MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 23 



singular piece of machinery is that which Mr. Thompson styles the 

 "drunken saw; " a small circular saw, working with an extraordina- 

 rily eccentric and staggering motion, biting pieces out of the wood 

 it operates on at either side, and thus turning out a grating or trellis- 

 work in a manner very marvellous to see, but utterly defiant of de- 

 scription. 



The thirteen machines are in detail described as follows : 

 The first machine is for holding the gunwales, risings, floor-timbers, 

 cants, keels, stem, sternpost, and board in their relative positions, as 

 designed in the finished boat. The second is the combination-saw, 

 for all kinds and dimensions of stuff, either square, bevelling, or an- 

 gling, that can be sawed with a circular saw, and to any desired 

 width or taper without measuring. The third is the patent form for 

 spiling, or giving the plank edge the required bevel throughout its 

 entire length. The fourth is for giving the proper bevel to the stern 

 board, thwart-knees, transom-knees, breast hooks, risings, forward and 

 stern ribs, cants, sternsheets, gratings, etc. The fifth is for boarding 

 and rebating keels at a single operation, and in the most perfect 

 manner. The sixth machine is for tenoning toggles. The seventh, 

 for marking and slotting gunwales to receive their toggles and row- 

 locks. The eighth is the eccentric saw for grooving, grating, etc. 

 The ninth for giving the ribs their required bevel. The tenth for 

 planing a plank on both sides at one operation, at the same time giv- 

 ing its interior and exterior curve in the most perfect manner, and 

 uniform in thickness throughout its entire length. The eleventh is a 

 machine for planing perfectly plain surfaces. The twelfth is for 

 moulding toggles, bottom-boards, gunwales, and risers, and it cuts any 

 bevel or irregular mould, or three sides, or planes three flat surfaces 

 at a single operation. The thirteenth and last machine is for bend- 

 ing the ribs to any form or size required in boat-building. 



Mr. Thompson undertakes to produce a large-size boat in five hours, 

 and at a cost of about one-tenth that paid by the government for a 

 similar boat. 



THE FUTURE OF HIGH PRESSURE STEAM. 



At the recent opening of a School of Science at Liverpool, Mr. 

 Fairbairn said : " As a laborer in the field of science, more particu- 

 larly practical science, I am sure you will allow me to give you a few 

 examples of the great advantages which the industrial arts receive 

 from the exact sciences, and particularly from those constructions 

 which are of much greater advantage to the industry and property 

 of the community. With regard to steam, I am quite sure every per- 

 son here present must be aware of the very great advantages of that 

 source of power, that immense power we see daily before us ; and if 

 we look back to the days since James Watt lived, to the present time, 

 everybody will be convinced of the great improvements that have 

 taken place by the application of science to that particular element. 

 I recollect well, in the early part of my own history, that the steam 

 engine never worked above seven to eight pounds upon the square 

 inch ; it then reached twenty pounds, then fifty pounds. Now, in the 

 locomotive engine, the pressure is one hundred and fifty pounds, and 



