SCIENCE. 



aad even hot, as in the case of calendering and laun- 

 dering rolls, or coffee-roasters, run perfectly dry, the year 

 round, without attention, without heating unduly, or being 

 injured by external heat, without perceptible wear or loos- 

 ening, and with a usual reduction of power required, as 

 compared with companion bearings running with oil under 

 the same conditions. Thus the cost of oil is entirely saved 

 while the cost of power is materially diminished ; the 

 usual wear of journals and bearings is practically elimi- 

 nated, while the fit is so close as to exclude dust and pre- 

 serve or rather improve their round and polish ; the labor 

 of cleaning and oiling, and interruptions and bills for re- 

 pairing are saved ; the greasing of fabrics, goods, build- 

 ings and machinery is abolished ; and the serious danger 

 of fire from oil and the spontaneous combustion of oily 

 waste is wholly removed. 



The authority for these comprehensive statements 

 stands in the form of numerous certificates from promi- 

 nent manufacturing firms, a few of which it will be only 

 proper to cite in this connection, using their own words. 

 Thus: Messrs. Bagnall & Loud, the Boston manufactur- 

 ers of pulley-blocks, certify that their planing machine 

 was fitted with metaline bearings four and a half years 

 ago, and is still running on the same at the rate of 5000 

 revolutions per minute, averaging six or seven hours a day. 

 No oil has been applied, and the shaft shows as handsome 

 a polish as could be desired. — Day, Farrington & Co , 

 hardware manufacturers, Brooklyn, report that their 

 emery grinder, with heavy journals running 1600 revolu- 

 tions per minute, after three and a quarter years without 

 oil or attention, required new bushings from neglect to re- 

 plug with metaline, which would have kept them up in- 

 definitely. " The journals are a shakeless fit, and run 

 cooler than another grinder running in oil." — In the ma- 

 chine shopS'of the New York & Harlem Railroad, a circu- 

 lar saw and a Daniels planer had been running on metal- 

 ine bearings, 1800 and 2000 revolutions a minute, respect- 

 ively, for three and four years : no lubricants being used, 

 no care or attention being given them, and no wear per- 

 ceptible. — The lnman line of Atlantic steamships, have 

 used metaline in their wharf machinery for ten years. 

 Their wharfinger and engineer certify to having used 

 metaline gibs on a forty-horse wharf-engine for five and 

 a half years, without lubrication or perceptible wear : 

 where both gibs and slides running in oil used to cut out 

 and require replacement every few weeks or months. — 

 The Excelsior Brick & Stone Company, Philadelphia, 

 state that the metaline bushings of their loose pulleys — 

 48 inches diameter, 12-inch face, 2^-inch bore, friction- 

 clutch, and runing 225 revolutions a minute — are as good 

 after four years as when first put in, and fit the shaft as 

 well, having had no lubrication or attention whatever. — 

 The Washington Steam Laundry, New York, state that 

 they introduced metaline bearings for the heated rolls of 

 their ironing-machines about four years ago ; resultingin 

 complete relief from the constant difficulty, disadvantage 

 and expense caused by such machinery running with oil. — 

 A number of the most prominent manufacturing jewellers 

 in New York, give certificates to the same effect with that 

 of Baldwin, Sexton & Peterson, who say that they have 

 used metaline bearings for five years without lubrication, 

 at very high speed on polishing-lathes etc., the journals 

 running cold and with, less power than others running 

 with oil. — The Windsor Hotel, New York, after using 

 metalined gibs for passenger elevators for several 

 years, certifies that they are in good order and save the 

 d fficulty of keeping the well-way clean and free from the 

 smell of oil. — One of the most extreme pressures that 

 could be tried was that to which the leading blocks were 

 subj-cted in hoisting granite and iron for the New York 

 & Brooklyn Bridge, frequency causing a s rain of four 

 tons on a sheave. Before introducing metaline, the bush- 

 ing and hardened steel rollers of a patent sheave would 

 be cut completely out ( says Engineer Collingwood ) in 

 four or five days. " Since metaline was put in, (over 18 



months) we have had no occasion even to take out the pin, 

 nor can we discover any appreciable wear." 



