302 66 THE GREAT BRITAIN'S" THIRD VOYAGE. voyage, did not reach New York till the 15th inst. She appears to have had a narrow escape from shipwreck. We extract the following from the Shipping Report "Left Liverpool 4 p.m., 27th September; the first 10 days experienced westerly winds, strong gales, and heavy sea at times, during which the ship behaved admirably. For a few hours of the 2nd of October, the wind was N.E., and in a heavy squall the foremast was carried away. On the 12th, at noon, found the ship had been set 36 miles to the northward in the preceding 24 hours; and on that night found by soundings that the ship again set to the northward 30 miles, from noon of the 12th to 2 a.m. of the 13th; and among the shoals of Nantucket a thick dirty night with very heavy rain; at daylight made signal for a pilot and ran into Vineyard Sound, stopped 10 hours and a half at Holmes' Hole, left it at half-past 2 a.m. of the 14th, and reached Sandy Hook at 11 o'clock p.m., and remained outside for want of water." The following extract of a letter from one of the passengers, with an inspection of which we have been favoured, adds some interesting particulars. "Holme's Hole, Martha's Vineyard, Monday, about 8 P.M, Oct. 13, 1845, On board the Great Britain, at anchor. "Here we are, after a voyage so far, which has been most tedious, and not without danger. Fuel nearly exhausted, though we are still 200 miles from New York. Our foremast is gone; three arms also of the propeller, (as the captain informs us,) and all on one side, which last, however, is scarcely credible, as I have not been able to detect any irregularity in the engines, which such a state of things must, I think, have produced. It appears, by the captain's account, that after Saturday a strong current carried us, in spite of his efforts to steer for Block Island, (across St. George's Banks,) right among the breakers off Nantucket Island; they are called the Rips, and might have proved themselves of the worst kind (of rips) had anything but fine weather accompanied us in our excursion among them. The natives here express their astonishment at our not being wrecked among them, and no doubt the danger has been most imminent. The captain called several of us into his cabin before breakfast this morning, and informed us that he had not coal for more than eighteen hours' steaming; that three arms of the propeller, all on one side, were gone (?), that he was afraid of steaming out to sea, lest any accident should happen to the propeller, and disable him from beating (or clawing) off shore, when a gale might carry him again among the breakers; in which case, of course, there would be great danger of being wrecked. I should tell you that we had long before this fired guns and hoisted signals for a pilot. We had taken a farmer pilot on board who advised to go round a point within the breakers, on the east of Nantucket I think it must be; but another pilot came off the island and would not carry us through, but advised passing through the Sound, between Martha's Vineyard and Rhode Island, and here we are taking in coal. We had on board at starting, 1050 tons, so that we have consumed about 63 tons per 24 hours. Condenser, 26 in. boiler, 3 in.; cut off at 16in. to 13 generally, making about 13 strokes per minute. "Now for the log. (for this see next page.) The last voyage was about 3147 miles; it is sometimes less than 3000, but usually 3100. After leaving Halifax, we must have gone wrong, or soon after. I have no map, but you will find that we must have had a narrow escape soon after leaving Nova Scotia. Two inches had been riveted to each arm before leaving Liverpool, making the disc of the propeller 4 inches more. It was a clumsy job, and was, no doubt, the cause of the breakage." LIST OF ENGLISH PATENTS GRANTED BETWEen september 25 and october 10, 1845. (Concluded from page 288.) Frederick Harlow, of Paradise-street, Rotherhithe, carpenter, for certain improvements in atmospheric railways. October 10; six months. Charles Nossiter, of Lyndon End, near Birmingham, for improvements in the manufacture of leather. October 10; six months. James Hardcastle, of Firwood, Bolton-le-moors, Lancaster, esquire, for certain improvements in the method of conveying water. October 10; six months. Charles Hansom, of Huddersfield, watch-maker, for certain improvements in clocks, watches, or time-keepers. October 10; six months. James Knowles, junior, of Bolton-le-moors, coalmerchant, and Alonzo Buonaparte Woodcock, of Manchester, engineer, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus to be