22i 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



LJULY, 



from Fenny Compton to Wolverhampton, the mode of laying down to be 

 such as the Railway Commissioners may approve." " By this decision," 

 says the Railway Chronicle, " the settlement of the gauge question, to attain 

 which a commission was appointed in 1845 and legislation took place in 

 184G, is sent to the wind.".. .." Thus, diversity of gauge is being allowed 

 to take root in the most pernicious form which it could adopt — namely, the 

 double gauge system." 



New Atmospheric Railway. — A working model of Messrs. Harlow and 

 Young's atmospheric railway has been recently exhibiting, and it works very 

 satisfactorily on a length of 150 feet, with a four-inch tube. The peculiarity 

 of the invention depends on the formation of the valve. The tube is cast 

 with a longitudinal opening, similar to Clegg's ; but, instead of a flap-valve, 

 the action is precisely similar to the slide-valve of a steam-engine. The 

 sides of the opening are so cast, that one side presents a horizontal groove, 

 and the other a tabular face, both planed perfectly true. On the tabular 

 face the slide-valve rests, when forced out of the groove by the passage of 

 the coulter, consisting of bars of iron, in a full-size working tube, proposed 

 to be 4 or 5 feet in length. At each end of these bars a semicircular open- 

 ing is turned through about half their thickness, forming, when two abut 

 against each other, a circular slot, in which is placed a disc of iron, ground 

 perfectly true witri the under surface of the bars, and thus presenting a sort 

 of rule joint without any fixed axis, and forming collectively a loose chain 

 which slides over the opening, and renders it air-tight. To each of these 

 bars, or links, is placed a steel spring, in the shape of a carriage-spring, 

 merely of sufficient power to press the valve into its place, after the passage 

 of the coulter. The whole is covered by a top plate, to keep out grit, wet, 

 snow, &c., with the exception of a small space to allow the coulter to pass, 

 which is not much thicker than a saw blade, and which connects the leading 

 carriage with the piston in the usual manner. 



Preservation of Wood for Raihvay Sleepers. — Messrs. Hutin and Boutigny 

 have obtained a patent in France, for the preservation of wood intended 

 for railway sleepers ; the process of which depends on filling the pores at 

 each end with a bituminous cement, after the ends have been previously 

 charred. The process is thus described : " Immerse the ends of a piece 

 of wood in some liquid carburetted hydrogen, such, for instance, as the 

 oil of schist, which penetrates quickly some distance into the wood. 2. 

 Set this carburetted hydrogen on fire, and at the moment the flame has 

 burnt out, plunge the wood to the height of a few inches into a hot mixture 

 of pitch, tar, and shellac, which will be slightly drawn up between the fibres. 

 and form at each extremity of the wood a kind of hermetical seal, unalter- 

 able by moisture and air. 3. Coat the wood with tar over its whole sur- 

 face by the ordinary methods." — A process nearly similar was not long 

 since communicated to the Paris Academy of Sciences, by M. Gemini, 

 In his plan, tar is used for the purpose of filling the pores of the wood, 

 without the addition of any substance. He encloses the wood in a cylinder, 

 wherein it is dessicated by high-pressure steam. A vacuum is then pro- 

 duced, and additional force is given to the tar in its penetration of the 

 fibres of the wood by a force-pump. M. Gemini observes that a separa- 

 tion lakes place between the solid portion of the tar (the pitch) and the 

 oily portion ; and that the first penetrates only an inch, whilst the oily 

 matter will penetrate throughout the whole substance of the wood. 



77ie " Divining Rod." — It is a practice not uncommon in the mining dis- 

 tricts of Cornwall, to search for veins of ore by the " divining rod," which 

 is supposed to be attracted towards the metal on walking over the surface 

 of the ground. The following letter, in the Mining Journal, signed " H. F. 

