to preach the sermons-who go to hear Mr. | plus in the funds of the Patent-office remained | GOUGH'S oration with STIGGINS in the chair-every year, and it had gone on increasing yearly, who vote for Mr. BRIGHT'S Reform Bill were until it amounted last year to £94,167. It had PECKSNIFF to move its adoption? And yet been stated, he continued, that the Chancellor of who ever knew of a reform movement of any the Exchequer had no objection to apply this kind that was not beset by a class of persons surplus to scientific purposes. A large amount eager to turn it, by means more or less specious, would probably be required for building new to their own account, although by so doing they Patent-offices, but if, after that, the Government alienated all respectable persons from it? were willing to apply the remaining funds to scientific purposes, and also to reduce the charges of taking out patents, he thought it would be better to allow the Government to make the change spontaneously, than to force them to do so by adopting petitions at special meetings. The inventor was already taxed for all the necessaries of life, and it was too much, he thought, to tax his genius also. After these judicious remarks by Mr. FAIRBAIRN, a petition to Parliament was read and adopted. The nature of this petition we shall discuss next week. THE PRESERVATION OF STONE BUILDINGS. Ever since the passing of the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852, there has existed a certain party-and "party," be it remembered, is as often singular as plural-labouring to beget as much dissatisfaction as possible with that Act, and by doing so to gain a little prominence. At one time, we believe, an Association with a very imposing title was formed expressly to bring about an amendment of that amended Act. This Association comprised one member, who had the honour of founding it, and who unanimously elected a council, consisting of himself, and then, having the casting vote, appointed himself successively Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer-by ballot we presume. FOR some time past, the preservation from decay When the advertisements of the "Great Uni- of absorbent building-stones exposed to the versal Cosmopolitan Patent Law Reform Asso- humid atmosphere of our climate-loaded as it ciation" appeared, there was found in them a often is with acid vapours has been attempted paragraph to the effect that one of the promotors with more or less apparent success, and has of the Association, who had long advocated become at length a subject of national importPatent-Law Reform, would be very much ance. We have only to remind our readers of obliged to anyone who would entrust him with the condition of much of the exterior of the the obtainment of their patents for them, at new palace at Westminster which was built very moderate charges. It is exceedingly pro- of a selected magnesian limestone, and of almost bable that his plea obtained him a client or all the buildings erected within the present centwo, who we trust were ably and faithly served! tury of Bath or Caen stone, to justify this remark. The plan was doubtless as ingenious as it was It is well known that most building-stones are patriotic; and as everyone is at liberty to imi- composed of grains of limestone or sand, cemented tate it, be he needy or prosperous, Jew or Gen-together by some material-generally carbonate tile, knave or saint, it will probably meet with of lime-and that such stones will dissolve rapidly many imitators. The fundamental idea involved in carbonic or very dilute sulphuric acid, or will in it is susceptible of numerous developments even be destroyed by moisture alone, when which will occur to clever fellows who are above assisted by the frequent contraction and expanthe prejudices that keep most men from entering sion resulting from changes of temperature. upon professions of which they know nothing. By the rotting away of the cementing medium, But by those who are at all intimately acquainted the grains, though often unaltered in composiwith the working of the present Patent Law, tion, become disconnected, and fall away from and are cognisant of the views entertained by each other, sometimes in flakes, sometimes in statesmen respecting it, nine-tenths of all that powder. This is called disintegration, and may has been said and written about Patent-Law be observed in almost every limestone building Reform since 1852 has been properly set down in London. It is prevented for a time, by coating as the injurious babbling of needy men. Well- the stone with paint; but paint, consisting of informed persons knew well that the Houses of white lead mixed with oil, is itself decomposed Parliament would never force the Government by exposure to damp air, and undergoes actual to change a law which was most carefully con- decay, after which it ceases altogether to resist sidered before it was enacted, until the opera- disintegration. tion of the law had been tried for a moderate period, and the real evils connected with it carefully pointed out. They have, therefore, viewed with disgust the senseless clamour which a few self-seeking individuals have kept up, and have felt that the cause of true reform was suffering from the conduct of these people. It does not seem possible that any preparation containing animal or vegetable matter, subject to decomposition, can act on stone as a permanent preservative; so that to great public