,

Ohio.

97,961.--SIDE-SADDLE TREE.--J. H. Preston, Jefferson City, Mo.

97,962.--PROCESS OF PREPARING PLANTS TO BE USED IN CIGAKS, SNUFF,

ETC.--P. V. Ramel, Paris, France.

97,963.--PIPE COUPLING.--L. W. Reed, East Cambridge, Mass.

97,964.--FRUIT JAR.--S. B. Rowley, Philadelphia, Pa.

97,965.--CLOTHES WRINGER.--E. P. Russell, Manlius, N. Y.

97,966.--COAL STOVE.--Watson Sanford, New York city. Antedated Sept. 3,

1869.

97,967.--BASE BURNING STOVE.--Watson Sanford, New York city. Antedated

Sept. 15, 1869.

97,968.--JOURNAL BOX.--A. H. Sassaman, Scranton, Pa.

97,969.--HOOK AND LADDER TRUCK.--Jacob Schmidlapp, New York city.

97,970.--Suspended.

97,971.--SNOW PLOW FOR RAILWAYS.--T. L. Shaw, Omaha, Nebraska.

97,972.--COMPOSITION METAL FOR TUBING, PIPES, AND SHEETING.--W. A. Shaw

(assignor to Peter Naylor), New York city.

97,973.--PRUNING SHEARS.--J. H. Shehan, Lima, Ind., assignor to himself,

G. W. Edgecomb, and T. J. Bull.

97,974.--PRICE-CALCULATING DEVICE.--Albert Sinclair, West Waterville,

Me.

97,975.--CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGES.--C. S. Smith, C. H. Latrobe, and F. H.

Smith, Baltimore, Md.

97,976.--CHURN.--Simon Smith, Clarksburg, N. Y.

97,977.--COTTON BALE TIES.--W. M. Smith, Augnsta, Ga.

97,978.--GRAIN MEASURING ATTACHMENT TO THRASHING MACHINES.--W. A.

Workman, Fairfleld, Iowa.

97,979.--SCAFFOLD FOR GATHERING FRUIT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.--A. J.

Wright, Cleveland, Ohio.

97,980.--REVOLVING CUPBOARD.--Wendell Wright, Bloomfield, N. J.

97,981.--BARRACK OR HOSPITAL BEDSTEAD.--Chas. S. Snead, Louisville, Ky.

97,982.--PIANO FORTE.--C. F. Th. Steinway, New York city.

97,983.--WATER-PROOFING FABRICS.--John Stenhouse, 17 Rodney street,

Pentonville, London, England, assignor to Arthur Cheney and Alonzo

Milliken, Boston, Mass. Patented in England, Jan. 8, 1862.

97,984.--RAILS FOR ORNAMENTAL FENCE.--Elizabeth Mary Stigale,

Philadelphia, Pa.

97,985.--LATCH FOR DOUBLE DOORS.--J. W. Still, San Francisco, Cal.

97,986.--LATHE FASTENING.--J. G. Stowe, Providence, R. I.

97,987.--VINEGAR APPARATUS.--A. D. Strong, Ashtabula Ohio.

97,988.--WRENCH.--G.C.Taft, Worcester, Mass.

97,989.--BARK MILL.--William Tansley, Salisbury Centre, assignor to

"Starbuck Brothers," Troy, N.Y.

97,990.--CLEVIS FOR PLOWS.--J.H. Tarpley, Greensborough, N.C.

97,991.--HANDLE FOR KNIVES.--A.L. Taylor, Springfield, Vt.

97,992.--MAKING BRICKS, TILES, ETC.--Daniel Thackara, Woodbury, N.J.

97,993.--FOOT AND KNEELING STOOL FOR CHURCHES.--J.P. Tibbits, New York

city.

97,994.--RAILWAY CARRIAGE WHEEL AND AXLE.--C.D. Tisdale (assignor to

himself and J.H. Clapp), Boston, Mass.

97,995.--SUSPENDERS.--C. Van Hoesen, Catskill, assignor to himself, J.H.

Burtis, Brooklyn, and M.W. Staples, Catskill, N.Y.

97,996--BUTTONHOLE CUTTER.--F.H. Walker, Boston, Mass.

97,997.--BED BOTTOM.--C.E. Walkes, Elyria, Ohio.

97,998.--STILL FOR OIL, ETC.--John Warner, Flushing, N.Y.

