Sir Hugh Pigot, of Foley-place, knight, for a certain engine or engines useful as steam-engines, pumps, or propellers of vessels or machinery. September 13; six months. William Day, of Gate-street, Lincoln's-InnFields, lithographer, for an improved mode or method of applying and combining timber and other materials used in the construction of ships or vessels, masts, yards, beams, piers, bridges, and various other purposes. September 20; six months. James Nasmyth, of Patricroft, near Manchester, engineer, for certain improvements in machinery, tools, or apparatus for cutting or planing metals and other substances, and in securing or fastening the keys or collars used in such machinery, and other machinery where keys or collars are commonly applied. September 20; six months. Robert William Sievier, of Henrietta-street, Cavendish-square, gent., for certain improvements in rigger pulley bands for driving machinery, and ropes and lines for other purposes. September 20; six months. John Thomas Betts, of Smithfield Bars, rectifier, for improvements in the manufacture of gin, which he intends to denominate Betts' patent gin, or Betts' patent stomachic gin. September 21; six months. James Walton, of Sowerby-bridge, Halifax, cloth dresser and frizer, for certain improvements in machinery for making wire cards for carding cotton, wool, silk, tow, and other fibrous substances of the like nature. September 21; six months. Emile Alexis Fanquet Delarue, of Bacon's-hotel, St. Paul's Church-yard, calico printer, for certain improvements in providing and fixing red, and other colours in which red forms a constituent part, upon cotton, silk, woollen, and other fabrics. September 27; six months. John Hughes Rees, of Penymaes, Carmarthen, Esq., for certain improvements in machinery applicable to raising water for propelling boats, carriages, and other machinery. September 27; six months. John Joseph Charles Sheridan, of Ironmongerlane, chemist, for an improvements in the manufacture of soap. September 27; six months. Edmond Heuze, of Fenton's Hotel, St. James'sstreet, merchant, for improvements in the manu-. facture of dextrine. September 27; six months. John White, of Haddington, North Britain, iron-` monger, for certain improvements in the construction of ovens and heated air-stoves. September 27; six months. LIST OF SCOTCH PATENTS GRANTED BETWEEN THE 22nd oF AUGUST AND THE 22nd OF SEPTEMBER, 1838. Charles Dod, of 21 Craven-street, Strand, Middlesex, gent., in consequence of a communication made to him by a foreigner residing abroad, for certain improvements in the construction of railway tram roads, and in the structure of the carriages to be used on the said railways or tram roads; and also of certain apparatus applicable to the cleaning and preserving of railways and tram roads. Sealed 23rd of August, 1838; four months to specify. Arthur Dunn, of Stamford Hill, Middesex, gent., for certain improvements in the manufacture of soap. August 24. Ambroise Ador, late of Leicester-square, now of 29, Rue de Faubourg Montmartre, Paris, chemist, for certain improvements on lamps, or apparatus for producing or affording light. August 28. Charles Phillips, of Chipping Norton, Oxon, surgeon, for improvements in apparatus or machinery for punching, bending, cutting and joihing metal, and for holding or securing metal to be punched, bent, cut, or otherwise operated on, parts of which machinery are adapted to perform some of these operations on other materials. August 30. Job Cutler, of Lady Pool-lane, sparkbrook, gent., and Thomas Gregory Hancock, of Princes-street, Birmingham, mechanist, for an improved method of condensing the steam in steam-engines, and supplying their boilers with the water thereby formed. August 31. Charles Fitton, woollen manufacturer, and George Collier, mechanic, both of Cumberworth Half, Wakefield, York, for improvements in power looms. September 6. Charles Hancock, of Grosvenor Place, Hyde Park Corner, Middlesex, animal painter, for certain improved means of producing and applying figured surfaces, sunk and in relief, and of printing therefrom, and also of moulding, stamping, and embossing. September 13. Samuel Hall, of Basford, Nottingham, civil engineer, for improvements in steam-engines, heating or evaporating fluids or gases, and generating steam or vapours. September 15. William Joseph Curtis, of Stamford-street, Blackfriars Road, Surrey, C. E., for certain improved machinery and apparatus for facilitating travelling and transport on railways, parts of which are also applicable to other purposes. September 17. Thomas Robinson Williams, of No. 61, Cheapside, C. E., for certain improvements in machinery for spinning, twisting, or curling, and weaving horse hair, and other hairs, as well as various fibrous substances. September 18. Archibald McLallan, of Glasgow, coach builder, for certain improvements upon the springs and braces of wheel carriages, and upon the mode of hanging such carriages. September 21. LIST OF IRISH PATENTS GRANTED IN AUGUST, 1838. Bennett Woodcroft, of Mumps, Oldham, Lancaster, for improvements in the construction of looms for weaving various sorts of cloths, which looms may be set in motion by any adequate power. Charles Pierre Davaux, of Fenchurch-street, London, for a new and improved apparatus for preventing the