MOOEE’S ETJEAI NEW-YOEKEE: AN AGEICULTUEAL AND FAMILY JOUENAL. 
lrt0 ^ Iciratt. 
LIST OF PATENTS 
ISSUKD FROM THK UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE, 
For the week endmg March IG, 1850. 
To Wm. B. Barnard, of Bristol, Conn., for im¬ 
provement in the spiral spring sash stopper. 
To J. T. Bruen, of New York, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in cutting figures in relief on wood. 
To P. B. Cool, of Columbus, Ohio, for fasten- 
ing^of Terrets in harness-saddles. 
To James Cunningham, of Reading, Pa., for 
improvement in ventilating railroad cars. 
To John T. Davv-, of Troy, N. Y., for improve¬ 
ment in Furnaces for heating sad-irons. 
To A. O. Baj-ton, of Washington, D. C., for 
improvement in coloring photographic pictures. 
To N. Dodge, of New York, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in pumps for deep wells. 
To Asa Fessenden, of Baldwinsville, Mass., for 
improvements in machinerj' for making pill-boxes. 
To Wm. Flong & G. A. Grove, of Chambers- 
burg, Pa., for Cultivating Seed Planter. 
To Perry Goodhue, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for im¬ 
provement in air-hating stoves. 
To W. Hayden, of Windham, Conn., for im¬ 
provement in regulators for drawing rollers. 
To E. Hills, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for improve¬ 
ment in Oil Presses. 
To G. Hotchkiss, of Windsor, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in noddle irons for saw mills. 
To John Johnson, (Assignor to E. Johnson) of 
Troy, N. York, for improvements in Looms for 
weaving piled fabrics. 
To L. Kingsley, of Norfolk Co., Mass., for im¬ 
provement in cast-iron car-wheels. 
To L. Kingsley, of Norfolk Co., Mass., for im¬ 
provement in cast-iron car-wheels. 
To S. Knight, of Winchester, Ind., for im¬ 
provement in the interior arrangement of steam 
boilers. 
To T. Lidgerwood, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for im¬ 
proved Lever Lewis. 
To John Marquart, (Assignor to Henry Schrei¬ 
ner,) of Reading Pa., for improvement in the 
guage for water casks. 
To A. F. Menefee, of Rappahannock Co., Va., 
for improvement in E’louring Mills. 
To Mary W. O’Meara, of New York, N. Y., 
for inijirovement in Abdominal Supporters. 
To T. Slaight, of Newark, N. J., (Assignor to 
H. C. Jones,) for improved method of opening 
lock-bolts. 
To Wm. T. Welch, Jr., of Churchville, Md., for 
improvement in brakes for carriages. 
To EL Williams »& James Culberston, of Ken¬ 
ton Co., Ky., for machine for giving increased 
twist in cutting rifles. 
MANUFACTURE OF SHOT. 
To tliose who are unacquainted with the 
process of shot-making, a brief description 
of its modus operandi may not be unac¬ 
ceptable. The process, although somewhat 
curious, is exceedingly simple, and requires 
no expensive or complicated machiner}^— 
The whole process, as explained by Mr. 
Kennett, of St. Louis, whose success in the 
manuhicture of this article is worthy the 
enterprise which induced it, is very briefly 
given, and may be new to some of our 
readers. 
The tower is 31 feet in diameter at the 
base, 17 feet at the top, and 175 feet high. 
The lead is conveyed by an endless chain 
into the upper story, Avhere it is melted, and 
while in a liquid form, is passed through a 
ladle sieve of the size of shot intended to 
be made, and falls, the distance of 150 feet, 
into a cistern of cold water. This gives the 
globular form to the drops, which arc chil¬ 
led before reaching the Avater, and entirely 
cooled by the time they get to the bottom 
of the cistern. 
