told about two new principles in it, yet we are at a loss to discover one; it is so much like some other tin kitchens, for baking and roasting before the fire, and our eye so little like that of the inventor, that we cannot see the new parts to which he believes that he directly points. The sides, back, and bottom appear to be rectangular, and the top to slope regularly back; there is a spit for fowls, hooks for birds, bars on which to place pans, a dripping pan to catch the gravy, and a peep hole through which to observe how matters go on, and these constitute the "single reflecting oven."

119. For a Self moving and accumulative engine; John James Giraud, city of Baltimore, March 31.

How many self-moving and accumulative engines have the same parentage with that before us, we cannot recollect, and do not think it worth while to examine, in the patent office, the register of their births; as to their deaths, no register exists, they having all been still born; we know, however, that the family would have been a large one had they received and preserved the living principle. We can tell little about the affair before us, but its author informs us that "the fly wheels run on friction wheels, bearing on the main shaft, and constitute the generating, regulating and maintaining powers of the engine." The power thus generated, regulated, and maintained, is to be applied to general navigation and other purposes." Happily for the community, however, neither general navigation or other purposes which demand motive power, will consent to wait the generating, regulating, or maintaining power of Mr. G.'s accumulative engine, as otherwise they would never be generated, regulated, or maintained.

120. For a Churn; Thomas Nicholson, New Market, Shenandoah county, Virginia, March 31.

A churn, with a tub in the ordinary form, has a dasher shaft, which is to revolve alternately in reversed directions; for this purpose there are two beveled pinions upon the shaft above the lid; and a beveled segment wheel is to engage first with one, and then with the other of these pinions; such a contrivance is bad in principle, as all machinists know; segment wheels being generally poor things, and, as here applied, altogether worthless.

121. For Pronged Hoes; Benjamin F. Boyden, Boston, Massachusetts, March 31.

These hoes are to be of cast-iron, rendered malleable in the usual way. They are to have raised ribs along the prongs, &c. to strengthen them, and to be tinned over their whole surface. The claim is to "the application of cast-iron in the manufacture of agricultural pronged hoes, and covering the same with tin;" but where is the invention or discovery?

122. For an improved Winnowing machine; Jonathan Bean, Montville, Waldo county, Maine, March 31.

We are told that "the advantages this machine claims above others now in use, consist in durability, portableness, and expedition in cleaning all kinds of grain;" but although the machine claims this, the patentee does not claim the machine; and although he has given a voluminous account of admeasurement, and many outlines of separate parts of it, its construction

is very imperfectly represented, and its peculiarities, if any it have, are unnoticed; the patent, in fact, is a patent for nothing.

123. For Hose to convey water; Samuel Hunt, city of Baltimore, March 31.

"What I claim is the application of hose, whether constructed in the manner set forth, or otherwise; not intending to confine myself to particular dimensions or materials in its construction, for the purpose of carrying good and wholesome water, for the use of cities, towns, and villages, &c. across rivers, ponds, bays, creeks, or elsewhere."

There are two doubtful things in this patent; first, it is much to be doubted whether a man can be prevented from conveying water in a hose, through a creek, &c.; but a more important point is the doubtful utility of the thing, for the purpose intended. A flexible hose, large enough to convey a supply of water for the consumption of towns, it will be difficult to make, more difficult to fix, and most difficult to keep in order.

124. For a Blacksmith's Tew Iron; John Shugert, Elizabeth, Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, March 31.

The improvement claimed by the petitioner, is the angles in the pipes and plates, by which it is made entirely fire proof, or indestructible."

How this desirable end is to be attained by the construction of the instrument described, we do not perceive. An iron back is to be made to the forge; the pipe which leads to the opening for the blast, is to be ten, or twelve inches in length; the hole through it about two inches in diameter, at the back end where the bellows enter, and gradually diminishing to one inch, next the fire. At about the middle, the pipe is bent down at an angle of from twenty to forty degrees towards the fire. Instead of the usual cullar next the fire, there is to be a metal plate ten inches long, and nine broad, "about one inch from the centre of which there is to be an angle of about ninety degrees, the broad part of this angled plate is to have a rise on the face of it at the centre, one inch high, and ten inches along the plate; the thickness of the said plate to be about three-fourths of an inch."

The foregoing description does not appear to us very clear, but it may be more fortunate with our readers.

