10G ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



about 180 degrees, Fah., when they become ready for the impregnating 

 process. 



The sticks are then placed into an iron cylinder (capable of standing the 

 pressure of at least ten atmospheres), connected by a pipe with an open 

 vessel, containing a varnish made by dissolving 120 parts of shell-lac and 

 200 parts of burgundy pitch in ninety parts of absolute alcohol. The air 

 having been exhausted from the cylinder, the cock connecting it with the 

 vessel containing the varnish is opened, when the atmospheric pressure will 

 force the varnish into the cylinder and into the pores of the ralan. 



The impregnation of the ratan is rendered more perfect by the use of a 

 pump for forcing the solution into the cylinder. The ratan has now changed 

 its character, and become hardly distinguishable from the best quality of 

 whalebone, except that it is somewhat more elastic and less liable to splinter 

 and break. It has gained one hundred per cent, in weight by impregnation. 

 After being removed from the cylinders, or impregnators, but little remains 

 to be done in the way of drying, polishing, and fitting the ends, etc., to pre- 

 pare it for use for umbrellas, parasols, canes, etc., and various other pur- 

 poses. 



The following is an extract from the specification of an English patent, 

 recently granted for preparing cane, in order to render it a substitute for 

 whalebone : The cane is first cut by being passed between two circular 

 saws, the cane being moved past the saws by two grooved rollers, and it is 

 supported by a grooved bed or guide, on to which it is pressed by a pressing 

 roller. The canes having been properly cut on four sides, they are to be 

 impregnated with a preparation of animal matter, which is obtained as fol- 

 lows : Bones are steeped in a solution of chloride of lime, the bones having 

 afterwards been dried, are softened by digesting with steam ; they are then 

 combined with a solution of alum, and the filtered liquor obtained is em- 

 ployed for impregnating the canes, by placing them in a suitable closed 

 vessel with such fluid, and subjecting the same to a pressure of about twelve 

 atmospheres. After the impregnated canes have been dried in currents of 

 air, they are soaked in a solution of alum, and again dried and finished for 

 use. 



IMITATION MARBLE. 



A patent granted to the Penrhyn Marble Company, of Boston, for the 

 manufacture of artificial marble, has reference in particular to a method of 

 applying the colors by means of a peculiar bath, used in place of the ordi- 

 nary size bath, long familiar in the manufacture of marble paper. The bath 

 patented, consists in a film of Dammara resin floated upon water, which 

 may be broken up into any desired figures, by means of a rod or spatula, 

 previously dipped into the desired colors. The bath thus prepared is said 

 to be more manageable than the ordinary one. 



The article to be " marbleized," which is generally a surface of slate, is, 

 after being prepared with the ground color, immersed in the bath, then 

 withdrawn, dried or baked in an oven, and then coated with a proper varnish, 

 and again heated. 



