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The patentee does not confine himself to making the inclined surfaces according to the precise angles shown.

The claim is to the mode of constructing blocks for covering roads and ways by combining the inclined surfaces a b and d e with the tongue e, and forming on the opposite sides of the blocks the corresponding inclined surfaces and grooves, fg ik and h. RICHARD GURNEY, OF TREWINYON HOUSE, CORNWALL, ESQUIRE for a new method of cutting wood, and incrusting the same, in order to present a sure footing for horses, and other purposes.-Enrolment Office, May 25, 1842.

This new method consists in producing surfaces for the paving of roads by means of wood and other materials, which, says the patentee," will be found more lasting, present a sure footing for horses, and prevent water passing through the crevices of such wood." A beam is sawed at its extreme length at right angles, and squared on all four sides; it is then laid down with one edge upwards, and sawed edgeways, the saw being held in an oblique direction, so that it deviates from the right angle downwards and sideways. The block thus produced is to have all its sides equal. In paving, each block is to be so placed as to lean equally on two other blocks, whilst two more blocks lean upon it. The blocks being so laid down as to present the appearance of a diamond lengthways, that is, with the two sides which incline so as to lean on two other blocks away from the spectator, and the two sides which support two other blocks next to him, it will be found that all the weight of the block is thrown forward on the farther point, the two sides of which rest on two other blocks. Mr. Gurney says, "I consider that this cut is perfect in itself, and may be used with or without incrustation."

The block thus cut is to be incrusted with, or cemented to the next block by a com

position of asphalte, bitumen, black-lead, gas-tar, and other adhesive materials. In general the composition need only be applied to the sides and bottom. When it is deemed requisite to incrust the top, or upper surface, the following process must be followed. The wood is first to be steamed to render it soft and porous, and a mixture of asphalte and bitumen with gravel strewn on it is then to be beaten into the wood by rollers or mallets.

The claim is to the form of wood blocks above set forth, for paving purposes, and to the mode of incrustation, as also to the right of employing blocks of wood of the above form combined with incrustation, as before explained, for wood pavements.

ROBERT WILSON, OF SOWERBY-BRIDGE, HALIFAX, CURRIER AND TANNER, for inprovements in the manufacture of leather.Enrolment Office, June 2, 1842.

These improvements consist, Firstly, in preparing hides or skins, or parts of hides and skins, for covering rollers used in the manufacture of yarns and threads at a cheaper cost and more expeditiously than the leather heretofore applied to such purpose. After the hides and skins have passed the well-known process of immersion and working in a lixivium of pigeon's dung, they are passed through a solution of terra japonica and quercitron bark, in which solution they are allowed to remain four days, and frequently handled; the solution is also to be stirred during that period; after which they are in a fit state to be taken from the solution, and being dried, polished, and cut, can be applied to whatever purpose they may be required. Secondly, In a mode of splitting hides or skins, after which either or both of the parts so divided may be prepared according to the above mode, or manufactured into leather in any other known manner. After the hide has passed through the usual processes up to the immersion in bark liquor, and after having been immersed in bark liquor for four days, and frequently handled during that period, it is to be taken out of the liquor, and one end fastened to a cylinder, which is caused to revolve so as to bring that part to which the hide is attached immediately opposite to a fixed bar; the other or loose end of the hide is then passed and drawn over such bar, until a sufficient part of the hide has been so drawn over as to make that part remaining between the cylinder and the bar quite tight. Two rollers are then placed upon the surface of the hide, upon the fixed bar, so as to keep the hide upon the bar, and between it and the cylin der straight and tight as it is drawn over the bar. A knife is then screwed up to as near

MINE REFORM-LORD ASHLEY'S BILL.

The

the surface of the bar as may be necessary to split the hide into two parts, according to the thickness required of each part. cylinder is then made to revolve so as to draw the hide downwards over the bar, and the knife having an eccentric motion given to it, cuts or splits the hides into two parts throughout the entire length.

