1846.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



321 



ed, are actuated alternately by the iatroduction of the motive agent into 

 the cylinders above the piston. On the opposite side of the piston the 

 space which intervenes between the pistons of the two steam cylinders, is 

 occupied with air or any other elastic, or non-elastic fluid, not susceptible 

 of condensation. It will be understood that the tubes which connect the 

 cylinder together, as well as the additional crlinders, which are placed 

 between the two end ones, are also kept full of air or other elastic or non- 

 elastic fluid, not susceptible of condensation; therefore the power received 

 by the piston of either of the two end cylinders, which are alternately in 

 vacuo, is simullaneously transmitted to any other piston or pistons in any 

 other cylinders which may be situated between the two end ones, and these 

 additional cylinders may be placed at any distance or in any position that 

 may be required, always provided that the communication is kept up by 

 means of tubes. 



If two cylinders only be employed, they are connected with each other 

 below the piston by a tube, steam only being admitted above the pistons 

 alternately; therefore when the steam exerts a force to depress the one, the 

 opposite piston is acted on by the exhaustion from the condenser, also by 

 the elastic or non-elastic fluid rushing from one cylinder to the other. 



When air compressed, or any other elastic fluid, is employed as the mo- 

 tive asent, it is admitted iu the same manner as steam, and the same ellect 

 ■will result from the same arrangement of cylinders and the connecting 

 tubes, whether the cylinders be two or more ; with this difference, that the 

 air which has followed the piston must be withdrawn by air-pumps out of 

 the cylinder, in order that there may be a vacuum above the piston, 



LOCOMOTIVE ENGINES. 



Robert Nisbet, of Lambden, Esq., for " certain Iinproi-cments in Loco- 

 moiite Engines and Railways." — Granted February 19 ; Enrolled August 

 19, 1846. — Reported in the Patent Journal. 



These improvements consist in making such additions to engines and 

 railways, as to enable a train to ascend, at a very slightly diminished 

 speed, almost any incline. A toothed circle or ring is bolted, or otherwise 

 secured to the rim of each driving wheel of the locomotive engine, or, if 

 necessary, a circle of teeth may be attached to each side, the diameter of 

 which, at the pitch line, must of course be the same as the diameter of the 

 sole or hearing periphery of the wheel. Racks corresponding with these 

 toothed rings are laid down at the inclined portions of the railway, aud 

 may either be secured to seats formed iu the chairs for their reception, or 

 bedded on separate longitudinal sleepers laid for that purpose; they are 

 continued beyond where the gradient commences, to the distance equal to 

 the length of the longest train likely to travel thereon; at the beginning, 

 or where the toothed rings first take into these racks, the pitch line is 

 placed below the level of the rails, and the teeth at the same point are 

 bevelled off on one side to a sharp edge. From this it gradually rises 

 until it attains a proper level, and the teeth at the 6ame time are bevelled 

 less in proportion as they rise, until they assume a proper shape. This 

 arrangement will facilitate the junction of the rings with the racks, and 

 prevent any possibility of the teeth of the one coming opposite the teeth of 

 the other. 



On railways intersected with many crossings, he prefers making use of 

 only one circle orf" teeth to each wheel ; this he places on the inside, as 

 where the flange passes there will be room for it; also by cutting a portion 

 of the rail away, through which it may pass freely. 



By another arrangement, the toothed rings are secured to the driving 

 wheels by means of fourshort links, on which they swing, placed at equal 

 distances on (he circumference, and will admit of their being raised two or 

 three inches, so as to clear the rails in crossings, or any other obstructions 

 likely to be met with. The toothed rings, in this case, are acted on by 

 a lever, over which the driver has contiol, who raises or depresses 

 them accordingly, 



He states that he is aware that toothed wheel and racks have before 

 been applied to railways, throughout their entire length, and which method 

 of propulsion he does not claim. But he claims the bxing of toothed circles 

 or rings to the driving wheels of locomotive engines, for tiie purpose of 

 ascending inclines, and also for retarding iu its descent. (This is not new. 

 — Ed. C. E. and .\. Journal.) 



VENTILATION OF MINES. 



William Price Strute, of Swansea, civil engineer, for" Improvements 

 in vent Hating mines." — Granted March 11 ; Enrolled Sept. 11, 1S46. 



The improvements relate to an apparatus for exhausting the air out of 

 pjines, for the purpose of ventilating them and withdrawing explosive gases 

 formed therein. The patentr e proposes to effect these objects by an appa- 

 ratus, that will draw a continued current of air through the upcast shaft of 

 the mine, consisting of two large cylindrical tanks built of masonry or other 

 suitable material, partially filled with water; within the tanks are to be sus- 

 pended two inverted chambers similar to gasometers. From each tank two 

 air-tight enclosed passages are to be formed leading to the upcast shaft, one 

 passage to lead from the top of the tank above the inverted chamber, and 

 the other passage to lead from the underside of the inverted chamber, just 

 above the water line; each of these passages are to be furnished with valves 

 oiiening inwards, and also with valves opening outwards to the external air, 

 the valves to be of the same area as the upcast shaft, and are recommended 

 to be made in compartments of plates of metal faced with Isather, bolted on 

 to a framing, the leather forming a hinged joint. 



