140 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[April, 



inlerior and oilier decDTalions : also for the mann/acture of toijs and other 

 fancy ar<<c/fs."— March 4. 



William Palmer, of Sutton-street, Clerkenwell, manufacturer, for " mi- 

 provemenls in the construclion of hinges." — March A. 



Henry Barron Rodway, of Birmingham, wine merchant, for "improve- 

 ments in the manufacture of horse-shoes." — March 7. 



Thomas Henry Russell, of Wednesbury, Staffordshire, iron tube manu- 

 facturer, and Cornelius Whitehouse, of the same place, for " improve- 

 ments in the manufacture of welded iron tuhing." — March 7. 



William Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, Middle- 

 sex, civil engineer, for " an improved machine or apparatus for weighing 

 various kinds of articles or goods." A communication. — March 7. 



Thomas Hedley, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, gent., and Cuthbert Rod- 

 bam, of Gateshead, Durham, millwright, for "on improved apparatus for 

 purifying the smoke, gases, and other noxious vapours, arising from certain 

 jires, stoves, and furnaces." — March 8. 



William Catford, of Chard, Somersetshire, mechanic, for " improve- 

 ments in machinery or apparatus, for making or manufacturing lace or other 

 netted fabrics." — March H. 



Henry Smith, of Liverpool, engineer, for " improvements in the con- 

 struct ion of wheels and breaks for carriages." — March 10. 



Richard Beard, of Earl-street. Blackfriars, gent., for " improvements in 

 Ute means of obtaining likenesses and represeutations of nature and of other 

 objects." — March 10. 



William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents. 66, Chancery-lane, 

 Middlesex, civil engineer, for " improvements in boilers, furnaces, and steam- 

 engines." A communication. — March 10. 



Charles William Firchild, of Woley Park, Northfield, Worcestershire, 

 farmer, for " an improved propelling apparatus, for marine aiui other pur- 

 poses." — March 14. 



Reuben Partridge, of Cowper-street, Finsbury, engineer, for " improve- 

 ments in machinery or apparatus for splitting and shaping wood into splints, 

 for t/ie manufacture of matches and other similar forms." — March 14. 



Alfred Green, of Sheffield, surgical instrument -maker, for •' improve- 

 ments in trusses or surgical bandages." — March 15. 



Edwin Ward Trent, of Old Ford, Bow, rope maker, for '■ an improved 

 mode of preparing oakum and other fibrous substances, for caulking ships and 

 other vessels." — March 21. 



Sydney Jessop, of Sheffield, merchant, for " an improved mode of pre- 

 paring wrought iron, intended for wheel tires, rails, and certain oilier 

 articles." — March 21. 



Zachariah Parkes, of Birmingham, manufacturer, for ■' an improved 

 mode of preparing wrought iron, intended for loheel tires, raits, and certain 

 other artichs." — March 21. 



John Clay, of Cottingham, near Hull, Yorkshire, and Frederick Rosen- 

 borg, of Sculcoates, Yorkshire, gent., for " improvements in arranging and 

 setting up types for printing." — March 21. 



William Hancock, the Younger, of Amwell-street, gent, for " improve- 

 ments in combs and brushes." — March 21. 



Edward John Dent, of No. 82, Strand, chronometer maker, for " im- 

 provements in chronometers and other time-keepers." — March 21. 



William Brockedon, of Queen-square, Middlesex, gent., for " improve- 

 ments in manufacturing fibrous materials, for the cores of stoppers, to be 

 coated with india-rubber, and used for stopping bottles ond other vessels."— 

 March 21. 



John Haughton, of Liverpool, clerk, for " improvements m the method 

 of affixing certain labels." — March 21. 



William Palmer, of Sutton-street, Clerkenwell, manufacturer, for '• im- 

 provements in the manufacture and preparation of pills, and some other 

 articles of a medicinal or remedial nature." — March 21. 



Mark Freeman, of Sutton Common, gent., for " improvements in the 

 construction of inkstands."- — March 21. 



Robert Hazard, of Clifton, Somerset, confectioner, for " improvements 

 in apparatus for heating public and private buildings." — March 21. 



Moses Sperry Beach, of Norfolk-street, Strand, printer, for " improve- 

 ments in machinery used for printing with type, and in the construction of 

 type for printing." A communication. — March 23. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Seijton.—The plan for reversing engines is ingenious, hut the drawing is 

 badly executed, and the description contains several errors. The allegation 

 that lap is inapplicable to a slide valve worked by a fast eccentric (i. e. an 

 eccentric last on ihe shaft), is erroneous. What is meant by " the expansion 

 valves are constructed to cut ofl' the steam till the end ot the stroke? If 

 Seyton forwards us a proper drawing of his contrivance, such as a mechanic 

 might eircute the work from, «e will consider of the propriety of inserting it 

 in the next month's number. We are always desirous to encourage the efforts 

 of young mechanics, and in the contrivance of .Seyton we can discern much 

 ingenuity and considerable promise. 



Amicus Machinarum.—The project advocated by this correspondent of 

 placing the air pump of a steam engine in the middle of the cylinder, is one 



of the wildest we have met with for many a day. Tlie annular cylinder of 

 Messrs. Maudslay is objectionable enough as it stands, even in the skilful 

 hands of that eminent firm ; but with our correspondent's improvement, this 

 description of engine would have the merit of being the very worst at present 

 existent. 



