MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 41 



LOOMS FOR WEAVING DIFFERENT PATTERNS. 



MR. JOSEPH REYNOLDS, of Providence, R. I., has invented an im- 

 provement in looms for weaving shawls of different patterns, ginghams, 

 carpets, and any kind of pattern goods. The advantage of Mr. Rey- 

 nolds's improvement over all other plans in use, for changing the shut- 

 tle, is, that his plan has full control of a series of shuttle-boxes, ap- 

 plied either to one or both ends of the lay, as may be required, and 

 that pattern-plates are used to be set to any pattern which may be de- 

 signed in stripes; or, if connected with a jacquard, the improvement 

 may be employed for weaving carpets with any kind of figures made 

 of different colors of the weft. The pattern-plates are set according 

 to the design of the pattern to be woven, and by their combination 

 with levers and bell-cranks to the shuttle-boxes, each shuttle is moved, 

 or kept in its proper place to be moved when required. For example, if 

 five shuttles are used, and the middle one is red weft, while the others 

 on each side may be blue, green, orange, and purple, the shuttles can 

 be changed, as set by the pattern-plates, to take up the red shuttle, or 

 any other one of the five. The shuttles can also be set to vary in their 

 operation from a few inches to yards, such as weaving the border of a 

 shawl with a few picks of one and more of another color, making 

 stripes in the weft ; the loom will weave the whole middle of the 

 shawl, without a change of \veft, to have it all one color, after which 

 the shuttles come in play to work out the opposite border. One oper- 

 ative can attend two looms. Scientific American, March 23. 







AMERICAN SPOOL-COTTON. 



AT the annual exhibition of the Franklin Institute, in Philadelphia, 

 a specimen of white and colored six-cord spool cotton, manufactured 

 by the Sagamore Company, of Portsmouth, N. H., w r as exhibited, of 

 which the committee say, " This is a new and a very important ar- 

 ticle, and has not, as far as the judges know, been heretofore manu- 

 factured in the United States. The specimen exhibited is so superior 

 in strength, color, style, and evenness, that we heartily recommend a 

 gold medal.' 



5 J 



IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS. 



MAJOR HAGNER, in his report to the Ordnance Bureau, describes a 

 gun which has been used by one French corps for several years and 

 has proved highly successful, and is now about to be introduced for 

 arming the foot rifle corps in Belgium and Holland. It is an at- 

 tempt to introduce the rifle principle into fire-arms, under a form 

 giving the advantage known to be due to the grooved arm with a forced 

 ball, without the objections formerly belonging to that principle. 

 " The essential difference between this arm and grooved arms pre- 

 viously known is, in having a stem of small diameter attached to the 

 breech-pin in the axis of the bore, upon the end of which the ball rests 

 in loading, and then, with the rammer, it is easily made to fill the 



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