suppose, had its merits been better known, it would (with some modifications) have come into more general use. W. HASE, Saxthorpe, Norfolk, May 14, 1801. After leaving the cylinder in order to be condensed, the steam is in this apparatus conducted through a vessel containing a number of metal pipes filled with water from the condenser. This being surrounded by the steam, imbibes a portion of its caloric, while it facilitates the process of condensation. The water thus heated is immediately conveyed to the boiler, which is preserved at the boiling point by a small addition of caloric. M. MURRAY, Leeds, August 4, 1801. This patent comprises six principal objects: First, by an improved air-pump, the gaseous matter is discharged from the cylinder without any effort in opening of valves, or pressing through a body of water; and it also causes the water and air to be discharged separately and by different ways this is effected by taking out the air alone by a bucket, and the water alone by another, or by an eductionpipe twenty-eight feet long. The second principle is an improved method of packing the cylinder's lid, stuffingboxes, &c. by bringing the moveable parts of each in immediate contact; this is effected by placing the necessary packing on the upper side of the cylinder lid, which prevents the piston-rod receiving friction from any oblique pressure, by the lid being screwed down more upon one side than the other. The two next improvements relate to the construction and circular motion of the valves, the uppermost two being inverted; and the valve-rods are made to pass through the reservoirs of oil, or other fluid matter, which effectually prevents the air from insinuating itself into the engine. The next principle is a new method of connecting the piston-rod to the parallel-motion; and the last relates to the construction of fire-places, by which the smoke arising from the fire is consumed, and made part of the fuel; on this latter head, however, Messrs. Brunton, Parkes, and Losh, have made considerable improvements, so much so, indeed, as to supersede the application of this clause in Mr. Mur-ray's patent.* J. BRAMAH, Pimlico, Nov. 28, 1801. In this engine Mr. Bramah employed a four-passaged cock for the emission of steam from the boiler, which in this case is made to enter into a hollow at the large end of the cone of the cock, and to pass away to the condenser by a passage at the smaller end of the cone of the cock. By this means the metallic fitting is always rendered perfect, the plug being pressed into its seat by the force of the steam, acting upon a surface equal to the small end of the cock, from which the pressure is relieved. Mr. Bramah, also, makes his four-way cock turn continually in the same direction, by which means the same effects are produced as by turning it backwards and forwards, but the wear is rendered more equable. W. SYMINGTON, Kinnaird, Stirlingshire, Oct. 14, 1801. For a rotatory and other motions, without the interposition of a lever or beam. J. SHARPER, Bath, Jan. 28, 1802. R. TREVITHICK and A. VIVIAN, Camborne, Cornwall, The high-pressure engines of Messrs. Trevithick and Vi *This patent was, we believe, set aside by a writ of scire facias instituted by his Majesty's Attorney General, at the instance of Messrs. Boulton and Watt, who had previously practised some things contained in Mr. Murray's specification. vian, were expressly intended for the propelling of carriages upon rail roads. When employed for this purpose the boiler was composed of cast iron of a cylindrical form. This was mounted horizontally upon four wheels, the cylinder of the engine being placed vertically in the end. Two connecting rods, descending from the cross bar of the piston, were then made to communicate motion to the wheels by means of a crank; no fly-wheel being necessary, the momentum of the carriage carrying the cranks past the lines of the centre. M. MURRAY, Leeds, Yorkshire, June 28, 1802. This patent, which was for a portable engine, combining some of the most useful of Messrs. Boulton and Watt's inventions, was at their instance repealed in the following year. T. SAINT, Bristol, Dec. 21, 1802. The principle of this invention may be thus described: at the bottom of the boiler an opening is made nearly as large as the flue; on this opening is fixed a tube, through which a communication takes place between that part of the fire-place in which the flame rises or circulates, and the interior space of the boiler in which steam is produced for the supply of the engine. This aperture may remain open, but Mr. Saint recommends the application of a safety-valve so placed that no part of the heated air contained within the boiler shall be permitted to escape through the opening, but that the flame from the furnace may be admitted as often as a reduction in the elasticity of the compound steam will admit. M. BILLINGSLEY, Dec. 22, 1802. The usual mode of perforating and finishing cylinders, through the agency of an horizontal apparatus impelling the borer in a vertical direction, is upon many accounts inconvenient, the sand and borings occupying one side of the cylinder, and wearing away the edges of the cutter. By the application of Mr. Billingsley's apparatus, this process is reversed by causing the borer to revolve in an horizontal direction, and thus allowing the sand &c. to fall freely to the lower opening in the cylinder. In this method, the finishing part of the cutter is employed upon a clean face of metal, and not being encumbered with the cuttings, the borer goes completely through, without any attention being necessary. J. LEACH, Merton Abbey, April 7, 1803. A. WOOLF, Wood Street, Spafields, July 29, 1803. An account of the above patent for an improved mode of converting water or other fluids into steam, will be found prefixed to the description of Mr. Woolf's engine. B. DONKIN, Dartford, August 3, 1803. A rotatory motion is here produced by the application of steam below the surface of a vessel of water, containing a bucket-wheel, the elastic fluid acting upon each bucket in succession. These, when filled with and rendered buoyant by the steam, will ascend with considerable force, carrying with them any other moveable apparatus to which they may be attached. W. FREEMANTLE, Hoxton, Nov. 17, 1803. The first improvement described by Mr. Freemantle in this specification, consists in making the steam cylinder or cylinders in such a manner that the diameter of the bore shall be about equal to the length of the stroke, by which means the friction will be considerably reduced. Another part of Mr. Freemantle's invention is an universal circular valve, which, when the engine is at work, vibrates on its axis forty-five degrees each way, and by its alternate oscillations admits the steam uniformly above and below the piston. When the steam is admitted into the top of the cylinder, the bottom communicates with the condenser ; and vice versa. When the steam is only applied to the bottom of the piston, as in the atmospheric engine, two steam cylinders are to be employed instead of one, and by this means the force of the engine is so nearly equalized as to act with a much smaller fly than is usually employed. In the latter case, however, the pistons of the cylinders are made to act on the two arms of a crank, placed at right angles to each other; and the valve is not to vibrate but revolve on its axis, making one turn to each stroke of the engine. The parallel motion employed in Mr. Freemantle's engine is next described: this he effects by the application of a compound lever. Another improvement is in the cold-water pump; this consists in placing an air-vessel. so as to communicate with the ascending column of water immediately below the lower valve of the pump. Now it is evident, that before water can be raised into the barrel, a partial vacuum will be formed in the air-vessel, the amount of which will depend on the height of the vessel above the surface of the water in the well. In pumps of the ordinary construction it sometimes happens, that the velocity of the piston exceeds that of the water hence a violent concussion is produced highly detrimental to the pump and connecting apparatus; this is prevented by the adoption of Mr. Freemantle's improvement; for, instead of a vacuum being formed below the piston, air will be extracted from the air-vessel; and, as the piston descends, the pressure of the air on the surface of the water in the well not being counterbalanced, will continue to rise in |