buildings, where neither disfigurement nor a constant repetition of external applications is admissible, all such inventions, however proBut the Act has now been in operation more mising in other respects, are inapplicable. We than six years, and during the present year a have carefully looked over the specifications of fee of £100 will have to be paid upon patents the various patents taken out for the last ten obtained in 1852, or the existing privilges of years on this subject, and of these (seventeen the patentees will expire. The time has now in number) we find in no less than eleven come, therefore, when it is essential that a serious the presence of oil, glue, resin, gum, blood, re-consideration of the Act should take place, vinegar, or other decomposing animal or vegeand we observe with pleasure that Mr. FAIRBAIRN table substance. While some of these invenand others are moving in the matter. On Friday tions may be of great value for sheltered and last a meeting was held at the Town Hall, Man- internal work, we cannot but observe that they chester, to petition Parliament "to allow the must all fail as permanent defences against surplus fund arising from the stamp duties on the action of the atmosphere in London and patents to be appropriated to scientific purposes; other large towns. This seems to us a chemical and for other amendments in the existing laws." necessity for not one of these substances, no Mr. W. FAIRBAIRN presided, and, after announc- matter how mixed up with other materials, can ing the friendliness of the members for Man- fail to become oxidised, and ultimately decomchester to the movement, said that some time posed, if exposed to external atmospheric inago it cost £500 to take out a patent; but this fluences. It is certain that when any one part sum was reduced in 1852 to about £175. Not of a composition, laid as a coating on an absorbed withstanding this reduction, a considerable sur-surface to which it can adhere only partially, becomes decomposed and destroyed, the film or coating cannot retain even its original capacity for resisting absorption. Recognising the importance of avoiding substances that admit of oxidation, five of the inventors whose patents are before us employ silicates or aluminates of soda and potash to wash the stone, expecting to obtain, after evaporation, a mineral film on the surface, or within the surface, which they believe will be found insoluble and non-absorbent. Many trials on a large scale have been made with similar preparations in France, and have been favourably reported on; but it is only too evident that the deposit of a film on the surface of a decomposing stone, however insoluble the film may be, or however perfectly it may for a time seem to answer, must ultimately fail. No such film can be deposited in any other than a porous state, and any decomposition that may have already commenced at the time of its application will go on, and soon throw off the deposited surface, and wherever any moisture has penetrated, the inevitable contraction and expansion must soon produce the same result. There is in this process no adhesion secured to the less decomposing grains of the stone, so that the tendency is for the weak places in the stone to lose their defence the first. There remains only one of the seventeen patents to be alluded to; but this one proposes to effect its object by a double decomposition, and by an actual re-construction of the surface of the stone, replacing the soluble and easily-injured cementing medium by one which is insoluble and indestructible. It is not difficult to explain how this is effected, as the method involved is familiar to all in its practical results. Everyone knows the extraordinary durability of old mortars and cements, and of our hydraulic cements, but the cause is not so well known. In the use of these cements, grains of sand, or of pebbles or other stones, are fastened together by a thin glazing of silicate of lime, deposited on each surface during the setting, owing to the decomposition of part of the silicate of alumina which the cement contains, and the extreme readiness with which lime enters into combination with silica under favourable circumstances. Under the patent in question, the patentee, Mr. FREDERICK RANSOME, of Ipswich, proposes to coat the stone to be preserved with a solution of silicate of soda or potash in water, which he prepares under steam pressure in large quantities in the manufacture of his admirable artificial stone. After this solution is absorbed, it is followed by a second wash, consisting of chloride of calcium. A double decomposition immediately takes place within the substance of the stone; the chlorine, combining with the soda, producing common salt, is washed away during the first rains, and the calcium, combining with the silicic acid, forms a tough insoluble silicate of lime, attaching itself firmly round the surface of each separate grain of the stone, and forming an extremely compact deposit, not acted on either by carbonic or dilute sulphuric acid, and identical with the material which holds together the separate grains or stones in hydraulic cements and concretes. This ingenious method of re-composing the outer and decaying surface of stone seems to us to offer every prospect of ultimate success; and, as far as experience goes, it is satisfactory to find that when applied between two and three years ago on some of the worst portions of