140 ^r. Austin on a new Construction 



disunited or connected, as occasion might require, and to be 

 perfectly air tight. The conical junctures hitherto used, do 

 not bear much pressure, and are objectionable in other re- 

 spects : I have therefore formed my joints of plane surfaces, 

 and find them as perfect, as permanent, and as easy in appli- 

 cation as I can desire. For the construction of these joints, it 

 is necessary that the glass vessels, or pieces to be connected, 

 should be so formed that the part where they are to be joined 

 should admit of having a broad projecting ring cast upon it. 

 The ring should be formed by the glass-blower, as truly 

 square and flat as convenient. The face is then to be ground 

 (but not polished) perfectly plane, and then it will of course 

 fit any other plane surface; — a great convenience on many 

 occasions, and an advantage peculiar to the flat joint. 



The connecting pieces, or collars for the joints, are formed 

 of a flat ring of brass for each, about half an inch broad, and 

 above one-eighth of an inch thick ; this ring must be just wide 

 enough to pass over the glass ring to which it is adapted. 

 Fig. Si a (PI- XIV.) A mahogany ring about half an inch 

 thick, having the diameter of the hole equal to that of the neck 

 of the vessel above the glass ring, is to be screwed to the brass, 

 and then sawed into two pieces through its diameter, fig. 3, b. 

 These pieces are to be unscrewed, and applied to the neck, 

 and they are then to be screwed to their places on the brass. 

 The compound ring, or collar, will be thus secured above the 

 glass ring, and may be fastened to another collar, attached in 

 the same manner to the piece to be joined to it, by four screws 

 passing through both when the joint is intended to be in some 

 degree permanent, as in fig. 3, c. in which [cc) represents 

 the glass pieces to be joined, {aa), the brass ring, and (bb) the 



