TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 129 



Notice of an Apparatus for Use in Working Railways. 

 By Dr. Lardner. 



From various circumstances which he had observed, the author was 

 of opinion that the rails were often not so perfect as they ouglit to be, 

 and he had hence thought it advisable to make some experiments to 

 ascertain their rate of deflexion, his object being to form an idea of 

 their relative merit of surfaces. He made use of a truck, with wheels 

 without flanges, and perfectly cylindrical, and on which a platform was 

 placed. An iron tube crossed this, terminating at each end at right 

 angles, and into this was introduced mercury, so that it was in fact a mer- 

 curial level. Into each of the mercurial columns was introduced a piston 

 rod, to the top of which a pencil was attached, which on any incor- 

 rectness of the line described a curve on a sheet of paper, and the 

 ordinate of this curve gave the variation of the rail. He had tried this 

 on several parts of a line, where it gave a continual variation in the 

 curve, amounting even from three to five inches. The instrument was 

 checked so as to show that this curve was the real representation of the 

 line, and, being simple and easily applied, would no doubt be found 

 useful to contractors on new lines of rails. 



On a new Rotatory Steam-engine. By Mr. Gossage. 



The object of this communication was to make known to the mem- 

 bers present in the mechanical section, the peculiarities and advantages 

 of an uncommonly simple form of rotatory steam engine, which had 

 been brought into actual use under the title of the Stoke Prior Engine. 

 The construction can scarcely be properly understood, except by a very 

 full description and drawings. 



Description of a Machine for cutting the teeth of Bevel Wheels. By 

 Mr. Da VIES. 



In consequence of the importance of the subject the attention of 

 practical and scientific men has been for some time devoted to the in- 

 quiry, and at the Liverpool meeting of the Association Prof. Willis 

 communicated the results of his investigations. The mechanical inven- 

 tion now explained was to provide the means by which any form when 

 determined, could be accurately obtained, but was applied more par- 

 ticularly to the formation of the teeth of bevelled wheels. In construct- 

 ing this apparatus, Mr. Davies availed himself of the Avell-known pla- 

 ning machine, which provides the means of bringing any piece of work 

 attached to its moving table in contact with the cutting tool of the 

 machine, the cuttings thus produced being in lines parallel with the bed. 

 The arrangement for the machine provides for the wheel being caused 

 to have a revolving movement either in a horizontal or a vertical plane, 

 the combination of these two movements being similar to that of a uni- 

 versal joint. A lever or guide-rod is attached to the frame at one end, 

 and at the other it is confined by a slit, which it fits exactly. This slit 

 is formed in a vertical piece of metal which is attached to the moveable 



1839. K 



