brought into action by the shutting of the hasp, and by the turning of the key, and causing the hasp to fly out, by the pressure of the springs against the inclined point of the catch.

It will be manifest that variations may be made in the manner of forming and arranging the respective parts of the lock herein described, and I do not, therefore, intend to limit myself in this respect; the springs may be made separate, and attached to the spring hooks; and other changes of a similar kind may be introduced in other parts, whilst the instrument will remain substantially the same, producing a like result by analogous means.

SOLOMON ANDREWS.

English Patents.

Specification of a Patent granted to JOHN WILLIAM NEALE, of Kennington, and JACQUES EDOUARD DUYCK, of Old Kent Road, for certain improvements in the Manufacture of Vinegar, and in the apparatus employed therein, September 8th, 1841.

These improvements consist in the manufacture of vinegar from beet-roots; these roots, after being thoroughly washed, are reduced to the state of pulp by rasping. A number of strong cloth bags are filled with this pulp and placed in a press with a board or hurdle between them, and subjected to a powerful pressure, till the whole of the saccharine juice is extracted. The juice, which will vary in strength from about 7° to 9° of the areometer, is to be reduced to 5° by the addition of water, and boiled; the liquid is then removed to the coolers. On the temperature falling to 60° Fahr., the wort is removed to the fermenting vat, and half a gallon of yeast added for every 100 gallons of wort.

When the fermentation is over, the liquor is removed to the acidifying vessel, which is a strong vat capable of holding 24,000 gallons; in its centre, at a short distance above the bottom, there is a perforated rose, communicating by a pipe with a blowing machine. A steam worm lies at the bottom of the vat, communicating with a boiler, and furnished with a stop-cock, the other end of the worm being open to the atmosphere. The vat is divided into several compartments by perforated diaphragms, and in the cover of the vat there is a valve opening upwards.

Two thousand gallons of vinegar are first let into the vat to serve as mother to an equal quantity of fermented wash, which is next introduced, with a little yeast, when acetous fermentation quickly ensues. Air is then forced in through the perforated rose, which in its passage through the perforated diaphragms enters into intimate contact with the liquor, imparting a portion of oxygen to it, and expelling the carbonic acid gas through the valve in the vat cover. When the temperature of the liquor falls below 70° Fahr., steam is admitted. to the worm, so as to maintain the temperature constantly between 70° and 80.°

In a few days the liquid will be converted into vinegar, when 4000 gallons more of fermented wash are let into the vat, and the process continued until the whole 8,000 gallons become vinegar. This course is pursued until the vat contains 24,000 gallons of vinegar, when 8000 gallons are drawn off and clarified, and replaced with s000 gallons of fresh wash, and so on continuously.

The claim is-1. To the improved process and apparatus for manufacturing vinegar from beet-roots.

2. The process and apparatus for effecting and maintaining the acetous fermentation, and all such modifications of the same, wherein the acetous fermentation is conducted by the combined operations of an air-forcing apparatus and steam-heat applied in pipes or vessels within the acidifying vessel, whether the process of conducting the acetous fermentation be applied to the making of vinegar from beetroots, or any other substances.

3. To the application of an air forcing apparatus in the manufacture of vinegar, or acetous acid, distinctly considered from the other parts of the apparatus.

Lond. Mechanics' Mag.

Specification of a Patent granted to WILLIAM SAMUEL HENSON, London, for certain improvements in Steam Engines, August 16th, 1841.

In this high pressure condensing steam-engine, the steam chambers are each furnished with an escape-valve closed by a spring; these valves are kept shut by rods and levers worked by cams on the main shaft, the pressure of which is withdrawn when the valves are to be permitted to open. Thus, supposing the piston to be near the completion of its downward stroke, the pressure is removed from the upper escape-valve, when the steam forces it open, and rushes out until the steam within the cylinder is reduced to a slight excess above atmospheric pressure, when the spring closes the valve; the upper eduction-valve is now opened, and the remainder of the steam passes into the condenser. The piston then makes its upward stroke, and the opposite set of valves act in a similar manner.

The engine is furnished with two condensers, each having a valve at the top opened by rods worked by the engine; and also a valve at bottom kept shut by a spring, but opening into a casing, which communicates by a valve opening outwards with a cold water tank. Each condenser is provided with a jet, and is inclosed in a separate cistern, having a side valve for the admission of cold water, and two valves in its base through which the water is conveyed into the casing, and thence back into the cold water tank. At the termination of a stroke, the steam is admitted through the eduction-pipe into a chamber above the condensers; the upper valve of one of the condensers being opened, the steam enters and forces out the condensation water of the previous stroke through the lower valve, escaping with it, until the steam in the chamber is in equilibrium with the atmosphere, when the spring closes the lower valve.

The upper valve of the other condenser is now opened, and the remainder of the steam admitted and condensed by the injection of cold water, producing a partial vacuum within the condenser. During these operations, the cistern of the latter condenser is filled with water, while the former is empty. Towards the termination of the succeeding stroke, the water is allowed to run off from the latter cistern, by opening its lower valve, and the jet is turned off: at the same time cold water is admitted into the cistern of the first condenser and its jet turned on. The same operations as before then take place, the order of the condensers only being reversed.

In order to guard against explosion, the patentee places a governor on the top of the steam boiler,which is connected with the safety-valve by a long lever, in such a manner, that while the engine is at work, and the governor in motion, the safety-valve is closed, but as soon as the engine stops, the governor opens the safety-valve and lets off the steam.

The claim is-1. To the application to the cylinder of a steam-engine using a condenser, or to the passages between the cylinder of a steam-engine and its condenser, of an apparatus of the nature of that described, so as to permit the escape from the cylinder, or from the steam passages between the cylinder and the condenser, during a very short interval of time near the termination of each stroke, of so much steam as will leave the remainder of the steam within the cylinder but little above atmospheric pressure, and condensing that remainder by the means ordinarily used in condensing engines.

