John Bennet Lawes, of Rotherhampstead, Hertford, gentleman, for certain improvements in manures. May 23; six months. John Bishop, of Poland-street, Westminster, jeweller, for a new or improved construction of brake apparatus applicable to railway carriages. May 23; six months. Thomas Middleton, of Loman-street, Southwark, engineer, for an improved method of preparing vegetable gelatine or size for paper, and also an improved mode of applying the same in the manufacture of paper. (Being a communication.) May 23; six months. William Tudor Mabley, of Henrietta-street, Covent-garden, mechanical draftsman, for improvements in machinery or apparatus for making nails. (Being a communication,) May 23; six months. Benjamin Cook, junior, of Birmingham, brassfounder, for improvements in the construction of bedsteads, both in metal and wood. May 23; six months. Frederick Goos, of Manchester, jacquard machine-maker, for certain improvements in the jacquard machine or apparatus, to be used or employed in looms for weaving. May 23; six months. Sir James Murray, of Merrion-square, Dublin, Doctor of Medicine, for an improved method of combining various materials in a manner not hitherto in use for the purpose of manure. May 23. James Pilbrow, of Tottenham, engineer, for certain improvements in steam-engines. May 23; six months. William Geeves, of Old Cavendish-street, gentleman, for improvements in machinery for cutting cork. May 24; six months. James Stewart, of Osnaburgh-street, Regent'spark, piano-forte maker, for improvements in hinges for piano-fortes and other purposes. May 24; six months. Thomas Waterhouse, of Edgely, Chester, manufacturer, for a certain improvement or improvements in machinery for carding cotton, wool, flax, silk, and similar fibrous materials. May 24. Joseph Duce, of Wolverhampton, lock-manufacturer, for an improved lock and key to be used therewith, and an improved slide bolt for the said lock, applicable also to other purposes. May 24; six months. James Boydell, junior, of Hope Farm Works, Dudley, for improvements in the manufacture of keel plates for vessels, iron gates, gate-posts, fencings, and gratings. May 24; six months. James Potter, of Manchester, manufacturer, for certain improvements in machinery for spinning cotton, flax, and other fibrous substances. May 25; six months. Peter Kagenbusch, of Whitby, York, for an improvement in the dyeing of wool, woollen cloths, cotton, silks, and other fabrics and materials. May 26; six months. gate, farmer, for improvements in thrashing and winnowing machines. May 4. John Carr, of North Shields, Northumberland, earthenware manufacturer, and Aaron Ryles, of the same place, agent, for an improved mode of operating in certain processes for ornamenting glass. May 6. Henry Barrow Rodway, of Birmingham, winemerchant, for improvements in the manufacture of horse-shoes. May 12. Sir James Murray, of Merrion-square, Dublin, knight, and Doctor of Medicine, for an improved method of combining various materials in a manner not hitherto in use, for the purpose of manure. May 12. John George Bodmer, of Manchester, engineer, for certain improvements in machinery, or apparatus for cleaning, carding, roving, and spinning cotton, and other fibrous substances. May 16. Peter Kagenbusch, of Wetter on Rhur, Westphalia, Dyer, but now of Whitby, England, for an improvement in the dyeing of wool, woollen-cloths, cotton, silks, and other fabrics and materials. May 17. LIST OF PATENTS FOR IRELAND GRANTED IN MARCH And april, 1842. Charles Wye Williams, for certain improvements in the making and moulding of bricks, artificial fuel, and other substances. Stopford Thomas Jones, for certain improvements in machinery for propelling vessels by steam or other power. George Jarmon, Robert Cooke, and Joshua Woodsworth, for certain improvements in machinery for spinning flax, hemp, and tow. William Irving, for improvements in the manufacture of bricks and tiles. James Thorburn, for certain improvements in machinery for producing knitted fabrics. John Hall, for improvements in the construction of boilers for generating steam, and in the application of steam to mechanical power. Richard Hodgson, for improvements in the forms or shapes of materials and substances used for paving and building, and in the combination for such purposes. Theophile Anton Wilhelm Count de Hompesch, for improvements in obtaining oils and other products from bituminous matters, and in purifying or rectifying oils obtained from such matters. George Wildes, for improvements in the manufacture of white lead. Joseph Henry Tuck, for improvements in apparatus or machinery for making or manufacturing candles. Alphonse René Le Mire de Normandy, for improvements in the manufacture of soap. John Juckes, for improvements in furnaces and fire-places. William Brunton, for an improved method or means of dressing ores, and separating metals or minerals from other substances. 