66 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



a process which induces a greater closeness in the component parts of the 

 piece under operation which, as it were, locks up the whole mass by knitting 

 the fibres together must augment the degree of hardness and power of resist- 

 ance. The wood thus becomes almost impervious to damp and to the depre- 

 dations of insects, whilst its increased density renders it less liable to take 

 fire; and the present method of cutting and shaping timber being superseded, 

 a saving of from two to three-fourths of the material is brought about. The 

 action of the machine throws the cross grains into right angles ; the knots 

 are compelled to follow the impulse of the bending ; the juices are forced out 

 of the cells of the wood, and the cavities are filled up by the interlacing fibres. 

 In the same way, you may sometimes see in the iron of which the barrels of 

 muskets are made, a kind of dark grain which indicates that the particles of 

 the metal, either in the natural formation or in welding, have been strongly 

 clenched in one another. These specimens are always greatly valued for their 

 extraordinary toughness, as well as for a certain fantastical and mottled beauty. 

 Another of the good results of this new method is, that the wood is 

 seasoned by the same process as that which effects the bending. The season- 

 ing of the wood is simply the drying of the juices, and the reduction of the 

 mass to its minimum size before it is employed, so that there shall be no 

 future warping. The compression employed in the process of bending at once 

 expels the sap ; and a few hours are sufficient to convert green timber into 

 thoroughly seasoned wood. Here is an obvious saving of time, and also of 

 money, for the ordinary mode of seasoning, by causing the wood to lie 

 waste for a considerable period, locks up the capital of the trader, and of 

 course enhances the price to the purchaser. Time also will be saved in 

 another way, in searching for pieces of wood of the proper curve, for carrying 

 out certain designs. An English engineer (Mr. Charles Ma} r hew) remarks 

 that one of the advantages of the American method is that, "in its applica- 

 tion to all circular, wreathed, or twisted work, it not only preserves the con- 

 tinuous grain of the wood, which is now usually and laboriously done by 

 narrow slips of veneer glued on cores cut across the grain, with many un- 

 sightly joints, ill concealed at best ; but it will materially reduce the cost of 

 all curved work, which now varies according to the quickness of the sweep, 

 and will give the artist greater freedom in his design, by allowing him to 

 introduce lines which are now cautiously avoided in order to prevent the cost 

 of their execution." 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM PUMPS. 



BaWs Steam Safety Pump. This is a contrivance for making the supply of 

 feed water in a steam boiler self-regulating. The pipe through which the 

 steam is received for impelling it is connected with the boiler at just the level 

 where the water surface should be. When the water rises too high the pipe 

 takes water instead of steam, and as the contents are compelled to travel 

 through cocks nearly closed, so little of the heavy fluid passes in any given 

 time that the pump works very slowly ; but the moment the water gets a 

 little low, so that steam is supplied, the superior ability of this subtle fluid 

 to crawl through small passages guarantees a liberal supply, and the pump 



