formed and fitted to constitute a bedstead,) and covers or decorates such parts, as may be required, with the materials above stated, by any of the usual modes of attachment. As the process of manufacturing papier-maché and other similar compositions are well known, and also the means of forming such compositions into figures and ornamental devices, a further description will be unnecessary.

The patentee claims, as his invention, the decorating of bedsteads, with suitable ornaments, by means of the materials above stated.--[Inrolled in the Petty Bag Office, November, 1842.]

Specification drawn by Messrs. Newton and Son.

TO WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery-lane, in the county of Middlesex, civil engineer, for an invention of certain improvements in the production of ammonia; being a communication.-[Sealed 9th November, 1841.]

THESE improvements consist in the application of a particular apparatus (hitherto used in this country for distilling alcohol) to the production of ammonia,-either pure, or more or less impure, according to the purpose for which it is required, from any liquid, from which, by the agency of steam, it may be eliminated, either alone or in conjunction with vapour, carbonic acid, or other volatile matters, the presence of which do not prevent the application of ammonia to one or more useful purposes.

The apparatus, intended to be employed, is an upright véssel, divided by horizontal diaphragms, or partitions, into a number of chambers. It is preferred to construct the vessel of wood, lined with lead, and the diaphragms of sheet iron. Each diaphragm is perforated with many small holes, so regulated, both with regard to number and size, as to afford, under some pressure, passage for the elastic matters which ascend, during the use of the apparatus, to make their exit by a pipe opening from the upper chamber.

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Fitted to each diaphragm are several small valves, so weighted as to rise whenever elastic matters accumulate under them, in such quantity, as to exert more than a desirable amount of pressure on the diaphragms. A pipe also is attached to each diaphragm, passing from about an inch above its upper surface to near the bottom of a cup, or small reservoir, fixed to the upper surface of the diaphragms, next underneath. This pipe is sufficiently large to transmit freely downwards the whole of the liquid which enters for distillation at the upper part of the upright vessel, and the cup or reservoir, into which the pipe dips, forms, when full of liquid, a trap, by which the upward passage of elastic matters, by the pipe, is prevented. The vessel may rest on a close cistern, contrived to receive the descending liquid, as it leaves the lowest chamber, and from this cistern it may be run off, by a valve or cock, whenever expedient. The cistern, or, in its absence, the lowest chamber, contains the orifice of a pipe, which supplies steam for working the apparatus. The exact number of chambers, into which the upright vessel is divided, is not of essential importance; but the quantity of liquid, and the surfaces of each diaphragm, being given, the distillation, within certain limits, will be more complete; and the quantity of liquid and the number of chambers being given, the process, within certain limits, will be more perfect. The liquid, undergoing distillation in this apparatus, necessarily covers the upper surface of each diaphragm to the depth of about an inch, being prevented from passing downward, through the small perforations, by the upward pressure of the rising steam and other elastic matters; and on the other hand, the steam being prevented, by the traps, from passing upwards, by the pipes, is forced to ascend by the perforations in the diaphragms; so that the liquid, lying on them, becomes heated, and in consequence gives off its volatile matters. When the ammoniacal liquid accumulates on one of the diaphragms, to the depth of an inch, it flows over one of the short pipes into the trap below, from whence it overflows into the next diaphragm, and so on.

The management of the apparatus varies in some measure

with the form in which it is desirable to obtain the ammonia. When the ammonia is required to leave the upper chamber, in the form of gas, either pure or impure, it is necessary that the steam which ascends, and the current of ammoniacal liquid which descends, be in such relative proportions, that the latter remain at or near the atmospheric temperature, during its passage through some of the upper chambers, becoming progressively hotter as it descends, until it reaches the boiling temperature; in which state it passes through the lower chambers, either to make its escape, or to enter a cistern, provided to receive it, and in which it may for some time be maintained at a boiling heat. On the contrary, if the ammonia, either pure or impure, be required to leave the upper chamber, in combination with the vapour of water, the supply of steam, entering below, must bear such proportion to that of the ammoniacal liquid, supplied above, that the latter may arrive at a boiling temperature in the upper part of the apparatus.