Claim (verbatim)-" But I do hereby lay no claim to any part of the machine, or any part of the process or mode secondly above described, except and I do hereby confine my claim of invention of the above described new mode secondly above described to O.G. bar, and the splitting hides in an untanned or green state, as well as tanned leather."

MINE REPORT-LORD ASHLEY'S BILL.

We are delighted to find that Lord Ashley has brought in a bill for the entire abolition of female and infant labour in our mines, as also for the abolition of apprenticeship to the art of mining; and that the Bill has met with the unanimous approbation of the House of Commons. Of its speedily passing into a law there can be little doubt.

Lord Ashley's Bill proposes to enact, in the first place, that the employment of women in any of these works shall be at once and wholly prohibited; and next, that no male child shall be so employed under thirteen years of age. Nothing short of actual prohibition would, in the opinion of his Lordship, avail; for to mend matters by regulation would be quite impossible; the miner, when the labourers are once consigned to him underground, is absolute, and as to subterranean inspection, it would be at the hazard of the inspector's very life. The Bill next provides for the abolition of the present system of apprenticing the boys, who are kept till twentyone in a state of slavery. His Lordship considered that there was no pretence for any binding, for the business had nothing in it which could not be learned in ten or twelve days. He instanced some cases of cruelty scarcely equalled in the records of African slavery, and attended with this aggravation, that the young sufferers in the mine had none to whose sympathy they could appeal. It was to the cases of women and children only that he had applied himself with a view to legislative remedy; he had never attempted to legislate as between the masters and the men, but he besought his countrymen in the spirit of Christianity, to make some expiation for their sins by taking thought for the poor.

The patentee means, we presume the ogee bar, over which the hide is passed to tighten it for the application of the knife.

NOTES AND NOTICES.

479

The Atmospheric Railway is expected to form a prominent subject of attention at the approaching meeting of the British Association. Mr. Vignoles, C. E., the Professor of Engineering at the University College, whose enlightened advocacy of this system, in the face of much prejudice and hostility, does him infinite credit, has announced a paper on the subject, to be illustrated by models and working drawings on a large scale. It is mainly owing to the exertions of this gentleman, next to those of Mr. James Prior, the public-spirited Treasurer of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, that it has been resolved to make the trial of this system on the branch line from Dublin to Dalkey, noticed in a subsequent extract from the Dublin Mercantile Ad vertiser. We are glad to learn that Mr. Brunel has also become a convert to its merits, so far, at least, as to recommend it during his recent professional tour in the South of Europe, as the only practicable method of establishing a railway communication from Genoa, through the passes of the Appenines. The Prussian Government have had it under their consideration to give it a trial in a part of its Rhenish provinces, where the actual character of the country opposes similar obstacles to the laying down of railways on the ordinary plan, and have consulted Mr. Vignoles on the subject; but their determination on the subject has not as yet, been made known. At some experiments made last week at Wormwood Scrubbs, where, as our readers are aware, about half a mile of railway on the atmospheric plan has been for some time laid down, a speed was obtained with a vacuum varying from 24 to 25 inches of mercury, or upwards of 40 miles an hour, and this, notwithsanding the rails are in most wretched condition, and the atmospheric appliances not much better.

Hot Times at Hand.-Luke Howard, Esq., F.R.S., who has carried on careful metereological observations for about forty years, has published the result of his observations through two complete cycles of eighteen years each. The result shows a very great general resemblance between the two periods. Mr. Howard is convinced that in each cycle there is a succession of years above the average degree of warmth, and a succession of years below the average. It is very agreeable to find that we have now just arrived at the close of one of the colder periods, and are entering one of the warmer. Mr. Howard anticipates that this, and several successive years will be genial, warm, and generally favourable to abundance of the products of the soil. The reader is aware that in eighteen years the moon, the sun, and the earth come into the same relative position towards each other as they were at the beginning of the period. Now Mr. Howard's theory is that the temperature, moisture, winds, &c., on our globe, are materially affected by the relative positions of the sun and moon towards her.

Axles Useless. Some of the English railway companies, to justify themselves tor persisting in the use of four-wheeled engines, have been proving most satisfactorily by a number of experiments with axles cut intentionally in two, that an axle thus divided is just as good for all practical purposes as one perfectly entire. The next step, of course, will be to dispense with them altogether.

