PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 507 



make an endless screw that would make 2,500 revolutions in a minute and 

 not wear out. Some ingenious Yankee has taken clock movements and 

 done very well, but it would run down in a few hours and the works soon 

 wear out. The pinions in my lamp are made of the hardest steel and pel. 

 ished. I have never found the least odor about this lamp except a little 

 before lighting it. The blower is worked by an endless lever, the same as 

 in a musical box, made of polished steel. The spring is made to uncoil 

 uniformly, for a spring that will not unwind evenly will cause the blower 

 to go slower and cause the light to flicker. In this respect we are very 

 particular. The spring is heated in a furnace and tempered in oil, it is 

 then repolished, when it is blued, and after that polished again, when it is 

 coiled up and unwound and watched closely in uncoiling to see if it 

 unwinds uniformly. 



Mr. Fisher. — Why would not a weight intead of a spring- answer ? 



Mr. Jones. — With a stationary lamp this would do, but would not answer 

 otherwise. The spring in this lamp will raise eight pounds. 



Mr, Kowell. — It might be made to have the lamp fixed, and the machinery 

 to supply it with air placed outside, and let in the air as it is wanted'; 

 it would then onlj'- require a simple meter, such as is used in measuring 

 gas, to know the exact supply of air necessary for a perfect combustion for 

 a given quantity ot oil, 



" Street and Suburban Locomotives " was adopted for discussion at the 

 next meeting. 



Adjourned. John W. Chambers, Secretary pro tern. 



American Institute Polytechnic Association, \ 



April 16, 1863. ) 



The Chairman, S. D. Tillman, Esq., presiding. 



Mr. Chambers, secretary pro tem, read a circular signed Horatio Allen 

 and B. F, Isherwood, commissioners, appointed by the- secretary of the navy 

 to devise and conduct a set of experiments to ascertain, by means of prac- 

 tical results, the relative economy of using steam with ditferent measures 

 of expansion, and desiring to have the benefit of the judgment and sug- 

 gestions of those conversant with the subject. 



Dr. Rowell moved that the subject be referred to a committee of three, 

 "which was carried, and Messrs. Fisher, Dibben and Rowell«were appointed. 



On motion of Mr. Adriance, Mr. S. D. Tillman was added to the com- 

 mittee 



Dr. Rowell. — As an item of interest during the miscellaneous business, 

 I may mention that the use of wood for making paper, has been very 

 largely experimented upon lately. Mr. Lyman's new method is to grind up 

 the wood while in a vessel heated to some 350 to 400 degrees, and after 

 being thus treated for some time, a quantity is allowed to flow out, which 

 is then rubbed fine, so that the silica can be washed out; the trouble and 

 expense of using an alkali are done away with. This plan has been found 

 to work very successfully. 



