1845.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



103 



an incli stroke, was fxhibited in action. The winding engine draws the 

 buckets up the pit, which, having arrived at the top, are then dravin towards 

 the engine, nud landed on a level platform; at the siiim^ time, on reaching 

 a certain point, ttie steam is shut ofT from the engine by a self-acting pro- 

 cess. The pitman then takes the bucket oil' the i ope, and attaching it to 

 another rope, sends it down an inclined plane to be emptied, and the weight 

 of the full l)ucket descending the incline, draws up an empty bucket to the 

 pitman's hand, who hooks it on to the pit-rope, reverses the engine, and the 

 bucket is immediately carried back to the pit-raouth and descends the pit, 

 while a full bucket is at the same time drawn up to go through the same 

 process. 



" A netn method ofmabting Locomotive Engines and Railway Carriages In 

 ascend Inclined Planes with greater ease." By the Same. — A well con- 

 structed working model in German silver was exhibited in action. The prin- 

 ciple on which it acts is, that when the locomotive engine arrives at the foot 

 of the inclined plane, the common wheels on which it travels cease to touch 

 the rails, there being another set of wheels keyed on the same axles, but of 

 (inly one-tifth of the diameter. A raised rail is used on the incline to suit 

 the smaller diameter of the wheels which now come into play, and the large 

 wheels being lifted off the rail, act as fly-wheels to the smaller ones. The 

 engine is thus enabled to ascend an incline which it could not do with wheels 

 of the usual diameter ; and this was shown to be the case by Mr. Erskine's 

 model, which easily ascended an incline of 1 in 16, with the small wheels, 

 whereas, with the common wheels it stood still. — [Not new, Ed. C. E. and A. 

 Journal.] 



" On a simple mode of Constructing Models, illustrating the Systems of 

 Crystallogrophy." By George Wilson, M.D., F.U.S.E., Lecturer on Che- 

 mistry, Edinburgh. — Dr. Wilson stated that he had been led to devise these 

 skeleton models with a view to render the apprehension of crystallography 

 more easy, in the hope that he might thereby assist the mineralogist, opti- 

 cian, chemist, and natural philosopher, in acquiring familiarity with crystal- 

 line forms. Each model corresponded, not to a single crystal, but to a system 

 of crystals, and consisted of thin bars of wood intended to represent the 

 axes of the crystals, dirtering in number, and crossing each other at different 

 angles, according to the crystallographic system they were designed to indi- 

 cate. Six skeleton models are all that are necessary for illustrating the 

 principles of crystallography ; as by passing threads or wires over the ends 

 of the wooden rods, all the more important forms of each system can be re- 

 presented on a single model. 



"Report on the Karl of Dnndonald's Rotatory Sleam Engine, erected in 

 H. XI. Dockyard, Portsmouth." By R. Taplin, Esq., Engineer and Me- 

 chanist of that Dockyard ; dated April 2, 1845. — In this report it was stated 

 that the rotatory engine, after hard working for two years in the Dockyard, 

 had required little or no repair, excepting what six men could have done in 

 one day. The vacuum produced by the engine was stated to be = 28 inches 

 of mercury. 



In the absence of Mr. Alexander Bain, the patentee, Mr. Bryson, V.P., 

 " exhibited and described Mr. Cain's Eiectro-Magnetic Clod." — The clock 

 was exhibited in action, by means of a current obtained from the earth. Mr. 

 Bain obtains the electiicity by which his clocks are moved from the earth. 

 He buries a quantity of coke in the ground, and at the distance of a few feet, 

 he buries one or more plates of zinc. These two elements, witli the inter- 

 vening soil, form a galvanic battery, from which an uniform current of elec- 

 tricity of very low tension is obtained. It is the constancy of this current 

 which renders it available as a motive power for time-keepers. The current 

 is led from the coke and the zinc by means of copper wires, the two ends of 

 which terminate in the upper part of the clock. 



To obtain motion from this current Mr. Bain forms a pendulum of fir rod, 

 aud instead of the ordinary bob, he employs a coil of bobbin or copper wire 

 the wire being covered with cotton tliread. In the centre of this bobbin is 

 a hole upwards of an inch in diameter, through which is passed a ease con- 

 taining two sets of bar magnets, having their similar poles placed opposite 

 each other with a small interval between them. The coil has freedom of 

 motion along the case containing the magnets, and when the pendulum is at 

 rest, tlie coil stands over the adjacent similar poles of the magnets. From 

 the coil proceed two wires up the back of the pendulum rod ; one of these 

 is attached to the steel spring by which the pendulum is suspended, and that 

 again is in metallic connection with the copper wire proceeding from one of 

 the elements of the battery (say the zinc) ; the other wire from the coil ter- 

 minates in a metallic disc near the point of snpension of the pendulum, while 

 the wire proceeding from the other element of the battery (say the coke) 

 terminates in a screw on one side of the disc above mentioned. This disc is 

 like a small inverted pendulum, capable of falling to the right and left alter- 

 nately, when its centre of gravity becomes changed by the alternate motion 

 of the pendulum. When the disc falls to the one side, the current flows 

 through the wires ; but when it falls to the other side upon a detent, the 

 current is broken. On the return of the pendulum, the disc again falls on 

 the screw attached to the wire, and renews the connection betwixt the posi- 

 tive sides of the battery. By this contact a stream of electricity passes 

 through the wires and coil ; and as this takes place when the pendulum is 

 at its extreme point of deviation, at each alternate beat, the coil has at that 

 moment one of the sets of bar magnets nearly in its centre. 



Previous discovery bad shown that, when a coil of copper wire is thus 

 situated with respect to a bar magnet, it will, immediately, on a stream of 

 electricity being passed through it, and provided it has freedom of motion. 



be impelled towards one or other of the poles of the magnet, according to 

 the direction of the current of electricity. 



