The

ON PUDDLING IRON.*
BY C. W. SIEMENS, F.R.S.
TOTWITHSTANDING the recent introduction
of cast steel for structural purposes, the pro-
duction of wrought iron and puddled steel by the
puddling process ranks amongst the most impor-
tant branches of British manufacture, representing
an annual production exceeding one and a-half mil-

lions of tons, and a money value of about nine
millions sterling.

are liberated, and taking into account the atomic weights of C : 6 and Fe 28, it follows that for every 6 × 4 24 grains of carbon, 28 × 3 = 84 grains of metallic iron, is added to the bath.

Assuming ordinary forge pig to contain about 3 per cent. of carbon and the same amount of silicon, it follows from the foregoing that in

252

removing this silicon 38.4 per cent., and

90
84

=3

x 3 10.5 per cent. 24

neither better nor cheaper than the ordinary manufactured goods. The million-the public at large-have no direct interest in patents as patents; the public interest is indirect, being concerned only in the products of the new manufacture. interest of the public is in being able to purchase lace for 1s. or 6d. which had previously been sold as high as five guineas for equal quantities; and whoever attempts to argue against patent monopoly will have to show that science is independent of manufacturing interests for its encouragement, Notwithstanding its great national importance in removing the carbon and that the progress of manufactures has been trammeled by patent monopoly; or that just the and the interesting chemical problems involved, same or greater progress would have been made the puddling process has received less scientific of metallic iron is added to the bath, making a had the world never known such patentees as Watt, attention than other processes of more recent total increase of 84 × 10-5-6 = 12-9 per cent., Bramah, Cort, Brunel, Mushet, Fourdrinier, Heath-origin and inferior importance, owing probably to or a charge of 420lb. of forge pig metal ought to coat, Palmer, Perkins, Roberts, Napier, Wheatstone, the mistaken sentiment that a time-honoured yield 4741b. of wrought metal, whereas the actual Bessemer, Murdock, and a host of other worthies, practice implies perfect adaptation of the best yield would generally amount to 370lb., 12 per whose names and inventions have become almost means to the best end, and leaves little scope for cent. less than the charge, showing a difference of improvement. 104lb. between the theoretical and actual yield in each charge. In order to realize the theoretical result, a sufficient amount of cinder must have been supplied, the quantity of which can be readily ascertained in taking the expression Fe 3, 04, the atomic weight of which is 3 x 28 x 4 x 8 = 116; while that of the three atoms of iron 116 alone is 3 x 28 84. It follows that - 54 = 84 74lb. of cinder is requisite to produce the 541b. of reduced iron.

as household words.

OF THE

THE LATE DEPUTY-MASTER
ROYAL MINT, MR. WILLIAM HENRY

BARTON.

N terms necessarily brief, the

The scanty scientific literatnre on the subject will be found in Dr. Percy's important work on "Iron and Steel." Messrs. Crace Calvert and Richard Johnson, of Manchester, have supplied most valuable information by a series of analyses of the contents of a puddling furnace during the different stages of the process.

I above-named gentleman was noticed in the intimately, in the first place, witmemo le mixed
These prove that the molten metal is mixed
columns of this journal recently. Mr. Barton's tion of the oxide or cinder which forms the lining
high character as a man, and his prominent and or protecting covering to the cast-iron tray of the
useful career as a public servant for nearly forty puddling chamber, that the silicon is first sepa-
years, justify us in furnishing further particulars rated from the iron, that the carbon only leaves
of his life. The late Deputy-Master of the Mint the iron during the "boil," or period of ebullition,
was a son of Sir John Barton, who, in his earlier and that the sulphur and phosphorus separate last
days, was the chosen friend and constant com- of all while the metal is coming to nature.
panion of H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence, after- The investigations by Price and Nicholson, and
wards King William IV. Under the patronage of by M. Lan, confirm these results, from which Dr.
the Duke, Sir John, in the year 1814, was ap- Percy draws some important general conclusions,
pointed Comptroller of the Mint. In this post which have only to be followed up and supple-
the father of Mr. Barton distinguished himself by mented by some additional chemical facts and
the display of a considerable amount of mechanical observations in order to render the puddling process
ability. He invented and introducek into the perfectly intelligible, and to bring into relief the
Mint a mechanical appliance of great practical defective manner in which it is at present put into
value, known as Barton's drawbacos, and which is practice, involving great loss of metal, waste of
in use to the present day. Its purpose is to adjust, fuel and labour, and an imperfect separation of the
with far more exactitude than can be accomplished two hurtful ingredients, sulphur and phosphorus.
by rolling, the thickness of gold and silver straps in- In forming, by means of the rabble an intimate
tended for conversion into coin. In 1830, the subject mechanical mixture between the fluid cast metal
of this notice was transferred from a subordinate and the cinder, the silicon contained in the iron is
office in H.M. Customs to the Royal Mint, whilst brought into intimate contact with metallic oxide,
his parent became treasurer to Queen Adelaide, and being found afterwards in the form of silicic
and left the latter establishment altogether. Very acid, combined with oxide of iron, it follows that it
soon young Mr. Barton succeeded to the comp-must have reduced its equivalent of iron from the
trollership, and he continued to perform its duties cinder to the metallic state.
with great efficiency till the year 1851, when the
general management of the Mint was revolutionized
under pressure of a Royal Commission. There
had been up to this date a divided authority, a
kind of Imperium in Imperio, which regulated
the Mint affairs. As in the Paris Mint, at the
present hour, a company of moneyers for many
years-in fact, for many generations-" farmed"
the Mint machinery, and were paid, not salaries,
but percentages upon the coinages executed by

