530 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Dec. 26, 1884, 



encouraRed by the insinnation that small-pox is a bogey, and the 

 further explicit declaration that pro- vaccinators are " weak- 

 minded." If there is anything the foolish among mankind dread 

 more than anotlier, ifc is the very charge of possessing a " weak " 

 mind, and the "Society'* has sliown a most crafty vpisdom in 

 selecting it as a weapon with which to wound its wavering adherents 

 and compel them to submission. — Medical Press and Circular. 



dBuv Infafntorjs* Column. 



So great is the numher of inventions now patented that many good 

 things are comparatively lost in the crowd. A succinct account, 

 therefore, hy an Expert, of all inventions of really popular interest 

 and utility must he advantageous loth to the public and the 

 Inventor, enailing persons to hear of inventions already desiderated 

 hy them, and thus acting reciprocally as a stimulant on supply 

 and demand. 



A SELF-LIGHTING GAS-BUENER A2JD TAP. 



Many, and, sometimes — as in the present instance— almost 

 magical, are the domestically-directed inventions of the day. 

 Prominent among these must be numbered the |Patent Self- 

 Lighting Gas-Burner and Tap, recently invented by Mr. Kinnear. 

 This appliance obviates the necessity of relighting the gas, the 

 turning of the tap at once effecting the purpose. The invention 

 consists in the employment of a lighter or auxiliary burner for 

 automatically lighting the main burner when the tap is turned 

 on. By this operation the auxiliary burner, which allows only 

 a mere pin-head jet of gas to "burn, is shut off, while, 

 when the tap is turned on, the main light is extinguished 

 and the tiny flame of the auxiliary burner again lighted. The 

 appliance consists of a double-way tap having a main way 

 , direct through the plug, and leading to the main burner, and also 

 an auxiliary way round the surface of the plug leading to the 

 lighter or auxiliary burner. When the main way is fully opened, 

 by turning on the tap, and the main burner fully alight, the 

 auxiliary way is entirely closed, and the lighter extinguished. When 

 the main way is entirely closed the auxiliary way is open, allowing 

 sufficient gas to pass through to keep a small pin-head jet only 

 burning, which forms the lighter. As the plug is being turned on 

 to open the main way to the burner, it automatically opens the 

 auxihai-y way to the full extent (by means of the way connecting 

 the main with the auxiliary ways), whereupon the lighter 

 flares up and ignites the gas, which is then slightly on at the 

 main burner, and as the plug is turned on to the full extent, the 

 main way is gi-aUu-'Uy opened, and at the same time the auxiliary 

 way is automatically closed until when the main is full on and the 

 burner fully alight, the auxiliary way is shut off, and the lighter is 

 entirely extinguished. On the plug being again turned off the re- 

 verse operation takes place, and the lighter is again left with the 

 pin-head jet burning. This useful appliance can bo fixed to all 

 existing fittings, by any inexperienced person, and will fit all 

 makes of fittings, while the selling-price of well-finished taps and 

 burners is at 43. each, and even less. 



AN APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING STEAM OR VAPOUR. 



The ready and economic production of steam is a desideratum to 

 many. Mr. Johan Millen, of Queen Victoria-street, London, has 

 invented an apparatus which, it is claimed, produces, easily and 

 cheaply, steam or vapour, alone, or mixed, if desired, with hot air. 

 According to a modified arrangement, the steam or vapour jet is 

 caused to enter a hot air jacket by preference at or near the top, 

 and into a kind of cock or thimble or valve which admits the cold 

 air to the jacket, or to a passage provided on it and communicating 

 therewith by a row of holes. The required heat for evaporating or 

 vaporising the water and heating the air is produced by a burner 

 arranged underneath the water vessel and made to burn the vapour 

 of petroleum, or other hydrocarbon or spirits. 



AN IMPROVED FIRE-GRATE. 



Them: seems no end of inventions designed to evolve at last the 

 perfect fire-grate. One of the latest endeavours in this direction is 

 the invention of Mr. James Smith, Pine-street, Liverpool, and has 

 for its object to provide a fire-place and grate constructed in such a 

 manner that bituminous coal, or similar carbonaceous fuel, will 

 bum so as to produce a clear, bright fire emitting little or no smoke. 

