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(Entered at the Post Office of New York, N. Y., as Second Class Matter)

A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF PRACTICAL INFORMATION, ART, SCIENCE, MECHANICS, CHEMISTRY, AND MANUFACTURES.

NEW YORK, DECEMBER 18, 1880.

Contents.

(Illustrated articles are marked with an asterisk.)

FIRST DEPARTMENT	FOURTH OR FINISHING DEPARTMENT
SECOND DEPARTMENT	THE BUDGET ROOM
THIRD DEPARTMENT	THE ASSEMBLY ROOM

BUSINESS COLLEGES AND THEIR SYSTEMS–[See page 388.]

[Pg 384]

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TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT

NO. 259.

For the Week ending December 18, 1880.

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ONE MORE NUMBER.

FIRES—CAUSES AND PREVENTION.

It is estimated that the total annual losses of insured property
by fire, throughout the world, average nearly two
hundred million dollars. Add to this the annual destruction
of uninsured property, and we should probably have a
total amounting to quite double these figures. How great
the loss, how severe the tax upon the productive industry
of mankind, this enormous yearly destruction amounts to,
will come home to the minds of most readers more directly
if we call attention to the fact that it just about equals the
value of our total wheat crop during a year of good yield.
And it is a direct tax upon productive industry everywhere,
because, although here and there a nominal loser, fully insured,
has only made what is sometimes called “a good
sale” to the companies holding his risk, this is only a way
of apportioning the loss whereby the community at large become
the sufferers. Thus it is that we find all ably-managed
insurance companies earnestly endeavoring to make it plain
to the public how fires should be guarded against, or most
effectually localized and controlled when once started.

During the fall, or from “lighting up” time till about
New Year’s day, more fires occur ordinarily than in any
other portion of the year. This fact points to some of the
most general causes of conflagrations—as in the lighting and
heating of houses, factories, etc., where this had not been
necessary during the summer months. It is also found that
after the first of the year the number of fires is greatly
diminished, the lighting and heating arrangements having
been subjected to a period of trial during which their most
obvious defects would be remedied. While it may readily
be conceded that the utmost care of the owner of property
could not totally prevent great average losses from fire—for
the greater the holdings the more must the proprietor trust
to the oversight of others—it is evident that the above facts
indicate the necessity of more strenuous precautions at this
season. Gas pipes and fittings should then be tested; furnace
flues and settings looked to; stove, heater, and grate
fixtures and connections examined—and in all these particulars
the scrutiny should be most closely directed to parts ordinarily
covered up or out of sight, so that any defect or
weakness from long disuse may be exposed. When to the
above causes of fires we have added the extremely fruitful
one found in the extensive use of coal oil within a few years
past, we have indicated the most common sources of conflagrations
of known origin. An English authority gives the
percentages of different causes of 30,000 fires in London,
from 1833 to 1865, as follows: Candles, 11.07; curtains, 9.71;
flues, 7.80; gas, 7.65; sparks, 4.47; stoves, 1.67; children
playing, 1.59; matches, 1.41; smoking tobacco, 1.40, other
known causes, 19.40; unknown causes, 32.88. The foregoing
figures do not give the percentage of incendiary fires,>
and later statistics would, no doubt, show vastly more fires
from the use of kerosene than are here attributed to candles.

The prevention of fires, and the best means of minimizing
the loss when they do occur, are topics which cover a wide
field, and a collection of the literature on the subject would
make a very respectable library. As the question presents
itself to-day, it may well be doubted whether the general
practice of large property holders of insuring all their possessions
does not tend to lessen the constant vigilance which
is the most essential requisite in preventing fires. Thousands
of merchants never mean to keep a dollar’s worth of
goods in store or warehouse that is not fully covered by insurance,
and they make this cost a regular charge upon their
business as peremptorily as they do the wages paid the hands
in their employ. But few manufacturers can so completely
cover their risks by insurance, yet a large portion of them
do so as far as they are able. It does not follow but that
the larger portion of both merchants and manufacturers exercise
what the law will fully decide is “due vigilance” in
the care of the property so insured, but it is evident that in
most cases the thoughtfulness is much less complete—the
care wonderfully lacking in personal supervision—as compared
with what would be the case were each one his own
insurer. Of course, this in no way casts a doubt upon the
general policy of business men being amply insured, but in
fact shows the greater necessity why they should be so, that
they may not suffer from the carelessness of a neighbor; it
also points to the necessity of continually increasing care and
thoroughness of inspection on the part of the insurance companies.
These agencies, in fact, must compel the insured
to keep up to the mark in the introduction of every improvement
to ward off fires or diminish their destructiveness.
The progress made in this department during recent years
has been great. The almost universal use of steam has been
attended by the fitting up of factories with force pumps,
hose, and all the appliances of a modern fire brigade; dangerous
rooms are metal sheathed, and machinery likely to
cause fire is surrounded by stationary pipes from which jets
of water may be turned on instantaneously from the outside;
stores and warehouses have standing pipes from which every
floor may be flooded with water under pressure, and the elevators,
those most dangerous flues for rapidly spreading a
fire, are either bricked in entirely or supposed to be closed
at every floor. The latter point, however, is sometimes forgotten,
as sea captains forget to keep the divisions of their
vessels having watertight compartments separate from one
another; the open elevator enlarges a small fire as rapidly as
the open compartment allows the vessel to sink.

With the best of appliances, however, discipline and drill
on the part of the hands, in all factories, is of prime importance.
It is always in the first stages of a fire that thoroughly
efficient action is necessary, and here it is worth a thousand-fold
more than can be any efforts after a fire is once
thoroughly started. Long immunity is apt to beget a feeling
of security, and the carelessness resulting from overconfidence
has been the means of destroying many valuable factories
which were amply provided with every facility for
their own preservation. The teachers in some of the public
schools of New York and Brooklyn, during the past year,
set an example which some of our millowners might profitably
follow. There have been cases when, from a sudden
alarm of fire, children have been crushed in their crowding
to get out of the building. The teachers, in the instances
referred to, marched their children out, under discipline, as
if there had been a fire. Let owners of factories try some
such plan as this, by which workmen may be called upon to>
cope with an imaginary fire, and many of them will, we venture
to say, find means of improving their present system or
appliances for protection, elaborate as they may at present
think them to be.

WHAT IS LIGHT?

