1845.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



m 



survey and any parallel survey taken in the year 1823, and laid 

 down upon the plan. Such discrepancy might cause great inconvc- 

 uience, loss of property, or even of life, in coal mines ; and it is there- 

 fore highly important tliat mining engineers should have constant and 

 ready access to an authentic account of the periodical magnetic varia- 

 tion. 



I am, Sir, 

 , Vorv respectfully yours, 



Ilaigh Colliery, Wigan, William Peace, Mining Engineer. 



j^prit 7, 1845. 

 *»* We shall be able to give our correspondent an answer next 

 month. 



REGISTER OF NEW PATENTS. 



(t'ndtr thii head wf propose giving abstracts of the speclScatlona of all the most im- 

 portunt piiteilts us they nre enrolled. If any additional information be required as to any 

 patent, the same may b« obtnlned by apolying to Mr. LAXTON at the Office of this 

 JUURNALJ 



INDIA RUBBER COVERING. 



Wii-LtAM Brockenbon, of Devonshire Street, Queen Square, in the county of 

 Aliddlesex, gentleman, for " Improvements in covering the roofs oj buildings, in 

 covering the valves used for propelling by atmospheric pressure, in covering the 

 sleepers of railtraifs, and in covering parts of stringed and keyed mnsical instrit- 

 mfnd."— Granleci July 24, 1844; Enrolled Jan. 1845. 



This invention consists in the apiilication of a preparation of india rubber as 

 patented by Mr. Thomas Hancock. The india rubber is cut inlo pieces, and 

 cleansed by being passed between rollers with water, and then combined with 

 about ten per cent, of its weight of sulphur in powder ; and for roofs of build- 

 ings and for railway purposes it is desirable to combine therewith calamine 

 in the state of powder ; for roofing purposes as much calamine by weight as 

 india rubber may be used, but where more flexibility is required less calamine 

 is used, for railway valves about one-half by weight of the india rubber is a 

 good proportion. The sulphur and calamine is combined with the india rub- 

 ber between rollers. For railways the mixture is produced in sheets from 

 ■rj to I inch thick, and afterwards subjected to heat. When working india 

 rubber for railway valves the preparation may be formed into blocks in moulds, 

 and then sheets cut off. For musical instruments the prepared india rubber 

 IS used without calamine. The patentee dues not claim the use of calamine 

 for such purposes ; he says other matters may be used, mixed with the india 

 rubber, to cheapen it. or india rubber simply prepared with sulphur and heat 

 may be employed for all the purposes described. The sheets are submitted 

 to a temperature of from 290° to 300° for about an hour. 



1st. claim is for coverings roofs of buildings with thin slieets of the pre- 

 pared india rubber spread evenly over the boarding, and overlapping about 

 two inches and nailed down. 



2nd claim is for forming the surface of the valves which close the longitu- 

 dinal opening in the tubes of atmospheric railways with the aforesaid india 

 rubber instead of leather. 



3rd claim is for covering sleepers of railways between the rails, or the chairs, 

 and the sleepers. 



4th claim is for covering the hammers of piano-fortes with the preparation 

 of india rubber instead of leather, and also the keys of flutes and other instru- 

 ments having similar openings, and covered with similar stops acted on by 

 keys. 



INPROVEMENTS IN CROWN GLASS. 



Alexander Ewing, of Dumbarton, Scotland, glass-splitter, for " Improve- 

 ments in the manufacture of crown ^'/ass."— Granted August 15, 1844; En- 

 rolled Feb. 1845. (Sec Engraving, Plate XII.) 



The object of the improvements is for giving to crown glass greater equality 

 of thickness. The first claim is for the mode of operating in the manufacture of 

 crown glass, as follows :— When the workman called the " gatherer," has 

 formed what is called the piece on the hand pointing or gatherer's " marver," 

 and is about to be pierced or perforated by the blower behind, the gatherer 

 applies that part of the gathering near the tube to an iron cutter, fixed to a 

 standard attached to the back of the marver, «, fig. 1, the gatherer and the 

 blower then turn the piece round on the cutter whereby an incision is made, 

 which displaces the metal from the nose of the pipe into the shoulder of the 

 gathering, and ensures strung shoulders. The rim is thus made to any con- 

 sistency, and after expansion an equality of substance of the table of glass 

 will be the result, which will allow a more eiieeUial standing in the annealing 

 arches or kilns. The cutter is sharpened by a file and is fixed to the standard 

 by a bolt, so as to be removed for the purpose of fixing cutters of various 

 shapes. The patentee shows two other instruments for accomplishing the 

 same object. 



