LAUBEREAU'S PATENT AIR ENGINES. MR. J. LAUBEREAU, Civil Engineer, of Paris, has just completed a patent for "Improvements in Air Engines."

The invention consists in arrangements of ma chinery for producing the alternate expansion and i contraction of air, and in causing the stroke of a piston to be effected by the expanded air, while the return is effected by the pressure of the atmosphere, aided by a partial vacuum obtained at the back of the piston. The patentee forms a heating chamber with double sides and communication between them, and by preference in the shape of an, which is placed in a cylinder or chamber round the upper part of the sides, and at top of which is a chamber for containing cold water or other cooling agent. In the space formed between the sides of the cylinder and the sides of the heating chamber, he places a grooved piston of a shape, and forms it of some metal of high-heat conducting power, such as bronze. This piston is so carried that it does not touch the sides of the cylinder nor of the heating chamber, there being space for a thin layer of air between it and them. On the top of this piston he forms a chamber, and fills it with some very bad conductor of heat, such as lampblack, and again places on the top of this chamber a cushion of cotton or other like non-conducting material. The piston chamber and cushion are all attached to a central rod, which works through a stuffing-box in the top of the cylinder and through the water space. The non-conducting chamber is kept from touching the sides of the cylinder, a pipe communicates from the bottom of the cylinder to the working cylinder, in which an ordinary piston is placed, and conveys the air to and from the working cylinder, and that in which the air is expanded and contracted. Connecting rods and other agents are employed so as to give motion to the piston in the expanding and contracting apparatus at the dead points of the working piston.

Fig. 1 is a plan of a single-acting engine com. plate, and Fig. 2 a sectional elevation. Fig. 3 is a plan of a double-acting engine, the cylinder being removed and one generator shown in section; Fig. 4 is a front elevation partly in section; and Fig. 5 a section of part of a generator relating to an improvement in the means of perfecting the vacuum. The same letters refer to like parts in all the figures. a is the foundation plate; bb are the side frames; c c are the external cases of fireboxes; did the fire-box covers; e e the smoke pipes; ff the fire-boxes; g g the hot chambers; AA the cold chambers; ii the travelling caps;

FIC.5.

FIG.I.

FIC.2.

the boxes containing non-conducting sub- The working of the engine is as follows:-Fire stances; 22 the cushions or pads; 33 the tra being lighted and the piston in the expanding velling cap rods; jj the external cases containing chamber being drawn up, the cold air is driven cold water or other cooling agents; k the cylinder; out of the upper part of the expanding and conthe piston travelling in the said cylinder; the tracting cylinder, and simultaneously the air in piston rod; m the hot-air pipe, the lower extremity the space and the bronze piston between the fireof which is in direct communication with the hot- chamber and side of the cylinder become heated, air chamber of one of the generators, and from and the air expanding rushes from the expanding which it is conducted into the cylinder at the chamber into the working cylinder, and drives up back of the piston; m' the clack valve admitting the working piston. Immediately before the the hot air, but intercepting the return of the working piston reaches the top of its stroke, the cold or contracted air; m2 the vacuum pipes com- bronze piston has attained the end of its down municating from the back of the cylinder to the stroke, and the air in the upper part of the concold or condensing chamber h of the same gene- tracting cylinder having become cool by contact rator; m3 the clack valve, allowing the egress of with the cold sides and top thereof, a partial the condensed air; m the box bolted to cylinder vacuum is formed, and atmospheric air entering bottom, through which the contracted air circu- through openings in the cover of the working lates from the clack valve m3 to the pipe m2; n the cylinder by the aid of the pressure of the atmoconnecting rod; o the main shaft and crank; sphere aided by the partial vacuum, the return p the cam plate keyed on shaft o: p' the cam stroke is effected, and so on successively. bolted to the plate p; p the cam plate or box; q the vertical oscillating lever; q' the fulcrum point on which the lever oscillates; r the rod connecting the lower extremity of the vertical lever to the lever s; s double horizontal lever communicating an intermittent reciprocating motion to the travelling caps ii; t the fulcrum on which the lever s oscillates; u u wheels attached to the sides of the caps i i, and on which they roll in order to diminish the friction; a a hot-air or pressure pipe, the lower extremity of which is in communication with the hot-air chamber of the other generator, and from which it is conducted into the cylinder at the front of the piston; a clack valve admitting the hot air, but intercepting the return of the cold or contracted air; 2 vacuum pipes communicating from the front of the cylinders to the cold or condensing chamber h of the same generator, passing through the cooling agent contained in the case j; x3 a clack valve allowing the egress of the condensed air; za box bolted to cylinder cover, through which the contracted air circulates from the clack valve 3 to the pipes z2.

d

COURT'S PATENT GAS-BURNERS. MR. J. COURT, gas-fitter, of Brompton-row, Middlesex, has just patented a very simple but useful improvement in those gas-burners which have for their objects the better regulating of the supply of gas to the burner and economy of metal used in the construction. The invention con

THE ALMA.

