DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 289 



many of them not being presented till the morning of exhibi-' 

 tion, and these consequently did not receive that careful exam- 

 ination which their excellence really merited. 



The variety of articles entered, when compared with the 

 extensive manufacturing industry of Worcester North, was 

 extremely meagre, though equal, perhaps, to that of any former 

 exhibition. The mechanics and manufacturers of Fitchburg 

 and the adjoining tovv^ns could make a better show of the prod- 

 ucts of their industry and skill than any other section of the 

 State, of the same extent, both in respect to variety and excel- 

 lence of workmanship. The exhibition of mechanical and man- 

 ufactured articles is always attended with considerable trouble 

 and expense : the primary object of the society was to promote 

 the agricultural interest, chiefly ; and though the whole amount 

 of premiums awarded this year is more than double the sum 

 appropriated to this department at any previous exhibition, still 

 it is not sufficient to afford very strong inducements to mechan- 

 ics of humble means to incur the expense of exhibition. These 

 and other reasons, which need not be specified, have always op- 

 erated iinfavorably upon the show of articles in this department. 

 In view of the importance of our mechanical and manufactur- 

 ing interests, the suggestion often made that the mechanics and 

 manufacturers of Worcester North should establish a separate 

 association, is worthy of consideration. 



By request, the committee examined a new signal for railroad 

 bridges and crossings, one of which is in operation on the Ver- 

 mont and Massachusetts railroad, the invention of Mr. George 

 L. Whitney, of Fitchburg, and one which cannot fail to do 

 much towards preventing those fatal bridge accidents so com- 

 mon on our railroads. It is a signal to be placed at a distance 

 of eighty or a hundred rods from any bridge, and consists of a 

 bell suspended by a crane directly over the track, some ten feet 

 higher than the top of a car. An iron rod, with an elbow at 

 the top of the crane post, connects the bell with a shaft, run- 

 ning from the foot of the post under the rail ; the end of this 

 shaft being flattened into a pedal, raised just enough to be 

 pressed upon by the flange of the car wheel, so that the bell is 

 rung directly over the head of the brakeman, by every wheel 

 passing over the pedal; that is, the bell continues to ring until 

 37* 