The central cylinder in Messrs. Maudslay 's arrangement is used for the 

 purpose of obtaining a hjug connecting rod. This object our correspondent 

 seems to appreciate very lightly, for he employs a short connectina; rod of 

 the Gorgon species, and into the vacant hole in the middle of the cylinder he 

 places his air pump ; the pump having the same length of stroke as the 

 cylinder. It is the aim of engineers in general to keep the cylinder hot, but 

 this gentleman has so far surmounted the prejudices of existing systems, that 

 he has introduced a pump into the middle of the cylinder, for the purpose of 

 keeping the cylinder cool. We are at a loss to imagine in what idea this 

 crotchet could have originated ; but we recommend our correspondent to 

 forego all attempt at improvement until he has learned sometl'.ing of engines 

 of the unimproved construction. 



It is disadvantageous to make the stroke of the air pump equal to that ot 

 the cylinder. The valves are sure to strike very hard and wear themselves 

 out very soon, when the bucket mi;ves with a great speed. 



Our correspondent's drawing is very neatly and. we may add. shilfully 

 executed. We should be glad to find this peculiarity more common than it 

 now is. 



-1 Constant Reader, Greenock, asks us whether we approve of an improve- 

 ment he has devised in the glass gauge tubes of marine boilers. AVe reply, 

 decidedly not, unless it be our correspondent's object to render a very simpJB 

 and excellent arrangement inefficacious. " In the boilers of marine engines,' 

 cur correspondent observes, " a great agitation of the water often takes place 

 from the ebullition, and at such times it isdiffieult, on account ot the agitation 

 of the water in the glass tube, to ascertain the real level of the water in the 

 boiler." Our correspondent, therefore, proposes to lead small copper pipes 

 from each extremity of the glass tube, where it communicates with the interior 

 of the boiler, to a point considerably beneath the ordinary water level. Let 

 us suppose this done ; what will be the effect ? When the water is first intro- 

 duced into the boiler, it will rise in the two pipes connected to the opposise 

 extremities of the glass tube, until its further ascent is resisted by the elas- 

 ticity of the air shut within the pipes and glass tube. If this air be allowed 

 to remain, no water will enter the glass tube at all; but the air may be 

 allowed to escape by unscrewing the top of the socket which holds the tube. 

 The water will then assume the same level m the tube that it possesses within 

 the boiler. .Suppose now that steam is got up, and the lower cock attached to 

 the glass tube opened, so as to let some of the water escape, as is the usual 

 practice, to make sure that there is no stoppage in the pipes. Upon shutting 

 the cock, the glass tube will fill with water, not steam; nor is there any 

 possible mode by which steam could obtain access to the upper part of the 

 tube. Even if steam were, by any supernatural method, introduced, it would 

 soon be condensed, by Ihe escape of heat from the glass tube and brass socket, 

 and the glass tube wonld refill with w.iter. A glass gauge tube, therefore, if 

 constructed after our correspondent's improvements, would he altogether 

 inoperative as an indicator of the water level. The agitation in the tube our 

 correspondent complains of may be stopped by nearly closing the cocks which 

 sentinel the communicaiions between the top and bottom ol the glass tube 

 and the boiler. It is beneficial also to lead a small copper pipe within the 

 boiler, from the upper glass tube communication lo a point some feet abiwe 

 the average water level, and another from the under passage communicating 

 with the glass tube to a point some feet beneath the average water level. The 

 sketches which accompany our correspondent's paper are of the rudest de- 

 scription, and his description of the construction and operation of the glass 

 gauge tubes in common use is erroneous in several particulars. He shows no 

 cock in the upper or steam communication between the glass tube and the 

 boiler, so that if the glass tube be accidentally broken— and thai, in steam 

 vessels, is not an unfrequent occurrrerce— ihe steam cannot be shut ofl, but 

 escapes full bore into the engine-house. He says also that by opening the 

 lower cock, and allowing the water to rush out, any little obstruction in the 

 tube is c'eared away. But if the water be allowed to rush from the lower 

 cock from the boiler, it will not inter the glass tube at all, and, therefore, can- 

 not be instrumental in cleaning it. It is by no means uncommon for glass 

 gauge tubes to become so dirty, especially if the water be muddy, that it is 

 diffiiult to see the height of the water in them. They are cleaned by being 

 blown through witii the steam, not by the water. 



" .i Workman" on the Skew ^Yn/i.— This is a paper investigating the method 

 of finding by calculation what Mr. Buck terms the focus of a skew bridge and 

 the eccentricity of its face. The problem has been previously solved by Buck 

 in his Treatise, by W. H. Barlow, C. E. ff A. Journal. No. 48, and. we think, 

 by P. Nicholson, in his " Railway Masonry." The first part of the paper we 

 cannot clearly understand, owing to the loose way in which it is expressed. 

 He certainly, however, brings out no result from it. In the second part, 

 relating to the eccentricity, he neglects, in consequence of its practical unim- 

 portance, the sine of a very small angle, and by that means brings out a 

 formula which is certainly simpler than Buck's. Looking, however, to what 

 others have written on the same subject, and considering the manner in which 

 the paper is written, we cannot insert it in its present form ; but as the writer 

 evidently understands the subject, we shall be happy to insert it it he will 

 make it more elementary, and more precise and accurate in its expression. 



We have received several other communications, which we are obliged to 

 postpone, together with reports of Lectures at King's College and London 

 University. 



Books for Review must be sent early in the month, communications on or before 

 the 20lh (if with drawings, earlier), and adrertisiments on or before the 25th 

 instant. 



Vols. I, n, III, and IV, may be had, bound in cloth, price £1 each Volume. 



