thimbles, in the form, or forms, specified, whether the same are first made, or turned in entire pieces and afterwards cut, or sawed, into sections, or whether said sections are fitted up separate, or made of cast steel, or other metal. I also claim in connexion with said above described cutters, or those of any other form, having similar shaped cutting surfaces, or edges, the mode of arranging the same in such manner as to operate upon the same principle of motion, that is to say, arranged in two opposite pairs fitted in levers, or other fastenings, by the vibrating motion of which levers two opposite cutters, one from each pair, is made to approximate and pass each other, operating as cylindrical shears in cuting off one nail, and as those recede, the other pair operate in a similar manner in cutting the next nail, alternately. And I further claim the combination and general arrangement of the head knives, cutters, and spring gauge, constructed and arranged as above set forth and described, without reference to the particular form of the cutting edges of the cutters for the purpose of cutting nails, brads, tacks, &c., without regard to the particular form or shape of the same."

8. For an improvement in Door Springs; Wm. W. Smith and Ben. Mullikin, Jr., city of New York, November 13.

From the arbor of a crank having its bearings in a frame attached to the casement of the door, a lever projects, the extreme end of which passes through a loop in an arm attached to the upper edge of the door. The lever is at right angles to the crank, and the crank is actuated by a spiral spring, one end of said spring being attached to the crank and the other to the casement of the door. By this arrangement it will be perceived that the tension of the spring will tend to close the door until it is opened to a right angle, which places the crank in the dead point, and keeps the door open, and when it passes this point the effect will be to force it still further back.

The claim is to the "combination of the spring, crank, and lever, acting upon the arm attached to the door, or gate, in the manner and for the purpose described."

9. For an improvement in the method of Manufacturing Balls or Shot; Levi Magers, city of Baltimore, November 13.

The moulds, which are to be used are made upon the sides of any number of square bars of iron, are arranged in a reciprocating carriage, so that they can be separated at the end of each operation to discharge the balls that have been cast, and then reclosed. For this purpose the bars slide on the carriage at right angles to its length, and all the bars are connected with one lever, each by a separate link, the connecting link of the outside bar being furthest from the fulcrum of the lever, and the others nearer and nearer the fulcrum, so that by one movement of the lever the bars will all be separated. A furnace and kettle, containing the lead, are arranged over the carriage of moulds, and are provided with the necessary appendages to allow the molten lead to run into the moulds as they pass under the kettle, and

to stop its flow when the carriage of moulds arrives at the end of its

course.

The claim is to the combination of the furnace and kettle with the moulds, and also to the combination and arrangement of the moulds with the carriage.

10. For an improvement in the Windlass Bedstead; Thomas Lamb, Washington, District of Columbia, November 13.

In this bedstead the rail and post are to be put together by a round tenon and mortise, the mortise being provided with a pin that fits in a groove turned in on the outside of the tenon. A longitudinal groove is cut in the end of the tenon which slips over the pin when the tenon is inserted in the mortise. A segment of a ratchet wheel on the end of the rail, and a pall on the post, constitute the windlass. The claim is to the above mode of attachment in combination with the windlass.

11. For a machine for Sawing Paving Blocks; Amaziah Nash, Calais, Washington county, Maine, November 13.

The blocks are to be cut by means of a circular saw, and the improvement is in the method of presenting the block to the saw. The block to be sawed is placed on the upper end of a spindle, which has its bearings in a slide, that works in, and at right angles to, the carriage. A frame is either attached to the top or bottom of the slide above mentioned, and when the frame is placed above, the block is shifted, to be cut into any given number of faces, by an index, or "notched wheel and catch," the arbor of which slides up and down by means of a lever to take hold of the block, and when placed below, the spindle on which the block is placed, has a cog wheel on it to form the connexion between the spindle and the index wheel. The carriage feeds the block up to the saw, and the slide, which works at right angles to the motion of the carriage, regulates the diameter of the block.

The claim is to the combination and arrangement of the carriage, slide, index, and saw.

12. For improvements in the Cooking Stove; David H. Hilliard, Cornish, Sullivan county, New Hampshire, November 26.

The improvements described are to be appended to the stove patented by Thomas Woolson, on the 20th of July, 1831, and noticed at page 47 of the ninth volume of this Journal, second series, but they may be applied to other stoves.

The improvements consist in the manner of constructing or arranging the fire chamber, which constitutes what the patentee terms an "air tight furnace." This furnace is adapted to the hearth plate which is sunk like an ash pit, and the anterior part of the bottom is open like a grate, and to this the ash drawer is adapted. The ash drawer is made with a plate in front, so that when it is under the

grate, a draught of air will be admitted to the fire, but when the plate is pushed under the grate, then the draught will be cut off. At the posterior part of this furnace there is an opening which leads to the oven flue of the stove. When the furnace is to be used, this opening is reduced by means of a strip of metal, and when the opening is to be closed entirely it is effected by another strip of metal attached to one edge of a plate which slides on the top of the furnace and is provided with a collar and cover to receive a tea kettle or other vessel. By this arrangement the furnace can be rendered air tight.

Claim.-"What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by letters patent, is the manner in which I have constructed the bottom of my fire chamber with grated openings through the anterior part thereof, and combined therewith an ash pit drawer having a flat plate in front of sufficient width to cover these openings, and an aperture in the rear for the purpose of admitting air, the whole operating in the manner set forth. And in combination therewith, I claim the strips of metal arranged and operating as described for the purpose of closing the flue space at the back of the fire chamber when required."

