facture of iron, and consists in making it softer, tougher, and of a closer texture, or of the kind called brittle iron; the second part of the improvements consist in manufacturing steel from iron that has been operated on according to these improvements. To make the iron softer and tougher, it is immersed in water in its crude or cast state, either in the form of pigs, or in smaller pieces, and is allowed to remain in the water until an oily looking scum rises to the surface; the operation is then finished. To give the iron, thus operated on, a close texture, it is made red hot, and either plunged into cold water, or else water is poured upon it. Instead of this, the iron may be melted in a reverberatory furnace, and poured through the perforated bottom of a vessel, into another vessel, containing cold water; the holes, through which the metal passes, being about a quarter of an inch in diameter, and lined with clay. The patentees claim, Firstly:-Improving the quality of cast or pig-iron, by subjecting it to the action of water, either hot or cold, the iron, at the time of exposing it to the action of the water, being either hot or cold. Secondly:-Improving the quality of iron, by pouring it, while in a melted state, into water, in the manner above described.-[Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, November, 1841.] TO CHARLES BUNT DYER, of Pary's-Mine, Anglesea, mine-agent, for an improved method of obtaining paints or pigments, by the combination of mineral solutions and other substances.-[Sealed 16th March, 1841.] THIS invention consists in treating the waters, that flow from copper, tin, and coal mines, or are drained from the waste or refuse heaps of ore, exposed to the atmosphere and rain, or that used for washing copper and tin ores, in order to produce paints or pigments. These waters hold in solution the oxide of iron, and the sulphates of iron, copper, and zinc, and by the addition of a mixture of quick-lime and water, about the consistency of white-wash, or a solution of any other calcareous substance, produce a yellowish-coloured precipitate, which may be used as a paint in its original state, or converted, by calcination, into a paint of any of the different colours or shades of colour, capable of being produced by that process. The lime and water is added to the mineral waters, in the proportions of one part lime and water to three parts mineral waters. The patentee claims the method of obtaining a yellowishcoloured paint or pigment, convertible, by calcination, into paints or pigments of other colours or shades of colour, by the combination of any mineral water, holding in solution either sulphate or oxide of iron, or sulphate of copper or zinc, or any two or more of those substances, with a mixture of quick-lime and water, or any other calcareous substance.[Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, September, 1841.] DESCRIPTIONS OF PATENTS GRANTED IN 1834, WHICH HAVE NOT BEEN REPORTED IN THIS JOURNAL. TO EDWARD MASSEY, SEN., of King-street, Clerkenwell, in the county of Middlesex, watch-maker, for certain improvements in the apparatus used for measuring the progress of vessels through the water, and for taking soundings at sea.-[Sealed 9th December, 1834.] THE first part of these improvements relates to the apparatus used for measuring the progress of vessels through the water. In Plate III., fig. 1, represents the stern-post and part of the stern of a vessel; fig. 2, is a transverse section of the grooved plate, shewn at a, in fig. 1, which is firmly bolted to the sternpost; and fig. 3, is a side view of what the patentee terms the keel-box. This keel-box b, which is capable of sliding up and down in the groove-plate a, contains the endless screw c, connected by the swivel-link d, to the link-rods or air-tight tubes of the rotator e. These rods or tubes are connected together by pieces of rope, lashed to their ends, which are swelled to prevent them from drawing out of the rope. The endless screw c, (receiving motion from the rotator e, which is calculated to make eight hundred and eighty-two revolutions per mile,) drives the cog-wheel ƒ, in the keel-box, and by means of a small endless screw, on the same shaft as the wheel f, communicates motion to a pinion on the lower end of the upright shaft g. The upper end of this shaft is squared, and enters a square hole in the lower end of the slide h, sufficient vertical play being allowed it, by means of the slot and stud at i. The slide h, is connected with the index and register on deck, by means of a number of brass rods j, about twelve inches long, the ends of which are formed into eyes, and secured in brass connecting-pieces, by riveting. The upper rod terminates in a disc p, fig. 4, under which is a brass collar, carrying the axes of the friction-rollers o; these rollers travel on the bottom of the horizontal box that contains the indices, and support the rods j. Fig. 5, is the index or register-box, containing a dial-plate, on which are four indices k, l, m, n, connected together, beneath the plate, by wheels and pinions. Motion is communicated to the index k, by a pin q, projecting from the disc p, which carries round a lever attached to the lower end of the axis of the index k, and shews on the dial the rate of the ship's sailing. This index makes one revolution whilst the ship is passing one-sixth of a nautical mile, and the circle being divided into ten equal parts, the number of divisions over which the index passes in a minute, will be the number of miles per hour the ship is sailing., is the second index, which completes one revolution when the ship has sailed one nautical mile; it receives motion through a pinion of seven leaves on the axis of the index k, taking into a wheel of forty-two teeth on its own axis. This circle is divided into six parts, and when the index l, has moved one of these divisions, it is equal to a complete revolution of the index k. The index 1, has a pinion of six leaves on its axis, taking into a wheel of sixty teeth on the axis of the third index m, which makes one revolution whilst the ship is sailing ten nautical miles; this circle being divided into ten divisions, the movement of the index from one division to another, is equal to a complete revolution of the index l.