180 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



tJu^E, 



it to lie sufficiently pulverulent; but, when this is not the case, it 

 must he (ground or pulverised: the pulverised matter is to he 

 ^^rouud with oil, so as to form jiaint, in the usual way. When the 

 i-onihustihle volatile products of the calcination are not hurnt, the 

 cover on the retort is luted, so as to make it air-tight, and a pipe 

 inserted therein to convey the volatile products to a condenser. 

 The calcination will cause a volatile oil to be evolved from the 

 contents of the retort, and the oil will pass through the pipe into 

 the condenser, where it will he condensed. The calcination will 

 also cause the evolution of an inflammable gas, suitable for the 

 juirpose of ilhimination; which gas must be conveyed by a pipe 

 from the condenser to a gasometer. 



The claim is for treating oxides of iron by mixing them with 

 carI)onaceous matters and subjecting them to the action of heat in 

 the manner above described, for the purpose of obtaining one or 

 more of the several products before mentioned. 



PAINTS FOR CLOTH. 



KoBEKT Thomson Pattison, of Glasgow, Scotland, for "on im- 

 proved preparation or material for fiaiiiy paint or pigment colours on 

 fotton, linen, woollen, silJe, and other miven /iihrics." — Granted No- 

 vember 2, 18t8; Enrolled March 2, 1849. 



Tlie improved preparation for fixing the colours is made or ex- 

 tracted from butter-milk in the following manner: — The butter- 

 milk, as soon as possible after churning, is put into a boiler and 

 lieated to 160° Fahrenheit, which causes the curd to precipitate 

 from the whey; it is then strained through a cloth, to separate the 

 curd from the whey; after which, the curd is sulijected to pressure 

 in a cheese-press for a night; it is next broken and granulated, 

 by being rubbed through a wire sieve; it is then spread upon cloth 

 sieves, arranged on shelves in a room with a stove, for gradually 

 drying it; and, when dry, it is ground to fine powder: it is now in 

 a fit state to be used for fixing colours on fabrics. It is necessary, 

 after the milk has been heated, to add to the boiler a quantity of 

 acid sufficient to effect the precipitation of the curd: most acids 

 will answer; but oxalic acid is recommended to be used. AVhen 

 the curd has been precipitated, it is treated in the same manner as 

 that obtained from butter-milk. The fixing material is termed by 

 the patentee "lactarine." The relative quantities of the lactarine 

 and the colours to be applied to the fabrics will vary according to 

 the result desired to be obtained with regard to the colour or 

 shade. As an example, the followinn; mode of fixing a medium 

 shade of ultramarine blue is given; — 1 wo gallons of water and three 

 pounds of lactarine are mixed in a suitable vessel, and then four 

 gills of ammonia fort are added, which will have the effect of dis- 

 solving the lactarine and converting the mixture into a thick gum 

 or gummy substance. In another vessel one gallon of water and 

 twelve pounds of ultramarine blue are mixed together, and the 

 contents of the two vessels are thoroughly mixed; the combined 

 mixture is then strained through a fine cloth, after which it is 

 ready for printing. The operations of printing, straining, and 

 finishing the fabrics, are successively performed in the manner 

 usually adopted by calico printers. 



BELL ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. 



Sir — I have carefully read Mr. Alan Stevenson's letter of the 

 loth ult., in reply to mine of the 8th February last, the former 

 contained in the ftlay number (]). l.SO), and the latter in the March 

 number (p. 77), of your valuable Journal ; and as the main facts 

 and statements in my letter remain undisturbed, upon which it 

 a])pears to me, as I have no doubt it will to your readers also, that 

 the whole case rests, I do not feel that any further answer is re- 

 quired, and I shoulil be sorry to waste the' valuable time of your 

 readers by following Mr. Stevenson through a variety of niinor 

 details, — all of which are easily answered, although they have 

 nothing to do with the main question at issue. 



Mr. Alan Stevenson, by publishing in your Journal what he 

 says was his father's original design for the'lJell Rock Lighthouse, 

 as well as the one actually executed, proves beyond all doubt that 

 his father's design was not adopted or executed; and his father's book, 

 together with the correspondence in your Journal, proves equally 

 beyond doubt that previous to any design for the lighthouse being 

 adopted, or to any of the works being commenced, the late Mr. 