From this cistern they are conveyed into 
a heated' drum, in which a spiral wheel 
brings them all in contact with heated air, 
and thus dries them. They are then passed 
into a revolving cylinder, in which they are 
polished, and from thence passed over a suc- 
ces.sion of inclined plains or tables, about 
six inches apart; in passing over these ta¬ 
bles, the imperfect shot drop betAveen the 
tables, and those Avhich are perfect roll over 
into the receptacle b*loAv. They are then 
passed into a hopper, and by a succession 
of sieves or guages, worked also by ma¬ 
chinery, the various sizes are separated.— 
Each sieve is then emptied into the appro¬ 
priate receptacle, Avhich completes the ope¬ 
ration, leaving the shot ready for bagging, 
after Avhich it is lettered according to ite size, 
and is then ready for market.— llimt’s 
Merchant’s Magazine. 
New Telegraph. — A new telegraph has 
been made, it is said, by Mr. Wm. S. Thomas 
of NorAvich, New York, called the Electric 
Thermic Telegraph. The principle of this 
invention is caloric, generated and controlled 
by the galvanic battery, and Avith the neAV 
manipulator the operator is enabled, it is as¬ 
serted, to transmit twice the amount of busi¬ 
ness in the same time as any telegraph now 
in use. This invention, whatever may be 
the result of the suit now pending between 
Morse and Bain, will prevent any monopoly 
from springing into existence. Bain may be 
defeated upon every issue, and yet Profes¬ 
sor Morse will have a competitor to contend 
with, whose patent is beyond the reach of 
litigation, because as original as his own, and 
against Avhom the terrors of the laAv will be 
invoked in vain.— Ex. 
New Building Material. —A neAV build¬ 
ing matei’ial has been introduced in Potts- 
ville, Pa., a kind of large brick, fifteen by 
thirty inches in dimensions, of a handsome 
buff color, Avhich can be made into any 
shape desired. The Miners’ Journal says 
they can be worked up into beautiful block 
fronts for buildings. They can be furnish¬ 
ed at one-third the cost of cut stone, are 
superior in appearance, and so far as knoAvn 
are almost as durable. 
CARY’S ROTARY FIRE ENGINE PUMP. 
The above cut is a correct representa¬ 
tion of the acting machinery of Cary’s Ro¬ 
tary Pump and Engine. We haA^e seen 
this Pump in operation, and critically ex¬ 
amined its construction, as to durability, 
ease and certainty of action, and power of 
performing the duties required. As a House 
and Ship Pump, a Fire Engine and Hy- 
draulion, it is unequalled—and is the reali¬ 
zation of all the designs of the many in¬ 
ventors who have experimented on the Ro¬ 
tary Pump for many years. 
It receives elastic packing at every point 
of severe action, and is so contrived that the 
force of the Avater is made to keep the pack- 
in o- in contact Avith all the acting surfaces. 
Its ability to raise water is very great; one 
of eight inches in diameter raises easily, by 
hand, 20 gallons per minute. The 10 inch 
one by the power of 120 revolutions raises 
100 gallons; and the 14 inch size, Avith the 
same motion, 300 gallons per minute—ren¬ 
dering it valuable for factories, mills, &c„ as 
it possesses the ability of a powerful Fire 
Engine. 
We copy the following notice and de¬ 
scription from the Scientific Ameiican: 
This invention relates to improvements in 
a Rotary Engine to be propelled by steam, 
or for pumping and forcing water. T he cut 
represents the engine as a rotary pump, and 
is a semi-sectional aucav of the interior ar¬ 
rangement. The inventor is Mr. Albigence 
W. Cary, of Brockport, Monroe county, _N. 
Y., and he has removed one great objection 
to rotary pumps and engines, A'iz a difficul¬ 
ty in keeping them steam and water tight 
The improvements made relate to the pack¬ 
ing of the pistons so as to prevent friction 
and keep the chambers of the cylinder 
tight; also proAiding a perforated crescent¬ 
shaped partition Avhich divides the chamber 
of the cylinder from the exhaust and sup¬ 
ply tubes to ansAver as a strainer when used 
for pumping Avater. It can be used either 
in a horizontal or vertical position as requir¬ 
ed. The machine is simple, easily construct¬ 
ed, easily repaired, and not expensive. As 
a force pump, no farmer should be Avithout 
one, even if it Avas for nothing more than to 
mount a small one on a AvheelbarroAV to 
sprinkle the trees of his orchard Avith suds 
or salt and water, &c., to destroy caterpil- 
lers, Avhile for a force pump in case of fire, 
it is a most convenient and effective hydrau¬ 
lic machine. 
