MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 107 



alone or in combination with other materials. This he reduces to a 

 powder, and sprinkles evenly over the surface of one of the pieces of 

 wood to be united. He then lays the other pieces of wood on the 

 cement-covered surface, and repeats the process of sprinkling cement 

 and applying thicknesses of wood, according to the ultimate required 

 thickness to be produced. He then clamps the pieces of wood 

 together, and applies sand, heated to about 300 Centigrade, to the 

 exterior surfaces, and continues this applicaiion of heated sand until 

 the cement is melted, when the sand is removed, and the air admitted 

 to cool the wood and set the cement. When quite cold, the prepared 

 wood is removed from the clamping press, and may then be applied 

 to any useful purpose. London Mechanic's Magazine. 



EFFECT OF STEAM ON TIMBER. 



MR. VIOLITTER has lately presented to the Academy of Science 

 in Paris, a communication on the dessication of different kinds of 

 wood by steam. He stated that steam raised to 482 Fahr., was 

 capable of taking up a considerable quantity of water, and acting 

 upon this knowledge, he submitted different kinds of oak, elm, pine, 

 and walnut, about 8 inches long, and half an inch square, to a current 

 of steam at 7 pounds pressure to the square inch, but which was 

 afterwards raised to 482. The wood was exposed thus for two hours. 

 It was weighed before it was exposed to the steam, and afterwards put 

 into close stopped bottles until cool, when the samples of wood were 

 again weighed, and showed a considerable loss of weight, the loss of 

 which increased with the increase of the temperature of the steam. 

 For elm and oak, the decrease in weight was one-half, ash and walnut 

 two-fifths, and pine one-third. The woods underwent a change of 

 color as the heat was rising from 392 to 482 ; the walnut became 

 very dark, showing a kind of tar, formed in the wood by the process, 

 which was found to have a preserving effect on the wood. 



It was found that wood thus treated became stronger having an 

 increase in the power of resisting fracture. The maximum heat for 

 producing the best resisting fracture power for elm, was between 302 

 and 347, and between 257 and 302 for the oak, walnut and pine. 

 The oak was increased in strength five-ninths, walnut one-half, two- 

 fifths for pine, and more than one-fifth for elm. These are but pre- 

 liminary experiments, which may lead to very important results, and 

 are therefore interesting to architects especially. By this process, the 

 fibres of the wood are drawn closer together and maple and pine 

 treated in the steam to a temperature of 482, were rendered far 

 more valuable for musical instruments, than by any other process 

 heretofore known. 



ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE FESTE ARTS. 



THE British Society of Arts, in order to afford the greatest facili- 

 ties for the study and prosecution of painting and drawing, have 

 10* 