125. For Blowing air into a millstone eye; Austin Taylor, Littleton, Grafton county, New Hampshire, March 31.

What the applicant claims as his invention, is the introducing a current of fresh air into the eye of a mill-stone, by any wind instrument or machine." Wind has already been blown into the eye of a mill-stone, to keep it cool, and has been made the subject of at least one patent.

126. For Spark Catchers, for locomotive steam engines; William Schultz, county of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 31.

There is to be a swell in the smoke pipe, which will give to it the form of two funnels joined together at their rims; and across this wide junction there is to be wire gauze stretched, the enlargement being intended to prevent any obstruction in the draught. The pipe for waste steam is to perforate the sheet of wire gauze, which is secured to it by a flanch. Flues, which may be opened when the engine is at rest, are to pass on the outside

of the conical enlargements, allowing a free draught; these are to be closed by valves, when the engine is in motion.

CLAIM. "What I claim is the whole arrangement, as herein before described, without any connection with any other machine heretofore constructed for the same purposes."

127. For a Horse Power; Richard Skinner, Williamson, Wayne county, New York, March 31.

A main wheel, turned by levers, or sweeps, is to run upon a hub, and axletree, instead of being fastened to a shaft. Nothing more.

128. For a Cooking Stove; Benjamin H. mack county, New Hampshire, March 31.

Pearson, Warner, Merri

This stove has an open fire place, in the form of a Franklin; to which is attached an oven, and other contrivances for cooking. The claim is to "heating the oven on five parts; its particular situation to give a draft under the oven, with an open fire-place; the damper; the turning a crank with two half oval wheels to raise or lower the grate in the fire-place."

129. For a Hydrant; David Horn, city of Baltimore, March 31. There is nothing in the principle, and but little in the arrangement, of this hydrant, different from others in common use. The pipe through which the water enters, under ground, has a socket in it that receives a vertical shaft, up which it is to flow to the point of delivery; the lower end of the shaft fits into, and turns in the socket, as a key in a cock, allowing the water to pass into it when in the proper direction, and when turned round a quarter of a circle, the water in the shaft runs into the ground through a waste hole in the socket.

130. For a mode of Joining Rail-road plates; A. Mizick M'Cain, Montgomery, Montgomery county, Alabama, March 31.

A lap is to be formed at the junction of rail-road plates, by which each plate shall be in part over and in part under, its fellow; and so that a spike driven through shall confine both. The manner in which this may be done will be more readily conceived than described; to save circumlocution, therefore, we leave the mode of effecting it to be devised by the ingenuity of the reader, or to be learnt by application at the patent office.

131. For an improvement in Rail-roads; Nathan Read, Belfast, Waldo county, Maine, March 31.

The oft-proposed device of a rack on the middle of the rail road, and of a toothed wheel on the axle of the locomotive, is the subject of this patent. The rack is to be made with rounds like a ladder, and the teeth in the wheel are to be larger than usual; these constitute the only change proposed in the mode described.

132. For an Ointment for Cancers; Elias Gilman, Licking county, Ohio, March 31.

This ointment has the merit of being a tolerably safe application, which is much more than can be usually said of ointments for the cure of cancer. It consists of finely pulverised sulphate of iron made into an ointment with mutton suet. It is to be spread upon linen, and renewed when necessary.

The cancer is to be washed with a decoction of spikenard and tanners' ooze, and a decoction of yellow oak bark, and sometimes with a solution of potash and water.

133. For a Gripe Chuck, for turners; David Peeler, Boston, Mas sachusetts, March 31.

This gripe chuck, it appears, is principally intended to hold, and to turn in the lathe, certain tools used by boot and shoe makers, known by the name of heel keys, fore part irons, and fore part beads. These, it is said, can be manufactured at a much cheaper rate, by means of the gripe chuck, than by the common mode. The claim is to the particular kind of chuck described.

Specification of an improvement in the Art of Tanning, granted to Henry C. Locher, Lancaster, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, administrator of Henry Locher, deceased, March 12th, 1836.

