220 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[July, 



for makinp; curd soap to tlie ordinary leys, and Iioiled together until the 

 goods are " to strong' li" and "ribbon out'' well on tlie finger; but at this 

 stage, instead of boiling-out the liead and fin'shing as hertofore practised, 

 the inventor commences the performance of his process; he pumps out the 

 strong ley on which the gciods have been boiled, and treats the goods with 

 successive portions of weak ley or water, and boils them together until they 

 assume the appearance of the goods of a fitting yellow colour. This condi- 

 tion being arrived at. the operation is stopped and time allowed for the niger 

 to be deposited, which m.iy require from 24 to 30 hours. This niger is then 

 separated, either by pumping out from under the purified goods to an adja- 

 cent copper, or the purified goods are removed fruni above the niger to an 

 adjacent copper, as is found most convenient ; but in either case, upon the 

 said goods being thus deprived of the niger, there is added to them the pro- 

 per finishing ley for curd soap, and boiled to a suitable curd or until the soap 

 is found to be in a condition for cleansing ofl' into the frames. 'When a 

 charge of very impure materials is to be operated upon, or when from any 

 circumstance it is considered of advantage, this purilying or fitting process 

 is to be repeated once or more times, in which case or cases after separating 

 the niper from the goods as described there is to be added to the residual 

 partially purified goods a ley of moderate strength only (instead of the finish- 

 ing ley for curd soap) and boiled, taking care no '" head" is formed ; the ley 

 is then pumped out and the goods again treated with weak ley or water until 

 sufficiently diluted so as to [lerform tho fitting process ; after which time is 

 allowed for subsidence, the niger sepaniteil and the finishing ley added, and 

 lioiled to a curd as before described. The inventor's treatment of the niger 

 and mode of converliug it into mottled soap, is as follows. As above stated, 

 the niger is pumped from under the purified goods to an adjacent copper, or 

 the purified goods are removed from it, suffering it to remain in the copper 

 which has been employed fir its separation ; in either case there is added to 

 it the ordinary ley used for finishing a mottled soap, and boiled until the 

 soap is fit for cleansing ofi' into the frames. The qantiiy of niger obtained 

 from one purifying or fitting opjration is not large enough to be boiled con- 

 veniently by itself, therefore, in general, four, six, or more of the said nigers 

 are pumped together and finished by one boiling in the manner above de- 

 scribed, there is also occasionally addtd to the nigers a portion of tallow, 

 bone fat, melted stuH', or other suitable material, and afterwards finished as 

 ivith an ordinary charge for mottled soap. 



The claim is, first, for the manufacture of curd soap by separating from the 

 materials originally put into the copper the niger, and boiling the remainder 

 of the materials into curJ soap, by which is produced a purer and better 

 soap; and secondly, the making of this niger into a mottled soap, with or 

 without the addition of other materials as described. 



INCRUSTATION OF BOILERS. 



Louis Antoine RiTTERB.iNUT. of Gerard Street, Soho, Middlesex, for " Im- 

 frwements in preveiiting and removing incrustafio7i and steam generators,^' — 

 Granted Dec. 2, 1844 ; Enrolled May 28, 1845. 



The object of this inventionjs to prevent, and also to remove, by the appli- 

 cation of ammoniacal salts, muriatic or nitric acid; the incrustation in steam 

 boilers and steam generators, which the inventor stales is occasioned by the 

 heat employed in generating steam causing the lime which exists in the water 

 in the form of a soluble bicarbonate of lime to be converted into an insoluble 

 carbonate of lime, the partich s of which as they fall to the bottom carry with 

 them other particles which may be held in suspension in the water. The 

 object of the inventor is. therefore, to convert the insoluble carbonate of 

 lime into a muriate, nitrate, or other soluble salt. He therefore proposes to 

 introduce into the water, contained in the boiler or lanktrom which the boiler 

 is supplied, muriate of ammon'a, nitrate of ammonia or any other ammoniacal 

 salt whos; acid forms with the lime a soluble compound, the quantity of 

 which will depend on the quantity of lime contained in the water to be em- 

 ployed in working the engines, and in order to ascertain this the inventor 

 takes, for instance, a gallon "of the water to be examined and evaporates it 

 slowly in an open vessel. He then collects the solid matter found at the 

 bottom of the vessel and weighs it, this master is then placed in a glass vessel 

 and mixed with equal qnantities of muriatic acid and distilled water, alter 

 standing for a short time the mixture is to be filtered through while blotting 

 paper, the solid is again collected and dried, and the diflerence between its 

 weight now and before the application of the acid is said to give the amount 

 of carbonate of lime dissolved in the muriatic acid. For instance, if a gallon 

 of water give 10 grains of solid matter, and after digesting with muriatic 

 acid there be only 6 grains left, the gallon contains four grains of carbonate 

 of lime ; having thus ascertained the quantity of lime in the water, and taken 

 into consideration the quantity of water evaporated in a given time, the mu- 

 riate of ammonia must be added a little in excess of ihe lime, say 04 of am- 

 moniacal salt to 50 of carbonate of lime. 