sists in forming a chamber in the nib, and filling, | THE LOSS OF LIFE BY THE WRECK OF
or partially filling, the same with a number of
layers of fine wire, wire-gauze, perforated plates,
or other porous material, through which the gas
passes. The progress of the gas is retarded and
its pressure diminished; it also becomes heated
in its course through the nib, and more complete
combustion, and consequently increased illumi-
nating power, are the results. He forms the
chamber either by boring the nib at the bottom
of sufficient capacity to receive the layers of wire
or other material, and he then inserts a plug
(previously drilled through for the passage of the
gas) in the bottom of the nib, which presses on
the material so placed, and confines it in position.
Or the nib is first bored from the top, and after
placing the material in it is held there by the tip
(which may be of iron, earthen, or glass of the
usual union jet or bat's-wing slit). Fig. 1 of the
accompanying engravings is a sectional elevation of
a nib complete, where the layers of wire gauze b
are inserted through the top, resting upon a
metal ring c; the tip d may rest on the wire
gauze, or the wire gauze may be fixed in position as
shown by a hollow tool. Fig. 2 shows a sectional
elevation of another form of nib, a, a is the outer
shell in which a cavity b is bored, the upper part of
which may be filled with wire gauze or perforated
plate c. One or two metal rings are employed to
keep the wire gauze from shifting, and the whole
is firmly secured by a screw plug d.

THE CORT CASE.

WE are glad to find that, in accordance with our announcement made a few weeks since, the Cort case has been taken up by Mr. Cobden, Mr. Fairbairn, and their Lancashire and Yorkshire friends. We find that Mr. Fairbairn's late letter to the Times has been made the basis of the new proceedings, for the carrying out of which a committee has been formed comprising Mr. W. Fairbairn, Mr. J. Whitworth, Mr. R. Cobden M.P., Mr. T. Bazley, M.P., Mr. J. A. Turner, M.P., and Ivie Mackie, Esq., Mayor of Manchester. The following statement has been published:

"The immediate object of this fund is to co-operate with the iron and engineering trades of Great Britain for the support of the Cort family, consisting of a son and three daughters, the youngest of whom is seventy years of age. The inventions of Henry Cort

for the manufacture of bar iron have reduced the

cost of that most indispensable article, during the last seventy years, 66 per cent., as compared with the previous price of foreign iron. They have for the last twenty-five years greatly economised conveyance and transportation by railway and steam navigation, while the iron wire for telegraph conductors could

not be made without the same inventions.

"The total value of cotton goods, thread, and yarn consumed and exported in Great Britain for ten years ending 1856, allowing for waste in spinning, and deducting cost of raw material, according to a table given in the Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. xiv., eigth edition, p. 255, amounts to more than £365,000,000 sterling, to pay all other expenses, wages, interest, profits, &c. What, then, must be the aggregate value for the last 58 years, which

never could have been realized to the same extent had not the steam engine been made available for the purpose, during the whole of this period, by the inventions of Henry Cort.

"We, the undersigned, strongly recommend this subscription to all who feel as we do, the great value of Henry Cort's inventions, not only to the British nation generally for the last seventy years, out of materials abundant and previously useless in our native land, and by native labour, but more especially as regards the past and future trades of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

(Signed) "IVIE MACKIE, Esq., Mayor.
"RICHARD COBDEN, M.P.
"WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN, F.R.S."

The electric telegraph to Melbourne and Adelaide is in constant use, and affords a remunerative revenue. Indeed, the amount of business transacted has forced on the Government the absolute necessity of a second wire. Wires to Bathurst and to Maitland were in progress, and will shortly convey messages between those important towns and the Australian metropolis.

sequently sent to institute inquiry into the cause of of the loss of life that has resulted mainly through the neglect, moreover, of a brother officer to enforce proper regulations for its prevention, and which neglect is openly tolerated at head-quarters; I ask, is it likely that any punishment will follow? Take a case that occurred some time since within sight of our shores. One ship ran into another, and more than twenty minutes elapsed before the disabled one sunk, and seventy people were in consequence drowned (only one boat having been made available in that time); yet a simple comment that "it was a common thing for ships to carry their boats in-board," was all the official notice taken of as wanton an instance of wholesale manslaughter as any that the annals of our criminal records can show. With such a case before us is it to be wondered that the game of death goes bravely on, or that such catastrophes as the Alma's happen thousands of miles away at sea, when, under the very eyes of the officers here at home, the causes that lead to them are permitted to continue by the Government in spite of all law and justice?

