by Mr. Ewart (the ex-member for Liverpool) and a select few of his liberal friends. It does not very clearly appear by what specific means the association proposes to accomplish its purpose, but, judging from the proceedings adopted hitherto, it is evidently considered that the vilification of the English artisan, and the exaltation of continental competitors at his expense, are among the most efficient. This can hardly be wondered at, when it is recollected that Mr. Ewart was not only the leading member of the House of Commons' Committee on the arts in connection with design, but is also the reputed author of the memorable report of that body,-memorable for the perversion of facts, even if those facts happened to militate against that same anti-English spirit which seems the essential ingredient of the new society.

Liverpool High School.-Some notion may be formed of the extent to which the Mechanics' Institution of Liverpool has swerved from its original design, from the perusal of the prospectus of the new High School" commenced at the beginning of the present year, in the splendid building just erected for the purposes of the establishment. The course of instruction includes not only "the Belles Lettres," English style and composition, the classics, French, &c. &c., but "the entire range of pure mathematics, fitting the pupils for entrance into the Universities, as well as the highest rank in commercial life." The terms are from eight to ten guineas per annum, with a guinea extra from those parents who are not already members of the institution,-(the Mechanics' Institution!) The intelligent foreigner must conceive a high idea of the prosperity of the working classes of England, when he sees this proof positive that the mechanics of Liverpool are able to afford such a sum for the education of each of their children, as well as to indulge in the pleasing prospect of launching them into life from Oxford or Cambridge, or setting them up at once as substantial inerchants of large capital! He would of course think it needless to inquire whether all the members of the Mechanics' Institution sending sons to the schools were really working mechanics; although it might not be very irrelevant to ask whether any of them were in that predicament!

"A Prophet is not without honour," &c.-The last number of "The Civil Engineer" contains an account of an American invention for the preservation of timber, extracted from the "Franklin Journal," but without the name of the inventor. That name, "Webster Flockton," certainly looks sufficiently transatlantic, but in point of fact it appertains to a countryman of our own, who has thought proper to secure his invention by an American patent, and has thereby, for a time at least, gained brother Jonathan credit for what he is not at all entitled to. The truth would have been obvious had the trouble been taken to copy the the patentee's name and designation from the Franklin Journal, where he is somewhat curiously described as "Webster Flockton of Great Britain, residing in Spa Road, Bermondsey, Surrey County, near London," (vide Mec. Mag. vol. xxviii, page 331.) Mr. F. is so far from being a Yankee, that he has just received a piece of plate from the corps of yeomanry of which he was captain, in testimony of his virtues as a "true Britain."

The "Asphalte" Mania.-Companies for the introduction of "Asphalte" into England, as a ce

ment and material for paving, are at present quite the rage in the Share-Market. Some profess to have the exclusive right to the product of the only mines from which the genuine Asphalte is to be proqured; others assert that it is to he had in Germany quite as pure as in France; while a third party proclaims that there is no necessity in the world to cross the channel for it at all; as it may be procured in abundance at home! It is taken for granted by all the speculators that "Asphalte" is to supersede granite and every other sort of pavement, on the strength of certain experiments made at Paris, and which are said to have succeeded to admiration. We believe, however, that all the experiments referred to have been made on foot-pavement, and not in the carriage-way, and it might therefore be as well to suspend judgment until a fair trial of the new material should have been made in the roadway of some such thoroughfare as Fleetstreet or Cheapside. Cements of a like nature have often been tried in England, and found to succeed very well for footpaths, and where the nature of the traffic was not very heavy; but for carriage-way pavement, the result was different. A certain patent scheme which was tried opposite Whitechapel Church, failed so signally thet the "cement" had to be taken up and the road macadamized again immediately.

The "School of Design" at Somerset House, now numbers about a hundred pupils, most of whom are said to be master-tradesmen, as well may be the case, so long as the high charge of four shillings per week is persisted in. There is, however, an evening school now opened at one shilling per week, which may be expected to attract more of "our workmen" (for whose instruction the school was professedly established) than the older branch.

Mr. A. Symington's Plough for Tilling Steep Slopes.-Sir, The Highland Society, taking into consideration the great loss of time incurred by the present mode of tilling steep slopes with the common plough, have offered a premium for the best form of one that will till at right angles to the slope, and lay the furrows all to the declivity. I have made a drawing of a plough with a view to accomplish this object, and shown it to a few eminent agriculturists, who highly approve of it, and recommend that one should be made for exhibition this season. It is to consist of two mould-boards set in opposite directions, both on the same-side of the plough, with coulter and sock to each, and a pair of stilts attached to both ends of the beam. The plough is to be drawn by means of an iron rod that moves upon a socket, to allow the horses to turn without turning the plough. In this way it will work in both directions, laying all the furrows to one side, doing double the work of the common plough in the same space of time.-I am, &c. ANDREW SYMINGTON. Fife Herald.