97,999.--PAPER FILE.--C.W. West, Shiloh, assignor to himself and O.A.

Douglas, Bridgeton, N.J.

98,000.--HOISTING APPARATUS.--T.A. Weston, Ridgewood, N.J., assignor to

William Sellers and John Sellers, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa. Patented in

England, Aug. 28, 1868.

98,001.--COKE WAGON.--Corydon Wheat and Alfred Catchpole, Geneva, N.Y.

98,002.--MACHINE FOR MAKING CARRIAGE CLIPS.--Darius Wilcox and R.

McChesney (assignors to D.M. Basset and Darius Wilcox), Derby, Conn.

98,003.--DOOR FOR FIRE-PLACE STOVE.--W.E. Wood, Baltimore, Md.

98,004.--INTERCHANGEABLE BOOT AND SHOE HEEL.--J.C. Woodhead, Pittsburgh,

Pa.

98,005.--CAMEL FOR RAISING VESSELS.--Samuel Woolston, Vincentown, N.J.

* * * * *

REISSUES.

60,192.--STEAM ENGINE GOVERNOR.--Dated Dec. 4,1866; reissue

3,759.--R.K. Huntoon,for himself and J.A. Lynch, assignee, by mesne

assignments, of R.K. Huntoon. Boston, Mass.

72,114.--VARIABLE CRANK FOR BORING MACHINES.--Dated Dec. 10,1867;

reissue 3,760.--Theodore Mace, New York city, assignee of G.C. Taft.

68,782.--SLIDE FOR EXTENSION TABLE.--Dated Sept. 10,1867; reissue

3,761.--H. Olds, Syracuse, N.Y.

89,167.--NOZZLE FOR CANS.--Dated April 20,1869; reissue

3,762.--Charles Pratt, New York city.

84,766.--HORSE POWER.--Dated Dec. 8, 1868; reissue 3,763.--Cyrus Roberts

and J.A. Throp, Three Rivers, Mich.

44,117.--COMPOSITION FOR CONCRETE PAVEMENTS.--Dated Sept. 6,1864;

reissue 3,764.--Edward Seeley, Scranton, Pa.

49,207.--CARPET BAG LOCK.--Dated Aug. 1, 1865; reissue

3,765.--Bernard Steinmetz, Paris, France.

91,800.--STEAM GENERATOR FURNACES.--Dated June 22, 1866; reissue

3,766.--A.J. Warren and D.W. Wilson, assignors to themselves and Noah

Shaw, West Eau Claire, Wis., and U.M. Stone, Augusta, Wis.

* * * * *

DESIGNS.

3,784.--STOVE.--D.P. Beckwith, Dowagiac, Mich.

3,785.--PLOW CLEVIS.--Geo. Johnson, administrator of the estate of G.P.

Darrow, deceased, (assignor to J.L. Haven & Co.), Cincinnati, Ohio.

3,786.--STOVE.--S.S. Jewett and F.H. Root, Buffalo, N.Y.

3,787.--MASONIC ORNAMENT.--Daniel Keefer, Attica, Ind.

3,788.--PAPER COLLAR.--W.F. Mosely, Brooklyn, N.Y.

3,789.--FLOWER STAND.--C.H. Waters, Groton, Mass.

* * * * *

EXTENSIONS.

CLOTH-STRETCHING ROLLERS.--Seth Simmons, of Providence, R.I.,

administrator of Nathan Simmons, deceased.--Letters Patent No. 13,888;

dated Dec. 4, 1855. BUCKLE.--S.E. Booth, of Orange, Conn., administrator

of S.S. Hartshorn, deceased.--Letters Patent No. 13,907; dated Dec. 11,

1855

* * * * *

PATENTS ISSUED FOR THE WEEK ENDING DEC. 21, 1869.

98,006.--MANUFACTURE OF THE METALLIC PARTS OF FIRE ARMS.--Isaac Adams,

Jr.. Boston, Mass, assignor to United Nicke Company.

98,007.--TOY VELOCIPEDE.--H.C. Alexander, New York city.

98,008.--MACHINE FOR MAKING WROUGHT NAILS.--Daniel Armstrong, Chicago,

Ill.

98,009.--WASH BOILER.--James Armstrong, Bucyrus, Ohio.

98,010.--REFRIGERATOR.--Samuel Ayers, Danville, Ky.

98,011.--HYDRANT.--G.C. Bailey, Pittsburgh, Pa.

