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ANSWERS TO QUERIES AND INQUIRIES.

EXAMPLE. In the above query, ber of similar pieces being odd,

15

the num

1, which is called 10, making together will evidently be similar. To divide 16; and if applied backwards, with three-quarters of the square into any one foot of the compasses placed on number of similar pieces at pleasure, the second subdivision past the 3 (30,) if the number be odd, draw two-if it will point out the opening of the even, one line through the square in sector (16) as before. Let "Unit" try one direction, and one line less than the mean proportional of 12 and 48, the number of similar pieces it is prothus: place 1 foot of the compasses posed to make, and one third of that on the 2d subdivision on the right number more in the other direction. side of the 1, which in the last exam- If a fraction occur, you must get rid ple was (as in this) called 10, and ex- of it, as follows: tend till the other leg reaches to 8 subdivisions on the right of the 4 (40,) which is the place of 48; bisect that extent, and the half extent, with one foot on the second subdivision on the right of the 1 (10,) the place of 12, will reach to four subdivisions on the right of the 2 (20,) which is the place of 24, the mean sought; or, if applied backwards, one foot must be placed on the eighth subdivision, on the right of the 4 (40) it will point out four subdivisions on the right of the 2 (20) as before, making 24 the mean sought.

draw two lines one way, 5+.

5

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3

2

and, to get rid of the faction, reduce to an improper fraction, and take the nominator, which, in this case is 20: one less (19) is the number of lines to be drawn through the square the other way. Again, suppose you wish to divide the three-quarters into six similar parts, then bisect the square one way,

6

and draw 6++1 = 7 lines, the other

3

way; this square will, consequently, be diI hope I may be excused for this vided into sixteen parts, and the second line. long article; but I was afraid your will bound the quarter taken away, and each Correspondent, "Monad," in his an- succeeding line one-sixth of the three-qnarswer, was not so explicit on the sub-ters to be divided. ject as "Unit" required. I am, yours, &c. W. PICKETT.

Ratcliff, Sept. 10, 1824.

P.S. Dolland, in St. Paul's Churchyard, will supply “Unit" with a pamphlet on the subject for sixpence.

ANSWERS TO QUERIES.

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I am, &c.
High-street, Southwark,
Sept. 20, 1824.

J. Fr

ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES.

DECIPHERING INSCRIPTIONS.

SIR,-The following is the plan adopted by the celebrated antiquary, Mr. Brayley, in decyphering the inscriptions on the tombs in Westminster Abbey.

Take a sheet of tissue paper; hold it against, or lay it on, the stone, over the inscription; then take a rubber made of cloth, rolled up to about an inch in diameter, dip the end in powdered black-ball, rub it gently over the paper where the letters are, and the inscription will appear.

QUODLIBET'S PROBLEM. SIR,-Looking at your last Number, I find a Correspondent answering a query, which I assume to have been this:-Suppose a square divided into any number of equal parts, and one quarter of these parts being taken away, how shall the remaining threequarters of the square be divided into five equal and similar parts? Your Correspondent gives one answer-I shall give another: thus-Let the P. S. I have enclosed a specimen square be divided into 60 parts, by of paper, and an inscription upon it, drawing two lines through it one way, which is at the service of " Investiand nineteen the other. The fifth gator," providing he will return it, as line will bound the one quarter of it is the only one I have left. By inthe whole, and every third line will spection he will perceive the process. bound one-fifth part of the remaining [It is left with our Publishers for three-quarters, and the five pieces "Investigator's" inspection-Edit.]

Sept. 13, 1824.

T. E-TT.

16

CHINESE METHOD OF MAKING SHEET LEAD, &C.

APPLE BREAD.

A very light, pleasant bread is made in France by a mixture of apples and flour, in the proportion of one pound of the former to two of the latter. The usual quantity of yeast is employed as in making common bread, and is beat with flour and warm pulp of the apples after they have boiled, and the dough is then considered as set; it is then put up in a proper vessel, is allowed to rise for eight or twelve hours, and then baked into long loaves. Very little water is requisite; none, generally, if the apples are very fresh.

well as to all sorts of sporting and other guns, by greatly reducing not only the charges of their manufacture, but also those impeding circumstances which persons have to encounter whilst loading or discharging fire-arms when in darkness, or whilst exposed to wet, or during rapid progress-serious impediments which soldiers and sailors, and consequently the service, more particularly and most injuriously experience.ed to enrol specification. Dated 27th July, 1824.-Two months allow

To Thomas Wolrich Stansfeld, of Leeds, Yorkshire, merchant, for certain improvements in power looms and the preparation of warps for the same.--27th July.--Six

months.

To Charles Jefferies, of Havannah Mills, near Congleton, silk-thrower, and Edward Drakeford, of Congleton, watch-maker, both in the County of Chester, for their method of making a swift and other apparatus thereto belonging, for the purpose of winding CHINESE METHOD OF MAKING SHEET- silk and other fibrous materials.-29th July.

LEAD.