Description. —A is the axle fitting into 
the movable and revohdng drum B, and 
passing through the machine, to which a 
crank may be attached on either side or 
both at one. The drum B revolves in the 
interior of the chamber, its rim sliding in 
grooves cast in the circular side plates, so 
as to move perfectly tight. In width it is 
in proportion to its iameter as 1 to 3. C 
C are pistons, or they may be called sliding 
A^alves. They move round with the drum 
B, and slide therein in grooves alternately 
out and in, guided in their motion by the 
shape of the heart cam against the periphe¬ 
ry of which they press, each slide being 
driven full into the groove when it comes to 
E, a driving butt of the exhaust and sup¬ 
ply Avays. This butt is a piece of metal, 
packed on the end D, against which the 
drum and slides move steam tight. G G are 
broad flanges for the pump to rest upon any 
standard made for that purpose, as it is very 
portable, and intended to be moA'ed about 
Avith gTeat ease. F is the supply pipe, and 
H is the spout or discharge pipe. When 
used for pumping, the drum is turned by a 
crank on the axle. The Avater enters thro’ 
F and is forced out of H, with a force that 
is astonishing and regular. Tlie pistons are 
packed in a ver}" peculiar manner. They 
have interior orifices communicating Avith 
the steam or water under the pacldng, so 
that the steam or water gently expands the 
packing when the engine is in operation, 
and keeps the chambers perfectly tight.— 
The pistons are packed on their ends, and 
also their upper and loAver surfaces in a kind 
of dovetailed manner, so simple that any 
person can repack them when required.— 
The manner in which the pistons are pack¬ 
ed, and also the crescent strainer, is some¬ 
thing neAV and useful, indeed to rotary 
pumps and engines. The crescent wing 
and also the cam, have been knoA\m before, 
yet not combined in the same way, or so . 
well. It Avill ansAver as well for a rotary 
steam engine as for a rotary force pump, 
and we haA^e seen it operate Avith a very 
imperfect model in a manner that surprised 
all who ‘saAv it. 
This pump is admirably adapted for ves¬ 
sels. There is no fear of choking, and if 
any thing goes Avrong, it can all be repaired 
above. The Avhole machinery is on deck, 
contained in the inside of the cylinder, easy 
of access, and easily repaired. All that is 
required to adapt it for vessels is simply to 
erect it on a stage on deck and connect the 
suction pipe Avith the Avell by means of 
leather hose, like that of a fire. engine.— 
There is nothing that A\'ill wear out. The 
packing may have to be renewed once every 
voyage, and the commonest seaman can do 
that. 
THE STEAM ENGINE. 
There is, to our thinking, something aw¬ 
fully grand in the contemplation of a vast 
steam engine. Stand amidst its ponderous 
beams and bars, Avheels and cylindei-s, and 
watch their unceasing play; how regular 
and how poAA’'erful! The machinery of a 
lady’s Geneva Avatch is not more nicely ad¬ 
justed—the rush of the avalanche is not 
more aAvful in its strength. Old Gothic 
cathedrals are solemn places, preaching sol¬ 
emn things; but to him Avho thinks, an en¬ 
gine room may preach a more solemn lesson 
still. It Avill tell him of mind; mind Avield- 
ing matter at its will; mind triumphing 
over physical difficulties; man assertin his 
great supremacy; “ intellect battling with 
the elements.” And how exquisitely com¬ 
plete is every detail! hoAv subordinate eve¬ 
ry part toAvards the great end! how every 
little bar and screw fit and Avork together! 
Vast as is the machine, let a bolt be but the 
tenth part of an inch too long or too short, 
and the Avhole fabric is extinguished. It it 
one complete piece of harmony; an iron 
essay upon unity of design and execution. 
