214 
New Patents and Mechanical Inventions. 
are distinguished from all others. The 
towns included in this distinction are 
those which in the abstract of popula¬ 
tion in 1811 are set down in Roman 
capitals. 
This separate account of the towns 
affords no exception to the general 
statements which are worthy of parti¬ 
cular remark. 
It appears that select vestries, under 
the act 59 Geo. 3. c. 12, have been ap¬ 
pointed in 2006 parishes ; and assis¬ 
tant-overseers in 2257- The whole 
number of parishes, townships, or other 
subdivisions, from which returns have 
been required, is about 14,700. 
Your committee have not thought it 
necessary to make any selections from 
the 44 Observations” which in con¬ 
formity with the orders of the house, 
have in some instances been subjoined 
by the parish officers to the returns. 
Many of these are irrelevant; some, 
such as the Committee must have no¬ 
ticed with reprobation; but there are 
others of a different character; and 
your committee conceive, that much 
useful information would be obtained, 
if parish officers would, whenever their 
returns exhibit a remarkable variation, 
whether of excess or diminution, from 
the preceding year, give some explana¬ 
tion of the causes of the variation. 
And here your committee avoid ob¬ 
serving, that returns stating merely the 
[Oct. \j 
gross amount of the expenditure, fall 
very short of what is necessary to enable 
the house judge of the nature and 
causes of the variations in the amount. 
For that purpose it would be necessary 
to have accounts, shewing the different 
circumstances under which relief has 
been afforded, and the rate and prin¬ 
ciple of relief adopted in each district. 
The able bodied entirely out of employ; 
the able bodied earning wages not suffi¬ 
cient for the maintenance of his family; 
the married, the single, the sick and 
impotent, the aged, the labourer in 
husbandry, and the manufacturer or 
mechanic, should all be distinguished. 
And it should be known whether the 
relief is afforded at the discretion of the 
parishes themselves, or by order of the 
Justices of the Peace. 
The committee are not of opinion 
that returns in this detail could con¬ 
veniently be called for by order of the 
house. 
It is for the house to consider whether 
overseers, in rendering their accounts 
under the act 50 Geo. 3. c. 49, should 
be required by a new law, to state these 
or any other particulars, in a prescribed 
form, so that a more complete and use¬ 
ful account of the expenditure of the 
poor rates than any which has hitherto 
appealed, might be rendered periodi¬ 
cally to parliament. 
10th July, 1821.. 
NEW PATENTS AND MECHANICAL INVENTIONS. 
To Christopher IliLTON,o//)ffm’m, 
near Blackburn , Bleacher; for a 
Processfoi the Purpose of improving 
and finishing manufactured Piece 
Goods. 
R. HILTON declares that his in¬ 
vention of a process for the pur¬ 
pose of improving and finishing ma¬ 
nufactured piece goods, is as follows: 
it consists in applying a pulp, such as 
is obtained by grinding cotton or linen, 
to improve the appearance of cotton oi¬ 
lmen manufactured piece goods, or a 
mixture of the same, which he accom¬ 
plishes as follow s : The goods being al¬ 
ready prepared, as heretofore practised 
by the trade, they are introduced on 
an even surface, of about three yards 
in length, formed by small rollers, and 
the pulp applied, and permitted to filter 
itself into and on the manufactured 
piece goods, which are made to pass 
over the said surface at the rate of about 
12 yards in a minute, for the purpose of 
allowing the water to escape, and the 
pulp (o form itself; after which it is 
pressed between tw T o rollers of metal, 
or other suitable materials, situated at 
the end of the aforesaid series of rollers, 
and driven by gear, the top roller being 
covered w T ith a felt or flannel, and sup¬ 
plied with a stream of clean water, to 
prevent the pulp from adhering to the 
roller, which it would otherwise do. 
It is to be observed, that the pulp, pre¬ 
vious to its being applied, should be 
kept in a state of agitation, and con¬ 
siderably diluted with water, more or 
less, according to the fineness or coarse¬ 
ness of the goods; the proper degree of 
which dilution must be left to the dis¬ 
cretion and judgment of the w T orkman; 
and that the diluted pulp is made to 
flow evenly on the surface of the cloth, 
by passing through a box with several 
divisions in it. His invention consists 
in applying such pulp as is obtained 
by grinding cotton or linen to cotton 
or 
