cess of preparing certain descriptions of warps for the loom. June 7.

William Neale Clay, of West Bromwich, Stafford, manufacturing chemist, and Joseph Denham Smith, of St. Thomas's Hospital, in the borough of Southwark, student in chemistry, for certain improvements in the manufacture of glass. June 7.

Samuel Clegg, of Sidmouth-street, Gray's-inn, Middlesex, engineer, for an invention of improvements in gas meters. June 7.

John Melville, of Upper Harley-street, Middlesex, Esq., for improvements in the generation of steam, and in propelling vessels by steam or other power. June 11.

Miles Berry, of Chancery-lane, Middlesex, in consequence of a communication from a foreigner residing abroad, for certain improvements in the means of economizing heat and fuel in furnaces or closed fire-places. June 15.

David Cheetham, jun., of Hollinsmill, Staley Bridge, Chester, cotton-spinner, for certain improvements in the machinery applicable to the preparation of cotton and other fibrous substances for the purposes of spinning. June 15.

Edmund Butler Rowley, of Chorlton-upon-Medlock, Lancaster, surgeon, for certain improvements applicable to locomotive engines, tenders, and carriages to be used upon railways, and which improvements are also applicable to other useful purposes. June 19.

William Sanford Hall, of Strathearn Cottage, Chelsea, Middlesex, Lieutenant Royal Army, for improvements in paddle-wheels. June 21.

Joseph Rock Cooper, of Birmingham, gun-maker, for improvements in fire-arms. June 21.

John William Fraser, of Arundel-street, Strand, Middlesex, for improvements in diving or descending and working in water, and for raising or floating sunken or stranded vessels and other bodies. June 21.

LIST OF IRISH PATENTS GRANTED IN MAY, 1838.

Eugene Richard Ladisas De Breza, of Paris, now of St. Martin's-street, London, for a chemical combination or compound for rendering cloth, wood, paper and other substances indestructible by fire, and also for preserving them from the ravages of insects.

William Newton, of Chancery Lane, London, for certain improvements in preparing on textile plants, either indigenous or exotic, to be used in the place of hay, or hemps.

William Herapath and James Fitchew Cox, both of Bristol, for certain improvements in the process of tanning.

NOTES AND NOTICES.

An Apology for Gin.-It has been remarked, in extenuation of the usual wholesale condemnation of "Gin Palaces," that at any rate they have contributed to the spread, as well as improvement of the arts. Gin-shops assuredly contribute more to the architectural splendour of the streets of London, especially in neighbourhoods where a display of taste of that kind is most rare, than shops of any other description. Decorative painting has of late

years received its most effective encouragement from the same source, and so also have gas-fitting, letter writing and cutting, and many other of the artistico-mechanical trades; while wood-carving, which had become nearly obsolete, has experienced a considerable revival from the spirited demand for the decoration of bars and counters. To sum up all, science itself is indebted for the discovery of the magnetic pole, and the extension of our knowledge of the arctic regions, to the munificent aid afforded to Captain Ross by the greatest gin-distiller of the day, Sir Felix Booth. Who shall venture to say, after all this, that the effects of gin-drinking are uniformly and essentially pernicious?

The Asphalte Mania.-Thirty-two French patents have been granted for different descriptions of bitumen and asphaltum since January.-Paris paper.As many have been applied for in England, but being opposed were refused-the pseudo patentees' inventions being all so much alike.

Patents. The past month has been a busy one in the patent world. The number granted for England and Scotland is unprecedented,-being, for England 52 and for Scotland 23, and this notwithstanding the enormous cost of obtaining the fourteen years' monopoly. Taking the lowest average, including the specification, not less than £150 is expended in obtaining each patent.

Hancock's Steam Cab.-On Friday last (22nd inst) in the afternoon, Hyde-park presented a more than usually gay appearance, in consequence of a crowd of fashionables being assembled to witness the trial of a newly-constructed steam-cab. Among the many splendid equipages, were observed those of the Dowager Countess of Sutherland, the Marquis of Salisbury, the Marquis of Northampton, the Earl of Winchelsea, the Earl of Warwick, Lord Howick, Lord Holland, and many other distinguished personages. About 3 o'clock the object of attraction moved forward at a slow pace from the old foot-guard barracks, Knightsbridge, and threaded its way through the various vehicles into the park, passing through the centre gate of the triumphal arch, and making, in the open space opposite the statue, several turns within its own length. The vehicle was then propelled, with apparent ease, for three or four hours, round the park, and, from the slight noise it made, the horses passing did not appear to be frightened. The average speed of the cab was about twelve miles an hour. The vehicle was guided by Mr. Hancock the inventor.

