1842.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



3^ 



by public auction in Bristol. The bidding was verv spiritc^I, but sbe «as 

 ultimately bought in at £40,000. 



Ro}iai Navy. — The launch of the " Crimhcrlnnd " 70-;T"« altip took place last 

 month on the .anniversary of the glorious victory of Trafalgar, at Chatham 

 dockyard. Her dimensions are as folloivs : — Length on pun-deck, 180 ft.; 

 for tonnage, 143 ft. 51 in. ; extreme breadth, 51 ft .3 in. ; for tonna^u;e, 53 ft. 

 G in. ; moulded, 52 ft. 9 in. ; depth in hold, 22 ft. 4 in. Hir tonnage is as 

 follows— burden by the old rule, 2,244 tons 40 II). ; ne-.v rule, 2,055 tons 88 lb. 

 Her armament — louer-deek, 4 guns, 8 in. in diameter, 65 c«t., length 9 ft.; 

 ditto, 22 guns, 32-pounders, .'6 c»-t.. lenuth, 9 ft. (i in. ; mid He-deck, 2 guns, 

 8 in. in diameter, 65 ewt., length, 9 ft. ; ditto, 26 guns, 32-l)uunders 50 cwt., 

 length, 9 ft. : quarter-deck, 10 guns, 32-pounders. 39 cnt., length, 7 ft. 6 in.i 

 and poop. Tlie light drauglit of water of the Cumberland is, afore, 13 ft. 

 4 in., and abai't. 17 ft. 9 in. tihe broke (as it is technically termed) in launch- 

 ing 1| in. She is not a particularly elegant craft, but is well calculated for 

 the shallow water of the north seas. 



MISCEI.^AKEA. 



lirmeihj for Broken Axles. — M. Huan submitted to the Academy of Sciences 

 his invention for preventing accidents on rail May.s by tli- breaking of the 

 axle, which consists of a modification of the Hlieel c f tbe locomotive, that if 

 the axle should break, the wheel itself becomes an axle! and prevents further 

 accident. * 



E!ectriclt!) of mirheinds. — M. Arago, in allusion to the opinion expressed 

 by several persons in this subject mentionei! to the Acadeinie des Sc'ences, 

 some observations, made by M. Horlol.a on a storm, on the 2ith ult., in the 

 department of the Aude. This gentleman relates ih.at on the occasion re- 

 ferred to, the iron bars of windows, the gutters of sheet iron, the plates of 

 insurance companies, and other metallic objects were carried away by flie 

 wiiirhvind, thus indicating the presence of electricity. 



OsciUatonj Movement of the Sea. — The Academy of Sciences of Naples hav- 

 ing charged M. A. Nobi'i [0 inquire into tlie circumstances connected with 

 the oscillatory movement of the sea in the Gulph of Naples, it appears that 

 he has stuilieil the variations of the mean level according to the direction of 

 the wind, and has found that the greatest elevation of the mean level takes 

 place in the west-south-^\'est winds, ami the smallest in those of the north- 

 nortli-east. This is also the case on the western coast of Sicily. M. Cha- 

 zallon has also taken some observations on the tide at Toulon, from which it 

 results, that the full tide of the evening is much higher than that of the 

 morning. 



Improved Fowling-piece. — M. Matthieu, a Frenchman, has invented a gun 

 which, immediately after it is discharged, recocks itself, and a new charge 

 is conveyed in the direction of the barrel. This is repeated five or six limes. 

 and with such rapidity, that the gun can be discharged five times in three 

 seconds. If the sportsman does not wish to fire with this rapidity, he can 

 stop the action, and wait any time he pleases between each discharge. The 

 combinations of tlie mechanism are such as to prevent accidental explosion. 

 This invention is not new. Baron Heurteloup, more than two years ago, pro- 

 duced a fowling-piece and a musket on this principle, and, according to 

 report, he has made such improvements that double the number of charges 

 of M. Matthieu's gun may be fired in almost the same sptiee of time. 



The Gahnno- plastic Process. — A proposition has been made by M. Corney 

 to employ this process after embalmment, for the preservation of the human 

 body after death. The idea, however extravagant it may appear, is said not 

 to be original, and that beautiful specimens are to be seen of small animals, 

 birds, insects, &c. which have been thus preserved by. M. Soyez, of the Place 

 Vcndome. 



the Green Park. — The site of the house and grounils of the late ranger 

 has been levelled, new foot-paths laid out, and the whole thrown into the 

 park, and it is now open to the public. The projected widening of Piccadilly 

 from Devonshire House to Hyde Park Corner, is deferred for the present, as 

 an act of parliament is said to be required. 



