32 



THE CIVIL ENGIKEEE AND ARCHlTECrs JOURNAL. 



[January, 



had been enunciated, especially in respect to the drainage, paving, cleans- 

 ins, and water supply of towns. 



In 1S45 the Health of Towus Commissioners produced their report and 

 minutes of evidence on these questions — certaiuly one of the ablest and 

 most comprehensive stale papers that has ever issued from a government 



office. 



Two years afterwards — in 1847 — the government of Lord John Russell 

 (who had in the meantime succeeded lo oflice) appointed a commission to 

 report on the means of carrying these principles into eO'ect in the metro- 

 polis. This, the Metropolitan Sanitary Commission, whicli is still open, 

 produced in the same year another admirable report. 



In the foliowins year — 1848 — the gloomy tidings reached us that the 

 Asiatic cholera was rapidly travellinj; westward, and might be expected 

 shortly to reach our shores. To meet this emerj;eucy, tlie sanitary parly, 

 ably represented on this occasion by Lord Morpeth (now Lord Carlisle^ 

 introduced and carried through, in spile of strong opposition from interested 

 parties, the Public Health Act. 



The prominent tendency of the new health act is to bring about, in every 

 town of the kingdom, an economical comclidation, under one responsible 

 public management, of those various services — drainage, paving, wuler 

 supply, *xc., on whose harmonious co-adaptation, bilherlo unattainable, the 

 sanitary v\ ell-being of the urban population depends. 



The water companies, indeed, found means to procure the insertion of a 

 special clause to protect their monopoly from the adverse operation of this 

 act, by threatening its promoters, in the event of refusal, wiih a degree of 

 opposition and delay, which, with a plague impending, it was in the 

 highest degree important to avoid. The excepting clause, however, stands 

 in sucli palpable contradiction to the general tenor of the act, that common 

 sense cries out against its maintenance ; and the discreditable tactics that 

 procvired its insertion, will, we have no doubt, by a just reaction, lend to 

 hasten its inevitable repeal. 



Scarcely had the sanitary idea thus acquired force of law, when the fierce 

 outburst of pestiiencp through which we have just passed gave terrible proof 

 of its necessity. At the eleventh hour, and after a stubborn resistance on 

 the part of several local boards, the house-to-house inspection took place, 

 and led to those dreadful disclosures which are still fresh in tlie public 

 memory. Day after day men read with indignation and dismay of poor 

 plague-stricken wietches crowded by scores round dribbling staudcocks, 

 and literally ^' fighting for water," Instances still more horrible were re- 

 ported by hundreds ot squalid lanes and courts from which the monopolists 

 had entirely withheld supplies of wafer: pat^siug them by to lay their triple 

 and quadruple rows of competing pipes in richer neighbourhoods promising 

 more lucrative returns. The inspectors' reports, indeed, teemed with the 

 coniphiiuts of destitute wretches, thus driven by joint-stock avarice lo 

 pump up and drink the waters of drain-infected wells; — of others, if 

 possible, worse oil", who had not even a pump to resort to, but begged their 

 daily jugful from door to door;— and of a third set, most miserable of all, 

 whom this last shift of penury had failed, so to use the ofljcial declaration 

 of the city medical otlicer, they " actually lacked water for the ordinary 

 purposes of ablution!" 



LIST OF ME^Wr PATENTS. 



GRANTED IN ENGLAND FROM NvOEMDER 22, TO DECEMBER, 21, 1849. 



Sio" Months allowed for Enrolment^ unless otherwise expressed, 



William Garnett Taylor, of Biuton-Iiouse Hall, Westmoreland, gentleniiin, for im- 

 provements in lint, mid in liming machiues.— Sealed November 24, lH4y. 



George Callaway, of Putney. Surrey, station agent, and Robert Alee rinkus, of the same 

 jilace, engineer, for certain improvements in propelling ships and oilier vessels; also iu 

 apparatus for ploughing land. — November 24. 



Charles Covvper, of liouthampton-buildings, Chancevy-laiio, for certain improvements 

 in piling, faggoting, and forging iron for plates, bars, shafts, axles, tyres, cannons, an- 

 chois, and otlier similar purposes. — Novembe.i 24. 



Joseph liarrans. of St. Paul's, Deptford, Kent, engineer, for improvrmeuts in axles 

 and axle boxes of locomotive engines and other railway carriages.— November 24. 



Anibroise Ador, of Paris, France, engineer, for improvements in producing light.— No- 

 vember 24. 



Henry Lamplough, of Snow.hill, Loudon, consuUiug chemist, for a new mode of sup- 

 plying pure water to cities and towns. — November 24. 



