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a load exceeding 24lbs. per square inch, is placed on the safety valve.

In rough weather, however, from the reduction in the number of strokes, the actual H.P. exerted is less than the nominal.

Public attention seems fully directed to the reduction of the coal expenditure, which is of the utmost importance to steam boats, whose power of making distant voyages increases inversely as their coal consumption is lessened, either by improvements in the forms of the vessels,-lessened engine's resistances,-improved boilers or paddlewheels, or from obtaining a greater power from a given quantity of steam.

This latter cause, expansion, will probably be first found advantageous in steam tugs, where steam of 10 or 12lbs. above atmospheric strength, might be used at full pressure, for large ships, which might be reduced by expansion as required, for smaller vessels, or even as at present, throttled before expansion with a light load: the power of such engines is easily adapted to the work to be performed, and if well managed, the coal used would be proportional to the work performed; but like the large Cornish engines, which use steam of 20 or 30lbs. above atmospheric strength, from 3 to 6 times expansively in the cylinder, the usual methods of estimating the nominal horse power from the load on the safety valve, are inapplicable. The load, on the safety valve, particulary in Cornish engines, where no escape of steam is allowed, is sometines from 10 to 12lbs. above the steam pressure requisite to work the engine.

MARSHAL SOULT'S VISIT TO THE

BIRMINGHAM WORKSHOPS.

At the late visit of Marshal Soult to Birmingham, he was escorted by some of the first manufacturers of the town, over its workshops. The Marshal observed, that his friends in the iron and coal districts were so kind and pressing for him to remain there longer, and he was so struck with the wonders produced by their industry and ability, that had he staid a week, there would have been at the end of it still much to be seen and admired. "You are an extraordinary people," observed the Duke,

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French Vice-Consul,) set off in the first place to the manufactory of the last-named gentleman, in Church-street. Here, it it well known, are struck some of the most beautiful specimens of English medals, and every species of bronzes, vases, plate, and lamps, are manufactured. With the "Warwick Vase," and its splendid proportions, the party were much pleased, and expressed their admiration very warmly. In the Marshal's presence, and in less than two minutes was struck, by Mr. Collis, a large threeinch coronation medal, bearing an excellent likeness of her Majesty, and Mr. Collis presented his distinguished visiter with a similar one in silver. After spending nearly an hour amidst the various branches of this manufactory, the whole of which drew from the Marshal expressions of surprise and pleasure, the party were taken to the extensive gun-barrel manufactory of the Messrs. Sergeants, and here his Excellency made numerous inquiries, as to the kind of metal used in the manufacture-the time of completing a barrel-the cost of it—the charge to the government-the charge to the merchant and the exporter-the locks-whether percussion was thought of as likely to answer, &c. &c., to all which queries the Messrs. Sergeants gave him the fullest answers and he appeared to listen to his interpreter (Mr. Manby) with greater interest on this branch of trade than any other he visited during the day. Most of the gentlemen composing the Marshal's suite being military men, and not unacquainted (at least the elder ones) with the efficiency of English muskets, availed themselves of the opportunity of learning all they could about their manufacture. With the sword-grinding, also carried on extensively at this manufactory, they appeared likewise highly interested. The party were next taken to the establishment of Messrs. Jennens and Bettridge, the celebrated papier maché manufacturers, where they staid some time, and were much gratified while intently surveying the workmen as they fabricated the beautiful tea trays, screens, work-tables, boxes, and other highly-finished ornaments of japanned ware. From hence they drove to the Britannia nail works, belonging to T. M. Jones, Esq., and the transition from the delicate and ornamental, to the powerful, ponderous, and useful, appeared to gratify them very much. The machinery, worked by steam, which keeps employed some hundred hands, making above a thousand nails a-minute, of all sizes, from the small boot-tack to the tenpenny nail, (five inches in length,) was, as might be expected, the amazement of the foreigners; and the din of so many machines working at one time, rendering any

conversation entirely inaudible, made the Marshal remark, that "he could almost fancy himself amidst the roar of British cannon, instead of those mighty emblems of England's power in peace." From hence they were escorted to the button manufactory of Messrs. Turner and Sons, and saw another source of Birmingham's wealth. His Excellency having expressed a strong desire to see the manufacture of button shanks by machinery, again visited Mr. Collis's establishment, where he had an opportunity of witnessing this ingenious process. Previous to his departure he wrote a few lines in French in the visiter's book, expressive of his admiration of all he had seen, and the courtesy and attention he had experienced from the proprietor. Thence to the Town Hall, which building the Marshal declared he had seldom, if ever, seen surpassed for classic beauty of design. Mr. Hollins performed some pieces on the magnificent organ, for the purpose of affording his Excellency an opportunity of witnessing its powers, and all the company expressed themselves greatly delighted-Midland Counties' Herald.

