422 



EXHIBITION, BRITISH INDUSTRIAL. 



of a series of blades, or teeth. The teeth may 

 be adjusted to the nature of the soil, or paving, 

 over which the engine has for the time to 

 travel : that is, they may be lengthened or 

 shortened, so to speak, at the will of the at- 

 tendant. In many cases the teeth are not re- 

 quired to be protruded at all, the friction of the 

 periphery of the wheel being sufficient for the 

 purpose of traction. In such cases the blades 

 may be thrown out at the top, or on that part 

 of the wheel not coming in contact with the 

 road. On the contrary, in the event of the 

 ground being soft and slippery, or of the engine 

 having to ascend a steep incline, the powerful 

 auxiliary aid of the teeth can be brought into 

 action, and the requisite amount of biting in- 

 sured. A powerful engine of this kind was 

 employed in the conveyance of ordinary loco- 

 motive engines, heavy castings, and machinery 

 of various kinds, from the docks, railway sta- 

 tions and manufactories to their destinations at 

 South Kensington: it was thus a potent con- 

 tributor to the magnificent display of machinery 

 in the western Annexe. The load conveyed, 

 at one time, by this engine, occasionally 

 amounted to 45 tons. A large portion of the 

 western Annexe was devoted to the display ot 

 engineers' tools, of every form and size, and 

 for every description of work either incision, 

 excision, or circumcision. The principal ma- 

 chine in Whitworth's group was a large re- 

 cently-introduced machine called a self-acting 

 radial drilling and boring machine : the radial 

 arm carrying the drill spindle is movable 

 through an arc of 200 degrees ; it is attached 

 to a vertical slide worked by a rack and pinion, 

 with worm and wheel on the main frame ; the 

 drill spindle works through a tube, and is ad- 

 justable horizontally by a screw and nut from 

 one radius to another ; it has a variable self- 

 acting down motion, and retains its connection 

 with the driving motion in every position. 

 Shanks and Co. exhibited two drills of novel 

 construction : the multiple drill and the turn- 

 stile drill. They had here also one of their large 

 double slotting drills, with two tools working 

 toward each other : it is capable of making a 

 slot eighteen inches long. Here were shown 

 the file cutting machines of the Manchester 

 File Making Company. The name of Nasmyth 

 is inseparably connected with the steam ham- 

 mer ; and Nasmyth and Co. were represented 

 extensively in the Exhibition. Of the modifica- 

 tions, Robert Morrison and Co. displayed their 

 double-acting steam forge hammer. The main 

 point of improvement in this apparatus is 

 comprised in the fact that the hammer bar and 

 the piston are forged solid together. In other 

 cases, where a different mode of attachment is 

 adopted, the piston and piston rod have some- 

 times, from the violence of repeated strokes, 

 parted company. In this instance such a catas- 

 trophe is next to impossible. The steam cylin- 

 der is firmly bolted to the single frame which 

 supports the whole. This frame also contains 

 the steam chest steam passages, and the steam 



and exhaust pipes. The ammer bar is furnish- 

 ed at its lower end with a claw for holding in 

 the different facets or dies required for various 

 kinds of work. The piston is simple in its con- 

 struction, and two small steel rings fitting into 

 grooves on its circumference make it steam 

 tight. Above the piston the bar is planed flat 

 on one side, a corresponding flat being left in 

 the cylinder cover. This arrangement lias the 

 effect of keeping the bar and the hammer face 

 constantly in the same relative position to the 

 anvil. On the top of the hammer bar there is 

 a small roller which works in the slot of the 

 lever. The lever, with the aid of a pair of 

 links and a slide-rod, gives motion to an or- 

 dinary box slide, which admits steam alternately 

 above and below the piston. 



The principle on which Siebe's ice-making 

 machine is constructed is the removal of caloric 

 by evaporating a volatile fluid in vacuo, and the 

 condensation of the vapor by pressure. A 

 strong solution of brine is employed as a car- 

 rying agent, which, after having been passed 

 through the evaporating vessel, flows along the 

 refrigerating trough, in which are placed ves- 

 sels full of pure water, which becomes ice by 

 the absorption of caloric. 



The patent Hoist Company exhibited a safe- 

 ty cage in which Watt's governor regulates the 

 velocity of the cage in transit. The advantage 

 obtained by this mode is that when a chain 

 breaks, the cage gradually descends. Mr. Clarke's 

 improved fire escape reaches eighty feet high. 

 The underneath part of the centre ladder of 

 this fire escape is encircled by canvas rendered 

 incombustible by being saturated in alum and 

 chloride. A wire gauze further protects the 

 canvas from the effects of flames. Into the 

 wooden steps of the ladder are inlaid wire rope, 

 sufficiently strong to bear the weight of several 

 men. The improvement in Clarke's fire escape 

 is in the lever-bars for raising the second ladder, 

 which works on quadrants : this fire escape is 

 so light that one man can wheel it easily. 



Manlove, Allnutt, and Co. exhibited some 

 complete and ingenious machinery for complet- 

 ing the manufacture of sugar. The effect is pro- 

 duced by centrifugal force ; the pans containing 

 the sugar being caused to revolve at the rate of 

 1,000 revolutions per minute, by which means 

 the treacle and molasses are perfectly separated. 



The display of machinery for making paper 

 was very large. One of the most complete and 

 beautifully-executed machines was constructed 

 by Bryan, Donkin and Co., of Bermondsey, 

 and intended to manufacture an endless sheet 

 of paper of any width under seven feet. The 

 above machine is capable of making an endless 

 sheet of paper twenty miles long in about 

 twenty-four hours : the actual superficial area 

 of this sheet of paper would be about seventeen 

 acres. The combination of machinery ex- 

 hibited by Donkin not only makes the paper 

 complete from the pulp, but also gives to it the 

 necessary water-mark, and cuts it into sheets of 

 any desired size and fonr 



