232 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[June, 



upon Ihe rail-road, |iIatform, mounted rail-way, or other article upon wliicli it 

 is to move ; and tliis 1 claim, whatever fonn or arrangement the same may be 

 made to assume, whilst the principle of action is the same with that herein 

 cxemplilicd. " 



For an Improved Fire Engine Pump ; Joseph Newman, city of Baltimore, 

 April J 4. 



This is a device for converting the common street pump into a lire-engine, 

 by adding a forcing apparatus at its top, furnished with an air vessel, and other 

 appendages. When thus used, the ordin»ry spout is to be stopped, and a hose 

 or branch applied to the forcing ajiparalus. The claim is to '• the combina- 

 tion of the common pump prepared as described, with the cylinder, piston, 

 valves, or air. chamber of the ordinary hydraulic or fire-engine, which combi- 

 nation produces a two-fold instrument, viz., a self-supplying fire-engine, and a 

 culinary, or common pump." 



There is no novelty in the foregoing idea. The late Mr. Dearborn, of 

 Boston, proposed a similar thing more than forty years ago, of which engravings 

 are to be found in our own and in foreign journals. The thing, however, 

 cannot possibly answer a good purpose when appended to the ordinary pump, 

 as the power requisite to raise the water from a well, and to force it to the 

 rctjuired height, cannot be applied to such a pump, and if it could, but few 

 such pumps would bear it. Whatever of ingenuity there mny be in such a 

 combination, will not be accompanied by a corresponding degree of utility. 



For a machine for Mowing, and Cutting, Grass and Grain; David Lewis 

 Bern, Albany county. New York, April 14. 



For a machine for Making Bricks ; Samuel B. Brustar, Kensington, Phila- 

 delphia county, Pennsylvania, April 14. 



In this machine, as in many others, the clay is to bo tempered in a circular 

 trough, by means of revolving wheels which roll over it. Outside of the 

 tempering trough there is a moulding trough, within which the moulds are to 

 be laid ; and the clay transferred to this trough is to be pressed into the 

 moulds by rollers passing over them. The whole machine is a structure of 

 considerable complexity, not well described or represented in the first instance, 

 and not capable of being clearly presented in words. The claims are to a 

 number of particular things referred to in the specification, and, if given, 

 would not convey any definite idea. The machine may be a good one ; but 

 as presented, it iloes not, to us, wear a promising aspect. 



For a machine for Moulding and Pressing Bricks ; Stephen Waterman 

 and Charles Learned, Charleston, South Carolina, April 14. 



In this machine the clay is mixed in a vessel or chamber in the centre of 

 the machine, in which a shaft revolves that is furnished with knives, iii a man- 

 ner well known for preparing clay at potteries, and in brick making ; by them 

 it is forced into moulding boxes at the sides of the machine, under which the 

 moulds are to be placed on a suitable platform. The claim refers principally 

 to the manner of forcing down the vertical pistons within the moulding boxes ; 

 this is done by pieces in the form of inclined planes, and carried round by 

 the sweep attached to the centre shaft ; which inclined planes pass ai^ainst 

 friction rollers at the upper ends of the shafts of the pistons, and force'them 

 down ; after whicli they act upon vertical shafts connected with levers that 

 raise the pistons, allowing the filled moulds to be removed, and empty ones 

 substituted for them. 



Claiji — "We claim the application of inclined planes to the forcing down 

 the pistons for pressing brick, in the manner described. We do not claim the 

 mixing, or press boxes, or the oblique knives ; these and other parts having 

 been previously known and used ; all that we claim as our invention being the 

 inclined planes for forcing down the pistons and slides ; the particular combi- 

 nation of the two vertical slides, with their connecting parts for lifting the 

 pistons andcauiing the moulds to traverse on the ways." 



For an improved Water Wheel ; John R. Wheeler, Seneca Falls, Seneca 

 county. New York, April 14. 



The water is to be made to strike upon the buckets of this wheel by passing 

 through issues in a circular rim surrounding the wheel. Particular directions 

 are given respecting the curved form of the bucket.s, but there is not anything 

 in this wheel to distinguish it from otiiers that have been previously used, ex- 

 cepting these peculiarities of form which do not seem calculated to alter the 

 action in any appreciable degree. 



For an improvement in the Steam Engine ; William L. Lightall, city of 

 Albany, New York, April 14. 



The object in view in this engine is so to arrange the levers and other work- 

 ing parts, as that the cylinders may be placed horizontally at the bottom of 

 the vessel. This mode of arrangement is described and represented with much 

 clearness and distinctness, and the inventor, after describing it, observes that, 

 " It will appear that the cylinder may, in all cases, be laid horizontally on the 

 keelson, or keelsons, placing it and all the other machinery so low that its 

 weight, instead of its being as it now is, a necessary and unavoidable incum- 

 brance, will act in a great measure as judiciously stowed ballast. That in 

 vessels of war, or armed steamers, all the essential and vital parts of the ma- 

 chinery will be completely protected from an enemy's fire, and that the acting 

 engineer can perform his duty not only with safety, but with that self possession 

 which personal security could alone insure.' The claims refer to the parti, 

 cular description of the resjiective parts as arranged, but would not, alone, 

 afi'ord any distinct information respecting them. 



For an improved mode of Working the Pistons of Pumps; David Whittier, 

 Belfast, Waldo county, Maine, April 1 4. 