Kettle, April 9, 1838.

TAYLOR AND DAVIS'S ROTARY STEAM

ENGINE.

Sir,-Contemporary journals have of late been rife with an account of a new mechanical wonder that has made its appearance in the shape of a steamengine, possessing (so say the accounts) unrivalled power, portability, and cheap

ness.

The accounts of this new wonder have hitherto been without the aid of diagram or illustration. At all times it is a matter of considerable difficulty to represent by words alone, the mechanical construction and action of any apparatus however simple its arrangement may be. In this particular instance, however, the description alone would appear to draw largely upon the credulity of the public, and its obscurity of meaning has reminded some of the less credulous, of the story of the old lady who shewed so much anxiety to furnish her dwelling with curious and complicated articles of furniture-giving as general directions to her mechanist that all was to be accomplished" somehow by means of a screw.' The inventor of the present notable contrivance appears to have been fully impressed with the wonder-working operations of the "screw," and has accordingly produced an apparatus which bably has not its equal for eccentricity of motion or screw-like evolutions. The following is the non-illustrated description, assisted in the present instance by the diagram accompanying this communication, which it is hoped will help to throw a little more light upon this new-born of science :

دو

pro

"At the British Alkali works, Stoke Prior, near Bromsgrove, a steam-engine has been invented by a labouring mechanic, and is daily in full operation, which will certainly supersede every other now in use, and that, too, in a very short period of time; as the simplicity of its construction, the smallness of its size, and the almost nothingness of its cost, will necessarily bring it speedily into notice among all persons whose business may require the aid of so useful an auxillary. Its size is not more than twice that of a man's hat, and the expense of a five horse power will not exceed in cost half a score pounds. Its form is cylindrical being about eighteen inches diameter and twenty-two deep. The steam is admitted through a hole in a hollow circular belt (attached to a wall) upon which it revolves, and works it by a diagonal action, against an upright piston, being forced out by pressure of a diagonal plate, which divides the inte

rior into two portions. The rotary action is beautifully managed by means of a perfectly spherical steam-tight joint, at the end of a fixed inclined arm, towards which joint the upper and lower surfaces of the interior part of the cylinder are made to slope, after the form of the exterior of an hour glass. Upon these the diagonal plate performs its revolutions, such movement being permitted through an opening (from the circumference to the centre), equal in width to the thickness of the before named upright piston, up and down the sides of which it continually works. In the centre of the bottom of the cylinder is fixed a shaft, having attached to it a wheel which communicates the motion that may be required; and this is all the machinery of which it consists."'*

66

One would imagine that the editor of the journal was making merry at the expense of the "labouring mechanic," or at any rate gving a satirical fillip to the inventor, when he says. that " our scientific friends will not consider us too bold in asserting that this invention will speedily revolutionize the whole system in this department of mechanics." When and how this will be effected I leave to the readers of the Mechanics' Magazine to determine. For one, I must confess a little scepticism on the subject. In the absence of all practical data connected with the operation of this engine, we may at least suggest that friction is not altogether dispensed with, and that the rotary action so beautifully managed" with the spherical" steam-tight joint" is a very clumsy way of accomplishing what has hitherto been effected without that tendency to torsion which would ultimately result from its present mode of application. Appearances indicate this engine to be of the kind usually denominated " high pressure." quantity of steam used, its pressure, work employed in, form of boiler, quantity of fuel used, quality of ditto, form and packing of piston, number of revolutions per minute, &c. &c., are so many important points of information that require to be ascertained, to do full justice to the ingenuity of the inventor. As matters stand at present, Messrs. Boulton and Watts, Mandslay's, - Seaward's, Hall's, &c. &c., respective steam engine arrangements, are not likely to be affected by the revolutionary assertions of the Engineer's Journal.

The

*Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal for March 1838.

References to the Diagram.-A, outer case of cylinder; B, steam chamber (or cylinder); C, flanges to connect outer case; D, ball and socket joint; E, stuffing box &c. ; F, connecting rod to crank; G, the crank; H, crank shaft; I, plummer blocks, &c.; K, standard for ditto; L, M, steam passages. Na disc fitting into the cylinder A; O, a quadrantshaped piston, attached to the inner surface of the cylinder, the disc N having a slit therein from the rim to the centre, to allow it to reciprocate upon this quadrant. The steam is alternately brought

to the upper and under surfaces of the disc N, thereby producing a circular conical motion of the disc, and turning the crank G.

Your, &c.