For working the apparatus a horizontal shaft is set in motion by a steam 

 engine, or other power. This shaft passes through the sides of the tanks to 

 the centre, and at each end of the shaft is fixed a crank, attached to a con- 

 necting rod ; the upper end of the rod is fixed to the centre of the inside of 

 the top of the inverted chamber. When the shaft is set in motion, the 

 cranks, which are set at each end of the shaft opposite to each other, are 

 made to rotate, and by them the connecting-rod causes the inverted cham- 

 bers to be raised and lowered alternately, so that at each stroke of the engine 

 a quantity of air is displaced equivalent to the capacity of the two inverted 

 chambers. By this arrangement the air is withdrawn from the upcast shaft to 

 each tank through the inlet valves, first under the inverted chamber, then 

 over it, and as the chamber rises the air is expelled out of the tank above 

 the chamber through the outlet valve, and at ihe same time the interior of 

 the chamber is being filled with air from the upcast shaft, and when the 

 chamber descends the outlet valve is closed, and air is drawn from the upcast 

 shaft through the inlet valve to the upper part of the tank above the cham- 

 ber, and at the same time the air is forced out of the interior of the inverted 

 chamber through the outlet valve. Thus a continued current of air is being 

 withdrawn from the mine through each tank. 



ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS. 



Hfnry Heighton, M.A., of Rugby, Warwickshire, for " Improvements in 

 electric telegraphs." — Granted Feb. 3 ; Enrolled Aug. 3, 1846. 



This invention relates to the introduction of an apparatus to supply the 

 place of the magnetic needle now used for electric telegraphs. The appara- 

 tus consists of a glass tube fitted with brass caps at top and bottom, and 

 having a strip of metallic leaf (gold leaf is recommended as best) passing 

 through the centre of the tube, loosely hung in metallic contact with the 

 brass caps ; the upper extremity of the leaf being fixed at right angles to 

 its lower end. so that; the leaf, from whatever direction seen, will present at 

 some part its flat surface to the eye. Tue brass caps are placed in a circuit 

 suitable for electro-telegraphic communication. Near to the leaf (as on the 

 outside of the glass) is placed either of the poles of a magnet. The effect 

 of this arrangement is, that when a current of voltaic electricity is caused 

 to pass through the circuit, and thereby, the metallic leaf, the latter is de- 

 flected to one side or the other, according to the direction of the current ; 

 .-ind the distinct motion so obtained may be repeated and combined and used 

 for the purpose of designating letters or figures or other conventional sig- 

 nals. One of the apparatus is to be placed at each terminus of telegraphic 

 communication, and others may be placed at intermediate points, each to be 

 provided with a voltaic battery and one of the key-boards used in single 

 magnetic-needle electric telegraphs. 



NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



Bavaria Canal. — This canal, which has been opened for a few months, 

 promises to he of the highest importance to commerce, by it the Rhine and 

 Danube, and consequently the Black and North Seas are united. A 

 vessel can transport its cargo from London or Rotterdam across Bavaria, 

 Austria, Hungary, and Wallachia,as far as Trebizond and Constantinople, 

 This canal, bearing the name of Ludtcigts Kanal, was executed by the 

 King of Bavaria. 



Tetegrajiitic Wires. — A new coating has been applied to the wires of 

 the Munich and Augsburg railway telegraph, the invention of Profeesor 

 Steinheil, of Munich, it possesses the properties of protecting the wires 

 from lightning. 



We are happy to announce, observes the Athenieum, that the Budrua 

 JIarbles, secured to us by the exeitions of Sir Stratford Canning, have ar- 

 rived from Asia Minor, and are now safely deposited in the British Museum. 

 The pieces of frieze of which this most interesting collection consists have 

 been removed from the walls of the Turkish fort into which they were 

 built; and where they have, from time to time, been noticed by Europeaa 

 travellers — though no very critical account of them has ever been publish- 

 ed. Budrun, as is well known, occupies the site of the ancient Halicar- 

 nassos ; and it has, with great probability, been supposed that these sculp- 

 tures formed part of the celebrated mausoleum erected, iu that city, by 

 Artemisia, Uueen of Caria, to the memory of her husband, Mausolus, B.C. 

 350— and have, like the frieze of ihe ■ieiiiple of Victory, at Athens, been 

 used by the Turks as the building materials of a fort erected on the site of 

 this monument. If this opinion be correct, these sculptures have an his- 

 torical value scarcely less than those of the Parthenon ; for we learn from 

 ancient writers that the frieze of the Mausoleum was the work of four of 

 the most celebrated artists of the day, — Bryaxis, Leochares, Scopas,Timo- 

 iheos, — or, according to Vitruvius, Praxiteles. The Budrun Marbles 

 would thus represent the style of a period in the history of Greek sculp- 

 ture, of which, from the want of dated monuments, our knowledge is most 

 uncertain,— the century preceding the reign of Alexander the Great, aud 

 distinguished in the history of art as the Praxitelian period. \V e will 

 describe these sculptures as far as a first hasty examination will enable us. 

 The subject, like that of the Phygalian and Lycian friezes, is a battle with 

 -Amazons. At the first glance, we are struck by the masterly composition 

 of the groups, the knowledge and skill which distinguish the Alheniaa 

 .-school. As the eye dwells longer and compares more critically, we per- 