13. For a musical instrument called the Vocal, or Echo, Organ; John W. Campbell, Attica, Fountain county, Indiana, November 26. The object of this improvement is to modify the sound produced by the vibration of a metallic reed, by causing it to pass through chambers, called by the patentce, "vocal, or echo, chambers." Any desired number of these chambers, properly tuned, are arranged in a box which is supplied with wind from a bellows, and the outlets from the chambers are governed by stops attached to keys like those of a piano forte.

Claim.—“What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by letters patent, is the construction of the vocal apparatus herein described, consisting of the vocal box with its vibrating tongues, as set forth, and the mouth piece and fauces attached to the same. I also claim the placing of the foregoing vocal apparatus, or such number of them as might be necessary to produce the required notes, in a box constructed in the manner herein described. The said vocal pieces being arranged beside each other and governed by stops, operated by keys for producing tone in the manner herein set forth."

14. For an improvement in Churns; Constant Webb, Wallingford, New Haven county, Connecticut, November 26.

This alleged improvement in churns is in that kind which consists of four wings attached to a horizontal arbor revolving in a box, and instead of having the four wings parallel to the axis, and attached by each end to a head, they are attached to a cross at one end only, and incline from the line of the axis at an angle of about thirty degrees.

Claim.-"What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by

letters patent, is the reel, and the manner in which the agitating wingboards are arranged upon the arms of the cross, and thus form the peculiar reel of the churn, as set forth in the specification, viz: by attaching to each arm of the cross on the arbor, or axle, an agitating wing, made fast to the arm at one end, and passing the line of the axle obliquely to the left, at an angle of about thirty degrees; each wing being about three inches broad at the end by which it is made. fast to the arm of the cross and gradually reduced to about half that width, at the other end, and of such length, and so curved, as to approach but not to touch the sides or bottom of the churn, as more particularly described in my specification."

15. For an improvement in the Spark Extinguisher; David Ritter, New Haven, Connecticut, November 26.

At the top of the ordinary chimney of a locomotive steam engine there is placed a cap, pierced with three holes, one at top, one in front, and the third at the back; the two former have hinged covers, which can be opened for firing up, and the other provided with a conducting tube which runs over the engine and turns down at right angles, and is to discharge the sparks, &c., into a reservoir containing water, and covered with wire gauze for the escape of the draught.

Claim."I do not claim as my invention, the conductor for carrying off the sparks from the chimney of the locomotive nor the openings for the draught on the top or in front of it, which openings may be used or not as occasion may require. But I do claim as my invention the combination of the cistern or reservoir of water with the conductor for carrying the sparks and dust from the chimney and depositing them perpendicularly downward in the reservoir, and thereby extinguishing the sparks and absorbing the dust, permitting the smoke only to escape from the reservoir."

16. For a Rotary Steam Engine; Jacob C. Robie, Binghampton, Broome county, New York, November 26.

The engine which is the subject of this patent is very similar to many other rotary engines which have been noticed in this Journal, and as the claims refer to the drawings we will not insert them, but make the following extract from the specification, explanatory of the general combination of the instrument.

"My engine is, in its general construction, similar to some other rotary engines which have been heretofore made; my improvement consists in certain devices by means of which the friction is lessened, the waste of steam is prevented, and the valves against which the steam acts, are so constructed and arranged as to open against permanent bearings, so that their action is more perfect, and their liability to derangement much less, than such as have been heretofore constructed."

17. For Straining and preserving Clothes Lines; Edwin Allyn and C. B. Hildredth, Boston, Massachusetts, November 26. The clothes line to be preserved and strained is to be wound upon a bobbin, or spool, the spindle of which is provided with a winch and ratchet wheel and pall. The spool is enclosed within a case having a sliding door in front. When the line is to be used, the sliding door is to be opened, and the end of the line passed through snatch blocks. properly arranged, one of which is double, and then attached to a pin.

The claim is to the "combination of a spool, or bobbin, having a windlass ratchet wheel and catch, with a casing having a slide in front, and also with the single and double snatch blocks."

18. For a Thrashing Machine; John Criswell, Cecil Township, Washington county, Pennsylvania, November 26.

This patent was granted for a mode of arranging that part of a thrashing machine by which the grain is separated from the straw, and the straw itself carried away. Behind the thrashing cylinder there is an inclined rack, made like a venetian blind, or shutter, on which the grain and straw are thrown by the cylinder. The straw is drawn up over this rack by a set of rakes, attached to an endless belt, and is discharged at the upper end of the rack whilst the grain falls through between the slats on to an inclined board, and is thence conducted to a proper receptacle.

The claim is to the "forming of the rack as an inclined plane, and carrying the straw over it by a belt of rakes."

19. For constructing Cabooses and other Cooking Stoves; Loftis Wood, city of New York, November 26.

The following extracts from the specification of this patent will give the reader a very clear understanding of the improvement. "The main feature of my improvement consists in the manner in which I heat the oven used for baking, which oven is situated at the back of the fire place, or chamber of combustion, as in the greater number of cooking stoves; but in my cabooses, or stoves, I do not allow of a direct draught from the fire to pass under the oven, but cause the whole of the heated air generated in combustion to pass over the oven, in a flue space between it and the boilers, or other cooking utensils situated above it; whilst I heat the lower part of the oven by constructing the grate upon which the coal, or other fuel, is sustained, with hollow bars, which bars admit the atmospheric air freely into them in front, and open at their inner or back ends, into a flue space under the oven. I perforate the bottom plate of my oven with holes, so as to allow the atmospheric air which has passed through the grate bars, and has thereby become highly heated, to pass directly into the oven; and I also perforate the back plate of my oven with holes through which the heated air which has been admitted into it may escape into the back flue, and thence, under the government of a

VOL. III, 3RD SERIES.-No. 1.-JANUARY, 1842.

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