If on opening a text book on geology one should find
stated the view concerning the creation and age of the earth
that was held a hundred years ago, and this view gravely
put forward as a possible or alternative hypothesis with the
current one deducible from the nebula theory, one would
be excused for smiling while he turned to the title page to
see who in the name of geology should write such stuff.
Nevertheless this is precisely similar to what one will find
in most treatises on physics for schools and colleges if he
turns to the subject of light. For instance, I quote from a
book edited by an eminent man of science in England, the
book bearing the date 1873.

“There are two theories of light; one the emissive theory;
… the other, the vibratory theory;” just as if the
emissive or corpuscular theory was not mathematically untenable
sixty years ago, and experimentally demonstrated to
be false more than forty years ago. Unless one were treating
of the history of the science of optics there is no reason
why the latter theory should be mentioned any more than
the old theory of the formation of the earth. It is not to be
presumed that any one whose opinion is worth the asking
still thinks it possible that the old view may be the true one
because the evidence is demonstrable against it, yet while
the undulatory theory prevails there are not a few persons
well instructed otherwise who still write and speak as though
light has some sort of independent existence as distinguished
from so-called radiant heat; in other words, that the heat
and light we receive from the sun are specifically different.

A brief survey of our present knowledge of this form of
energy will help to show how far wrong the common conception
of light is. For fifteen years it has been common to
hear heat spoken of as a mode of molecular motion, and
sometimes it has been characterized as vibratory, and most
persons have received the impression that the vibratory motion
was an actual change of position of the molecular in
space instead of a change of form. Make a ring of wire five
or six inches in diameter, and, holding it between the thumb
and finger at the twisted ends, pluck it with a finger of the
other hand; the ring will vibrate, have three nodes, and
will give a good idea of the character of the vibration that
constitutes what we call heat. This vibratory motion may
have a greater or less amplitude, and the energy of the vibration
will be as the square of that amplitude. But the vibrating
molecule gives up its energy of vibration to the surrounding
ether; that is to say, it loses amplitude precisely
as a vibrating tuning fork will lose it. The ether transmits
the energy it has received in every direction with the velocity
of 186,000 miles per second, whether the amplitude be
great or small, and whether the number of vibrations be
many or few. It is quite immaterial. The form of this
energy which the ether transmits is undulatory; that is to
say, not unlike that of the wave upon a loose rope when
one end of it is shaken by the hand. As every shake of the
hand starts a wave in the rope, so will every vibration of a
part of the molecule start a wave in the ether. Now we
have several methods for measuring the wave lengths in
ether, and we also know the velocity of movement. Let v =
velocity, l = wave length, and n = number of vibrations per
second, then n = v/l, and by calculation the value of n varies
within wide limits, say from 1 × 10¹⁴ to 20 × 10¹⁴. But all

[Pg 385]

vibrating bodies are capable of vibrating in several periods,
the longest period being called the fundamental, and the remainder,
which stand in some simple ratios to the fundamental,
are called harmonics. Each of these will give to
the ether its own particular vibratory movement, so that a
single molecule may be constantly giving out rays of many
wave lengths precisely as a sounding bell gives out sounds
of various pitches at one and the same time.

Again, when these undulations in the ether fall upon other
molecules the latter may reflect them away or they may absorb
them, in which case the absorbing molecules are themselves
made to vibrate with increased amplitude, and we say
they have been heated. Some molecules, such as carbon,
appear to be capable of stopping undulations of all wave
lengths and to be heated by them; others are only affected
by undulations of particular wave lengths, or of wave
lengths between special limits. In this case it is a species
of sympathetic vibration. The distinction between the molecular
vibrations, and the undulations in ether that result
from them, must be kept in mind, as must also the effect of
the undulations that fall upon other molecules. To one the
name heat is applied, to the other the name of radiant energy
is given; and it matters not whether the undulations be long
or short, the same molecule may give out both.

Now let a prism be placed in the path of such rays of different
wave length from a single molecule, and what is
called the dispersive action of the prism will separate the
rays in the order of their wave lengths, the longer waves
being less refracted than the shorter ones; but the energy of
any one of these will depend upon the amplitude of undulation,
which in turn will depend upon the amplitude of vibration
of the part of the molecule that originated it, but in
general the longer waves have greater amplitude, though
not necessarily so. Consequently, if a thermopile be so
placed as to receive these various rays, and their energy be
measured by its absorption on the face of the pile, each one
would be found to heat it, the longer waves more than the
shorter ones, simply because the amplitude is greater, but
for no other reason, for it is possible, and in certain cases is
the fact, that a short wave has as much or more energy than
a longer one. If the eye should take the place of the thermopile
it would be found that some of these rays did not affect
it at all, while some would produce the sensation of light.
This would be the case with any waves having a wave
length between the limits of, say, 1-37,000 of an inch and
1-60,000 of an inch; any shorter waves will not produce the
sensation of light. If instead of the eye a piece of paper
washed in a solution of the chloride of silver should be
placed where the dispersed rays should fall upon it, it would
be found that only the shorter waves would affect it at all,
and among these shorter ones would be some of those rays
which the eye could not perceive at all.