Comfortable News for Railway Travellers.-A correspondent of the Times mentions that Dr. Buckland, the eminent geologist, stated" at his last lecture" (a mistake-it was at a meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers the Doctor made the statement) that he "considers the Box-tunnel, as well as several others, to be in a very dangerous state, and that if they were not masonried throughout, he would stake his reputation that at some period not far distant, a serious fall of earth and rock will take place, the disastrous consequences of which no man can venture to enumerate." The Doctor laid it down as a general rule, without exception, that every tunnel which is not made through solid rock, is unsafe, unless defended by strong brick or stone-work, with provision besides for good drainage-a category which may be said to comprehend nine out of ten of all the railway tunnels in England.

Immense Stone.-The largest stone which we believe has ever been cut out from any of the fine freestone quarries which abound in our vicinity, has been this week removed from the Duke of Buccleuch's quarry at Granton. It is a block of thirty tons weight of liver-rock, and is intended to form the statue of Lord Nelson, about to be erected in Trafalgar-square, London. It was yesterday removed from the quarry to Granton Pier, to be shipped in a vessel sent down specially by the Admiralty, for the purpose of conveying it to London. The labour of removing it from the quarry was great in proportion to the ponderous mass; but under the superintendence of skilful engineers was satisfactorily accomplished. The cost of the block, with the expense of placing it in Trafalgar-square, we have been told, will exceed 3001.-Caledonian Mercury.

Cast and Wrought-Iron Rails.—A correspondent of the Mining Journal states, that at the last annual meeting of the St. Etienne and Loire Railway Company, the directors expressed their conviction of the necessity of abolishing the use of cast-iron for rails in future, and substituting wrought-iron for that purpose, as also for the spokes of the wheels; the cause of that determination was explained by the announcement that no less than 203 wheels had been broken, during the last year, from the use of cast-iron on their line, while on the Roanne Rail. way, where wrought-iron only was employed, but three wheels were injured.

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The Taliesin Steamer and Engines. About Christmas last we announced the launch of the Taliesin from the building yard of Messrs. Eyton Brothers, at Mostyn Foundry, at the mouth of the Dee in Flintshire. This vessel is intended to ply on the Liverpool and Mostyn station, in lieu of the present steamer the Black Diamond. Messrs. Eyton have constructed two new engines of their own invention for the Taliesin, on an entirely new principle, combining lightness, with power, and economy of space, and which, for distinction, may be called the "Taliesin Engines. Various trials of these engines have been made, and they are found to work admirably, with a very moderate consumption of fuel. The power of the engines is equal to ninety horses. They weigh only 15 tons, and occupy about 4 feet of the vessel's hold, while the speed of the boat, constructed rather wide with a view to towing and carrying cargo, and short so as to turn in a confined space to suit the particular station, averages full ten miles an hour, when there are upwards of two hundred persons on board. A much higher rate of speed will most likely be effected when the stiffness of the machinery wears off by use. With a vessel modelled for speed there is little doubt that sixteen or seventeen miles an hour would be accomplished. We understand that the

performance of these engines is looked to with com siderable interest by parties connected with steam navigation. Great praise is due to Messrs. Eyton for their spirit in carrying into effect a hazardous experiment at their own risk, and it is highly gratifying to find that the result has answered their most sanguine expectations. We understand that the Messrs. Eyton yet contemplate much greater improvement in the construction of marine engines, and we may say that most of the improvements in this most important branch of our national marine have arisen from individual enterprise and skillthe result of private competition.-Chester Chronicle. Atmospheric Railway in Ireland.-The Dublin Mercantile Advertiser says-" Every arrangement has been completed with the government and the board of works, preliminary to the commencement of the line between Kingstown and Dalkey, on the atmospheric system. In the course of the ensuing month the works will be in full operation; and thus the Dublin and Kingstown Railway Company will have given the initiative in the practical adoption of a system which is calculated to produce such transcendently important results upon railway communication." The money for the purpose (25,000/.) is to be advanced on loan to the company by Go

vernment.