TO THE EDITORS OF THE "MECHANICS' MAGAZINE."
GENTLEMEN,-In your impression of last week
you have again done the State a service in direct-
ing public attention to the sacrifice of life by the
wreck of the Alma through the neglect of the
most ordinary precautions for its preservation at
sea, and in consequence of which some twenty
human beings who might be still living have been
wantonly hurried into eternity. In doing this
you again assert for suffering humanity its
right to protection from those whose duty
and position in the social scale constitute them
its custodians and not its destroyers; and
the remedy you suggest of putting captains and
officers in charge of ships on their trial for man-
slaughter is the only one likely to induce a better
state of things; for however the recitals of such
catastrophies may excite our feelings, this process
of reforination is far too tardy; and the stronger
power of the law, and its rigid and certain appli-
cation as you recommend, will be the only check
to the constant repetition of such cases as that of
the Alma. The dread of imprisonment, and the Other criminals who destroy human life must
public shame and disgrace that must follow a man
pay the penalties for their misdeeds, but your
through life (who having fulfilled his term will still owners, your captains, and your officers of ships
carry about with him, as it were, his moral ticket- drown their fellow-creatures by hundreds, and
of leave), stigmatised as he would be under such boldly stalk about in broad day-light with no
circumstances as the cause of the death of other punishment than the troublings of con-
some of his fellow-creatures through his wanton sciences which have already had no influence what-
neglect, must have its weight. Repeatedly, when ever in guiding them to the just discharge of
going down the river with ships clearing out," their duties to their fellow-men. Death caused by
have I heard the argument used by pilots to the inadvertency, and death caused by violence, is
'men on the look-out," as the most forcible they the same in its consequence on its unhappy
could advance to make them careful, that "they may victims; and the men who murder their ca
be put in prison if any loss of life should happen tain only bring about a like result with the
through their neglect of duty." Already is this captain who drowns his crew through wanton
law enforced in the factory, the mine, and the neglect of the means that might have saved them
railway, and the speedy punishment that follows in the hour of need. Yet who ever thinks of
a guard or overseer when a life is lost through calling to account the latter, whom the law has
carlessness has materially helped to diminish the already stigmatised as criminally liable. Equal
aggregate mumber of casualties. Why should justice should meet out equal punishment, and be
not the same consequences attach to captains no respector of persons. The poor and ignorant
and officers in charge of ships? Nor should this seamen soon find out how the majesty of the law
criminal responsibility be limited only to them. is vindicated. The little flies are caught, while the
The Lord Chief Justice Clerk, when life was lost big ones break through its meshes that were never
by the foundering of the Orion, on the coast framed for their capture. The blessings of wealth,
of Scotland, summed up in these words: "That education, and position in society should teach ns
to set an example of obedience to the laws of our
any person placed in a situation in which his acts
may affect the safety of others must take all pre-country, and not how to break them, more espe-
cautions to guard against the risk to them from cially, where the poor and unprotected are
what he is doing; and in the event of loss of life the sufferers. Only let any one who reads
this take the trouble to go through our
docks and inspect a few ships "ready for sea," he
need not be long finding thowl pins out, rudders
with irons broken, and no yoke lines, oars any-
where, and boats themselves unfit for use.
stances like these he will find by scores; but one
of punishment awarded for death caused throngh
such neglect he must search our naval history in
vain to find out.

through any device resorted to for the purpose of
economy, &c., grave criminal responsibility would
arise, as well to the captain who neglected to use
all appliances in his power to keep the boats in
proper order, as to the proprietor who should fail
to have supplied sufficient boats in the first in-
stance, or refused proper allowance to have them
maintained."

In

follow every case of life lost through wanton neglect, affords the only hope of a change for the better; and it is the constant agitation of the subject by the press that can alone urge on justice to use its sword. Mercy in such cases to the guilty is only future death and suffering to the unprotected, for sparing justice breeds iniquity.

Now, the Times states that twenty minutes elapsed after the Alma struck before the first It is a painful reflection that it should be so; boat was got out and lowered, and then, that but no regrets will find the remedy. The knowas there were no thowl pins in it, it was un-ledge that punishment by imprisonment would manageable, and twenty lives were lost in consequence. Now, whose fault was it that no efficient means of instantly lowering the boats was at hand, and no thowl pins in the boat when on the water? Nay more, how is it that the very circular of the Board of Trade to which you draw such prominent attention, "No. 51, 1857," and which I now give in extenso, was in this very case, as it has always yet been, "a dead letter." That circular directs that life-boats shall carry “all requisite for use," and that "surveyors are to refuse delarations in future in cases in which the life-boat is in such a position as not to be ready for use in an emergency, or in which efficient means are not provided for lowering it safely and expeditiously into the water." When such regulations as this are never enforced on owners before the ship sails, by officers specially appointed to see them carried out, and the Board of Trade winks at their neglect of public duty, is it to be wondered at that the captain does not trouble his head about such things as thowl pins when he is away at sea; and is it likely that one officer who may be sub

If those amongst our rulers who preach philanthropy and the exercise of the higher virtues to benighted niggers, and severe punishment to the wretches who enslave and destroy them, would only throw a few of the crumbs of their surplus benevolence to the poor British seamen and helpless emigrants and passengers, many a home would not now be wanting its mainstay and support; many a widow's heart would have been a stranger to the misery of a disconsolate hearth and its fatherless children; and you, Sirs, and the general press of this country, might happily have at longer intervals to comment on such sad stories as "the loss of life by the wreck of the Alma,” for the public warning and the public good. Sept. 6, 1859.