It was formerly inferred from these facts that the heat
rays, the light rays, and the chemical rays were different in
quality; and some of the late books treating upon this very
subject represent a solar spectrum as being made up of a
heat spectrum, a light spectrum, and an actinic or chemical
spectrum, and the idea has often been made to do duty as
an analogy in trinitarian theology; nevertheless it is utterly
wrong and misleading. There is no such thing as an actinic
spectrum; that is, there are no such rays as special
chemical rays; any given ray will do chemical work if it
falls upon the proper kind of matter. For instance, while
it is true that for such salts of silver as the chloride, the
bromide, etc., the shorter waves are most efficient; by employing
salts of iron one may get photographic effects with
wave lengths much too long for any eye to perceive. Capt.
Abney has photographed the whole solar spectrum from
one end to the other, which is sufficient evidence that there
are no special chemical rays. As to the eye itself, certain
of the wave lengths are competent to produce the sensation
we call light, but the same ray will heat the face of a thermopile
or produce photographic effects if permitted to act upon
the proper material, so there is no more propriety in calling
it a light ray than in calling it a heat ray or an actinic ray.
What the ray will do depends solely upon what kind of matter
it falls upon, and all three of these names, light, heat, and
actinism, are names of effects of radiant energy. The retina
of the eye is itself demonstrably a photographic plate having
a substance called purpurine secreted by appropriate
glands spread over it in place of the silver salts of common
photography. This substance purpurine is rapidly decomposed
by radiant energy of certain wave lengths, becoming
bleached, but the decomposition is attended by certain molecular
movements; the ends of the optic nerves, which are
also spread over the retina, are shaken by the disrupting
molecules, and the disturbance is the origin of what we call
the sensation of light. But the sensation is generally a compound
one, and when all wave lengths which are competent
to affect the retina are present, the compound effect we call
white or whiteness. When some of the rays are absent, as,
for instance, the longer ones, the optical effect is one we call
green or greenness; and the special physiological mechanism
for producing the sensation may be either three special
sets of nerves, capable of sympathetic vibration to waves of
about 1-39,000, 1-45,000, and 1-55,000 of an inch in length,
as Helmholtz has suggested, or, as seems to the writer more
probable, the substance purpurine is a highly complex organic
substance made up of molecules of different sizes and
requiring wave lengths of different orders to decompose
them, so that a part of the substance may be quite disintegrated,
while other molecules may be quite entire throughout
the visual space. This will account for most of the
chromatic effects of vision, for complementary colors, and
for color blindness, by supposing that the purpurine is not
normally constituted. This is in accordance with experimental
photography, for it has been found that the long
waves will act only upon heavier molecules. It is true
vision may be good when there is no purpurine, but there
is no doubt but that this substance is secreted in the eye, and
that it is photographic in its properties, and so far must be
taken as an element in any theory of vision; but the chief
point here considered is that objectively light does not exist
independent of the eye, that light is a physiological phenomenon,
and to speak of it otherwise is to confound a cause
with an effect. It is, hence, incorrect to speak of the velocity
of light; it has no velocity. It is radiant energy that
has the velocity of 186,000 miles a second. It is incorrect
to say we receive heat from the sun. What we do receive
is radiant energy, which is here transformed into heat. This
is not hypercritical, but is in accordance with the knowledge
we have to-day. The old nomenclature we use, but
without definite meaning; the latter is left to be inferred
from the connection or context. If a man should attach to
the water main in a city a properly constructed waterwheel,
the latter will rotate; but it would not be proper to say that
he received rotation from the reservoir. What he received
was water with a certain pressure; in other words, a certain
form of energy, which he transforms into rotation by the
appropriate means; but by substituting other means he can
make the same water pressure maintain a vibratory motion,
as with the hydraulic ram valve, or let it waste itself by
open flow, in which case it becomes ultimately molecular
vibration that is heat. The analogy holds strictly. The
trouble all comes from neglecting to distinguish between
different forms of energy—energy in matter and energy in
the ether.

GLASS SPINNING AND WEAVING.

Quite recently a Pittsburg glass firm has succeeded, to a
notable degree, in producing glass threads of sufficient fineness
and elasticity to permit of their being woven into
fabrics of novel character and quality. Their success is
such as to warrant the assumption that garments of pure
glass, glistening and imperishable, are among the possibilities
of the near future. The spinning of glass threads of
extreme fineness is not a new process, but, as carried on at
present by the firm in question—Messrs. Atterbury & Co.—possesses
considerable interest. From a quality of glass
similar to that from which table ware is made, rods of glass
averaging half an inch in diameter are drawn to any desired
length and of various colors. These rods are then so placed
that the flame of two gas burners is blown against that
end of the rod pointed toward the large “spinning” wheel.
The latter is 81/2 feet in diameter, and turns at the rate of
300 revolutions per minute. The flames, having played
upon the end of the glass cylinder until a melting heat is
attained, a thread of glass is drawn from the rod and affixed
to the periphery of the wheel, whose face is about 12 inches
wide. Motion is then communicated, and the crystal thread
is drawn from between the gas jets and wrapped upon the
wheel at the rate of about 7,500 feet per minute. A higher
speed results in a finer filament of glass, and vice versa.
During its passage from the flame to the wheel, a distance
of five or six feet, the thread has become cooled, and yet its
elasticity is preserved to a notable degree. The next step
in the process consists in the removal of the layers of threads
from the wheel. This is easily accomplished, and after
being cut to the desired lengths, the filaments are woven in
a loom somewhat similar to that used in weaving silken
goods. Until within the past few weeks only the woof of
the fabric was of glass, but at present both warp and woof
are in crystal. Samples of this cloth have been forwarded
to New York and to Chicago, and the manufacturers claim
to be able to duplicate in colors, texture, etc., any garments
sent them. A tablecloth of glass recently completed shines
with a satiny, opalescent luster by day, and under gaslight
shows remarkable beauty. Imitation plumes, in opal, ruby,
pale green, and other hues, are also constructed of these
threads, and are wonderfully pretty. The chief obstacle
yet to surmount seems to lie in the manipulation of these
threads, which are so fine that a bunch containing 250 is not
so thick as an average sized knitting needle, and which do
not possess the tractability of threads of silk or cotton.

REMARKABLE ERUPTION OF MAUNA LOA.

Late advices from the Sandwich Islands describe the
eruption of Mauna Loa, which began Nov. 5, as one of the
grandest ever witnessed. The opening was about six miles
from the summit of the mountain, and already two great
streams of lava had been poured out; one of them, from
one to two yards wide and twenty feet deep, had reached a
distance of thirty miles. Terrible explosions accompany
the flow of the lava stream, which for a time threatened
the town of Hilo; at last reports the flow seemed to be
turning in another direction.

Mauna Loa, “long or high mountain” occupies a large
portion of the central and southern part of the island of
Hawaii, and reaches an elevation of 13,760 feet. It has
been built up by lavas thrown out in a highly fluid state, and
flowing long distances before cooling; as a consequence the
slopes of the mountain are very gentle, averaging, according
to Prof. Dana, not more than six and a half degrees.
Its craters are numerous, and usually occur near the summit
and on the sides, new ones opening frequently, and
furnishing, as in the latest instance, magnificent lava
streams. The terminal crater is circular, 8,000 feet in diameter,
and in 1864 was about 1,000 feet deep. In 1859 an
enormous lava fountain spouted from this crater for four or
five days, throwing a column of white hot fluid lava about
200 feet in diameter to the height of two or three hundred
feet. The lava stream ran 50 miles to the sea in eight days.
Other great eruptions have occurred in 1832, 1840, 1843,
1852, 1855, 1868 and 1873. The lava streams poured out in
1840, 1859, and 1868, flowed to the sea, adding considerably
to the area of the island. Those of 1843 and 1855 are
estimated to have poured out respectively 17,000,000,000
and 38,000,000,000 cubic feet of lava. In 1868 the lava
stream forced its way under ground a distance of twenty
miles, and burst forth from a fissure two miles long, throwing
up enormous columns of crimson lava and red hot rock
to the height of five or six hundred feet.