The second claim is for the mode of operating in the manufacture of crown 

 glass as follows. At the time of perforation, the glass is taken to the " Pat- 

 tieon hole," and a heat being taken, It is mat\ed on [he blulier's marver and 



then replaced in the Faltison hole, and 'when sulTicicntly Iieated it is taken 

 to the stake or standard, as shown in fig. 2,lo increase the size of the globe, 

 and when the cutter is applicil tu tlie nose of the piece to prevent its swell- 

 ing at the neck, .and to cflect a greater disunion of the piece from the 

 pipe. The piece is taken to tlie bottoming hole and repeatedly healed and 

 blown to the size desired, it is then taken successively to the "casher box,'' 

 to the nose Ihule, the (lashing furnace, and lastly to the annealing arch or 

 kiln. 



MINING SHOVELS. 



Wii.LiAM BRtJNTON, Jun., of Poole, near Truro, engineer, for " Improvements 

 in tite mannjacture of shovels for mining purposes,"— GiRnled August 29, 1844 ; 

 Enrolled February"29, 1845. 



The claim is for manufacturing of shovels for mining purposes, by casting 

 them of an .alloy of copper and zinc, or tin or both. The shovels are made 

 similar in shape with those now used, the alloy when in a fluid state is poured 

 into a mould of sand of the pattern required. The alloy preferred consists of 

 3 parts of copper, 2 of zinc, and 1 of tin ; when desired to be hard and tough, 

 8 parts of copper and 1 of tin, without any zinc are employed ; after the 

 shovel is cast, it is to be shghtly hammered upon a smooth anvil to consoU- 

 datc it. 



PUMP VALVES. 



Moses Poole, of Lincoln's-inn, in the County of Middlesex, gentleman, 

 for •' Improvements in laimps." (A communication from a foreigner.)— Granted 

 August 29, 1844; Enrolled Feb. 1845. 



The improvements consist in the arrangement of the valves, and placing 

 them in a case separate from the body of the pulhp, in order that they may 

 be more easily got at when out of order. 



FURNACE BARS.| 



John Chanter, of the city of London, patentee and proprieter of patents, 

 C.E., and Geoege Lodge, of Leeds, engineer, for " Improvements in furnaces, 

 Jire bars, hot air generators, and flues.'' — Granted Sep. 12, 1844; Enrolled 

 March 12, 1845. (See Engraving, Plate XII.) 



The first part of this invention relates to certain improvements in fire bars, 

 and consists in the first place in arranging and constructing the bars in such 

 manner as to move to and fro in a direction of their length ; and secondly, in 

 making the bars with lateral grooves, which join the notches or hori- 

 zontal grooves formed in the upper edge of the bars, the object of the lateral 

 grooves being to facilitate the introduction of air into the furnace from the 

 ash pit, that is to say, between the bars. Fig. 1 shews a side elevation of a 

 bar having lateral grooves, a a, which join the horizontal grooves or notches 

 formed in the upper edge, these bars, when constructing a furnace, are sup- 

 ported by a cast iron frame in such manner that each alternate bar is a fix- 

 ture, and therefore remains stationary whilst the intermediate bars have, by an 

 arrangemement of levers, shown at fig. 1, a motion given them in the direc- 

 tion of their length, in the following manner — b b' are projections or arms 

 upon the upper edge of which all the moveable bars rest, these arms are sup- 

 ported by axes or shafts, c c', upon which they move, to the shaft c' is at- 

 tached a lever d, and to the lower end of this lever is attached, by means of a 

 pin joint, one end of the connecting rod e, the other end being attached to 

 the short arm of the cranked lever f, which moves upon a fulcrum g, the long 

 arm of this lever is provided with a handle, by moving which up or down, 

 which may be done by the stoker or the engine, every alternate fire 

 bar will move to and fro in a direction of its length, which movements will 

 have the effect of preventing clinkers ; the only difference between this in- 

 vention (if it may be so called) and that of a Mr. Miller is, that the patentees 

 make the bars wilh grooves in the sides and give motion to every other bar, 

 the intermediate bars being fixtures, whilst Mr. Miller causes all the bars to 

 move ; the object in the present case is stated to be a saving in power. Fig. 2 

 shews a plan or edge view of a fire bar. 



The other part of these improvements consists in the construction of hot 

 air generators, or chambers ; and lastly, in the construction of flues for in- 

 troducing the air into the furnace. 



Fig. 3 shews a longitudinal section of the hot air generators, &c. A and B 

 are two chambers situated beneath the flame bed C, in these chambers there are 

 a number of deflective partitions, E E. F is the bridge, over which there is 

 constructed an arch, made hollow and with a number of openings on the 

 underside ; this hollow arch communicates with flues leading from the cham- 

 ber 13. G is a valve for admitting air into the chamber A, which passes in a 

 direction indicated by the arrows inlo the chamber B, and from thence 

 through flues into the hollow arch, from whence it pas.ses downward through 

 the openings in the arch, and mixes with the flame as it passes from the fur- 

 nace over the bridge. 



Another arrangement for admitting air over the fire is by constructing the 

 lurnace double, so as lu form u box, as shown at / ; the air after passing 



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