MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 123 



the box by means of a barrel of novel construction, consisting of a shaft fitted 

 with prongs, which carry over the manure, and in doing so, comes in contact 

 with a series of scrapers which rise with and clean the barrel as it rotates, 

 without the aid of brushes, sweepers, or any other perishable material, from 

 whence it passes down the shoot or conductor, and is evenly distributed ail 

 over the surface, or in three or more rows. The shoots or conductors are 

 furnished with wire rods, fixed in alternate lines, giving them the effect of a 

 sieve, whereby the manure is separated and pulverized as it falls. 



WILSON'S IMPROVED WHEEL-BARROW. 



In this improved wheel-barrow (an English invention) the wheel or "trun- 

 dle" is placed under, and is recessed into the bottom of the barrow, the inter- 

 nal projection being covered over by a piece of curved sheet-iron, boxed in 

 with side-pieces. "With this position of the wheel the weight of the contained 

 load is thrown upon the wheel instead of being carried between the hand artd 

 the wheel, as in the common barrow, thus relieving the laborer's arms. The 

 sinking of the body over the wheel also brings the weight nearer to the 

 ground and diminishes the working oscillation. The handles are attached 

 quite separately from the body, and they are set on at a considerable angle so 

 as to reduce the lift in wheeling. Where nicety is required in wheeling, as 

 in going over a plank, a brass knob is set on the top of the front board, at 

 the middle, so as to be directly in tiie line of the wheel and serve as a guide ; 

 and to prevent the dirt from clogging the wheel-cover, a scraper is attached 

 behind the wheel. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN EARTH-BORING MACHINERY. 



At a recent meeting of the London Society of Arts, Mr. Colin Mather read 

 a paper on "Earth-Boring Machinery," and some recent improvements 

 effected in the same. Among the various systems which have been adopted, 

 one well-known method of boring, is to attach a chisel to a series of rods 

 which are suspended from the end of a spring-pole. Wnen the debris has 

 accumulated so as to obstruct the progress of the chisel, the rods are with- 

 drawn by means of a windlass, each one being separately unscrewed as it is 

 wound up. A tubular instrument of sheet-iron, called a shell, usually from 

 3 to 4 feet long, and something less in diameter than the size of the hole, 

 with a clack at the bottom, is then substituted for the chisel, and the rods 

 are screwed together again and lowered. Another method generally resorted 

 to, when the weight of the rods is so great as to overcome the elasticity of 

 the spring-pole, is that hi which a rope is substituted for the rods, the im- 

 pulsive motion being obtained by coiling the rope several times round a 

 windlass, and then suddenly slacking it. A third method is that invented by 

 M. Fauvelle. This apparatus consists of wrought-iron tubes, screwed end to 

 end, the lo\ver one being armed with a cutting tool somewhat larger in 

 diameter than the tubes, so as to leave an annular space around them, up 

 which the water and excavated material are forced, by means of a column of 

 water sent down the tubes by a force-pump. 