them.

This system was abolished altogether in 1851, and the Mint was then placed under the direct and exclusive control of the Government. Under the new arrangement it was considered desirable to amalgamate the offices of Deputy-Master and Comptroller, and so to effect a certain amount of economy. It was at this period, therefore, that Mr. Barton-already Comptroller-became the holder of the dual post. That post he retained until the day of his death (the 25th ult.), and it is not too much to say that few men could have better performed its duties. His mind, like that of his father, had a mechanical bias, and he was ever devising ingenious contrivances for overcoming practical difficulties. In temper and disposition Mr. Barton was irreproachable, and he was uniformly kind and generous to his colleagues and subordinates of whatever grade.

The estimation in which the deceased gentleman was held at the Royal Mint is sufficiently testified to by the fact that, with two or three unavoidable exceptions, the whole of the officers and men employed there attended his funeral on Monday week at Teddington Old Church. Mr. Barton, we find, was born in 1803, and he died on the day after his sixty-fifth birthday. It is to be trusted that the vacant post will be henceforth filled by as good a man-a better is not needed.

THE colony of Victoria received and sent by the Peninsular and Oriental Mail steamers, during the month of May last, 76,518 letters, 2,181 book packets, and 137,954 newspapers.

=

There must, however, remain a sufficient quantity of fluid cinder in the bath to form with the silicon extracted from the iron a tribasic silicate of iron, or about 50lb., making in all 1661b. of fettling, which would have to be added for each charge-a quantity which is generally exceeded, nothwithstanding the inferior results universally obtained. There remains for our consideration the sulphur and phosphorus, which, being generally contained in English forge pig in the proportion of 2 per cent. to 6 per cent. each, can hardly affect the foregoing quantitative results, although they are of great importance respecting the quality of the metal produced.

It has been asserted by Percy that the separation of these ingredients is due to liquation. This I understand to mean that the crystals of metallic iron which form throughout the boiling mass when the metal "comes to nature excludes foreign substances in the same way that the ice formed upon sea-water excludes the salt and yields sweet water when remelted. According to this view, pig metal of inferior quality will really yield iron almost chemically pure to which foreign ingredients are again added by mechanical admixture with the surrounding cinder or semi-reduced metal. It may be safely inferred that the amount of impurities thus taken up will mainly depend upon the temperature, which should be high, in order to ensure perfect fluidity and separation of the cinder and unreduced metal. The following was the result of an analyses of an inferior English pig iron before and after being puddled :—

The fluid cinder may be taken to consist of
Fe 3 O 4, and silicic acid or silicia is represented
by Si O 3, from which it may be inferred that for
every four atoms of silicon leaving the metal nine
atoms of metallic iron are liberated; and taking
the atomic weights of iron 28, and of silicic
acid 225, it follows that for every 4 x 22.5
90-0 grains of silicon abstracted from the metal,
9 x 28252 grains of metallic iron are liberated
from the cinder. The disappearance of the carbon
from the metal is accompanied by violent ebulli-Pig metal.
tions, and the appearance of carbonic oxide, which
in rising in innumerable bubbles to the surface of
the bath, burns with the blue flame peculiar to
that gas.

