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LIST OF RECENT PATENTS.

John Anthony Tielens, of Fenchurch-strect, merchant, for improvements in machinery or apparatus for knitting. (Being a communication.) April 7;

six months.

Marc Carlotti, of Little Argyll-street, Regent'sstreet, gentleman, for certain improvements in the construction and manufacture of boots, half-boots, shoes, clogs, and galoshes. (Being a communication.) April 8; six months.

William Falconer, of Clapham-common, gentleman, for improvements in apparatus for attaching buttons and fasteners to gloves, and parts of garments. April 13; six months.

John Byron Dawes, of Trafalgar-square, Charingcross, gentleman, for a certain improved chemical composition or compositions, to be employed in the preparation of glass, or other media of light. April 15; six months.

John Lamb, of Kidderminster, machinist, for improvements in engines to be worked by steam, air, gas, or vapours, which improvements are also applicable to pumps for raising or forcing water, air, or other fluids. April 15; six months.

Thomas Richards, of Liverpool, bookbinder, for certain improvements in the art of book binding, and also in machinery, or apparatus to be employed therein. April 15; six months.

Alfred Jeffery, of Lloyds-street, Pentonville, gentleman, for a new method of preparing masts, spars, and other wood, for ship building and other purposes. April 15; six months.

Charles Farina, of Leicester-square, chemist, for a new method of manufacturing soap, candles, and sealing wax. April 15; six months.

Kent Kingdon, of Exeter, cabinet-maker, for certain improvements in impressing and embossing patterns on silk, cotton, and other woven or felted fabrics. April 21, six months.

William Noel, of Jermyn-street, St. James's, boot and shoemaker, for certain improvements in the manufacture of boots and shoes. April 21; six months.

Alphonse de Troisbrioux, of Great Russell-street, Bloomsbury, gentleman, for improvements in lithographic and other printing-presses. Being a communication.) April 21; six months.

Otto Rotton, of Gracechurch-street, doctor of medicine, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for spinning cotton, wool, silk, and other fibrous substances. (Being a communication.) April 26; six months.

William Wood, of Wilton, carpet manufacturer, for a new mode of weaving carpeting, and other figured fabrics. April 26; six months.

Septimus Cocking, of Birmingham, draftsman, for certain improvements in the production of light by the burning of oil, tallow, and wax, and in the apparatus for regulating and extinguishing the same. (Being partly a cominunication.) April 26. Raoul Armand Joseph Jean, Comte de la Charité, chevalier de la legion d'honneur, of Leicester-square, Richard Tappin Claridge, of Weymouth-street, gentleman, and Robert Hodgson of Salisbury-street, Strand. gentleman, for improvements in preparing surfaces of fabrics to be used in covering roofs, floors, and other surfaces. (Being a communication.) April 26; six months.

Henry Robinson Palmer, of Great George-street, Westminster, civil engineer, for an improvement or improvements in the construction of roofs and other parts of buildings, and also for the application of corrugated plates or sheets of metal to certain purposes for which such sheets or plates have not heretofore been used. April 26; six months.

Joseph Mege, of Keppel-street, Russell-square, merchant, for improvements in the making or constructing of trowsers. (Being a communication.) April 26; six months.

John Henry Pape, of Grosvenor-street, Bondstreet, pianoforte maker, for improvements in carriages and in the construction of wheels. April 28; six months.

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William Losh, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, esquire, for improvements in the construction of wheels for carriages and locomotive engines intended to be employed on railways. April 28;six months.

John Varley, of Colne, Lancaster, engineer, and Edmondson Varley, of the same place, cotton manufacturer, for certain improvements in steam engines. April 28; six months.

LIST OF PATENTS GRANTED FOR SCOTLAND BETWEEN 22ND OF MARCH, AND 22ND OF APRIL, 1842.

Moses Poole, of Lincoln's Inn, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, for improvements in the manufacture of plaited fabrics. (Being a communication from abroad.) Sealed March 29.

James Hunt, of Whitehall, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, for improvements in the manufacture of bricks. March 29.

James Hall, of Glasgow, upholsterer, for improvements in beds, mattrasses, and apparatus applicable to bedsteads, couches, and chairs. March 30.

John Harwood, Esq., of Great Portland Street, in the county of Middlesex, for an improved means of giving expansion to the chest. April 6.

James Andrew, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, manufacturer, for certain improvements in the method or process of preparing or dressing yarns or warps for weaving. April 6.

Edmund Morewood, Esq., of Winchester-buildings, Great Winchester-street, in the city of London, for an improved mode of preserving iron and other metals from oxydation or rust. (Being a communication from abroad.) April 7.

Henry Booth, Esq., of Liverpool, for improvements in the method of propelling vessels through water. April 13.