On the eastern part of Mauna Loa, 16 miles from the summit
crater, is Kilauea, the largest continuously active crater
in the world. It is eight miles in circumference, and 1,000
feet deep. Its eruptions are generally independent of those
of Mauna Loa.

NEW AIR ENGINE.

A valuable improvement in compressed air engines has recently
been patented in this country and in Europe by Col.
F. E. B. Beaumont, of the Royal Engineers, and we learn
from accounts given in the London and provincial papers
that it has proved highly efficient and satisfactory.

The engine possesses some peculiar features which render
it very economical in the use of compressed air. It has two
cylinders, one being much larger than the other. Into the
smaller of these cylinders the compressed air is taken directly
from the reservoir, and after doing its work there it is discharged
into the larger cylinder, where it is further expanded,
being finally discharged into the open air.

The admission of air to the smaller cylinder is regulated by
an adjustable cut-off apparatus, which admits of maintaining
a uniform power under a variable pressure. When the
reservoir at first starting contains air at a very high pressure,
the cut-off is adjusted so that the small cylinder receives
a very small charge of air at each stroke; when the
pressure in the reservoir diminishes the cut-off is delayed so
that a larger quantity of air is admitted to the small cylinder;
and when the pressure in the reservoir is so far reduced
that the pressure on the smaller piston gives very little
power, the supply passages are kept open so that the air acts
directly on the piston of the larger cylinder. This arrangement
is also available when the air pressure is high and
great power is required for a short time, as, for example, in
starting a locomotive.

It is, perhaps, needless to mention the advantages a motor
of this kind possesses over the steam locomotive. The absence
of smoke and noise renders it particularly desirable for
tunnels, elevated roads, and, in fact, for any city railroad.

Further information in regard to this important invention
may be obtained by addressing Mr. R. Ten Broeck, at the
Windsor Hotel, New York.

Telegraph Wires Underground.

Philadelphia newspapers report that the American Union
Telegraph Company are about to try in that city the experiment
of putting their wires underground. The plan works
well enough in European cities, and there would seem to be
no reason why it should not succeed here, save the indisposition
of the companies to bear the first cost of making the
change. For some months the Western Union Telegraph
Company has had the matter under consideration, but will
probably wait until pressed by a rival company before it undertakes
the more serious task of taking down its forest of
poles and sinking the wires which contribute so much to the
prevailing ugliness of our streets. Sooner or later the poles
and wires must come down; and it is altogether probable
that the change will be beneficial to the companies in the
long run, owing to the smaller cost of maintaining a subterranean
system. It will certainly be an advantage to the community.

[Pg 386]

IMPROVED SAFETY NUT.

That a safety nut so simple and so obviously efficient as
the one shown in the annexed engraving should be among
the recent inventions in this line instead of being among the
first, is a curious example of the manner in which inventors
often overlook the simplest means of accomplishing an end.
The principle on which this nut operates will be understood
by reference to the engraving. Two nuts are represented
on each bolt, simply for the purpose of showing the
difference between the nut when loose and when screwed
down. In practice only one nut is required to each bolt.

The square nut shown in Fig. 1 is concaved on its under
side, so that it touches its bearings only at the corners and
in the outer face of the nut there are two slots at right angles
to each other. When this nut is screwed home the
outer portion is contracted so as to clamp the bolt tightly.

The hexagonal nut shown in Fig. 2 has but a single transverse
slot, and the nut is made concave on the under surface,
so that when the nut is screwed home it will contract
the outer portion and so clamp the bolt.

This nut may be removed and replaced by means of the
wrench, but it will not become accidentally loosened, and
the bolt to which it is applied will always remain tight, as
the nut possesses a certain amount of elasticity. The action
of this nut is such as to prevent stripping the threads of
either bolt or nut.

As only one nut is used with each bolt, and as no washer
or other extra appliance is required, it is obvious that a
great saving is effected by this invention.

We are informed that several of the leading railroads have
adopted this nut, and use it on the tracks, engines, cars, and
machinery. The Atwood Safety Nut Company manufacture
this article in a variety of forms.

THE ATWOOD SAFETY NUT

Further information may be obtained by addressing J. W.
Labaree, Secretary and Treasurer, Room 2, Agawam Bank
Building, Springfield, Mass.

Petroleum Prospects.

The total oil production of the Pennsylvania oil regions
for the month of October was 2,094,608 barrels. The conditions
in the producing field are gradually giving warrant
for permanently higher prices of crude. The confidence of
the trade is daily becoming more fixed in the definiteness
and limit of the Bradford field, as the last of the several
“rich streaks” in the region are being worked.

We entertain an increased belief that the coming year will
exhibit a continued falling off in the volume of production,
notwithstanding all the modern improvements in drilling
and the great energy with which they are employed.

For the past few weeks the markets of both crude and refined
seem to have been rigorously and artificially held by
the refining interest. The refined has been quoted at 12 cts.
for four weeks without change—and as a consequence the
exporter has taken oil very sparingly. The exports of last
year to November 1, as compared with the exports of this
year to November 1, show a decrease of 1,269,646 barrels in
crude equivalent. The falling off of production, taken together
with the increased demand which must result from
the present reluctance of exporters, unite in warranting us
in the belief above expressed, in enhanced prices for the
coming year.

Our figures show a decrease in production for last month,
compared with the preceding month, of 933 barrels per day,
notwithstanding the number of wells drilled was slightly
greater than in the preceding month. It will be noticed,
too, that the average per well of the new wells for last
month is a little less than that of the new wells for the
month before, besides, it is generally recognized that the
force of the gas in the region is gradually becoming less,
and pumping is more commonly resorted to. As nearly as
we can ascertain, about one-eighth of all the wheels of the
Bradford region are now pumping. We believe, however,
on the whole, judging the character of the Bradford producing
field, that the falling off of production will be quite
gradual. Our reason for this is that the Bradford field is
essentially different from its predecessor—the Butler field.
The wells in the Butler field were often close together,
many of them were very large and fell off rapidly; while
the wells of the Bradford region are smaller, farther apart,
much greater in number, have a greater area from which to
draw oil, and consequently decline very much more slowly.—Stowell’s Reporter.