It is popularly believed that the oxygen acting
upon the carbon of the metal is derived directly
from the flame, which should on that account be
made to contain an excess of oxygen; but the very
appearance of the process proves that the combi-
nation between the carbon and oxygen does not
take place on the surface, but throughout the body
of the fluid cinder in separating from its metallic
iron.

But it has been argued that although the reaction takes place below the surface the oxygen may be nevertheless derived from the flame, which may oxidize the iron on the surface and become transferred to the carbon at the bottom in consequence of the general agitation of the mass.

This view I am, however, in a position to disprove by my recent experience of melting cast steel upon the open flame bed of a furnace, having invariably observed that oxidation of the unprotected fluid metal takes place so long as it contains carbon in however slight a proportion. Supported by this observation, I feel convinced that the oxidizing action of the flame in a puddling furnace commences only after the malleable iron has been formed already.

Carbonic oxide being represented by CO, and the cinder by Fe 3 O 4, it follows that for every four atoms of carbon three atoms of metallic iron

Total
These analyses were made a few days since by
Mr. A. Wellis in my laboratory at Birmingham.

Led by these chemical considerations, and by practical attention to the subject extending over many years, I am brought to the conclusion that the process of puddling as practised at present is extremely crude, being wasteful in iron and fuel, immensely laborious, and yielding a metal only imperfectly separated from its impurities. How nearly we shall be able to approach the results indicated by the chemical reasoning here adopted I am not prepared to say, but that much can be accomplished by the means actually at our doors is proved by the result of eighteen months' working of a puddling furnace erected to my designs by the Bolton Steel and Iron Works in Lancashire.

This furnace consists of a puddling chamber of very nearly the ordinary form, which is heated, however, by means of a regenerativo gas furnace, the principle of which is sufficiently well established at present to render a special description here unnecessary.

The advantages of this furnace for puddling are that the heat can be raised to an almost unlimited degree, that the flame can be made at will oxidizing, neutral, or reducing, without interfering with the temperature, that draughts of air and cutting flames are avoided, and that the gas fuel is free from pyrites and other impurities, which are carried into the puddling chamber from an ordi

nary grate. In this respect the new furnace presents the same advantages as puddling with char

coal.

The following table gives the working results which were obtained from this furnace as compared with the results obtained at the same time in an ordinary furnace from the same pig (the ordinary forge mixture) :

again in November last, since which time it has
been used continuosuly.

The result of the water bridges has been that the
amount of fettling required is reduced to an ordinary
proportion, the average quantity of red ore used
being 93-31b. per charge, besides the usual allow-
ance of bulldog, while the average yield per
charge of 475-31b. of grey forge pig is 476-4lb. of
puddled bar, as results from the following observa-
tions during one turn:-

Pig charged.
470lb.

480

486

468

470

478

Mean results 475-3lb....

...

470lb.
482
460

T

THE BROADS OF EAST NORFOLK.*

BY MR. R. B. GRANTHAM.

HE author's remarks had reference to water supply, storage, and drainage. These broads, or lakes, were not commonly found in the same geological formations in England. As an instance of utilizing the waters of these broads, and also of improving lands affected by them, he referred to Great Yarmouth Water Works Company, taking Puddled bar returned. water from Ormesby, Rollesby, and Filby Broads (possessing together an area of from 400 to 500 acres), and supplying the town of Yarmouth and its neighbourhood; and the cases of improvement of land by drainage as carried out at Martham, Somerton and Winterton, and Beccles, and other places about to be constituted drainage districts. To show the origin of the broads he described the geology of those portions of the country in which they are situated, and from this and certain historical facts he deduced the conclusion that the eastern valleys of Norfolk were formerly branches of a It is also worthy of remark that these results wide estuary, and that the present rivers and are obtained regularly by the ordinary puddlers of broads are the remains of that large body of water. the works, and that no repairs have been necessary He then proceeded to refer to the valleys of the to the gas puddling furnace since November last, rivers Bure, Yare, and Waveney, and their tributhe roof being reported to be still in excellent con- taries, the combined water-sheds of which extend dition. In these investigations I have confined my-over parts of Norfolk and Suffolk, and embrace an self to the puddling of ordinary English forge pig,* in order to avoid confusion; but it is self-evident that the same reasoning also applies in a modified degree to white pig metal or refined metal, the use of which I should not, however, advocate.

proving an average gain of fully 12 per cent. over the 410 yield of ordinary furnaces, while the superiority of quality in favour of the gas furnace is fully maintained.

