References to Mr. Westrup's Conical Mill. (See Woodcut.)

A, Feeding-pipe to supply corn to the millstones.

B, Apparatus to regulate the supply.

c, Regulating lever to adjust the same.

D, Chamber over the eye of the millstone to receive the wheat from the regulator.

E, Top stone in the upper pair of millstones which in this mill is

stationary.

F, Nether stone of the upper pair which in this mill revolves.

G, Top stone (stationary) of the lower pair.

H, Nether stone (runner) of the lower pair.

Hollow spindle on which the runners or revolving millstones are hung.

K, Bevelled wheels and driving-shaft.

L, Iron framework sustaining the whole machine.

M, Upright wire cylinder acting as a partial dressing machine.

N, Revolving brushes acting against the wire.

м, o, Wooden case enclosing millstones and wire cylinder, to the bottom of which the spout for the meal is fixed.

P, Pipe to convey cold air to the faces of the millstones by means of the hollow spindle.

Q, Regulator for adjusting the upper pair of millstones.

R, Regulator for adjusting the lower pair.

stones, in which the flour is finished for the market, and there has been much ingenuity exercised in contrivances to obviate the inconveniences incident in general to the perpendicular cylinder. The axis carries a series of shelves or tables, which in succession receive the meal and scatter it by their centrifugal action; but it is questionable whether any real advantages are obtained by carrying the inclination of the dressing-mill beyond the angle of 45 degrees, for at that angle, with a high speed for the brushes, the meal must describe a spiral track of several revolutions in traversing the length of the cylinder, and the adaptation of hoppers, with moveable partitions before described, is of great practical convenience.

The inventor of this conical mill has induced several gentlemen to join him in order to carry out his plans to a greater extent than he could hope to do individually, and to form themselves into a joint-stock company. They entertain, in many respects, similar ideas on the manufacture of flour with the proprietors of the large steam-mills already noticed, namely, that flour, like cloth, is a manufactured article of general consumption, and that by manufacturing on the

large scale, with machinery to do the work, and men to direct its operations, rather than to labour in the mill, they shall be able to supply the flour to the consumer at a lower price with a fair profit for themselves; they also think that the inventions of Mr. Westrup will better enable them to realise their views, and it is but right to say, that several persons have embarked in this undertaking-"The Conical Flour-mill Company "—who are known as men of experience and skill in this branch of industry.

These gentlemen say-"It is scarcely necessary to observe that the vast resources of England during the last fifty years have depended on her improved machinery. It has indeed been said with equal truth, that her independence as a nation rests upon her being twenty years in advance of her neighbours. And never was it more necessary to maintain such pre-eminence than at this time of great struggle, when the importation of wheat and flour has been made free to all nations, before the agricultural and milling interests, and the large capital invested in them, have been prepared to meet the competition of the world. Thus it is that improvements in these important departments of British industry are now more especially occupying the serious attention of some of the first minds in the kingdom-from the prince to the peasant-as a necessary requirement for their profitable continuance."

The author hopes that the circulation of this little volume may stimulate inquiry and research among the practical and operative men into whose hands it may fall; and that the facts and circumstances which have rather been indicated than described, may form as it were the text, which in more able and experienced hands may be amplified and illustrated. The work has been hastily written at intervals, when the author could spare a short time to add a few pages or to note down a few observations as they might occur, without much opportunity of arranging them afterwards.

This will be apparent to all who may read this book, and it will also be noticed, that the words of the authors quoted throughout the volume, are generally given as they were found, in the phrase of their own style and time, so that the lesson may be learned as they taught it. It has been exceedingly gratifying to the author, and he has much pleasure in acknowledging it, that whenever he has had occasion to verify a fact, to correct a statement, or to ask information, he has, in every

instance, been met with the greatest frankness and candour, and every question asked has been fairly answered-some by letter, and some personally. It is difficult to mention names when so many persons have been referred to and all have acted alike, yet he feels he should be ungrateful to the following gentlemen did he not acknowledge the obligations he is under. He has especially to thank Messrs. Ransome & May, of Ipswich, well known as manufacturers of agricultural implements, and of machines for cleansing and dressing wheat; Messrs. Bryan Corcoran, and Co., of Mark-lane, importers and makers of millstones and grinding machinery; Messrs. W. Mountain & Sons, of Newcastleon-Tyne, celebrated for their wire-work and dressing-mills; Messrs. Swayne & Bovill, the millwrights of the City Flour Mills; Mr. Westrup, the inventor, and Mr. Middleton, the manufacturer of the conical corn-mill; Mr. Armstrong, the inventor of the hydraulic crane, and maker of the water-pressure engine; Messrs. Easton & Amos, manufacturers of the improved water-rams; and many other gentlemen.