the river front of the new palace at Westminster, the decay that had commenced was absolutely stopped, and the rotten surface is now so hard, that the point of a sharp knife cannot detach the smallest fragment, or disclose any tendency to scaling. This cannot be said of other parts For the information of our readers, we have given on another page a list of the principal inventions which have recently been patented in this country bearing upon the subject. treated by different processes, where the de- | towards the conclusion of the process, the ole- ON THE PRODUCTION OF ILLUMI- Time of collection. Cannel Coal. Absorbed by Chlorine. Light Carburetted Carbonic Oxide. Hydrogen. Nitrogen. SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS IN AUSTRALIA. THE day on which the intercolonial telegraph was first opened to the public of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, was the 29th of October; and we are now enabled to throw a little light on the causes which so long delayed the work. It seems that the first contractor in the New South Wales division was unable to carry out his undertaking. His tender was very low, and the Government hesitated as to its acceptance, but apparently satisfactory sureties having been offered, it was not considered advisable to reject the offer, which was the lowest sent in. But the In 100 parts of Gas from Wigan result showed that a mistake had been committed. Time rolled on, and the cheap contractor made so little progress with his work that although there was every disposition to show him reasonable indulgence, it became necessary to cancel the contract, and make arrangements with some other party. The second contractor, from unavoidable circumstances, did not complete his undertaking within the stipulated period; but the work was well performed, and the delay was caused by the difficulties of the soil, the want of suitable timber in some districts, and disputes on the part of the workmen. Another point of interest in connection with this matter has reference to the gutta percha covering of submarine telegraphs, which is found to have received injury in consequence of being stowed away in the hot holds of ships. It India was rendered useless from this cause; and in South Australia-where the summer heat is very great-the cable submerged in Lake Alexandrina was exposed for some days to a temperature of 100 degrees, and the injury sustained is reported to have been so serious that the work is to be done over again. The cable, it is stated, is to be taken up, and wires are to be carried over the Murray river near its mouth, on posts of a sufficient height to allow the free passage of vessels below. This is a subject well worthy the consideration of climates like those of India and Australia. all engaged in submarine telegraphy in hot 13 82.5 3.2 0 In 1st hour. 12 72 1.9 8.8 1.3 21.3 4.7 Of all the great manufacturing processes-in Although this process conduces in great mea- In considering the action which takes place within the retort, with reference to the low conducting power for heat of the coal, it is evident that while one class of products is being produced from the fuel in close proximity to the heated surface of the retort, another class is evolved from the central portion of the mass. It cannot be doubted that great waste and uncertainty is the result of this unequal distribution of heat. When the central mass has gained the degree of temperature at which the most valuable products are evolved, the surrounding temperature has become sufficiently high to decompose these products. Thus the central portion is first exposed to a heat insufficient for the production of coal-gas, but which volatilizes the most valuable constituents of the coal; and; servations. Internally the structure will comprise is understood that some submarine cable sent to As regards the future, there is some talk of a submarine cable between Victoria and New Zea land. This would be a serious affair, involving an expenditure of nearly £200,000, and as there are at present only 50,000 or 60,000 Europeans scattered over the six settlements of New Zealand-each having, after the approved Australasian fashion, a little legislature-the undertaking to be seen, however, what course events will take. seems rather premature at present. It remains In New South Wales, extensions from the main line just completed are to be proceeded with in the direction of the rising towns of Bathurst and Maitland, the requisite funds being provided by a public loan. This course has been adopted with intercolonial line, but in South Australia and Vicregard to the New South Wales portion of the toria the expense has been defrayed out of the current revenue. The recent rush to the supposed new goldfield near Port Curtis has proved a failure; but while the district has not been found all at once to be auriferous, although eminent authorities still believe that it is, there is little difference of opinion as to its beauty and fertility, so that a few years will witness it the home of a population content to forego the feverish pursuits of the gold-digger, and to obtain a livelihood by steady industry. If this should prove to be the case, and it is only a question of time, a further extension of telegraphic communication will be needed in this direction, which, it is contended, will afford the best route for communication with Asia and Europe. Reference to the map will show that this