TRIAL OF ANTHRACITE COAL IN LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES.

We understand, that, on Friday last, a trial was made, on the Liverpool and Manchester railway, of the applicability of anthracite coal, as a fuel for locomotive engines, under the superintendance of Mr. Woods, the talented engineer of that line, and with the approbation of the Board of Directors. Mr. E. O. Manby, an engineer connected with the South Wales anthracite district, who has devoted his attention most successfully to the introduction of this fuel, was present, and assisted in the trial.

The engine employed was the "Vulcan", one of the smaller engines, used for conveying goods. The general result of the trial was highly satisfactory. In the first instance, the engine ran out without a load about six miles, and the coal was found to do very good duty, without any difficulty being experienced either with the tubes or in getting up the fires. It was noticed, that the fuel burnt nearly without dust from the chimney, and entirely without smoke. The engine brought back a load of coal waggons from the Huyton colliery, and acquired a speed, thus loaded, of twenty-one miles an hour, which is about the duty of the "Vulcan," with an equal load on coke.

Another trial was made in the evening, with the same engine, for the whole distance to Manchester, taking five loaded waggons. The journey was performed in one hour and

twenty-nine minutes. The consumption of anthracite was only five and a half cwt., although a large portion was wasted, from the fire bars being too wide apart for the economical use of this fuel. The engine would have used upwards of seven and a half cwt. of coke for the same journey, with the same load.

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We regard the success of this trial as likely to prove, in its result, a most important public benefit. The price of coke, as the demand for it for use in locomotive engines, on railways, has extended, has increased, in some places, almost fifty per cent.; and in districts which produce no coal, this enhanced cost of coke will be serionsly prejudicial to the success of railway undertakings. anthracite can be generally applied in locomotive engines, we are given to understand that a saving of thirty to forty per cent., in cost and quantity, will be effected. We have no doubt that the Directors of our leading railways will instruct their engineers to follow up these experiments, and introduce such modifications into the form and working of the fire-boxes as the use of a new fuel may naturally be supposed to require.

The application of anthracite to marine engines is the next object most deserving the attention of practical men. The journalists of the United States appear to claim for their country almost the exclusive production of this invaluable fuel, which is destined to play so great a part in the iron manufacture, in railway locomotion, and in steam navigation; but the western part of the South Wales coal field, with reference to which Liverpool is, geographically, so favourably situated, contains stores of anthracite of much superior quality to those specimens from America which we have seen, and can produce it at a much smaller cost.-Liverpool Albion.

IMPROVEMENT IN CARPETS.

The public in Edinburgh is occasionally gratified with exhibitions of the carpets of Messrs. Whytock and Company, executed upon a peculiar principle, the subject of a patent, and which we shall try to give our country readers some idea of. Externally, these carpets resemble the richest velvet, the upper surface having a thick nap, like plush, but not so deep in the pile as the usual Turkey carpets and hearth-rugs. The pile of the Turkey carpet, as is well known, is produced by a laborious process of building in bits or tufts of coloured wool, fixing the tufts with a cross thread and lay, as in weaving, and then shaving the tufts to a smooth surface. In another fabric the usual process

