276 



EXHIBITION, CENTENNIAL. 



lection of gas-meters, another of steam-drills, 

 etc. The wood-working machinery formed an 

 excedingly noteworthy class, including a re- 

 markable set of machinery for making casks 

 from Buffalo ; an automatic shingle-maker 

 which finishes 25,000 in a day; an intricate 

 and ingenious dovetailing, carving, moulding, 

 and paneling machine , a novel apparatus for 

 drying lumber, scroll-saw machinery, which 

 was kept busy cutting out delicate patterns; 

 saws and moulding machines in the greatest 

 variety ; lathes of every description, and other 

 mechanisms equally remarkable. A huge vac- 

 uum-pan, 35 feet in height and 10 in diame- 

 ter, with the air-pump, sugar-moulds, and all 

 the concomitant apparatus for clarifying sugar, 

 was exhibited by the Col well Iron- Works of 

 New York; while the Laffertys, of Glouces- 

 ter, IS). J., showed a large centrifugal sugar- 

 draining and drying machine in operation. In 

 Machinery Hall was also a varied display of 

 iron materials and manufactures: twisted and 

 cold-chilled bars, and forged steel axles and 

 shafts, rollers of chilled iron for rolling brass, 

 from Pittsburg; valves and steam fittings of 

 every kind, lap-welded wrought-iron pipes, 

 exhibited by the National Tube Company. The 

 Port Richmond Iron-Works set up a huge blast- 

 furnace. The different systems for extinguish- 

 ing fires were all exhibited. The locomotive ex- 

 hibit was one of the most prominent groups. 

 A narrow-gauge road for mining purposes was 

 shown in its workings, and parts of railroads 

 and cars were seen in great variety; the work- 

 ings of the Wharton patent switch, of the 

 Westinghouse air-brake, and of Henderson's 

 hydraulic brake, were fully exhibited. The 

 marine exhibit was very complete, including 

 models of all the kinds of shipping, steering- 

 gear, life-saving apparatus, diving-bells and 

 armor, etc., made or employed in Massachu- 

 setts, exhibited by the commissioners of that 

 State, contrasting the shapes now used with 

 those of a hundred years ago ; models of the 

 steamers of the American Line ; a model of a 

 merchant - vessel rigged with the wire-rope 

 manufactured by the Roebling Company, of 

 Trenton ; models of the iron ships built by 

 Roach & Sons, of New York; models of the 

 American double life -boat, of the Monitor 

 raft, which made the voyage of the Atlantic, 

 of an improved steam-yacht made by Baird & 

 Huston, of Philadelphia, and a variety of other 

 sea-craft, boats, shells, an ice-yacht, etc. One 

 of the finest exhibits was the wire cables and 

 bridge materials and plans made by the Roeb- 

 lings. George B. Grant of Boston's wonder- 

 fully ingenious difference-machine was exhib- 

 ited by the University of Pennsylvania ; it con- 

 structs intricate logarithmic tables, and solves 

 all the problems of the differential calculus, 

 preparing also a waxen mould from which 

 electrotype plates can be taken. A calculat- 

 ing-machine of the same inventor, of convenient 

 size and moderate cost, was also on exhibition. 

 A curiosity was the infinitesimal steam-engine 



which stood on a gold quarter-dollar, brought 

 by Levi Taylor, of Indianola. The collection 

 of steam-motors was extensive and exceed- 

 ingly interesting, embracing : capital automatic 

 cut-off and throttling engines, from Salem, 

 Ohio ; a huge high-speed blowing-engine, from 

 Lebanon, Pa. ; five vertical engines from New 

 Haven and elsewhere ; a hoisting-engine and 

 other mining machinery ; a Cornish steam- 

 pump, from Scranton, Pa. ; various meters for 

 registering the consumption of water, and a 

 registering apparatus showing the speed of an 

 engine ; a boiler which prevents incrustations 

 of lime ; the well-known Baxter engine ; steam- 

 ship and yacht engines, etc. The first engine 

 ever used in the United States was a curious 

 relic. Cornell University sent a magneto- 

 electrical machine, a steam-engine, and a meas- 

 uring-machine, the work of her pupils. The 

 Backus water-motor seems excellently adapted 

 to the sewing-machine. A novel hydraulic 

 ram exhibited by the Dexter Spring Company 

 is a complete automatic pump. Albert Bris- 

 bane exhibited a pneumatic tube, in which the 

 articles to be dispatched are packed in a ball 

 which rolls swiftly through the tube while the 

 air is exhausted in front; it is his ambition to 

 see the invention applied to large tubes for the 

 transportation of freight. The State of Nevada 

 set up a quartz-mill in a special building, con- 

 taining all the appliances for mining, and show- 

 ing the entire operation of crushing, amalga- 

 mating, etc. 



Great Britain occupied about one-third of 

 the space covered by the foreign exhibits in 

 Machinery Hall, and about one-ninth as much 

 room as the United States. The exhibit was 

 highly interesting, comprising : Aveling & Por- 

 ter's well-known traction-engine; Siebe & 

 Gorman's diving apparatus ; steam-hammers, 

 stamps, and saws for iron and steel, with sam- 

 ples of their strongest armor-plating, exhibited 

 by the Masseys, of Manchester ; fine cotton-ma- 

 chinery, and a carding-machine; immense 

 steam-cranes, sent by the Applebys, of Lon- 

 don ; cotton-looms, spool-winding machines 

 from the Coates, and a calico-printing machine 

 which uses several colors at once ; a model of 

 a floating dry-dock ; the Walter press, which 

 was running on the New York Times; a sugar- 

 mill and air-pump for a vacuum-pan, from 

 Glasgow ; a model of an Inman steamer; and 

 very interesting exhibits showing the opera- 

 tion of the English system of switching and 

 block-signaling. 



The British North American Colonies sent 

 turbine-wheels, horizontal and radial boring 

 machines, steam-engines of all types, seamless 

 lead-trap machines, qunrtz-crushers from Hali- 

 fax, boats, sewing-machines, wood- working ma- 

 chines, and many other classes of machinery. 



France exhibited a Lyons silk-loom, a soap- 

 machine, and bonbon and chocolate machines 

 in operation, lithographic printing-machines, 

 including one with a movable bed, an appara- 

 tus for making sugar from beet-roots, a fine 



