112 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



EMBOSSED VENEERS. 



One of the most useful mechanical processes brought forward of late, is 

 that of embossing veneers for any kind of ornamental wood-work to represent 

 elaborate carvings on wood, and dispensing with that comparatively slow 

 and expensive process. The veneers are prepared according to the inven- 

 tor's peculiar method, then placed between dies moderately heated, and sub- 

 mitted to pressure. One of the faces of the wood receives the pattern in re- 

 lief, and gives it the appearance of elaborate wood carving. The depression 

 caused by the dies on the opposite side of the veneer are filled up with a 

 suitable plastic substance ; this being dried, the embossed veneer is ready to 

 be glued, or otherwise attached to the furniture. 



AUTOMATIC LATHE. 



An ingenious and compact automatic lathe, for the production of beaded 

 work of any kind, has recently been invented and patented by G. W. Wal- 

 ton and H. Edgarton, of Wilmington, Delaware. 



The cutter head is hollow, and the cutters are mounted in such manner 

 that, by a very simple movement, the edges arc removed from, or brought 

 nearer to, the axis of motion, the movement being governed by a cam out- 

 side. This cam may be made in any required form, and the configuration 

 and disposition of the beads are thereby under complete control. The lathe 

 executes plain cylindrical and beaded work with great rapidity; all the 

 products cut after the same pattern, being precisely uniform and regular. 



IMPROVED BREAD KNEADING MACHINE. 



Hard bread or ship biscuit has long been made by machinery, but many 

 unsuccessful attempts have been made to apply it to the prepai-ation of 

 dough for soft or family bread. The failures have been so numerous that it 

 has been considered quite impossible to make mechanical labor a perfect 

 substitute for manual labor in this important branch of bread-making. It 

 was very desirable to accomplish this object under the ordinary system of 

 baking, for the labor of kneading the dough is excessively severe, and the 

 exhausted workman, reeking with perspiration, will often remit his exertions 

 at the very time they should be continued to work the dough effectually, and 

 / thus injure the quality of the bread. The defects of machinery applied to 

 this operation have been chopping up the dough, or working it short and 

 heating it so as to kill the life of the flour, instead of preserving a certain 

 continuity of the mass in combination with a thorough mixing process, in- 

 corporating the air perfectly, effects which are produced by the violent 

 action of the hands and arms of the workman in punching, squeezing, draw- 

 ing out and doubling up the dough. 



A machine recently invented by Mr. Berdan, of New York City, has been 

 operated most successfully, and, it is thought, will overcome the difficulties 

 heretofore experienced. 