98,012.--WASHING MACHINE.--Joseph Balsley, Bedford, Ind.

98,013.--SAW MILL.--A.P. Barlow, Kalamazoo, Mich.

98,014.--BORING MACHINE.--E.C. Barton, Bloomsburg, Pa.

98,015.--PADLOCK.--Thomas Bernhard, Hartford, Conn.

98,016.--FENCE.--Inmon Blackaby, Civer, Ill.

98,017.--PLOWING MACHINE.--Albert Bondeli, Philadelphia, Mo.

98,018.--CARRIAGE BRAKE.--A.S. Boyer, Bernville, Pa.

98,019.--LOW-WATER INDICATOR.--William A. Bradford, Cincinnati, Ohio,

assignor to C.G. Pease, trustee for Malone Safety-Valve Company.

98,020.--MACHINE FOR MAKING FERRULES.--Robert Briggs, Philadelphia, Pa.

98,021.--STEAM GENERATOR.--M.S. Bringier, Ascension parish, La.

98,022.--FIRE AND WATER-PROOF PAINT.--Theodor Brinkmann, Greeneville,

Tenn.

98,023.--ANIMAL TRAP.--Adam Brown, Bridgeport, Oregon.

98,024.--HAIR-SPRING ADJUSTMENT FOR WATCHES.--Augustus Brown, Dryden,

N.Y.

98,025.--EXPANDING MUFF BLOCK.--C.F. Butterworth, Troy, N.Y.

98,026.--SAP SPOUT.--G.L. Cady, Lowell, Mass.

98,027.--HAY LOADER.--James Capen, Charlton, Mass.

98,028.--GRINDING MACHINE.--George T. Chattaway, Brooklyn, E.D., and

John Dickinson, New York city, assignors to G.S. Chattaway.

98,029.--COOPERS' TOOL.--John Christy, Clyde, Ohio.

98,030.--NAIL AND PEG DRIVER.--F.0. Claflin, New York city. Antedated

Dec. 18,1869.

98,031.--SELF-CANCELING POSTAL AND REVENUE STAMP.--S.M. Clark,

Washington, D.C.

98,032.--CAPSTAN WINDLASS.--D.N.B. Coffin, Jr., Newton, assignor to

himself and I.D. Spaulding:, Boston, Mass.

98,033.--METAL-CLAD ARTIFICIAL STONE.--Francois Coignet, Paris, France.

98,034.--MAKING ARTIFICIAL STONE AND CONCRETE.--Francois Coignet, Paris,

France.

98,035.--MALAXATOR FOR THE PREPARATION OF PLASTIC MATERIALS FOR

ARTIFICIAL STONE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.--Francois Coignet, Paris,

France.

93,036.--HASP LOCK.--E.R. Colver, New London, Conn.

98,037.--DEVICE FOR CONVEYING SAWDUST FROM SAWS.--W.S. Colwell,

Pittsburg, Pa.

98,038.--COMBINATION OF PIANOFORTE AND CABINET.--Edward Cotter, Boston,

Mass.

98,039.--CURTAIN FIXTURE.--J.P. Crawford, Carmichaels, Pa.

98,040.--VISE.--Edwin Crawley and T.L. Baylies, Richmond, Ind.

98,041.--CLOD FENDER.--W.L. Dearth and G.P. Rondebush, Jefferson, Ind.

98,042.--HAY AND GRAIN ELEVATOR.--John Dennis. Oswego, N.Y.

98,043.--DYNAMOMETER.--J. Emerson, Lowell, Mass.

98,044.--DUMPING WAGON.--John Esch, Milwaukee, Wis.

98,045.--FIREPLACE GRATE.--George W. Everhart, Louisville, Ky.

98,046.--VAPORIZING PETROLEUM, ETC.--H.R. Foote, Boston, Mass.

98,047.--TOY GUN.--C.T. Ford and E. Trask, Salem, Mass. Antedated Dec.

7, 1869.

98,048.--SHIFTING RAIL FOR BUGGY.--Harlow French and Robert Meyer,

Buffalo, N.Y.

98,049.--RAILWAY-CAR TRUCK.--Perry G. Gardiner, New York city.

98,050.--CAR SPRING.--P.G. Gardiner, New York city.

98,051.--RAILWAY SWITCH.--M. J. Gaskill, Wm. Yost, and John Ferris,

Pleasant Plain, Ohio.