is a likely view of the case, as an enormous length of wire would have to be carried from Adelaide to Swan River, and from Swan River to some point in the neighbourhood of Cambridge Gulf, if operations were determined on on the other side of the continent, while a greater length of submarine cable would be required between Cambridge Gulf and Timor than between Cape York and New Guinea. The Austrian frigate Novara, which is prosecut? ing a scientific voyage round the world, was at Sydney at the date of the last advices. Port Jackson now affords great facilities for repairs, and the Novara has been dismantled and placed in the government dry dock. The last advices from New South Wales note the commencement of a small portion-only a very few miles-of a railway dignified with the high-sounding title of Great Western. The course which the system is to take has, however, not yet been decided on. Railway works seem to progress but slowly in this colony; and well they may, for, as they are carried on exclusively by Government, and the principle acted on is that they shall be extended equally in all directions, the result is a few bit-by-bit extensions, leading at present to mere geographical points. The Great Southern Railway, which is carried from Sydney as far as Campbelltown, a distance of 34 miles, is taking nearly 30l. per mile per week; and, therefore, there seems every reason to hope ca fair return on the capital expended. The aim of the Great Western Railway is Bathurst, and the point at present undecided is where the line shall strike the river Nepean. NORMANDY'S PATENT MARINE FRESH The greatest interest seems to have been taken in Australia in the submersion of the Atlantic telegraph, the temporary success of which was the topic of the day at the date of the last advices (the middle of November). Indeed, if one were interrogated as to the salient idea occupying the colonial mind, the answer would probably be, Telegraphs," which seem to stand before rail-work by the engine. ways. The fact is, the Australians have been so long shut out of the European world that any probability of overcoming the fearful distance which separates them from their commercial and personal friends is eagerly welcomed. One member of one of the Legislatures positively expressed an opinion that it was scarcely worth while to enter into an expensive contract for improving steam communication with England in the face of the Atlantic telegraph being an accomplished fact, which could be soon repeated in the Pacific. By this time, these too hasty anticipations have been probably set at rest. In order to explain more fully the principles upon The New South Wales Government has lately | On the other hand, the pumps, ventilators placed a steam-dredge on the Hunter river, which bellows, agitators, the percolation through porous disembogues in the sea at the harbour of New- substances, through plaster, chalk, sand, &c., castle. The Hunter, which was formerly termed which have been proposed to aërate the water the "coal river." is formed by several streams obtained, and render it palatable, are of a difficult, flowing from the Blue Mountains, and has been inconvenient, or impossible application; they are unmanageable. navigable 50 miles from Newcastle by small craft costly, complicated, bulky, or Another desideratum lost sight of in the endeaof 30 to 40 tons. Beyond this distance there are several shallows. The river has three branches- vours which have been made to accomplish the the upper, lower, and middle—and the two former object (and it is a condition of extreme importance) are navigable for boats for 120 miles, while the is to obviate or prevent the deposit of saline latter can be ascended 200 miles. All the branches matter which takes place in the apparatus when are subject to sudden floods from the rapid of the limit of saturation has been attained, and waters from the Blue Mountains. The steam- which, in a short time after use, interferes temdredge is designed to remove as far as possible the porarily at least, often permanently, with the impediments to navigation on the Hunter, and working of the apparatus, renders frequent realso to improve the port of Newcastle. The pairs necessary, and in all cases eventually destroys it. The expansion of metals by heat and their dredging portion of the machinery has been constructed by Messrs. Russell and Co., of Sydney; contraction by cold, is another source of failure; so much so, that it can be most truly asserted, and the dredge has been designed by Mr. Mo riarty, Government Engineer. The length between without fear of contradiction, that any freshperpendiculars is 105 feet; length of keel for water distilling apparatus for marine purposes, in tonnage, 84 feet 9 inches; extreme breadth, 30 any part of which solder is employed, is, ipso feet; breadth for tonnage, 29 feet 10 inches; facto, defective, and ought not to be trusted, and burden, new measurement, 230 tons. There are this perhaps (as the event has unfortunately more two sets of ladders and buckets, one on each side than once proved) at a time when the machine with 29 buckets on each frame. The engine is of was most wanted, its unsoundness thus creating the ordinary side-lever description; diameter of the most distressing sufferings, and putting the cylinder, 30 inches; and length of stroke, 36 lives of all on board in imminent jeopardy. The inches. The screw-propeller makes 100 revolutions