CHARLES CLIFFORD,

THE ARMSTRONG GUN.

TO THE EDITORS OF THE MECHANICS' MAGAZINE." GENTLEMEN,-While the question of rifled cannon is still being mooted, and our ships of war are likely to be fitted with the Armstrong gun, the idea naturally presents itself as to the comparative merits and demerits of this form of arm when applied to naval warfare. Now, while the advantages of long range and extreme precision are indispensable, the lasting qualities of the material from which the gun is made is no less a matter for serious consideration, and I would ask, How far has it yet been proved that a gun with a barrel of steel, and finely grooved, will resist the erosive action of sea-air and moisture? We all know how soon exposure to sea-air rusts the barrel of a common fowling-piece; and if rust acts rapidly on iron, we know it is still more destructive to steel, and it is a question whether a finely-grooved steel barrel would not soon become so pitted with rust, as to injure the precision of the arm, if not to prevent it from being fired at all. Do there not, I would ask, exist some alloys which, while they would present sufficient hardness to form the core of a rifled gun, would be unaffected by rust? I will mention a fact or two which imply the possibility of such being the case. Every one who has ased a soldering iron is aware how, after a time, the copper point which is continually in contact with the solder becomes so hard that the best file will hardly touch it. Another and equally hard alloy may be made from zinc and copper mixed in certain proportions, and another exists into which enters the metal aluminium; and no doubt, with a few experiments, an alloy might be found which would answer the purpose.

Now, if such an alloy could be successfully applied, how great would be the advantage which would accrue, both in respect of cleanliness and in the durability of the arm, while from its easy fusibility it might be run into the wrought-iron case, which would give it strength and solidity. Hoping that this idea may prove useful and interesting to some of your readers,

I have the honour to remain, Sir,
Your obedient servant,

F. MAXWELL LYTE, F.C.S.
Bagnères de Bigorre, Hautes Pyrénées, Sept. 6, 1859.

CONVERTING CAST-IRON GUNS INTO
BREECH-LOADERS.

expanding. Mr. Warny has expressed his readi-
ness to take any ordinary metal or cast-iron gun
now in use, and to convert it into a breech-loader
which shall be capable of discharging from 10 to
20 shots per minute a distance of at least three
miles, the barrel being previously rifled."

66

Our Weekly Gossip.

WE have to ask the indulgence of our readers for
several verbal errors which appeared in our last
number, and which they have doubtless corrected for
themselves-such, for example, as "great deck" for
'giant deck" in the article sent from the Great
Eastern, and "Plate 7" for "the engraving" on page
169. In the sentence which precedes the table giving
the theoretical speeds of the Great Eastern's paddle
and screw, on p. 165, an ambiguous statement also
occurs, probably through the hurry in which the
letter was despatched. The word "practically" should
be "proportionally;" the meaning being that the re-
lations between the revolutions of the paddles and
the serew indicated by the table held when the ship
was moving freely under her steam. Thus, on looking
at the table, it will be seen that eight revolutions of
the paddle indicates just over 13 knots of speed,
screw; then, it was found in practice that both
which again correspond to 30 revolutions of the
engines worked well together while the one was
making eight, and the other 30 (or nearly 30) revolu-
tions. This is all that was meant. To get the speed
of the ship from the table the slip must, of course,
be deducted.

Numerous letters written in illustration of the
alleged want of proper management in the New
Works Department of the Admiralty have reached
us. For the most part they involve matters of detail
into which we cannot conveniently enter. We print
the following as a specimen. It is written by "A
Mechanic" from Pembroke Dockyard. He says:-
"Gentlemen,-As another proof of the inefficiency of
the New Works Department of the Admiralty alluded
to in your number for August, I would refer to the
new steam saw-mill building at Pembroke recently
completed. The upper room is the joiners' shop, and
hot during the summer, and there being no means of
has a glass roof. The place became so unbearably
ventilation provided, large holes were obliged to be
torn in the new end walls to admit a current of air.
The merest tyro would not have left such a thing un-
provided for in the construction. The Chairman of
the Dockyard Committee should be asked how much
it cost for spoiled paper and clerk's time employed
in re-rewriting letters during his superintendence of
Pembroke yard. It was not a trifling item."

The reverse,

road and Cromwell-road the ground falls about 40 feet, and using this fact in aid of a general effect, the ground has been divided into three principal levels. The entrances to the gardens will be on the lower level, in Exhibition and Prince Albert's-roads, and the central pathway upwards of 75 feet wide, ascending through terraces to the third great level, will lead to the winter garden. The whole garden will be sur rounded by Italian arcades, each of the three levels having arcades of a different character. The upper or north arcade, where the boundary is semi-circular in form, will be a modification of the arcades of the Villa Albani at Rome. The central arcade will be almost wholly of Milanese brickwork, interspersed with terra cotta, majolica, &c., whilst the design for the south arcade has been adapted from the beautiful cloisters of St. John Lateran at Rome. None of these arcades will be less than 20 feet wide and 25 feet high, and they will give a promenade, sheltered from all weathers, more than three-quarters of a mile in length. The arcades and earthworks will be executed by the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, at a cost of £50,000, whilst the laying-out of the gardens and construction of the conservatory or winter garden, will be executed by the Horticultural Society, and will cost about the same sum, the greater part of which has been already raised.