 Rmnie was appointed chief engineer, and furnished his own design, 

 and Mr. Robert Stevenson was appointed assistant engineer under 

 the late Mr. Rennic, and carried Mr. Rennie's design into effect, 

 under his directions, with such alterations as Mr. Reunie con- 



sidered advisable during the progress of the work, which he (Mr. 

 Rennie) superintended and directed, from the commencement to its 

 final completion. It is quite superfluous, therefore, for me to pur- 

 sue the subject further. 



Mr. Alan Stevenson's doctrine, that the assi.itant engineer, acting 

 under the directions of the chief engineer, should have the merit of 

 the whole, instead of the chief engineer, is so contrary to common- 

 sense, as well as to the universally-acknowledged practice, that I 

 do not think he will find that any member of the profession or 

 of the public will agree with him. 



Giving Mr. Robert Stevenson, therefore, as I have done, every 

 possible credit which is due to him for the very im])ortant services 

 he i-endered previous to the work being placed under the late Mi-. 

 Rennie, as well as for the able manner in which he discharged the 

 duties of assistant engineer under the late Mr. Rennie whilst the 

 work was being carried into efi^ect, I still adhere to the statement 

 contained in my work upon the Breakwater in Plymouth Sound, 

 and in my Address to the Institution of Civil Engineers — viz., 

 that the late Mr. Rennie designed and built the Bell Rock Light- 

 house. 



I am, Sir, 



Your humble servant, 



London, May 17, 1849. Joh.v Rennie. 



FBOCEEDZNGS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES. 



INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. 



j4pril 25. — Robert Stephenson, Esq., M.P., President, in the Chair. 



The President opened the proceedings of the meeting by tendering to 

 them his sincere thanks for the distinguished privilege they had conferred 

 upon him, by electing him the President of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers. He assured them that he highly prized it, and would endeavour 

 to prove himself worthy of it by altenduig with diligence and energy to the 

 interests of the Institution. In undertaking that duty, it was not merely 

 because he delighted in mechanical pursuits, but he was actuated also by 

 the feeling that he should be doing honour to the departed. In undertaking 

 it, however, it was necessary that he should express to them how apprehen- 

 sive he was — at least, that he had apprehensions — of an Institution of that 

 kind fading for want of energy on the part of its members. What had 

 hitherto been the character of almost every Institution of the kind in this 

 country? — almost universal failure. It was a remarkable circumstance, that 

 in a country like Great Britain, whose wealth and power are so closely con- 

 nected with the development of the Mechanical Arts and Sciences — it ap- 

 peared to him, in fact, a complete anomaly — that Institutions of that kind 

 should not appear to reach a higher standard than they now had. They 

 saw Astronomers cultivate and maintain a society for extending their know- 

 ledge of the movements of the heavens. They saw Geologists maintaining 

 and extending societieti for investigating and developing the structure of the 

 earth. They saw Physiologists and Botanists maintaining and extending 

 their societies for investigating and developing the knowledge of the animal 

 and vegetable productions of the earth : yet they had witnessed only lan- 

 guidness and inactivity in the pursuit of those arts and sciences on which 

 the nation's wealth absolutely depended. That it should be the case was to 

 him the more remarkable, because the nation stood pre-eminent for their 

 mechanical abilities. It was not egotistical in him to say this in Britain, 

 because all foreigners conceded to them an unmeasured pre-eminence in 

 tliose particular arts. Without despairing therefore of the success of the 

 Institution, he felt tliat in undertaking the task he was now doing, it was 

 necessary that he should impress upon the members the absolute necessity 

 of co-operating with him with energy in the further development of the 

 Institution. With that strong conviction on his mind, he wished also 

 strongly to impress it on them ; for without energy and industry they must 

 fail as heretofore. He would endeavour to do his part, and trusted and 

 hoped most sincerely that the members would not fail in doing theirs, for 

 without their assistance no efforts of his would sustain an Institution of 

 that kind. 



The following papers were read : — 



ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF PERMANENT WAY. 



"0« the Construction of Permanent Way." By Mr. Hobt, of 

 Brighton. 



The subject on which a few remarks are here offered for con- 

 sideration, seems hardly to fall within the scope of this Institu- 

 tion; there exists, however, such an intimate connection between 

 the construction and condition of the permanent way and the per- 

 formances of the motive stock, as regards speed, economy, and 

 safety, that little further apology need he made for the introduc- 

 tion of a few observations on the various kinds of permanent way 

 now in existence. 



The rapid deterioration of the permanent road on most of the 