 Penny, Notting-hill," thus describes the modus operandi, as having been suc- 

 cessfully practised in his presence. If Mr. Penny be neither deceiving nor 

 deceived, this is one of the things that philosophy cannot account for : — 

 " I have witnessed the operation of the divining rod, in a manner most 

 conclusive and satisfactory to my own mind. I went, accompanied by Mr. 

 H., first to Wheal Jane, the underground captain of which is what they 

 call a denser. He ordered one of the men to cut half-a-dozen withes, of 

 the requisite shape, from a neighbouring hedge, and we tiien proceeded to 

 a field, across which the lode lay. We each held a rod, and walked abreast, 

 the captain in the middle. Upon crossing the lode his rod bent downwards, 

 and, to my surprise and delight, I felt, at the same time, mine pressing 

 against the flesh of the finger, when it went down gradually from being 

 perpendicular to horizontal, but would not go lower. Mr. H.'s remained per- 

 fectly stationary ! We tried it again and again with the same result — the 

 captain's, however, going lower and more freely than mine. We then went 

 to another mine beyond Perran, and sent for a labouring miner from under- 

 ground, who is a celebrated douser. We had another gentleman, a Mr. C, 

 with us, an old farmer, a clerk of this mine, and myself — thus making six, 

 all armed with rods. On crossing the lode, the dowser's rod went down like 

 a shot, completely inverted ! Mine went down gradually, but its pressure 

 was quite perceptible, until one of the limbs of the rod, close to my fist, 

 actually broke off, from the mysterious force in operation. Now, holding 

 my hands perfectly still, and grasping each limb of the rod, it is impossible 

 to move it downwards by any voluntary motion, much less to break it. Mr. 

 H.'s remained as usual, quite stationary, as also the clerk's; the farmer's 

 and Mr. C.'s acted nearly as powerfully as mine, very much to the astonish- 

 ment of the latter, who was an unbeliever. I may mention, that it will not 

 act with one person out of 50, or, perhaps, out of 100." 



The Magnetic Telegraph. — Mr. Nathaniel Holmes, who is in the employ- 

 ment of the Electric Telegraph Company, has made an improvement in the 



magnetic telegraph which promises to be of great utility. The invention is 

 thus described by himself in a letter to the Athenceu'm :— " It may not be 

 uninteresting to record the recent improvement I have made in reducing the 

 expenditure of battery power to one-tenth of the amount required before ; 

 so that now, instead of working on the long circuit (a distance of about 250 

 miles), with an equivalent of 210 pairs of plates, 24 pairs do duty, with a 

 much more effective result — the reduced intensity not suffering so much by 

 the effect of bad insulation. The most important point, however, is the 

 economy of power when it is applied to the numerous stations throughout 

 the kingdom, and the increased faciUty of working through a much larger 

 amount of circuit resistance. The addition consists in the substitution of a 

 single small steel lozenge, three quarters of an inch long, for the two 

 S-inch astatic magnetic needles, and placed between two small coils, of pe- 

 culiar shape. This form has the advantage, besides those already mentioned, 

 of giving a signal free from that constant vibration of the needle, against 

 which so much has been said — the pendulous action of gravity being very 

 limited, from its better adapted form." 



Telegraph Profits.— Ihe profits of the New York and Washington Tele- 

 graph Company are reported to amount to 1,000 dollars per month. The 

 Western Telegraph Company is, however, said to he doing a better business 

 than that. 



LIST OF MEV^ PATENTS. 



GRANTED IN ENGLAND FROM MaY 30, TO JUNE 16, 1348, 



Six Months allowed for Enrolment, unless otherwise expressed. 



William Wootl, of Cranmer-place, Waterloo-road, Surrey, carpet manufacturer, for 

 " Improvements in weaving carpets, and in printing carpets and other fabrics." — Sealed 

 May :». 



William Seaton, of Camden Town, Middlesex, gentleman, for " Improvements in 

 closing tubes, and in preventing and removing the inci-ustation in boilers." — Way 30. 



Jasper Wheeler Rogers, of Nottingham-street, Dublin, civil engineer, for "certain 

 Improved methods and machinery for the preparation of peat as a fuel, and in combina- 

 tion with certain substances as a compost or manure." — June 1. 