CHRIS. DAVY.

Note. The diagram is intended merely to show the form and operation of the engine-possibly there may be some slight inaccuracies, but they cannot be of sufficient importance to effect the merits of the invention. The drawing has been made from recollection.-C. D.

Sir,-This invention, I believe has been patented some time; it is very simple, and likely to be effective, and the only thing that can in any shape militate against it (in my humble opinion), is the possibility of the combined friction of the two cocks, and the rod working in the stuffing-box, rendering so sluggish the action of the float, as to defeat the object of the invention. In the above drawing, P shows a portion of the boiler; c, a water reservoir, made steam tight; a, a pipe, through which c is supplied

with water, having a valve opening inwards, at L; g is a steam pipe, extending from the boiler, to nearly the top of the close vessel c, and s is a water-pipe extending from the bottom of the close vessel to the interior of the boiler. In both these pipes, are stop cocks R and T, with levers extending to Y, by which they are opened and closed. In these levers are two longitudinal slits, for the reception of a pin, fixed in a rod, extending from the float H, through a stuffingbox, in the top of the boiler. Now,

when the water in the boiler has evaporated, and its surface descended, the weight of the float brings down the levers to the position represented; the cocks will then be opened, and the steam will rise through the pipe g, by which the pressure will be equalized in the boiler P, and the supply vessel c, and and water will descend through s, till its surface in the boiler, rises sufficiently high to raise the float, and shut the two cocks, and then the condensation of steam in c, will cause a partial vacuum, permitting a fresh dose of water to pass through T into the feed vessel.

I remain, your obedient servant,
RICHARD EVANS.

Swansea, Dec. 18, 1837.

MR. SEAWARD'S DOUBLE SLIDE VALVES -MR. HUMPHREY'S REPLY.

Had

Sir, I am astonished at the contents of Mr. Seaward's letter inserted in your last number in reply to my communication of the 12th of March, in reference to my invention of double slide valves for steam-engines. Mr. Seaward fairly met my claim after having condescended to notice it, by proving his priority of invention, it would have been unnecessary to have occupied your valuable pages with another word on the subject; but instead of doing so, Mr. Seaward commences his observations by endeavouring to implicate me in falsehood by most positively denying that he had ever any conversation with me on the subject of the valves. Now, although it is a matter of no moment to the point in dispute, whether I had ever any conversation with him or not, yet, I again declare most distinctly, that the conversation alluded to in my letter with Mr. Samuel Seaward, occurred in Messrs. Seaward's office; and if it were at all necessary I can perhaps refresh Mr. Seaward's memory with his reply to me, nearly word for word. With regard to one of Messrs. Seaward's foremen" not having asked or accompanied me on board the "Emerald" at the time alluded to in my letter, I can only say, that it is untrue. Messrs. Seaward had more than one foreman in 1834, I certainly cannot name the man who accompanied me on board, but I feel pretty confident that

66

should this meet his eye he will not hesitate to avow it.

If Mr. S. had read my letter with a little more attention than he appears to have done, he would have seen that what I therein stated about the Lords of the Admiralty and Mr. Brunton, was given as I received it from the person who accompanied me on board; I did not represent as a fact that those gentlemen were on board the "Emerald" at any particular time, and I have reason to believe myself in error in stating that Mr. Ewart name was mentioned. Indeed, I find upon inquiry in the proper quarter, that Mr. Ewart was not connected with the government service at the period alluded to, and I am sorry this gentleman's name should have been thus inadvertently introduced. It was Mr. Kingston the engineer of Woolwich, and Mr. Brunton who were on board together; and it was owing to the favourable report of Mr. Kingston that the double nosles were introduced into the service of the admiralty.

My communication contains no allusion to the period at which Mr. Seaward applied for his patent; indeed it is perfectly immaterial to the question; but the first publication of Mr. Seaward's invention, or at least so far as my knowledge of it extends, is to be traced to its use on board the "Emerald" which vessel commenced plying on the river in June 1834, four months previous, I think, to the date of Mr. Seaward's patent.

Mr. Seaward expresses astonishment that I should have "waited till the present day to put forth my claim." I can assure Mr. Seaward, I should not even now have done so, had not several of my friends plainly hinted that any further silence might be construed to my disadvantage, in reference to the part I took in introducing the plan. Nearly three years ago, I received a letter from a gentleman well-known in the scientific world directing my attention to Mr. Seaward's circulars respecting these nosles, and advising me to publish my claim to the invention.

In no part of my letter have I stated that Mr. Seaward was not the inventor of the nosles of which he is patentee, I left it for Mr. Seaward to shew his claim to priority in the invention if he thought proper; and perhaps he may now consider he has done so by having informed