Specification of a Patent for an Improvement in Flasks for Moulding Iron Tea Kettles, and other vessels of a similar nature. Granted to DAVID STEWART, Danville, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, June 26th, 1835. To all whom it may concern, be it known, that I, David Stewart, of Danville, in the County of Columbia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an improved mode of constructing Flasks for the moulding of Cast Iron Tea Kettles, by which the number of parts of which they ordinarily consist is reduced from four to two, and the necessity of turning the flask over in the operation of moulding is altogether obviated, and I do hereby declare. that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

I use a mould board of cast iron, upon which the pattern and flask are to be placed. The mould board has a circular excavation, or gutter, around its centre, which is to be filled with casting sand, upon which that part of the pattern rests which forms the rim, of the opening in the top of the kettle, which part would otherwise be chilled by the mould board in casting. The pattern for the kettle is in the usual form, and has a square shank rising from the centre of that part which forms the opening for the lid, which shank fits into a square hole in the centre of the iron mould board, when the pattern is placed upon it for moulding.

The flask consists of two parts only, dividing horizontally immediately opposite the swell of the kettle, and the upper part extending a sufficient height above the bottom of the kettle for the requisite thickness of sand. The pattern being put into its proper place is surrounded by the lower half of the flask, and this is filled with the sand to a level; the upper half of the flask is then placed on, and the moulding of the outside completed, when the upper flask may be taken off, and the pattern removed. The manner of moulding the spout does not differ from that ordinarily pursued.

The mould for making the core, and the manner of filling it differs from that heretofore followed, the core mould being filled from the part which forms the bottom, instead of that which forms the top of the kettle. A mould board is prepared having a hole in its centre of the same size with that in the iron mould board, and into this the shank of the anchor, which is to sustain the core, is placed, and that half of the mould which corresponds with the top of the kettle is passed over it, and secured in its place. The other half of the core mould is then put on, and the whole is filled with sand, properly rammed in. In order to fill it, the core mould has a suitable opening, or openings in the part which is uppermost, and which corresponds with the bottom of the kettle, and when this is properly filled, and the core pierced for air holes, it is ready to be removed to the iron mould board, and anchored in its proper place.

What I claim as my invention, and wish to secure by letters patent, is the particular manner of constructing the flasks as described, in two parts only, for the moulding of tea kettles, and other articles of a similar form; the employment of the iron mould board; and the formation of the core in a separate box, or pattern, charged with sand at the bottom, and adapted in the way described to the anchor, which is to be placed on the mould board without the necessity of inverting, or being obliged in any way to raise or remove the same, in the operation of moulding. I also claim the application of the same principles of moulding to all kinds of hollow ware, which is swelled, or bellied, in the manner of tea kettles, varying the procedure in such a way as will be evident to every competent workman, so as to adapt it to the particular kind of vessel intended to be cast. DAVID STEWART.

Specification of a Patent for an improved machine for the purpose of Cutting Sausage Meat, and of Stuffing Sausages. Granted to ABRAHAM KEAGY, of Bradford County, and JOHN KEAGY, of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, June 15th, 1835.

The cutting is effected by means of a cylinder, around which are placed knives which we usually make of a triangular form, one of the sides being in contact with the cylinder. This revolves within a concave, or hollow cylinder, furnished with similar knives so placed as not to interfere with those on the cylinder. These knives are but placed somewhat obliquely, so as to stand in the direction of a spiral around the cylinders. The revolving cylinder has its axis placed horizontally in a box, the sides and ends of which are enclosed excepting where the meat is admitted and discharged. A gudgeon projects through the box at one end to receive a crank or wheel to turn the cylinder.

The opening for feeding is on the upper side, and at one end of this box; and this opening is surmounted by a vertical trunk, which may be in the form of a parallelogram, of the width of the lower box, and about half its depth, more or less. A piston, or follower, is adapted to this feeding trunk, or hopper, from the middle of which a rod rises, operating as a piston rod, being acted upon by a lever, worked like a pump handle. The piston rod passes through the lever, and has a rack, or notches, upon it, which engage with the lever in its descent, but allow it to rise without raising the piston, so that the meat put into the feeding trunk is forced down by each successive stroke. To facilitate the passage of the meat into the horizontal, from the vertical trunk, I form a spiral excavation in the hollow cylinder, immediately under the vertical trunk; which operates as an inclined plane in producing the desired effect. The cut meat, when it arrives at the extreme end of the cutting cylinder passes out through an opening in the bottom of the box. When the feeding trunk is to be replenished, the lever may be turned back on its joint, and the piston removed, leaving the opening perfectly free.

When the cutting has been completed, the vertical trunk, with its piston, is used for the purpose of stuffing. To effect this, a shutter, or slider, is slipped into its place where it forms a bottom to the vertical, and cuts off its communication with the horizontal, trunk, and a tin, or other tube, of proper size, is fitted into an opening prepared for it on one side of the trunk, at its lower end, upon this tube the entrail to be stuffed is gathered, in the usual way.