TOOL FOR DRIVING AND CLINCHING NAILS.

A novel method of making a nail hole and driving and
clinching the nail is shown in the annexed engraving. The
instrument for making the hole has a notched end which
leaves a ridge in the center of the hole at the bottom. The
nail driving tool consists of a socket provided with a suitable
handle, and containing a follower which rests upon the
head of the nail to be driven, and receives the blows of the
hammer in the operation of driving the nail. The nail is
split for one half its length, and the two arms thus formed
are slightly separated at the point, so that when they meet
the ridge at the bottom of the hole they will be still further
separated and will clinch in the body of the wood.

TOOL FOR DRIVING AND CLINCHING NAILS.

This invention was recently patented by Mr. Charles P.
Ball, of Danville, Ky.

AUTOMATIC BALANCE ATTACHMENT FOR VALVES.

It is well known that in all air compressors and water
pumps the pressure in cylinder of air compressors or in
working barrel or cylinder of pumps is much greater at the
point of opening the delivery valves than the actual pressure
in the air receivers of compressors or in water column of
pumps because of the difference in area between the top
and bottom of delivery valves. In some air compressors a
hundred and twenty-five pounds pressure to the square inch
is required in the cylinder to eighty pounds in the receiver,
and in some instances a hundred pounds pressure is required
in the cylinder to eighty pounds pressure in the receiver or
column.

The engraving shows an invention designed to remedy
this defect in air compressors and pumps, to provide a device
which will enable the compressors and pumps to operate
with equal pressure on both sides of the delivery valve.

The invention consists of an auxiliary valve arranged outside
of the cylinder, where it is not subjected to back pressure,
and connected with the delivery valve by a hollow valve
stem.

In the engraving, which is a sectional view, the cylinder of
an air compressor is represented, on the end of which there
is a ring containing delivery ports, through which the air
from the cylinder is forced into a receiver or conducting
pipe. This ring is provided with an inner flange or valve
seat on which rests the delivery valve. These parts are
similar to those seen in some of the air compressors in
common use, and with this construction and arrangement
one hundred pounds pressure to the square inch in the
cylinder is required to open the valve against eighty pounds
pressure in the receiver or in the conducting pipes.

AUTOMATIC BALANCE ATTACHMENT FOR DELIVERY VALVES OF AIR COMPRESSORS AND WATER PUMPS.

A drum having an open end is connected with the cylinder
head by inclined standards, and contains a piston connected
with the valve by means of a rod that extends centrally
through the cylinder head. On the outer end of this
rod is screwed an adjusting nut, by means of which the
piston may be adjusted. This rod is bored longitudinally,
establishing communication between the compressor cylinder
and the drum containing the piston.

It will be seen that the upper face of the piston is exposed
so as to be subjected to atmospheric pressure
only, and when the compressor is in operation a portion
of the air in the compressor cylinder passes through
the hollow rod into the space beneath the piston, and there
exerts sufficient pressure, in combination with the pressure
on the inner face of the valve, to open the valve against an
equal pressure in the receiver or conducting pipes, so that
when the pressure in the cylinder equals the pressure
in the receivers the valve is opened and held in place
until the piston in the cylinder starts on the return stroke,
when the pressure under the piston is immediately relieved
through the hollow rod and the main valve closes.

The space between the valve and its seat is made as shallow
as possible, so that the space may be quickly filled and
exhausted. The piston may be adjusted to regulate this
space. This invention was recently patented by Messrs.
Samuel B. Connor and Henry Dods, of Virginia City, Nevada.

IMPROVED SAFETY VALVE.

In the annexed cut we have represented a steam safety
valve, which is the invention of M. Schmidt, M. E., of
Zurich, Switzerland. It consists of a lever terminating in
two prongs, one of which extends downward and rests upon
the cap, closing the top of the tube through which the steam
escapes. The other prong extends upward and catches under
a projection of the steam tube, and forms the fulcrum for the
lever. The opposite end of this lever is provided with an
adjustable screw pressing upon a plate that rests on the top
of a spiral spring, which keeps the valve closed by pressing
the outer end of the lever upward. As soon as the pressure
of the steam overcomes the pressure of the spiral spring the
valve will be raised, permitting the steam to escape. The
apparatus is contained in a case having a central aperture
for the escape of steam.

IMPROVED SAFETY VALVE.

Raising Sunken Vessels.

An experiment recently took place in the East India Dock
Basin, Blackwall, London, by permission of Mr. J. L. du
Plat Taylor, the secretary of the Dock Company, for the
purpose of testing and illustrating the mode of raising sunken
ships by means of the apparatus patented by Mr. William
Atkinson, naval engineer, of Sheffield. The machinery employed
consists of the necessary number and size, according
to the power required, of oval or egg-shaped buoys constructed
of sheet iron, having an internal valve of a simple
and effective character. Captain Hales Dutton, the dock
master, who assisted during the operations, had placed his
small yacht at the inventor’s service for the occasion. The
vessel was moored in the basin, and a set of four buoys were
attached to it, one on each side near the bow and the stern.
Air was supplied from a pump on the quay by a pipe communicating
with a small copper globe resting on the deck of
the vessel, and from which place proceeded four other flexible
tubes, one to each buoy, thus distributing the air to each
one equally. The vessel being flooded and in a sinking condition,
the buoys were attached and the valves opened; they
rapidly filled with water, and the vessel immediately sank
in about 30 feet. Upon the first attempt an air chamber in
the stern had been lost sight of, causing the vessel to come
up to the surface stern uppermost; this being rectified, the
vessel was again sent to the bottom, and allowed to remain
a short time to allow her to settle down. When the order
was given to work the pump, the vessel was brought to the
surface, perfectly level, in about three minutes. The apparatus
used, although only models, and on a comparatively
diminutive scale (the buoys measuring 3 feet 4 inches in
height and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter), was estimated to be
capable of lifting a weight of nearly 20 tons, and that it
needed, as represented by the patentee, only a corresponding
increase in the lifting power to deal successfully with
vessels of any tonnage.

[Pg 387]

NEW HAND POWER BAND SAW.