—n, is the fourth index, which makes one revolution during the time the ship is passing one hundred miles, receiving motion by means of a wheel of sixty teeth on its axis, driven by a pinion of six leaves on the axis of the index m; the circle is divided into ten, each division indicating a distance equal to a complete revolution of the index m. Fig. 6, represents the improved mode of connecting the towing-line or rods to the towing point of the register now in use; it consists in placing a spring t, over the hook of the towing point, so that the swivel at the end of the towing-line cannot be disengaged from the hook, or attached to it, without raising the spring t. Fig. 7, is a plan, and fig. 8, a side view of the improved form of rotator, the core or centre being of wood, of the form of an inverted pyramid. The second improvement, which relates to the instrument for taking soundings at sea, is shewn at figs. 9 and 10. Fig. 9, is the sounding apparatus; a, is the lead weight; b, a strong sheet of brass, to which a box c, containing an endless screw, is fastened. This screw is attached to the rotator d, by a link-rod and swivel-joint, and works into a toothed-wheel e, which acts upon the register and index at ƒ;-g, is a narrow cover or lid, turning on a hinge at h, being pressed against by a small click i. This lid, when the sounding-lead is descending through the water, is kept up, as shewn in the drawing, and the rotator is in a perpendicular position, the endless screw, in the box c, turning freely with it; but the moment the lead is being drawn up to the vessel again, the action of the water, assisted by the click i, throws down the lid into the position shewn by dotted lines, the rotator at the same time also taking the position shewn by dotted lines, and the click i, keeping the cover from rising, prevents the endless screw from acting on the toothedwheel e, and protects it from injury when drawing up. The endless screw may be removed from the box c, (which is open in front,) by unscrewing the bottom adjusting-screw upon which it rests, thereby lowering it, so as to allow a portion of its shaft, smaller than the other part of it, to pass out at a slot, made for that purpose, in a bar crossing the front of the box c. Fig. 10, shews the improvement in the index and register. It consists in placing the figures on the brass plate j, instead of on the cog-wheel k, as usual, the index 1, being fitted on the axis of the wheel k, so as to be capable of turning independently of the wheel k, if necessary, while it turns with it, as a matter of course, if not prevented. The patentee claims, First :-The improved keel-box or receptacle for the cog-wheel gear, and the vertical rods and apparatus for connecting it with the register; also the index and mode of fixing the rotator, together with the air-tight tubes or rods, as described. Likewise the mode of securing the towingpoint of the register now in use, and the improved form of rotator. Second. The new mode of fitting the index of the sounding apparatus; also the new stop or cover g, together with the mode of fixing and removing the endless screw, in the frame or box c ; and the application of a swivel-joint, not being an universal joint, to the end of the said screw.-Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, June, 1835.] TO WILLIAM CROFTS, of New Radford, in the county of Nottingham, machine-maker, for certain improvements in certain machinery for making figured or ornamented bobbin net, or what is commonly called ornamented bobbin net lace.- [Sealed 23rd December, 1834.] THESE improvements relate partly to certain machinery for making such ornamented bobbin net lace as is figured or ornamented by small white opaque spots of accumulated thread, distributed over the transparent tissue of the net, and partly to machinery for making such ornamented bobbin net lace as is figured or ornamented by opaque patches of cloth-work, distributed over the transparent tissue of the net, the cloth-work being composed of interwoven threads, crossing alternately under and over each other, in the manner of wicker basket-work, or of woven cloth. The first of these improvements consists in subsituting for the pointed wires, used in forming ornamental spots in bobbin net lace, (described in the specification of a patent, granted to the present patentee, February, 1833,-see Vol. XVII., p. 190, of our present Series,) small upright flattened pins or blades, called "gatherers," and in combining the same with prolonged takingup points, which are disposed in the ordinary row of front points of lace machinery, at all those places where spots are intended to be made in the width of the net. These gatherers and prolonged points are actuated in such a manner as will enable them to catch those selected bobbin threads which are to form the spots, and take up the same in loops over the back pointed extremities of the points, so as to produce the same results as those attained by the hooks described in the specification of a patent, granted to Mr. William Sneath, December, 1831, (see Vol. IX., p. 207, of our present Series,) when acting alone, or by pointed wires, acting in concert therewith, according to the present patentee's aforesaid improvements. The row of gatherers being put down in lieu of pointed wires and hooks, between and amongst those bobbin threads which are intended to be curled up, are then racked, so as to bend these threads aside, by a somewhat similar action thereon to that of the pointed wires before-mentioned, except that no hooks, like Mr. Sneath's, are used in concert with the said gatherers; but, instead of hooks, the gatherers act in concert with the pointed extremities of the prolonged pins or points. This action takes place whilst the front points are moving with nearly similar motions to those usually given to them for the purpose of taking up the ordinary twists and crosses of the bobbin-threads and warp-threads; that is to say,-during the operation of gathering up curls of bobbin-threads, to form spots, the front points are withdrawn from their resting places in the meshes |