414

Numbers Time First ball Metal
of heat. charged. out. charged

Yield.

FIRST SHIFT.

lb.

lb.

418

Regarding the water bridges, I was desirous to ascertain the cost of heat at which the saving of 416 fettling and greater ease of working was effected. The water passing through the bridges was accordingly measured by Mr. W. Hackney, who has also furnished me with other working data, and found to amount to 251b. per minute, heated 40deg. Fah. This represented 60,000 units of heat per hour, or a consumption not exceeding 81b. to 10lb. of solid fuel per heat, an expenditure very much exceeded by the advantages obtained where water or cooling cisterns are available.

422 422
424 415
423 424
423 415
427 420
406

420 430 418 422 426

area of 1,210 square miles, or 774,400 acres. The Bure and the Yare together drain more than half Norfolk, the Waveney only a small portion, but a large part of Suffolk. In Ormesby Broad, on the north side of the Bure, the surface of the water is two or three feet above the high water of the Bure at the sluices at the end of Muckfleet. It is said to be 20ft. deep in some places, which would make its bottom considerably lower than low water in the sea. Probably the bottoms of many other broads may be below the level of the sea, which may be accounted for by depressions and upheavings of the formation. River beds are not unfrequently lower than the low water of the sea, and this occurs far up their courses away from the sea. In some cases this may be traced to the force of the currents deepening them, but in the broads there are no currents or other disturbances to cause an excavation of the bottom. The broads are supplied by streams running into them from minor valleys and springs which rise in the formations, to which they form catchment basins or reservoirs, and are no doubt performing a most important and useful part in the economy of water supply by detaining superabundant quantities of water from storms and continuThe labour of the puddler may be further re-ous wet weather; and they prevent inundations in duced with advantage by the introduction of the mechanical rabble, which has already made considerable progress on the Continent.

The labour of the puddler and of his underhand being very much shortened and facilitated by means of this furnace, I should strongly recommend the introduction of three working shifts of eight hours each for twenty-four hours, each shift representing the usual number of heats, by which arrangement both the employer and the employed would be materially benefited.

By working in this manner, a gas regenerative puddling furnace of ordinary dimensions would produce an annual yield of about 940 tons of bar iron of superior quality from the same weight of grey pig metal, and the ordinary proportion of fettling.

In conclusion, I may state that a considerable number of these puddling furnaces have since been erected abroad, and that in this country they are also being taken up by Messrs. Kitson, of Leeds, and a few other enterprising firms.

the lower parts of the country by affording time, where the inclination in the main valley is slight, and the velocity naturally slow, for floods to pass off at each successive low tide. With regard to the scour of the river Yare, Mr. Grantham was of opinion that it would be most desirable to deepen the whole of Breydon Water and impound a larger body of back water, and thereby further increase the scour at the bar. Passing to the subject of drainage in connection with the broads, Mr. Grantham did not recommend their conversion into agricultural land, considering the great importance of keeping them as reservoirs, particularly those of large areas, in which the water would continue good and wholesome. The land to be acquired by draining the broads, if that were possible, would amount to 2,500 acres, which is a trifling quantity as compared with that which may be retained round about them, or with the quantities which county. The drainage he would recommend was might be improved in many other parts of the that of the marshes and swamps, which were mostly caused by the broads and the rivers in con

