90 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



M'BRIDE'S NEW FLAX SCUTCHING MACHINE. 



A new flax scutching machine has been recently brought out in Ireland, 

 which has elicited the highest encomiums for effectiveness and economical 

 working. 



The space the machine occupies is about 17 by 10 feet ; the holding of the 

 flax is effected by means of a horizontal wheel of about three feet hi diameter, 

 having on its circumference two grooves, in which grooves, by endless ropes, 

 kept tight by a counter-weight, the flax straw is held firmly between the 

 grooves and ropes, to be taken slowly round to the breakers, or scutching 

 blades. It is here that the great improvement occurs ; these blades are fixed 

 in a peculiar manner on the horizontal shafts, parallel to each other, but on 

 different levels; each shaft carries arms, placed opposite to each other, so 

 contrived as to pass each other without coming in contact ; to these arms the 

 scutching blades are fixed, passing each other in intersecting circles, the inter- 

 section taking place immediately below the circumference of the holding wheel. 

 The blades strike the flax rapidly, but gently, on either side alternately, whilst 

 it is slowly passed under their action in the grooves of the holding wheel ; 

 being thus cleaned at one end, it is grasped at the proper moment by the hold- 

 ing apparatus of the second pair of the scutchers, being counterparts of the 

 first, but so set, that the other end of the straw is effectually cleaned, and thus 

 the finished fibre passes out ready for the manufacturer. 



The machine is perfectly self-acting, merely requiring the flax straw to be 

 put in on one side, and the flax finished is taken from the other side. From 

 the moment the straw enters into the machine, no further attention is neces- 

 sary, and no skilled workmen are required, as any boy or girl of fourteen or 

 fifteen can be taught to feed it in two or three hours, the machine does it 

 all, and delivers the flax well scutched. All clasps, or holders for fastening 

 the straw, are dispensed with, the attendants are not liable to accidents, and 

 the important object security from the annoyance of dust is attained, for by 

 simply elevating the machine a few feet, the whole of the tow and scutching 

 dust pass away beneath. 



CALICO PRINTING. 



Mr. Mercer of Manchester, England, is now engaged in superintending one 

 of the most curious historical and scientific works of the day, viz. a " History 

 of Calico Printing." Of the interest of such a history, even to idle readers 

 there cannot exist a doubt, for the history of calico printing connects itself 

 intimately with the history of dress, of manners, and of taste, in a large por- 

 tion of the habitable globe. The Manchester designer has to please the Greek 

 prince and the Australian savage : to satisfy the King of Dahonry and the fish- 

 wife of Billingsgate. Such of our readers as have seen the magazines of a 

 wholesale Printseller, and have noticed how curiously the taste in Fine Art 

 varies with latitude from the warmth of Lima and Rio to the chastity of 

 Montreal and Dantzic, will feel how much a series of pattern books may sug- 

 gest in the way of national manners. The horseman of the Pampas and the 