98,052.--MILLER TRAP FOR BEEHIVES.--T. L. Gray, Thomasville, Tenn.

98,053.--STUFFING Box.--Chas. Green, Philadelphia, Pa.

98,054.--SUSPENSION CLIP.--H. S. Griffiths and J. C. Gary, New York

city.

98,055.--TOY SAFE OR BANK.--John Hall, Watertown, Mass. Antedated Dec.

7,1869.

98,056.--LOUNGE AND BEDSTEAD.--A. R. Harper and C. B. Dake, Hobart, Ind.

98,057.--MACHINE FOR UPSETTING TIRE.--A. S. Hart, San Francisco, Cal.

98,058.--RAILWAY CAR COUPLING.--A. S. Hart, San Francisco, Cal.

98,059.--STOVE GRATE.--David Hathaway, Troy, N. Y.

98,060.--HOLDING DEVICE FOR LAMP CHIMNEYS.--John F Hechtle, Waterbury,

Conn.

98,061.--STEAM AND CALORIC ENGINE.--Alexander Hendry, Victoria, British

Columbia.

98,062.--REIN HOLDER.--Davis Kurd, Lockport, N. Y.

98,063.--SPRING SEAT FOR WAGONS.--A. L. Hurtt, Monticello, Ind.

98,063.--SEWING MACHINE.--A. J. Hurtu and V. J. Hautin, Paris, France.

98,065.--ROOFING COMPOUND.--C. B. Hutchins, Ann Arbor, Mich.

98,066.--DENTAL IMPRESSION CUP.--R. V. Jenks, Paterson. N. J.

98,067.--PUMP.--A. C. Judson (assignor to himself and E. O. Judson),

Grand Rapids, Mich.

98,068.--LEATHER-SPLITTING MACHINE.--Charles Keniston, Somerville, Mass.

98,069.--SPRING BED BOTTOM.--E. S. Kimball, Springfield, Mass.

98,070.--WHIP SOCKET.--C. P. Kimball, Portland, Me.

98,071.--FLOOD GATE.--A. L. King, Farmersville, Ohio.

98,072.--MANUFACTURE OF SCOOPS.--J. Geo. Knapp, Woodhaven, N.Y.,

assignor to the Lalance & Grosjean Manufacturing Co., New York city.

98,073.--DRIVE WELL TUBES.--D. R. Knight, Akron, Ohio. 98,074.--DEVICE

FOR PREVENTING LEAKAGE ABOUT CHIMNEYS.--Abraham Lang, Buffalo, N. Y.

98,075.--HARVESTER DROPPER.--T. F. Lippencott, Conemaugh, Pa.

98,076.--CAR COUPLING.--Joseph Long, Mechanicsburg, Pa.

98,077.--HEAD REST.--C. B. Loveless, Syracuse, N. Y.

98,078.--BURGLAR ALARM.--Moses Lunt, Cambridgeport, Mass.

98,079.--FOLDING AND EXTENSION TABLE.--G. Mayer, Sullivan, Ill.

98,080.--LANTERN.--I. C. Mayo, Gloucester, Mass.

98,081.--WATER WHEEL.--H. W. McAuley, De Soto, Wis.

98,082.--LET-OFF MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.--Ephriam McDaniel, Lowell, Mass.

98,083.--LAMP.--J. K. Mentzer, New Holland, Pa.

98,084.--SURVEYOR'S MARK.--C. C. P. Meyer, Yankton, Dakota Territory.

98,085.--TAILOR'S CRAYON SHARPENER--R. R. Miles, Wabash, Ind.

98,086.--COOKING STOVE.--J. H. Mitchell and T. S. Mitchell, Pittsburgh,

Pa.

98,087.--PRINTING PRESS.--Charles Montague (assignor to C. C. Child),

Boston, Mass.

98,088.--PRINTING PRESS.--Chas. Montague (assignor to C. C. Child),

Boston, Mass.

98,089.--STEAM GENERATOR.--Jas. Montgomery, Sing Sing, N. Y. Antedated

Dec. 17,1869.

98,090.--HARVESTER DROPPER.--Ephraim Myers, Creagerstown, Md. Antedated

Dec. 4,1869.

98,091.--COTTON BASKET.--R. L. Myers, Washington, N.C.

98,092.--VELOCIPEDE.--Robert Neale, Brooklyn, N. Y. Antedated Dec.

4,1869.

98,093.--STOVEPIPE THIMBLE.--Thomas Newell, Oskaloosa, Iowa.