2. To the clearing the condensers of steam-engines, in which high pressure steam is used, by the application to that purpose of part of the force by which steam, used in such engines, exceeds the pressure of the atmosphere, when combined with condensers, at intervals immersed in water, as described.

3. To the application of a governor to the safety-valve of steamengine boilers, by which the safety-valve is raised when the engine is at rest.

Ibid.

Specification of a Patent granted to JOHN GODWIN, of Hackney Road, for an improved construction of Piano Fortes of certain descriptions. August 23, 1841.

The improvements here patented relate to the construction and arrangement of the different parts of horizontal pianos, the strings of which pass from the plate over the bridge on the sound-board in the usual manner, and under a bridge beneath the wrest-pin block. The strings are each passed round a separate pulley, and are then carried up in front of the block to the wrest-pins, and are secured in the usual way. These pulleys are made in sets, according as the instrument is to have two or three unisons, and the mounting of each set has a shank attached to the lower angle of the front of the wrest-pin block, which is cut away for that purpose. The wrest-pin block is of a rectangular form, (eight inches wide, and four inches deep,) and

VOL. III, 3D SERIES.-No. 3.-MARCH, 1842.

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is composed of two pieces; the lowest of which is cut away to admit a strap on one end of a bar, the other end of which is attached to the string plate. There are several of these straps, which are let in to counteract the tendency of the tension of the strings to depress the front and elevate the back of the wrest-pin block. For this purpose, an iron bolt, three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, is also passed through each bar, through the sound-board and bracket, and secured above the bar by a nut, and beneath the bracket by a washer.

The sound-board is placed three inches and a half below the strings, and is extended two inches farther than usual towards the front of the instrument, under the vibrating part of the strings. This extension may be carried through the whole length of the scale, but it is preferred to go only as far as where the treble notes do not require dampers.

In order to effect the action of the key upon the hammer and damper, under this arrangement, the damper level is placed between the sound-board and the strings, and the bracket is made quite straight. The key is shortened about two inches, and a right angled piece of metal, fixed on the end of it, communicates the action of the key to the damper lever. The check is carried farther back on the key, and a cheek piece is attached to the middle of the shank. The hammer rest is also removed higher up, and the length between the head and the shank of the hammer is reduced to an inch.

Ibid.

Specification of a Patent granted to WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of Chancery Lane, for improvements in obtaining a concentrated extract of Hops, which the inventor denominates "Humuline." August 15, 1841.

The hops are dried till brittle in an oven heated to 86° Fahrenheit, and are then passed through a coarse sieve; this powder is placed in a close cylinder and covered with alcohol to a depth of one and a half inches, and submitted to pressure for twenty-four hours. The alcoholic tincture is then drawn off into a tub, and the powdered hops washed repeatedly in water, till no further extract remains in them.

The alcoholic tincture, and the essential oil which is combined with it, is placed in a water-bath, and the alcohol driven off, which leaves the essential oil remaining behind in the form of a brownish-yellow resin covered with a yellowish watery extract. This extract is added to the aqueous solution, and evaporated by an open fire to the consistence of sirop; it is then removed to the water-bath and evaporated to a nearly solid extract. This extract is added to the resinous matter of the alcoholic tincture in a warm state, and the compound thus produced is the "Humuline," two pounds of which are equal in use to six pounds of hops.

Another mode is to place hops, either powdered or whole, in a closed vessel, and expose them to the action of steam, when a liquid extract is obtained, which, by evaporation, may be converted into "Humuline."

The claim is to the methods herein described, of making or produ cing a concentrated extract of hops.

Ibid.

Specification of a Patent granted to JAMES RANSOME AND CHARLES MAY, of Ipswich, Suffolk, for improvements in the Manufacture of Railway Chairs, railway and other pins or bolts, and in wood fastenings and tree nails. August 15, 1841.

These improvements in the manufacture of railway chairs, consist in the employment of metal side plates in the sand mould in which the chair is cast; and also in using metal cores for the cavity in the chair which receives the rail.

The second improvement, relating to the manufacture of wooden pins or bolts, consists in forcing them into moulds, (which are cylindrical tubes slightly tapered towards the mouth,) and submitting them while under compression, to the action of heat, until the natural elasticity of the wood is sufficiently overcome. The pins will then retain the form thus given them until driven into damp sleepers, when the moisture will cause them to swell, and they will become firmly fixed therein. The wood fastenings and tree-nails are treated in a similar

manner.

The claim is-1. To the mode of casting railway chairs by means of metal side surfaces in sand moulds, with metal or other cores as described.

2. To the mode of casting railway chairs, by applying metal cores as described.

3. To the mode of manufacturing railway and other pins or bolts, and wood fastenings and tree-nails, by forcing them into moulds so formed as to retain them under compression till the elasticity of the wood is sufficiently overcome.

4. To the mode of manufacturing railway and other pins or bolts, and wood fastenings and tree-nails, by subjecting them to heat when under compression, in moulds as described.

Ibid.

Specification of a Patent granted to JAMES WHITELAW AND GEORGE WHITELAW, of Glasgow, for a new mode of Propelling Vessels through the water, with certain improvements in the steam-engine when used in connexion therewith, part of which improvements are applicable to other purposes. August 15, 1841.

This new mode of propelling, consists in forcing air through openings in the bottom of the vessel, which passes in divided currents along channels or spaces inclining upward from the bottom of the vessel toward the stern, where it escapes at the surface of the water. The propelling power is derived from the buoyancy of the air-the force which it gives out, as it expands in its passage to the surface of the water-and the force from reaction which is communicated to the