with gum-water, and applying them, with a hair pencil, to the underside of the glass that covers the picture; so that when the latter is seen through the glass, it will present the appearance of a colored picture.

The third and last method consists in using the colors in a dry pulverized state, as in the first improvement, dotting them on to the picture, with small brushes, in a similar manner to stippling; the colors are then fixed by being breathed upon.-[Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, September, 1842.] We cannot see any thing at all in the above, which is at all, lef likely to be necessful or for beautifed, it is nothing more now oriental truthing I certainly can confer no exclusive patent right. TO JAMES ANDREW, Junior, of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, manufacturer, for his invention of certain improvements in the method or process of preparing or dressing yarns or warps for weaving.-[Sealed 15th February, 1842.]

THESE improvements, in the method or process of preparing or dressing yarns or warps, for weaving, consist in the employment of "farina," (a well-known article of commerce in the cotton manufactures, prepared from potatoes and other vegetable matters,) in the common process of preparing, stiffening, and dressing yarns or warps, in the place of wheaten flower, now commonly employed for such purposes, and when in a proper state for use, called "sough" or sow."

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The patentee states, that he is aware the same article, farina," has already been attempted to be used for such purposes, but entirely without any beneficial result, owing to its mode of application and use; as in all instances, hitherto known and used, the farina had completely lost its thickening or stiffening quality, before it had been used, and thus no important or useful effect was produced upon the yarn.

The following is the improved process, which peculiar mode of employment or application of the farina, constitutes the only feature of novelty or claim in the present invention:

:

Instead of mixing farina in large quantities, and allowing

Ed.

it to stand so long that all its glutinous or thickening and stiffening quality is lost, it must be mixed, when in the flour or pulverized state, in small pails or buckets, each dresser mixing his own quantity, and using it immediately, in the dressing machine, whilst hot. The vessel or trough, in which the farina is used in the dressing machines, must be lined with brass. It requires simply mixing with hot water, in such small quantities, and instantly being used, to preserve entirely the peculiar stiffening quality it posThe effect of this employment of farina, is directly evident to the manufacturer, owing to the clearness, regularity, and beauty of finish of the yarns or warps, and the great facility with which they may be subsequently wrought or woven, when compared to the ordinary produce, as stiffened or dressed with sough, made from flour.

sesses.

The saving in the manufacture of cloth, by the use of farina, as above explained, is stated to be seventy per cent. in the mere cost of the stiffening matter alone, besides the subsequent advantages of the superiority of the produce, and the facility of weaving, and other advantages the cloth possesses.

The use of the above improved method or process of preparing, sizing, and dressing yarns, also dispenses with a considerable portion of hand labour, such as steepers, soughmakers, carriers, room, and apparatus.-[Inrolled in the Petty Bag Office, August, 1842.]

Specification drawn by Messrs. Newton and Son.

To HENRY HOUGH WATSON, of Bolton, in the county of Lancaster, consulting chemist, for his invention of certain improvements in dressing, stiffening, and finishing cotton and other fibrous substances, and textile and other fabrics; part or parts of which improvements are applicable to the manufacture of paper; and also to some of the processes or operations connected with printing calicoes and other goods.—[Sealed 21st December, 1841.]

THESE improvements, so far as regards dressing cotton and

VOL. XXI.

2 I

other fibrous substances, consist, firstly, in the removal, by singeing, of the fine protruding fibres and loose filamentous matter from the articles and goods mentioned; and secondly, in imbruing or impregnating the articles and goods with a certain solution, mixture, or size; by which, when the articles and goods are dried, additional body and stiffness is given them, and the fine fibres, which before protruded, are caused to lie down.-This kind of dressing is often called sizing, when applied to yarn or thread, preparatory to its use in the process of weaving.