98,094.--CURTAIN AND SHAWL STRETCHER.--James Nicklin, Cleveland, Ohio.

98,095.--RAILROAD CAR VENTILATOR.--E. Norton, Brooklyn, N. Y.

98,096.--ILLUMINATING STOVE.--Benjamin Nott. Albany, N. Y.

98,097.--HAY ELEVATOR,--J. W. Odaniel, Cloverdale, Ind.

98,098.--PASSENGER REGISTER FOR VEHICLES.--Thos. Ollis, Netherfleld Road

South, Liverpool, England. Patented in England, March 31,1868.

98,099.--RAILWAY CAR WHEEL.--J. T. Owen, Philadelphia, Pa.

98,100.--HARROW.--George Paddington, Springville, Iowa.

98,101.--PACKING AND ATOMIZING CAN FOR INSECT POWDER.--F.L. Palmer, Sr.,

New York city.

98,102.--COMBINED OYSTER KNIFE AND ICE PICK.--Wm. Pattberger,

Philadelphia, Pa.

98,103.--Suspended.

98,104.--TRUNK.--T. B. Peddie, Newark, N. J.

98,105.--BOLT CLAMP.--Charles E. Phillips, South Deerfield, Mass.

98,106.--COMBINED SQUARE AND CALIPER.--Josiah Potts, Milwaukee, Wis.

98,107.--METAL ALLOY FOR HARNESS TRIMMINGS, ETC.--A.A. Randall, South

Braintree, assignor to himself and C. F. Whitcomb, Boston, Mass.

98,108.--CARPENTER'S PLOW.--Royal B. Rice, Williamsburgh, Mass.

98,109.--CUT-NAIL MACHINE.--Levi Richards (assignor, by mesne

assignments, to himself, O. A. Washburn, G. S. Perkins, and F. S

Roscoe), Providence, R. I.

98,110.--ELECTRO-PLATING WITH BRASS AND OTHER ALLOYS.--Samuel Rust, Jr.,

Cincinnati, Ohio.

98,111.--INDICATOR FOR SAW MILL HEAD BLOCKS.--George Selden, Erie, Pa.

98,112.--CULTIVATOR.--J. B. Skinner, Rockford, Ill.

98,113.--HARVESTER.--A. L. Smith, Bristol Centre, N. Y.

98,114.--ELECTRO-MAGNETIC LOCK.--J. C. Smith, Brooklyn, N. Y.

98,115.--BRICK MACHINE.--Thomas Smurfit, Davisville, Mich.

98,116.--FLOOR CLAMP.--Joseph B. Spencer, Norwich, Conn. Antedated Dec.

17,1869.

98,117.--CHURN DASHER.--Aurelius Sperry, Tremont, Ill.

98,118.--GAS GENERATOR AND CARBURETER.--Amos Stevens (assignor to E. A.

Whitney), Fitchburg, Mass.

98,119.--ROCKING AND EASY CHAIR.--A. W. Stewart, Boston, Mass.

98,120.--PLOW.--R. E. Strait, Galesburg, Mich.

98,121.--MACHINE FOR SCOURING, SETTING-CUT, AND FINISHING HIDES OK

SKINS.--John Taggart, Melrose, assignor to himself and W. N. Brink,

Boston, Mass.

98,122.--VARIABLE CUT-OFF FOR STEAM ENGINES.--M. C Taylor, Grass Valley,

Cal. Antedated Dec. 17,1869.

98,123.--SHINGLE PACKER.--R. B. Taylor, Pensaukie, Wis.

98,124.--CUTTER-HEAD.--Hiram Thompson (assignor to R. Ball & Co.),

Worcester, Mass.

98,125.--WATER-WHEEL.--W. J. Thompson, Springfield, Mo.

98,126.--WHEEL FOR STEAM CARRIAGE--R. W. Thomson, Edinburgh, Great

Britain. Patented in England, April 21, 1868.

98,127.--CIRCULAR SAW MILL.--John Trunick, Muscatine, Iowa

98,128.--CLOD FENDER.--J. W. Tull, Zionsville, Ind.

98,129.--NECKTIE AND COLLAR COMBINED.--James Varley, Hudson, assignor to

himself and D. M. Smyth, Orange, N. J.

98,130.--EYE FOR RAILWAY CAR BELL-ROPE.--W. M. Walton (assignor to J. J.

Walton), Newark, N. J.