In writing this treatise, the works of Smeaton, Hutton, Sir Robert Kane, and Mr. Beardmore, and the papers of Mr. Blackwell, Mr. Rennie, MM. Morin, Poncelet, Piobert, Coladon, and other foreign engineers, have been quoted, and the Transactions of the Royal Society, the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Society of Arts, the British Association, the Professional Papers of the Royal Engineers, and other records consulted. In all of those above-named the reader will find much information and many valuable experiments in detail; but to do justice to the subject which forms the concluding part of this little book, The Progress of Corn-mills, and the Development of their Machinery, would require a large and amply illustrated volume, rather than a simple rudimentary treatise on the means of preparing the staff of life for the support of man.

H

APPENDIX.

CENTRIFUGAL AND ROTARY PUMPS.

In the preceding pages the reader will have observed that several machines derive their power from the reaction of water-pressure : such as Dr. Barker's mill, Whitelaw's mill, the Vortex-wheel, and others. If these machines be impelled by some other power, and caused to revolve by an equal external force, say that of a steam-engine, they may be made to act as pumps; and as they had before been put in motion by the pressure of a column of water descending and passing through them, they would, by inverse action, raise a corresponding column of water to the like height.

Let the most simple of these machines, Dr. Barker's mill (fig. 15), be turned upside-down,-let the funnel mouth at the top, there shown as receiving the water, be immersed in a well, and the machine caused to revolve rapidly on its axis; the swiftrotary motion will cause a partial vacuum in the arms, and the water will rise in the central pipe and fill them until it is thrown out at the holes near the ends, where the centrifugal force will cause continuous streams to be discharged so long as the requisite velocity is maintained.

The straight form of the arms, however, causes a considerable loss of effect: the course the water should take is that of the curve compounded of its radial direction, and of the rotary motion of the machine, for any radial velocity in the water, at the point of discharge, is power uselessly expended. Another centrifugal machine, having the same diameter, section, and apertures, but having the arms bent to the proper curvature, will discharge more than double the quantity of water in the. same time with the same power-(see figs. 18 and 20). This was proved by direct experiments made by Mr. Hensman, at the request of the jury, during the Great Exhibition.

Thus Mr. Whitelaw's mill will be found to make a very effective machine for raising water, by reversing its action; and hence it was that the jury found Mr. Appold's wheel, formed with vanes similarly curved, produced so much greater results than wheels of the same dimensions with straight vanes. Mr. Appold's wheel was only 12 inches in diameter; it received the water on each

side, through apertures of 6 inches diameter, and had a central disc or diaphragm perpendicular to the axis, intersecting the vanes, forming, as it were, a double wheel revolving between two cheeks that projected from opposite sides of the reservoir.

The vortex-wheel (fig. 25), perhaps, may serve to explain the form and operation of Mr. Appold's pump, by supposing the axis to be horizontal, and the water to enter at the sides and be discharged through the large round pipe. When this wheel was tried against two others of the same size, the one with straight arms or vanes, inclined at an angle of 45 degrees, and the other with radial arms, the following results were obtained :—

The experiments were made under the direction of Colonel Morin, and the amount of motive power employed was ascertained by the dynamometer, constructed by M. Morin, on a principle proposed by General Poncelet.

The author was present during some of these trials, and was gratified to witness the care and skill with which they were conducted.

By admitting the water at both sides, the atmospheric pressure is neutralised and balanced; this is not the case in Whitelaw's arrangement, although a similar method has been used in other machines, as in the "Fan-Blast," for blowing furnaces and forges, several of which of large size have been constructed by the author, and machines, similar to the rotary-fan, have also been applied to raise water.

During a long practice in the drainage of extensive tracts of Fen and Marsh lands, by steam-power, where natural drainage was impracticable, the author employed Scoop-Wheels to throw off the water. These were like the Breast-wheel reversed, and the reader may imagine their action by referring to fig. 29, and supposing the wheel to lift the water, instead of being turned by it. ‍Two wheels like this, 28 feet in diameter, driven by steamengines, were constructed by the author, at the Butterley Ironworks, some years ago, for the drainage of Deeping Fen, near Spalding, containing about 25,000 acres, then often covered with water, but now growing corn. One of these is found sufficient, except in very rainy seasons, to keep the Fen clear of water. is turned by an engine of 80 horse-power, and the floats, or

It