A New Light.-Among the new discoveries in science there is one at Paris which is said to be likely to do considerable injury to the existing gas companies. It is a lamp which generates its own gas, of a very superior quality to that supplied by coals, and which, being obtained at a moderate expence and without a complicated apparatus, can be had by all persons who can afford the cost of an ordinary lamp. It is applicable also to public lighting. The mixture employed is spirits of wine and turpentine, both of which are cheap in France. The light is beautiful, and there is no danger of explosion.

Railway Map of England.-On the first of August will be published the Title, Index, and Contents to vol. 28 of the Mechanics' Magazine, and as a frontispiece to the volume a large map of the Railways in England and Wales, price 6d. The map alone on fine paper, price 6d. Also the volume complete, in half-cloth, price 8s. 6d.

Complete Sets of the Mechanics' Magazine may now be had, twenty-seven volumes, half-cloth, price £11. 7s.

SLACK'S METHOD OF BUILDING AN
OBELISK WITHOUT SCAFFOLDING.
[From the Transactions of the Society of Arts,
Vol. LI. Part II.]

The gold Isis Medal was voted by the Society of Arts to Mr. Slacks of Langholm, mason, for his invention of a method of building as obelisk without the use of scaffolding.

This apparatus was used, for the first time, in erecting an obelisk of handsome white sand-stone, 100 feet high, not including its foundation, on the summit of Whitaw, a mountain overlooking the town of Langholm, in the district of Eskdale, Dumfriesshire, which was built by subscription, in honour of the late Major-General Sir John Malcolm, G.C.B., K.L.S., &c. &c., a native of that district.

Colonel C. W. Pasley, Director of the Royal Engineer Establishment, at Chatam, was appointed by the committee of management to employ an architect, or other competent person, to prepare a design and working drawings for the obelisk, which was done, at his request, by Mr. Robert Howe, clerk of works and professor of practical architecture at the said establishment; and having decided, pursuant to the advice of Mr. Burn, an eminent architect of Edinburgh, that the obelisk should be built hollow, with thorough bond-courses at intervals, the drawings and a specification were put into the hands of some respectable masons of Langholm, who offered to execute the work by contract, at an expense not exceeding the funds at the disposal of the committee of management, provided that they could obtain permission to cut holes of ten inches in diameter in the centre of each of the thorough bond-courses; as they stated, that by means of these holes they would be enabled to raise their materials in a new mode, which would be a great deal cheaper, and not less efficient, than the usual system of scaffolding. To this trifling deviation from the original plan, which would not injure the stability of the work, Colonel Pasley and the committee immediately assented; and, in consequence, the simple and ingenious machinery, which forms the subject of this paper, was brought into use.

purpose of a crane for lifting the stones and other materials, which were hooked on to the fall of a rope, at a, fig. 1, which passed over the top of the beam, and from thence was let down to a crab b, on the other side of the obelisk, capable of raising five tons with ease. This crab, and a small windlass c, were placed on a carriage, having four iron wheels, with axles converging towards the centre of a circular railway surrounding the base of the obelisk, upon which this carriage moved.

Pole. The pole was 40 feet long, and ten inches in diameter, and was kept upright in the centre of the obelisk, by means of the holes in the three thorough bond-courses, as shewn in fig. 1; the two lowest of which served as stays, whilst the uppermost supported its whole weight, bearing a collar of hard wood d, which embraced the pole, and was so firmly bolted to it, that it formed an integral part of it. Between the collar and the thorough bond-course immediately below it, seventeen balls, each 3 inches in diameter, were introduced, to enable the pole to turn round with ease in all directions; and the under surface of the collar, as well as the upper surface of the thorough bond-course, were each prepared with a circular groove, to suit the form and guide the motion of these balls.

