700 



PATENTS. 



much speed as is necessary, although the mo- 

 tion is comparatively slow. 



Canteens. Anything that will promote the 

 health of the soldier should receive considera- 

 tion, especially while so many valuable citizens 

 have left the comforts of home for untried ex- 

 posure and hardship. Pure water is of vital 

 importance to health, and yet the soldiers' 

 canteens usually employed impart, to many 

 kinds of water, a poison, arising from the ac- 

 tion of the water on the metal of which they 

 are made. L. Cantel patented (Oct. 11, 1862) 

 a canteen made of sole leather, saturated with 

 a peculiar varnish, and pressed up in moulds to 

 form the halves of the canteen ; the insides are 

 lined with pure tin foil, and then the halves 

 united with rivets. The canteen is light and 

 strong, and at the same time is not affected by 

 liquids carried in it. 



Dredging Machine. A patent was granted 

 in 1848 to E. Morris for a scoop and elevator 

 for dredging, which was extended in 1862 for 

 seven years. 



This invention is one of those that has earn- 

 ed an enviable reputation. The old style of 

 dredging machine scrapes the mud up from the 

 bottom of slips and basins, and in so doing 

 raises a large amount of water unnecessarily 

 with the mud, and it is very difficult to work 

 down into the corners of slips. 



The machine above named is composed of a 

 scoop formed of two quarters of a cylinder 

 worked by chains, and attached to vertical 

 poles ; the scoop is lowered down, and when it 

 rests upon the mud the said quarter cylinders 

 are drawn together, cutting down into and en- 

 closing the mud within the half cylindrical 

 scoops thus formed ; the scoop is then raised, 

 swung over a scow, and opened to deliver its 

 contents. 



This character of dredging machine effects a 

 great saving in the cost of excavation, and 

 does work that no other machine has been able 

 to perform. 



In obtaining the extension, it was shown 

 that slips and basins had been excavated to a 

 depth of thirty feet, and the mud and earth 

 swung across the bulkhead in the machine 

 and delivered on the inside for filling in the 

 land. This machine has also been used for 

 tearing to pieces and removing sunken vessels, 

 and for drawing up old piles and removing 

 piers, in which case the stones used for filling 

 in the crib-work have been taken up and the 

 crib-work itself broken to pieces and removed. 



Fusee or Safety Train. Blasting rocks, 

 both under water and upon land, is always 

 attended with danger from premature explo- 

 sion, and also from defects in the fuse, causing 

 the same to smoulder for a long time, instead 

 of burning regularly, and from this cause blasts 

 sometimes explode just as the workmen com- 

 mence to examine and remove the defective 

 fuse. 



The above-named invention, patented Jan. 

 7, 1862, removes the risk entirely, for the ex- 



plosion will be instantaneous, or, if the fuse is 

 broken or defective, there is no possibility of 

 an explosion. A composition, in a moist state, 

 is applied in a thin line on a strip of paper, 

 and this paper is then folded and coated with 

 gutta percha, or varnish, and cords are applied 

 longitudinally, to give the necessary strength ; 

 these are kept in place by a winding of 

 string. The composition employed is of an 

 explosive, but not a detonating nature, and 

 will ignite at the rate of a mile in the space of 

 five seconds of time, thus approaching the 

 velocity of electricity. The speed of the ex- 

 plosion is such that the paper, although torn 

 to pieces, is not ignited ; hence the explosion 

 of the gunpowder, to which this fuse con- 

 nects, is instantaneous, or, in case of failure 

 from improper management, there is no dan- 

 ger from immediately inserting a new fuse, 

 because there is no fire left in the defective 

 fuse. 



Firearms and Implements of War. The 

 war which the country is engaged in at present, 

 has caused many improvements to be made in 

 firearms and implements of warfare, in fact 

 the art of war has been changed radically with- 

 in the past two years. The perfection of can- 

 non and projectiles has inaugurated a perfection 

 in armor for resisting them, and so each side 

 has alternately triumphed ; all have heard of 

 the iron-plated monster the "Merrimac," with 

 her iron prow making sad havoc with the Fed- 

 eral fleet off Fortress Monroe, in March last, and 

 of the invulnerable Monitor that arrived in time 

 to check her career and cause her retreat to 

 Norfolk ; and then mention is made of such 

 projectiles as those invented by C. "W. Stafford 

 (patented Jan. 27, 1863), capable of penetrating 

 the iron turrets of these Monitors. 



Justice cannot be done in this article to 

 those inventors who have devoted time, 

 thought and money to devising implements 

 of war, hence but few of these inventions can 

 be mentioned. 



Accelerating Projectiles. The sudden start- 

 ing of a cannon or musket ball from a state of 

 rest to a velocity nearly equalling that of sound 

 causes a great strain on the musket or cannon, 

 hence the breech has to be the strongest part. 

 The powder, being, ordinarily, all in one mass 

 when ignited, produces great pressure at the 

 breech ; but the pressure of the gases de- 

 creases, in consequence of the expansion, be- 

 fore the projectile leaves the barrel, hence said 

 projectile is not acted upon with as much 

 power at the time of leaving the barrel as 

 when it was started. The conditions of pres- 

 sure should be reversed, so that the ball would 

 be started gradually, and its velocity increased 

 and followed up by an increase of pressure. 

 This result is attained in a cartridge patented 

 by Alexander Shannon, March 4, 1862, in 

 which a given charge of powder, instead of 

 being in one mass, is divided by diaphragms 

 of perforated felt, or other materials, the sec- 

 tion of powder next the ball being the largest, 