question, which has hitherto been left unanswered, per minute, and is 5 feet diameter, and 8 feet and yet which must be integrally solved before success could be hoped for, is the following:-To pitch. The dredge is shifted in position while at obtain, with a small proportion of fuel, large quantities of fresh, inodorous, salubrious, aërated water, without the help of machinery or of chemical re-agents, by means of a small and compact apparatus, incapable of becoming incrusted, or otherwise going out of order. It is to the solution of this difficult and complex problem that I now beg to call attention, and I will proceed to explain the construction of the apparatus by which the object is attained. It is known that natural waters are saturated with air containing a larger proportion of oxygen and of carbonic acid than exists in the air we breathe. Whilst ordinary rain water contains, on an average, about 15 cubic inches of oxygenised air per gallon (of which about 6 are carbonic acid), sea water contains only, on an average, about 5 cubic inches (of which about 0.6 or 0.7 are carbonic acid). or, in other words, one gallon of sea water contains about two-thirds less air than ordinary rain or river water. I have also ascertained that air begins to be expelled from such waters when the temperature reached about 130° Fahr. Now, my apparatus consists of two parts-an evaporator and a condenser-joined so as to form one compact and solid mass, screwed and bolted, without solderings or brazings of any kind. The evaporator consists of a space which is pervaded by steam-pipes containing steam, and immersed in a certain quantity of sea water, a portion of which is to be evaporated; steam, at a pressure of about seven pounds, is then admitted into the steam pipes of the evaporator, which steam-pipes are constantly surrounded by the sea water to be operated upon, and which thus becomes heated by them. The steam is procured on board of steamers directly from their boilers, and, consequently, at a trifling cost in sailingships it is obtained from a small boiler, which may or may not be connected with the hearth, galley, or caboose. The steam of the above-mentioned pressure being of course hotter than ordi nary boiling water, serves to convert a portion of the water contained in the evaporator into ordinary or low-pressure steam, which, as it reaches the condenser, is resolved therein into fresh water. By thus evaporating water under a slight pressure, one fire performs double duty, and thus the first condition, that of economy, is completely fulfilled, for whilst, in the usual way, 1 lb. of coal evaporates 8 or 9 lbs. of water, the same quantity of coals is thus made to evaporate 16 or 18 lbs. of water. With an apparatus constructed on the principle which was sent to Copiapo, in Chili, 30,000 gallons of fresh water per diem are obtained from the sea. The steam issuing from the evaporator, and which is condensed by the water in the condenser, "At first sight, one would think that it is sufficient to submit sea water to distillation to convert it into fresh water, and that the solution of the problem is altogether dependent upon a still, constructed so as to produce, by evaporation, a There is a good deal of chronic grumbling in great quantity of distilled water, with a conEngland with reference to the rates paid for gas; sumption of fuel sufficiently small to become but what would the grumblers say to the rates practicable. Distillation, at a cheap rate, is current in Australia for this important article? doubtless an important item; but there are An Australian Gas Light Company was first besides other desiderata of a no less primary imformed in 1836, and lighting operations were com-portance, and it is from having neglected. ignored, menced at Sydney in 1811. The original capital was £25,000, and as the Company's operations bave extended, this has been gradually increased to £81,000. Dividends ranging from 7 to 10 per cent. per annum have been declared, besides five bonuses (one 10 per cent.), in fifteen years; but this return must not be considered an extraordinary one, as at Melbourne another company, established for similar purposes, has received as much as 12 per cent, and some of the banks and commercial associations of the place have divided from 10 to 20 per cent. A bill has recently passed the New South Wales Legislature authorising the Sydney Company to further increase their capital to £300,000. The entire extent of the Sydney Company's mains is now reported to be about 42 miles, and the charge made is 15s. per 1,000 cubic feet; at Melbourne it is still higher, 25s. per 1,000 cubic feet, and the same price remains in the Tasmanian capital. These enormous rates are justified on the ground that every article employed in the manufacture of gas costs in Australia three times as much as in England. Some complaints have been made of the quality of the Sydney gas, but this is attributed to the inadequacy of the company's machinery to produce an article of the requisite purity to meet the largely increased demand. This difficulty is, however, being provided against. There are 300 public lamps in Sydney, but these are situated a considerable distance apart, and the lighters have to traverse 84 miles of street every day. The Company's principal engineer is Mr. Barlow. It employs 120 men, while three ships are regularly employed in bringing coal from Newcastle-a port to the north of Sydney. or