MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 93 



flax is drawn by the picker. The flax is carried upward and over to a 

 point opposite the feed roller, where it is met by a brush cylinder revolv- 

 ing downward towards the picker, and with twice the speed of the picker.* 

 Below the point of contact between the teeth and the brush is a tin spring, 

 which presses slightly against the face of the brush ; the brush, revolving 

 downward, reverses the position of the ends of the fibres, thus pulling off 

 the flax from the teeth and passing it between itself and the tin, pressing it 

 half round itself, where it is met by a blast of wind from a fan blowing in 

 an opposite direction to the rotation of the brush, and by which it is 

 stripped from its surface in a state ready for the market, and suited for 

 immediate use in the carding mill. 



This machine, it is stated, can break about 3,000 pounds of straw per 

 day, delivering its product in a finished shape, and requiring the attend- 

 ance of two men and three horse power. 



IMPROVEMENT IN 'THE PREPARATION OF HEMP. 



The hemp, after being stripped, is put into a vat or tub, with a sufficient 

 quantity of water to cover it. The water is kept at a temperature of about 

 50 or 60 degrees for fifteen hours, when it is drawn off and replaced by 

 other water, containing two pounds of soda and two pounds of soft soap 

 dissolved in it for every 100 pounds of hemp. The heat of this liquor may 

 be 100 degrees, or it may be boiled in it for five hours. The hemp is then 

 taken out and dried in the open air, or in a stove room, at a low tempera- 

 ture. When it is dry it is passed between fine fluted rolls, whereby it 

 acquires the softness of flax without losing its original strength. This 

 treatment of hemp, it is said, enables it to be spun like flax. 



MACHINE FOR SOFTENING FLAX. 



Robert Boyack, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., has invented an improved 

 machine for softening flax. The improvements consist in having a vertical 

 reciprocating plate with a slot through it, winch works between two pairs 

 of fluted rollers. The flax to be operated upon and softened passes from a 

 feed trough, between one pair of the fluted rollers, and through the slot in 

 the reciprocating plate, and from thence through the other pair of fluted 

 rollers. The reciprocating plate subjects the flax to a rubbing frictional 

 action, which renders it soft and pliable, without injury to its fibre. 

 Scientific American. 



CLOCKS FOR CHINA AND JAPAN. * 



The latest pieca of Yankee clock ingenuity is a clock for the Japan and 

 Chinese markets, that measures time as the hours are counted in China 

 and Japan, the hands making a diurnal revolution within twelve Chine. c 

 hours. The characters upon the dial plate are Chinese. The inside circle 



