lower end, and at the same time lifted by the other hand, for the purpose of starting the candles out of the moulds: this is usually found to be sufficient; but if the candles should still remain in the moulds, a repetition of the knocking with one hand on the lower end of the bar, and of the lifting with the other, must be resorted to, which will prove, in every case, sufficient. Just as the bar approaches the limit of its upward motion, an adjustable inclined plane y, on one of its edges, strikes against the end of the guide-mortice, which deflects it far enough to throw the wicks to one side of the moulds, to ensure the proper action upon them by the centering notches of the clamp, as before mentioned. The upward movement of the lifting-bars м, is determined by a pin l, (see fig. 2,) which is passed into a higher or lower hole in the bar, as it is required to raise the bar more or less. In this way the same lifting-bars are adapted to the drawing of candles of various lengths. When the candles have been drawn from the moulds of all the stands of a car, and the new wicks have been centered, the drawn candles are separated from the wicks by passing a sharp knife along the top of the lower clamps. The candles are then taken from the hooks L, and laid on a table or shallow tray, where they are separated from the cake of fat cast with them, by means of a knife. The candles, thus separated, are removed to a suitable receptacle, and the cake of fat and other trimmings are thrown into the melting-pot to be again melted and cast. The cars G, are all of the same size, and contain an equal number of stands of moulds, which are all of the same size, and arranged in exactly the same relative position on each car, in order that, when the cars are run against a stop on the truck D, and the latter is run against a stop on the track B, under the frame N, the clamps I, may always be exactly in the proper position to be drawn by the hooks L. The patentee claims, First,-the arrangement of the travelling and fixed railways, on which the moulds are transferred from place to place, as required in the process of casting candles, as herein described, in combination with an oven for heating the moulds, a melting-pot to prepare the fat for casting, and apparatus for drawing the candles from the moulds. Secondly, the hooks, or the equivalent therefor, in combination with a series of moving stands of moulds, arranged and operating to aid in drawing the candles, in such manner as to dispense with much of the care and skill heretofore required for the performance of this operation. Thirdly, an elastic or a yielding cap for the lower end or tip of the moulds, which performs the two functions of stopper and friction-break, to stretch the wick. Fourthly, the arrangement of the stands of moulds, with their wick-spools, on a series of cars, so that the corresponding stands of all the cars may, in succession, be brought into the proper position to be drawn and re-wicked by the same drawing apparatus. And, Fifthly, the wick-clamp, constructed and operating as herein set forth. TO TIMOTHY MORRIS, of Birmingham, manufacturer, and WILLIAM JOHNSON, of Washwood Heath, near Birmingham, Gent., for improvements in depositing alloys of metals. [Sealed 11th December, 1852.] THIS invention consists in the employment of solutions composed of cyanide of potassium and carbonate of ammonia, to which are added cyanides, carbonates, and other compounds of metals, in proportions according to the amount of deposit required to be made. In order that the invention may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, the patentees proceed to describe the means pursued by them as follows:-These improvements consist in the employment of solutions composed of carbonate of ammonia (the carbonate of ammonia of commerce or the sesqui-carbonate of ammonia of chemists) and cyanide of potassium, to which are added carbonates, cyanides, or other compounds of metals, in various proportions. For the wellknown alloy, brass, carbonate of ammonia and cyanide of potassium are used in the following proportions; viz., to each or every gallon of water are added 1 lb. of carbonate of ammonia, 1 lb. of cyanide of potassium, 2 oz. of cyanide of copper, and 1 oz. of cyanide of zine: these proportions may be varied to a considerable extent. Or the patentees take the before-named solution of carbonate of ammonia and cyanide of potassium, in the proportion of 1 lb. of each to one gallon of water; and they take a large sheet of brass, of the desired quality, and make it the anode or positive electrode, in the aforesaid solution, of a powerful galvanic battery or magnetoelectric machine, and a small piece of metal, and make it the cathode or negative electrode, from which hydrogen must be freely evolved. This operation is continued till the solution has taken up a sufficient quantity of the brass to produce a reguline deposit. The solution may be used cold; but it is desirable, in many cases, to heat it (according to the nature of the article or articles to be deposited upon) up to 212° Fahr. For wrought or fancy work, about 150° Fahr. will give excellent results. The galvanic battery or magneto-electric machine must be capable of evolving hydrogen freely from the cathode or negative electrode or article attached thereto. It is preferred to have a large anode or positive electrode, as this favors the evolution of hydrogen. The article or articles, treated as before described, will immediately become coated with brass by continuing the process any desired thickness may be obtained. Should the copper have a tendency to come down in a greater proportion than is desired, which may be known by the deposit assuming too red an appearance, it is corrected by the addition of carbonate of ammonia, or by a reduction of temperature, when the solution is heated. Should the zinc have a tendency to come down in too great a proportion, which may be seen by the deposit being too pale in its appearance-this is corrected by the addition of cyanide of potassium, or by an increase of temperature. The alloy, German silver, is deposited by means of a solution consisting of carbonate of ammonia and cyanide of potassium (in the proportions previously given for the brass), and cyanides or other compounds of nickel, copper, and zinc, in the requisite proportions to constitute German silver: it is, however, preferred to make the solution by means of the galvanic battery or magneto-electric machine, as above described for brass. Should the copper of the German