L. MECHANICS AND ENGINEEKING. 481 



have proved satisfactory. We now learn from the Mechan- 

 ics' Magazine that a patent has lately been taken out in En- 

 gland by Mr. Hodson by which this information is given 

 through indicators in each car, which are worked by com- 

 pressed air contained in a reservoir forward, in such a man- 

 ner that the indication of a particular name may be repro- 

 duced simultaneously and invariably in every car of the train. 

 3 A, November 4, 1871, 353. 



REGISTERING APPARATUS FOR PASSENGER CARS. 



Numerous attempts have been made to devise a self-regis- 

 tering apparatus to number the passengers entering omni- 

 buses or street railway cars, some of them very complicated, 

 and few answering the purpose. One recently invented, 

 which may perhaps be better than its predecessors, consists 

 in having each seat in the car supported on springs, so that 

 it is depressed when sat upon. By this depression a spiked 

 wheel attached to it is made to bear against and impress a 

 traveling sheet of paper, led over elastic covered rollers, and 

 caused to travel past the spiked wheel, whenever the car- 

 riage is moving, by means of a wheel running on the ground, 

 which may be either one of the ordinary bearing wheels of 

 the vehicle or another provided for the purpose, the revolu- 

 tion, in either case, regulating the speed of the traveling sheet 

 of paper to an approximate measure of the distance. A sep- 

 arate spiked wheel is connected with, each seat (inside and 

 outside), so that the perforation on the paper shows the spe- 

 cific number of seats, and distance each has been occupied on 

 the journey. The adoption of this system by railway com- 

 panies would have one good effect by making it necessary to 

 furnish a seat for each passenger, since no record could be 

 kept of those obliged to stand from inability to secure a sep- 

 arate seat. G A, November 25, 1871, 685. 



MANAGEABLE BALLOON. 



The advocates of the possibility of utilizing the balloon for 

 the every-day purposes of life have been greatly encouraged 

 by the result of a series of experiments lately made in Paris 

 by M. Dupuy de Lome, and recently communicated to the 

 Academy of Sciences. This gentleman is an eminent French 

 engineer, and well acquainted with both the theory and prac- 



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