The Sheet-Lead which comes from China is manufactured in a way not generally known in this country. The operation is conducted by two men. One is seated on the floor, with a large flat stone before him, and with a moveable flat stone-stand at his side. His fellow-workman stands beside him with a crucible filled with melted lead, and having poured a certain quantity upon the stone, the other lifts the moveable stone, and dashing it on the fluid lead, presses out into a flat and thin plate, which he instantly removes from the stone. A second quantity of lead is poured in a similar manner, and a similar plate formed; the process being carried on with singular rapidity. The rough edges of the plates are then cut off, and they are soldered together for use.

NEW PATENTS.

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To Chas. Random Baron de Berenger, of Target Cottage, Kentish Town, in the Parish of St. Pancras, Middlesex, for his im provement as to a new method or methods of applying precussion to the purpose of igniting charges in fire arms generally, and in a novel and peculiar manner, whereby a reduction of the present high price of firearms can be effected, and the priming is also effectually protected against the influence of rain or other moisture; such invention and contrivances rendering the precussion principle more generally applicable even to common pistols, blunderbusses, and muskets, as

-Two months.

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ADVERTISEMENT.

THE MECHANICS' MAGAZINE will be regularly published, every Saturday, in Numbers, of 16 pages each, illustrated with engravings, comprehending a digested solution from all the periodical publications of the day, and from all new works, however costly, of whatever may be more immediately interesting to the artizan, and general reader; such as accounts of all new discoveries, inventions and improvements with illustrative drawings, explanations of secret processes, economical receipts, practical applications of Mineralogy and Chemistry, plans and suggestions for the abridgment of labour; Reports of the state of the arts, memoirs and occasional portraits of eminent Mechanies, &c. &c.

New-York, Republished by J. V. SEAMAN, 221 Broadway, opposite the Park.

Subscription price per year $4-single Numbers, 12 1-2 cents each.

MECHANICS' MAGAZINE,

Museum, Begister, Journal and Gazette.

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18

MARQUIS OF WORCESTER'S CENTURY OF INVENTIONS.

A Century of the Names and Scantlings of such Inventions as at present I can call to mind to have tried and perfected, which (my former Notes being lost) I have, at the instance of a powerful friend, endeavoured now, în the year 1655, to set down in such a way as may sufficiently instruct me to put any of them in practice. (1)

"Artis et Naturæ proles.".

We were indebted, some time since, to an intelligent Correspondent (S. R.) for the suggestion that the republication. in our pages, of the Marquis of Worcester's celebrated Century of Inventions would render a valuable service to science, by making it more generally known to the mass of the community, and obtaining for it in particular, more of the consideration of practical men than it has hitherto received; and, by the same gentleman, we were also kindly favoured with a correct transcript of a copy of the work in his possession, which we have since collated with a copy in the hand-writing of the noble author himself, preserved in the Harleian MSS., at the British Museum, vol. 2428, and now present to our readers entire. From the readings in the foot -notes, which are those of the MS., it will be seen that the variations between the two authorities are mostly immaterial. In one instance, however (No. 88,) the MS. has substituted quite a different invention from that in the printed copy; and one which is credible enough, while the other beggars all conception. Our Correspondent (S. R.) has appended to his transcript a number of original notes, illustrative of the Marquis's inventions, which, along with some other illustrations in our possession, and such additional ones as may from time to time be communicated to us (inviting hereby all who can throw any light on these "summary heads of wonderful things," to fayour us with their observations,) we propose to give in our subsequent numbers.

The author of this singular production, of whom our readers may not be displeased to know, previously, some particulars, was one of the most remarkable political characters of his age. He was "the famous Earl of Glamorgan, so created by

(1.) The following is the title in the MS. copy of the work, afterwards mentioned: From Aug. ye 29th to Sept. ye 21st, 1659. A Tenturie of the Names and Scantlings of such Inventions as att present I can call to mynde to have tryed and perfected my former Notes being lost: I have endeavoured to sett these down in such a way as may sufficiently instruct me to putt any of them in practice, having wherewith to do it.

Charles the First while heir-apparent to the Marquis of Worcester. He was a bigoted Catholic, but in times when that was no disrecommendation, and when it grew a merit. Being of a nature extremely enterprizing, and a warm loyalist, he was despatched into Ireland by the King. Here history lays its finger, at least is interrupted by controversy. The censures of King Charles charge that Prince with sending this Lord to negociate with the Irish rebel Catholics, and to bring over a great body of them for the King's service. The devotees of Charles would disculpate him and accuse the Lord Glamorgan of forging powers from the King for that purpose. The fact stands thus: the treaty was discovered, the Earl was imprisoned by the King's servants in Ireland, and was dismissed by them, unpunished, before the King's pleasure was known. The Parliament complained; the King disavowed the Earl, yet renewed his confidence in him; nor did the Earl ever seem to resent the King's disavowal, which, with much good nature, he imputed to the necessities of his Majesty's affairs."*

The King," with all his affection for the Earl, in one or two letters to others, mentions his want of judgment. Perhaps his Majesty was glad to trust to his indiscretion. With that his Lordship seems (to have been) greatly furnished. We find him taking oaths upon oaths to the Pope's nuncio, with promises of unlimited obedience both to his Holiness and to his delegate, and begging five hundred pounds of the Irish Clergy, to enable him to embark and fetch fifty thousand pounds-like an alchemist, who demands a trifle of money for the secret of making gold. In another letter he promises two hundred thousand crowns, ten thousand arms for foot, two thousand cases of pistols, eight hundred barrels of powder, and thirty or forty well provided ships!! when he had not a groat in his purse, or as much gunpowder as would scare a corbie! It is certain that he and his father wasted an immense sum in the King's cause; of all which merits and zeal his Majesty was so sensible, that he gave the Earl the most extraordinary patent, perhaps, that ever was granted; the chief powers of which were to make him

Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors.