consists in weaving the carpet with threads of different colours, throwing up certain coloured threads to form the patterns, and keeping down those coloured threads in parts where they do not require to be shown. For example, in order to throw up a small pink rose-bud, within the compass of a yard in length, threads of a pink colour must go along the warp of the whole web, and be kept out of sight every where but at one spot in each yard. It is clear that the one process is extremely tedious, and consequently expensive, and that by the other a great loss of materials is incurred, which also has the effect of increasing the price of the article. The plan followed by the copartnery above mentioned obviates both disadvantages. We are not at liberty to describe their process minutely; but we may state that, by a mechanical arrangement of the most ingenious nature, the threads of the warp are separately dyed beforehand in such a way as ultimately, when woven, to produce the desired appearances. Each thread is tinctured in a particular manner along its whole length of several hundred yards, a little bit green, a little bit yellow, another little bit red, and so on, so as to perform its part in the general effect-each thread, of course, different from another. An unskilled visiter, taking up one of those threads, and being told that each bit of colour had its share in the designed composition of perhaps a series of flowers, or even of some more formal pattern, would be lost in wonder to think of the ingenuity which could plan and provide for such a result. And yet, when the threads are arranged and put into the loom, every little bit of colour is found to take its own proper place, and fulfil its end in the general design. The pile is produced by a knife which runs across the web, and cuts open the raised loops; and thus the carpet is completed without a single inch of thread being any where lost. The figures shine out in harmoniously blended tints with unparalleled brilliancy, and the appearance is that of the richest painting on velvet. As works of art, or rather, we should say, the fine arts-for they are as much so as the famed Gobelins of Paris-these productions of the loom afford a striking testimony of the improvement which has of late years taken place in Scottish manufactures of the more tasteful kind.-Edinburgh Journal.

RECENT AMERICAN PATENTS. (From the Franklin Journal for May.) WEATHER STRIPS TO THE BOTTOMS OF DOORS: Isaac D. Brower, New York.The weather strip used is a strip of metal, let into a groove along the lower edge of the door, and closing, when down, against a re

bate along the sill. The strip is attached in the middle, to a sliding-bolt enclosed within the framing of the door, and it is raised by the action of the knob which moves the spring-bolt of the lock, by attachments contained within the frame-work. The closing of the strip is effected by a sliding rod, which projects out from the hinged edge of the door, the pressure of which, against the rebate in the door-frame, insures the descent of the bolt and the strip to which it is attached.

The arrangement is made with much ingenuity, and we perceive but one difficulty in the way of its action; we feel assured that the appendages to the sliding-bolt of the lock, by which the strip is to be raised, will cause the handle to turn with some difficulty. We apprehend, also, that the application will be two costly for general adoption.

LOCOMOTIVE POWER MACHINE, FOR REMOVING HOUSES, &c.: Stephen Compton, New York.-This machine consists of a combination of wheels and pinions, upon suitable shafts, operating upon a windlass; from this windlass a rope, or chain, is to be extended to a house, stump, or other body to be removed. The machine is mounted upon wheels, and is so constructed that "the end of the frame towards the resisting body, may be brought into contact with the ground, this end being armed with iron, and so formed that it will enter, and form a bearing against the earth, with a power of resistance proportioned to that applied. The claim is to "the mounting of such a machine upon a carriage, constructed in the way described, so that it may readily be removed from place to place, and that it shall anchor itself, or take firm hold in the ground, by the action of the power applied, substantially in the manner shown."

REMOVING WOOL AND HAIR FROM SKINS: Benjamin F. Emery, Bath.-This improvement is effected by the application of steam of the proper temperature to the hides and skins, instead of water, acids, or other materials.

For the purpose of softening dried sheep skins, for pulling the wool and tanning the skins, a room should be provided large enough to contain, suspended, as hereafter described, as many skins as it may be required to operate upon at one time, and made as nearly air-tight as it can be without much expense, say by tight boarding and shingling; with several small windows, or openings, with shutters, to admit or exclude the air, as occasion may require. I employ racks, consisting of rails, or strips of boards, or planks placed about three feet apart, and having tenter-hooks inserted about four or five inches from each other, precisely as they

are now commonly used for drying sheep skins after they are tanned. As many of these may be put up in the steam room as will consist with the objects of not having the skins touch each other, and of permitting passages through them, to hang up, and take down, the skins. The steam may be generated in any kind of boiler, and conveyed by pipes from the boiler into the steam room; it is most advantageously discharged only a few inches from the floor, in the centre of the room. For a room about 12 by 15 feet square, and 9 feet high, a common potash boiler, having the steam secured, and forced into the room by a tin or copper pipe, of about two inches diameter would be sufficient, although an iron boiler resembling those used for steam-engines is more convenient. Two windows of about two feet square, placed opposite each other, would well answer for such a room with the temperature of blood heat, the skins in such a room would be sufficiently steamed in about three hours, unless they were much harder than usual. It is easy to ascertain, however, by going into the room, when the wool is loose, and the skins are sufficiently pliable, taking care to lose no more steam, by keeping the door open, than is necessary. cess may be somewhat expedited by raising the temperature a little higher, although I should not advise raising it above 150 degrees of Fahr. for fear of injuring the skins. The softening will be expedited by wetting the skins or hides, before hanging them up.