The engraving shows a new hand power band saw made
by Frank & Co., of Buffalo, N. Y., and designed to be used
in shops where there is no power and where a larger machine
would be useless. It is calculated to meet the wants of a
large class of mechanics, including carpenters and builders,
cabinet makers, and wagon makers. It is capable of sawing
stuff six inches thick, and has a clear space of thirty inches
between the saw and the frame. The upper wheel is adjusted
by a screw pressing against a rubber spring which
compensates for the expansion and contraction of the saw.

The machine has a very complete device for raising, lowering,
and adjusting the wheel, and all of the
parts are made with a view to obtaining the best
results in the simplest and most desirable way.

The machine is six feet wide and five feet
high, and weighs 380 lb. The wheels are covered
with pure rubber bands well cemented.

HAND POWER BAND SAW.

Further particulars may be obtained by addressing
Messrs. Frank & Co., 176 Terrace street,
Buffalo, N. Y.

The Harbor of Montreal.

A plan for the improvement of the harbor of
Montreal, Canada, has been submitted to the
City Board of Trade by James Shearer, a well
known citizen. Mr. Shearer’s plan is to divert
the current of the St. Lawrence opposite the city
into the channels between St. Helen’s Island and
the southern shore, and by having various obstructions
removed from the channel, and running
a dam, or “peninsula,” as he calls it, built
from Point St. Charles, in the west end of the
city, to St. Helen’s Island, midway in the river,
thus stopping the current from running through
the present main channel between the city and
St. Helen’s Island.

Among the practical advantages that will accrue
to the city and harbor from the carrying
out of this project, Mr. Shearer sets forth the
following: The dam will prevent the shoring of ice opposite
the city, and the consequent flooding of the Griffintown district,
which is annually very destructive to property, and
will make a still harbor, where vessels may lie during the
winter. It is estimated that the construction of the dam,
which would be 2,700 feet long and 900 feet broad, would
raise the water two feet in the river and lower it ten feet in
the harbor. This would give a head of twenty-five feet for
mills, elevators, and factories, and the transportation of
freight. The dam would afford a roadway across the river,
upon the construction of a bridge from St. Helen’s Island
to St. Lambert, thus removing the necessity of a tunnel.
The roadway could be utilized for a railway, a road for carriages
and foot passengers. The estimated cost of the improvement
is $7,000,000.

APPARATUS FOR REMOVING ICE FROM RAILROADS.

The engraving shows an improved apparatus for removing
snow and ice from railroads and streets by means of
heat. The invention consists of a double furnace mounted
on wheels, which are incased in the fire boxes of the furnace,
so that in use the entire apparatus, including the
wheels, will become highly heated, so that the snow and ice
will not only be melted by radiant heat, but by the actual
contact of the hot surfaces of the furnace and wheels. This
apparatus was recently patented by the late E. H. Angamar,
of New Orleans, La.

APPARATUS FOR REMOVING ICE FROM RAILROADS.

Ericsson’s New Submarine Gun.

The protracted trials conducted on board the Destroyer to
test its submarine gun terminated last week. Having, says
the Army and Navy Journal, in a previous issue described
this novel type of naval artillery, it will suffice to remind
our readers that its caliber is 16 inches, length of bore 30
feet, and that it is placed at the bottom of the vessel, the
muzzle passing through an opening formed in the wrought
iron stem.

We have hitherto, in discussing the properties of the Destroyer,
referred to its offensive weapon as a “torpedo,” a
term not altogether inappropriate while it was actuated by
compressed air. But Capt. Ericsson having in the meantime
wholly abolished compressed air in his new system of naval
attack, substituting guns and gunpowder as the means of
producing motive energy, it will be proper to adopt the constructor’s
term, projectile. It will not surprise those who are
acquainted with the laws of hydrostatics and the enormous
resistance offered to bodies moving swiftly through water,
that the determination of the proper form of projectile for
the submarine gun has demanded protracted experiments,
commencing at the beginning of June and continued up to
last week, as before stated. The greater portion of these experiments,
it should be observed, has been carried out with
a gun 30 feet long, 15 inches caliber—not a breech-loader,
however, as in the Destroyer, but a muzzle-loader, suspended
under the bottom of two wrecking scows, the gun being
lifted above the water, after each shot, by shears and suitable
tackle. The present projectile of the Destroyer is the
result of the extended trials referred to; its length is 25 feet
6 inches, diameter 16 inches, and its weight 1,500 pounds,
including 250 pounds of explosive materials. We are not at
liberty at present to describe its form, but we may mention
that the great length of the body and the absence of all internal
machinery enable the constructor to carry the stated
enormous quantity of explosive matter. With minimum
charge of powder in the chamber of the gun, the speed attained
by the projectile reaches 310 feet in the first three seconds.

The question may be asked, in view of these facts, whether
the boasted costly steam ram is not superseded by the cheap
aggressive system represented by the Destroyer. Evidently
the most powerful of the English steam rams could not destroy
an armored ship as effectually as the projectile from
the submarine gun, the explosion of which is capable of shattering
any naval structure.

It should be borne in mind, also, that being protected by
heavy inclined transverse armor, the Destroyer, attacking
bows on, can defy ordnance of all calibers. Again, the carrier
of the submarine gun, in addition to the swiftness of its
projectile, can outrun ironclad ships.

RECENT INVENTIONS.

Mr. Francis M. Osborn, of Port Chester, N. Y., has
patented a covering for a horse that protects him from the
weather and from chafing. The blanket has a band, also
stays and straps, the use of which does away with the surcingle
and affords a most efficient protection for the horse,
and may be easily worn under harness in wet weather or at
other times, when desirable.

A novel device, designed especially for containing boxes of
cigars and protecting and displaying their contents, has been
patented by Mr. Robert B. Dando, of Alta, Iowa. The invention
consists of a case containing shelves, on which are
fixed the covered cigar or other boxes, cords connecting the
box lids and case doors, so that the opening of the case doors
causes the box lids to open.

An improved bottle stopper has been patented by Mr.
Andrew Walker, of Cincinnati, O. The invention consists
in combining with the stopper caps connected by an intermediate
spring.

Mr. James B. Law, of Darlington Court House, S. C.,
has patented an improved construction of buckle for fastening
the ends of cotton and other bale bands; it consists in
a buckle having a permanent seat for one end of the bale
band, a central opening, into which the other end of the
band is entered through an oblique channel, and a bar offsetting
from the plane of the buckle, notched or recessed to
prevent lateral movement of the band, and connecting the
free ends of the buckle on each side of the oblique channel
to strengthen the buckle.

