Processes in the Useful ^r^^.--^^^'*'*^' 361 



brass cylinder is connected by a line and pully wheel, with a time-piece, 

 so as to revolve uniformly at any pace that may be required. The whole 

 of the apparatus, excepting the first-mentioned conical vessel, is placed un- 

 der cover. The deal rod which carries the pencil is about four inches 

 wide, and one-fourth of an inch thick, and passes between two vertical 

 guides to insure the parallel position of the pencil. 



The moment the rain begins to fall into the collector it is conveyed by 

 the tube into the receiving cylinder, and begins to raise the float, and with 

 it the dial rod with its pencil, which makes an oblique line on the paper 

 compounded of the vertical motion of the pencil, and the horizontal motion 

 of the surface of the brass cylinders, and indicates the quantity of rain fal- 

 len by the total height of the oblique line, and the rate of falling by the 

 angle of obliquity, and the time of the beginning and end of each shower 

 by the distances along the line. 



The only care necessary is to wind up the time-piece from time to time, 

 and to take off the paper from the cylinder and replace it with a fresh sheet, 

 marking the time on the paper when it is put on. — Annals of Philosophy, 

 July 1827, p. 74. 



4. New Process for making Steel. By Charles Mackintosh, Esq. 

 Glasgow. 



There are few individuals of the present age who have done so much 

 for the advancement of the useful arts, and for the promotion of the 

 manufactures of his country, as the eminent individual whose new pro- 

 cess we are about to describe. In the patent by which he has secured the 

 privilege of this invention he claims, as the principle of his process, the 

 impregnation of iron at a high temperature with carbon in a gaseous form. 

 The gas which he employs as the most economical and convenient for this 

 purpose is that evolved from coal under distillation. The iron is inclosed 

 in a crucible, or melting pot, of the usual materials, and placed in the fur- 

 nace, and when it is raised to a very high degree of temperature, a jet, or 

 current of the gas, is thrown into the crucible through a suitable aperture 

 and tube provided for this purpose. In the cover of the crucible there is 

 made another aperture to permit the escape of that part of the gas which 

 is not absorbed by the iron. , 

 '^ 



5. Method of improving Soap. By Mr William Pope, Lombard 



Street. 



This process, for which a patent has been obtained, is as follows : — A 

 hundred weight of good soap is sliced into thin pieces, and mixed with 

 seven pounds of marl of the purest kind, two ounces of potash, and a suffi- 

 cient quantity of water to reduce the whole into a fluid state. The soap 

 being thoroughly dissolved, the materials are stirred together, and when of 

 the consistency of cream they are boiled, and then poured out into suit- 

 able moulds for making it into cakes. This process greatly improves the 

 soap, by destroying the effects of the caustic alkali upon the skin, and it 

 also renders it soft and smooth. — Newton's Journal of the Arts, May 1827, 

 p. 140. 



VOL. VII. NO. II. OCT. 1827. A a 