explosion of boilers and generators of steam. Hippolyte Francois, Marquis de Bouffet Montauban, Sloane-street, Chelsea, for improvements in the means of producing gas for illuminations, and in apparatus connected with the consumption thereof. Stephen Geary, of Hamilton-place, New Road, for improvements in the preparation of fuel. Michael Wheelwright Iveson, silk spinner, of Edinburgh, for an improved method of consuming smoke in furnaces, and other places where fire is used, and for economising fuel; and also for supplying air, heated or cold, for blasting or smelting furnaces. Michael Wheelwright Iveson, for an improved method of preparing and spinning silk waste, wool, flax, and other fibrous substances, and for discharging the gum from silk, raw and manufactured, John Thomas Betts, of Smithfield Bars, London, rectifier for improvements in the process of preparing spirituous liquors in the making of Brandy. Charles Button, of Holborn Bars, and Harrison Grey Dyer, Cavendish-square, for improvement in the manufacture of white lead. NOTES AND NOTICES. The Highlandman's Almanack.-Bend the first and third fingers of the left hand-and, commencing with March at the thumb, count on-the bent fingers will indicate the months which contain only 30 days.-Scotsman. 480 A Fact for Framework-knitters.-Under the heading of " Hosiery," the Penny Cyclopædia contains the following interesting observations, which are already, or will presently be, applicable to every branch of cotton manufacture:-"At this moment, (July, 1838,) stocking frames, with a rotatory action, in which 12 fashioned stockings are made at the same time, superintended by only one man and a boy, and worked by steam-power, have been successfully brought into operation at Nottingham, and bid fair to supersede the use of the reciprocating engine, in whicn but one stocking can be made at once by a single workman. The economy in the process of manufacture that will be thus effected is very great, and may be the means of securing to our manufacturers for some time longer the supply of foreign countries-a branch of trade which was fast leaving us. The principal seat of the cotton hosiery manufacture abroad, is at Chemnitz, in Saxony, where, owing to the low rate of wages, as compared with the earnings of the weavers of Nottingham, goods are made with yarns imported from Lancashire, at prices which have excluded English goods from third markets, and have even brought them into consumption in this country after paying a duty of 20 per cent. !" Railway Travelling in France.-We arrived at St. Germain-en-Laye at a quarter past seven o'clock; landed, walked to the railway station-house in eight or ten minutes, and obtained there tickets in return for cheques, which were put into our hands as we quitted the steamer. The charge for these tickets, which I believe is half a franc, was included in our fare; so, of course, we had nothing to pay. The station-house is a magnificent building, and the arrangements for the accommodation of passengers appeared to me in every respect unobjectionable. There were a great many applicants for places; but no rude contentions-no pushing about-no disorder of any kind. We entered the carriage indicated by our tickets, a roomy and well-constructed vehicle, without much show about it, and set off to the sound of a trumpet, slowly at first; the speed then was gradually increased until it attained a velocity, at no time, I think, exceeding 15 miles an hour. The trumpeter kept on sounding the whole way-a precaution that might be introduced into our railway arrangements with the most useful effect. warning would be heard to a considerable distance; and, if it had been in use here these last two years, it would undoubtedly have prevented many accidents of a most disastrous nature. The vibration of the train of carriages was somewhat more than I had been accustomed to in England. We traversed the distance from the point of our departure to Paris in 27 minutes. At the terminus, omnibuses were in waiting for passengers to all parts of the capital.New Monthly Magazine. The Congreve Rockets-War Machinery.-The very flight of the Congreve rocket is startling; it springs from the ground in a volume of flame, and then rushes along with a continued roar, with its large head blazing, and striking point-blank, and with a tremendous force, at the distance of a mile or more. In a siege it is already extremely formidable. bursts through roofs; it fixes itself wherever it can bore its way; and it inflames everything that is combustible. Stone walls only can repel it, and that not always. This weapon may be regarded as almost exclusively English in its use, as well as its origin. It It will be like the English bow in the fifteenth cen- troops shall ever come into the field without an French Steam Plough.