James (Jaorgc Hewey and James Newman, of Birmingham, for improvements in the 

 manufacture of butions, studs, and other dress fuslenlngs and ornaments.— November 28, 



Francis Tongue Ilutt'ord, of Prtscot House, Worcester, fiie brick manufacturer, Isaac 

 Mnrson, of Cradley, Worcester, and John Finch, of Pickaid street, City-road, Rliildlesex, 

 manufacturer, for improvements in the manufacture uf baths and wash-tubs, or wasb 

 vessels — Novemljcr 2y. 



Frank Clarke Hills, of I'eptford, Kent, manufaeturing chemist, for an improved mode 

 of comproBsing peat lor making fuel or gas; and of manufacturing gas ; and of obtaining 

 certain buhstances applicable to purifying the same. — November 2S. 



Charles Bailow, of Chancery lane, London, gentleman, for improvements in the manu- 

 facture of a certain pigment. (A communication.)— November 2ll. 



Louis Napoleon Le Gras, of Paris, France, civil engineer, for improvements in the 

 sepnration and disinfection of foical motters, in the manufacture of manure, and in the 

 apparatus employed therein. — November ;iO. 



Walter Cruni, of Thomliebank, Renfrew, Scotland, for certain improvements in the 

 finishing of woven fabjics.— December 3. 



Conrad Montgomery, of the Army and Navy Club, St. James's square, Middlesex, esq. 

 for improvements in brewing, distilling, and rectifying.— December Z. 



William Ectles, the elder, WillLim Kccles, the younger, and Henry Eccles, of Black- 

 burn, Lancaster, cotton spinners, lor certain improvements in machinery or apparatus 

 for preparing, spinning and weaving cotton and other libious substances.— December 3. 



Joseph Paradis, of Lyons, France, merchant for improvements in the manufacture of 

 elastic mattresses, cushions, and paddings, parts of which improvements are applicable 

 to other purples, where sudden or continuous pressure is required lo be sustained or 

 transmitted. (A communication.) — December 5. 



George Buchanan, of Edinburgh, civil engineer, for improvements in cocks, valves, or 

 stoppers ; and in the use of flexible substances for regulating or stopping the passage of 

 fluids; and also in making joints of tubes and pipes, or other vessels.- December 'S. 



Baron James Ulric Vaucber de Strubing, of Margaret-street, tavendish-square, Mid- 

 dlesex, for improvements in Iha manufactuie of axlelree boxes for carriages, and of the 

 bearings of tiie aile'. uf railways ; and in the making of an alloy of metal suitable for 

 such and like pHrposes. — December ;t. 



Georgtf Edmund Douisthorpe, of Leeds, Yorkshire, manufacturer, for improvemects in 

 wheels of locomotive carriages, — December '6. 



Peter Fairbutrn, of Leeds, Yorkshire, machinist, and John Hetherington, of Manches- 

 ter, for certain Improvemants in machinery for preparing and spinning cotton, flax, and 

 other fibrous substances. — December .1. 



Samuel Fisher, of Birmingham, engineer, for improvements in railway carriages, wheels, 

 axles, butfer and draw springs, and hinges for railway carriage and other doors.— Decern, 

 bcr •> 



Edward Carter, of Merton Abbey, Surrey, machinist, for improvements in printing 

 calico and other fabrics. — December 5. 



Jonah Davies and George Davies, of the Albion Iron Foundry, Tipton, Staffordshire, 

 engineers and iron founders, for improvements in engines worked by steam, air, water, 

 and other fluids, and whether locomotive, marine, or stationary; and also in boilers, the 

 principle of which improvements is likewise applicable to blowing air and pumping water 

 — December iO. 



Jean Bapiistie Ecarnot, of France, for improvements in the manufacture of sulphuric, 

 sulphurous, acetic, a:id oxalic acids, and nitrates.— December 10. 



David Christie, of St. John's phice, Broughton, Salford, Lancaster, merchant, for im- 

 provements in niacliinery for preparing, assorting, straightening, tearing, teasing, 

 doubling, twisting, braiding, and weaving, cotton, wool, and other fibrous substance. (A 

 communication.)- D-jcember 10. 



John Houghton Christie, of Craven-street, Strand, Esq., for an improved construction 

 of wrought-iron wheels, and machinery for effecting the same. (A communication.) — 

 December iO. 



Thomas Grimsley, of Oxford, sculptor, for improvements in the manufacture of bricks 

 and tiles. — December 10. 



The Baron Louis Lo Presti, of Paris, in France, for improvements in hydraulic presses, 

 which arc, in whole or in ])art, applicable to pumps and other like machines. — Decem- 

 ber 10. 



