48 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



The hand of the first register is to mark four revolutions of the revolv- 

 ing hoppers, which, supposing- each hopper to hold four bushels, will 

 register forty-eight bushels. The hand of the second register marks 

 at each revolution four revolutions of that of the first register, say 

 forty-eight bushels each. And the third i-egister tallies four revolu- 

 tions of the second, which registers four times that of the first. The 

 dial-plate or register attached to the other end of the shaft is to gov- 

 ern the number of bushels to be weighed. Say, if 2,000 bushels is 

 the quantity to be weighed, set the hand of the register at that number 

 of bushels, and when that quantity has been weighed, the scale will 

 cease to weigh any more, until it is set again. From 12,000 to 

 25,000 bushels may be weighed in twelve hours, without any atten- 

 tion, if the receiving hopper is kept supplied. If a definite quantity 

 is to be weighed, set the discharging register at the quantity, open the 

 gate of the permanent receiving hopper, and whenever the revolving 

 hopper is filled with the quantity it should hold, the beam rises, 

 shutting the gate of the feeding hopper, the filled hopper turns suffi- 

 ciently to empty, the next one takes the place of the one just filled, 

 which, as it turns, by means of a flange attached to each of the wings 

 of the hopper, lifts the gate of the receiving or feeding hopper, which, 

 when filled, turns as before, and so on until the required quantity is 

 weighed. The hoppers will only turn and register when filled with 

 the exact quantity they are to hold, so that they will not weigh frac- 

 tions." 



NEW STEERING APPARATUS. 



THE new steamship Asia, of the Cunard line, is supplied with the 

 " Patent Safety Steering-wheel," recently invented by Captain Fayrer, 

 of the Royal Navy, which " consists in the application to the steer 

 ing-wheel of a friction-band, similar to that used in cranes, which 

 passes round a projecting circumference inside the wheel, and is 

 brought down to a pedal on the deck, by pressure, on which any 

 amount of friction can be put on the wheel. It is not desirable that 

 the helm should ever be a ' dead lock,' without the power of yielding 

 a little to the shock of a very heavy sea, as that would endanger the 

 carrying away of the rudder ; an adjusting-screw is therefore provid- 

 ed, by which the amount of ultimate friction that can be put upon the 

 wheel is regulated, and not left in the power of the steersman. A 

 great advantage of this invention is the power which it gives of fixing , 

 the rudders of vessels lying in a tideway or harbour, and thereby pre- 

 venting the continual wear on the pintals of the rudder, and, in time, 

 the loosening of the stern-framing of the vessel." But the greatest 

 advantage of this new apparatus is the security which it affords from 

 those accidents which often occur to the helmsman on board large ves- 

 sels, from the little power which they have to resist the sudden shocks 

 caused by the sea striking the rudder, by which the helm is often 

 taken out of their hands, and they are either thrown overboard or much 

 hurt. We are told that, as applied to the Asia, this new apparatus 

 works admirably. Boston Journal 