To allow the escape of air, this latter tube has a small tube, or opening, soldered on its outside, from end to end. This opening may be semicircular, so as to make but a slight projection on the stuffing tube. The effect of this will be obvious.

We have not thought it requisite to give the dimensions of the respective parts, as they will vary according to convenience, and will depend upon the power to be applied, and the quantity to be cut. One thing, however is essential, namely, that the length and size of the cylinders, and the number of knives, be proportioned to the quantity to be cut; but this can be regulated also by the pressure made upon the piston.

We do not claim as our invention, the individual parts of the above described apparatus, but what we do claim is the general combination and arrangement of the respective parts, as herein set forth, for producing the required effect. Not intending, however, to confine ourselves to the exact form given, but to vary the same in any way, whilst the same results are produced by analogous means. ABRAHAM KEAGY, JOHN KEAGY.

Specification of a Patent for Washing Clothes, and for Churning. Granted to CHARLES OTIS, of Finksburg, in the County of Baltimore, and State of Maryland, June 15th, 1835.

I make a revolving cylinder, or barrel, which is to turn upon gudgeons in the usual way, and having an opening through which the articles to be acted upon may be introduced, and secured by a close fitting door, or shutter. I cause this barrel, or cylinder, to revolve in a trough which serves to catch any suds that may be allowed to escape, and which, in the churning of butter may be filled with water, either warm or cold, according to the season of the year, and thus facilitate the operation. The parts thus far described I do not claim as constituting any part of my invention, the same having been repeatedly constructed by others; but what I do claim is the following appendage within the revolving cylinders. I place flat wings, or buckets, on the inside of the periphery of the cylinder, extending along from end to end; of these there may be two, three, or more, made of flat boards, the planes of which stand in the direction of radii to the cylinder. These boards may vary in width from two to six inches, more or less, according to the size of the machine, and I sometimes perforate them with holes, to increase the agitation of the fluid. They also serve to lift the clothes and suds in washing, or the cream in churning, more effectually than the pins which have sometimes been employed for that purpose. I confine my claim exclusively to the employment of the wings, or buckets, herein described. C. OTIS.

Progress of Theoretical and Practical Mechanics. Report on the use of the Hot Air Blast in iron Furnaces and Foundries. By A. GUENYVEAU, Engineer and Professor in the Royal School of Mines.* (Translated for this Journal, by Professor A. D. Bache.†)

This report embraces the observations made during a tour of examination of the furnaces and foundries in the south of France, in some of which the hot air blast is used. The tour was undertaken by order of the director-general of bridges and roads, and of mines.

In remarks upon the subject, a distinction must be made between the furnaces where coal is used and those which use charcoal. The amount of air required is so different in the two classes, being sometimes as two or three to one, that the apparatus for heating it is usually different. The results are, however, nearly the same for both classes. All the furnaces examined use ores from the same part of France. The hot air blast has succeeded best in the furnaces of Vienne (Isere), the two at Terre-Noire (near St. Etienne), and those of the Voulte (Ardeche.)

In one furnace, that of Firmy (Aveyron), the results with this blast were not satisfactory, either with raw coal or with coke. The large establishments of Creusot and Alais, and those of l'Orme (Loire), have not yet applied heated air. The fuel used in them is coke. At the furnace near Torteron, where the fuel is a mixture of charcoal and coke, the hot air blast has been used to advantage, in regard to the quality of the iron. In the various smelting furnaces in Burgundy and Franche-Comté, where charcoal is used as a fuel, the new process has proved satisfactory.

• Annales des Mines, vol. vii. Livraison 1.

†This is a translation of extracts from the report of M. Guenyveau, and in parts where the details do not seem to be of special interest, an abstract of his results.

I. HEATING APPARATUS.

Of these there are various forms in use. The objects sought are economy in heating the air, a sufficiently high temperature, and the preservation of the pipes. The apparatus used at Calder* (Scotland) appears to answer the best purpose. It is in use at Vienne, and in one of the Firmy furnaces. The first apparatus put up was like that used at the Clyde furnaces; this is still used at Torteron and la Voulte, but has, at Vienne, given place to the Calder apparatus. The heating pipes are two inches in diameter, and at Firmy have been replaced by others two and a half inches in diameter. It might seem that these pipes are too small, but experience has sanctioned their use. It is not known how long this apparatus will last; in fact the duration must depend upon the temperature to which the pipes are heated, and upon the nature of the coal. It is believed that the arrangement with highly inclined tubes will outlast that with horizontal ones. The temperature of the air is easily raised above the melting point of lead (604° Fahr.) The cost of the apparatus for each tuyere is about 1200 francs (8240.)