Mr. Lough has completed, says the Leeds Intelliwith its pedestal, the monument intended for Newgencer, a model of the statue of George Stephenson, castle-on-Tyne. The height of the figure is 7 feet 8 inches; but the actual casting model will measure 10 feet high. The figure is upright, and attired in modern costume, with a plaid crossing the chest from the left shoulder; the right hand, holding a pair of callipers, rests on the breast, and the left on a locomotive engine of very early form. The pedestal intended for the support of this statue presents at its four angles types of the labour necessary to engineering works; these are, accordingly, a navvy, a blacksmith, a pitman, and an engineer.

NOTICES.

The MECHANICS' MAGAZINE will be sent free by post to all subscribers of £1 1s. 8d., annually, payable in advance. Post Office Orders to be made payable to R. A. Brooman, at the Post Office, Fleet Street, London, E.C.

TO ADVERTISERS.

All Advertisements occupying less than half-a-column are charged at the rate of 5d. per line for any number of insertions less than 13; for 13 insertions, 4d. per line; and for 52 insertions, 3d. per line.

Each line consists of 10 words, the first line counting as two. Wood-cuts are charged at the same rate as type for the space occupied.

Special Arrangements for larger or Serial Advertisements To ensure insertion, Advertisements must reach the Office by 5 o'clock on Thursday evening each week. None can be received after that time for the ensuing number.

Patents for Inventions.

ABRIDGED SPECIFICATIONS OF PATENTS.
classified, according to the subjects to which the respective
THE abridged Specifications of Patents given below are
mventions refer, in the following table. By the system of
classification adopted, the numerical and chronological

order of the specifications is preserved, and combined with
all the advantages of a division into classes. It should be
understood that these abridgements are prepared exclu-
sively for this Magazine from official copies supplied by the
Government, and are therefore the property of the proprie-
tors of this Magazine. Other papers are hereby warned not
to produce them without acknowledgement:-
STEAM ENGINES, &c., 317, 343.
BOILERS AND THEIR FURNACES, &c., 369.
ROADS AND VEHICLES, including railway plant and car-
riages, saddlery and harness, &c., 317, 324, 351, 356, 373,
376, 379, 383.

We have been favoured with a sight of one of the The following cutting from the Times may be medals now in process of striking at the Mint, and taken for what it is worth:-"The difficulty intended as rewards for the valour displayed by our hitherto experieneed in converting the ordinary forces in suppressing the Sepoy insurrection in India. east-iron guns into breech-loaders has at length It is a fine work of art. The size of the new Indian been surmounted by Mr. Warny, the inventor of medal is precisely that of the well-known Crimean the new breech-loading percussion cannon, which decoration, and, in fact, the obverse-the head of Her Majesty, with the legend Victoria Regina-seems to during some recent trials at Chatham discharged be the product of the identical die used for those too 20 shots per minute, who has just succeeded in lavishly dispensed discs of silver. attaching a wrought-iron breech to a cast-iron gun, however, presents a totally different device. The the first attempt of the kind which has, as yet, British lion, or a lion, is shown standing in all his proved successful. The gun experimented upon natural dignity beside an erect figure of Britannia, consisted of the ordinary cast-iron barrel, weigh- who, with an oval quartered shield on her left arm, ing about 401b., which having been rifled, Mr. and a reserve of wreaths in her left hand, is extending Warny attached his breech-loading invention to her right hand as if in the act of bestowing upon a brave, but, so far as the medal goes, invisible it; this gun being also fired by percussion, as is warrior, one of the leafy chaplets. The word India the case with Mr. Warny's ordinary (breech-load-surmounts the head of Britannia, who it is really reing cannon. The breech is provided with a lever freshing to see represented on her legs after so long fixed at the end, which by one movement lubria sitting on our expiring coinage of copper, whilst cates the chamber, primes the nipple, and closes the dates 1857-1858 placed below the frieze declare the breech. By an exceedingly simple con- the period when the immortal deeds of arms for trivance the breech can be almost instantaneously which the medals are to be awarded were performed. SHIPS AND BOATS, including their fittings, 328, 329, 341, detached from the other portion of the gun, so that The material of which the medals are composed is in the case of a sudden surprise by an enemy; and the number to be produced, as we are informed, fine silver, the weight of each precisely one ounce, these guns can have their breeches removed and something like 100,000. May those for whom they be rendered entirely unserviceable. During the are intended long survive to wear them, and if need trials made at Chatham yesterday to test the be, go forth to earn others in the Celestial Empire, newly-finished cannon it was ascertained that where treachery, great as that of Hindostan, seems to with a small charge of gunpowder the shot could exist, and where British prowess must again be disbe thrown 4,000 yards, or upwards of two miles, played. Mr. L. C. Wyon designed-as his name while by slightly increasing the charge a range of under the frieze denotes the reverse of the Indian LIGHTING, HEATING, AND VENTILATING, 345, 347, 350, 360, medal; whilst the late W. Wyon was the artist for 5,000 yards was obtained, the gun throwing a shower of balls at the rate of 10 per minute, a rapidity of firing which the inventor is able to maintain as long as the ammunition lasts, the earrent of air admitted each time the breech is opened preventing the gun becoming heated and

the obverse.