5/. Piinl's Cathedral, w hich has been closed for some months, has been 

 thoroughly cleansed, and is now re-opened. The old oak panellings and 

 carvings ol the choir have been varnished, the seats and pulpiL covered with 

 new clulh. the monuments purified, and the interior generally cleared of the 

 accumulated soot and dust of years, so that the whole has a comparatively 

 cheerful apjiearance. 



Tlie Artesian Well at Grcnelle. — The new tube is now comiileted to the sur- 

 face. M. Arago is of opinion that when the tube, beyond the opening of the 

 well, shall have been carried to the proposed height of 33 metres, (108 feet), 

 and the force oi' the rush of water have bten thus diminished, it will become 

 quite dear. It appears that the new tube, iihich has been introduced into 

 tlic well, does not reach to the bottom ; a portion of the former tube, which 

 couhl not be extracted, has forced its way transver^'ely, and prevented llie 

 end of the tiew tube Irom penetrating as fur as was intended. 



Mr. Jeffrnj's Cement.— Some further experiments have been made in the 

 marshes at Woolwich. A block of wood submitted by Mr. JrfTrey was l;ored 

 to the centre, exactly in the middle of the joining, and a 51 inch shell in- 

 serted, for the purpose of tearing it to pieces. On a port-fire being ignited, 

 the shell soon exploded, tearing the solid wood in ail directions, and into nu- 

 merous fragments, but in no part separating the pieces where the joining 

 witli the cement was made. 



Caoutchouc Cement. — M. Valle, a colour maker, observing the injury caused 

 to the works of some of the greatest masters by the intluence of the atmos- 

 phere upon the canvas, has invented a solution (said to be of caoutchouc) 

 which, although applied to both sides of the canvass, leaves it sufTicienily 



elastic to prevent cracking, and secures it against the action of the afmoa- 

 phere. To this he adds a peculiar kind of varnish for the painting, which is 

 said to defy the ravages of time. 



Survejj of the Skies. — A survey of the skies was made on Monday, the II th 

 inst. in all parts of Ihe kingdom, on a plan arranged at the last "meeting of 

 the British Royal Society of Agriculture, for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 form and positiun of the clouds in the mor;ting. at noon, and in the evening, 

 together with a great variety of other facts respecting the force and direction 

 of the wind, Ihe state of the thermometer and barometer, and otl'.er meteoro- 

 logical appearances and phenomena. The object of this extensive survey was 

 to collect .acts respecting the weather, for the guidance of practicil agricul- 

 turists.— C/oie. 



National Museum of ylrtilleni, Madrid. — This museum lias been removed to 

 the Palace of Buen Ketirn. It is now under the active direction of Don 

 Leon Gil de Pal cios, a distinguished artist and antiquary. The wrought 

 iron cannon made by the C'arlists in Bisctiy are described as' of great merit. 

 .Some r.ncient cannon from Andalusia are to be added. Among tlie objects 

 of curiosity are th ■ armour of Garcia Paredes, the lance of the Km|>ecinado, 

 the sabre of T. rrigos, the knife of JIanzanares, the uniform of Morelas, the 

 founder of American independence, an 1 the lance of Leon. It has been sug- 

 gested that the Museum of the engineers and the Royal Armory be united 

 10 the Museum of Artillery. 



Electrical Experiment — In tlie course of experiments instituted by Messrs; 

 AVright and Gain for ihe improvement of their electrical telegraph, iliey 

 discovered that the elctric circuit of a galvanic battery is as ell'ectuilly 

 comideted through a large body of water as through an insulited wire. They 

 have applied this curious discovery so elTectually as to be now able to dis- 

 pense with two of the wires heretofore thought necesr.ry for the acticn of 

 their printing telegra])h ; and they are thus enabled to piint all communica- 

 tions, either verbal or symbolical, at any distance, by ihe use of a single wire. 

