MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 79 



IMPROVEMENTS IN FELTING. 



THE following is the specification of a patent granted to Joseph 

 Wright, of Lawrence, Mass., Dec., 1851, for an improved method of 

 felting wool and other fibrous materials : "I claim the felting of wool 

 or other fibrous materials, upon a woven or netted fabric, substantially 

 as set forth. I also claim the use of one or more moving platens, having 

 a reciprocating rectilinear motion in the direction of the length of 

 the cloth to be made, over one or more stationary platens, in combina- 

 tion with the endless cloth bands, operated substantially as described, 

 for carrying forward and regulating the motion of the material, while 

 under the action of the said platens, substantially as set forth." 



In relation to this invention, the Boston Courier, Jan. 19th, states : 

 We have been for more than a year aware that parties were trying to 

 perfect a plan by which the cost of felting wool could be reduced to a 

 point that would make it possible to produce the articles of floor-cloths, 

 druggets, and the cheaper articles of woollens, at a lower price than the 

 similar goods can be imported, but have never before seen anything 

 that would justify the belief of success in the experiment. To many 

 readers the devotion of a single paragraph to the records of this last 

 triumph of American genius may seem unnecessary, but the initiated 

 can well understand why and wherefore we are thus proud of this par- 

 ticular and specific invention ; for to those it is known that by the 

 cheap labor of Europe we were completely outdone in the production 

 of the lower class of woollens, and that though the American woven 

 goods possessed advantages in wear, the English articles, possessed of 

 speciousness and cheapness, were invariably chosen in preference. 

 The present invention does away with this, and obliges the European to 

 make his articles still more durable and weighty, if he would insure the 

 sale, for the American FELTS will be both solid and good. 



This new process enables the manufacturer, by a machine no more 

 cumbersome than a common loom, to take the lower qualities of brown 

 cotton goods, and felt securely on this basis a firm coating of wool. 

 This coating can be made pliable, to serve as flannel ; or hard and firm, 

 to serve as drugget, upon which can be printed any design to suit the 

 fancy of the consumer. We understand the Bay State and Middlesex 

 mills will be immediately put upon the production of these goods, and 

 we hope, at no distant day, to be able to record the export of quite as 

 many woollens as cottons. 



FASHIONS FOR THE DEAD. 



A RECENT English work, on the manufactures of Birmingham, contains 

 the following suggestive remarks in relation to coffin ornaments : 



" The manufacture of ornaments for coffins is a very important part 

 of the trade, and it is curious to find, that even in this last concession 

 to human vanity, there is a constant demand for new designs. Who is 

 it that examines and compares the ornaments of one coffin with those of 

 another? We never heard of the survivors of a deceased person ex- 

 amining an undertaker's patterns. And yet, a house which consumes 

 forty tons of cast iron per annum for coffin-handles, stated to the gentle- 



