1854.] 



THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



25J 



A paper was read by Professor Wilson on the following sub- 

 ject: "Some remarks on the intrusion of the Germanic races 

 into the area of the older Keltic races of Europe." 



Sixteenth Ordinary Meetings April 8tlij 1S54* 



The names of the following candidates for membership were 

 read : 



Thomas Keefer, C.E Montreal. 



Andrew Hood, P.L.S Dunville. 



A second paper by t Elkanah Billings, Barrister-at-Law, of 

 Bytown, C.W., " On some new Genera and Species of Cystidea 

 from the Trenton Limestone," was read. 



The President announced that the concluding meeting of the 

 Institute for the Session 1853-4, would be held on Saturday, 

 29 th April. 



Seventeenth Ordinary Meeting, April 30tn, 1S54. 



The following gentlemen were elected members : 



Thomas Keefer, C.E. Montreal. 



Andrew Wood, P.L.S Dunnville. 



The name of the following candidate for membership was 

 read : 



James Farley St. Thomas. 



The Rev. John McCaul, L.L.D., President of University Col- 

 lege, delivered an eloquent and learned Lecture on " Some doubt- 

 ful points of Grecian and Roman Antiquities." 



A very interesting and elaborate paper " On the Rise and 

 Fall of the great Lakes," by Major R. Lachlan, of Montreal, was 

 read by the Rev. Professor Irving. 



The President announced that on Saturday, May 6th, a General 

 Meeting would be held to take into consideration the Report of 

 the Committee appointed by the Council to make final arrange- 

 ments for the union of the Toronto Athenreum with the Canadian 

 Institute. 



Sykcs' Steam Hammer. 



We publish this month an engraving of a very ingenious 

 arrangement of a steam-hammer, which has been invented and 

 patented by Mr. Sykes, Superintendent of the Toronto Locomo- 

 tive Works. 



This hammer is not proposed to equal in the range of its 

 application the steam-hammer invented by Nasmyth, but it 

 accomplishes in a much cheaper and more simple form many of 

 the objects attained by that patent. 



J The chief advantages of this arrangement are : first, the direct 

 application of the steam without the intervention of a steam- 

 engine, and its consequent fly-wheels, belts, and gearing ; secondly, 

 the arrangement of the steam valves in such a form as to admit 

 of a perfect adjustment of the height of the stroke and the vigour 



of the blow given. This adjustment is not perhaps quite so perfect 

 as that of Nasmyth's, but it is sufficient for all practical purposes. 

 As compared with Nasmyth's, its disadvantages are that it does 

 not give a square or parallel blow, and the forging of square 

 work must therefore partake of the angularity of the face of the 

 anvil to that of the hammer in proportion to its thickness, unless 

 the hammer head is changed with each change in the dimensions 

 of the work to be done. This, however, is only true in the case 

 of work requiring parallel faces, and does not affect the forging 

 of shafts or other round work. The nature of this arrangement 

 also prevents its application on so large a scale as in Nasmyth's 

 hammer. For ordinary work, however, and for shafts which do 

 not exceed ten or twelve inches in diameter, the small cost of 

 this hammer will, we think, be sufficient to ensure its extensive 

 use. 



LITERAL REFERENCES. 



A — Anvil block. 



B — Hammer head. These may be of such form as is desirable for 

 swaging the work to the required form. 



C — A spring of flexible timber against which the hammer head strikes 

 in its upward stroke, and is intended to overcome the momentum 

 of the hammer, which would otherwise throw the piston out of the 

 stuffing-box. 



D — A cast-iron socket which carries the hammer arm, the centre 

 on which it oscillates, and the piston. 



E — The piston made square and concentric with the centre 0, and can 

 be completely finished in the lathe. 



F- — Is the steam-chest in which the piston works, being furnished with 

 a stuffing-box and gland of the ordinary construction. 



a — Valve-chest, containing double slide valves, the adjustment of 

 which in relation to each other regulates the stroke of the ham- 

 mer. 



b — Valve-lever, the position of which on the arc c regulates the relative 

 position of the valves. 



d — The under valve rod. 



e — Exlia.ust-pipe for waste steam. 



/ — Lever attached to the main centre 0, by which the oscillations of 

 the shaft communicate the requisite motion to the upper slide- 

 valve by acting on studs placed in the proper position on the valve- 

 spindle r/. 



s — Steam pipe. 



G — Main centre frame of metal. 



H — Foundation plate. 



K — Foundation of timber or stone. 



1 1 — Iron columns by which the spring C is secured. 



The Northern Railroad — JLaivC Ontario and Lake Sinicoe* 



On Saturday, May 6th, the Mayor and Corporation of the City 

 of Toronto, the Sheriffs and Wardens of the Counties of Ontario 

 and Simooe, the Member for Simcoe, and a large number of pri- 

 vate gentlemen, were invited by the President and Directors of 

 the Northern Railroad to assist in celebrating the establishment 

 of a daily communication, going and returning, between the City 

 of Toronto and the shores of Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching. 



The Northern road was in excellent condition, and the cars 

 acquired a high degree of speed without the least disagreeable 

 motion, placing the guests of the Directors by the side of a hand- 

 some and very commodious steamboat at Bell Ewart, on Lake 

 Simcoe, in a little over two hours after leaving Toronto. 



Shortly after the arrival of the party at Boll Ewart, the 



