ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Meteor.-On Thursday, the 13th, about a minute before 6, in the evening, a remarkably brilliant Meteor made its appearance, in or near the zenith; it proceeded in a southerly direction through Andromeda and Pegasus; then entering Aquarius, disappeared at an altitude of 30 degrees above the horizon; from this point to within 20 degrees of the zenith, a train of apparently innumerable stars was visible for more than 2 minutes after the disappearance of the meteor. The sudden transition, from comparative darkness to a light equalling that of mid-day, produced an extraordinary effect upon the minds of those who witnessed it. A friend, who happened to direct his eye towards the zenith before the Meteor appeared, says, "that from the larger ball of light smaller ones were discharged in various directions, for a moment only previous to its moving."

Edmonton.

CHARLES HENRY ADAMS.

Latitude 51. 37. 32. N.

Longitude 6. 51. W, of Greenwich.

Eclipses.-January 1. A partial Eclipse of the Moon, visible at Greenwich. Beginning of the Eclipse, 6 h. 48 m. 33 sec. A. M. Middle 7 h. 59 m. 14 sec.

Moon's

lower limb sets 8 h. 1 m. 2. sec. End of the Eclipse 9 h. 9 m. 54. sec, mean or clock time. At York, the Eclipse begins at 6 h. 44 m. 6 sec., and the Moon's lower limb sets at 8 h. 15 m. 17 sec. At Paris, the beginning and end are 6 h. 57 m. 56. sec and 9 h. 14 m. 48 sec. respectively. Digits eclipsed 5. 45. on the D northern limb. January 20. an Eclipse of the Sun invisible here. It will, however, be central and annular in many parts of the southern hemisphere, and very interesting at Port Jackson, Van Dieman's Land, &c.

CELESTIAL PHENOMENA, For January, 1833.

15 0 0 Venus R.A. 18 h. 5 m. dec. 22. 2. S.

R. A. 17 h. 42 m. dec. 15 0 0 R. A. 22 h. 34 m. dec. 10.

THE

London

JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

AND

REPERTORY

OF

PATENT INVENTIONS.

No. X.

CONJOINED SERIES.

Recent Patents.

TO EDWARD GARSED, of Homerton, in the parish of St. John Hackney, in the county of Middlesex, gentleman, and ALFRED ROBINSON, of Mile End, in the parish of St. Dunstan, Stepney, in the said county, merchant, for their having invented certain improvements and apparatus for heating, warming, and ventilating, drying houses, rooms, buildings, ships, and mines.-[Sealed 22d June, 1832.]

THESE improvements consist in the peculiar construction of a stove or furnace, with air passages, by which the Patentees, are enabled to obtain a very rapid circulation of

VOL. II.

H

air, heated to any degree of temperature that may be desired, for the warming of apartments, or the drying of goods.

This apparatus is formed by the arrangement of several series of hollow tubes through the interior of which the atmospheric air is allowed to pass, while the external surfaces of the said tubes, are acted upon by the flames, and heated vapours of the furnace and flues by which they are surrounded. Plate III, shows the furnace or stove with its air tubes in several views. Fig. 1, is a front elevation of the stove, having two fire doors closing the mouth of the fire places. Fig. 2, is a longitudinal section of the interior of the stove, supposing the front part of fig. 1, to be removed, in which four ranges of tubes a, b, c, d, are seen, each range consisting of a series of tubes placed side by side in a horizontal direction. Fig. 3, is a horizontal view of the stove, supposing the top to be removed, and the upper range of tubes d, d, d, to be exposed to view, and also a small part of the second range of tubes c, c. Fig. 4, is a section of the stove taken transversely, in which all the tubes composing the several ranges are seen, and the zig-zag direction of the flue leading from the furnace, formed by the positions of the tubes.

The distinct tubes (which are of cast iron) with blocks formed at their ends, are piled upon each other in the way shown in figs. 2 and 4. Fire bricks, or bars of iron, might be introduced between the blocks of each range, for the purpose of increasing the capacity of the flues if desired; these tubes are hollow, as seen at fig. 4, and are open at each end for the free passage of atmospheric air. The air to be heated may be conducted by any convenient means to one end of each tube, and may be allowed to discharge itself from the reverse end of the tube into a hot air chamber, which may have pipes leading

to the place intended to be warmed; or conducting channels may be formed as at e, fig. 2, leading from the open atmosphere, which may supply the boxes f, and g, with cold atmospheric air. From these boxes the air will pass into the tubes, as shown by the arrows, and having become heated in its progress through the tubes by the heat of the furnace and flues surrounding them, the air escapes at the opposite ends of the tubes, as shown by the arrows, into the apartment in which the stove is erected.

In the event of its being found most convenient to erect the stove near the middle of a building, it will be desirable to drive the heated air towards both ends, for which purpose the two air boxes f, and g, are placed at opposite sides of the stove, each to supply a portion of the tubes with air, as shown in the horizontal view, fig. 3, which causes the air to pass off from one half of the tubes towards the right hand end of the building, and from the other half of the tubes towards the left hand.

The front and back plates of the stove are secured together by bolts and nuts, as at h, h, h, h; but the Patentees do not confine themselves to this particular mode of constructing the stove, as it may be formed of fire brick instead of iron, neither do they confine themselves to the number of tubes employed in each range, nor to their dimensions, nor to the number of ranges of tubes constituting the entire stove, nor to the thickness or quantity of the materials of which it may be found convenient to make the tubes, though they prefer to have those tubes of greatest substance which are nearest to the fire.

"We claim the arrangement of hollow tubes open at both ends, placed in horizontal series within a furnace or stove, on the external surfaces of which tubes the flame and heated vapours act for the purpose of creating a rarification within, by which a rapid current of atmospheric