393 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



Dec, 



The Sfihijnx Steam Frigate. — This war steamer is a vessel of 1200 tons, 

 fitted ffith a pair of oscillating steam engines of riiMJ horse power, by Messrs. Pcnn and 

 Co. ; the cylinders are H'ii inches diameter, and fi feet stroke, and fitted with double slide 

 vaWes. When she made her experimental trial down the river Thames last month she was 

 laden with ."{.''O tons of coal, »iid all herstores for I'J months, and provisions for H months; 

 her draught of water was 14 feet 1 inch forward, and 15 leet I inch aft. It is stated that 

 she ran an average speed of Ul miles an hour, and made 14^ revolutions per minute, with 

 the floats of Oie paddle-wheels deeply immersed. The great success which those endnes 

 have attain»;d, as well as those of the Pottinger and Ripon, also iitted with oscilla'ing en- 

 ^oes, by Mes"rs. IMiller and KavenhiH, and of about the same power as the Sphynx, 

 clearly show that oscillating enginas of any power may be as easily constructed and 

 adopted for marine purposes as fixed cylinders. 



New lloltjhpiid Packets. — The AdniiraUy liave coutracied for four new 

 steam packets for the Holyhead station. One to be built by Messrs. Ditchburn and 

 Mare, it is understood, on the lines of the Surveyor of the Navy, engines by Mestirs. 

 Seaward and Co. : one of wood, on the lines of Ulr. (). W. Lang, witli Peon's engines ; 

 one, engines and vessel by Messrs. Miller and Co. ; and one vessel I>y J. Laird, the en- 

 gines by Forester, of Liverpool. They are to be called the Caradoc, Llewellyn, the Kath- 

 leen, and the Hiiiishi-e. 



The Janus, steam-sloop, Lortl Diin(lonald,TvilI be ready by the be};inning 

 of the year to make a final trial, the Admiralty havin£^ granted lOOl'/. to make the neces- 

 sary alterations. 



The Medea* steam-sloop, on the 6th ult., proceeded down the River 

 Thames to test the engines, at the mile in Long Reach, Her speed on the first trial was 

 f*-88!.» knots ngainst the tide, and l^fliU with it. giving an average of lOl'Hl, bnt on sub- 

 sequent trials she ma<le more than eleven knots. She had on hoard about llH' to's of 

 coal. Her draught of water was 13 feet forward, and i;j feet 5 inches aft. Her engines, 

 which were supplied by Messrs. Maudslay and Field, were in excellent working order, 

 and made '2-i revollions a minute. 



Scntv Propeller. — A series of interesting experiments on the powers of 

 the various screw-propellers, and the best mode of fixing them in steamers, have been 

 carried on and are still in progress with the Dwarf, steamer, which has been set apart for 

 these experiments- The first trial was made wfth the common Archimedian screw {Smith's 

 patent), and the results were as favourable as those exhibited by any subsequent inven- 

 tion. The next trial was made with Rennie's screw, but the results, in this instance, 

 were not so satisfactory. A third trial was made with Hodgson's parabolic propeller, 

 and, up to the present time (for this ineenlion is to be again tested) the success was 

 equal to that of the common propeller. A fourth trial will soon he made with Wood- 

 croft's patent, constructed upon a new plan of shifting the angles of the screw to the 

 most favourable position, with the view of determining the best angle of impingement. 

 Some trials have also been made by altering the dead wood of the Dwarf, so as to resem- 

 ble the square sterns of the old block ships ; but in this case it was found that the screw 

 could scarcely give the vessel tideway. 



The Teazer, a small iron steamer, with engines of 100 horse power, and 

 fitted with the screw propeller, was tried again on Nov. 1'!, at the mile in Long Reach; 

 her engines, which are on the vibrating principlt?, by Miller niul Ravenhill, attained a 

 maximum number of nearly sixty revolutions, but she did not make very rapid progress, 

 the stern of the Teazerbeing square, which is apparently the worst form for the action of 

 the screw propeller. 



It is the intention of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that, in 

 future, the engineers in s'.caniers shall be considered as ward-room officers. The altera- 

 tion is most creditable to the board. 



The Eff'ects of Shot on Iron Vessels. — The information received from the 

 officers of the Gorgon steam vessel, which has laetly arrived from La Plata, gives a verj- 

 alarming account of the effect produced on the hulls of the Harpy and Lizard iron steam 

 vessels by the shot from the batteries of Rosas. It was expected, from the nature of the 

 material, that any breach made by shot would leave a clean fracture, merely curling up 

 the lips of the orifice, as is usual when fractures are caused in iron by the application of 

 an ordinary force. The results, however, are quite different. Instead of a clean fracture, 

 large splinters of iron flew aboutin all directions on the hull being struck, rendering the 

 danger from this cause tenfold more imminent than that produced by the shot itself. 