The inventor claims the.application of, ammoniacal'salt to prevent and re- 



move incrustation in boilers, and also the application of ammoniacal salt with 

 muriatic or nitric acid for the purpose above described. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN SUGAR BOILING. 



John RoN.\Ln, for " an apparatus for boiling sugar-cane juice and other 

 liquids."— Granted Dec. 5, 1844; Knrolled June 5, 1845. 



The apparatus consists of an oblong chest or vessel with a high flange, 

 made of wood or metal, and lined with copper or other metal, to contain 

 the cane juice or liquid which is to be boiled by the heat of steam. In this 

 chest arc lengths of strong copper pipes, eight in number, for containing the 

 steam; these pipes are formed into a continuous coil by having bends of 

 brass soldered on to their ends, which bends are jointed together by external 

 and internal screws, and screwed up so as to permit a gradualdescent on each 

 piece of pipa from one end to the other, by which means the water formed by 

 condensation in the pipes flow s freely ofi ; two of the tnese pipes are of greater 

 diameter than the others, for the purpose of creating a greater bulling power 

 in a particular part of the chest or vessel. There are forked copper supports 

 for the pipes, each being about .Jjjth of an inch shorter than the preceding 

 one, for the purpose of supporting the pipes at the gradual descent fixed by 

 the screwing of tlie joints. .Steam is admitted from a high pressure steam 

 boiler or boilers at two places into the pipes in the chest ; a valve in the bot- 

 tom of the chest discharges the contents, the bottom of the chest being sloped 

 down to the valve so as to discharge the whole contents quickly. There is 

 a pipe with a descent for carrying forward the condensed water to a self- 

 acting expansion valve. The chest contains also a revolving fan, or agitator, 

 made of copper or other metal or wood ; it is worked by the rolling motion 

 of the boiling liquid, and is so constructed that it can be placed as low or as 

 high in the chest as is necessary ; it consists of a spindle with flanges fixed 

 to it, the spindle being a hollow cylinder which gives suflicient buoyance to 

 the fan or agitator so as to float it on the surface, the journals of the spindle 

 being guided in slots. 



The chief claim is for the plan of admitting the steam into the pipes at two 

 different places, by which means the heating power of the pipes is greatly 

 increased, compared with what it is twdien admitted at one place only 

 AVhen the steam is admitted at one place only, a great deal of its heating 

 power is exhausted before it reaches the farther end of the piping. The claim 

 is also for the plan of creating a much greater degree of boiling, in a parti- 

 cular part of the chest or vessel, by introducing into that particular part 

 piping of a greater diameter than what is in the other part of the chest or 

 vessel — this causes a much greater ebullition ; it also causes a constant and 

 rapid rolling motion of Ihe liquid from the one side of the chest to the other, 

 thereby greatly increasing the evaporation, thereby causing the scum on the 

 top to flow all to one side of the chest, wdiereitcan be skimmed off' with ease, 

 thereby preventing the liquid when it has becime thick from settling down 

 and charring on the pipes, and ther>'by driving or working the revolving fan 

 or agitator. The invention of the self-actiug expansion valve for keeping 

 the pipes in the chest clear of the water formed by condensation is claimed. 

 When no steam is in the piping, this valve remains fully open : but as soon 

 as steam is admitted, the hot water from condensation, and, at first, a small 

 portion of the steam, rush along the piping down to tiie valve ; the piping is 

 immediately lengthened by the heat, and the mouth of the valve advances up 

 to the plug, w hich is kept fixed in its position by the pole ; the valve is thereby 

 shut, and the water collects in the piping, which thereby becomes less hot, 

 and contracts in length just so much as to withdraw the mouth of the valve 

 from the plug no farther than allows the water to trickle aw ay w iihotit wast- 

 ing steam. 



The inventor stales that when trying an experiment in this matter he dis- 

 covered and has brought into use what cannot be considered anything else 

 than a first moving power hitherto unknown, viz., moving machinery by the 

 force of boiling liquid. It is noticed in the specification ; the agitator or tan 

 revolves with gie;it steadiness and with considerable force. It has as yet 

 been tried only in granulators ; but in an evaporator heh as no doubt that the 

 power will be equal to the strength of a man. This power can be obtained 

 by the heat of a common fire as well as by the heat of steam. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS. 



WiLLTAM Peossee.J un., of Pimlico, and Jean Baptiste Caecano, of Milan, 

 gent., for ''Improvements in working atmospheric railways." — Granted Dec. 1 

 1844; Enrolled June 18, 1845. 



This invention consists in the first place of so arranging the valves for 

 covering the longitudinal slit or opening that they shall open inwards, and 

 in combining such valves w ith suitable transverse valves in the tractii.n pipe 

 for the air to act against whilst moving the piston ; secondly, in the applica- 