98,131.--PIPE COUPLING.--J. D. Ware, Savannah, Ga.

98,132.--GAGE COCKS.--G. L. Watson, Nesquehoning, Pa.

98,133.--LUBRICATOR FOR THE BOLSTERS OF VERTICAL SHAFTS.--J.W.Watties,

Canton, Mass.

98,134.--BRICK KILN, ETC.--E.V. Wingard, Williamsport, Pa.

98,135.--MACHINE FOR SPINNING AND CURLING HAIR.--Philip Wisdom,

Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to John Sickles, trustee, and John Sickles,

trustee, assignor to John Wisdom and J. H. Wilcox, New York city.

98,136.--SEED PLANTER.--D.C. Woods, Waxahatchie, Texas

98,137.--HARROW.--George Workman, Rochester, N. Y.

98,138.--RAILROAD SWITCH.--Edmund Yardley, Pittsburgh, Pa.

98,139.--APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL.--Charles Adams

(assignor to himself and Charles Sharpe), Philadelphia, Pa.

98,140.--RAILWAY CAR SPRING.--William Barry and George Franklin,

Philadelphia, Pa.

98,141.--FOLDING CHAIR.--Burroughs Beach, Meriden, assignor to himself

and E.I. Pyle, Bridgeport, Conn.

98,142.--HAIR RESTORATIVE.--Ann K. Benson, Allegheny City, Pa.

98,143.--MACHINE FOR LAYING OUT SASH.--Alpheus Bigony, Winchester, Ohio.

98,144.--DEVICE FOR SECURING PULLEYS TO SHAFTS.--J. H. Buckman (assignor

to himself and P. W. Reinshagen), Cincinnati, Ohio.

98,145.--POCKET BOOK.--Alphonzo Button, Dunkirk, N. Y., assignor to M.

O. Wilber for one half of said patent.

98,146.--SPRING BED BOTTOM.--J. P. Chamberlin, Abington, Mass.

98,147.--SAFETY HARNESS BUCKLE.--John Chestnut, Jr., Hustontown, Pa.

98,148.--WASHING MACHINE.--A. P. Cindel and Martin Vogel, Jacksonville,

Ill.

98,149.--OPERATING DEVICE FOR WATER CLOSETS.--B. R. Cole, Buffalo, N. Y.

98,150.--TURBINE WATER-WHEEL.--E. F. Cooper, Mount Gilead, Ohio.

98,151.--SEWING MACHINE FOR SEWING BOOTS AND SHOES.--C. O. Crosby. New

Haven, Conn.

98,152.--CHURN DASHER.--Theophilus Crutcher, Edgefield, Tenn.

98,153.--WATER CLOSET VALVE.--J. N. Deck (assignor to himself, B. R.

Cole, and G. F. Deck), Buffalo, N. Y.

98,154.--CARD HOLDER.--C. R. Doane, Brooklyn, E. D., N. Y.

98,155.--PROCESS OF TREATING WINES, BEER, AND LIQUORS.--J. O. Donner,

Jersey City, N. J.

98,156.--VALVE GEAR.--T. E. Evans, W. R. Thomas, and Joshua Hunt,

Catasauqua, Pa.

98,157.--CORN PLANTER.--D. Fitzpatrick and John Knull, St. Paris, Ohio.

98,158.--PAINT BRUSH.--F. P. Furnald, Jr., R. W. Champion, and I. N.

Davies, New York city.

98,159.--GRUB HOOK.--J. W. Goodall, Eldred, Pa.

98,160.--WASH BOARD.--B. F. Gott, Brooklyn, E. D., N. Y.

98,161.--CHURN.--G. H. Gregory, North Wilton, Conn.

98,162.--HYDRO-PNEUMATIC GOVERNOR.--Andrew Harris, Philadelphia, Pa.

98,163--MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.--C. F. Hill, New York city.

98,164.--SECURING THE LASH IN FLY-NETS.--J. S. Huston, Mechanicsburg,

Pa.

98,165.--PROCESS OF PURIFYING AND DECOLORING ALBUMEN FROM BLOOD.--Pierre

Jacques, Paris, France.

98,166.--WIRE HANDLE FORMER.--W. C. Jones, Quincy, Ill.

98,167.--MECHANISM FOR RAISING AND LOWERING BOARDS.--Cheney Kilburn and

Artemas Kilburn (assignors to Hale, Goodman, & Co.), Philadelphia, Pa.