 Several splinters of this kind, struck from the hull of the Harpy, have been brought 

 home by the officers of the Gorgon, and, amongst the rest, the splinter from the angle 

 iron which caused the death of poor Mr. Barnes, ihe clerk in charge, proving that the 

 tendency to splinter is not confined to the thin sheet iron of the hull, but to the heavier 

 masses which compose the vessel. These results are in accordance with those observed 

 in the experiniental trials on hoard the Excellent, and they constitute a sad drawback 

 against the general use of iron as a material for vessels of war. Whether the iron in 

 question is not so malleable as it ought to be, or might be if better wrought, is another 

 question ; for the present, houever, the men are ahimied, and those who have witnessed 

 the effects produced on bfiard the Harpy, declare that they will never go to sea in an iron 

 vesse U 



IiIST OP NEW PATENTS. 



GRANTED IS EXGLAXD FROM OCTOBER 22, 1S4G,T0 XOVEMgEIl 21, 18i6. 



Six Months allowed for Enrolmenty unless ofhenvise ei'pressed. 



Etienne Abraham Ulaccaud, of No. 1. Place de hi i\radpleine, Paris, mechanician, fo.i 

 ■' Improvements in lamp and gas burners." — Sealed Oct. '_'!•. 



John James Alexander IMaccarshy, of Sidney-terrace, Frompton, gentleman, for " cer- 

 tain Improvements in anchors and fids for masts of vessels." — Oct. '22. 



William Anderson, of Clitheroe, Lancaster, for "certain Improvements in machinery 

 or apparatus, for prepaiing End spinning cotton, and other fibrous substances."— Oct. L'L'. 



John Paterson Reid, of the city of Glasgow, and Thomas Johnson, mechanic, for *' cer- 

 tain Improvements in miichinery for weaving, anti for producing patterns in weaving, as 

 also in machinerj, for finishing certain woven fabrics."— Oct. '2'2. 



James Thomas Jullion, of Stratford, chemist, for " Improvements in the manufacture 

 of certain acitis, also improvements in decomposing certflin acids, and applying the pro- 

 ducts resulting therefrom, to the production of certain chemical compounds."— October 



James Lysander Hale, of Hackney, Middlesex, civil engineer, for "certain Improve- 

 ments in sewerage and drainage, and apparatus connected therewith, parts of which are 

 applicable to ste;im engines." — Oct. 22. 



John Hutton, of Commercial-road, East, chronometer-maker, for "certain Improve- 

 ments in chronometers and other time keepers." — Oct. 22. 



Henry Mapple, of ChiUi's-hill. Hendon, Middlesex, machinist, for " Improvements in 

 apparatus for transniitling electricity between distant places, and in electric telegraphs '* 

 —Oct. 27, 



William Crane Wilkins.of Long Acre, Middlesex, for "certain Improvements iulamp^i 

 and apparatus connected therewith, parts of which are also appUcable to the raising of 

 water."— Oct. 29. 



William Reid, of Saint Pancras, Middlesex, engineer, for ** Improvements in the manu- 

 facture of wire."— Oct. '2'J. 



Noel Ktienne Aime Paret, of Lyons, in the kingdom of France, gentleman, for "Im- 

 provements in finishing silk, cotton, and other fabrics, and in heating apartmants." — 

 November 2. 



Henry Headley Parish, of Chesham-street, Middlesex, Esq., and Samuel Rootsey, of 

 Portland. square, Bristol, Esq., F.L.S., for "Improvements in supplying and purifying 

 water." — November 'A. 



George W.Eddy, of Waterford, In the State of New York, of the United States of 

 America, for " an Improvement in the manufacture of cast metal wheels for railway and 

 various other carriages." — November 3. 



Baron Charles Wetterstedt, of Rhodes Well Road, Limehouse, Middlesex, for "Im- 

 provements in the manufacture of sheet metal, for sheathing and other purposes, in pre- 

 venting the corrosion of metal, and in the preservation of wood and other materials." — 

 Novembers. 



William Exall, of Reading, in the county of Berks, engineer, for " Improvements in 

 the construction of wheels, and in certain Implements or tools employed therein, and in 

 the mode of forming and manufacturing the tyres of wheels, which mode is applicable to 

 making metiiUic rings, bands, hoops, cylinders, and other similar articles." — Nov. 3. 