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 business transacted. LONDON: Edited, Printed, and Published by J. C. Robertson, at the Mechanics' Magazine Office, BLAXLAND'S PROPELLER-FARTHER EXPERIMENTS. In our last volume (p. 209) we gave an account of some very remarkable experiments made with a new stern propeller, invented by Mr. George Blaxland, as applied to the Jane, a little vessel of no more than three tons, with a steam-engine of less than one horse power, in which the enterprising inventor had actually made two or three successful sea voyages; and we gave also a brief description of the propeller, with a full exposition of the advantages expected from its adoption. We mentioned at the same time that the well-known commercial steamer the Swiftsure (137 tons burden, 40 horse power) had been purchased for the express purpose of having the new propeller applied to her, and its capabilities tested on a large scale. Before removing the old paddle-wheels from the vessel, several experiments were made with her to ascertain her then rate of going, when it was found not to exceed, under the most favourable circumstances, 7 miles an hour. The removal of the paddle-wheels and boxes relieved the vessel of an overhanging weight of 12 tons, 6 cwt., 2 qrs., 16 lbs.; but as we must set off against this the weight of the propeller and its connexions, which is about 4 tons, the total reduction of tonnage is little more than 8 tons. The reduction in the width of the vessel, from the removal of the paddlewheels, has been 14 feet, making her present beam 16 ft. 3 in.; her length is 112 feet. On Saturday, the 21st ult., a trial of the vessel, as thus altered and newly fitted up with Mr. Blaxland's propeller, was made on the river in the presence of the following members of the Board of Admiralty -the Earl of Haddington; Admiral Sir George Cockburn; Admiral Sir William Hall Gage; Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour; the Hon. Henry Thomas Lowry Corry, (five of the six Lords,) and the Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., Chief Secretary, who expressed themselves in the highest degree pleased and satisfied with her performances. The speed of the vessel is now full nine miles an hour; showing a gain by the substitution of the propellers for the paddle-wheels of a mile and a half per hour. The lines of the Swiftsure are very unfavourable to speed; at the bows particularly, which are as bluff as those of a Dutch lugger. A vessel with a fine cutwater, similar to those of the crack Gravesend boats, would no doubt have exhibited a much greater proportional increase of speed. But had the vessel only gone as well as before, there would have been a great advantage achieved in the removal of the propelling machinery from the sides of the vessel to the stern, and its entire submersion there below the water line. Exemption from risk of damage by shot an end to the retarding influence of backwater—and the removal of every obstacle to the occasional use of sails, are among the more obvious consequences of this improved arrangement. The gear work, by which the power of the engines (a pair of twenties) is communicated to the propeller shaft, and which has been also patented by Mr. Blaxland, is remarkable for its efficiency, and for the smoothness and stillness of its action. Except at the stern of the vessel, immediately above the propeller, not the least tremor is felt, nor noise heard. The vessel moves so silently through the water, and the propeller is so entirely out of sight, that, were it not for the engine chimney, one would be. puzzled to conjecture by what means she is propelled. We had the pleasure of being personally present at a subsequent experiment made with the Swiftsure, and of verifying the preceding statements in every particular. Not a single drawback from the utility of the invention were we able to detect. Often before has the paddlewheel been threatened to be superseded, but never, to our mind, with so good a prospect of success. Mr. Blaxland's propeller accomplishes all that can ever be expected to be accomplished by the screw, whether employed according to Mr. Smith's plan, or to Captain Ericsson's ; while it is wholly free from the mechanical objections inseparable from the use of that agent. Whether any other form of propeller, if applied and worked in the same way as Mr. Blaxland's would not answer equally well, we need not at present stop to enquire; for Mr. Blaxland's propeller, and Mr. BLAXLAND'S PROPELLER-FARTHER EXPERIMENTS. Blaxland's method of working, must be taken together; they are part and parcel of one patented invention; they are legally "one and indivisible," and must, in all fairness, be so considered. The description which we gave of the invention in our last volume, did not point out with sufficient clearness the important part which the gear-work plays in the affair, and was also defective in se 451 veral other particulars. We have thought it, therefore, due to the importance of the invention, to avail ourselves of the present opportunity to describe it anew, and with more completeness, in all its details; and to save the trouble of reference to the back volume, we have included in the accompanying engravings three which were formerly given.