98,168.--EGG BEATER.--Linn Laurie, Washington, D. C.

98,169.--WIRE BALE FASTENING.--E. S. Lennox, New Brighton, N. Y.

98,170.--INSOLE FOR BOOTS AND SHOES.--Calvin A. Leonard, Rochester, N.

98,171.--GLOBE VALVE.--Hippolite Levasseur, Brooklyn, N. Y.

98,172.--LUBRICATING SLEEVE.--G.A. Lloyd, San Francisco, Cal., assignor

to himself and Anthony Rosenfield.

98,173.--COMPOSITION FOR PREVENTING INCRUSTATION IN STEAM BOILERS.--G.W.

Lord, Philadelphia, Pa.

98,174.--GAS GENERATOR AND BURNER.--C.B. Loveless, Syracuse, N.Y.

98,175.--EXTINGUISHING FIRE IN BUILDINGS.--Orozi Lugo, Baltimore, Md.

98,176.--APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING SODA-WATER SIRUPS.--John Matthews,

Jr., New York city.

98,177.--SIRUP-DISPENSING APPARATUS.--John Matthews, Jr., New York city.

98,178.--SIRUP RESERVOIR FOR SODA-FOUNTAINS.--John Matthews, Jr., New

York city.

98,179.--SOAP.--C.P. McGimsey, Memphis, Tenn.

98,180.--METHOD OF HEADING SCREWS.--Daniel T. Munger (assignor to

himself and Rufus E. Hitchcock), Waterbury, Conn.

98,181.--BRICK MOLD.--Matthew Newlove (assignor to himself and Samuel

Gilbert) Burlington, Iowa.

98,182.--HARVESTER CUTTER.--Theodore Neys, Menomonee, Wis., assignor to

himself and Alexis I. Brunell.

98,183.--COTTON SEED PLANTER.--A. E. Nixon, Memphis, Tenn.

98,184.--HOSE COUPLING.--William J. Osbourne (assignor to himself,

Gideon B. Massey, and William F. Shaffer), New York city.

98,185.--FARM GATE.--Christopher Ostrander, Lodi, Wis.

98,186.--RAILWAY RAIL CHAIR.--S.N. Park, Bloomsbury, N.J.

98,187.--NUT LOCK.--Morgan Payne, Cardington, Ohio.

98,188.--SHUTTLE-CHECK FOR LOOMS.--David Pickman (assignor to himself

and Stuart Bishop), Lowell, Mass.

98,189.--SAW GUIDE.--C. Purdy, Bedford, Ohio.

98,190.--GRAIN BIN.--Fitch Raymond and August Miller, Cleveland, Ohio.

98,191.--BOOKBINDING.--Ira Reynolds (assignor to "Reynolds & Reynolds"),

Dayton, Ohio.

98,192.--VAPOR BURNER.--Wm.H. Rudolph, St. Louis, Mo.

98,193.--CORN PLANTER.--C.B. Ruth, Doylestown, Pa. Antedated December

11, 1869.

98,194.--GATE.--Charles Saxton, Fredonia, Ohio.

98,195.--FARM GATE.--Samuel Scott, Yane, Ohio.

98,196.--POST AUGER.--George Seeger and Charles H. Shaffer, Clark's

Hill, Ind. Antedated December 11,1869.

98,197.--PAYING BLOCK.--Reuben Shaler, Madison, Conn.

98,198.--CARTRIDGE FEEDER FOR GUN HAMMER.--Thomas Shaw, Philadelphia,

Pa.

98,199.--WASH BOILER.--John P. Sherwood (assignor to himself and

Benjamin S. Burnham), Fort Edward, N. Y.

98,200.--BOOKBINDING.--David Shive, Philadelphia, Pa.

98,201.--RAILROAD CAR VENTILATOR.--Oliver Slagle, London, assignor to

himself and Thomas H. Foulds, Cincinnati, Ohio.

98,202.--CULTIVATOR.--S.T. Spaulding, North Cohocton, N.Y.

98,203.--ELEVATOR.--Francis Stein and Henry Haering--New York city.

98,204.--TIRE COOLER.--Edward Stodtmeister, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

98,205.--DYNAMOMETERS.--John W. Sutton, Portland, Oregon.

98,206.--MACHINE FOR SAWING AND SPLITTING WOOD--John A. Taplin, Carthage

Landing, Fishkill, N.Y.