-Among the new inventions in France, is one that is much talked of among speculators and manufacturers. It is a steam plough of very peculiar construction, with which it is said four miles of ground can be excavated with an engine of only eight horse power, to the depth of a foot, and the breadth of two feet, in a single hour. The projector of the canal from Orleans to Nantes, which under ordinary circumstances would require at least five years for its construction, pretends that in one year the whole would be completed by the use of this machine, and that the saving in mere interest of capital would amount to forty thousand pounds sterling. A friend of mine, who is one of the best engineers in Europe, tells me that he has seen the instrument, and that with some ameliorations he believes it would accomplish all that has been stated. The earth as it is turned up is thrown into a sort of sail, which throws it to a distance of sixty feet.French Paper. New American Printing Machine.-We copy the following from an American paper, The Peoria Register and North Western Gazetteer. Mr. Thomas French, of Ithaca, New York, is constructing his patent printing-press, at the Speedwell Works, near Middletown, which is to be attached to one of the paper-mills in that place. This press takes the paper immediately from the paper-machine, prints it on both sides, and passes it through drying cylinders, which press it smooth. Thus, in one operation, and within the space of 3 minutes, the pulp is taken from the mill, and a book of 356 pages is ready for the binder. The paper is printed in one continuous sheet, and a whole edition can readily be printed, rolled up, and sent to any distance. Mr. French has on his press Cobb's Juvenile Reader, of 216 pages. of which he presents us a sheet of about 70 feet long, neatly printed, and which can be examined at our office. The Railway Map of England and Wales continues on sale, in a neat wrapper, price 6d. ; and on fine paper, coloured, price Is. British and Foreign Patents taken out with economy and despatch; Specifications, Disclaimers, and Amendments, prepared or revised; Caveats entered; and generally every Branch of Patent Business promptly transacted. A complete list of Patents from the earliest period (15 Car. II. 1675,) to the present time may be examined. Fee 2s. 6d.; Clients, gratis. LONDON: Printed and Published for the Proprietor, by W. A. Robertson, at the Mechanics' Magazine END OF THE TWENTY-NINTH VOLUME. PEACOCK'S METALLIC PISTON. Sir, I have lately made a full-sized drawing of a metallic piston invented by a working engineer, Mr. Alexander Peacock; by his permission I have reduced it to the size of your page, and beg to hand it to you with the accompanying description, with a view of giving the public the benefit of his invention, through the medium of your extensively circulated Magazine. The merit of this piston consists in the simplicity of its construction, having but one spring, which from its form and position cannot fail of acting. He considers it peculiarly adapted for engines subjected to uneven work, and particularly for horizontal cylinders, and therefore very applicable to locomotives. Fig. 1 is a plan with the top lid or cover off. Fig. 2 a central section, and Fig. 3 an edge view; the same letters apply to the same parts in all the figures. o, the outer ring, is cut at c, and the tongue t is held in its place by the screw s, from the inner ring i; this inner ring is cut at a, on the opposite side. g is the elliptical, and only spring, put loose between the lower and upper covers; ll are two pairs of levers extending from the sides of the spring to the rings, one pair pressing immediately upon the outer, and the other upon the inner ring; these levers are connected at either end by a plain rule joint. It will be readily seen that as the outer ring wears, the spring proportionally opens or extends, and pressing on the radial levers, and these against the ring, keeps it up to its work. As it is material that a piston, particurlarly for a horizontal cylinder, should be always replaced in the same relative position to the cylinder, provision is made to ensure this by the screw b working in a slot cast upon the inner ring, There is no necessity for occupying your columns by describing the other well-known parts of a piston, Several to whom I have shown it, agree in declaring this to be a good practical invention. I remain, Sir, THE USEFUL ARTS IN CHINA. The literary labours of Protestant Missionaries have added but little to our knowledge of the countries in which they have been stationed, or the manners of their inhabitants. Many of them, indeed, seem to have held it a point of conscience to deprive their journals-such, at least, has been the case with those which have seen the light-as much as possible of all interesting information on mere mundane affairs; so that we have been presented with accounts of a residence in Siberia, or a tour in India, which, for aught of "special matter' contained in thein, might as well have been written within the purlieus of Camden Town or Chelsea. There are symptoms abroad, however, of a change in this particular, and our stock of geographical knowledge has been not a little increased during the last few years, by the publications of English and American Missionaries. Another work of this better kind has just been added to the list, and not at all too soon, if our modern missionaries may be expected to contribute to our acquaintance with China and the Chinese in anything like an equal ratio with their Catholic predecessors, to whom the "barbarian" world is indebted for all the most valuable information it possesses with regard to the Celestial Êmpire. The greater portion of Mr. Medhurst's volume is occupied with the details of his proceedings