MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 77 



cent of copper is of a beautiful green color. Aluminum bronze is 

 very ductile, and is suitable for undergoing the rolling and hammer- 

 ing operations through which steel and gold pass in the making 

 of pens. 



Aluminum Bronze Powders and Leaf. A patent has also been taken 

 out by J. Erwood, of London, for manufacturing powders of alumi- 

 num bronze to take the place of common bronze powders, and Dutch 

 ini'lal h i af, to be applied to paper-hangings, gildings, &c. Alumi- 

 num l>ron/e is composed of 90 parts copper and 10 of aluminum, and 

 is of a beautiful yellow color. It is rolled, annealed, and beaten 

 until it becomes as thin as foil or leaf, in which condition it can be 

 used ior common gilding. To reduce it to powder the foil is stamped 

 and ground in the same manner that common bronze powders are 

 reduced from tin and brass. 



Jlcri/ielical JJarrels for Petroleum. It is well known that crude 

 and refined oils, from their great permeability, readily penetrate 

 through all wooden barrels or packages hitherto used, so that their 

 loss from leakage and evaporation 'has been a large per cent, 

 amounting to millions of dollars annually. To prevent this, metallic 

 barrels, metal-lined barrels, etc., have been substituted, but without 

 fullv attaining the desired end. Mr. L. S. Robbins, of New York 



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city, claims that he has discovered that by first coating a barrel with 

 drying linseed oil, which answers to the cuticle of a tree, and then 

 treating the wood of the barrel from the inside with a strong solution 

 of potash, that each barrel so treated will take up about 18 

 pounds of water, which from the oil coating on the outside can never 

 evaporate, nor can the oil pass through, thus making it essentially 

 and positively a hermetical package. Scientific American. 



New Maritime Sounding Apparatus. M. Gouezel has invented an 

 apparatus in which the suspension line is dispensed with. It consists 

 of a rod of iron, furnished with nippers at the extremity, which sup- 

 ports a cylindrical weight capable of being detached from the rod ; 

 above the weight a float of hollow metal is fixed, which contains a 

 small clock so arranged as to stop by concussion ; a bell is also at- 

 tached, and above the whole a signal. The time of dropping the 

 apparatus is noted ; on striking the bottom the clock is stopped, and 

 the iloat is detached and rises to the surface ; the depth is calculated 

 from the time of the descent. The objection to long lines in deep-sea 

 soundings, which are bent by under-currents, seems to be obviated 

 by this invention. 



A Preparation for Preserving Leather. We translate, from the 

 Gerber Courier, a receipt for a preparation which is said to insure 

 great durability to leather, and to make it very pliable and soft. It 

 consists of four articles, tallow, soap, rosin, and water. These 

 ingredients are prepared as follows: 21 parts of tallow are melt- 

 ed in a vessel, three parts of rosin added, and the two when melt- 

 ed mixed well together. In another vessel seven parts of good 

 washing soap are dissolved in 70 parts of pure rain water. Alter it 

 is dissolved and the mass heated to the boiling point we add the part 

 prepared before, let it boil onee more gently, and the preparation is 

 ready for use. It is especially adapted to boots, harness leather, and 

 belting. Shoe and Leatker Reporter. 



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