MARINE VELOCIPEDES. THEY have got marine velocipedes in France. It will be observed that the ordinary furnace twelve miles from Paris, and was constructed at St. The first one may be seen on the lake of Enghein, received charges of 4841b. each, and yielded on an Denis. Imagine two snow-shoes, so to speak, held average 4261b., representing a loss of 12 per cent., together by iron rods at a yard's distance, and bewhereas the gas furnace received charges averag-tween these the propelling wheel, about a yard in Most of the lands he had ing 4281b. and yielded 4131b., representing a loss of diameter, with paddles eight inches long and four nection with them. 3.5 per cent. It is important to observe, moreover, wide. Then behind, and almost on a level with the seen in this state would be highly productive and that the gas furnace turned out eighteen heats in top of the wheel, a saddle for the driver, and to the profitable if they could be deprived of the surplus three shifts per twenty-four hours, which was the wheel on each side driving cranks for the feet, the water and so maintained. At the same time he limit of production in the ordinary furnace. wheel and seat covered with sheet iron to prevent would secure the means of using the water for The quality of the iron produced from the gas iron for the hands, and to the ends of this handle the marshes into profitable and remunerative land need wetting. Over the wheel is fixed a swivel handle of irrigation if necessary. This conversion of the furnace was proved decidedly superior to that from tillers for the two rudders. With this simple ma- not interfere with the impounding and storing the the ordinary furnace, being "best best" in the chine, which is more difficult to upset than a boat, water in the broads. By the improvement of so one and "best" in the other case from the same and which is always ready for use, since it requires much land a large amount of additional permanent no oars or detached pieces, a man may outrun a boat, The consumption of fuel was also greatly in he may carry passengers, go a-fishing, or drive it for employment would be given to the population, and favour of the gas furnace, but could not be accu-pleasure or exercise. It backs and turns with the the healthiness of the localities would be increased. rately ascertained, because some mill furnaces were slightest movement of the foot, and as the feet are Although large bodies of water might be objected worked from the same set of producers. The always resting in place, there is no time lost, as in to, he did not consider them so injurious as the consumption of fettling was, however, greater in the the lifting and adjusting of oars. The two perissoirs miasma arising from the evaporation and exhalation gas furnaces, and the superior yield was naturally are six or eight inches in diameter, and made of of marshes, which is the chief cause of fever and -we may as well make English sense of it at once-from the decaying of the vegetation of large tracts attributed by the forge managers to that cause, mahogany about the thickness of bookbinder's ague in the tropics and other similarly-circumalthough I held a different opinion.

pig.

boards.

Finding, however, that the gas furnaces had not been provided with water bridges, these were subsequently added, and the furnaces put to work phosphorus, 116; iron, 96-79. Holmes' pig: Sulphur, 0-08 per cent.; silicon, 1-9;

stanced countries and districts.

*Read before the British Association.

of the supply, and screwed into the centre of the for several reasons, the principal being that yarn
casting (which is made conical to gather the de-is comparatively free from mechanical impurities,
posit to the centre) is screwed the discharge tap D. such as fragments of seed-vessels, &c., while, on the
E is the supply pipe screwed into the cover B, and other hand, if proper care be taken, no impurity
below it is a screwed opening (closed by a screw is added to those previously existing during the
plug F) leading to the port and in a line with a
screwed hole leading into the cistern.
The yarn was boiled in an
In this hole process of spinning.
a hollow screw or nipple G is screwed, the hole ordinary bachelor's kier for several hours with a
through the same being of such diameter that it will dilute solution of soda ash. The resulting dark
allow only a given quantity of water at the ordinary brown liquor, after the yarn has been taken out,
pressure to pass through it per hour. This system, drained and slightly washed, was removed from
like that first described, is fitted with an air pipe, as the kier into appropriate vessels, and mixed with
at H, which is controlled by a valve and float car- an excess of sulphuric acid, which produced a
ried by a rock lever I. The object of the screwed copious, light brown, flocculent precipitate, while
plug F is to give ready access to the gauge nipple G, the liquid became colourless. This precipitate was
which could not be reached through the bend of the allowed to settle, the liquid was poured off, and
supply passage.
after being washed with cold water, to remove the
sulphate of soda and excess of acid, it was put on
calico strainers and allowed to drain. A thick pulp
was thus obtained, which when dried assumed the
appearance of a brown, brittle, horn-like substance
translucent at the edges. In one experiment
450lb. of yarn, made from East Indian cotton, of
the variety called "Dhollerah," yielded 033 per
cent. of the dried precipitate. In another experi-
ment made with 500lb. of yarn, spun from Ameri-
can cotton, of the kind called in commerce
"middling Orleans," 0.48 per cent was obtained.
The total loss sustained by yarn during the bleach-

By withdrawing the screw plug F the nipple may be removed and replaced by one of a larger or smaller gauge, as required. For the protection of the water company this screw plug F should be sealed to prevent the gauge nipple being tampered with. By the above arrangement the admission of water to the cistern will take place only while it is partially empty, and when full the supply will cease. If, however, by carelessness the tap is left on, no more than the regulated supply can pass through the cistern, and thus excessive waste will in any case be effectually prevented.

ON SOME CONSTITUENTS OF COTTON ing process amounts to about five per cent. of its
FIBRE.*

BY DR. E. SCHUNCK.