The flame which appears at the trunnel head of smelting furnaces which use coke, has not been applied to heat the blast, although it has been advantageously applied in charcoal furnaces. It would seem that this mode of heating should apply particularly to furnaces in which raw coal is used, on account of the amount of unconsumed combustible matter which issues from the trunnel head; notwithstanding which, M. Dufrenoy gives one case, in the neighbourhood of Birmingham,‡ in which the heating apparatus placed upon the platform of the furnace did not answer the purpose. The temperature of the air could not be raised above 360° Fahr., and subsequently it was heated by a separate furnace which consumed four tons of coal for each ton of iron. As, however, the temperature to which the air is heated at the Voulte furnace is below that just stated, the question cannot be considered as decided. The air blast is generally heated above melting point of tin (442° Fahr.), and sometimes above that of lead (604° Fahr.), and even higher. In other furnaces, as at the Voulte and Torteron, where horizontal heating pipes are used, the temperature has been diminished, in order to save the wear of the pipes. At the first mentioned furnace it never exceeds 340° Fahr., being at a mean about 320°, and at the second never exceeds the melting point of tin. At the furnaces of Terre-Noire the heat is carried by Taylor's§ apparatus to 572° Fahr. It has been said that the advantages of the hot air blast increase in the ratio of the temperature of the blast, an assertion which, although it appears probable, and has been confirmed by certain observations, is not true in all cases. At the Voulte the results were sensibly the same where the air was heated to 428° and to 320°.||

Several methods have been used to determine the temperature of the hot air blast. One was to use a common thermometer, with a metal scale; the bulb being inserted into the blast pipe near the nozzle. Another method was to use a slip of lead, tin, or of some fusible alloy, according to the tem

See this Journal, vol. xv. p. 213, pl. 2, figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Ibid. vol. xv. p. 209, pl. 2, figs. 1 and 2.

See this Journal, vol. xv. p. 272, pl. 3, figs. 15 and 16.

Similar to that described by M. Dufrenoy, vol. xv. p. 213.

It may readily be understood why an increase of 100° from 320° to 420° should not produce so sensible an effect as from 220° to 320°, or as from 120° to 220°,TRANSLATOR.

perature, which was exposed to the air issuing from a hole in the blast pipe.* At Torteron the alloy was two-thirds tin to one-third of lead.

Great inconvenience has been felt from the leakage of the pipes used in the heating apparatus. These leaks when they occur in the heating ovens are only discovered by a deficiency in the yield of the furnace. They occur commonly at the joints, and the liability to them increases with the increased temperature of the blast. The repairs which are necessary alter the supply of air, and thus derange the system of working.

It is a desideratum to render the leakage less common and the means of repair more easy. When these leaks occur, if the fire is not immediately extinguished, the pipes being no longer kept cool by the air passing through them, burn out very quickly. The heating apparatus placed near the trunnel head is free from this defect.t

The effect of these difficulties has merely been to produce a resort to the reduction of temperature noticed at the furnaces of La Voulte and Torteron. The remarks of M. Dufrenoy on the forms of apparatus, confirmed as they are by extensive observation, deserve great attention.

The effects of heating the air upon the quantity and pressure of that passed into the furnace may be thus estimated. If we suppose the air heated from 60° to 568° Fahr. its bulk will be doubled and consequently, under the same pressure, but half the quantity will pass through a given orifice, which would have passed had the air not been heated. Generally, until the area or nozzle of the blast pipe is nearly doubled, the advantage of the hot air blast is not realized. Before this change in the nozzle, the furnace is not duly supplied with air. Besides, the pressure at the tuyere has been observed to diminish with a given pressure at the blowing machine, a fact which may be explained by the resistance of the air moving through the pipes of the heating apparatus, the elbows in which tend to make the resistance quite considerable in amount.

If then the pressure and the quantity of air thrown into the furnace should be the same with the hot and cold blast, the power of the blowing machine must be increased. This has not been found necessary in the English works, where on the contrary they have supplied more furnaces with heated air by the same blowing machine, than could be supplied with cold air. Less fuel being consumed in a given time, with a greater yield of metal, less air is required to support the combustion. In these works the power required to supply heated air is estimated at one-tenth more than that employed for the cold blast, for the same weight of ore, but as the weight of the air thrown in is diminished one-fourth, the same blowing machine which supplied three furnaces with cold air will supply four with the hot blast.

At the Calder furnaces (Scotland,) the pressure of the hot air blast was less than that of the cold air previously used by two-thirteenths, and at the Clyde works by one-sixth. M. Varin estimates the economy from this source at la Voulte works at one-fifth, the pressure being reduced from three inches and a quarter of mercury to two inches and a half.

At the Torteron furnace where the heated air blast has neither changed sensibly the amount of fuel used, nor of iron produced, the blowing machine requires a little more fuel to produce the steam required to move it, than it did when cold air was used. At Wasseralfingen where the consumption of charcoal has not varied materially by the change from the cold to the * By reference to this Journal, p.74, vol. xvi. a more convenient method of using the thermometer will be found.-TRANSLATOR.

If so, it would seem that it must be deficient in heating power.-TRANSLATOR.