been unable to realise them, that all the imparts, of course, its heat to the sea water in it, and as this water is admitted cold at the bottom, whilst the steam of the evaporator is admitted at INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGI- THE twelfth annual general meeting of this Inthe top of the condenser, the water therein be-stitution was held on Wednesday, the 26th ult., comes hotter and hotter gradually as it ascends, at the Institution, Newhall-street, Birmingham, and when it finally reaches the top, its tempera- John Penn, Esq., president, in the chair. ture is about 208° Fahr. I have already stated. that water begins to part with its air at a tem perature of about 130° Fahr., therefore, the greater portion of the air contained in the water which flows constantly and uninterruptedly through the condenser is thus separated, and led through a pipe into the empty space left for steam room The Secretary (Mr. W. P. Marshall) having annual report of the Council was then read, which read the minutes of the previous meeting, the showed the satisfactory position of the Institution, and a large increase in the number of members, referring also to the highly successful special meeting held in Newcastle-on-Tyne last summer. took place, John Penn, Esq., being re-elected President of the Institution. A number of new In your last volume, page 373, you gave a method of constructing rectangular hyperbolas, Thurnell, and described by him to the British which appears to have been invented by Mr. I beg to forAssociation, Section A, 1858. ward a method I invented some time ago, applicable to all hyperbolas, no matter what may be the angle formed by their asymptotes. I have To find a within the evaporator, when it mixes with the The election of officers for the present year then found it useful on several occasions. members were also elected. applications of Machinery to Mining Purposes," number of points it is only necessary to have a parallel ruler. C H M steam. Now, as about six gallons of sea water must be discharged for every gallon of fresh water which is condensed, it follows that the steam in the evaporator, before it is finally condensed, has been in contact with twice as much air as water can take up, the result being a production of fresh water to the maximum of aeration, that is, containing as much air as in pure rain water, whilst, the upper part of the condenser being open to the atmosphere, all pressure is thus removed from the apparatus. This aeration of the water is a condition of the utmost importance; and, in fact, is a condition which, were it not accomplished, would render the apparatus comparatively useless, even though the other deside-engine was described as being introduced in place of the large beam engines. The points to be kept rată were fulfilled. The only condition necessary in view in attempting the substitution of mechafor distilled water not to become putrid or offensive is to saturate it with pure air, because in that case there is no room left for other gases to impregnate it, at least, practically speaking, and in the ordinary conditions of domestic or of ship greater economy. The progress and gradual de. CI. Next if we take the diagonal DK, FO economy. Dr. Stenhouse, several years ago, I believe, found that the power which charcoal possesses of purifying tainted air is owing to its burning in an insensible manner the substances to which its bad odour was due; and acting upon that discovery of Dr. Stenhouse, I found that charcoal has the power of destroying the empyreuma of distilled water when such water is AREATER, that is to say, when it contains atmospheric air, or oxygen. I found by experiments, carried on upon a somewhat extensive scale for many months, that two cubic feet of charcoal are sufficient to remove entirely the empyreumatic odour and taste of distilled water, produced at the rate of 500 gallons per diem, and that the charcoal never wants renewing, because it does not act as a nical means for furnace ventilation were also stated. They are, that the same quantity of air referred to; and the great need at the present The next paper, by Mr. Benjamin Fothergill, of Manchester, was a Description of a Dry-Clay Brick-making Machine." The machine (which we shall probably describe hereafter, when the drawings are before us) is constructed by Messrs. for some time; an important economy is stated to as superior finish obtained in the bricks produced. burnt and unburnt, were exhibited with samples The meeting then terminated, and in the even- By Euclid 43, the rectangle OP= rectangle FO, being the complements about the diagonal through the points P P P that curve will be a and OP' will be equal. And so with the diagonal B H, FO=OP." Now if we draw a curve hyperbola, and the lines O M, ON will be its asymptotes. To find other points, draw oblique lines through the point O, and then from where they cut the lines A F, FL draw lines parallel to AF, FL, and. where they intersect we have between the hyperbola and its asymptotes are a point in the curve. All rectangles drawn equal to each other. The rectangles O P, OP', OP', are each equal to the rectangle FO, and therefore to each other. The curve eternally approaches its asymptotes, The diagonal BH yet never touches them. never can become parallel to G N, therefore the To use this method in making a curve to show can the point P' touch the line E M, because DK filter, but as a