98,207.--CARRIAGE SPRING.--George W. Tew, Kansas City, Mo.

98,208.--SELF--VENTILATING SAFETY CANS FOR FILLING AND DISCHARGING

HYDROCARBON APPARATUS.--Lovias D. Towsley Newark, N. J.

98,209.--CORD-TIGHTENER FOR CURTAIN FIXTURES.--Elisha Turner,

Wolcottville, Conn.

98,210.--MANUFACTURE OF PAPER PULP FROM WOOD.--George Vining,

Pittsfield, Mass.

98,211.--COMPOUND FOR MIXING PAINT.--Peter M. Wallower, Smith's Ferry,

Pa.

98,212.--HASP LOCK.--Cornelius Walsh, James F. Connelly, and Alfred

Bratt, Newark, N. J., assignors to Cornelius Walsh.

98,213.--SEED DRILL.--Orrin A. Wheeler, Doniphan, Kansas.

98,214.--EXPANDING TRIPLE SHOVEL PLOW.--Edward Wiard (assignor to B. F.

Avery), Louisville, Ky.

98,215.--HEAD-BLOCK OF SAW MILLS.--Franklin J. Staley (assignor to

himself, George W. Joseph, Isaac S. Long, and George H. Carter),

Indianapolis, Ind.

* * * * *

REISSUES.

97,293.--MACHINE FOR CLIPPING HORSES' HAIR.--Dated June 30, 1868;

patented in England, April 24, 1867; reissue 3,767.--Patrick Adie, of

the Stand, London, England.

23,033.--HOSE COUPLING.--Dated February 22,1859; reissue 3,768.--William

H. Bliss, Newport, R. I., assignee of himself and Robert B. Lawton.

52,135.--SEEDING MACHINE.--Dated January 23, 1866; reissue 3,769.--Henry

Bundel, Dayton, Ohio.

26,475.--BREECH-LOADING FIREARM.--Dated December 20, 1859; reissue

3,770.--Bethel Burton, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Wm. C. Ward, New York city,

assignees of Bethel Burton.

94,486.--EXTENSION SLIDE FOR TABLES.--Dated September 7, 1869; reissue

3,771.--S. J. Genung. Waterloo, N. Y.

71,624.--ELECTRIC CLOCK.--Dated December 3, 1867; reissue 3,772.--The

Kennedy Electric Clock Company, New York city, assignees of Samuel A.

Kennedy, S. W. Holt, and Joseph Gerlach.

82,705.--SCRUBBING BRUSH.--Dated October 6, 1868; reissue 3,773.--B.F.

Koller, Shrewsbury, Pa., assignee of Samuel Gibson.

42,617.--PUMP.--Dated May 3, 1864; reissue 3,774.--Henry R. Sensenig and

Moses W. Martin. Earl township, Pa., assignees, by mesne assignments, of

Martin W. Zimmerman and John Zimmerman.

88,208.--MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL.--Dated March 23, 1869; reissue

3,775.--John Ralston, Abraham L. Thomas, and William Parkinson, for

themselves, and William A. Shoemaker, Schuylkill county, and George

E. Buckley, Philadelphia, Pa., assignees of said Ralston, Thomas, and

Parkinson.

* * * * *

DESIGNS.

3,790 and 3,791.--TACK HEAD.--Orrin L. Bassett (assignor to the Taunton

Tack Company), Taunton, Mass. Two patents.

3,792.--COFFEE OR TEA FILTER.--George M. Bull, New Baltimore, N.Y.

3,793.--CARPET PATTERN.--Robert R. Campbell (assignor to Lowell

Manufacturing Company), Lowell, Mass.

3,794.--CAR VENTILATOR.--Robert Hitchcock, Springfield, Mass.

3,795 to 3,797.--WARDROBE HOOK.--Morton Judd, New Haven, Conn. Three

patents.

3,798 to 3,802.--CARPET PATTERN.--Elemir J. Ney, Dracut, assignors to

Lowell Manufacturing Company, Lowell, Mass. Five patents.

3,803.--TRADE MARK.--Charles Perkes, Philadelphia, Pa. 3,804 and

3,805.--WATCH PLATE.--George P. Reed, Boston, Mass. Two patents.

3,806.--FRUIT JAR COYER.--Henry E. Shaffer, Rochester, N.Y.

* * * * *

SUBSCRIBERS--who wish to have their volumes bound, can send them to this

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* * * * *