William Brockedon, of Queen-square, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, for improvements in the manufacturing fibrous materials for the cores of stoppers to be coated with India rubber, and used for stopping bottles and other vessels. April 13.

Christopher Nickels, of the York road, Lambeth, in the county, of Surrey, gentleman, for improvements in the manufacture of plaited fabrics. April

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That "this meeting desire to record their deep sense of the eminent services which Dr. Birkbeck has rendered to the education of the people, by founding in 1800, and teaching a class for mechanics at Glasgow, by his munificent AID IN FOUNDING, and his constant care in superintending the London Mechanics' Institution, and by his ready assistance in forming similar bodies throughout the kingdom." And 2, That "the most fitting method of testifying the public gratitude to Dr. Birkbeck, is by founding in University College, London, a Professorship of Machinery and Manufactures, including the application of Chemistry and other branches of Natural Philosophy to the Arts, (the Professor to lecture in the country during the College Vacations), and that a subscription be commenced for this purpose." The second resolution was opposed by Mr. Hodgkin, Mr. Fogo, and some other gentlemen, who seemed to think that the endowing of a Professorship in a College inaccessible to mechanics, was not the most appropriate mode that could be imagined, of perpetuating the remembrance of Dr. Birkbeck's services to Mechanics' Institutions; but the promoters of the meeting had previously settled the, matter otherwise, and so the resolution passed in the affirmative. The words in the first resolution, which we have marked in small capitals, will strike all who are acquainted with the actual history of Mechanics' Institutions, as remarkable. The time has been, when the Noble Lord who presided on this occasion, went a great way farther. May we flatter ourselves that his Lordship has discovered that wellmerited honour to the dead, is not inconsistent with justice to the living?

American Stave-cutting Machine.-A machine has been lately invented that will dress at one operation, a rough board, or rived stave of any kind of wood, into a perfect stave for the cask, giving it on both sides the round of the cask, and jointing it to its proper level and taper, at the rate of one hundred per minute, and will do the work of 100 men. It is said to be very simple, not likely to get out of order, and can be built at small expense. There is one in operation at 103, Murray-street, New York. A patent was recently obtained in England, for the manufacture of staves, the preparation of which is said to be so simple, and so effectual, as to promise a revolution in this most important branch of cooperage. An American invention of this character, called the "Patent Rotary Stave-cutting Machine," and one possessing many advantages over that used in England, is now in successful operation in this country. The superiority of that used in the United States, is demonstrated by the fact, that it is more simple in its construction, is managed with more facility, and throws off, in the same length of time, a larger amount of finished stock. The two machines operate alike in cuting leaves from solid blocks of wood, previously steamed for the purposes of softening and seasoning. In both, the waste steam of the engine is used for this purpose. In both, at the expense of but two or three horses power, the wood is cut like cheese, without offering any apparent resistance to the knife, and without the slightest waste in saw-dust, shavings, or chips. In the English patent, the leaves cut from the block are passed through two machines, to bring them to the required shape for the cask intended. In this operation, it most essentially varies from the American patent. This, at one movement, cuts out the stave in the curved shape, chamfers, crozes, and pares the ends; the last three processes mentioned requiring a separate labour of hands in the English manufacture of the stave. In the operation of the American patent, it is apparent there must be a great saving of time, labour, and expense. In the science of mechanics

it is one of the most important improvements of the age, and must produce an entire revolution in the trade affected by the invention.-Le Cras.

Jeffrey's Adhesive Composition, some remarkable experiments made with which at Woolwich, were noticed in our last (No. 976,) is now stated to consist simply of shell lac and caoutchouc dissolved in naphtha in certain proportions. The cost is about half that of common glue.

The Earl of Rosse's Gigantic Speculum, the casting of which was noticed in our last Number, is stated by Sir James South, in a letter to the Times, to weigh about 3 tons, to be 6 feet in diameter, sj inches thick at the edge, and 5 inches at the centre, and to present a reflecting surface of 4071 square inches, whilst that of the celebrated Herschel telescope had but 1811. It is to be fitted into a telescope of 30 feet focal length, but it is not expected to be cool enough for removal till after the lapse of a couple of months. The metals of which the speculum is composed, are copper and tin, 126 parts of the former to 57 of the latter. The foundry where the casting was made is close to Birr Castle, the residence in Ireland of the Earl of Rosse, and, with the exception of the crucibles, which were made by Messrs. Dewer, of Old-street, St. Luke's, all the apparatus employed on this interesting occasion (the steam-engine itself included) was made in workshops adjoining the Castle, under the Earl's immediate directions, by workmen trained and instructed by himself.

New Egyptian Lighthouse.-Mehemet Ali, with the view of facilitating the commercial intercourse between his country and Europe, has caused a new lighthouse to be erected on Point Eunootos, near his palace at Alexandria. The tower is of stone, and 180 feet high; the lantern (supplied from England, by Messrs. Wilkins and Son) consists of 13 lamps, with parabolic reflectors. The light, which was first exhibited on the 1st inst., can be seen from a distance of 20 miles at sea. The structure was designed by, and has been executed under the superintendence of our countrymen, the Messrs. Galloway.