A model showing how the ground will be laid out in terraces for the garden of the Horticultural Society has just been placed in the South Kensington Museum, at the North-end, near the entrance to the ornamental art-rooms. Between the Kensington

377, 378, 392, 399. CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL, including agricultural and horticultural implements and machines, 327, 353, 391, 389. FOOD AND BEVERAGES, including apparatus for preparing food for men and animals, 320, 330, 333, 355, 370, 271, 382, 400. FIBROUS FABRICS, including machinery for treating fibres, pulp, paper, &c., 332, 335, 337, 339, 342, 346, 349, 363, 365, 366, 380, 386, 393, 395, 397, 403, 404, 405. BUILDINGS AND BUILDING MATERIALS, including sewers, drain-pipes, brick and tile machines, &c. None.

368.

FURNITURE AND APPAREL, including household utensils, time-keepers, jewellery, musical instruments, &c., 321, 334, 340, 364, 385, 390, 398.

METALS, including apparatus for their manufacture.

None.
CHEMISTRY AND PHOTOGRAPHY, 344.
ELECTRICAL APPARATUS, 323.

together within the box by toothed wheels, as in clock-
work. Patent completed.

318, 352, 354, 357, 355, 359, 301, 302, 371, 375, 381, 357, ing spring power, and in its application to various

388, 391, 394, 396, 401.

316. W. THOMPSON. "An improved printing telegraph." Dated Feb. 1, 1859.

The improved manipulator consists of a fingerboard containing a certain number of keys or touches which are attached to a corresponding number of straight levers; these are connected with an equal number of small rectangular metallic levers which are placed in a circle round the arbor of the escapement wheel of a common clock train or movement, and directly under a horizontal wheel containing thirty little points which the levers are calculated to push out beyond the circumference of the wheel whenever the keys or touches are acted upon by the operator. The same touch that pushes out the pin corresponding with the letter on the type wheel of the receptor pushes in the pin that is against a fixed post, and stops the instrument each time that the last pin pushed out comes against it, and thus prevents any further action until another letter is made. This double motion of pushing in the preceding pin at the same time you push out another is obtained by an apparatus placed under each of the straight levers. The escapement and pin wheels are on the same arbor, and are put in motion by a common clock train. The receptor is put in motion by two clock trains. Patent abandoned.

317. A. ALLAN. "Improvements in locomotive steam engines, in part applicable for retarding and stopping railway trains." Dated Feb. 4, 1859. This invention is not described apart from the drawings. Patent completed.

318. J. W. HART. "Raising water or other liquids and compressing and forcing fluids, atmospheric air, or other aeriform bodies." Dated Feb. 4, 1859. Provisional protection was not granted for this in

vention.

319. S. L. TROTMAN. "Improvements for the more effectually securing or fastening envelopes or other like receptacles, and the more securely affixing postage-stamps or other adhesive labels." Dated Feb. 4, 1859.

This consists, 1, in forming envelopes with a tongue gummed on both sides, and a pocket in the back of the envelope into which the tongue is inserted when the envelope is closed. 2, in protecting the gum from the external action of steam, &c., by coating so much of the paper as may be required to cover the gum with a waterproof material, such as varnish, drying 320. R. A. BROOMAN. "An improvement in cool. ing worts and beer." (A communication.) Dated

oil, or oil paint. Patent abandoned.

Feb. 4, 1859.

This consists in causing a current of cold water to

circulate through passages suitably arranged beneath the vessel containing the worts or beer, and thereby gradually and quickly reducing the temperature of the same. Patent completed.

321. R. A. BROOMAN. "Improvements in shirts." (A communication.) Dated Feb. 4, 1859.

This consists in so arranging shirts that buttons on the neck band and front are dispensed with; in giving such an amount of stiffness or support to the front that but little, if any, starch is required; and in making the sleeve without any side opening at the wrist, but simply an aperture for the hand to pass through. Patent abandoned.

322. G. H. BAYLIS and F. ROBINSON. "An improved indicator for registering the withdrawal of liquids from vessels." Dated Feb. 4, 1859.