T is generally that when

I pure, consists entirely of woody fibre or cellu

tinum foil it burns with a bright flame, leaving a very voluminous coal. It is nearly insoluble in ether. It dissolves easily in concentrated sulphuric acid and glacial acetic acid, with a brown colour. It also dissolves with ease in caustic and carbonated alkalies, giving dark yellowish-brown solutions, from which it is re-precipitated by acids in light brown flocks. The other colouring matter resembles this in most of its properties. It is, howover, much less soluble in alcohol. Cold alcohol, indeed, dissolves only a trace, but in boiling alcohol it dissolves with tolerable facility, being re-deposited, on the solution cooling, in the form of a brown powder. This powder, when filtered off and dried, forms coherent masses of a colour varying from light to dark brown, which are easily broken, showing a dull earthy fracture. colouring matters contain nitrogen, and they differ therefore in constitution from true resins, which they resemble in many of their properties. The peculiar colour of the so-called "Nankin cotton" is probably due to a great excess of these colouring matters existing in the fibre. It is certainly not caused by oxide of iron.

Both

The purification of the pectic acid contained in the brown precipitate produced by sulphuric acid was not effected without difficulty. The best method, according to the author, consists in submitting it to a simple process of bleaching with weight. Only a small portion of the matter lost is chloride of lime, by which means the impurity therefore recovered by precipitation of the alkaline consisting of brown colouring matter, which adheres extract with acid. to it with great pertinacity, is destroyed. When precipitate formed more it has the properties and composition ascribed to consist almost entirely of organic substances, bably contains pectose or pectine, which is conand of these the following were distinctly recog-verted into pectic acid by the action of the alkaline

subject to authore investigation. It was found to pectic acid by Fromy. The cotton itself pro

or scales.

1. A species of vegetable wax.

2. A fatty acid.

3, 4. Colouring matters.

5. Pectic acid.

melting point is between 83deg. and 84deg. C.
At a higher temperature it is volatilized. When
heated on platinum it burns with a very bright
flame. The author thinks it probable that this
substance covers the cotton fibres with a thin

In its proper

lye. About three-fifths of the brown precipitate consists of pectic acid. Of the remaining twofifths, the colouring matters constitute by far the largest part, the wax and fatty acid being present in very minute quantities. The albuminous matter was not isolated, but its presence was indicated by the formation of a small quantity of leucine, which took place when the brown precipitate was submitted to the action of hydrate of soda. A large quantity of oxalic acid was formed at the same time, no doubt from the pectic acid.

In conclusion, the author makes some remarks in regard to the part which these bodies may be supposed to play during the process of manufacturing gun cotton. It has been asserted that the instability occasionally observed in gun cotton is to be attributed to the impurities in the raw fibre, forming, by the action of nitro-sulphuric acid, bodies which decompose spontaneously at the ordinary or a slightly elevated temperature. The author's experiments do not support this view, since the substances described by him, when submitted to the action of the mixed nitric and sulphuric acid of the strength employed for making gun cotton, do not yield explosive compounds

AND OTHER RAGS.