The largest apartment in the world, is the ridingschool at Moscow, which is 500 feet 10 inches long and 133 broad, without pillar or intervening prop of any kind. The famous town-hall of Padua, which used to be considered the largest, is only 240 feet long and 80 feet broad. Westminster-ball has often been stated to be the largest, whereas it is only 275 feet by 75 feet; and King's College, Cambridge, 291 feet by 45 feet, and 79 high.

Adams's Bow Springs.-From a statement given in the Railway Times, it appears that since September, 1838, no less than 204 pairs of these springs have been applied to private carriages; 322 to railway carriages, and 30 to carts, wagons and drays, in addition to 73 sets of double buffer springs, and 50 of single buffers, on the same principle, supplied to different railways. Of 72 carriages at the South Eastern Railway, 25 are on Mr. Adams's plan. A full description of the bow spring system is given in vol. xxxi. p. 113.

Rearing Timber.-No populous and industrious people can afford to grow useful timber for their own use. A fine oak will require 200 years to come to maturity. The oaks planted during the Commonwealth are only now fit to cut for decent navy timber. The land fit to grow an oak, would in the same time yield 200 green and grass crops, and in the hands of a market gardener, from 300 to 400. The fee simple of an acre of land fit to grow oaks might be bought nearly seven times over while the oaks are growing.

Tribute to the Art of Printing.-The Emperor of Germany allowed printers to wear coat armour in acknowledgment of the importance of the discovery. Printing was anciently practised by many who were of noble family as well as by eminent ecclesiastics.

Wood Paving.-It has been at length determined to pave Oxford-street with wood, and the Vestry are now laying their heads together to furnish the material.-Punch.

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).

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.

JOHNSTON'S CLIFF CRANE.

Mechanics' Magazine,

MUSEUM, REGISTER, JOURNAL, AND GAZETTE.

No. 984.]

SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 1842.

Edited, Printed and Published by J. C. Robertson, No. 166, Flect-street.

[Price 3d.

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VOL. XXXVI.

I I

DESCRIPTION OF CLIFF-CRANE FOR THE RESCUE OF PERSONS SHIPWRECKED. INVENTED BY JOHN JOHNSTON, ESQ., OF BRIGHTON.

(For the Mechanics' Magazine.)

The machine which is the subject of the present notice is especially applicable to such parts of our coasts as consist of abrupt and perpendicular cliffs, washed by the waves, which preclude the possibility of rescuing any ill-fated mariners that may be stranded at their feet, except by mechanical means from above. A most important consideration with respect to any machine contrived for such a purpose is the absence of all that is complicated; simplicity of construction being, doubtless, the surest guarantee for successful operation. This will appear the more evident, when it is borne in mind, that if ever called into action, it would probably be amidst scenes of confusion and distress-perhaps too in the darkness of the night. In such cases it too frequently happens that more zeal is shown than discretion-all are eager to lend a helping hand, but few aware how assistance may best be rendered; and under such circumstances, complicated tackle of any description might not only render abortive the means of relief intended, but in all probability lead to fatal results. Against these fearful contingencies, the inventor of the present apparatus appears to have effectually provided. Simplicity and power are at once combined in this machine. There is nothing to adjust, which can lead to confusion or failure, while no less than four individuals at a time, may with ease be raised or lowered in the carefully-constructed cradle attached to the machine. Nor is it in saving life alone, that Mr. Johnston's apparatus may be rendered available. Property as well as human beings may be rescued from destruction by its simple, but effective machinery.

The accompanying perspective view and plan (fig. 1 and 2,) which are copied from the Report of the Royal Humane Society for the present year, exhibit the construction of the apparatus and the mode of working it so clearly as to require but little explanatory description. A is a box or well for rocket or mortar apparatus, if required. B, pin-bolt for securing or adjusting the beam. C, sparshores or stays. D, catch-wheels attached to roller. E, ballast-box; ff, hooks for attaching hand-ropes to assist in the

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