in his mission, and especially of the celebrated voyage to the north of China, in the course of which Mr. M. persisted in repeatedly landing, in defiance of the constituted authorities, and distributing to the astonished natives a plentiful assortment of religious tracts, in their own language. What good purpose was likely to be served by this irregular proceeding does not very plainly appear; certain it is, that, as might be expected, it effectually roused the attention of the Chinese government; and, it is equally certain, that not a single step to wards a freer intercourse has ever been gained by any of the numerous attempts which have been made from time to time to carry matters with a high hand, and, in a manner, coerce the Chinese into liberality. On the occasion in question, the government was evidently taken by surprise, as it well might be,--but we question whether, now that its vigilance has been roused, a similar voyage, with similar proceedings on landing, would be at all practicable. Wonderful progress has often been made, for a short time, in forcing an intercourse in opposition to the Chinese authorities,-but it has uniformly happened that, in the end, those authorities have carried every contested point, and placed the assailing party in its former, if not even in a retrograde position. There is little reason to doubt that such would also be the result of any attempt to renew the strange transactions commemorated in Mr. Medhurst's work. The experiment will, most probably, be soon tried, and then nous verrons! The narrative portion is preceded by several chapters devoted to the other subjects mentioned in the title-page, and among the rest, when "civilization" comes to be considered, to the state of the arts and manufactures--the truest touchstone of a nation's real position in the social scale. The whole of this part of the volume abounds in interest, and a few pages, extracted at random, would be almost certain to give a favourable opinion of our author's labours. Although, we are afraid, no inventions of equal importance to those of printing and gunpowder remain in the exclusive possession of the Chinese, some advantages might, nevertheless, accrue to the useful arts from a closer investigation than has ever hitherto been made into the processes which resemble in the main those of our western world, but which, from their having been necessarily perfected without any acquaintance with our corresponding methods, may very possibly present points of difference well worthy of notice and imitation, and at the same time not likely to be hit upon amongst those who have long looked on their own way as the way, and have, perhaps, from inveterate habit, never dreamt of the possibility of the existence of any other. In this manner the study of the longestablished industrial processes of the Chinese may be turned to account; but there can be no question that, if a "re This ciprocity system" were established tomorrow, the Chinese would have a thousand times more to borrow of the outer barbarians than the outer barbarians of the Chinese. The steam-engine alone would be a contribution from this side of the world which our tea-growing friends would find it rather difficult to balance, to say nothing of its endless applications to purposes of utility,-the printing-machine, for instance. brings us to an interesting point. Notwithstanding all he has to say in its favour, the Chinese process of printing, as described by Mr. Medhurst, presents a striking contrast to the speedier operations with which the use of moveable types, combined with the indefatigable labours of the steam-press, have made us familiar. We quote Mr. Medhurst's description, as well for this reason, as from its being a fair specimen of his style of han lling the subject. "The mode of printing adopted by the Chinese is of the simplest character. Without expensive machinery, or a complicated process, they manage to throw off clear impressions of their books, in an expeditious manner. Stereotype, or block printing, seems to have taken the precedence of moveable types in all countries, and in China they have scarcely yet got beyond the original method. * "The use of wooden blocks has not been without its advantages; among which we may enumerate speed and cheapness. The first part of the process is, to get the page written out in the square or printed form of the character. This having been examined and corrected, is transferred to the wood in the following manner:-The block, after having been smoothly planed, is spread over with a glutinous paste; when the paper is applied and frequently rubbed, till it becomes dry. The paper is then removed. (as much of it as can be got away,) and the writing is found adhering to the board, in an inverted form. The whole is now covered with oil, to make the letters appear more vivid and striking, and the engraver proceeds to his business. The first operation is, to cut straight down by the sides of the letters, from top to bottom, removing the vacant spaces between the lines, with the exception of the stops. The workman then engraves all the lines which run horizontally; then, the oblique; and, afterwards, the perpendicular ones, throughout the whole page which saves the trouble of turning the block round for every letter. Having cut round |