50 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



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20,000 bricks in 10 hours; but it may also be worked by any other 

 motive-power, and it can be moved from place to place. It is suited 

 for making common and fire brick and tiles. 



MACHINE FOR TAKING THE YEAS AND NAYS. 



A COMMITTEE of Congress last year had, for some time, models of 

 two or three machines for taking the yeas and nays, under examina- 

 tion, and they finally reported in favor of one which is the invention 

 of Mr. F. H. Smith, of Baltimore. It consists of a metallic case, two 

 feet long and one broad, which is designed to be placed on the clerk's 

 table. This case is composed of an upper and a" lower steel plate, 

 through which small pistons of steel, equal in number to twice the 

 whole number of members in the House of Representatives, play per- 

 pendicularly ; they are divided into equal sets, one being intended for 

 the yeas, and the other for the nays. Between the two plates, and 

 above the pistons, when not in operation, a roll of the House, special- 

 ly adapted for the machine, is easily inserted, with the words yea and 

 nay printed on the right and left of each name. This roll, when in- 

 serted between the plates, is readily adjusted by a gage, so that when 

 one of the pistons is put in operation it ascends through the paper and 

 cuts out the " yea" or " nay," as the case may be. The pistons are 

 connected with the members' desks by means of wires passing under a 

 false floor, where they are connected with two ivory keys, on which 

 are engraved the votes corresponding to the pistons with which the 

 wires are joined. The keys work by depression, like those of a piano. 

 By the insertion of an additional plate in the case, the machine can be 

 so controlled that no member can move his keys before or after the 

 time allowed for voting. The roll must, for the purposes of the ma- 

 chine, be printed in the order of the seats, and not alphabetically, as 

 usual. The objection to this and all machines of the kind, however, 

 is, that there is no way of detecting any derangement in the machine- 

 ry, and a member may suppose that he is voting, when in reality the 

 pistons do not work. 



SEWING-MACHINE. 



THERE is now in New York city a new sewing-machine in daily ope- 

 ration, which, as far as it has been tried, has entirely answered the 

 purpose intended. It has not, however, it is believed, been used ex- 

 cept upon coarse material, and where the seam to be sewed is nearly 

 straight. It is thus described in the New York Tribune: 



"On turning a crank with one hand, the machine sews seams of 

 any length and any desired curve. The stitches are perfectly even 

 and tight, and may be taken of any length. The work to be sewed 

 is fastened in a sliding frame and gaged so that the needle shall strike 

 the point of commencing the seam. The eye of the needle is near 

 the point, and as it pierces the material the thread is carried through 

 and caught by a hook, which holds it till the second stitch is made. 

 It then drops the first, taking up the second and bringing it through it. 



