TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 209 
On a Machine Regulator. By Mr. Rayners. 
The Regulator has for its primary object the alteration or regulation 
of the velocity of any surface in rotary motion ; this method of adjust- 
ing speed is presumed to be applicable to any combination of machinery 
where such variation is required, and it may be safely asserted that this 
controling power has never yet been perfectly attained. The in- 
ventors conceive the “ Regulator” to have fully supplied this want. 
From the earliest time of machine spinning, it has been an object to 
adjust, with precision, the “ drag ” on the bobbin, so as to be equally able 
to wind on its cylinder the finest yarns and rovings without injurious 
strain, and to give the required tension to the stronger yarns and threads. 
In the usual method of spinning by the water-frame or throstle, the 
bobbin-is carried round by the action of the spindle on its interior sur- 
face, and washers of cloth, as well as other means, have been adopted 
to give amore effectual drag, by the friction of surfaces ; viewing the 
practical operation of the drag as thus applied, the result will obvi- 
ously be uncertain, irregular and imperfect, as the manufacture of the 
finer and softer yarns and rovings fully illustrates. 
The Regulator affords the means of the exact adjustment of the 
“‘ drag” or speed of the bobbin, by which the most delicate yarns or 
rovings can be taken up or laid on in successive coils as the operation 
proceeds. The Regulator, when well constructed, will give a most 
exact, minute and regular strain, and any inferior quantity or effect 
may be secured with the utmost facility. The change-wheel at the 
end of the screw places the “ drag” completely at the control of the 
spinner. 
By means of a model and sectional drawing the principle of the 
machine was illustrated. 
On the Drainage of Railway Embankments and Slopes. 
By Mr. Suiru. 
On Timber Bridges. By Mr. Smit. 
On Propelling Boats on Canals. By Mr. Smitu. 
Mr. Smith proposed that the steam power in the boat should drive 
two large wheels, of thirty feet diameter, which should bite the ground 
at the bottom of the canal. He exhibited a working model on this 
principle, which succeeded on the small scale ; and he stated that he 
had tried it on a larger scale with the power of four men, and it had 
also succeeded. The wheels might be either on each side of the boat, 
as in the model, with a provision for a play of three or four feet, that 
they might accommodate themselves to inequalities at the bottom of 
the canal; or there might be one wheel in the centre of the boat, if 
constructed on the twin principle. 
1840. P 
