when matted or felted together, are covered over with a coating of India-rubber. The wool may be felted or woven by hand, or by machinery, and made into a roll of any convenient length, and then cut into pieces of the size required; or a rope, formed of strands, may be employed, reduced to proper lengths for the purpose intended.

The proper sized pieces to form the stopper, and which should also be made slightly conical, are then covered with a solution of India-rubber, by means of a brush, or they may be immersed therein; but in the latter case, the absorbent nature of the materials would cause the stoppers to take up more of the solution than is required; it is, therefore, better to apply the solution by hand.

A portion of the India-rubber solution should then be spread out very thin upon a flat metal or glass plate, and the liquid portion evaporated; and when this has been effected, the India-rubber may be divided, by means of a wet knife, into pieces sufficiently large to cover the surface of the felted pieces or stoppers, which should be covered with the same; the solution, previously applied, serving to retain the sheet-rubber in its proper place. The ends of the stoppers are then served with the solution, and pieces of sheet-rubber, of the proper size and shape, being applied thereto, the lower edge of the sheet-rubber, which surrounds the stopper, is made, by pressure, to become attached to the end pieces just applied, and thus form an elastic and impermeable stopper for wines or other liquids.

A flat stopper, intended to cover the aperture of the bottle, is made by punching out a piece of felt of the required size, and then applying the caoutchouc, as in the former instance; and stoppers, of other shapes, may be made upon the same principle.

The patentee says, he is aware that India-rubber has

been used for stoppers for ink-stands, &c., before; but, in those cases, a considerable thickness of caoutchouc was employed, and being liable to become hard, did not answer the purpose; whereas, his improved stoppers, being formed of an elastic material, such as felt, &c., and covered with only a thin coating of India-rubber, are not liable to get hard; he therefore claims the combination of the materials, above named, with caoutchouc or India-rubber, for the purpose of making stoppers to bottles, &c.-[Inrolled at the Inrolment Office, April, 1839.]

TO WILLIAM BROCKEDON, of Queen-square, in the county of Middlesex, Esq., for his invention of improvements in the means of retaining fluids in bottles, decanters, and other vessels.-[Sealed 31st January, 1840.]

In describing his improvements, the patentee says:—“ My invention consists in a mode of constructing and applying discs or capsules to the tops of stoppers, which enter or cover the mouths of bottles; and also when tied or wired on, in keeping them firm in their place, retaining them against the pressure from within the bottle.

"In order to preserve the greatest resistance, with the least thickness of the capsules or discs, they are dished or hollowed, and struck into their form in a die, by a fly-press or other convenient means.

"In order to fasten the disc upon the cork or stopper, I form, by means of the die or other apparatus, grooves across the disc or capsule, in which the wire lies extended, and thus presents wider and more secure points of bearing over the top of the bottle or vessel.

"In order to secure an equal pressure and contact of the flat stopper, composed according to my former patent of woven or felted wool, or fibrous elastic matter, faced with India-rubber, I adopt, among other forms, one very well suited to my purpose.-Instead of sinking grooves in the upper face of the disc or capsule, I raise bosses or ridges, which serve as guides to the wires or ties, to keep them apart and distribute their force of resistance, and securely hold the wire or string from slipping off the edge of the disc, in fixing the discs to the mouths of the bottles.

"In making such discs or capsules, I usually form them of iron, or iron tinned, but I do not confine myself thereto. Circular blanks being cut out of the sheet of iron or other metal, it is placed in a die of the desired form and size, and by means of a fly press or stamping press and dies, the required form is obtained."

Fig. 1, in Plate XIV., represents a circular piece of metal, with two grooves formed thereon, for the purpose of holding the wire or string, as above mentioned; fig. 2, represents another circular piece of metal, with bosses or projections, employed in place of the grooves of the former figure;-both these discs or capsules are slightly dished or hollowed in the middle, to make them stiffer; fig. 3, shews the neck of a bottle, with the former disc applied to it; and fig. 4, is a similar view, with the second disc or capsule tied on by wires or otherwise.

The patentee concludes by saying: "I would remark, that I do not confine myself to the precise form of the discs or capsules, nor to the material of which they are desired. to be made; and the discs or capsules may be made by other means than what I have described, without departing from my invention; and although I have shewn particular modes of stopping bottles by my patent stopper, and by ordinary corks, they form no part of my present patent,

except so far as the using therewith discs or capsules; but what I claim, is the mode of employing capsules or discs, as above described.”—[Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, July, 1840.]

TO EDOUARD FRANÇOIS JOSEPH DUCLOS, late of Samson, in the Kingdom of Belgium, but now of Church, in the county of Lancaster, Gent., for his invention of improvements in the manufacture of zinc, copper, tin, and antimony.-[Sealed 31st May, 1838.]

IN specifying this invention, the patentee has commenced by describing the ordinary process employed in the manufacture of zinc, copper, tin, and antimony, so as more clearly to point out his improvements; and he says," I will first remark, that when the ore to be operated upon, according to my invention, consists of minerals termed sulphurets, I convert those sulphurets of the metal into sulphates, by various modes of oxydation; and from the sulphates so obtained, I separate the metals from the sulphuric acid, either by bringing them into oxides, or by such other means as I shall point out, and from which I obtain the metallic product, by modes of reduction adapted to the peculiar properties of each metal. When the metals are mineralized by other substances, I convert them into oxides by modes already known."

In describing his improvements, the patentee says,—" I take any quantity of sulphuret of zinc, which is in small particles, in the state in which the ore is generally dressed at the mine. I mix with it hydrate of lime, (slack lime,) in a sufficient quantity to render it adhesive, the proportion being about two-fifths quick lime, of the weight of the

blonde or zinc ore, and mould the composition into blocks or bricks, the object being, by the addition of lime to the blonde, to separate the sulphur therefrom, and also to prevent the metallic zinc from combining with other foreign matters which may be contained in the ore. be contained in the ore. Having dried the bricks so made, I place them in an ordinary brick-kiln, where they are submitted to the action of a gradually increasing heat for twenty-four hours. When the bricks are in a state of redness, they are left in the kiln for fortyeight hours, without the communication of any additional heat, combustion being maintained for a portion of the time by the absorption of the oxygen of the external air, by the sulphur and metal contained in the blocks or bricks.

"After being removed from the kiln, they are broken into small pieces, and in that state placed in a reverberatory furnace, and submitted to calcination for from twelve to twenty-four hours,-carbonaceous matters, such as coal, being added thereto, in the proportion of from twelve to fifteen per cent. of the weight of the materials introduced.

"The coal or other carbonaceous matters are put into the furnace every four hours, in the proportion of one and a half per cent. of the weight of the material, with which it is intimately mixed or stirred. In the last two hours of the operation, a further addition is however made, so that the entire quantity of the coal or carbonaceous material used, is equal in the whole to from twelve to fifteen per cent. of the mixture of blonde and lime, subjected to calcination.

"The substances having been properly calcined, are then submitted to the action of a blast furnace, into which they are placed, for the purpose of separating zinc, in the form of vapours, from the other foreign matters contained in the calcined mixture."

The second part of the invention relates to the manu