silver come down in too great a proportion-this is corrected by adding carbonate of ammonia, which brings down the zinc more freely; and should it be necessary to bring down the copper in greater quantity, cyanide of potassium is added ;such treatment being similar to that of the brass before described. The solutions for the alloys of gold, silver, and other alloys of metals, are made in the same manner as above stated, by employing anodes of the alloy or alloys to be deposited; or by adding to the solutions the carbonates, cyanides, or other compounds, in the proportions forming the various alloys; always using, in depositing, an anode of the required alloy. These solutions are subject to the same treatment and control as those of the brass and German silver before described. The patentees claim the combination of the carbonate of ammonia, before named, or other carbonates of ammonia and cyanide of potassium, as the ingredients for their solutions for depositing alloys of metals. Scientific Notices. INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, Α BIRMINGHAM. (Continued from p. 53.) paper was read, "On a new lubricating material," Whilst extensive and valuable improvements have been made in the construction of the locomotive stock of railways, but little progress has been made in economizing the cost, and improving the efficiency of lubricating the numerous moving parts of this extensive property. Since the first establishment of railways, scarcely any change has been effected in the character of the materials employed for this important purpose; oil and tallow were originally adopted, and are still almost universally employed in the lubrication of locomotive engines, to which department the subject of the present paper has more particular reference. The more limpid lubricating materials are wanting in consistency to resist pressure, and the more solid fats want fluidity to make them available under ordinary temperatures. The varieties of oil have, consequently, been at all times the common resource; but even the majority, if not all, of these want the perfect properties requisite for faultless lubrication. Both animal and vegetable oils, of every kind, contain native impurities which materially qualify their efficiency. Many of them contain earthy matter, which soon becomes converted into a viscous, impeding, and exciting substance, of such consistency that produces rapid abrasion of metallic surfaces, and consequently causes such increase of temperature as seriously tends to disintegrate or soften the metallic body. All oils contain more or less of watery particles, which produce oxidation of the necessarily polished surfaces of the motive parts of machinery, and thus gradually wear them away; whilst the fluid itself becomes vitiated by its own action. As a further characteristic, it may be observed, that those oils most in repute as lubricants, are of such limpid consistency, that they become inevitably extensively wasted by escapement. The desideratum, therefore, for this important purpose, is clearly some agent which shall possess all the necessary properties of smoothness and body, with adequate fluidity, and without the impurities and other defective characteristics of raw oils. The new lubricating compound forming the subject of the present paper, is composed of carefully refined southern whale oil as a basis, to which are added India-rubber and levigated white and red leads, to constitute a kind of metallic soap, possessing the VOL. XLIII. P necessary oleaginous lubricating property, adequate fluidity, and a body impenetrable by the pressure upon ordinary bearings. The oil is heated to from 400° to 500° Fahr., and India-rubber, cut up fine, is then added, to the amount that the oil will dissolve, less than 50 lbs. per ton of oil being sufficient. After the oil has become completely saturated with the India-rubber, the temperature is considerably reduced, and equal proportions of finely-powdered red and white lead are added, at the rate of about 25 lbs. of each per ton of oil. The mineral ingredients perform the office of "vulcanizing" the compound, and presenting, in use, a microscopic non-conducting stratum of separation of the bearings, which precludes friction, and, consequently, heating and dissipation. In using the term "vulcanizing," it is intended to express the property of resisting any material change of consistency through any ordinary range of temperature; and it is found that the consistency of this compound does not observably alter through the extreme range of our English climate. If there be no metallic contact between two surfaces, there can be no friction between them, and, consequently, no elevation of temperature; and, in the absence of undue heat, there will be no excessive dissipation of the lubricating material by volatilization. In the experiments made with this compound, it has been found that no pressure of bearing, or extreme of velocity, ever penetrated its substance, or produced any perceptible rise of temperature, and though it is gelatinous and as smooth as oil, its elastic body prevents penetration or displacement. It works freely with ordinary worsted or cotton syphons when the engines are in motion, but ceases to flow when they are stopped, avoiding the waste of continuing to flow, to which limpid oils are liable. All the experiments made with the new compound, under similar conditions, have resulted uniformly; and it may be sufficient to quote in detail, an experiment made on the Manchester and Crewe station of the London and North Western Railway. In this instance, the new compound was applied to one of the express engines (No. 15), and another engine (No. 8), of similar character, and performing equal daily service, was submitted to a careful comparison with oil and tallow. These experiments were continued over many weeks, and the following results were reported by the engineer. It has to be observed, that the prices of oil and tallow were not then materially different from their present cost, but the quoted price of the new compound has since been reduced to one half. The distance run by the engines in these experiments was about 2340 miles each, in the eighteen days referred to; the cost of oil and tallow was found to be nearly fourpence per journal per 1000 miles, whilst that of the new compound was scarcely more than one penny for the same work, and would be, at the present reduced cost, only one halfpenny per journal per 1000 miles. This new compound is considered to possess lubricating properties |