PATENTS. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



888 



to afford reasonable security should be welcome. 

 This de\ ice, i he invention of Charles K. Wright, 

 of Viek*tiiirg. Mi>s., COHM.-IS of a bulkhead 

 formed of timbers or heavy planking laid cross- 

 wise in two or three layers, and built into the 

 emUnkment longitudinally with its axis. Simi- 

 lar devices for strengthening embankments have 

 long been in use, and this invention seems to de- 



IMPROVKD DAM. 



rive its merit mainly from the great coherency 

 resulting from the combination of several thick- 

 MB60 of plank crossing at right angles in alter- 

 nate layers. If such a bulkhead had been con- 

 cealed within the fatal dam above Johnstown, 

 Pa., the terrible disaster of 1889 might probably 

 have been averted. With properly adjusted spill- 

 ways and wasteweirs such an embankment would 

 yield, if at all, so slowly that the destructive rush 

 of water would be. largely mitigated. 



Improved Water-Gate. An ingenious con- 

 trivance has been patented by G. W. Norton, of 

 Mohawk, Ariz., designed to open and close auto- 

 matically the wasteweir of a dam. The engraving 



shows the device 

 in vertical section 

 closed. As the 

 water rises above 

 the dam, the re- 

 ceptacle A be- 

 comes filled with 

 water until its 

 weight over-bal- 

 ances that at the 

 end of the lever, 

 when it drops, 

 opening the gate 

 and suffering the accumulated water to run off. 

 A small hole in A empties it slowly, in a few 

 minutes the lever-weight raises the empty re- 

 ceptacle, the gate closes, and the water level is 

 maintained within any desired limits. Of course, 

 it may be made of any suitable size, or any num- 

 ber of gates may be adjusted on as many waste- 

 weirs, thus rendering it available for streams of 

 any size. 



Voting Devices. Among the curiosities of 

 the yenr's inventions are a number bearing upon 

 improved methods of voting. There are, for in- 

 stance, numerous folding or portable booths for 

 the use of voters while preparing their ballots 

 for the Australian or secret method. There 

 should be a considerable demand for inventions 

 of this character, since, if the system comes gen- 



AUTOMATIC WATER-GATE. 



orally into use, the preparation of such booths 

 must necessarily be a considerable item of ex- 

 pense. In this connection the invention of a 

 Mr. Myers, of Rochester, N. Y., may properly be 

 referred to. It is a mechanical electrical device 

 for recording votes. The machine includes a 

 booth made of sheet steel 5 feet square and 7 feet 

 high ; at one side of this are a number of knobs 

 numbered, or perhaps colored, to indicate the 

 part ieular party to which each belongs. All that 

 the voter has to do is to enter the booth and push 

 the knobs which he recognizes as those 01 his 

 own party. This would seem to require a degree 

 of intelligence at least commensurate with a very 

 moderate political standard. A practical trial of 

 this machine is said to have been made at Lock- 

 port, N. Y., and the result is reported as highly 

 satisfactory. 



PENNSYLVANIA, a Middle State, one of the 

 original thirteen, ratified the Constitution Dec. 

 12,1787; area, 45,215 square miles; population, 

 according to the census of 1890, 5,258,014. Cap- 

 ital, Harrisburg. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year: Governor, Robert E. 

 Pattison, Democrat; Lieutenant-Governor, Louis 

 A. Watres, Republican ; Secretary of the Com- 

 monwealth, William F. Harrity ; treasurer, John 

 W. Morrison, Republican ; Auditor-General, D. 

 McM. Gregg, Republican ; Secretary of Internal 

 Affairs, Thomas J. Stewart, Republican ; Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction, D. J. Waller, 

 Jr.; Secretary of Agriculture, Thomas .7. Edge, 

 Republican : Adjutant-General, W. W. Green- 

 land, succeeding Gen. Wm. McClelland, who 

 died Feb. 7; Attorney-General. William U. Hen- 

 sel, Democrat; Insurance Commissioner, G. B. 

 Luper ; Superintendent of Banking, C. H. 

 Krumbhaar ; Chief Justice of the Supreme 

 Court, Edward M. Paxson ; Associate Justices, 

 James P. Sterrett, Henry Green, Henry W. 

 Williams, James T. Mitchell, J. B. McCollum, 

 Christopher Heydrick. 



Education. The Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction reports the year ending June 6, 1892. 

 977,528 pupils in the schools, an increase of 

 8,022; the number of schools, 23,436. an in- 

 crease of 322 ; the number of teachers, 25,339, an 

 increase of 414. The total expenditures, includ- 

 ing that upon buildings, are $14,329,140.46, an 

 increase of $810,431.48. The estimated value of 

 school property is $40,242,664, an increase of 

 $4,404,077. The State appropriation for 1891- 

 '92 was $2,000,000. The appropriation of $5,- 

 000,000 made at the session or the Legislature of 

 1891 was not available until the first Monday of 

 June, 1892. The effect of this liberal appropria- 

 tion does not therefore appear in the results of 

 this year. 



Cliarities. The State insane asylums are 

 overcrowded, averaging about 25 per cent, more 

 inmates than would fill their recognized ca- 

 pacity. Relief will be afforded when the State 

 Asylum for the Chronic Insane is completed. 

 An appropriation was made by the last Legisla- 

 ture, and a commission was appointed. The site 

 selected is near Wernersville. Berks County, on 

 the line of the Lebanon Valley Railway. The 

 buildings will be finished within the coming 

 year. When completed they will have the best 

 approved modern conveniences, and accommo- 



