1818.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



217 



leable propertiei; required. The patentee does not claim as of liis 

 invention the melting of wrought-iron, this having been practised 

 already to a limited extent ; but he claims the treating and apply- 

 ing HTOught-iron by melting the same by itself, or with a mixture 

 of cast-iron or steel, and the reproducing malleability in the 

 castings of the molten iron by annealing them in tlie manner de- 

 scribed. 



INLAYING METALS. 



Cyprien Marie Tbssie Du Motay, of Paris, for " Improvements 

 in inlaying and coating metals with X'arioiis substances." — Granted 

 November 4-, 1847 ; Enrolled jVIay 4, 18-18. 



The specification of this patent is exceedingly verbose, and it 

 consists of fifteen articles, showing different modes in which the 

 invention may be applied. The object of the invention is to pro- 

 duce ornamental designs on various articles, by depositing metal 

 thereon after the articles have been properly prepared by marking 

 or cutting out the intended design ; and which articles, when 

 finished, have the appearance of being richly ornamented with 

 inlaid work. This method of ornamenting, by inlaying in metal, 

 is known in France as " damasquinerie." 



The work produced by this invention is very durable, and not 

 liable to be worn away by cleaning or friction ; it being quite equal 

 in solidity to the inlaid work produced by the ordinary means, 

 and even superior in point of finish. 



Before depositing the metals intended to form the design, the 

 patentee commences by producing designs, either in intaglio or in 

 relief, upon the body of the article to be ornamented, those parts 

 where no metal is to be deposited being coated with a varnish. 



AVhen an inlaying of one metal only is required, the patentee 

 proceeds as follows : — The metal is first cleansed, and then im- 

 mersed in a bath of the metal, to be deposited by tlie galvanic 

 current. When the metal has been deposited to a thickness equal 

 to the depth of the hollow parts of the design, it is withdrawn 

 from the solution and washed in water, and dried with sawdust, or 

 by any other convenient means, and the daniaskened surfaces are 

 laid bare, by means of freestone, or by filing, scraping, or by any 

 other means which will remove the layer of superfluous metal, in 

 order to uncover the inlaid or daniaskened work. 



Damaskenes or inlaying in several metals may also be produced 

 by means of pressure. For this purpose, a piece of metal, with an 

 even surface, is covered without soldering, either by immersion or 

 by electro-deposition, with several coats of different metals ; each 

 of these layers is of a certain thickness, according to the depth of 

 the parts of the die which are in relief. The last coating being 

 deposited, the piece is to be withdrawn from the last solution, 

 washed, and wiped dry. AV^hen dry, it is to be submitted to the 

 action of pressure or stamping by means of dies or matrices, the 

 intaglio parts of which are of equal depth and the reliefs of dif- 

 ferent heights, or reliefs of equal heights and intaglios of various 

 depths. These must be calculated in such a manner, that, by 

 reason of the penetration of the projecting parts of the die to a 

 greater or less depth, the layers of metal (being, in certain parts, 

 thereby driven to gi'eater or less depths) may, on the surface being 

 laid bare, be of the same level as the inlaid surface. 



In order to produce devices or ornaments to be inlaid in wood, 

 marble, &c., by the ordinary means, the patentee proceeds as fol- 

 lows : — He takes a plate or sheet of any metal, and coats it, first, 

 with a layer of copper, of suitable thickness ; then with a coating 

 of zinc ; and upon that anotlier of copper : and so on until the 

 desired thickness is obtained. As tlie successive coats of metal 

 entirely cover the tin core, parallel layers of metal are thus ob- 

 tained, which differ from eacli other, both as regards the dift'erent 

 kinds of metal and their various thicknesses. On cutting the 

 sheet thus produced into thin strips, in the direction of its thick- 

 ness, designs will be produced consisting of parallel lines of tin, 

 copper, and zinc. With regard to other devices or ornaments, 

 such as roses, stars, circles, &c., these can be produced by taking 

 a metal core, of a certain length, either solid or hollow, and of the 

 form desired to be produced, and coating it with successive and 

 alternate layers of different metals ; and when these deposits have 

 been made to the required thickness, they are cut into thin discs. 

 If tlie core, of whatever form, or metal, be" solid, the parallel layers 

 of metal will only be on its outside ; but if it be hollow, they will 

 also be inside, as the metal will be deposited on both sides. 



HYDRAULIC LIFTING-JACK. 



Registered by Mr. Simmons, and Manufactured by Messrs. Thorn- 

 ton and Sons, of Birmingham. 



Under the head of the proceedings of the Institution of Me" 



chanical Engineers a* 

 Birmingham, in the 

 Journal for March last 

 (page 87), we gave a 

 short account of this 

 jack, and now are en- 

 abled to give an en- 

 graving of it, which, 

 better explains its use. 

 It is stated by the in- 

 ventor, that one man 

 with the jack can lift 

 from 15 to 20 tons. 



A is a hollow vessel 

 forming the base of 

 the jack, and also a 

 reservoir for the water. 

 B, the cylinder ; C, the 

 ram ; D, the pump ; E, 

 the plunger ; F, the 

 slide ; G, the pump- 

 levers; H conicalpointed 

 pin ; I, a small air-tap. 

 Before using the jack, 

 tighten the pin H, 

 and open the air-tap 

 I, When it is requi- 

 site to lower the 

 weight, slacken the pin 

 H. When tlie jack is 

 not in use, close the 

 air-tap I. Should the 

 water get too low, 

 take out the tap I, 

 and fill the cistern 

 when the ram is down. 

 The ram can lie pressed 

 down by hand when 

 'iLjJi ^W" g the pin H is slack. 



Scale, 2 inches to 1 foot. 



For the purpose of increasingjthe leverage of the pump-lever 

 G, an iron bar about 3 feet long, with a socket at one end, is 

 fitted on to the lever .G. 



Mr. WHISHAW'S TELEGRAPHIC INVENTIONS. 



We were present in the course of last week at a pri\ate view of 

 the numerous contrivances invented by Mr. AVhishaw for tele- 

 graphic communications. A great part of these in\entions apply 

 only to the communications at short distances, and of these an 

 improved speaking tube is the most readily available. The im- 

 pro\ements consist in using gutta-percha tubes of various diame- 

 ters, and in applying removable whistles at each end, to afford a 

 convenient means of calling attention when a communication is to 

 be made. In a tube, two hundred feet long, coiled round so that 

 the two extremities were near each other, the facility with which 

 sound is transmitted was very strikingly exemplified. The slight- 

 est effort of the breath sounded a whistle instantaneously, and by 

 blowing at one end, a musical instrument was played at the other 

 as readily as if it had been applied to the mouth. 



The chief peculiarity of the telegraphs exhibited, is the applica- 

 tion of moveable " codes" to the face of the same instrument ; 

 each code consisting of all conceivable questions and answers on 

 any given subject. The fixed dial contains the letters of the al- 

 phabet, the titles of the codes to be referred to, and several ques- 

 tions and answers of common occurrence, or most likely to facili- 

 tate the communications. The index of the dial may be moved by 

 electrical agency or, for short distances, by mechanism, to be 

 worked by the hand ; and when the subject matter contained in 

 any of the codes is to be communicated, the operator causes the 

 index to point to that code marked on the dial. The codes are 

 printed on large card-boards, and have circular apertures in the 



29 