This indicator is composed of a circular box, having a dial n its front surface marked with gills, pints, quarts, &c., up to gallons. On the lower part of this dial a second smaller dial is placed marked with gallons only. A spindle is passed through the centre of the box, having a hand on its outer end, and the other end passes through a barrel over which is wound a cord, one end whereof is secured to the barrel, the other end having a float attached thereto, which enters the top of the cask, and floats upon the surface of the liquid, so that as the liquid falls into the vessel the quantity withdrawn is indicated upon the dial until the vessel becomes empty. The two dials are worked

323. F. H. MABERLY. Improvements in obtain purposes.' Dated Feb. 4, 1859.

The patentee prefers to use box springs with fusees. One or more of each is to be operated upon by levers and ratchets. The ratchet apparatus is affixed by squares to the spindles of the fusees, so as to be moveable at pleasure, and the ratchets are worked by levers operated upon by racks and pinions. The racks are supported or balanced by weights, and these racks worked up and down by double cogged or other pinions, the racks carrying the levers of the ratchets up and down. These double cogged or other pinions are themselves revolved by ratchets and levers, such as aforesaid, operated upon by hand or other power. Patent completed.

324. L. BONNEAU. "Improvements in apparatus for registering the time carriages are employed in conveying persons from place to place, and also in moving from place to place when unoccupied." Dated Feb. 4, 1859.

Here two markers, or pencils, and a ring of paper are arranged in connection with the seat of a cab or other vehicle, so that when the vehicle is in motion one of these pencils oscillates and makes a zig-zag mark, and when the seat is depressed by the weight of a passenger the second pencil is caused to mark.

Patent abandoned.

325. J. M. E. MASSON. "Improvements in apparatus to facilitate working under water." Dated Feb. 4, 1859.

This invention is not described apart from the drawings. Patent completed.

326. P. ADIE. "Improvements in apparatus for taking levels and measuring angles." Dated Feb. 4, 1859.

This relates to arranging the instrument known as the ordinary levelling telescope with parts in connec tion therewith, so that the same may be used as a theodolite. We cannot give space to the details of this invention. Patent completed.

327. W. R. J. PACKER. 66 Improvements in the plough or plough-share, for the purpose of more effec. tually pulverizing, breaking up, or cutting into small particles the earth or sod separated from the ground by the plough-share." Dated Feb. 4, 1859.

This consists principally of a cylinder placed to the plough-share which moves a wheel, and by means of this wheel a pinion, with or without a square or collette attached, studded with rakes or spikes, revolves, and by such revolution the earth is crushed. Patent abandoned.

328. J. HONEYMAN. "Improvements in the construction of ships, vessels, and boats, and in propellers for propelling the same.' Dated Feb. 4, 1859.

soldered to the cylinder. This brass hoop has a brim or flange, and it is by this flange that the lid is bolted thereto. To render the joint air tight, a thickness of india-rubber is placed between the lid and cylinder. On the metallic casing is rivetted and soldered a plate furnished with a stop cock to place the cylinder in communication with an air pump by which a vacuum is produced. Patent completed.

331. F. H. MABERLY. "Improvements in appa ratus for corking, for drawing corks, in taps, in the necks of bottles, in the bung-holes of barrels, and in similar articles." Dated Feb. 5, 1859.

The inventor proposes to compress the corks by a screw or screws conjointly with other power, so as to render them fit for putting into the bottle without any other force than that of the finger and thumb. The cork drawer is to be of the needle kind, plain, or screwed, or wormed, easily passing through the cork, and then throwing out spring barbs, so that the cork drawer cannot be withdrawn without bringing out the cork. Patent abandoned.

332. N. GEEEN HALGH, W. SHAW, and J. MALLISON, jun. "Certain improvements in the treatment and preparation of yarns or threads previously to dyeing." Dated Feb. 5, 1859.

Here the "cops" of yarn to be treated are placed in a suitable chamber in connection with an apparatus for exhausting the air therefrom; and when the yarn is thus in vacuo, a solution of shumac or catechu is to be introduced and the yarn thoroughly saturated. It is then submitted to the action of "hydro-extractors" to dry out the superfluous moisture, and afterwards placed in vacuo again, and (if to be dyed black) sa turated with a solution of iron. It is then dried, and is in a condition to be woven into cloth with a woollen

or worsted substance or alpaca, hair, &c. Patent completed.

333. R. TINKER. "Improvements in churns." Dated Feb. 5, 1859.

This relates, 1, to rotatory churns, and consists in arrangements whereby the barrel can be set steady or fixed in several different positions as regards its rotation. It relates, 2, to the bungs of churns, and consists in making them of a piece of india-rubber combined with wood. It relates, 3, to an improved air discharge valve, whereby it can be readily taken out and cleaned. The metal portions of the bungs and valves are electro-plated. Patent completed.

334. II. ANDERSON. "An improved construction of apparatus for winding window blinds, sun shades, and similar articles on their rollers." Dated Feb. 5, 1859.

This consists of a framing through which is passed two journals, the end of the one being fastened to the blind roller. To this journal is aflixed by a stud a steel coiled spring. The other end is fastened to the framing. On the same journal is also a toothed wheel gearing with a small pinion on the other journal; on this latter journal, alongside the pinion, is a ratchet wheel, and on it the end of the lever, to which is attached the cord, is made to rest by a knee-shaped spring.