An improved buckboard wagon has been patented by Mr.
William Sanford, of Cohoes, N. Y. The invention consists
in combining with the buckboards curved longitudinal
springs placed beneath the buckboards, and curved cross
springs connected at their ends with the buckboards by cap
plates so as to increase the strength and elasticity of the
wagon.

An improved vehicle wheel has been patented by Messrs.
George W. Dudley and William J. Jones, of Waynesborough,
Va. The main object of this invention is to form a
wheel hub for vehicles in such manner that the
wheel will yield sufficiently when undue and
sudden strains or jars may come upon it to receive
the force of the blow and shield the other
portions of the vehicle from the destructive
effects of such action, as well as to afford ease
and comfort of motion to the occupant; and the
improvement consists in securing the inner ends
of the spokes to rim plates, to form a fixed and
solid connection therewith, the rim plates being
loosely secured to the butt flanges and box of
the hub, so that it is free to move in a vertical
plane, but prevented from moving laterally and
limited in its vertical movement by an elastic
packing interposed between the inner ends of
the spokes and the hub box.

Mr. Francis G. Powers, of Moweaqua, Ill.,
has patented an improvement in the class of atmospheric
clothes pounders, that is to say,
pounders which are constructed with one or
more chambers or cavities in which the air is
alternately compressed and allowed to expand
at each reciprocation.

An improved means for connecting the body
of a baby carriage to the running gear has been
patented by Mr. Charles M. Hubbard, of Columbus,
Ohio. It consists in supporting the rear
end by one or more coil springs, and hinging
the front portion of the body to a pair of upturned supports
rising from the front axle.

An improved ferrule for awl handles has been patented by
Mr. Jules Steinmeyer, of St. Louis, Mo. The object of this
invention is to prevent splitting of the handle, to secure both
the ferrule and leather pad firmly in place, and to furnish
a durable and serviceable awl handle.

NEW TELEGRAPH INSULATOR.

The insulator represented in the annexed engraving was
originally designed to meet the requirements of South American
telegraph service, but it is equally well adapted to
lines in other places. The main idea is to avoid breakage
from expansion and contraction in a climate subject to sudden
changes of temperature, and to avoid the mischief occasioned
by a well known South American bird, the “hornero,”
by building nests of mud on the brackets and insulators.
With this insulator these nests cannot cause a weather
contact or earth; on the contrary, the nest rather improves
the insulation. The sectional view, Fig 2, shows the construction
of the insulator and the manner of fastening it to
the cross arm or bracket. A rubber ring is placed between
the upper end of the porcelain insulator and the cross arm,
and another similar ring is placed between the head of the
suspending screw and the bottom of the insulator. It will
be noticed that with this construction the insulator cannot
be broken by the contraction of the screw or by the swelling
of the cross-piece. This insulator can be used on an iron
bracket and in connection with either iron or wooden posts,
and is in every way more secure than the insulators in common
use. The first cost of these insulators compares favorably
with the cheapest in market, while it is less liable to
breakage, lasts longer, and gives better results. It has been
patented in this country and in Europe.

IMPROVED TELEGRAPH INSULATOR.

Further information maybe obtained by addressing Mr. J.
H. Bloomfield, Concordia, Entre Reos, Argentine Republic,
South America.

[Pg 388]

BUSINESS COLLEGES.

PACKARD’S BUSINESS COLLEGE.

There are two very general prejudices against the class of
schools known as business colleges. One is that their chief
aim—next to lining the pockets of their proprietors—is to
turn out candidates for petty clerkships, when the country
is already overrun with young men whose main ambition is
to stand at a desk and “keep books.” The other is that the
practical outcome of these institutions is a swarm of conceited
flourishers with the pen, who, because they have copied a
set or two of model account books and learned to imitate
more or less cleverly certain illegibly artistic writing copies,
imagine themselves competent for any business post, and
worthy of a much higher salary than any merely practical
accountant who has never been to a business college or attempted
the art of fancy penmanship as exhibited in spread
eagles and impossible swans.

As a rule popular prejudices are not wholly unfounded in
reason; and we should not feel disposed to make an exception
in this case. When the demand arose for a more practical
schooling than the old fashioned schools afforded, no
end of writing masters, utterly ignorant of actual business
life and methods, hastened to set up ill managed writing
schools which they dubbed “business colleges,” and by
dint of advertising succeeded in calling in a multitude of aspirants
for clerkships. In view of the speedy discomfiture
of the deluded graduates of such schools when brought face
to face with actual business affairs, and the disgust of their
employers who had engaged them on the strength of their
alleged business training, one is not so much surprised that
prejudice against business colleges still prevails in many
quarters, as that the relatively few genuine
institutions should have been able
to gain any creditable footing at all.

The single fact that they have overcome
the opprobrium cast upon their
name by quacks, so far as to maintain
themselves in useful prosperity, winning
a permanent and honorable place
among the progressive educational institutions
of the day, is proof enough
that they have a mission to fulfill and
are fulfilling it. This, however, is not
simply, as many suppose, in training
young men and young women to be
skilled accountants—a calling of no
mean scope and importance in itself—but
more particularly in furnishing
young people, destined for all sorts of
callings, with that practical knowledge
of business affairs which every man or
woman of means has constant need of
in every-day life. Thus the true business
college performs a twofold function.
As a technical school it trains
its students for a specific occupation,
that of the accountant; at the same
time it supplements the education not
only of the intending merchant, but
equally of the mechanic, the man of
leisure, the manufacturer, the farmer,
the professional man—in short, of any one who expects to mix
with or play any considerable part in the affairs of men. The
mechanic who aspires to be the master of a successful shop
of his own, or foreman or manager in the factory of another,
will have constant need of the business habits and the knowledge
of business methods and operations which a properly
conducted business school will give him. The same is true
of the manufacturer, whose complicated, and it may be extensive,
business relations with the producers and dealers
who supply him with raw material, with the workmen who
convert such material into finished wares, with the merchants
or agents who market the products of his factory, all require
his oversight and direction. Indeed, whoever aspires to
something better than a hand-to-mouth struggle with poverty,
whether as mechanic, farmer, professional man, or
what not, must of necessity be to some degree a business
man; and in every position in life business training and a
practical knowledge of financial affairs are potent factors in
securing success.