" The nature of my invention consists in the application of inclined planes 

 inserted upon the outer circumference of a wheel, or cylinder, (which is made 



to revolve like the capstan of a vessel,) to the spear, or piston rod of a pump, so 

 as to force it up and down." 



In the drawing, force pumps are represented as placed near the periphery 

 of a low, vertical cylinder, or drum, on the deck of a vessel, there being levers, 

 or handspikes, to carry the cylinder round. Projecting inclined ledges come 

 in contact with friction rollers on the piston rods of the pumps, and alternately 

 raise and depress them. The claim is to this mode of working pumps, and we 

 believe that the patentee might have enjoyed tlie exclusive right thereto with- 

 out having had it secured to him by law. 



For an improvement in Many Chambered Cylinder Fire Arms ; Theodore 

 F. Story, Northampton, Hampden county, Massachusetts, April 21. 



For improvements in the Machine for making Axes ; Demmon C. Stone, 

 Napouock village, Ulster county. New York ; assigned to Joseph Wright, of 

 Poughkeepsie, New York, April 21. 



For a Saw Mill without Saw Gates ; John C. Yates, Columbia, Maury 

 county, Tennessee, April 21. 



For an improvement in the Steam Engine; Seth Graham, Roxbury, Nor* 

 folk county, Massachusetts, April 21. 



For an improved process of Dyeing Wool ; Felix Fossard, city of Phila- 

 delphia, April 21. 



For an improvement in the Art of Dyeing ; Patrick Magennis, Faterson, 

 Passaic county, New Jersey, April 21. 



For an improved Drill Machine for Sowing or Planting Grain ; George A. 

 Hoyt, city of Albany, New York, April 21. 



For an improvement in the Working of Bellows by Steam ; Martin Bell, 

 Antis, Huntingdon coanty, Pennsylvania, April 24. 



For an improvement in Rail-road Cars, Carriages, or Trucks, &c. ; Joseph 

 Harrison, Jr., city of Philadelphia, April 24. 



The main object of this improvement is to obtain a more equal bearing upon 

 the rails cf the wheels of rail-road carriages than has been hitherto attained. 

 The opposite ends of a spring are to bear upon two sliding boxes, in two 

 plummer blocks, whicli boxes receive the ends of the two axles of the carriage 

 wheels. The spring is of the usual construction, but mounted so as to vibrate 

 on its centre, allowing the two wheels on each side to adapt themselves to the 

 inequalities of the road, without altering the relationship of the action of the 

 spring. Several variations in the mode of arrangement for carrying out the 

 same principle, are described and represented by the patentee. 



" In truck frames vi'hich turn on a centre, for the purpose of adapting the 

 wheels to the curvature of a road, the patentee has, in order to render the 

 system of the equalization of the pressure of the wheels upon the rails perfect, 

 so constructed the frames of such trucks as that their sides shall not necessarily 

 continue in the same plane, but be allowed to vibrate vertically to such extent 

 as may be requisite to enable them to adapt themselves, and the wheels which 

 they sustain, to any horizontal inequality in the rails upon which they arc to 

 run, as this cannot be effected by the limited action of springs.'' 



In this latter arrangement tiie wooden siles of the truck frame are connected 

 by transverse and diagonal bars of iron, which, work on pins, allowing of the 

 requisite vertical motion in the sides, whilst they are braced perfectly so as to 

 prevent their racking laterally. The claims are as follows : — 



" What I claim as my invention in the within described modes of construct- 

 ing Cdis, carriages, or trucks, to run upon rail-roads, is the constructing of the 

 springs and their appendages, so that said springs may vibrate upon their cen- 

 tres, for the purpose, and substantially in the manner, set forth. I also claim 

 the carrying out of the same principle, by means of a vibrating beam, or any 

 analogous contrivance, connected and arranged so as to jiroduce the same 

 otfect. I also claim the use of a truck frame which may tie employed with 

 cars and locomotive carriages of all kinds, to run upon railroads when trucks 

 arc required ; said truck frame being constructed in such a way as that two 

 parallel sides thereof may be allowed to play, in the manner and for the pur- 

 pose set forth, whether the same be put together in the method herein made 

 known, or in any other by which the same end is attained, on the same 

 principle.'' 



For improvements in Many Chambered Cylinder Fire Arms ; Rufus Nichols 

 and Edward Childs, Conway, Franklin county, Massachusetts, April 24. 



For a Horizontal Straw Cutter ; K. A. B. Beach, Franklin, Williamson 

 county, Tennessee, April 24. 



For an improved Gate for Flumes of Mills : William Buckminster, Fra- 

 mingham, INliddlesex county, Massachusetts, April 26. 



For a Domestic Spinner, for Spinning Wool, ..^c. ; lliram F. Wheeler 

 Springvillc, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, April 25. 



For a Jlachinc for Pressing Bricks ; Gaylord V. Harder, Batavia, Genessee 

 county. New York, April 25. 



A horse is to turn a vertical shaft, by means of a lever, or sweep, and this, 

 in its revolution is to operate four or more pistons which press upon the clay, 

 previously tempered, and placed in the moulds for that purpose. The de- 

 scription and drawing dj not clearly exhibit the structure, and the claim is 

 merely to " the mode of pressing and discharging bricks, as described." 



For an improved Mode of applying the Syphon for the uniform Drawing of 

 Oil and other Liquids ; James Gray, Fredericksburg, Spottsylvania eouuly, 

 Virginia, April 25. 