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Hides of neat cattle, and other large animals, may be softened for tanning in the same way; the rails and tenter-hooks being larger and further apart, in proportion to the size of the skins, or hides. The time required for softening, will also be longer in proportion to the thickness and hardness of the skins, or hides. In all cases, the skins and hides should be affixed to the tenterhooks by the shanks, so as to keep them moderately stretched.

Slaughtered hogs, instead of being scalded in the usual way, for the purpose of scraping off the bristles, may, also, be more conveniently scalded by steam, in a similar way, where the business of dressing them is carried on to a large extent. The hogs may be hung up by the gambrils, only far enough apart to permit the butcher, or dresser, to work between them. Hot steam should then

be rapidly thrown into the scalding room; until it rises to the temperature of about 175 or 180 degrees, and if very rapidly done, to the boiling point, (although this is rather dangerous,) when the room should be immediately ventilated sufficiently to admit of the operation of dressing. In order to keep the labourers employed, there may be two steam rooms, so that they may operate in one room while the preparation of the hogs, and the scalding, is going on in the other.

NOTES AND NOTICES.

Joyce's Apparatus for Heating by Steam.-A mode of heating a small greenhouse by steam from a portable apparatus placed within the house, has lately been invented by Mr. Joyce. The apparatus is a copper cylinder, with the fire placed in the centre, the fuel being supplied from the top, and the ashes coming out below, through the grating which admits air to the fire. The fuel is charcoal, and the little smoke which it produces is delivered into the same tube which conveys away the steam. At the further extremity of the steam-pipe the fumes of the charcoal are allowed to escape outside the house, through a tube; which, for ordinary apparatus, need not exceed an inch in diameter. As the steam-pipe is placed so as to return all the condensed water to the boiler, the loss of heat by this mode is extremely small, but it will not answer well for any other fuel except charcoal, which is expensive.-Loudon's Suburban Gardner.

Plagiarism.-Sir,-I deem it right to state, that in the Penny Mechanic of last Saturday, upon the remonstrance of a correspondent, (Mr. Richard Darling) the Editor, "begs to assure him we were entirely ignorant at the time, that J. E. Goddard had pirated the article of the Floating Fire-engine, which was originally written by Mr. Baddeley for the Mechanics' Magazine [vide page 279 of your last volume]; to the proprietor of which publication, and also to Mr. Baddeley,we beg to offer an apology." In addition to which, an article on "Literary Poaching" appears in the number, conveying the severest possible censure upon the party who had been guilty of this barefaced piece of imposition. I remain, &c. August 1, 1838. WM. BADDELEY.

Hollow Shot.-A correspondent, "Mariner," inquires whether "the hollow shot, proposed for service in the Gorgon steam frigate, are to be filled with water, plugged and safety plugged, as proposed some years ago by Sir Robert Seppings, to the Admiralty, or whether they are to be only metallic shells, to save powder and recoil in close action." We have made inquiry, and are informed that the hollow shot in question have nothing inclosed in them-the object being to make the largest hole with the lightest weight of metal.

Erratum. In the article on "Russian Exchange in London," vol. xxvii, p. 61, for "consequently by a pound sterling," read, "consequently an hundred pounds sterling."

The twenty-eighth volume of the Mechanics' Magazine is now published, price, in half-cloth, 8s. 6d., with a Railway Map of England and Wales. The Railway Map may be had separately, price 6d., and on fine paper, coloured, price ls.

British and Foreign Patents taken out with economy and despatch; Specifications, Disclaimers, anp 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 Office, No. 6, Peterborough-court, between 135 and 136, Fleet-street.-Sold by A. & W. Galignani, Rue Vivienne, Paris.

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