The Hindostan Steamer.-A magnificent steamer, of 1800 tons burden, to be called the Hindostan, bas been built by Messrs. Wilson, of Liverpool, for the Oriental Steam Navigation Company, and is intended to ply between Suez and Calcutta direct, calling at Aden, and Point de Galle in the island of Ceylon. It is hoped that when the Hindostan gets fairly at work, the whole distance from England to Calcutta will be performed in 30 days; and if she equals the Oriental and Great Liverpool in swiftness and strength, the hope will be realized. Though larger than the Oriental, the Hindostan is on precisely the same plan; and another steamer, of the same size and construction, to be called the Bentinck, also intended for the line from Suez to Calcutta, is likewise in progress. It will be no small honour to Messrs. Wilson, and to the port of Liverpool, to have furnished the steamers for the longest line of steam communication in the world, and to have supplied vessels not to be surpassed by any port or any builder in Europe.-Liverpool Times.

INTENDING PATENTEES may be supplied gratis with Instructions, by application (postpaid) to Messrs. J. C. Robertson and Co., 166, Fleet-street, by whom is kept the only COMPLETE REGISTRY OF PATENTS EXTANT (from 1617 to the present time). Patents, both British and Foreign, solicited. Specifications prepared or revised, and all other Patent buiness transacted.

LONDON: Edited, Printed, and Published by J. C. Robertson, at the Mechanics' Magazine Office,
No. 166, Fleet-street.-Sold by W. and A. Galignani, Rue Vivienne, Paris;
Machin and Co., Dublin; and W. C. Campbell and Co., Hamburgh.

Mechanics' Magazine,

MUSEUM, REGISTER, JOURNAL, AND GAZETTE.

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ROBERTS'S GALVANIC BLASTING APPARATUS.

We mentioned briefly in a recent number, (Notes and Notices, No. 975,) a successful application, at Wester Craig's Quarry, near Glasgow, of a mode of blasting rocks by galvanism, invented by Martyn J. Roberts, Esq., F. R. S. E. The following very graphic description of the operation, from the pen of an eyewitness, has since appeared in the newspapers :

"The workmen, under the direction of the superintendant of the quarry, had nearly completed their part of the operations before Mr. Roberts, (the inventor,) and Mr. Wilson, made their appearance, accompanied by assistants, with the battery and connecting wires for conveying the galvanic current to the charges of powder. These gentlemen carefully superintended the placing of the charges in the rock, and connecting the main coils of wire with the cartridges. When the arrangements were completed, and it was observed that the battery was placed on the top of the precipice over the quarry-whence the distance to the charges to be fired was shortest, and entirely free from danger-the spectators, by Mr. Roberts's advice, placed themselves on the summit of the precipice, and at the outside of the curved line of the rock, from which an excellent view could be obtained of the effects. The two charges at the foot of the rock were first to be fired; and having been uncertain where I should place myself, I was in the act of moving from east to west along the top of the precipice, when the signal was given while I was immediately behind and close to the battery, at the moment the two galvanic poles were brought together. The effect was instantaneous. The hill upon which I stood was shaken to its foundation, as by an earthquake, and the riven mass of rock went crashing down into the depths of the quarry. This was startling and beautiful, but fell far short of what took place upon the second application of the galvanic current to the two charges placed over each other in the face of the perpendicular cliff. A short time was required to remove the scaffold that had been used by the workmen in preparing the two upright blasts, and in placing the connecting wires, and applying screens in front of the charges to prevent the scattering of the splinters of stone when the explosion took place; these arrangements gave me sufficient time to gain an excellent position for observation. Every thing was at length completed, and every eye then was fixed, and the breath held in anxious suspense; then came the 'ready' from Mr.

Wilson, who remained in the bed of the quarry; the assistant at the battery brought the discs in contact, and the whole face of the rock was riven asunder, from top to

bottom, and from 300 to 400 tons of stone

were torn from the hill, and came thundering down like an avalanche. It is impossible to imagine any thing more grand or interesting than this triumph of science as applied to practical utility, in rendering a hitherto most dangerous process perfectly safe and simple in execution."

Mr. Roberts has himself addressed a long and very able letter on the subject to the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland; and to this letter we are indebted for the following explanatory particulars, as well as for the accompanying engravings. Persons desirous of adopting, in their quarrying or engineering prac tice, Mr. Roberts's process, will do well, however, to consult the pamphlet itself,* which goes much more into detail than our limits will permit us to do.