employed for raising coal or other matters from mines, which improvements are also applicable to raising or lowering men or animals, or other similar purposes. October 10; six months. William Hodson Greatrix, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, ribbon weaver, for certain improvements in looms for weaving ribbons and other fabrics. October 10; six months. James Taylor, of Lochwinnoch, Renfrew, carpet and rug manufacturer, for certain improvements in the manufacture of carpets, rugs and piled fabrics. October 10; six months. Edmund Barber, of Tring, Herts, decorative painter, for certain improvements in graining and decorating in oil, distemper, and other colours, and in imitating marbles, granites, fancy and other woods, and in the apparatus and instruments to be used therein. October 11; six months. Benjamin West, of Saint James's-walk, Clerkenwell, book-binder, for certain improvements in covering or stoppering the tops of bottles, jars, pots, and other similar vessels. October 16; six months. Stephen Reed, of the town and county of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, gent., for certain improvements in railway rails and chairs. October 16; six months. William Elliott, of Birmingham, button manufacturer, for improvements in the manufacture of buttons. October 16; six months. John Barsham, of Long Melford, Suffolk, manufacturer of bitumen, for improvements in the manufacture of mattresses, cushions, brushes and brooms, and in machinery for preparing certain materials applicable to such purposes. October 16; six months. John Marshall, of Southampton-street, Strand, tea dealer, for improvements in preparing cocoa and chocolate. October 16; six months. William Betts, of Smithfield-bars, distiller, for improvements in the manufacture of brandy, gin, and rum, and other British spirits and compounds. October 16; six months. James Webster Hall, of Fitzroy-square, gent., for improvements in machinery for cleaning or freeing wool and certain other fibrous materials of burrs and other extraneous substances. October 16; six months. Hippolite Pierre Francois Desgranges, 1, Skinner's-place, Size-lane, gent., for an improvement or improvements in the mode of manufacturing corks. (Being a communication.) October 17; six months. William Henry Stephenson, of Nottingham, merchant, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus to be used in dyeing or staining. October 17; six months. Joseph Orsi, of Pimlico, gent., for improvements in sleepers, or blocks for supporting railways. October 23; six months. Thomas Taylor, of Manchester, cabinet maker, for certain improvements applicable to machinery or apparatus employed for sawing timber. October 23; six months. Thomas Worsdell, jun., of Stratford, Essex, railway-carriage builder, for certain improvements in apparatus to be attached to and employed in connexion with railway carriages. October 23; six months. Arthur Smith, of Saint Helen's, manufacturing chemist, for certain improvements in the manufacture of soda ash. October 23; six months. William Coles Fuller, of Brownlow-street, Holborn, cabinet maker, for improvements in the construction of carriages for railways. October 23; six months. William Thomas, London, merchant, for certain improvements in the construction of umbrellas and parasols. October 24; six months. LAND, FROM THE 22ND OF SEPTEMBER TO THE 22ND OF OCTOBER, 1845. Charles Murland, of Castlewellan, in the county of Down, and kingdom of Ireland, flax-spinner, and Edward Lawson, of Leeds, in the county of York, machine maker, for certain improvements in machinery for preparing and spinning flax, and other fibrous substances. Sealed, September 23. John Kershaw, of Ramsbottom, Lancaster, cotton spinner, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus used in the preparation of cotton or other fibrous substances for spinning. September 24. Joseph Francois Larbereau, of Paris, in the kingdom of France, gentleman, for improvements in obtaining power. September 24. Charles Pooley, of Chorlton-upon-Medlock, Lancaster, cotton spinner, for improvements in certain machines used in preparing to be spun, and in spinning cotton, wool, and other fibrous substances. September 24. Moses Poole, London, gentleman, for improvements in rails for railways. (Being a communication from abroad.) September 24. Bennet Woodcroft, of Manchester, engineer, for improvement in propelling vessels. September 24. William Cormack, of Dalglish-street, Commercialroad, Middlesex, chemist, for improvements in purifying gas. September 24. James Taylor, of Lochwinnoch, Renfrew, carpet