That part of the invention which relates to improvements in the first description of dressing, is carried into effect by submitting yarn, thread, and textile and other fabrics, to the action of air, (either atmospheric, or that resulting from the ignition of combustible matter, or other air,) of a temperature so high as to be capable of burning or charring fine or downy organic fibres; for this purpose, atmospheric or other air, containing oxygen, is blown or otherwise forced upon charcoal, coke, or other combustible matter, in an ignited state. By the active combustion thus carried on, a highly heated air is produced. It is found convenient to have the coke, or other combustible matter, placed, in an ignited state, upon and distributed along the flat iron bed of a furnace, about twelve inches wide, twelve inches deep, and about twelve inches longer than the width of the cloth intended to be dressed. In the middle, and from one end to the other of which bed, there is an orifice, about a quarter or half an inch wide; this orifice, externally, communicates with one end of a pipe or channel, whose other end is connected with a fan, bellows, or other apparatus, capable of furnishing a continuous and regular stream of air to the furnace, to keep up the combustion of the coke, or the like, when the operation of dressing is going on. The door of the furnace should be of iron, and made to fit tight, when shut, and may be either at one end of the furnace or in one of the sides. The sides and ends of the furnace, except the door, may be of brick-work, but the roof or top of the furnace should be of iron, or of any other metal capable of standing the long continued action of a high

temperature; the roof may be flat, or curved, or tapering upwards, to a narrow edge, (ridged,) from the sides of the furnace; through the middle of the roof, and from one end to the other of it, there should be an orifice, from onetwentieth to one-fourth of an inch wide, for the emission of the hot air; and, besides this, there should be no vent for the emission of air from the furnace.

When the goods are intended to be dressed merely on the surface, it is only requisite to cause them to pass quickly, in an extended state, from one roller to another, (as is usual in dressing, by contact, with a red-hot metallic plate, or the flame of combustible gas,) at a short distance over and across the orifice in the roof of the furnace, when a stream of the heated air is passing therefrom; the distance of the goods from the orifice, and the speed at which they are to be passed, being regulated at the discretion of the operator, according to the rate of combustion going on in the furnace, and to the force of the air blowing into and through the furnace. But when it is desired that the dressing shall be effected both on the surface of the goods and in the interstices of their texture, a draft should be created on the upper surface of the goods, and directly above the orifice from which the hot air is issuing out of the furnace, by the application and use of the apparatus which is ordinarily used for a similar purpose, when goods are being dressed by the exposure of them to the action of the flame of combustible gas.

The patentee does not claim, as part of this invention, the use of any apparatus herein mentioned, nor the use of any particular materials, of which the apparatus may be formed, but he claims the application, to goods intended to be dressed by singeing, of air, made so hot as to be capable of burning or charring the fine fibres of organic matter; that is, causing the goods, which are to be dressed, and the heated air, to be in contact with each other, till the desired effect is produced.

That part of the invention which relates to improvements in the second description of dressing, relates also to improvements in stiffening and finishing, having the effect,

according to the degree in which it is applied, of giving increased body, marketable appearance, and seemingly improved quality to yarn, thread, cloth, and other goods, spun, woven, or otherwise prepared or manufactured, from cotton or other fibrous substances, or from a mixture of two or more kinds of fibrous substances.-This is effected by immersing the articles or goods in, or otherwise impregnating them with, a solution of sulphate of magnesia, sulphate of soda, or sulphate of potash, or a mixture of two or more of those salts, and then drying them.

When it is intended that the dressing, stiffening, or finishing material, that is to be applied to the goods, shall possess more adhesiveness than that which would result from the use of a solution, simply, of the salts mentioned, the solution may have gum, mucilage, or starch, or floursize, mixed with it; the strength of the solution, and the quantity of gum, or other adhesive matter, to be added, being regulated and varied at the discretion of the operator, and according to the effect intended to be produced. If the goods are desired to be made very stiff, the solution of the salt will be required to be a saturated one, formed at the temperature of sixty degrees or higher; if they are not desired to be made stiff, but to have a moderate apparent increase of body given them, it will be sufficient that the solution used be of the specific gravity (temp. 60,) 1.15 or less. The solution may be applied in the same manner as that in which a flour or starch-size solution or mixture is usually applied, the excess being squeezed out by passing the goods between rollers; after which the goods may be dried in the usual manner, when they will have acquired the increased body and altered appearance.

This part of the invention, so far as regards the use of a solution of sulphate of magnesia, is applicable to the manufacture of paper. The water leaf or sheet of paper having been formed and dried, is to be immersed in, passed through, or otherwise impregnated with the solution of salt, (the same strength of the solution, as above given, being used,) and the excess of the solution is then removed, by passing the paper between rollers, or by pressing it be