* part of the keel forwards of the rudder post, which inclined planes work in the water below the water-line, in an opening formed in the dead wood of the vessel, but without any bearing or journal beyond the inclined plane or planes, so as not in any way to be attached to the rudder post. In order to determine the angles at which the inclined plane or planes is or are to be fixed to the revolving horizontal shaft, I draw a straight line, the length of the circumference, as shown in the diagram, fig. 10, from 1 to m 56.54 inches; then I set out the angle at which I intend to set the first or outermost inclined plane, and raise a perpendicular from the length of the circumference, and at that point where it intersects the angular line which is determined upon, will be the distance passed through at one revolution. Then I draw a line parallel to the base line, and in like manner set off the other different distances, as from to n, 50.26 inches the circumference. I then find that an angle of 33° is necessary to give the same distance advanced, and in like manner I proceed to set out for the different circumferences or diameters required. I prefer, however, not carrying it further to the centre than where an angle of 45° would be required to give the distance. I rivet the inclined planes, which I prefer divided into three or more parts, each part being separately riveted on to an arm, as shown in fig. 7. 2.-The Gear Work. The speed of the revolving shaft upon which the inclined planes are fixed is got up and maintained in the following manner: "I place an intermediate friction wheel between the larger driving drum, and the smaller driven drum, as shown at figs. 1 and 2, which friction wheel revolves with the driving drum, and is again borne and communicates its motion to the driven drum. I bring the friction wheel into or out of the line of centres by means of a screw as shown in fig. 2, whereby the strap or band e, which passes over the said driving and driven drums may be tightened or slackened as occasion may require. In order to keep the drums parallel to each other when the shafts are out of a parallel line, I leave a spherical boss upon the shaft, and make the drum in two parts, so as that the boss of the two parts of the drum may fit the boss on the shaft, and put them together by means of screws, so as to form an universal joint; and a clutch, or driving coupling, is keyed on to the shaft to carry the drum round, as shown at fig. 4. The strap or band may be made to pass upon the surface of the intermediate wheel, as shown at fig. 2; when it may be required for the propeller shaft to rise and fall with the tightening and slacking of the strap, a bearing is used as shown at fig. 9. I grind the part h, into the socket i, so as to make it watertight, but at the same time to move freely in and out of its socket and the part h may be kept up to the spherical part of the shaft by means of a spring or springs, but I do not consider it indispensably necessary that the propeller shaft should rise and fall, having in my experiments allowed the upper shaft a only to rise and fall with the tightening or slackening of the strap." Explanatory Figures. Fig. 1 is a section or side view of the after part of a vessel, showing the invention as used on board the experimental boat Jane; a is the main driving shaft from the engine; b the driving drum; c the intermediate friction wheel; d the driven drum ; e the strap; f is a pipe carried to any convenient part of the vessel, through which a mixture of oil and tallow is applied to the gland or bearing where the revolving shaft passes through the vessel; the mixture being put into a cylinder, in which a piston is fitted and loaded with a weight so as to force it into the gland or bearing. The propeller is here shown with an undivided inclined plane. Fig. 2 is a section through fig. 1, showing the mode of tightening the strap by means of the friction wheel and screw as applied on board the Jane; the letters in this fig. correspond with those in fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section through the stern end of fig. 1, but showing three series of divided planes, each divided into three parts. Fig. 4 shows a mode of keeping the drums parallel to each other, when the shafts are out of a parallel line, with one intermediate friction wheel, and Fig. 5 the same with two intermediate friction wheels. Fig. 6 shows the strap and band when made to pass upon the surface of one intermediate wheel. Fig. 7, is an end view of a propeller with four series of inclined planes, each divided into three parts. Fig. 8 is an end view of the propeller used in fig. 1. Fig. 9 shows the mode used for a bearing, where the propeller shaft passes through the vessel when it is required that the same may rise and fall. Application to River and Canal Purposes, On Tuesday, the 24th ult., a trial of the Jane was made in the River Lea, in the presence of the following gentlemen:Ezekiel Harman, Esq., of Theobalds; Thomas Brewin, Esq., of Birmingham; W. C. Mylne, Esq., Engineer to the New River Company; Lieut. Webb, of the Ordnance Department, at Waltham Abbey; Mr. Austin, Engineer to the Ordnance Mills, Waltham Abbey; Mr. Griggs, Surveyor to |