There is a deep poetiy in the steam engine; 
more of the poetiy of motion than in the 
bound of an antelope; more of the poetiy 
of power than in the dash of a cataract.— 
And it ought to be a lesson to those who 
laugh at novelties, and put no faith in in¬ 
ventions, to consider that the complex fabric, 
this triumph of art and science, was once the 
laughing stock of jeering thousands, and 
once only the wMking phantasy of a boy’s 
mind as he sat, and, in seeming idleness, 
watched a little column of vapor rising from 
the spout of a tea-kettle! 
THE MESSRS. HARPERS. 
The amount of business transacted by 
this enterprising publishing firm is a subject 
of remark in Mr. Lyell’s late book of travels 
in this country. The Messrs. Harpers have 
nineteen double medium power presses, be¬ 
sides several Napier presses which are con¬ 
stantly throAving off printed sheets to the 
amount of some seventy reams a day. In 
the bindery, fifty barrels of flour a year are 
required for making paste; and 1,200 dozen 
sheep skin, 750 pieces of muslin of.40 
square yards each, and sixty tons of paste 
board for the other pui-poses of the bind¬ 
ing. Over 40,000 pounds of' metal are 
used per annum for casting stereotype plates, 
of which their vaults contain about $300,- 
OOOAvorth; they also have about 70,000 
lbs. of various fonts of type in their com¬ 
posing rooms. Even the cuttings from the 
edges of books in the process of binding 
amounts to 18 tons of shaA'ings per annum, 
which are sold to the paper makers. Their 
annual sales have been estimated in round 
numbers at 2,000,000 volumes, including 
pamphlets. There are attached to this es¬ 
tablishment usually from 300 to 370 em- 
i ployees in the various departments of the 
business. Among the number about 100 
are females, who fold and sew the sheets of 
books. The Messrs. Harpers have greatly 
improved their style of typography of late; 
and their editions of Macaulay’s and Tick- 
ner’s histories, and other valuable works, are 
models of good mechanical execution, 
ORIGIN OF COAL. 
The immense beds of bituminous coal 
found in the A'alley of the Ohio, fills the 
mind with wonder. Age after age, succes¬ 
sive groAvths of plants, springing up in the 
same region, were entombed beneath thick 
strata of shale to the depth of more than a 
thousand feet; while beneath the whole lay 
the bed of an ocean, floored Avith fossil salt 
Indications of coal are found at intervals, 
across the great valley, from the Allegany 
to the Rocky Mountains. It is found near 
the surface in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illi¬ 
nois, and Missouri, and without doubt, may 
be found beneath the extensive tertiary de¬ 
posits wliich form the substratum of the 
great prairies in the central and northern 
parts of the Western States. AslowdoAvn 
as New Madrid on the Mississippi, coal was 
throAvn up from beneath the bed of the ha"- 
er, by the great earthquake of 1812—a suf¬ 
ficient proof of its continuation in the most 
depressed part of the great valley. 
The coal is of vegetable origin, no one 
who has read much on the subject, or per¬ 
sonally examined the coal beds, Avill not 
deny. Time was, when it was considered a 
peculiar mineral product, formed in the same 
manner and at the same time with the rocks 
that surround it The product of its chem¬ 
ical analysis, being altogether vegetable, and 
the artificial formation of coal from Avood by 
Sir James Hall, have silenced all doubts on 
the subject. The only mystery noAv is, how 
such A’-ast quantites of vegetable matter could 
be accumulated and groAvn on the spot 
where they were buried. That they greAV 
in general, on the surface noAv occupied by 
the coal, appears certain from the jierfect 
state in which the most delicate leaves and 
stems are presented. Had they been trans¬ 
ported by currents of water, and especially 
from any distance, it is hardly possible that 
they should not have received more dam¬ 
age. The climate at that period must have 
been more Avarm and more humid than at 
present, as many of the plants are of those 
families Avhich noAv groAV only in tropical 
climates; and as the laAvs of nature never 
change, this may be deemed a correct in¬ 
ference. — Silliman’s Journal. 