Solutions of ammoniacal salts, which have had their respective acids abstracted, by any of the usual means, afford, by being thus treated, ammonia gas, either alone or in combination with vapour of considerable purity; but the apparatus is equally serviceable in obtaining similar results, more or less impure, from the water obtained by the distillation of coals, or of bones, or other animal matters, as well as from stale urine.

Acids, and certain other matters, contained in these impure liquids, may first be partly removed by lime and other well-known means; and some of them will be further removed during the passage of the ammonia through the apparatus; or the liquids may be submitted, in their naturally impure state, to the steam in the apparatus, care being taken to use them so dilute, that the vapour, which escapes with them, shall be sufficient in quantity to prevent the solidification of the ammonia, by the carbonic acid which rises with it, and the consequent obstruction of the passages.

In Plate IX., is a sectional view of an apparatus that has been found to answer the purposes required. The appara

tus consists, as before mentioned, of the upright vessel a, a, made of wood, and lined with lead. This vessel is placed on the top of a close cistern b, b, and is divided into small chambers c, c, c, by the horizontal partitions or diaphragms d, d, d; these diapraghms are perforated with small holes, and are also furnished with the short pipes e, e, e, the lower ends of which are inserted into cups or traps f,f,f, for the purposes before mentioned. The diaphragms are also furnished with valves g, g, g, for the purpose of allowing the elastic vapours to pass upwards, when too great a pressure is exerted by them in the lower chambers. The ammoniacal liquor is admitted into the apparatus by the pipe h, and, descending from one chamber to the other, eventually falls into the close cistern b, b, from whence it is drawn off by the cock i. Steam is conveyed into the apparatus by the pipe j, and ascends from the close cistern b, towards the top of the apparatus, with the elastic vapours which it eliminates from the ammoniacal liquor, and ultimately escapes with them (if not previously condensed,) through the exit pipe k.

The apparatus may be varied in its parts, and yet remain more or less efficient. For example,-instead of being furnished with perforations, valves, and pipes, the diaphragms may have plain surfaces, and each be bent upwards at one of its sides, so as not entirely to separate the contiguous chambers. The diaphragms should be bent upwards at opposite sides alternately, thereby permitting the descending fluid to fall or cascade from the right hand side of one diaphragm on to the next below; and then from the right hand side of that one on to the next in succession, and so on, until the whole of the diaphragms are occupied with liquid. With such a modification of apparatus, the liquid will be heated by the contact of the ascending steam sweeping over its extensive surface; and also by the steam acting on the under sides of the diaphragms on which the liquid rests.

The patentee claims the application to the production of ammonia, (pure or in combination with vapour, or with vapour and other volatile matters, as already described,) of any apparatus, so constructed as to cause, by means of dia

phragms, a liquid, containing ammonia, in a volatile state, and steam, to pass in mutual contact, and in opposite directions, whereby a given quantity of heat is made to liberate ammonia from successive portions of ammoniacal liquid. —[Inrolled in the Petty Bag Office, May, 1842.]

To THOMAS STIRLING, of Limehouse, in the county of Middlesex, patentee of the "Rapid Filterer," for improvements in the manufacture of fuel.-[Sealed 20th March, 1840.]

THESE improvements relate to the artificial fuel produced by combining small coal, and tar, or other bituminous matters, with clay, or such like earth, and consist in hardening or consolidating such fuel, by submitting it, in moulds, to a considerable degree of artificial heat.

The following is the method of manufacturing fuel preferred by the patentee; but he does not confine himself thereto, his invention being merely the application of heat to fuel, prepared from the above-mentioned materials, and contained in moulds. 100 lbs. of vegetable tar, and 300 lbs. of mineral or coal tar, are heated in an iron vessel, and 105 lbs. of a solution of clay, of the consistence of tar, are stirred into them; the compound is then boiled up, and run into another pan, placed over a furnace, and 2,240 lbs. of small coal (which have been passed through a sieve of six meshes to the inch,) are added to it. When these ingredients have been thoroughly mixed by stirring, the fuel is put into moulds, of any required shape, and allowed to remain for an hour, or an hour and a half, in an oven or kiln, kept heated to from 250° to 300° Fahr. The moulds are then withdrawn, and when the blocks of fuel have become cool, they are ready for consumption.

The patentee claims the mode of manufacturing fuel from small coal, tar, and clay, by submitting the same, in moulds, to a considerable degree of artificial heat, as above described. [Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, September, 1840.]