burner, the substance burnt being Platt, of Oldham, and one has been at work there point P can never touch the line G N. Neither the empyreumatic product, and the result of the slow combustion thereof being carbonic acid and water. I have every reason to believe, from the length of time during which several of my apparatus have been in operation, that such a filter once made will last for over, because the charcoal disinfects the water, so to speak, as it does air, not by mechanical separation, but by actual though insensible combustion. The water, as it issues from the apparatus, is perfectly sweet, tasteless, inodorous, and completely saturated with a maximum quantity of pure air; it is of sparkling clearness, and being refrigerated in traversing the coiled pipe surrounded by the cold sea water at the lower part of the apparatus, it is fit for immediate use. And thus is the second condition, that of aëration, of digestibility, of wholesomeness accomplished, whereby the water so produced is at once drinkable, and so sweet and fresh that it cannot be distinguished from the very best spring water." EXHIBITION OF INVENTIONS.-The Society of Arts' eleventh annual Exhibition of Inventions will open on the 25th day of April, 1859. The days fixed for receiving articles intended for exhibition are, Thursday the 7th, Friday the 8th, and Saturday the 9th of April. No charge is made for space; the Exhibition is free. MANUFACTURE OF STEEL TINPLATES. TO THE EDITORS OF THE "MECHANICS' MAGAZINE.' Gentlemen,-In their anxiety to inform the public of the facts relating to this branch of manufacture, the Mersey Iron and Steel Company have verified the adage of "the more haste the worse speed." Tinplates had never been made from puddled steel before Mr. Spence made them, and so far from the cast steel tinplates which were previously manufactured, having been made from steel manufactured in the ordinary way, they were actually made from cast steel, manufactured in a very extraordinary manner; and as the cost of this manufacture does not exceed £8 per ton, I presume it was not the high price of the cast steel in question which rendered the matter abortive. If Mr. Muntz was legally and equitably entitled to a patent for applying the known metal copper and the known metal zinc to the well-known purpose of making brass, then it follows that Mr. Spence is as clearly entitled to a patent for applying the known metal tin and the known form of iron called "puddled steel," to the known purpose of IMPROVED POCKET-BOOKS AND PORTE-MONNAIES. manufacturing tinplates, and if Lord Campbell can upset -Messrs. Schloss, of Cannon-street, City, have this deduction, he will succeed in establishing a dangerous applied their well-known piston lock to pocket- Of the novelty of manufacturing puddled steel tinplates, books, &c. For this especial purpose it seems no unprejudiced person can for a moment entertain a admirably adapted, and the effect gives a good doubt, and the improvement effected is so manifest, that in equity (not, perhaps, legal equity) no impartial judge could deal of additional elegance to the new porte-mon-refuse to confirm the patent." ROBT. MUSHET. naies now so fashionable, Coleford, 25th January, 1859, precedent. CHEAP BOOKS.-The committee of the Society for the Diffusion of Pure Literature, have granted to the Council of the Society of Arts the privilege of giving recommendations to the Institutions in Union, enabling them to obtain at half-price libraries of £5 worth and upwards of books, to be selected from a catalogue issued by the Society, and which will be supplied to any Institutions applying for it. The principal objects of the Society are to promote the circulation of such books, periodicals, prints, diagrams, and other publications as the committee may, from time to tim, deem really useful and good, whether they are issued by individuals or by Societies. Institutions desiring to avail themselves of this privilege, should communicate with the Secretary of the Society of Arts, WHEELER'S PATENT WASHING AMONG the numerous devices lately brought forward with the view of superseding the arduous labour of washing by hand, a set of machines very recently patented by Mr. Thomas Wheeler, of Oxford, merit especial notice. Considering, apparently, that hand washing, however wearing it may have been, was much more efficient than the washing of many of the apparatuses by which it has been replaced, Mr. Wheeler has endeavoured to imitate by machinery the action of the hand in the operation. The annexed engravings illustrate the principal features of this invention: Figs. 1 to 9 inclusive represent detail views of the variously-shaped rubbers which he proposes to adopt in his several washing machines. These rubbers may be composed of wood or other buoyant material; and, in the case of the rubbers shown at Fig. 9, stamped metal may be employed. Fig. 1 is a side and edge view of what is called a shouldered rubber." It consists simply of a disc, 4, having a shoulder, B, turned upon one or both sides of it. A round, square, oblong, or triangular opening is made through the centre of the rubber for enabling a series of them to be mounted in a frame or holder, as shown in the plan view of a reciprocating washing machine, Fig. 10. Fig. 2 is the shouldered rubber combined with a ring rubber, D, the shoulder being made to enter and play freely within the opening of the ring rubber. Fig. 3 is a corrugated rotary rubber, consisting of a cone or cylinder, having corrugations, undulations, or projecting rings formed upon its surface with a central aperture; and fig. 4 is another corrugated rubber having both its projecting rings or corrugations of the same diameter. All these four different rubbers are to be used in the same manner. They may be fitted into frames for receiving a reciprocating motion, as shown at Fig. 10; or they may be fitted into cylinders to receive a rotary or partial rotary motion, or carried on pegs or pins for working in inclined slots, or applied in the form of endless bands by being threaded on cords in any convenient manner to form aprons of rubber. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are shank rubbers intended to be used either in the reciprocating frames or in rotary cylinders, as shown in the latter case at Fig. 11, the shanks, a, fitting into suitable holes in the frame or cylinder to allow of the rubbers FIG. 9. floating or working freely therein. These rubbers are formed with a head, b, at each end, one or both heads being corrugated or turned into concentric rings, as in Figs. 5 and 6, or formed with other hollows and projections thereon, as in Fig. 7, which represents the form of the human knuckles in the act of washing. Cork or other buoyant materials may be added; or they may be made hollow to increase their buoyancy. The whole of the rubbers assimilate in their action to that of the knuckles of the hand, and therefore are termed knuckle-rubbers. Fig. 8 represents two of a series of spiral rubbers to be arranged side by side in a reciprocating frame; and Fig. 9 is a reciprocating rubber composed of a number of imitation knuckles formed of stamped metal, or of wood, gutta percha, or other suitable substance, and secured to a flat board, or to a cylindrical or curved surface. Fig. 10 represents a plan of a reciprocating washing machine, fitted with the "shouldered rubber," Fig. 1. This machine consists of an oblong box or tank, 4, fitted at the bottom of the tank with a number of shouldered rubbers, or with any of the forms of floating rubbers before referred to. When the revolving rubbers are employed, that is, any of those illustrated at figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, they are threaded upon wooden or metal spindles, which are placed side by side in suitable holes in the side pieces, a, a, fixed into the tank, A, the holes being sufficiently large, or of such a shape, as to allow the spindle to float and play freely therein, whilst the holes in the rubbers are also made large enough to allow the rubbers themselves to float and play reely upon the spindles. The reciprocating frame, B, is similarly furnished with a set of floating rubbers. These rubbers are arranged at right angles or otherwise to the rubbers beneath them in the tank. The frame is worked to and fro by a connecting rod and a crank or eccentric, C, on the second motion shaft, D, which receives a quick motion from a spur wheel, E, or by a driving band on the first motion shaft, which may be driven by hand or by a small engine attached to the side of the tank, the escape steam from which may be passed into the tank, and employed for heating or keeping hot the water therein; the bottom set of rubbers may, in some cases, be made reciprocating or rotating as well as the upper one. Any of the rubbers may be fitted into frames and used in the machine, Fig. 10. Another rubber consists simply of a brush, and another is merely a combination of the rubbers shown at Fig. 2. Fig. il represents a washing machine composed of a tank, 4, a rotatory cylinder, B, and a number of floating rubbers in the form of levers, C, C, fitted with brushes at their extremities, and bearing against the surface of the cylinder, to which cylinder the clothes, flax, wool, or other materials to be washed are attached by means of loops or bands. In the machine, Fig. 12, the levers are replaced by circular floating rubbers, C, C, constructed after one of the methods before described. Fig. 13 represents a rotatory washing machine composed of a pair of hollow cylinders, 4, 4, revolving on a spindle, B, passed through a slot, C, in the vertical shaft, D, which is driven in any convenient manner. The cylinders may be fitted on this surface with any of the rubbers. We have represented the corrugated rubbers (Figs. 5 and 6) as being applied thereto, and working in conjunction with similar, or with any of the other rubbers in a frame or species of false bottom, E. The spindle and cylinders are free to rise or fall in the slot, C, according to the varying thickness of the clothes or other substances between the two sets of rubbers. The patentee is aware that rollers revolving in a tub or vessel have been previously employed in washing machines, and therefore claims only the application of hollow cylinders, fitted either internally or externally, or on both surfaces, with any of the improved rubbers. When the patentee uses cylinders, as in the machinery shown in Figs. 11 and 12, he proposes to wash smaller or lighter articles by placing them inside such cylinders, and submitting them to the action of rubbers strung together as shown at A', Figs. 11 and 12, or other wise placed loosely therein. By these machines three dif ferent sets of clothes or goods may be washed simul taneously. Thus, some articles may be attached to the tapes or loops on the outer surface of the sylinder; others |