Patent abandoned.

Here the lower part of the hull of a ship is built of a cylindrical figure, the width of which corresponds to the width of beam at the upper part of the hull. The enlarged portion extends from the bow nearly to the stern, where it is hollowed in so as to form a recess at portion of the hull projects well out at the stern, in obtaining or separating oily, fatty, greasy, tarry, the parts adjacent to the stern post. The cylindrical 335. T. SYKES and B. C. SYKES. "Improvements where it is enclosed by metal plates or timber, so as to waxy, and resinous substances, from oleaginous seeds, form a flat vertical surface. At this part a screw nuts and fruits, wool, silk, hair, cotton, flax, line, propeller is fitted, the driving shaft of which is car-hemp, furs, skin, leather, bones, fish, and other ried through the end disc of the cylindrical part. The animal matters and refuse, woollen and cotton waste propeller consists of a conically-shaped drum, having and refuse, also textile fabrics and refuse grease provanes or blades extending backwards in a curved duced in various branches of industry, indigo, lac, lac direction from the apex of the cone to the base. dye, and other dyes." Dated Feb. 5, 1859. Patent completed.

329. A. BARCLAY. "Improvements in electric,
magnetic, or electro-magnetic telegraph ropes or con-
ductors, and in machinery or apparatus to be used on
Feb. 4, 1859.
board ship for laying or paying out the same." Dated

Here the component wires or strands of the cable
are covered individually with hemp, &c., and cach
strand is passed through melted tar, pitch, &c., and
afterwards through sand. The strands are passed
through squeezing rollers. The whole cable is finally
treated in the same way. In paying out cables, after
the cable leaves the ship's hold, it passes over a species
of elasticated guide block tackle, that is, over a series
of upper and lower pulleys, the spindles or centres of
which are suspended from the ship by caoutchouc,
There are modifications included. Patent
abandoned.

&c.

This relates, 1, to the use of bisulphide of carbon as a solvent; and, 2, to the use of hydrostatic pressure, with water or other fluid, to facilitate the percolation of the solution of the oily, waxy, or resinous substances in the bisulphide of carbon or naphtha through the bodies treated, and ultimately to displace it. Patent completed.

336. T. R. AYERST. "Improvements in breechloading guns and other fire-arms." (A communication.) Dated Feb. 5, 1859.

This consists in forming a clear opening through the breech, and applying a closing piece consisting of a cross piece mounted on a joint or hinge pin on one side of the bore. This hinge piece is received in a recess when in position, which with suitable shoulders abuts and holds it close against the back end of the bore. The hinged piece is of considerable thickness, and has a screw bolt or plug piece screwed throuz'a 330. W. CLARK. "Improvements in the means or it in the direction of the bore, the nose of whic-ta apparatus for preserving grain, flour, eggs, and other enters therein, effectually closing the barrel at tize vegetable and animal substances." (A communica- breech, and also fixing the hinged piece securely ar tion.) Dated Feb. 4, 1859. its place. The back end of the bore is enlarge. 1. This consists in enclosing the substances to be pre-forming a recess into which the nose of the scre served in a cylinder formed of wooden staves united enters, the nose or end being somewhat larger the by iron hoops. This cylinder is enclosed in a tinned the bore, and which nose abuts against the shoulder iron case, perfectly soldered, to exclude air. This case so formed. The screw stem projects in the rear has at top and bottom a hoop of brass rivetted and the hinge piece, and has a short hand lever by whi

surface of glass or tale, and he produces the photo- | tural or farm implements or apparatus."
graphic picture upon it either in the wet or dry state communication.) Dated Feb. 8, 1859.
in the ordinary manner. He then submits the film This comprises various improvements in ploughs,
to the action of bi-chloride of mercury and ammonio- harrows, reaping machines, horse or hand rakes, and
chloride of gold, to cause the lines of the picture to presses for cheese curds, fruit, &c., the details of
swell or rise, and become absorbent. He then covers which are too voluminous for our pages.
the film with a thin coat of varnish, which speedily abandoned.
dries on the porous raised lines or parts, leaving the
other parts wet. He then dusts over the picture a
quantity of powdered resin or gum, &c., which adheres
to the wet parts. The picture is now in a fit state for
transferring to paper, stone, copper, steel, or zinc.
Patent abandoned.

comb surfaces, arranged and actuated in a manner which we cannot on account of space describe in de- pleted. Patent tail. Patent completed.

The patentee claims constructing carriage ways with boxes, troughs, and cases of iron adapted and This consists in the construction at the mouth of the combined, and having surfaces upon which wheels downcast shaft of the mine of a gasholder or receiver are to travel, with a diamond or other like raised of a capacity and strength proportionate to the quan-pattern. Patent completed. tity and pressure of the atmospheric air required for the supply of the workings of the mine, and for mainTo this rePatent aban-taining the purity of its atmosphere. ceiver is attached a force pump or pumps, and by means of pipes leading to the different parts of the mine, the object of the invention is effected. Patent abandoned.