MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 37 



cast iron circular plates, about two feet four inches diameter, and one 

 inch thick. These are fastened upon a shaft, about two inches apart, 

 and working between them are eight stout, narrow, wrought iron teeth, 

 somewhat like the old-fashioned cultivator teeth. These teeth are 

 hung, and have a trigger to throw the tooth out as the machine 

 revolves. Two sets of these plates and teeth are set in a stout frame, 

 and look like a pair of toothed wheels, of a very formidable appearance, 

 the teeth projecting about nine inches. The operation is thus : A 

 pair of oxen, which are sufficient upon ordinary soil, are hitched to 

 the frame, and, as it is drawn forward, each tooth in succession is 

 pressed into the earth by the weight of the machine, and as it rolls 

 forward the weight falls upon the trigger, and that throws the tooth 

 out with its load, turning and pulverizing the earth as though spaded, 

 or, more properly, forked over. The two wheels cut a furrow about 

 two feet wide and nine inches deep, which can be increased by an 

 enlarged machine to any desirable width or depth. It requires no 

 holding, yet is provided with handles so fixed as to throw the teeth 

 out of the ground by the weight and motion. 



Pratt' 's Rotary Drill Digger. This machine, invented by E,. C. 

 Pratt, of Canandaigua, N. Y., is all iron, the frame about five feet 

 high, with twelve spades arranged around a circle, which revolves as 

 it is drawn forward. Each blade, which is eight inches wide and 

 twelve inches long, enters the ground and takes up its load, carrying 

 it round to the center on top, where it is discharged upon conductors 

 which carry the dirt off upon each side. 



Arnott's Improved Road Scraper. The working of this new road 

 scraper, invented by Mr. Arnott, of Iowa, is the same as in the 

 ordinary scraper until it comes to the unloading. As the handles are 

 raised, the hind part of the shovel opens by ingeniously arranged 

 hinges, and lets the great bulk of the load out behind : doing appar- 

 ently as much work as the old-fashioned scraper, or ox shovel, with 

 less labor to the operator. 



Patent Pig Pen. Among the other curious inventions and devices 

 exhibited, was a model of a Patent Pig Pen, consisting mainly of an 

 improved plan for feeding swine. Instead of a feeding trough, there 

 are a series of cast iron basins set in a bench about a foot high, over 

 each of which is an iron frame to keep every pig in his own dish. 

 Over these basins there is a roof, and the side of the pen in front of 

 them is hung upon pivots, so it can be pushed back at the bottom, 

 shutting the pigs in the pen and the troughs out. When they are 

 filled the bolt is withdrawn, and the force of hunger pushes it back 

 to its original position. 



Patent Broom. This improvement is described by the N. Y. 

 Tribune as follows : There is no twine, no wire, no stitching, about 

 the patent broom. There is a flat steel spring, 6 inches long, with a 

 T head, inserted in the handle, and over that is a hinged socket, which 

 being opened, the broom corn is laid upon the spring, with the butts 

 in the socket, which, as well as the cross head of the spring, is cov- 

 ered with teeth, which holds the corn. To keep it in place, now shut 

 down the hinge of the socket, and slip a ring down orer the corn to 