 The invention consists in constructing a combined fireplace and 

 grate in a novel manner, so that coking and combustion of the fuel 



are effected in separate parts of the grate, and the air required for 

 combustion is heated and admitted to the fuel as is nece.seary. The 

 fireplace consists of a chamber or recess partly separated from the 

 flue by an abutment or partition. The grate cousiBts of firebars 

 and sides of suitable construction, the bottom and back have each 

 an air opening (or several) and valves or dampers. Below the 

 lowest bar of the grate there is a coking-chamber, and when the 

 grate is fitted into its place an air-space is left below and at the 

 back, through which air passes past the valves or dampers through 

 the bottom and back of the fireplace to support combustion. The 

 grate is moreover provided with a movable or detachable front, 

 which enables the same to be readily cleaned. 



ORNAMENTAL WALLS, CEILINGS, &c. 



One of the happiest and most encouraging signs of the day is the 

 increasing attention paid to interior ornamentation. There is really 

 no longer reason why decorated walls, ceilings, and pavements 

 should belong only to the very rich, and it is quite certain that the 

 advance of domestic decoration among the majority must pari 

 passu include a corresponding advance in national culture. We 

 are glad, therefore, to note that Mr. John Baker Gaiusby, of Lower 

 Temple-street, Birmingham, has patented some notable improve- 

 ments in constructing ornamental walls, ceilings, pavements, and 

 other surfaces. The invention referred to consists of certain im- 

 provements in connecting pieces or plates of glass, enamel, or other 

 ornamental material of which the ornament is made, and of methods 

 of attaching the plates to the surface to be ornamented. As an 

 illustration, the construction of a wall ornamented by a design 

 composed of pieces or plates of enamel will be described. In order 

 to connect the several pieces, strips of brass or other ductile mate- 

 rial are used. Their shape in cross section is that of a T, or plain 

 narrow strips with pins on the underside may be used. These strips 

 are soldered together in lengths, so as to form a frame into which 

 the pieces of enamel may be inserted from the back, the head of 

 the X strips being in front and bearing upon the edges of the 

 pieces of enamel. At the back the strips may have pins, studs, or 

 projections, allowing the same to be fixed on the wall. The pins 

 may be made to enter the plaster or cement on the wall before it 

 has set. The frame containing the enamel plates may, however, 

 be made with a backing of cement, and thus be formed into solid 

 slabs, which are then used in the same manner as other slabs ; or a 

 back-plate of wood may be secured on the wall by screws or the 

 like, and the ornamental slab be fixed thereon. 



DOOR-LOCK FURNITURE, 4c. 



TuEBE is ample scope for inventive ingenuity, as we have already 

 observed, for improvement in door and window furniture generally, 

 to employ the builders' phraseology. Messrs. Jelley, Son, & Jones, 

 the manufacturing ironmongers of Blackfriars-road, are now intro- 

 ducing a useful, and, as it certainly seems, a commendable inven- 

 tion known as Jones & Cunningham's patent self-adjusting door- 

 lock furniture, which embodies a very excellent, though simple, 

 improvement. It can be adjusted to any thickness of door, being 

 provided with a tooth spindle, into which a rocking lever is pushed 

 and secured by a sliding rose. Another invention is Jones & Cun- 

 ningham's patented guarded-lever sash-fastener, which is provided 

 ou the hook-plate with a slide or shield for the protection of the 

 arm or bar of the fastening. 



A NEW COFFEE-MAKING APPAEATUS. 



Coffee in England is rarely what it should be, and the fault lies 

 mostly iu the manner of making. A well-known Professor has 

 recently been devoting some thought to the subject of coffee- 

 making, and this is, after all, more generally useful than transcen- 

 dental philosophy ; and as the net and satisfactory results, a new 

 coffee-making apparatus (the " Criterion " Cafeticre, Arndt's 

 patent) has been constructed, after three years of experiment. It 

 has been established as a fact that the exact time necessary to 

 filter boiling water through coffee so as to completely extract its 

 wholesome constituents is eight minutes, the quantity of coffee- 

 beans and water being always fixed in certain proportions. On 

 this period of filtration the makers base the sizes of their machines, 

 which are made with mathematical accuracy to five different 

 capacities, calculated to give from two to twelve cups of coffee. 

 In these machines, the receptacle for groimd coffee being closed at 

 the top by a movable gauze lid, the water is obliged to pass 

 tlu'ongh the immovable layer of coffee, and to extract its essence 

 uniformly, at the same time making up the most valuable volatile 

 constituents, thereby preventing the escape of the same. The 

 wholesale agent for the " Criterion " Cafeticre is Mr. Thomas P. 

 Cook, 34, Snow-hill, London. 