lose, and that its composition is consequently represented by the formula C12 H10 0.0. It is certain, however, that in the raw state, as furnished by nized. commerce, it contains a number of other ingredients, some of which occur so constantly that they may be considered essential constituents of cotton, viewed as a vegetable product. The object of the bleaching process to which most cotton fabrics are 6. A trace of albuminous matter. subjected is to deprive the fibre of these other inThe author described the method employed by gredients and leave the cellulose behind in a state him for separating these substances from one of purity. Notwithstanding the importance of an another and obtaining them in a state of purity; accurate knowledge of everything relating to cotton and he then gave an account of their properties from an industrial point of view, the substances contained in it along with cellulose have never been most interesting of these substances. It is inand composition. The waxy matter is by far the subjected to a special chemical examination, and soluble in water, but soluble in alcohol and ether. very little is consequently known about them. If a concentrated solution in boiling alcohol be Persoz, in the "Traité de l' Impression des Tissus,' allowed to cool, the greatest part is deposited, says that the woody fibre constituting the tissues of causing the liquid to assume the appearance of a cotton, hemp, linen, &c., is not pure; it contains, thick white jelly, consisting of microscopic needles first, a certain quantity of colouring matter, which When this jelly is filtered off and dried is more or less shielded from the action of decolorizing it shrinks very much, and is converted into a agents by the bodies which accompany it, naturally coherent cake, which has a waxy lustro and is or accidentally; second, a peculiar resin natural translucent, friable, and lighter than water. Its to the fibre, insoluble in water and soluble with difficulty in alkalies, which plays the part of a reserve and protects the colouring matters inherent in the fibre from the action of the agents which ought to destroy and remove them; thirdly, a certain quantity of fatty matter, of which a very small portion is peculiar to the fibre, the greatest part being derived from the operations of spinning and weaving; fourth, a neutral substance, either flour, starch, or glue, which has been introduced by the weaver in sizeing his warp; fifth, inorganic saline matters, some of which belong to the fibre, while the others are derived from the water and the matters employed in the dressing of the warp. remunerate the inventor. We do not think that In the excellent article on bleaching in the new this has yet been the case with the inventor of the edition of Ure's "Dictionary of Arts" there is a ingenious machine we are about to describe, but full account of these and other impurities of cotton fabric,s comprising all that was known at the time at 53deg. C., and gives with alkalies compounds we hope that it will be so sooner or later. This soluble in water which are true soaps. It is, how-machine is for producing fibres suitable for being ever, probably not a natural constitutent of cotton spun from silken, woollen, or cotton rags; and we The object which the author had in view in un-fibre, but rather an impurity derived from the have thought it well worthy of the accompanying dertaking his investigation was to endeavour to throw a little more light on the nature of those oil of the seed which escapes and diffuses itself engraving and description. It appears to us to substances which are contained in or attached to among the cotton before or during the process of deserve the attention of all engaged in the textile the framework of cellulose; of which cotton fibre ginning. It might also have had its source in the manufactures, and more especially of silk manumainly consists, and which are together with the oil and fat, used for greasing the cotton spinning facturers. By means of what we may term its machinery, since the author employed yarn in all un-weaving action, it is able to carry out three latter produced by the plant. All foreign and ex- his experiments. Persons practically conversant different processes, distinct in a manufacturing traneous matter introduced during the process of with cotton spinning affirm, however, that if ordi- sense, though similar mechanically. These are:manufacture was therefore left entirely out of consideration. The author has further confined his nary care be taken, it is impossible that the cotton 1, the separation of the fibres of silk rags; 2, the can become contaminated with anything of a fatty separation of the fibres of woollen rags; and 3, the nature during its conversion into yarn. separation of the fibres of rags made of silk or wool The colouring matters obtained in these ex-upon a cotton weft or back. In the different which raw cotton owes its yellowish or brownish rags it has been found impossible to preserve the periments are without doubt the substances to attempts which have been made to separate silk colour. The author was able to distinguish two staple of sufficient length to permit its being rebodies of a dark brown colour, which occurred in spun. We do not know whether any silk rags all kinds of cotton examined by him. Of these, one are now ever passed-at least on a large scale"the devil." is easily soluble in cold alcohol, and is left, on through the machine called evaporation of the solution, as a dark brown, attempts in this direction the rags were found to shining, brittle, amorphous resin, which is trans-be, not combed out or un-woven-but ground upparent in thin layers. In boiling water it softens a fact easily intelligible when the construction of In this machine and melts to a pasty mass, which becomes hard the devil" is remembered. and brittle again on cooling. When heated on pla- textile rags held between a pair of rolls in front of

when the author commenced his examination.

attention to those constituents of the fibre which are insoluble in water but soluble in alkaline lye, and are afterwards precipitated by acid from the alkaline solution. Whether cotton contains naturally any substance soluble in water, or which being originally insoluble is rendered soluble therein by the prolonged action of alkalies is a question on which the author pronounces no decided opinion. For the purpose of obtaining the substances which he proposed to examine the author employed cotton yarn, which he preferred to unspun cotton

* Literary and Philosophical Society.

waxy film, and thus imparts to them their well-
known property of resisting water.
ties and composition it approaches very nearly the MACHINE FOR "UN-WEAVING" SILK
better known vegetable waxes, such as that obtained
by Avequin from the leaves of the sugar cane, and
that which is found on the leaves of the Carnauba
palm. The author thinks that the name cotton-wax
is sufficient to distinguish it from these and other
nearly allied bodies.

The fatty acid has the properties and composition
of margaric acid. It is white and crystalline, fuses

[NVENTIONS having for their object the utili

zation of waste products are of great importance, and often very largely and deservedly

In

MACHINE FOR "UN-WEAVING" SILK AND OTHER RAGS.