To ALEXANDER STIVENS, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, engineer, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus, to be used as an universal chuck, for turning and boring purposes; which said improvements are also applicable to other useful purposes. [Sealed 19th November, 1840.]

THESE improvements consist, principally, in a novel construction and arrangement of mechanism, constituting an universal chuck, or expanding and contracting apparatus, to be used in lathes, employed for turning and boring

purposes.

In Plate XIV., fig. 1, is a view of the back of the chuck, with the outer plate or cover unscrewed or removed, in order to expose the working apparatus. The front plate of the chuck is shewn at a, a;-c, c, c, are the holding or binding nogs or dies, attached by screws d, d, d, to dovetailed slide pieces e, e, e, which slide in the radial mortices f,f,f. In one of these slide pieces e, a nut is formed, in which a screw g, works, having a journal neck or bearing in the front plate a, at h, so that, as this screw is turned by a key, applied at i, the piece e, will be slidden to and fro, in its dove-tailed mortice f. These pieces e, e, e, have each a straight lever or bar j, j,j, attached to them, by the pins or screws k, k, k; the other ends of these levers being attached, by pins, to an equilateral triangular lever 1, 1, 1, which turns loosely on the central boss m, m, attached to the front plate; this central boss may be either fixed or moveable, according as the chuck is to be used, either excentric or concentric; or the chuck may be made excentric by merely lengthening or shortening one or two of the arms or levers j, j.

Now it will be seen, that by this peculiar arrangement

of leverage, upon turning the screw g, the slide-pieces e, e, e, with their nogs or dies c, c, c, will all be simultaneously slidden to and fro in their mortices, and thus acquire a very powerful binding or holding force. The front plate a, a, is also provided with radial mortices or slots n, n, n, to secure the work more firmly, and also to allow the chuck to be used as an ordinary face-plate for lathes, should occasion require.

Fig. 2, shews an arrangement of this apparatus, in which the leverage is worked by means of a worm o, and wheel p, instead of a nut and screw, the worm-wheel also serving for the triangular lever l.

The patentee claims the peculiar and novel arrangement and construction of apparatus, constituting an universal chuck, without being confined to the precise numbers, lengths, or dimensions of the leverage j, j, j, and I, 1, 1, working upon the central boss m, m; which apparatus may also be applied to various other useful purposes and machines. As a brake for cranes, or locomotive engine and carriage wheels, the arrangement to be worked in a similar manner to the chuck; the blocks for holding or binding, to be worked with rods and eyes, instead of fitted slides, as in a chuck, or as an expanding paddle-wheel for propelling steam boats and other vessels; the expanding motion, in this case, having a greater number of levers, equal to the number of floats on the paddle-wheel; or as an expanding pulley, used in machinery for spinning cotton and other materials; or as a contracting motion, for bringing forward any number of dies in a screwing machine, for cutting bolts, &c.; any, or all, or any other application, of which improved expanding and contracting apparatus, he also claims.-[Inrolled in the Petty Bag Office, May, 1841.] Specification drawn by Messrs. Newton and Son.

TO JOHN PETER BOOTH, of Hatton Garden, feather merchant, for certain improvements in the manufacture of a substance or compound fabric, which will be applicable to the making of quilts, coverlets, and wadding, for the purposes of clothing or furniture.—[Sealed 11th November, 1841.]

THIS invention of improvements in the manufacture of quilts, coverlets, and wadding, consists in the application of down thereto, (in the manner hereafter described,) which may be obtained from any bird or animal; but preference is given to that obtained from goose feathers.

After the down has been properly dressed and prepared, in any of the methods usually adopted for such purposes, it is arranged in a layer of convenient thickness, and placed within a case or covering, consisting of two sheets, of any suitable material. When the down is properly placed and arranged in this covering, it is retained in its proper situation, by stitching or quilting the case. After the down is properly secured, the quilt, coverlet, or wadding, thus produced, may be covered with any ornamental fabric, such as satin, silk, velvet, chintz, or other material, according to the purpose to which the improved wadding is intended to be applied.

It will be evident, from the foregoing description, that this invention may be employed for every purpose in which warmth is required; and also, as before mentioned, it may be enclosed within an ornamental covering, of any description, from which it may be removed, with the greatest facility, without at all injuring either the quilt or wadding, or the ornamental case or covering. Another advantage is, that by securing the down or wadding, in an inner case, it is prevented from working through the ornamental covering. 2 S

VOL. XX.

The patentee claims, first, the application of goose-down, under two covers, the inner cover to be quilted or otherwise secured, and the outer or ornamental cover stitched or connected to the inner, in any convenient manner, for the purpose of making quilts, coverlets, or other similar articles of furniture, as above described; and secondly, the application of down, of any description, to be applied in the manner above explained, to every purpose of clothing, where warmth is required, as an improved material for, or mode of, wadding garments.-[Inrolled in the Rolls Chapel Office, May, 1842.]

Specification drawn by Messrs. Newton and Son.

To NATHANIEL LLOYD, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, pattern designer, and HENRY ROWBOTHAM, of the same place, calico-printer, for their invention of certain improvements in thickening and preparing colours for printing calicoes and other substances.— [Sealed 26th January, 1841.]

THESE improvements in thickening and preparing colours, for printing calicoes and other substances, consist in the employment of the well-known brown sago of commerce, calcined from the granulated state in which it is usually imported. Sago, reduced to flower, and whitened by the ordinary means, may be also employed for the same purposes; but the plain brown sago, just as imported, calcined at once from the granulated state, is much preferred, both for economy and usefulness.

The calcined brown sago merely requires to be mixed with water, and brought up to two hundred or two hundred and twelve Fahrenheit, when it is fit for use.

The patentees claim the above-described substitution or

use of sago, calcined from the granulated state, or employed in any other form, for the purposes of thickening and preparing colours for printing, in place of the gums now commonly used. [Inrolled in the Petty Bag Office, July, 1841.]

Specification drawn by Messrs. Newton and Son.

To PETER BANCROFT, of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, merchant, and JOHN MAC INNES, of the same place, manufacturing chemist, for their invention of an improved method of renovating or restoring animal charcoal, after it has been used in certain processes or manufactures, to which charcoal is now generally applied, and thereby recovering the properties of such, and rendering it again fit for similar uses. [Sealed 31st March, 1840.]

THIS improvement consists in the application of an alkali, in order to dissolve and carry off the colouring matter and other impurities deposited in animal charcoal, after having been used in decolouring syrups and other fluids, so that the animal charcoal, thus purified and restored, may again be employed in a similar process.

The following is the operation described, with reference to the process of whitening and purifying sugar syrups. The spent animal charcoal being washed, as usual, to remove the last remaining portions of the syrup, which has been operated upon, is to be saturated with a weak solution of caustic potash or soda, the specific gravity of which may be about 1.06, more or less. In this state it is to remain for a few hours, when the colouring matter, and other impurities, in the charcoal, will be dissolved by the alkali.

The caustic alkali being now charged with the colouring