and it is passed through an aperture down the pipe or trunk o, into the sieve, the quantity, of course, being regulated by a sllder in the aperture.

Rotary motion being communicated to the drum b, all the spindles e, e, are driven round, which causes their cranks to give to the boxes h, ḥ, and sieves i, i, rapid vibratory movements, as shewn by dots, which shifts the grain in the sieve i, carrying the dirt and small seeds through the wire gauze into the box h, beneath; and the sieve being upon a slight inclination, the grain will be progressively conducted to the lower side, and by that means made to descend through a small hopper into the receiver p; while the dirt and seeds collected in the box h, will fall into the small bag or sleeve q; and may be removed from thence, when necessary, by untying the end of the bag. It will be found that the lighter parts, such as the husks and shells, will rise to the. top of the grain while sifting; these must be removed by hand; and when the process is required to be stopped, a handle and shaft r, is to be turned, which shuts off the supply of grain from the trunk 0; and if any one of the sieves are required to be put out of action, that is done by removing the driving band from the rigger or pulley d, upon its crank shaft e.

In conclusion the Patentee says, I would have it understood, that although I have here described parts of my apparatus or machinery which separately are well known and in use, yet I lay no claim to them separately; but I claim the combination of such parts in the manner described, and apply them when so combined, to the purpose of cleansing or purifying wheat, grain, or other substances; and I further claim the acting on sieves suspended as above described, by means of cranks, in the manner above described, and for the purposes above named.—[Inrolled in theInrolment Office, January, 1831.]

To JOHN SLATER, of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, manufacturer of coach springs and axletrees, for his having invented certain improvements in axle-trees and the boxes for carriage wheels.-[Sealed 15th December, 1828.]

THE subject of this Patent appears to be confined to the manner of making the box of a carriage wheel, without any regard to its form. The Patentee states, that the ends of the axle-trees are to be made in the way shewn in Plate XIII. at fig. 8, with a large hole or recess in its end, represented by dots, for the reception of oil, and with small holes leading therefrom, in order to allow of the oil flowing over the bearing part of the axle; but he afterwards says, his axles may be made with or without this oil chamber.

The box of the wheel is to be made as shewn in the section at fig. 9, with recesses to contain the oil, but to this particular form he does not confine himself; a, a, is a shell of brass, made to the shape of the axle; b, b, is a wrought iron cylindrical case, fixed on the outside of a. The iron case b, is to be fitted to the external shape of the shell a, and when not, it is to be passed over the shell a, and shrunk on to it.

The Patentee says, he does not confine himself to making the shell a, of brass, as it may be of any other suitable material; but he claims to be the first inventor of attaching an external case of wrought iron to the box of the wheel, by shrinking it on in the way described; which contrivance may be employed in making the boxes of carriage wheels, whatever may be the peculiar form of them, or of the axles intended to work within them. [Inrolled in the Inrolment Office, June, 1829.]

VOL. VIII.-SECOND SERIES.

2 L

To MARMADUKE ROBINSON, of Great George Street, Westminster, navy agent, in consequence of a communication made to him by a certain person residing abroad, for certain improvements in the process of making and purifying sugars.—[Sealed 5th August, 1830.]

THE cane juice which is to be operated upon, being placed in the vessel in which it is to be boiled, finings are to be mixed with the juice, composed, as the Patentee describes it, of a saturation of alum and lime, in the proportion of about two pounds of finings diluted in pure water, to every hundred gallons of juice; which is to be properly stirred up and mixed with the juice.

"I next proceed (says the Patentee) to render the juice perfectly neutral, so that there be no excess of either acid or alkali, and the method which I prefer for so neutralizing the juice, and for ascertaining when the neutralization is perfect, is as follows:-I mix with the juice lime dissolved in water, and made into what is commonly called milk of lime, which should be made sufficiently thin, to allow the undissolved particles of lime to subside, and give to the water the appearance of milk, using such milk of lime in the first instance in small portions, and adding thereto from time to time, until I have ascertained, in the manner and by the experiments hereinafter mentioned, that sufficient milk of lime has been applied.

"After each throwing in or addition of the milk of lime, I carefully examine the liquor with any one of the test papers, commonly used for detecting the presence of acids in liquids, and when this paper has ceased to change colour, I examine the liquor with one of the test papers commonly employed for detecting the presence of alkali

in liquids, in order to ascertain whether too much milk of lime has been applied, in which event I add more of the juice until the last mentioned test paper has ceased to change its colour.

"In this manner I proceed throwing in more milk of lime, or of the juice, according to the indications of the respective test papers, until I have ascertained that no change is perceptible on either, and that therefore the juice is perfectly neutral,

"The liquor being thus rendered neutral, I next proceed to heat it in the vessel, until it has nearly reached the boiling point, taking care however that it does not actually boil; and this I prefer to do in wooden vessels, by means of steam.

"The wooden vessel may be made of any convenient shape and size, and within it is to be fitted a copper worm or pipe, of a size suited to the dimensions of the vessel. The steam should be made to circulate through this worm, which must be fitted with cocks, to regulate the letting on of the steam, and the escape of the waste steam and condensation. This worm pipe is to be so connected with the steam generator, as to admit of the steam passing freely through it.

"After having thus heated the liquor, I discontinue the steam, and then mix a further quantity of the finings, diluted as before, in the proportion of about three pounds of finings to every hundred gallons of juice; and after stirring it up, I examine the liquor in a tumbler or other glass vessel, to observe the rapidity with which the impurities precipitate; and I go on adding further portions of the said finings, until I find that the addition of such finings does not increase the rapidity of the precipitation; from which circumstance I ascertain that a sufficient quan tity of the finings has been applied.

"My improvement, so far as regards the application of the finings, consists in the finings being applied to the cane juice itself; but I do declare, that although I have found such application of the finings highly useful in carrying the said improvement into effect, still that such application is not indispensably necessary, and that the said improvements may be carried into effect (although less advantageously) without such application of the finings. I then allow the liquor to remain at rest. The impurities, which by the ordinary mode of operating, remain suspended in the body of the liquor (and are got rid of by skimming during the boiling of the liquor), will then be precipitated to the bottom; and those which, in the ordinary method of operating, float on the surface of the liquor, previously to the boiling, will float in the same manner when the operation is conducted according to the present specification. I allow the liquor to stand till the body of it has become cleared from both these impurities; I then draw it off into the evaporators, so as to allow the pure liquor to pass off, separated from the impurities which have precipitated, as well as from those which float at the top.

"This may be conveniently effected by the means of cocks placed at a convenient height from the bottom of the vessel; the remainder of the liquor is afterwards separately drawn off, together with the impurities, into another vessel, in which I mix with it a small quantity of pure warm water, and allow the mixture to settle; the impurities will then separate themselves from the mixture. As soon as the body of this liquor has become clear, I draw off the clear part from the impurities, as on the former occasion, by means of a cock placed at a convenient distance from the bottom of the last-mentioned