220 REPORT—1858. 
in the upper part, made to open outwards, and capable of resisting any ordinary 
pressure. Within this hollow space or chamber it is proposed to insert a slip of paper 
or card, or any other document, and even property, if made large enough, when all 
hope of safety and rescue shall fail ; and at the final sinking or breaking up of the 
ship the buoy would float off, with the probability of being picked up at some time. 
The ‘‘ Record Buoy” is intended to be made of strong copper, of sufficient size to 
be applicable to the purpose, painted in bright-red and white stripes, and fitted with 
a small bell and flag on the upper part. 
Three important advantages are to be derived from the use of this buoy, viz. :— 
Ist. The mournful satisfaction to surviving friends and relations, of being informed 
of what has befallen the ship andcrew; 2ndly. Satisfaction to Insurance Companies 
and insured, that the ship and cargo are really and for ever lost; and 3rdly. The 
light which may be thrown on science, as such records would probably explain the 
cause of accidents, and the circumstances attending them,—for instance, whether 
owing to the build and want of strength in a ship, failure of machinery (in case of 
a steam vessel), or having struck on a rock, or otherwise. 
On the Construction of Floating and Fixed Batteries. 
By G. Reuniz, F.R.S. 
The author observed, it was now some years since the covering of the exterior of 
vessels of war with plates of iron was proposed by General Paixhans, of the French 
Artillery. This he exposed in his work, and stated that, to enable a plate to resist a 
32 lb. shot, it would require a thickness of several inches, and that from the great 
weight of plates it was only applicable to ships of the line, and that at a cost of 
£24,000. On the commencement of the late Russian war, the Emperor of the 
French, who had paid much attention to the subject, brought it before our Govern- 
ment. He considered that it would very much facilitate the operations then about 
to take place against the Russian fortresses of Bomarsund, Helsingfors, Sweaborg, 
and Cronstadt. Vessels of great burden and strength were therefore constructed 
and covered with massive wrought-iron plates of four and five inches in thickness. 
The results of the few trials which were made with these iron-plated batteries were 
published in the journals of the day, but their success was considered to be doubtful. 
Many experiments of solid and hollow shot, fired from 68-lb. guns, have been made 
recently at Woolwich and Portsmouth, with unfavourable results. These results 
led the author to think that little or no success had hitherto been attained. He 
therefore proposed to use inclined or curved surfaces, instead of flat or point blank 
surfaces, as was illustrated in the models exhibited. One of these was a floating 
battery, or man-of-war, having its sides cased with iron plates with curved surfaces ; 
the other a fixed or floating battery, also with curved surfaces. He claimed no 
other originality for this idea than in the curved forms of the plates. Mr. Rennie 
also exhibited various specimens of felt which had been handed to him by General 
Sir Charles Shaw, and several of which had been penetrated to a limited extent by 
rifle balls. 
On a Universal Printing Press. By T. J. SILBERMAN. 
In this paper the author describes a new method of printing by applying the 
pressure of a fluid to a yielding surface, Jaid upon an unyielding engraved surface, 
and this whether the surface printed be that of the vessel itself, which thus becomes 
the press, or whether it be communicated to another interposed yielding surface 
from the pliable and elastic side of the vessel, so as to print plane, curved, or 
angular surfaces—or whether the material to be printed be paper, felt, textile fabric, 
caoutchouc, leather, bladder, ceramic paste, or glass, crystal, or enamel, softened 
by heat ; or whether it be used for the purpose of peripheric printing, as in the 
printing of terrestrial and celestial globes, of vessels of glass or earthenware, or asa 
modification of the presses in use for other kinds of printing. 
The pressure, being that of a fluid communicated through a uniformly yielding 
surface, will be absolutely equal at every point of the surface; consequently there 
will be no danger of partial pressure on the plate, nor need there be a pressure 