Richard Christopher Mansell, of Grange-road, Surrey, gentleman, for "certain Im- 

 provements in the construction of vehicles used on railways or on common roads." — 

 Juna 1. 



Thomas Hunt Barber, of King-street, Cheapside, for " Improvements in machinery for 

 sawing wood." (A communication.) — June 1, 



James Barsham, of Stratford, Essex, manufacturer, for " Improvements in the manu- 

 facture of mats." — June 1. 



Thomas Burdeti Turton, of Sheffield-street, manufacturer, for "certain Improvements 

 in machinery for bending and fitting plates or bars of steel, iron, and other materials, to 

 be used for locomotive engine and carriage springs, and other purposes." — June 1. 



Henry Adcock, of Moorgate-strcet, London, civil engineer, for " certain Improvements 

 in furnaces and fire-places." — June '.'<. 



William Brindley, of Birmingham, manufacturer, for " Improvements in the manu- 

 facture of articles of papier-mache." — June fl. 



Richard Barnes, of Wigan, Lancaster, gas engineer, for " certain Improved apparatus 

 for manufacturing gas for illumination, part of which improvements is applicable to 

 retorts for distilling, pyroligneous, and other similar purposes." — June ti. 



Benjamin Lathrop, Esq., of King-street, Cheapside, London, for " an Improved wheel 

 for raihvay purposes." — June 0. 



Joseph Foot, of Spital-square, Bliddlesex, silk manufacturer, for "Improvements in 

 making skeins of silk." — June 8. 



Joshua Procter Weslhead, of Manchester, manufacturer, for *' Improvements in 

 manufacturing fur into fabrics." — June H. 



Thomas Daiton, of Coventry, silk dyer, for "Improvements in the manufacture 

 fringes, gimps, and bullions." — June 8. 



Paul Marie Darin, of Paris, in the Republic of France, for " Improvements in obtaining 

 motive power." — June 8. 



Richard Want and George Vernum, both of Enfield, Middlesex, engineers, for " an 

 improved steam-engine, which may bo also worked by air and other fluids." — June 10- 



John Miller, of Henrietta-street, Covent Garden, gentleman, for " a new system of 

 accelerated menatrite locomotion, even by animal impulsion, for every species of transport 

 machines acting by means of wheels, whether on land or water." (A communication.) — 

 June 13. 



Charles Henry Capper, of Edgbaston, Warwick, gentleman, for a method of preparing 

 and cleansing minerals and other substances."— June 13. 



Joshua Taylor Beale, of East Greenwich, Kent, civil engineer, for " Iniprovements in 

 the construction and arrangement of engines and machinery for propeUing boats or 

 vessels on water, with a means of preventing incrustation in the boilers, parta of which 

 improvements are applicable to land purposes."— June 13. 



Jt William Hunt, of Dodder Hill, Worcester, chemist, for " Improved apparatus to be 

 used in processes connected with the manufacture of certain metals and salts." — June 13, 

 Sir Henry Hart, Commissioner of Greenwich Hospital, Rear-Admiral In the Navy, for 

 " Iniprovements in apparatus for preventing what are called ' smoky chimneys,' " — June 

 13. 



William Chamberlin, jun., of St. Leonard's-on-the-Sea, Sussex, gentleman, for " Im- 

 provements in apparatus for recording voles at elections."— June 13. 



James Roose, of Darlaston, StatTord, tube manufacturer, and William Haden Richard- 

 son the younger, of the same place, for " Improvements in the manufacture of tubing." 

 — June \'i. 



George Emmott, of Oldham, in the county of Lancaster, civil engineer, for "certain 

 Improvements in the manufacture of fuel, and in the construction and arrangement of 

 furnaces, flues, boilers, ovens, and retorts, having for their object the economical applica- 

 tion of caloric, the manufacture of gas for illumination, and the consumption of smoke 

 and other gaseous products."— June I'i. 