It is this fact of which Mr. Bain has availed himself to give motion to the 

 pendulum of his clock, and accordingly whenever the pendulum is at its ex- 

 treme point deviation from the perpendicular on one side, as already describ- 

 ed, it receives an impulse, in aid of its gravitation, from the action of attrac- 

 tion and repulsion of their different poles exerted by the bar magnets on the 

 electrified coil of wire forming the bob of the pendulum. When the pendu- 

 lum moves to the other side, the disc falls to the opposite side, and the cur- 

 rent of electricity being thus broken, the pendidum returns by the action of 

 gravity alone. In this manner Mr. Bain maintains the oscillations of the 

 pendulum, which thus become the prime mover of the clock, and by simple 

 mechanical adaptations is made to drive the three index wheels. 



Mr. Bain's invention, however, does not end here, for by a very ingenious 

 contrivance, he can make the principal pendulum clock keep in motion as 

 many as 20 or .30 other clocks which will keep exact time with itself. 



Mr. Bain has contrived several methods of connecting the pendulum with 

 the wheels of the clock, and one in particular where the connection is main- 

 tained without contact, and consequently without friction. Tlicse were ex- 

 plained to the meeting, as was also the plan which Mr. Bain has in view for 

 making the electric clocks strike the hours. 



The great advantage which these clocks present over those of ordinary 

 construction is, that they never require to be wound up. Their accuracy as 

 time-keepers will depend on two points — the uniformity of the electric cur- 

 rent obtained from the ground, and the perfect compensation of the pendu- 

 lum for temperature and moisture — an element of importance in the con- 

 struction of all clocks. So far as experience goes, report speaks favourably 

 of the permanence and uniformity of the electric current, and if tliis point 

 be estaldlshed, Mr. Bain's invention must be regarded as completely success- 

 ful, and his clocks will be introduced into general use. 



It was mentioned that Sir Thomas Brisbane, whose eminence as an Astro- 

 nomical observer is well known, has ordered one of these clocks from Mr. 

 Bain, in order to institute a series of observations upon its qualities as a time- 

 keeper. This, however, has chiefly in view its fitness for nice or Astronomi- 

 cal purposes, as from the trials already made for six or eight months past, it 

 would appear that the Electric Clock keeps as accurate time as our house on 

 the common construction, and is stated to be not more expensive. 



ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. 

 April 28.— H. E. Kendall, Esq., V.P. in the Chair. 



A paper was read by Mr. J. Thomson, descriptive of the Parish Church of 

 Alderton, Wilts, the most remarkable feature of which consists in two hagio- 

 scopes, or squints, opened in the angles formed by the nave and transept, the 

 apertures being pierced through masses of masonry carried, for the purpose, 

 on corbels, across the exterior entering angles of the building. Tliese ex- 

 crescences appear to be of later date than the church, since on the south side 

 the windows are partially blocked up by their introduction. 



Mr. F. J. Francis read some observations " On Encaustic Tilef." Those 

 which are so well known, consisting of brown clay inlaid with devices in yel- 

 low, and glazed, appear to hold a middle date between two other sorts of 

 paving tiles less common, — one more ancient, in which the devices are in 

 creitx, and another not older than the 16th century, in which they are in 

 relief. Mr. Francis observed, with regard to the mode of employing these 

 tiles, that a due proportion of ornament and repose is essential to their good 

 effect; and that the manner of spreading the decoration over the whole sur- 

 face of the floor common in modern imitations, reduced it to the appearance 

 of floor-cloth ; and with reference to the subjects of the decorations impressed 

 upon them during the Middle Ages, he took occasion to expose the absurdi- 

 ties of the symbolical system, as set forth by Durandus, and adopted by the 

 writers of the Cambridge Camden Society, who have denounced in the Ec- 

 clesiologist , ludicrously enough, the use of symbols, which thej have actually 

 introduced in the paving of the Round Church. 



Mayb. — At the Annual Meeting the following officers were elected for the en- 

 suing year : — President : Eai 1 De Grey. — Vice Presidents : II. E. Kendal, J. 

 B. Papworth, W. Tite. — Honorary Secretaries : Ambrose Poynter, G. Bailey. 

 — Honorary Secretary for Foreign Correspondence : T. L. Donaldson. — 

 Treasurer: Sir W. R. Farquhar, Bart. — Honorary Solicitor: W. L.Donald- 

 son. — Auditors: G. Mair, R. W. Billings. — Ordinary Members qf Council. 

 T. Bellamy, W. Burn, E. M. Foxhall, G. Godwin, .1. Noble, C. Parker, W. 

 F. Pocock, S. Smirke, J. Shaw, J. Thomson. 



May 12.— H. E. Kendall, V.P. Esq., in the Chair. 



The Rev. Richard Burgess, B.D., Hon. Member, read a paper " On the 

 n'alls of Ancient anil Modern Rome." Mr. Burgess commenced with some 

 observations, showing the connexion between the present subject aud tbiit of 

 the aqueducts, which he had described on a former occasion, and gave a short 

 historical sketch of the progressive increase of the city of Rome from the 

 time of Romulus to the period when Servius Tullius and his successor com- 

 pleted the enclosure of the Seven Hills, by foitifying the eastern side of the 

 city exposed to the Sabine territory by the agger, or mound crowned with a 

 stone wall of which some vestiges can be traced in the vineyard beneath the 

 Villa Barberini, He then proceeded to describe the several alterations and 

 additions made under the Emperor Aurelian, about which time it was disco- 

 vered that something more than rough stone walls was necessary for the de- 



