PATENTS. 



651 



thin cambric or placing it in the familiar little 

 spherical wire-gauze receptacles that are to be 

 found in every hardware shop. These, how- 

 ever, have the' disadvantage of sinking as soon 

 as the coffee becomes water- soaked, while the 

 percolator floats till the process is completed, 

 and can be easily lifted out of the water before 



FIG,. I 



of the length of the tube acts upon a lever, 

 which in turn opens or closes a valve or damper 

 in the smoke-pipe. The necessary result is 

 obvious. When the fire is burning fiercely the 

 tube expands to its greatest length, a small 

 fraction of an inch, but enough almost or quite 

 to close the damper according to adjustment. 

 As the heat moderates the tube contracts, and 

 the damper opens increasing the draught and 

 tending to maintain the temperature. An in- 

 genious and simple contrivance renders it easy 

 to adjust the connections so that the machinery 

 will act when a certain desired temperature is 

 reached. Of course such a device can only 

 approximate perfection. No furnace will give 

 out an unvarying amount of heat for an indef- 



the beverage reaches the stage of bitterness. 

 By means of this device coffee can be made as 

 well in a covered tin cup, pail, or a stew-pan 

 as in a regular strainer. Those who object to 

 boiled coffee need perhaps to be told that it is 

 objectionable only when improperly boiled. If 

 rightly done, as is easy with this contrivance, 

 the beverage is equal to the best filtered coffee. 

 Heat Regulator! Several devices have been 

 introduced within a few years designed to 

 maintain at an even temperature the air of 

 houses heated by furnaces. Some of them are 

 adjustable by a thermometer suspended perhaps 

 in the sitting-room of the house and operated 

 by electric connection with the draught of the 

 furnace. The most simple and practical appears 

 to be an automatic governor which is operated 

 by direct mechanical action resulting from the 

 expansion and contraction of a brass tube pass- 

 ing just above the fire-box of the furnace. It 

 can be readily placed in any heater, fixed or 

 portable. The upper part of a portable furnace 

 is shown in Fitr. 2 as being easy of illustration. 

 The outer jacket being cut away the tube, 

 about an inch and a quarter in diameter, is 

 seen extending across the interior space. At 

 the front it is fitted with a small register for 

 the admission of more or less air, and the rear 

 end extends beyond the jacket toward the 

 smoke-pipe. Just outside the jacket it connects 

 with a small iron box containing nicely adjusted 

 multiplying wheels, so that a slight alteration 



inite time without personal care, but such an 

 attachment as this reduces to a minimum the 

 necessity of constantly watching the fire and 

 frequently altering the draughts and dampers. 

 Oil Fuel. Another really admirable invention 

 of the year was the fuel-cartridge, so called. 

 As supplied to the dealers it is packed in a 

 small tin pail holding perhaps about a pint and 

 a half, and fitted with a cover. The cartridge 

 itself as shown in Fig. 3 is a cylinder of rather 

 coarse and heavy iron-wire netting, the meshes 

 being perhaps one fourth of an inch square. 

 The ends of the cylinder are closed by circular 

 disks of cast-iron, perforated with small holes, 

 and the upper one fitted with raised handles 

 into which an ordinary stove-poker can be 

 hooked for convenience of lifting. The inside 

 of the cylinder is closely packed with a fibrous 

 material, presumably asbestos. The cartridge 

 can be used in any stove that has a damper in 

 the smoke-pipe. When a fire is wanted the 

 cartridge is placed in the little tin pail in which 

 it came, or one of like size if that has been lost, 

 and kerosene-oil of good quality is poured in 

 until the cartridge is covered. In two or three 

 minutes the material inside of the cartridge 

 will have absorbed all the kerosene. A piece 

 of paper is then placed in the stove, the car- 

 tridge is taken up with the poker and placed 



