76 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



Improved Loom. At a recent meeting of the N. Y. Polytechnic 

 Association, Mr. Overtoil described a new loom in successful operation, 

 in which the ordinary beater was dispensed with. A motion is pro- 

 duced in which the shuttle is carried backward and forward by a cir- 

 cular beater placed between each thread, so that the transverse thread, 

 forming the woof or tilling, is pressed up by a spring as fast as the 

 shuttle moves. The objection to the ordinary loom is the concussion 

 made by the beater. These concussions are so great that where 

 many looms are placed in one building they have the effect of a con- 

 centrated blow, thus shaking the whole structure. Buildings con- 

 taining weaving apparatus must therefore be made with unusually 

 strong foundations and heavy walls. The object of the new invention 

 is to remedy the effect of the beater, which presses the filling only 

 after the shuttle has passed beyond the warp, by a beater which oper- 

 ates continuously with the shuttle, thus accomplishing by a series of 

 pressures what was formerly done by a blow. 



Weitncr's Self -instructing Scale for Pianos. This consists of a 

 number of blocks, so formed that they may be readily placed against 

 the key-board of a piano : resting on the keys without interfering with 

 the action of the laiier. On the blocks are painted lines represent- 

 ing a musical staff, with notes, each of which represents the key di- 

 rectly beneath it, the letter or name of the note being painted direct- 

 ly below the latter, so that the scholar, as he strikes a key, may see at 

 once its name and the position on the stalf of the note designating it. 



Improved file. An improved file, recently invented by R. D. 

 Dodge of Iowa, is made up of a number of small steel cutters, in 

 shape parallelograms, which are all slipped over a central bar, and 

 there confined by a sliding shank, and a screw-handle. These cutters 

 are simply Hat pieces of steel with oblong holes in them, the edges 

 being beveled off so as to form a cutting edge. The object is to 

 produce a file that can be easily sharpened when dull, that will be 

 more durable than an ordinary file, and one that will work more effi- 

 ciently for special purposes than files of the usual construction. 



When the handle is unscrewed, the shank can be slipped off, and 

 the cutters removed and sharpened on an emery wheel or grindstone, 

 thus obviating the necessity of re-cutting, as is done with other tiles. 

 Scientific American. 



Arli/iri"! Irory. The following method of producing an artificial 

 ivory is published by M. Ghistain of Paris. Take 60 per cent 

 of the powder of marine plants, 15 per cent of glue, and an equal 

 quantity of coal tar; boil till thoroughly mixed ; dry in an oven at 

 a temperature of 300 Fahr. till it becomes plastic. The compound will 

 assume the appearance of ivory by heating it in an aqueous solution 

 of caustic potash, and letting it macerate for several hours in diluted 

 sulphuric acid; after which subject it to the action of chlorine or 

 chloride of lime, repeating the operation till it becomes perfectly 

 white. 



New A i) 1 1 1 , lc i -.Tunis of Aluminum. R. Pinkney, of London a 

 manufacturer of metallic pens has applied for a patent for pens 

 made of aluminum and copper alloys, as a substitute for those made 

 of steel and gold. He states that an alloy composed of 95 per cent 

 aluminum is of a fine gold color ; and another composed of 7 per 