Alfred Vincent Newton, of Chancery. lane, inech;inical draughtsman, for " certain Iro- 

 provi-menls in the manufacture of driving b.mdB. part of which improvements are also 

 applicable to the manufacture of other fabrics." (A communication.; — November o. 



Gaetan Bonelli, of Milan, engineer, for " Improvements in bridges, viaducts, aqueducts, 

 and other similar erections." — November 3. 



Matthew Lealnv, of Great George-street. Westminster, civil engineer, for "certain Im- 

 jirovements in steam engines." — November o. 



Robert Teagle, of Hammersmith, plasterer, for " Improvements in chimney pots, and. 

 in apparatus fur cleansing chimneys."— November 5. 



David Barnett, of Birmingham, merchant, for " new or improved instruments or ma- 

 chines, for eflecting or facilitating certain arithmetical processes or computations." (A 

 communication.) — November .'i. 



Frederick Herbert Maberly, of Stowmarket. clerk, Thomas Branwhite, of Eattlesden, 

 millwright, and Dennis Lusher, of Great Tinborough, farmer, for '* Improvements in 

 machinery for obtaining and applying, and for accelerating and for retarding motive 

 power, andibr giving notice of alarm in expettation of, or in actual danger."— Nov. o. 



Henry Henson, of Hampstead, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, for " a new 

 fabric suitable for goods, wrappers, wag'in covers, and other like purposes, and certain 

 processes in liie niunufaLture of the same.' ' — November 5. 



Thomas Vales, of Preston, Lancaster, watchmaker, for " Improvements in time 

 keejjers.'* — November 12. 



John McBride, of the finn of McBride and Company, cotton spinners and power loom 

 cloth manufacturers, Albyn Works, Glasgow, for ** Improvements in weaving." — Novem. 

 ber 12. 



^^'illiam Bridges Adams, of Old Ford Lane, in the county of Middlesex, engineer, for 

 " Improvements in the construction of wheel carriages and engines moved or retarded by 

 animal or mechanical agency, parts of which improvements are applicable to other like 

 purposes." — November 12. 



Louis Hypolite Piaget, and Phillip Henry Du Bois, of Wynyatt- street, Clerkenwell, for 

 ** Improvements in producing ornamental surfaces."— November 12. 



George Smith, of Camborne, in the county of Cornwall, safety fuze manufacturer, for 

 " a new safety fuze." — November 12. 



Edward Staite, of Peckhom, in theconnty of Surrey, gentleman, fpr ** certain Improve- 

 ments in lighting'." — November 12. 



George William Jacob, of Hoxton, in the county of Middlesex, printer, for "anew 

 manufacture of printed, patterned, ornamented, coloured, embossed, and moulded sur- 

 faces." — November 12. 



John Healey, of Bolton, in the county of Lancaster, machine maker, for ".inew and 

 improved woven fubric, and also certain improvements in machinery for producing the 

 same."— November IT. 



Thcmas Masters, of Upper Charlotte Street, Fitzroy-square, Middlesex, confectioner, 

 for " Improvements in apparatus and means lor cooling liquids and matters, and filtering 

 and preventing liquids freezing." — November I". 



Bartholomew Beniowski, of Bow-street, Covent Garden, Middlesex, gentleman, for 

 " certain Improvements in the apj^aratus for, and process of, printing." — November 17. 



William Eaton, of NewinL'ton, in the county of Surrey, engineer, for " certain Im- 

 provements in obtaining motive power." — November 17. 



Robert Brett Schenck, of the city of New Vork, in the United States of America, gen- 

 tleman, for " certain Improvements in the preparation of hemp and flax." (A communi- 

 cation.). — November 17. 



Christopher Robson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, grocar, for ''Improvements in ma- 

 chinery for dressing fruit." — November 21. 



James Denton, of Greenacres Moor, Oldham, Lancaster, mechanic, for " Improvements 

 in certain parts of machines used in the preparation for the spinning of cotton, wool and 

 other fibrous substances." — November 21. 



James Barsham, of Bow, Middlesex, manufacturer, for " Improvements in manufac- 

 turing brooms and brushes." — November 21. 



William Pidding. of North Crescent, Bedford- square, Middlesex, gentleman, for " Im- 

 provements in carriages."— November 21. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



PvNE on " Perspective," *' Cily, Town, and County Architecture/' 

 " Railways for tlie many — uot for the few," — Heceived. 



" Sir \'cars' Sub!i€ribc}'.*' — Perhaps the best account of the details of the 

 Steam Engioe is to be found in tlie Treatise of the Artizan Club, but a 

 systematic and satisfactory work ou the Steam Engine remains among the 

 desiderata of Engineering Literature. 



END OF VOLU.ME IXr 