The present, or what we may hope soon to call the old process of blasting rocks with gunpowder, is described with truth, by Mr. Roberts, as being at once troublesome, expensive, and dangerous. The quantity of powder fired on one occasion, at Craig Leith, near Edinburgh, amounted to no less than 500 lbs. ; and loss of life or mutilation of limb, from premature explosions, is a matter of almost daily occurrence.

Mr. Roberts's improved process consists, firstly, in a new method of tamping; and, secondly, in using the electric fluid to fire the charge of gunpowder, in a safer, more effectual, and cheaper way than any heretofore attempted.

1. Of the Tamping.

The improvement in the method of tamping is based upon the curious factthat if a tube of small diameter and moderate length be filled with dry sand, no force that can be applied at one end will press out the sand at the other. Instead of ramming down a quantity of gravel and broken stones into the bore-hole, (and this with considerable danger to the workmen,) Mr. Roberts finds it sufficient that dry sand is gently poured into the hole until a column of sand is formed of about 12 inches in depth; though if the

• Longman and Co., London; Grant and Son, Edinburgh.

ROBERTS'S GALVANIC BLASTING APPARATUS.

hole will admit of its being filled to a greater depth, so much the better. Mr. Roberts believes that many hundredweights of gunpowder would be required to blow out a column of sand 2 inches in diameter, and 18 or 20 inches in depth, placed in a solid rock. In all the experiments he has made upon blasting rocks, (and they are not few,) the sand has not in any one instance been blown out, provided it was perfectly dry, and that its depth exceeded 15 inches when the diameter of the column was under 2 inches. The danger of tamping by the ordinary method is thus avoided; for no rammers or stones are required, and much pecuniary loss attending the old plan is saved.

2. Of the Electric or Galvanic Agency.

It has long been known that gunpowder can be fired by the electric fluid. In the earlier days of electric science it was accomplished by Franklin, who generated electricity for the purpose by the common glass electrical machine. At a later period, an attempt was made to apply electricity thus produced to the firing of charges in blasting rocks, but it failed; for, in consequence of the high tension of this electricity, extraordinary precautions were necessary to confine the fluid to its proper channel-namely, the conducting wire-perfect insulation of this wire being necessary to prevent the electricity flying off to the surrounding earth. Dr. Hare, the American philosopher, seeing the inapplicability of this method of obtaining electricity, suggested the use of the galvanic battery for the purpose, but his apparatus was so cumbrous, at least so ill adapted for every-day use by unscientific workmen, that his plan was never more than very partially adopted. About two years ago, Mr. Roberts being in a neighbourhood where quarrying and mining are carried on to a great extent, his attention was called to the subject by the distressing accidents that daily occurred in the process of blasting, and he then contrived an apparatus for blasting by galvanism, which was found very efficient, and was approved of by the Members of the Royal Geol. Soc. of Cornwall, before whom he read a paper on the subject, afterwards published in the Transactions of that Society. But, as there was some trouble connected with the use of this apparatus, Mr. Roberts afterwards endeavoured to simplify its

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construction, that the benefits to be derived from it might be accessible to all; and after a great sacrifice of time, and the expenditure of a considerable sum of money, he had the satisfaction of perfecting it to such a degree, that any carpenter can now make it, and every workman use it with success. Experiments were made with it on blasting rocks and firing charges under water, in the presence of a deputation from the Highland Society, and these gentlemen, distinguished for their scientific attainments, expressed their unqualified approbation of the result. After this, Col. Pasley applied a galvanic apparatus to the firing of charges under water, but, from the want of a full description of Mr. Roberts's improved apparatus, and method of firing charges simultaneously, he did not meet with constant success.

Mr. Roberts makes use of a galvanic battery similar to that of Professor Daniell, (whose employment of sulphate of copper to excite the plates, instead of diluted sulphuric, nitric, or muriatic acid, he characterizes as "a discovery" of great importance, by which the progress of electrical science has been more facilitated than by any since the days of Sir Humphrey Davy;) but he substitutes for the earthen or glass jars a wooden box, divided into compartments by watertight divisions, as represented in fig. 1 of the engravings on our front page. To avoid the danger which would attend a close proximity to the apparatus on bringing the positive and negative poles into communication, (supposing the wires to be immersed in gunpowder,) Mr. Roberts has contrived an addition to the apparatus, whereby the poles are connected by pulling a string, which may be of any required length, so as to enable the operator to station himself out of the reach of all danger.

A disc

A wooden upright A, about 9 inches long and 2 inches square, is fastened to each end of the frame, and a round wooden cross bar, B, an inch in diameter, connects the tops of these uprights (fig. 1.) of tin, D, about 3 or 4 inches in diameter, and having a hole an inch in diameter in its centre, is soldered to the wire attached to the zinc plate of the first pair (the negative pole): this disc is fastened to the upright at this end of the battery, the round cross-bar passing through the central hole. As the disc is in metallic

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