and rug manufacturer, for certain improvements in the manufacture of rugs, carpets, and other piled fabrics. September 25. James Murray, residing at Garnkirk, Scotland, partner of and acting for his co-partners of the Garnkirk Coal Company, for certain improvements in the manufacture of bricks, tiles, pipes, or other articles made of ground or pulverised fire clay, or other clay, by pressure. October 1. Samuel Knight, of Spotland, near Rochdale, Lancaster, bleacher, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for scouring, washing, cleansing and other similar purposes. October 2. William Broughton, of New Basinghall-street, London, millwright, for improvements in machinery or apparatus for grinding grain, drugs, colours, or other substances. October 2. Dominic Frick Albert, of Manchester, Lancaster, consulting manufacturing chemist, Doctor of Laws, for a certain improved application of materials to the manufacture of soap. October 2. William Henry Ritchie, of Lincoln's-inn, Middlesex, gentleman, for improvements in carding engines. (Being a communication from abroad.) October 2. James Knowles, junior, of Bolton-le-Moors, Lancaster, coal merchant, and Alonzo Buonaparte Woodcock, of Manchester, engineer, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus to be employed for raising coal or other matters, from mines, which improvements are also applicable to raising or lowering men or animals, or other similar purposes. October 6. John Mercer, of Oakenshaw, Lancaster, calicoprinter, and John Barnes, and John Greenwood, of Church, in the same county, manufacturing chemists, for certain improvements in the manufacture of certain chemical agents used in dyeing and printing cottons, woollens, and other fabrics. October 7. William Henry Fox Talbot, of Lacock Abbey, Chippenham, Wilts, Esq., for improvements in obtaining motive power, and in the application of motive power to railways. October 7. William Lykes Ward, of Leathley Lodge, Hunsletlane, Leeds, gentleman, for improvements in exhausting air from tubes or vessels for the purpose of working atmospheric railways and other purposes, and improvements in the valves and tubes of atmospheric railways. October 7. Dalrymple Crawlord, of Stratford-on-Avon, Warwick, gentleman, for an improved dibbling machine. October 7. Paul Ackerman, doctor of medicine, of No. 1, Skinner's-place, Size-lane, London, for certain improvements in harpoons, and other similar instruments. October 9. Giacomo Silvestri, doctor of medicine, of No. 87, Piccadilly, for certain improvements for the conservation of animal or vegetable organic matter. October 9. Stephen Hutchinson, of the London Gas Works, Vauxhall, Surrey, engineer, for certain improvements in gas meters. October 9. Richard Archibald Brooman, of the Patent-office, 166, Fleet-street, London, gentleman, for a thread made from a substance not hitherto applied to that purpose, and also the application of it to the manufacture of piece goods, ribands, paper, and other articles. (Being a communication from abroad.) October 10. William Henry Stevenson, of Nottingham, merchant, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus to be used in dyeing or staining. (Being a communication from abroad.) October 14. Henry Grissell, and James Lewis Lane, of the Regent's Canal, engineers, for certain improvements in weighing machines, and also in steelyards. October 14. Frederick Rosenborg, Kingston-upon-Hull, gent., and John Malam, also of the same place, gentleman, for certain improvements in apparatus for watering, manuring, and drying trees, plants, seeds and roots, and for accelerating, and improving the growth and produce of trees, plants, seeds, and roots. October 16. NOTES AND NOTICES. Minuteness of Matter.-Air can be rarefied so far that the contents of a cubic foot shall not weigh the tenth part of a grain; if a quantity that would fill a space of the hundredth part of an inch in diameter be separated from the rest, the air can still be found there, and we may reasonably conceive that there are several particles present, though the weight is less than the seventeen hundredth million of a grain. The Tides.-The only place on the earth where the solar tide is greater than the lunar tide, is at Courtown Harbour, south of Dublin. In all other places the lunar influence predominates to the extent of about 4 times (according to Newton). LONDON: Printed and Published by James Bounsall, at the Mechanics' Magazine Office, MR. R. MALETT'S NEW LONG VALVE AND MAIN FOR ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS. Mechanics Mechanics' Magazine, MUSEUM, REGISTER, JOURNAL, AND GAZETTE. MR. R. MALLETT'S NEW LONG VALVE AND MAIN FOR ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS.— (SEE CURRENT VOLUME, MECH. MAG. P. 232.) THE objects in view are to diminish the cost of the main and valve, simplify their parts, and diminish leakage which occurs to so great an extent with Clegg's valve. The main is cast with a pair of jaws, one on either side of the long slot, through which the coulter travels. These jaws are formed to a particular curve, (see fig. 1,) and are cast against "a chill" by which they are obtained perfectly smooth, fair, straight and hard, and thus the cost of "planing" the valve faces is avoided. The valve consists of a continuous-hollow tube or hose, of woven hemp, coated throughout with caoutchouc, like the tube of a stomach pump, or other such instrument. This tube is maintained full of water or brine in cold climates, and when it is closed as a valve, is forced in between the jaws of the main, and acts like a sort of continuous cork. As the coulter, &c., travels along, the tube is lifted up a few inches out from the jaws, by suitably formed rollers, and as soon as the coulter has passed, it is pressed back again into the cavity between the jaws by a roller pressing upon its upper surface. In place of a hollow hose full of fluid under a constant small head, or of compressed air, a compound continuous cork formed of four cotton ropes embedded in caoutchouc. This is, in fact, one of Brockedon's patent stoppers of indefinite length. Either arrangement would admit of sufficient extensibility in length to allow the lifting up and pressing down of the valve at the passage of the coulter without injury. The outer surface of the valve, in either case, should be coated with an unguent, which will not act on the caoutchouc; if vulcanized India rubber be used, common palm oil will answer. Pinkus's valve was a continuous flat band of leather, and failed, because when close, it had no tendency to keep in its seat, and its edges were thrown up by the pressure of the atmosphere on its centre part. Hallette's valve consists of two continuous tubes full of compressed air, by the elasticity of which they are forced against each other, and the main thus attempted to be made staunch; but the serious defect appears to be, that the tendency of the atmospheric pressure upon the outside of these artificial lips is to force them asunder, so that the exhaustion of the tube tends to produce, in place of to diminish, the leakage of the valve. The present contrivance, which has something in common with both Pinkus's and Hallette's arrangements, through invented long before the latter published his plan, appears free from the disadvantages of either, and to possess several advantages not offered by any other valve proposed. αα The letters refer in common to all the figures. Fig. 1 is a transverse section of the improved main and valve. is the main; b b, the valve seat, the opposite faces chilled; c, the tubular valve in its seat; when raised at the passage of the coulter it assumes its cylindrical form, as shown in dotted lines, d d d d, passing over the sheaves, or rollers m, &c.; t is the coulter seen endwise; h, the rib of the travelling piston. Fig. 2 is a plan and section horizontally of the atmospheric main, a a; bb, the valve seat or jaws, cast with “chilled" faces-(these are best seen in section, fig. 1.) The lengths of main are put together with abutting rabbeted flange, or rather lugged joints, at every 15 feet, with a flange of India rubber inch thick between, the elasticity of which allows for expansion of the main, and yet keeps the joint air-tight. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the tube, and plan of the piston. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the tube, and elevation of the piston. Fig. 4a is an elevation of the entrance of the tube. Fig. 5, transverse section of the valve as raised; fig. 6, a transverse section of it as closed; fig. 7, a transverse section on the line A B of fig. 4; and fig. 8, a transverse section on the line C D of fig. 4. From the facility given for support of "the cone," by the "chill," for casting, the valve seat faces on the main, as thus designed, can be as readily cast in 15 feet lengths as in 9 feet, which has been the limit of Samuda's practice. c is the tubular valve of woven hose, covered with caoutchouc, or of caoutchouc and cotton solid: it is here shown hollow, and is maintained full of water, by a small flexible tube d, at either end of the section of main joined to the extremity of the |