 "We understand they are now in treaty with 'the government to construct a 

 telegraph < n this principle lu-t'^een the admirtilty and Portsmi uth. One in- 

 sulated wire would be laid down between the two points, to connect the gal- 

 vanic battery of the oulport "ith the printing apparatus of the Admiralty, 

 and the return current woulil be sent through the earth, in lieu of u.sing a 

 second wire to c mplote the circuit. Should the moisture in the ground not 

 prove sufficient to conduct the electricity, the inventors propose to transmit 

 the return current by water ; making it pass diwn the Tliames to the German 

 Ocean, and thence along the Channel to Portsmouh ; this roundabout voy- 

 age to be performed instantaneously. By thus simplifying, and consequently 

 greatly reducing the cost of the elecirical printing telegraph, the inventors 

 havegtne far towards rendering it generally available ; another step in ad- 

 vance will dispense with all iq^Wic coiinexion whatever. — Spectator. 



Extraordinanj Excavator. — "Wankec Geologist.'' — The following is a des- 

 cription of the'wonderful machine, called the " Yankee Geologist, which has 

 recently obtained great celebrity in the United States, for performances, 

 which, for their extraordinary nature, and the peculiar manner in which 

 they are described, will give them almost an air of romance ; but, neverthe- 

 less, having reason to believe the " Yankee Geologist" to be an extraordinary 

 invention, and capable of astonishing deeds, if not of all that is here set 

 forth, I consider a notice of it sufliciently interesting to be deserving a place 

 in your columns t^" We paid a (lying visit on Saturday last to Otis' steam- 

 excavator, in Brooklyn, where it'is at work digging down the hill formerly 

 known as Fort Green, and filling up the shallow inlet and quagmire, entitled 

 the Wallabout, or so mucli of it as lies above the old road to Flushing. The 

 ' Yankee Geologist ' is surely a great curiosity. He walks right into a moun- 

 tain as though it were a plate of hot cakes, and dips up a cartload at a 

 shovelfull, as fast as you please. He cuts right and left a path some six rods 

 wide through a hill, and then takes a new swath. He is locomotive, and .ad- 

 vances by his own steam- power, whenever the earth has receded before liim, 

 grades aiid stakes down for himself, and only requires one man to shovel and 

 another to look after the fire and engine. thou:4h one or two others are ge- 

 nenally requiretl to smooth the track before him, &c., besides tet.ding the 

 carts, which approach to be filled on one rail track, and go off loadeJ by 

 another. If he comes to a stone weighing only a ton .or such a matter, the 

 ' Geologist' ' makes no bones ' of it. but pitches it into the cart like a peck 

 of gravel ; if he comes to a stone weighing some 4 or 5 tons, he takes him 

 up more carefully, and lays him out on the side of his path. AU lliis is ef- 

 fected by an immense shovel wiih a sliding bottom, at the end of an immense 

 and complicated arm, worked by much ingenious and novel machinery. The 

 inventor is now dead ; the company have spent 30,000 dolLars upon the in- 

 vention before the first machine «as made, and much more afterwards. The 

 patent, which is now secured throughout Europe, is jirobably worth 1.000.000 

 dollars. An excavator complete costs about 6000 dollars, and will dig and 

 load 1000 cubic yards of earth per day— equal to the labour of 150 men.— 

 Mining Journal. 



The Manufacture of Watches bi/ Machinery.— A gentleman, wdio has devoted 

 20 years of his lile to the subject, has made a variety of machines by which 

 an incredible num'ier of watciies, of every variety of size, may be made in a 

 day. By one of the machines 300 perfect plates can be prorluced in a-day, 

 by another the same quin'ity of barrels; by five machines the requisite 

 number of centre, thirl, and fourth wheels (crossed, pulished, and cut) with 

 balances for 300 movements. By another 200 pinons can be cut and rounded ; 

 by another the holes are lirilleil. the tapping, the screw-holes, the various 

 parts in the plate are sunk, planting Ihe depths .and escapement, itc. and all 

 with such exactness as cannot be excelled, another for the making and polish- 

 ing of pivots, S:c. Four other machines will lie sufficient for making pivots 

 for 50 movements a-d.ay ; and to add to these, there are 20 other machines 

 for every description of work connected with the wach-making. and which 

 altogellur constitute a set. The inventor has submitted these machines to 

 he scrutinizing inspection of the most experienced makers of chronometers 

 nil watches in Ixmdnn, and not one has expressed a doubt of the work so 

 reduced being incomparably superior to tliat done in the usual way. Among 