CARBONIC ACID GAS, ALIAS CHARCOAL GAS. 
In numerous exchanges of late, wc have 
observed notices of deaths by “ Charcoal 
Gas.” As this is a subject of general and 
particular interest, a feAv Avords relative 
thereto may not be amiss. The Gas refer¬ 
red to, properly termed Carbonic Acid, is 
the double product of combustion and res¬ 
piration. Every breath issuing from our 
nostrils contains more or less of it; hence 
the danger of sleeping in small and close 
rooms, or remaining Avith many indiAiduals 
for a long time, in ill-ventilated apartments. 
The life preserving and stimulating princi¬ 
ple of atmospheric air — oxygen—Avhen 
taken into the lungs, is abstracted to viAufy 
the blood Avhile carbonic acid—an impurity 
of our bodily furnace, is giA^en off, and is 
itself not only incapable of supporting life, 
but is destructive to it. Hence air once 
breathed is positively noxious. It is more¬ 
over estimated that an ordinary person Avill 
breathe in an hour a quantity of air equal 
to at least a column ten feet high and three 
feet square. The atmosphere of a room 
eight feet square, would, therefore, be ren¬ 
dered very impure in seven hours by one 
person. 
Calculations on the safety of sleeping 
apartments can in this manner easily be 
made. Add to this the product of said 
gas by combustion, if you have a stove or 
pan of coals in your room, and you have a 
correct estimate. The oxygen of the air is 
what keeps the fire alive, and its consump¬ 
tion is replaced by the poisonous compound. 
Hence the extreme danger of closing your 
chimney or stove pipe upon a bed of coals, 
particularly before retiring. The destruc¬ 
tive agent is generated Avith fearful rapidity 
by respiration and combustion combined, 
and the unsuspecting sleeper is gradually 
exhausted and destroyed. 
Pinchbeck. —Put into a crucible 5 ounces 
of pure copper; when it is in a state of 
fusion, add one ounce of zinc. These met- 
combine, forming an alloy not unlike 
jeAvelers’ gold. Pour it into a mould of any 
shape. This alloy is used for inferior jew¬ 
elry._ 
Health among the Shakers. — The 
beneficial results of industry, simple food 
and regular habits, are seen in the fact that 
the Society of United Brethren, (Shakers) 
at Enfield, Conn., numbers 209, and not a 
death has occurred among them for four¬ 
teen months. 
Many people take no care of their mon¬ 
ey till they have come nearly to the end of 
it; and others do just the same with their 
time. 
Necessity ncA^er made a good bargain. 
.5iatoral Hsian]. ■ 
CURIOSITIES OF THE ORINOCO. 'i 
The phenomenon exhibited on the banks < 
of the river Orinoco cannot fail to command < 
the admiration of the traA'eler. Near the ) 
mouth of the GuaAnare and Atabapo groAvs | 
the noblest of the palms, “ the Piriguao,” > 
Avhose smooth and polished trunk, about I 
sixty-five feet high, is adorned with the \ 
most delicate flag-like foliage, and bears a 
large and beautiful fruit like peaches, which, . 
when prepared in a variety of ways, affords I 
a nutritious and farinaceous food to the na- | 
tives. At the junction of the Meta, there < 
rises from the middle of a mighty whirlpool ! 
an isolated cliff, called the Eock of Fa- ] 
tience, as voyagers sometimes require two ; 
days to pass it; and opposite the Indian 
mission of Carichano, the eye of the travel¬ 
er is riveted on an abrupt rock, El Mogote 
de Cocuyza, a cube with vertically precipi¬ 
tous sides, above two hundred feet high, 
and carrying on its surface forests of trees 
of rich and varied foliage. Like a Cyclo¬ 
pean monument in its simple grandeur, this 
central mass rises high above the tops of 
the surrounding palms, marking the deep 
azure of the sky with its sharp and rugged 
outlines, and uplifting “ its summit high in 
air, a forest above the forest.” In the low¬ 
er parts of the river near the sea, great nat¬ 
ural rafts, consisting of trees torn from the 
banks by the swelling of the river, are en¬ 
countered by the boatmen, whose canoes 
are often A\Tecked by striking against them 
in the dark. These rafts, which are cover¬ 
ed like meadows with flowering water-plants, 
remind the traveler of the floating gardens 
of the Mexican lakes. 
