ib'H 



Art. XVII. Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



I. Mechanical Science. 



§ The Arts, Manufactures, &c. 



1. Application of the Air Pump. — Mr. John Oldham of the 

 Bank of Ireland, has recently applied the air pump to many 

 operations in the arts, and in which substances are to be im- 

 pregnated with fluids, and with great success ; thus, in the 

 sizing of paper, for instance, the paper is piled up evenly in a 

 vessel capable of being rendered air-tight, an exhaustion is 

 made, the size introduced, and the air's pressure admitted; 

 when the fluid passing into the pores of the paper rises it regu- 

 larly, and without injury to the fabric. In the same way paper, 

 silk, flax, cotton, and woollen staples, either raw, spun, or 

 woven, may be dyed very regularly. In the processes of boiUng, 

 soaking, or pickling food, &c., this process may be used to re- 

 move the air and introduce the fluids, and its application is 

 easy and evident in numerous similar cases. An apparatus of 

 this kind is erected at the Bank of Ireland for wetting.bank-note 

 paper preparatory to its being printed on ; an immense quan- 

 tity of this paper is wetted without delay, and without any ia- 

 j-ury to the paper. 



2. AdJiesive Pelt. — Mr. William "Wood of Bow, IMiddIesex,has 

 discovered that a light felt of hide or hair, or mixture of hide, 

 hair, and wool, when saturated with tar is highly elastic and 

 water-proof, and conceiving the useful application of the sub- 

 stance as a lining for the sheathing of ships, he manufactures 

 it in an expeditious and economical manner, in sheets of suit- 

 able size for that purpose ; such sheets being attached to the 

 external sides and bottom of the ship, by simply nailing with 

 copper nails, are covered with planking. The substance he 

 terms adhesive felt ; it possesses the property of elasticity in 

 so considerable a degree, as to stretch uniformly Avithout frac- 

 ture or injury either to its texture or its complete impermea- 

 bility to water, whenever the ship's seams are opened by strain- 

 ing in hard weather, or in more dangerous cases of the starting 

 of planks, or the breaking of timbers as in stranding. In all 

 such cases this material forms an impenetrable and elastic case 

 or garment for the whole ship's bottom, and in the case of the 

 opening of seams by straining, it recovers its first dimensions 

 with the return of the part so opened in the release of the 

 strain ; in such cases it generally falls into the openings in a 

 certain degree so as to render them afterwards more secure 

 against a recurrence. He also finds it to be a complete pro- 

 tection against every destruction of worm in all climates; this 