MARQUIS OF WORCESTER'S CENTURY OF INVENTIONS.

eneralissimo of three armies and Admiral, with nomination of his officers, to enable him to raise money by selling his Majesty's woods, wardships, customs and prerogatives, and to create, by blank patents, to be filled up at Glamorgan's pleasure, from the rank of Baronet to that of Marquis. If any thing could justify the delegation of such authority, besides his Majesty having lost all authority when he conferred it, it was the promise with which the King concluded, of bestowing the Princess Elizabeth on Glamorgan's son. It was time to adopt into his family when he had into his sovereignty. This patent the Marquis, after the Restoration, gave up to the House of Peers. He did not long survive that era, dying in 1667.**

The Marquis's Century of Inventions, which we are now to lay before our readers, was first printed in 1mo., in 1783. Walpole is pleased to designate it as an amasing piece of folly;" but later and better informed writers have been led to think differently of it. Granger remarks

That a practical mathematician, who has quickness to seize a hint and sagacity to apply it, might avail himself greatly of these Scantlings, though little more than a bare catalogue." And the same writer was informed by the late Reverend and ingenious mechanic, Mr. Gainsborough, of Henley, brother to the celebrated painter, that the Marquis's work was far from being such a collection of whims and chimeras as it has been supposed to be, and that, on the contrary, "he highly esteemed the author as one of the greatest mechanical geniuses that ever appeared in the world." It is quite certain, too, that since his time several of his inventions" or suggestions have been reduced to practice; and hence the whole have become entitled to be treated with more respect. Professor Robison goes so far even as to affirm, that the steam-engine, the greatest discovery of modern times,

was, beyond all doubt, invented by the Marquis" and though later researches have shown that this is somewhat unmerited praise, it is evident that he entertained views of the applicability of steam as a moving power, such as no other indiviAtual of the age in which he lived had the sagacity to embrace.

The "book" which he promises, at the conclusion of the Century, to leave to posterity, showing "the means to put in execution and visible trial all and every of these inventions, with the shape and form of all things belonging to them,-printed by brass plates," he did not live to execute. The drawing which we have given

Walpole.

1.9

at the head of this article, as the Marquis's plan of a steam-engine, is an ideal sketch, designed by Professor Millington, from the account of the Century of Inventions (No. 68,) with a slight alteration proposed by Mr. Stuart, in his Descriptive History of the Steam Engine—namely, that of substituting one pipe in the centre for a pipe placed at each extremity, as in the Professor's arrangement. A more particular description of the Plate we reserve for our next number.

TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT
MAJESTY.

SIR," Scire meum nihil est, nisi me scire hoc scait alter," saith the poet, and I must faction is my happiness, and whom to serve justly, in order to your Majesty, whose satisis my only aim, placing therein my summum bonum in this world: be, therefore, pleased to cast your gracious eye over this summary collection, and then to pick and choose. I confess I made it but for the superficial satisfaction of a friend's curiosity, according as it is set down; and if it might now serve to give aim to your Majesty how to make use of my poor endeavours, it would crown my thoughts, who am neither covetous nor an bitious but of deserving your Majesty's favour, upon my own cost and charges; yet, according to the old English proverb, “It is but your Majesty approve, and I will effeca poor dog not worth whistling after.". Let tually perform to the height of my understanding vouchsafe but to command, and with my life and fortune I shall cheerfully obey, and, maugre envy, ignorance, and madevoted, or, otherwise, disinterested subject. lice, ever appear your Majesty's passionately and servant,

WORCESTER.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE
LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPO-
RAL, AND TO THE KNIGHTS, CITI-
ZENS, AND BURGESSES OF THE
HONOURABLE HOUSE OF COM-
MONS. NOW ASSEMBLED IN PAR-
LIAMENT.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

Be not startled if I address to all, and every of you, this century of summary heads of wonderful things, even after the dedicasince it is with his most gracious and partition of them to his most excellent Majesty, cular consent, as well as indeed no ways derogating from my duty to his sacred self. but rather in further order unto it, since your Lordships, who are his great council, and you, Gentlemen, his whole kingdom's representatives (most worthily welcome unto him,) considerations what doth or may publicly may fitly receive into your wise and serious concern both his Majesty and his tenderly beloved people.

Pardon me if I say (my Lords and Gentlemen) that it is jointly your parts to digest, to his hand, these ensuing particulars, fiting them to his palate, and ordering how to re

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