244 



SAMUELSON'S PATENT DIGGING MACHINE. 



[1853. 



" Our nrrangeinents for filling our batteries, and drawing off 

 tlie products as they are formed, are simple in design, and per- 

 fectly efficacious in practice ; they consist to describe thern gen- 

 ei'all}-, in a well-arranged system of giitta percba piping, trouglis 

 and taps. Our aim in dealing with the diliicult matter of making 

 the experimental apparatus of the lecture-room the working in- 

 sti'umeut of practice, has been to establish a thorough system of 

 electrical engineering ; and with what success will be best seen 

 by a visit to our manufactory. 



" We have now to deal with the other products of our bat- 

 teries, not pigments; and allhough we feel great difficulty in 

 placing this part of the subject in a garb sufficiently popular to 

 be ejisily comprehended, we consider it necessary to advert to it, 

 to render more clear what we may describe as the " profitable" 

 portion of our invention. 



" During the working of certain forms of our batteries large 

 quantities, especial!}^ when we use nitric acid, of nitrous fumes 

 are given off; these fumes we convey into appropriate chambers 

 and apparatus, and convert to the following uses : — The produc- 

 tion of nitrate of potash, and the production of sulphuric acid — 

 substances which it will be seen are made use of in originally ex- 

 citing the batteries. The hydrogen which escapes from the zinc 

 cells we also profitably employ for the manufacture of acetic ether 

 and ammonia. The pigments, when remo^'ed from the batte- 

 ries, carry with them, of course, a large quantity of spent acid 

 solution. This we profitably eniplov, after the manner described 

 in our specification, for the manufacture of nitrate of iron, white 

 lead, and plaster of Paris. The acid solutions also contain a largo 

 proportion of the salts of potash in the forms of nitrates and sul- 

 phates; and these salts arc easily separated in the manufacture of 

 the substances just named. It must be remembered that nitrate 

 of potash forms one of the exciting agents in the lead batterj', 

 and tliat, therefore, the saving of this salt is by no means an in- 

 Bignificant feature in the economy of our system. We would, 

 moreover, especially draw attention to the fact, that tlie potash 

 gaits from the prussiates and chromatos, added to the batteries 

 for the manufacture of the coloui-s, contribute entirely to the for- 

 mation of nitre and sulphate of potash, over and above the alka- 

 line salt used as an excitant." 



Mr. Watson then comments as follows : — " The difficulty of 

 carrying into the wide and, it may be said, rough fields of prac- 

 tice an invention such as these pages are devoted to, can only be 

 really undei-stood by those who have experienced it. A new 

 field' of labour has to be opened, and experience and education 

 can be the only guide of tliose who may engage in it. Electrical 

 illumination consists not in the mere arrangement of certain gal- 

 vanic paii-s ; it requires something more : system, order, and ecc- 

 pomv, must rule it, .as with railways and steam navigation. The 

 successful and permanent institution of telegraphic communica- 

 tion by the same mysterious force, offen; the greatest possible in- 

 ducement for its being taken up in the spirit that it desen'es. 

 The laying of the electrical mains, and the arrangement of a sys- 

 tem ot''n-o\'ernors for regulating and measuring the quantity of 

 electricity passing to tlio dift'erent lamps, is as much a matter of 

 engineering as the arrangements of gas and water. It will be 

 ea.-iilv recognised, wo opine, that if the manufacture of the coloure 

 wl]i("h wc have described can, in itself, return a profit so largo as 

 to constitute a trade monopoly, that the production of the same 

 urticle-s and the gain of a new power, as an additional source of 

 profit, is a matter worthy of every species of encouragement. 

 We state the proposition thus gcmerally to save ourselves the te- 

 dious details of a debtor and creditor statement, although the 

 closest inspection of such that can bo given wo more than desire 

 and court." 



In conclusion Mi'. Watson, rot^apitulates that ho is able to 



produce the electric hght steajily and uninterruptedly for any 

 immber of houis ; that any little inequaliliis in the action of the 

 Lattery, which would cause the light to flicker, are entirely re- 

 moved, and rendered inoperative by his introduction of the 

 magnet as a regulator; that he has the means resident within 

 the lamp itself of increasing or diminishing the light; that tlis 

 lamp requires no p;evious adjustment, when the electrode is once 

 fixe.l, to render it available at a moment's notice; that the elec- 

 tric light lias no characters in common with other artificial sources 

 of illumination. It surp;isses all other lights in brilliancy. It 

 may be seen from a distance of 30 miles from the place of exhi- 

 bition ; and, what is peculiar, it requires no air to sup|iort if, 

 and burns as well under water as it does in vacuo ! That for 

 liglithou;.e purpo.es it is invaluable. For signalisiiig at sea, 

 ships in convoy, lights of all kinds for vessels, for railway pur- 

 poses, lighting tunne's, mine.% and diving-bells, it has properties 

 and advantages which do other description of light can command. 

 In streets it must, with time and public favour, entirely supersede 

 the use of gas; and for lighting public assembly-rooms, theatres, 

 and spectacles of all kinds, it has only to be made known to 

 ensure its adoption. 



8a mnclson's Patent Digging Machine. 



It is well known that the produce of land cultivated by market 

 gaixleners and by cottagei's far exceeds that obtained from the 

 same area by the farmer. That excess is obtained chiefl)' at the 

 expense of increased labour in deep tillage, irrigating, singling, 

 and cleansing. It is only of late that a serious effort has been 

 to assimilate our practice as farmers to that of the gardener. In 

 the growth of root crops the water drill is but just beginning to 

 perform that in the field, the omission of which in the garden 

 would be considered ?.s the height of neglect. In growing corn, 

 we still adhere to the extravagant practice of thick sowing, whether 

 broad cast or by the drill ; though we may see in the lalwurer's 

 allotments how much superior, both in the straw and in the car, 

 is the crop which he has '-dibbled" with one-third the quantity 

 of seeJ. The value of horse-hoeing is doubted bj' many who 

 would not allow a weed to remain in their gardens; and we 

 still endeavour to make up by waggon-loads of maiutre and by 

 tons of guano for imperfect tillage and want of drainage, which 

 permit their most valuable constituents to be washed off the 

 surface into the ditches and streams ; whereas by converting our 

 fields by deep tillage into one vast filtering bed for their retention, 

 we should not on\y avoid this wa-te, but avail oureelves to the 

 utmost of the valuable diessings that descend with the rains of 

 heaven, the ammonia contained in which, according to our che- 

 mists, represents an annual value of quite twenty shillings per 

 acre, estimated at the price of guanc. 



It is to the oleuient of cultivation, namel}' the effective pulveri- 

 zation of the soil and preparation of the seed-be 1, that Mr. 

 Samuelson the well known agricultural engineer of Banbury, has 

 contributed the invention of his digging machine, which has been 

 for some past at work in that neighbourhood. It consists essen- 

 tially of several series of slender steal prongs, so sliaped in curve 

 and section as tn penetrate the soil easily by the mere weight of 

 the framing, which contains them ; each series resembling tho 

 spokes of a wheel without the tyre, and all the wheels being 

 caused to revolve by the draught of the horses, whilst embedded 

 in tiie earth up to what mav be called their naves. The spokes 

 or prongs bring up the soil, and allow it to fall backward, tho- 

 roughly pulverized and mixed, in a form not unlike the back- 

 water from a paddle-wheel. In the upper portion of their 

 revolution thev pass between a corresponding number of .strong 

 iron bans which scrape away any earth or weeds adhering to 



