EXHIBITION, BRITISH INDUSTRIAL. 



435 



valve ; semifluid material, as tar, passes freely 

 through. Should a pump of this description 

 remain dry for any length of time it requires 

 no priming by pouring water into it, as other 

 pumps do, but is always ready for immediate 

 use. In practice these valves answer exceed- 

 ingly well ; they are extensively used in soap 

 and alkali factories, and by paper makers, tan- 

 ners, bleachers, and dyers, in pumping paper 

 stuff, chemicals, tan liquor, &c., The pumps 

 exhibited had glass cylinders or barrels, so that 

 the action of the valves might be seen. It is 

 found advantageous to use glass barrels, as they 

 are free from corrosion, and lubricate them- 

 selves with the material which is pumped 

 through them. 



Leather, Including Saddlery and Harness. 

 Additional warranty was given to the old fable 

 of " nothing like leather" by the contents of a 

 small court of British specimens, remarkable 

 both for material and manufacture. 



From the headquarters, Bermondsey, Hep- 

 burn & Son sent an enormous butt-hide of 

 black enamelled leather, 11 feet long by 10 feet 

 3 ; and a large number of tanned English sole 

 butts, the average weight being 43 Ibs. ; the 

 thickness and texture being very remarkable. 

 Samples of all the tanning materials used in Eng- 

 land were shown in front of these butt-hides 

 English oak bark, valonia, gambier, shumac, mi- 

 mosa, hemlock, oak bark, and others. Leather 

 for boot tops, thin and light in texture as a 

 lady's glove, for jockey boots, contrasted 

 strongly with the enormous thickness of the 

 leather made from the walrus hide. There was 

 also buff leather for soldiers' accoutrements. 

 In saddlery and harness, Mr. Guff showed a mag- 

 nificently embroidered military state saddle, the 

 property of the Duke of Buccleuch ; it is cov- 

 ered with blue velvet, richly worked in silver 

 and gold, and is a gorgeous piece of work, ri- 

 valling some of the state trappings of India. 

 Merry, of St. James's street, sent a beautiful 

 saddle and suite of harness, made to the order 

 of the Prince of Wales. The whips, by Swaine 

 & Adeney, formed a brilliant and tasteful dis- 

 play, a case of theirs being valued at more than 

 a thousand pounds. Among other applications 

 of leather were specimens of that once fashion- 

 able accomplishment for ladies, potichomanie, 

 snuff boxes, and embossed leather for walls, 

 screens, and covering furniture. 



Paper Making and Stationery. The French 

 paper makers made a far more satisfactory ap- 

 pearance than the British ; and any one, after 

 a stroll through their court, could form a very 

 fair judgment concerning the peculiarities and 

 excellences of French paper. In France linen 

 rags appear to take the place of cotton in Eng- 

 land, and the average quality of the papers is, 

 therefore, higher. In the commoner kinds of 

 printing papers, such as are used for our news- 

 papers, France cannot compete with England. 

 Very cheap French papers seem to be pro- 

 duced by a free admixture of clay, and they 

 drop apart under tension, like tinder. These 



printing papers are generally unsized, one ad- 

 vantage of which is, that the paper takes the 

 impress of the type with greater perfection. 

 In their writing papers they mix their size with 

 the pulp, whilst we commonly spread it on the 

 surface, and often by this skilful glaze a poor 

 paper is passed off for a good. In fancy writ- 

 ing papers we know nothing in England to com- 

 pare with the French delicacy of tint and finish ; 

 and there were colored note papers with a va- 

 riety of ornamental water marks. French 

 writing paper, if sufficiently known, would, 

 like French gloves, have many purchasers. It 

 is easily written on. is light, and finely finished. 

 For foreign letters there is nothing to compare 

 with the thin French paper. We noticed some 

 foolscap, light as tissue paper, weighing only six 

 pounds to the ream, and which can be written 

 on both sides. 



There was also some paper made from the 

 hop bine, by Barling, amidst the hop grounds 

 of Kent ; and some board made of paper, of 

 which the exhibitor, Mr. Towle, more than 

 twenty years ago, built himself a house, which 

 has once, at least, successfully resisted a fire, 

 that burned to the ground the adjoining sub- 

 stantially brick-built residence. The applica- 

 tion of silicate of zopissa, a description of Ara- 

 bian gum. to paper, by Mr. F. Szerelemy. has 

 been found to give it so much strength that the 

 material may be used for rocket tubes, plank- 

 ing for ships' sides, water pipes, and, it is even 

 said, for heavy artillery. 



Burgess & Ward, of Mendip Paper Mills, 

 near Wells, showed excellent specimens of straw 

 paper, with samples illustrating the various 

 processes of its manufacture and application. 

 These makers claim for their paper superiority 

 over that made of common rags, and to prove 

 its capabilities showed its adaptibility for news- 

 papers, railway time tables, placards, &c. They 

 also exhibited book work, music, fine engrav- 

 ings, and lithographs, printed on their papers ; 

 also paper hangings, enamelled papers in va- 

 rious hues, fancy box papers, in gold colors ; 

 and a delicate polychromic printing, executed 

 on their paper by Day & Son. All these spe- 

 cimens showed good surface and texture ; prov- 

 ing that the richest work tells upon straw 

 paper as well as on the finest rags ; and Ward's 

 paper has less of the objectionable brittleness 

 than any other straw paper. 



A very interesting collection of the products 

 made from the leaves of the maize plant was 

 shown ; they included a nutritive bread stuff ; 

 a fibrous material to be spun or woven like flax ; 

 and a pulp from which a most beautiful paper 

 can be made. The latter process, as carried on 

 in the Imperial Paper Manufactory at Schloe- 

 gelmuehle, Lower Austria, gives a produce of 

 100 Ibs. of paper from 300 Ibs. to 350 Ibs. of 

 head leaves, irrespective of the other materials. 

 And, what is important in this new material, 

 it is very abundant ; for. according to official 

 accounts, the maize planted in Austria yields, 

 annually, head leaves estimated at 2.750,000 



