Jan. 13, 1888,] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



47 



RECENT INVENTIONS. 



The following list has been compiled especially for the 'aCYS-lHTlYlc. 

 News, by Messrs. W. P. Thompson and Boult, Patent Agents, of 

 323, High Holborn, London, W.C.; Newcastle Chambers, Angel 

 Row, Nottingham ; Ducie Buildings, Bank Street, Manchester ; and 

 6, Lord Street, Liverpool. 



Opsiometer. — Mr. E. Barnard, of Cirencester, has 

 patented an opsiometer. It is an instrument whereby 

 lenses, fixed at a normal reading distance from printed 

 matter, shall, by means of a disc, cylinder, or other 

 means, be made to revolve before both eyes of a person 

 who looks through two eye openings (shaped something 

 like an opera-glass), who thus readily ascertains the 

 power of lens required in selecting a pair of spectacles, 

 etc. 



Music Portfolio. — Mr. E. Holmes, of Bewdley, 

 Worcestershire, has patented a music portfolio. It is 

 provided with a solid wood back, oval-shaped on the out- 

 side, but flat inside, and capped at each end with per- 

 forated brass plates, projecting quarter-inch over the 

 inside edges of the back, to be threaded with a tier of 

 cords allowing pieces of music to be easily inserted or 

 taken out. 



Moulding Artificial Fuel. — An apparatus for mould- 

 ing blocks of artificial fuel has been patented by Messrs. 

 Mulheims and Zimmermann, of Noeuf-les-Mines, France. 

 Briefly the action is as follows : — The pasty material is 

 passed into shoots, and falls between two cylinders 

 revolving in opposite directions. The moulding and 

 agglomeration take place in passing between the two 

 cylinders, and is performed by mechanical compression. 



Sounding Board for Violins. — Mr. P. H. Zeidler, of 

 Hammersmith, London, has patented a sounding board 

 for violins. The invention consists in producing a 

 sound-board of two separate archings, so as to gain more 

 elasticity, and thereby obtain longer and purer vibration, 

 and produce a more mellow and powerful tone. The 

 board is made as follows : The upper and lower archings 

 are each worked out separately, and then one is fixed on 

 the top of the other. 



Cinder Sifter and Housemaid's Box. — Messrs. B. W. 

 and H. M. Dove, of Islington, London, have patented a 

 combined cinder sifter and housemaid's box. The in- 

 vention consists of a combination of cinder box and 

 sifter, having a shovel provided with a spring lid, also 

 receptacles for brushes, etc. The dust or ashes are 

 taken up by means of the spring lid shovel, placed in the 

 box through a hinged hanging-flap, received on the 

 movable sifter beneath in the shape of a wire-bottomed 

 shovel placed in the body of the box, the dust passing 

 through the wires and falling into a movable receiver 

 beneath, the cinders remaining ; the shovel sifter can 

 then be withdrawn and the cinders used as required, 

 and the receiver emptied of dust. 



Fire-escape. — Lieut. -Col. E. R. Wethered, of Wool- 

 wich, has patented a fire escape. The object of this in- 

 vention is to provide a friction pulley-block, with other 

 attachments suitable for a fire-escape, the pulley-block 

 being constructed to act universally and automatically, 

 so that either end of the rope can be used alternately for 



lowering, the rope rove through the block being pressed 

 or nipped between one or other of the pulley wheels 

 and block of shackel by the weight of person descend- 

 ing, such pressure being increased or diminished by 

 holding the end of the rope hanging down more or less 

 firmly with one hand. 



Improvements in Telegraph 'Posts. — Mr. A. Muir- 

 head, D.Sc, of Westminster, has patented improve- 

 ments in telegraph posts. This invention is applicable 

 especially to posts which are built up of several lengths 

 or tubes. Each tube is made either of circular or oval 

 form in transverse section, and in the lower end of 

 the tube is inserted a strengthening or stiffening piece, 

 which consists essentially of a plate or web, which, when 

 the stiffening piece is properly inserted in the post, ex- 

 tends vertically within the same and diametrically across 

 the interior thereof in a plane parallel to the telegraph 

 wire, that is to say, it occupies such a position that it 

 will offer the maximum resistance to the bending 

 stresses which the post has to withstand. The vertical 

 plate is provided with one or more plates at right angles 

 thereto, which fit into the tube, and prevent the liability 

 to failure of the post by collapse. 



Distilling Apparatus for Ships. — An apparatus 

 for obtaining fresh water for ships' use has been 

 patented by Mr. H. Dansey, of Gracechurch-street, Lon- 

 don. This invention consists in an apparatus for obtain- 

 ing fresh water, in which the waste gases escaping from 

 the ships' boiler furnace are utilised to effect the 

 evaporation of sea water while in a partial vacuum. 

 The apparatus comprises a vertical tube fitted in the 

 smoke-box, or funnel, of the ship's boiler. The tank 

 having been supplied with the necessary quantity of 

 water, and communication opened between the vertical 

 tube and the condenser, the water in the tank will be 

 caused to rise in the vertical tube to a certain height by 

 reason of the vacuum and atmosphere pressure, and 

 will become heated and evaporated by the heat from the 

 waste gases passing up the funnel. The water being in 

 partial vacuum the evaporation takes place at a low 

 temperature and rapid rate. The steam passes to the 

 condenser and is condensed. 



Electrical Contact Maker. — An apparatus for 

 making and breaking electrical circuits has been patented 

 by Messrs. Sudworth and Falkenstein, of South Hack- 

 ney, London. The object of the invention is to ensure 

 a simultaneous breaking of the circuit at a number of 

 distinct points, so as to ensure a minimum of sparkling 

 and consequent reduction of wear and tear of the work- 

 ing parts. The apparatus consists of a suitably-formed 

 base of insulating material, on which, in the case of a 

 two-pole switch, the four electrically separate contact 

 pieces are rigidly mounted ; the latter are so disposed 

 and placed in pairs on the base as to admit of a passage 

 between each pair of them of a lever by which the cir- 

 cuit between the two is completed or broken as re- 

 quired. When in their normal position the levers are 

 out of contact with the pairs of contact pieces and the 

 circuit is broken in two places. The levers are con- 

 structed from any suitable insulating material, and have 

 at the ends metallic pieces, which, when forced into or 

 between the pairs of contact pieces, complete the circuit 

 between them. 