We learn from Iron (London) the contents of a paper 

 read by A. H. Bateman, Esq., F. C. S., before the Brit- 

 ish Association of Foremen Engineers and Draughts- 

 men. Mr. Bateman stated that, in London, there had 

 been running, on metaline bearings, for the best part of a 

 year, various kinds of main and counter shafting trom 1% 

 to 2/z inches diameter, and from 150 to 450 revolutions 

 per minute, loose pulleys as high as 700, and latheheads, 

 2000 revolutions. Elsewhere in England, there were 

 five-inch shaftings and calendering rolls, under more than 

 ten tons pressure ; also, spinning frames, circular saws, 

 planing machines, sewing machines, printing machines, 

 cranks, bicycles, etc., running on the same material, 

 without the use of oil. Works have been established on 

 an ample scale in Dundee, Scotland, for metalining all 

 kinds of machinery. 



On the practical importance of this invention it seems 

 unnecessary to enlarge, as every practical mind realizes 

 at once that its value must be as diversified as the uses 

 of machinery, and its desirable applications would form 

 a catalogue too long for reading. A few of the lines of 

 vast extent, in which beginnings or preparations have 

 been made for applying metaline, may be noted with in- 

 terest. The value of metaline to the millions of sewing 

 machines in use suggests itself forcibly enough, from the 

 repulsiveness of oil to the ladies who use them in contact 

 with their carpets and clothing, and in making up rich 

 and costly or delicate fabrics, which a spot of oil from 

 the machine often ruins. The time taken up in oiling the 

 machine is a burdensome tax on the operator, and the 

 destruction of thousands of machines, through forgetful- 

 ness to oil them, is a still larger loss. Moreover, the 

 nearly frictionless running of a metalined sewing machine 

 yields the operator a sense of almost spontaneous mo- 

 tion in the instrument, and a delightful relief to the usual 

 fatigue of propelling it ; a strain which has, in fact, re- 

 sulted in sad consequences to many female constitutions. 

 No less obvious, too, is the value of integral lubrication, 

 from its absolute cleanliness, in all machines for making 

 and dressing fine fabrics of any kind. 



Railroad journals running with oil cause daily deten- 

 tions on every road, and frequent disasters by heating 

 their boxes until the Babbitt or other metal is melted out 

 and the train can be moved no further without great 

 caution, delay and danger. A tragical train wreck resulted 

 in Iowa, but a few days since, from the bursting of a wheel 

 by a hot journal, in consequence of the exhaustion of the oil. 

 Great numbers of men are constantly employed in exam- 

 ining, cleaning and oiling, and the expenditure for oil alone 

 is an enormous amount, as well as that for replacing worn- 

 out bushings and axles. When once a car or locomotive 

 is properly fitted up with metaline bearings, these are all 

 in order for one year at least, without a penny-worth 

 further of material or labor, and without a possibility of 

 danger or detention from hot boxes, want of lubrication, 

 or wearing-out of journals and bushings. 



Under the several patents for special applications, such 

 as these and others, the American Metaline Company 

 gives exclusive privilege to proper parties wishing to de- 

 velop a particular use of metaline as a specialty. Met- 

 alined sewing machines are already the property of a 

 New York company under the presidency of Madame 

 Demorest, of fashion and pattern fame. Railway cars 

 and engines are to be metalined by a close corporation 

 of capitalists headed by Wm. Jennings Demorest, Esq.. 

 with a capital of $3,000,000. The application to sheaves, 

 pulleyblocks, &c„ has been taken up very successfully by 

 Bagnall & Loud, Boston. Samuel S. Webber & Co., 

 Manchester, N. H.. have the manufacture of metalined 

 spinning frames, &c, which has been tested thoroughly 

 for years, and is now going into mills with many thous- 

 ands of spindles. Metaline packings for steam, water 

 and gas joints, pumps, &c, &c, are a specialty of Frank 



