MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 55 



hand-lever, by which it is raised, so that the side presented to the 

 veneer, which is of the curved form required, forces the veneer into 

 the hollow, so as to effect complete contact with the whole of that 

 surface; a suitable curved ratchet is provided, which sustains the 

 bolster in its elevated position, the lever being such as to give suffi- 

 cient pressure for the purpose ; the veneer is thus bent over the angle 

 and pressed into the curve. The next is a flat surface, united by a 

 right angle to the hollow. Another pad or bolster is hinged by a 

 lever to the bed of the press, which is now raised and sustained by a 

 click taking into a curved rack ; the veneer is thereby bent over the 

 succeeding angle, and on to the flat surface, when the pad, to give the 

 final pinch, is forced up by a screw ; the pressure on the w r hole of the 

 parts is allowed to remain till the adhesive material is sufficiently set 

 for the purpose. The bolsters and pad have the levers and screws 

 repeated at intervals, according to the length of the frame or surface to 

 be acted upon. It will be obvious that other arrangements and forms 

 of the parts will be required, according to the particular form to be 

 veneered. Instead of using ordinary glue, the patentee employs parch- 

 ment cuttings boiled down and mixed with whiting to the consistency 

 of paste, which is applied uniformly on the back surface of the veneer, 

 the bed being at the same time wetted with a brush. The object of 

 employing a white cement is that the veneer, if thin, is not sufficiently 

 opaque to hide the glue. An extremely thin sheet of brass is inter- 

 posed between the veneer and the beds, and also a thickness of paper 

 between that and the veneer to protect and render sharper the angles. 

 One set of beds are made to suit a variety of designs by the applica- 

 tion of paddings or filling pieces. London Patent Journal. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN STONE-WARE PIPES. 



MR. B. A. BURTON has taken out a patent for "certain improve- 

 ments in the manufacture of pipes, tiles, bricks, &c., from plastic 

 materials/' The object of this invention is to produce pipes and other 

 articles from plastic materials of greater strength and durability, more 

 regular in their structure, and of better finish than has ever yet been 

 accomplished. The manner in which the inventor effects this object 

 is by compressing the plastic materials by a process of rolling, which 

 not only increases the strength of the articles, but also gives them a 

 smoother surface, so that they are less liable to the accumulation of 

 deposit, and, in the case of pipes, they offer less resistance to the 

 passage of fluids. 



The machine for making pipes consists of a vertical framework, 

 supporting two clay cylinders, so arranged that they can be brought 

 alternately below the screw and piston, for the purpose of forcing the 

 clay through the dies, by which arrangement one cylinder is being 

 filled while the clay in the other is being forced through the die. To 

 the centre part of the die there is attached a mandril, the lower end 

 of which comes just below the centre line of four rollers, arranged at 

 right angles, so as to leave a circular aperture at the centre, whose 

 bearings are supported by a cast-iron frame. The rollers are driven 