To all to whom these presents shall come, be it known, that Henry Locher, late of the city of Baltimore, now deceased, in his life time, had invented a new and useful improvement in the art of tanning, called a Com municable Leach System in the art of Tanning, and that the following is a full and exact description thereof. A general communication with every vat intended to be used, is made by means of trunks, or tubes, placed on the outside, and about six inches from the top of the vat, and made level so that water may be sent with equal ease in any direction through them; a perpendicular trunk or tube, is placed in one corner of each vat, extending from the top, to within about four inches of the bottom; small tubes are branched off from the main, or horizontal trunk, or tube, and inserted into each of the perpendicular trunks, or tubes, and also into the opposite ends of the vats called handlers, and into the reservoir; other small tubes are made to connect the several perpendicular trunks, or tubes, with the adjoin. ing vats, of those generally termed leaches, so that the liquor or juice of the bark may be transferred, or driven from one vat to another, in any direc tion. The perpendicular trunks, or tubes, may, to save room in the vas, be placed on the outside, with communication at the bottom.

This plan enables the tanner to multiply the liquors or juices, in the vats termed leaches, to any degree of strength, and at the same time to exchange strong for weak, without mixing scarcely any, and without labour more than drawing the plugs out of the tubes necessary to be opened, and turning the water from the hydrant, or pump, on one or more of the leaches, thus as many as you please will exchange, and the leaches successively recruit in strength. This is done on the philosophical principles of the lighter bodies rising to the top. As for example, to drive the strong liquor out of the vat, cause a light and steady stream of water to fall on the bark in the vat, or on a board laid on top of the liquor, and as soon as the liquor rises to the tube, in the perpendicular trunk, it escapes by that tube, and is let into any other vat that is opened to receive it, and its place is supplied by the water, if the reverse is wanted, let the liquor into the perpendicular trunk, it sinks to, and spreads over the bottom of the vat, and raises the water to the top, where it escapes by the small tube.

False bottoms are useful in this operation, as they prevent the trunks or tubes from being stopped, or clogged, and they receive the settlings.

What I claim as the invention of Henry Locher, deceased, and not previously known, is the trunks and tubes, and the manner of using them. HENRY C. LOCHER,

Progress of Practical and Theoretical Mechanics and Chemistry.

Earthen retort for generating gas for the purpose of illumination. A patent for a composition for this purpose was secured to Thomas Spinney, of Cheltenham, gas engineer. The materials are-Stourbridge fire-clay, one hundred pounds; burnt Stourbridge fire-clay, twenty pounds; pipe clay, twenty pounds; sand, (which is recommended to be as free from lime as possible) twenty pounds.

The Stourbridge clay, both raw and burnt, are to be mixed together with the sand. The pipe, or potters' clay, must be well dried and broken into small pieces, and afterwards put into a copper, or furnace, containing as much boiling water as may be requisite to dissolve or reduce it to the consistence of thick cream, which is to be added to the other materials previously mixed; and as much more water is to be added as will make the whole mass of such a consistence as will admit of its being tempered in the manner generally practised by potters.

The materials thus combined, may be moulded into retorts of any required form; but the patentee says, I do not mean hereby to confine myself to any particular form or size of retort; they may be made in one or more pieces, as may be found most convenient. If made in one piece, after being dried, it must be brushed over with a glaze, or cement, composed of the following materials in the following proportions: of potters' lead ore, three pounds; sand, four pounds; sulphate of iron, one pound; pipe or potter's clay, one pound. These are to be reduced to fine powder, and mixed with as much water as will bring them to the consistence of paint, and then applied with a brush in the same manner as paint is used by painters. The retort must then be removed to the kiln, and what is technically termed smoked from twenty-four to thirty hours; and afterwards cooled or let down in the usual manner of cooling down earthenware. If the retort is made in more than one piece, the pieces should be formed to fit each other, and joined together with the above mentioned cement or glaze. The retort so formed is also to be brushed over with the said glaze or cement in the manner explained when the retort is made in one piece."

Newton's Journal.

Patent invention for assisting the hearing. Mr. Webster was led to a consideration of this subject, by a sensible diminution of hearing in himself. He adverts to the common practice of applying the hollow of the hand to the back of the ear; to the fact that eastern nations, particularly the ancient Egyptians, (as is evident in antique remains) had the ear more fully developed, larger and more projecting; that this is still the case with savages, who are remarkable for the acuteness of their hearing; that the modes of covering the head have probably produced a permanent compression and diminution of the shell of the ear; and finally, that the Arabs, and occasionally individuals among ourselves, have voluntary power over the muscles of

the ear.

The instrument he has invented he terms an OTAPHONE.

"They are formed from a correct model of the back of the ear, and by fitting all the irregularities of that very uneven and elastic surface, gently