176 [Assembly 



converting it from a variable, as it exists in other machines, to a con- 

 stant quantity of resistance, or nearly so, under all intensities. 



The power invented by Dick is without friction of any sort, as 

 constituting an impediment to its action, worth noticing ; and we 

 know of no reason why it may not supercede, for the great majority 

 of purposes, the hydrostatic and all other forms of powder, either for 

 pressing or lifting, especially when we take into consideration the 

 facts that it can be afforded at a much less cost ; will operate much 

 quicker with the same force exerted upon it ; is more convenient to 

 handle ; easy of construction ; requires no oil to lubricate its parts ; 

 HO water, as in the case of the hydrostatic ; ^nd is far less liable to 

 get out of order, than any other form of machine. 



We cannot but view this invention as of the greatest importance 

 to this department of mechanics, and we are not a little surprised that 

 the principle or manner in which this mechanical arrangement has 

 been constructed, should have so long escaped notice in this age of 

 invention, which has brought forth so many wonderful things in every 

 department of science and mechanism. 



It may be serN^ceable here to enumerate some of the purposes to 

 which this power can be successfully and economically applied, viz : 

 pressing oils, paper, books, cotton, hemp, cloth, flax, tobacco, hay, 

 baleing goods, &c. ; elevating ships in dock, hauling out vessels on 

 inclined planes, moving houses, extracting stumps, punching iron and 

 other metallic plates, of all the usual thicknesses, cutting off iron bars, 

 shearing boiler plates, printing, coining, embossing, planishing tin and 

 daguerreotype plates, cutting out and pressing jeweller's work, &c. 

 It has been very successfully applied to straighten railroad bars, as 

 shown by the annexed letter from Messrs. Cooper & Hewitt. 



The most extensive and severe test of its pqwer for lifting pur- 

 poses, was recently made at the Navy Yard, Brooklyn, where one 

 of these machines, about seven feet in height, was applied in ex- 

 tracting the piles that had been driven in constructing the coffer dam 

 required for the Dry Dock. These piles had been driven into the 

 ground about 40 feet, were about 50 feet in length, and 16 to 20 