First Position of the Pole.-A hole, 2 feet square, was left in the foundation, at the bottom of which a large stone had been previously placed, supporting a block of hard wood, with a small hole cut in the centre of it for afterwards receiving the gudgeon at the bottom of the pole, which was lowered down and stepped in the aforesaid block by means of a pair of shears, after the masonry had been raised a little higher than the surface of the ground, the foundation being rather more than 10 feet deep. In this portion, the pole turned upon its own gudgeon, as a pivot, when required, until the masonry was raised to the level proper for placing the thorough bondcourse in the die of the pedestal, upon which course the pole was made to rest, by means of the collar and balls before described; and, as the work proceeded, it rested upon every new thorough bondcourse in regular succession, being raised for this purpose, from time to time, in the manner that will afterwards be described.

Cross-Beam.-The cross-beam was about 12 feet long, and 12 inches square in the centre, where it was mortised down upon the head of the pole, and from thence tapered upwards on both sides. It was further strengthened and connected with the pole by two strong iron braces, one from each end of it, and by an iron strap passing over the top and down both sides of the pole; this strap, as well as the braces, being secured by transverse screw-bolts driven through the pole (fig. 1). The arm of this beam nearest to the crab was solid; but, on the other side, at the distance of 18 inches from the centre, a vertical groove was cut through the wood to within 24 inches of the end, which was strengthened by an iron hoop and screw bolt. Over this groove a sort of railway was formed, by two iron rods placed on different sides of it, upon which a small cast-iron carriage e, 20 inches in length, travelled, by means of wheels 4 inches in diameter. The stones were hooked on to the fall of the lifting rope of this sort of crane by means of lewises. This rope, which, at its other end, communicated with the crab, passed over two iron wheels at contrary ends of the cross-beam, each 10 inches in diameter, one hung near the solid end of it, in a mortise cut for the purpose, the other in the centre of the small iron carriage, the movements of which it participated, in order that the stones or other materials raised by the rope might be brought further from or nearer to the centre of the masonry, as required. This matter was regulated as follows:

Two small ropes made fast to the outer ends of the carriage, passed round two small cast-iron pulleys f, fixed outside of the adjacent end of the beam, and from thence passed over two similar pulleys, fixed outside of the other end of the beam (fig. 1.); and, at some distance lower, these two ropes were united into one, and led down to the small windlass c, placed on the same carriage with the crab. On winding up this rope round the barrel of the windlass as far as it will go, the carriage is made to travel out upon its little railway to the extreme end of the beam; and if the rope be now made fast, the carriage is prevented from moving. Consequently, when a stone is raised by the crab, under these circumstances, it is kept out to the

greatest possible distance from the centre of the masonry; but if the windlass rope be slacked, the weight of the stone, in being raised by the crab, forces the carriage to move towards the middle of the beam, and, consequently, the stone is itself brought nearer to the centre of the masonry.

The workmen were also raised and lowered by the crab, after putting one foot into a loop at the end of the rope. Whilst being lowered, a man always stood at the break of the crab, who allowed them to descend rapidly, but without acceleration.

Mode of raising the Pole to a higher level.—This was always done after the masonry had been carried up by the above apparatus about 10 feet higher than the thorough bond-course on which the collar rested for the time being, that is, as soon as a new thorough bond.course was readyto be placed. Two half trestles were then set up on different sides of the pole, upon the last finished course of masonry, having a semicircular hole in the top of each; after which they were connected, by four strong iron screw bolts, into one complete trestle, with its cap embracing the pole. Two planks were then placed transversely in the same alinement, but on contrary sides of the pole, each having its upper end resting on the cap of the trestle near the pole, and its lower end projecting over the sides of the masonry; and, to prevent them from separating, these planks were chained together at the head. Near to each end of these planks was hung a cast-iron pulley, about 4 inches in diameter, so that two of these pulleys were near the pole on contrary sides of it, whilst the two others projected a little way beyond the outside of the masonry.

The rope used for raising the pole and beam was passed through a hole in the former, a little above the collar, and the middle of it being brought to this point, the ends of the rope were led up along the two opposite sides of the pole, and passed over the pulleys in the planks; from whence they were led down respectively to the crab on one side, and to a windlass on the other side, of the base of the obelisk. The winches of both, being carefully and regularly worked at the same time, raised the pole the whole height necessary, by means of the

upper pair of pulleys in those two planks, whilst the lower ones prevented the rope from rubbing against the masonry. The balls were then extracted from below, which was accomplished with ease by means of a spring forceps, made of hoop iron, and having a handle 9 feet long. The new thorough bond-stones, which had previously been laid towards the outside of the obelisk, were then moved inwards by crow bars, until they met; after which they we cramped together, and the balls placed as before in the circular groove prepared for them,

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