William Holt, of Preston-place, Bradford, organ builder, for certain improvements in 

 tlie construction of pallets or valves of organ sound-boards or wind charts, the same being 

 applicable to seraphines, eolophous, harmonicums, harmoniums, and all other musical 

 instruments, in which the tone is produced by the admission of wind, supplied by bellows 

 or other machinery, to pipes, reeds, or springs, and played upon by a key-board, or key- 

 boards, and also to various other purposes connected with all the above-named musical 

 instruments. — December 10, 



John Henry Jenkinson, of Salford, Lancaster, machine-maker, and Thomas Prieatlj*, 

 of Shuttleworth, Lancaster, manager, for certain improvements in machinery or appara- 

 tus to be used for preparing, spinning, ami doubling cotton, wool, fla-\, silk, aud similar 

 fibrous materials. — December 12. 



William Birkmyie, of Fulbech Cottage, Hampstead, chemist, for improvements in the 

 manufactuie and refining of sugar. — December 12. 



Robeit Harcourt, of Birmingham, manufacturer, for certain improvements in knobs, 

 handles, and fastenings lor doors and drawers; and in fastenings to be used in fastening 

 window sashes, curtain and other rods, and for other like purposes. — December \<k 



James Oldknow, of Lille, France, lace-manufacturer, for improvements in the manufac- 

 ture of lace and other fabrics. — December !5. 



Henry Roberts, of Connaught square, Hyde-park, P.Iiddleses, gentleman, for improve- 

 ments in the manufacture of bricks and tiles. — December 15. 



George Wythes, of Reigate, Surrey, contractor for public works, for improvements in 

 aoparatus for receiving and retaining the rails of railways. — December 15. 



Allred Dalton, of West Bromwich, Stafi'ordshire, ironfouuder, for improvements in re- 

 verberatory and other furnaces. 



Charles Cowper, of Southampton-buildings, Chancery-lane, for improvements in in- 

 struments for measuring, indicating, and regulating the i)reasure of air, steam, and other 

 fluids, and in instruments lor measnting, indicating, and regulating the temperature of 

 the same, and in instruments for obtaining motive power from the same. (A communi- 

 cation.)— December lo. 



Charles Lizars, of Paris France, engineer, for improvements in gas meters. (A com* 

 municalion.)— December 15. 



'ihomas Kock Siiute, of Watford, Ilertfordahiie, silk throwster, for improvements in 

 spinning, doubling, and throwing orgauzine silk. — December 10. 



Timothy Hackvvorth, and John M'esley Hackworth, of the Soho Works, Shilden, Dur- 

 ham, engineers, for improvements in locomotive and other engines. — December 15. 



Benjamin Fawcett, of Oid Jewry, in the city ot London, builder, for improvements iu 

 pigments, paints, and vehicles for painting. — December 15. 



Isaac Lewis Pulvermacher, of Vienna, engineer, for improvements iu galvanic batteries. 

 In electric telegraphs, and in electro. magnetic and magneto-electro machines. — Decem- 

 ber 15. 



Richard Hobson, of Leeds, doctor of medicine, for certain improvements in the manu- 

 fiicture of horse-shoes, and in apparatus for taking the measurement of horse-shoes or 

 horse's hoofs. — December 15. 



Edward Lyon Berthon, of Lareham, Southampton, clerk, Master of Arts, for certain 

 improvL^menta for ascertaining and indicating the course or way, velocity, trim, and 

 draught ol sliips, and the rate of currents; also for discharging water I'rom ships; and 

 for taking altitudes and levels at sea and on land. — December 11*. 



James Smith, of J>eanston, Perth, now residing in Glasgow, for certain improvements 

 in treating the fleeces of sheep when on the animals.— December VJ. 



William Ackroyd, of Birkenshavv Mills, near Leeds, Yorkshire, for improvements in 

 dressing and cleaning worsted, and worsted mixed with cotton and other fabrics, after 

 they have been woven. (A communication.) — December IS'. 



Warren De la Rue, of BunhiU-row, Middlesex, manufacturer, for improvements in the 

 manufacture of envelopes, — December, 11'. 



Frederick Hale Ihomson, of Beruers-street, Oxford-street, and Edward Varnish, of 

 Kensington, Middlesex, for improvements in the manufacture of ink-stands, mustard- 

 pots, and other vessels of glass. — December 19. 



Hemiy Fox Talbot, ot Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, esquire, and Thomas Augustine 

 Malone, of Regent-street, Middlese.v, photographer, for improvements in photography.— 

 Decemljer 19. 



Joseph \\ hitworth, of Manchester, engineer, for certain improvements in machinery or 

 apparatus for cutting metals, and also improvements in machinery or apparatus applica- 

 ble to agricultural or sanitary purposes. — Decenibbir lit 



Frederick George Spray, and George \\'evell, oi Hampstead-road, engineers, for an im- 

 proved steani-en^'ine; parts of the arrangements of which may be applied to apparatus 

 for regulating, measuring, and registering the flow of liquids and gases.— December 21. 



