lay's machine, so far that its acting edge quits the teeth of the carriages; and when, by the driving motion of the back driving bar pushing forwards the carriages in the combs, their said teeth have passed quite over the acting edges of both the lockers a, and d, and the driver o, is suddenly let down again by the action of its cam before mentioned; and then a claw p, which is connected with the driver o, acts in one of the opposite teeth of the ratchet wheel, so as to turn the same much further round as will carry away the notch of the wheel m, from the tooth n, whereby the sloping edge of the notch acting against the sloping edge of the tooth n, will suddenly depress the same with its lever h, and thereby raise up the outer blade d, into its former position, in respect to the inner blade a; after which, the edge of the outer blade d, will proceed to act as that of a double-bladed locker usually does to intercept the teeth of the next division of carriages: but note, as the turn-again and whipping carriages have remained motionless in the combs whilst the other carriages have been moved therein, the acting edge of the outermost blade h, will have passed beneath the teeth of the said turnagain and whipping carriages, whilst the blade h, was folded down with its acting edge out of the reach of those teeth; but after the blade h, is turned up again, as above described, the acting edge will be at the opposite side of the said teeth of the turn-again and whipping carriages, to that side whereof on which the said edge was before it was folded down.

And lastly, another part of my present improvements is to make breadths of bobbin-net lace in the aforesaid machines, in such manner that the racking motions of those threads will not be impeded by the turn-again carriages remaining inserted between the warp threads.

VOL. VIII.

G

By this last part of my present improvements, the racking motions of the warp threads and selvage threads are so arranged, that at the time when the turn-again carriages are left in between the threads, those threads which are adjacent to the carriages will not be moved in racking, so as to entangle the threads with the teeth of the said carriages at the next succeeding time of passing the carriages; the said turn-again carriages which were so left between the warp threads will go through between the same, along with the carriages of the back division, and will be locked up therewith in the front combs by the innermost blade of the front locker, as usual in Morlay's machines.

The proper forms for the several racking wheels which will produce such racking motions of the different bars as will suit this purpose, are represented at figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10; and a reference to them, and the following explanation, will be sufficient to enable competent machine-makers to carry this part of my improvement into effect. Fig. 5, is the racking wheel for the front comb bar; fig. 6, is that for the front guide bar; fig. 7, exhibits the wheel for racking the front selvage thread guide; fig. 8, is the racking wheel for the front comb bar to return in the opposite direction to the other wheel. The racking wheel for the back guide bar is seen at fig. 9; and fig. 10, exhibits that for the back selvage guide bar.

There is nothing peculiar, or of new invention, in the said racking wheels, and I make no claims thereto, except when the same are used for the purpose of making breadths in circular bolt or circular comb machines with double-bladed lockers actuated by rotatory motion, as in Morlay's machines.

Having now described my said improvements, I,

the said William Crofts, do hereby declare, that what I claim as my new invention is, the several new modes, hereinbefore described, of making breadths of bobbin-net lace by circular bolts or circular combs, rotatory machines having double-bladed lockers, commonly called Morlay's machines, by detaining those carriages, which are called turn-again carriages and whipping carriages, so that they will not be passed between the warp threads along with the other carriages, whenever it is requisite for the making of breadths that they should be so detained; viz. the simplified mode, herein before described, of applying the pickers in lieu of the more complicated mode described in my aforesaid former specification, dated the 22d day of August, 1832. The mode, hereinbefore described, of connecting the extremities of the combs together close to the warp threads by extra tangs cast in lead, in order to strengthen the combs and guide the pickers, if pickers are used. The mode, herein before described, of causing the innermost blades of doublebladed lockers to act twice in succession, in the manner of a single-bladed locker on the teeth of both succeeding divisions of carriages at every time of performing turn-again. The mode, hereinbefore described, of placing the two blades of each locker further apart from each other than usual, for the purpose herein before set forth, and causing each of the said lockers to act alternately in the manner of a double-bladed locker, to draw the carriages through the warp threads towards itself, but to act in the manner of a single-bladed locker to lock the carriages, when they are put through away from the said locker. The mode, hereinbefore described, of applying stops or holders between the ends of the combs and the warp threads, to rise up and stop the turn-again carriages,

and retain them from moving in the combs when they ought to stand still therein. The mode, hereinbefore described, of causing the locker-bars with double blades to drop down whenever the outermost blades are required to pass beneath the teeth of the turn-again carriages, without touching the same, and to rise up again immediately after having so passed. The mode, hereinbefore described, of causing the outermost blade of doublebladed lockers to fold down, so as to pass beneath the teeth of the turn-again carriages, without touching the same; and, lastly, the mode hereinbefore described, whereby the turn-again carriages, after having performed their turn-again, and having been pushed between the warp threads by a reverse action of the outermost blade of the double-bladed locker, may be allowed to remain between the warp threads whilst the same are racking, without entanglement of the threads taking place. [Inrolled in the Rolls Chapel Office, June, 1833.]

To MILES BERRY, of Chancery-lane, in the county of Middlesex, civil engineer and mechanical draftsman, for certain improvements in the construction of rotary steamengines, being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad.-[Sealed 8th April, 1835.]

THESE improvements in rotary steam-engines consist in obtaining a continuous rotary motion from the interrupted rotary motions of an engine cylinder and engine shaft, such cylinder and shaft alternately performing a part of a revolution in the same direction, and giving a continuous rotary motion to a driving shaft, to which they are connected by tooth wheels and segments; that

is to say, the cylinder is made to perform part of a revolution in one direction, and give a rotary motion through its toothed wheel to the driving shaft, the cylinder turning upon the engine shaft as its axis, which at this time. is stationary; and as soon as the cylinder has completed its portion of a revolution, the engine shaft is set in motion in the same direction as the cylinder has moved, and by its toothed wheel continues the same rotary motion to the driving shaft, the cylinder during the movements of the shaft remaining stationary. These movements of the engine, cylinder, and engine shaft, are effected by the pressure of the steam acting alternately upon pistons or steam stops fixed to the interior of the cylinder, and on other pistons fixed on to that part of the engine shaft which is within the cylinder, such pistons alternately becoming moving pistons and stationary steam stops one to the other, and will be fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings and following description thereof:

Fig. 11, Plate II., is a plan view of the engine complete, excepting that one of the slide valves, with its connecting rod, and the cover of the steam box or chamber is removed, to expose the interior. Fig. 12, is an end elevation of the engine, one of the steam chambers and slide valves also being removed to expose the other parts. Fig. 13, is a vertical section of the engine cylinder and shaft, with their steam stops or pistons. Fig. 14, is a similar representation, showing the pistons or steam stops in a different position, that is, after the cylinder and its piston has moved one quarter of a revolution and fig. 15, is a vertical section of one of the steam chambers and slide valves, the same letters of reference being marked upon corresponding parts in all the figures: A, A, is the cylinder, the ends or caps of