46 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



took from three to five weeks to refine, is done in as many minutes, 

 and that sugars altogether unsalable are converted into an article 

 of considerable value. The Philadelphia Inquirer, speaking of this 

 machine, states that " two hundred weight of sugar, of the dirtiest 

 character imaginable, and as black as soot, was placed in it, and in 

 six minutes it came out white, dry, clean, and sweet." Scientific 

 American, June 29. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF 



GLASS. 



MR. WM. BLINKHORN, of Sutton, Lancashire, has patented some 

 improvements in machinery to be used in the manufacture of glass, 

 by which he proposes to employ a hollow casting-table, the upper part 

 and sides being cast in one piece, with flanges, which are riveted to 

 the bottom plate ; a stream of water is to 1)3 kept running through 

 this table, in the lower part of which there are ovens for the purpose 

 of heating the water and the top plate to about 120 F., to prevent 

 injury to the plate \vhen the metal is first poured from the crucible 

 on to the table. When, after repeated castings, the top plate of the 

 table has been heated, the fires are raked out, and the temperature 

 kept down to the required degree by the stream of cold-water running 

 through, or by several jets caused to play against the under surface of 

 the top plate. The rolling cylinder is supported above the tables on 

 adjustable tongs, for the purpose of regulating the thickness of the 

 plate, and is fitted on each side with guides for determining the w r idth. 

 The cylinder is made to travel to and fro on the table by means of a 

 pitch-chain connected to its brasses, which goes round a pitch-wheel, 

 driven alternately in opposite directions by the ordinary reversing 

 gear, placed in front of the kiln, and actuated from a prime mover. 

 To each side of the cylinder there is attached an arm, connected to a 

 lever, which has a notch in the upper surface nearest the kiln, into 

 which takes a projection on the under surface of a cross-sliding piece 

 attached to a chain passing over a pulley, and weighted at the other 

 end. The opposite ends of the levers are furnished with friction-pul- 

 leys, and the corresponding end of the table is fitted with inclined 

 planes. At the commencement of working, the table is raised to the 

 requisite degree of temperature, and the rolling cylinder drawn back 

 to the end nearest the kiln, upon which the metal is emptied on to the 

 casting-table. The cylinder is then made to travel over the metal 

 from the kiln, carrying the sliding piece with it, which is raised above 

 the surface of the plate. When it arrives at the end, the friction- 

 pulleys ascend the inclined planes, and, by causing the notched ends of 

 the levers to be depressed, liberate the sliding piece, which is drawn 

 back by the reaction of the weighted chain, and thereby forces the 

 plate into the annealing kiln. London Mining Journal, Aug. 24. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLASS WARE. The Bos- 

 ton and Sandwich Glass Company have recently commenced the man- 

 ufacture of glass bowls by machinery, of a magnitude that far exceeds 

 in size and weight any heretofore made by glass manufactories in this 