As the Orinoco imparts a black color 
to the reddish Avhite granite Avhich it has 
Avashed for a thousand years, the existence 
of similar black holloAvs at heights of near 
tAvo hundred feet above the present bed of 
the river, indicates the fact “that the streams 
Avhose magnitude noAV excite our astonish¬ 
ment, are only the feeble remains of the 
immense masses of Avater that belonged to 
an earlier age of the world.” The very 
natives of Guiana called attention to the 
traces of the former height of the Avaters. 
On a grassy plain, near Uruana, stands an 
isolated granite rock, upon which are engra¬ 
ven, at a height of more than eighty feet, 
figures of the sun and moon, and of many 
animals, particularly crocodiles and boas, ar¬ 
ranged almost in rows or lines. The natives 
believe that these figures were carved when 
their fathers’ boats were only a little lower 
than the draAvings. The cataracts, or Rau- 
dal of Maypures, are not, like the falls of 
Niagara, formed by the descent of a mass 
of Avater through a great height, nor are 
they narroAv gorges through Avhich the riv¬ 
er rushes Avith accelerated velocity. They 
consist of a countless number of little cas¬ 
cades, succeeding each other like steps, 
sometimes extending across the entire bed^ 
of the river, and sometimes, in a river eight 
thousand five hundred feet wide, leaving 
only an open channel of tAventy feet.— 
When the steps are but two or three feet 
high, the natives can descend the falls re¬ 
maining in the canoe. When the steps are 
high, and stretch across the stream, the 
boat is landed and dragged along the bank 
by branches of trees placed under it as rollers. 
In descending from the village of May¬ 
pures to the Rock of Manimi in the bed of 
the riA'er, a Avonderful prospect opens to the 
traveler’s vieAv. A foaming surface, four 
miles in length, presents itself at once to the 
eye. Iron-black masses of rocks, resem¬ 
bling ruins and battlemented tOAvers, rise 
frowning from the waters. Rocks and 
islands are adorned Avith the luxuriant veg¬ 
etation of the tropical forest; a perpetual 
mist .hoA’^ers over the waters, and the sum¬ 
mit of the lofty palms pierce through the 
cloud of spray and vapor. When the rays 
of the glowing evening sun are refracted in 
these humid exhalations, a magic optical ef¬ 
fect begins. Colored bows shine, vanish, 
and reappear; and the ethereal image is 
SAvayed to and fro by the breath of the 
sportive breeze. During the long rainy sea¬ 
son the streaming waters bring down islands 
of vegetable mould, and thus the naked 
rocks are studded Avith bright flower-beds 
adorned with melastomas and droseras, and 
with small silver-leaved mimosas and ferns. 
These spots recall to the recollection of the 
European those blocks of granite decked 
with flowers which rise solitary amid the 
glaciers of Savoy, and are called by the 
dAvellers in the Alps “jardins” or “courtils.” 
In the blue distance the e)''e rests on the 
mountain chain of Cunavami, along extend¬ 
ed ridge, which terminates abruptly in a 
truncated cone—the latter gloAving at sun¬ 
set as if in roseate flames.— Humboldt’s As¬ 
pects of Nature. 
The Ocean. —The great Pacific ocean 
has a larger area than all the dry laud on 
the globe. It covers 50,000,000 of square 
miles, and 70,000,000 including the Indian 
Ocean. From Peru to Africa it is 10,000 
miles Avide. It is generally unfathomable 
betAveen the tropics, where its depth is so 
great, that a line five miles long has in many 
places not reached the bottom. The Atlan¬ 
tic Ocean, apparently stretching from pole 
to pole, is 5000 miles Avide, and covers 25,- 
000,000 square miles. 
