641 



PATENTS. 



again an increase over the year 1861, until the 

 end of 1864 showed that the receipts and num- 

 ber of applications were greater than ever be- 

 fore. The number of patents granted during 

 the year 1864 were 4,638, being almost equal 

 to the number granted in the year 1860. 



HOESE POWERS. The horse-powers hereto- 

 fore manufactured, in which the horse stands 

 upon a travelling chain or platform upon an 

 inclined railway, have been liable to unequal 

 wear and injury in consequence of the small 

 wheels at the sides of this travelling platform 

 not being sustained on both sides, but rotating 

 on the ends of transverse rods projecting be- 

 yond the wood platform. 



The invention represented in the annexed 

 cut overcomes the aforesaid difficulty, and con- 

 sists in a metal end-piece set upon the ends of 

 each section of the platform, and made so as to 



support the wheels in bearings taking the cast- 

 steel journals of the wheels. These are stronger, 

 and run with less friction than those formerly 

 made. The invention was patented by Set' 

 Wheeler, of Albany, June 2d, 1863. 



POTATO PLOUGH OE DIGGER, patented Feb. 

 17, 1863. The illustration given below of 

 this implement, will give a general idea of its 

 character. The wheels in the front roll along 



the ground as the plough is drawn forward ; the 

 projecting nose goes under the row of potatoes 

 loosening them ; the vines are held up by the 

 curved bar extending from the nose to the 

 main standard, so that the vines do not clog the 

 plough, or become buried. The mould boards, 

 at the base of the main standard, raise the pota- 

 toes and earth, and deliver them upon the set of 

 fingers behind ; these are vibrated by a connec- 

 tion to a toothed cam-wheel on the shaft of 

 the wheels, so that the earth is sifted through 

 the fingers, and the potatoes left on the sur- 

 face of the earth, from which they are easily 

 picked up. 



This plough has been successfully employed, 

 and leaves the earth finely pulverized, almost 

 ready for another crop. S. S. Hickok, Buffalo, 

 New York, is the inventor of this improve- 

 ment. 



CLASP, or Holder for Sank Bills, Napl-ins, 

 &c^ patented Aug. 9th, 1864, by Charles Per- 

 ley. A strip of sheet steel is bent into the 

 shape of a flattened ellipse, the ends of the 

 strip being formed as a pair of hooks, cut in the 

 sheet metal and holding the clasp together, but 

 allowing of its being opened by pressing the 

 hooks apart sideways. These clasps make very 

 ueat and durable napkin holders, and the* are 



being manufactured with the names of the 

 battle-fields of the present rebellion etched into 

 their surface, in place of being numbered as 

 napkin rings usually are, and they are plated 

 both in silver and gold, making a very durable 

 and handsome article, suitable for general use, 

 and they carry with them reminiscences of the 

 struggle through which this country has been 

 passing. 



SHIP MACHTNEEY. Sailors are very slow in 

 changing their notions; any new device on 

 board of a vessel in former years was looked 

 upon with disfavor, and Jack Tar desired only 

 to use the same implements that he always had 

 employed ; hence the introduction of any im- 

 provements in ship machinery would not likely 

 be adopted except in view of its intrinsic merit. 

 Travellers on vessels doubtless have noticed 

 that within the past fifteen years the large 

 cumbersome wooden capstans and windlasses 

 have given place to neat metallic ones, and 

 that winches and heavers of various kinds are 

 employed to do with ease, what in former years 

 required all hands to be mustered and the assist- 

 ance of passengers often employed. In this 

 section of country no person has contributed 

 more to the improvement of ship machinery 

 than Charles Perley, of New York City ; anc 1 