How different, for example, would have been the history
of our great inventors had they all possessed that knowledge
of business affairs which would have enabled them to put
their inventions in a business like way before the world, or
before the capitalists whose assistance they wished to invoke.
The history of invention is full of illustrations of men who
have starved with valuable patents standing in their names—patents
which have proved the basis of large fortunes to
those who were competent to develop the wealth that was
in them. How often, too, do we see capable and ingenious
and skillful mechanics confined through life to a small shop,
or to a subordinate position in a large shop, solely through
their inability to manage the affairs of a larger business. On
the other hand, it is no uncommon thing to see what might
be a profitable business—which has been fairly thrust upon
a lucky inventor or manufacturer by the urgency of popular
needs—fail disastrously through ignorance of business
methods and inability to conduct properly the larger affairs
which fell to the owner’s hand.

Of course a business training is not the only condition of
success in life. Many have it and fail; others begin without
it and succeed, gaining a working knowledge of business affairs
through the exigencies of their own increasing business
needs. Nevertheless, in whatever line in life a man’s course
may fall, a practical business training will be no hinderance
to him, while the lack of it may be a serious hinderance. The
school of experience is by no means to be despised. To
many it is the only school available. But unhappily its
teachings are apt to come too late, and often they are fatally
expensive. Whoever can attain the needed knowledge in a
quicker and cheaper way will obviously do well so to obtain
it; and the supplying of such practical knowledge, and the
training which may largely take the place of experience in
actual business, is the proper function of the true business
college.

Our purpose in this writing, however, was not so much to
enlarge upon the utility of business colleges, properly so
called, as to describe the practical working of a representative
institution, choosing for the purpose Packard’s Business
College in this city.

This school was established in 1858, under the name of
Bryant, Stratton & Packard’s Mercantile College, by Mr. S.
S. Packard, the present proprietor. It formed the New
York link in the chain of institutions known as the Bryant
& Stratton chain of business colleges, which ultimately
embraced fifty co working schools in the principal cities of
the United States and Canada. In 1867 Mr. Packard purchased
the Bryant & Stratton interest in the New York College,
and changed its name to Packard’s Business College,
retaining the good will and all the co operative advantages
of the Bryant & Stratton association. The original purpose
of the college, as its name implies, was the education of young
men for business pursuits. The experience of over twenty
years has led to many improvements in the working of the
school, and to a considerable enlargement of its scope and
constituency, which now includes adults as well as boys,
especial opportunities being offered to mature men who
want particular instruction in arithmetic, bookkeeping,
penmanship, correspondence, and the like.

LECTURE AND RECITATION ROOM.

The teachers employed in the college are chosen for their
practical as well as their theoretical knowledge of business
affairs, and every effort is made to secure timeliness and accuracy
in their teachings. Constant intercourse is kept up
with the departments at Washington as to facts and changes
in financial matters, and also with prominent business
houses in this and other cities. Among the recent letters
received in correspondence of this sort are letters from the
Secretary of State of every State in the Union with regard
to rates of interest and usury laws, and letters from
each of our city banks as to methods of reckoning time on
paper, the basis of interest calculations, the practices concerning
deposit balances, and other business matters subject
to change. The aim of the proprietor is to keep the
school abreast of the demands of the business world, and to
omit nothing, either in his methods or their enforcement,
necessary to carry out his purpose honestly and completely.
An idea of the superior housing of the college will be obtained
from the views of half a dozen of the rooms at No
805 Broadway, as shown in this issue of the Scientific
American—the finest, largest, most compact, and convenient
suite of rooms anywhere used for this purpose.

The college is open for students ten months of the year,
five days each week, from half past nine in the morning
until half past two in the afternoon. Students can enter at
any time with equal advantage, the instruction being for the
most part individual. The course of study can be completed
in about a year. The proprietor holds that with this
amount of study a boy of seventeen should be able—

1. To take a position as assistant bookkeeper in almost
any kind of business; 2. To do the ordinary correspondence
of a business house, so far as good writing, correct spelling,
grammatical construction, and mechanical requisites are
concerned; 3. To do the work of an entry clerk or cashier;
4. To place himself in the direct line of promotion to any
desirable place in business or life, with the certainty of holding
his own at every step.

In this the student will have the advantage over the uneducated
clerk of the same age and equal worth and
capacity, in that he will understand more or less practically
as well as theoretically the duties of those above him, and
will thus be able to advance to more responsible positions
as rapidly as his years and maturity may justify. It is obvious
that the knowledge which makes an expert accountant
will in all probability suffice for the general business
requirements of professional men, the inheritors of property
and business, manufacturers, mechanics, and others
to whom bookkeeping and other business arts are useful
aids, but not the basis of a trade. For the last-named
classes, and for women, shorter periods of study are provided,
and may be made productive of good results.

A sufficient idea of the general working of the college may
be obtained by following a student through the several departments.
After the preliminary examination a student who
is to take the regular course of study enters the initiatory
room. Here he begins with the rudiments of bookkeeping,
the study which marks his gradation. The time not given
to the practice of writing, and to recitations in other subjects,
is devoted to the study of accounts. He is required,
first, to write up in “skeleton” form—that is, to place the
dates and amounts of the several transactions under the
proper ledger titles—six separate sets of books, or the record
of six different business ventures, wherein are exhibited
as great a variety of operations as possible, with
varying results of gains and losses, and the adjustment
thereof in the partners’ accounts, or in the account of the
sole proprietor. After getting the results in this informal
way—which is done in order as quickly as possible to get
the theory of bookkeeping impressed
upon his mind—he is required to go
over the work again carefully, writing
up with neatness and precision all the
principal and auxiliary books, with the
documents which should accompany
the transactions, such as notes, drafts,
checks, receipts, invoices, letters, etc.
The work in this department will occupy
an industrious and intelligent
student from four to six weeks, depending
upon his quickness of perception
and his working qualities.
While progressing in his bookkeeping,
he is pursuing the collateral studies,
a certain attainment in which is essential
to promotion, especially correcting
any marked deficiency in spelling, arithmetic,
and the use of language.

Upon a satisfactory examination the
student now passes to the second department,
where a wider scope of
knowledge in accounts is opened to
him, with a large amount of practical
detail familiarizing him with the actual
operations of business. The greatest
care is taken to prevent mere copying
and to throw the student upon his own
resources, by obliging him to correct
his own blunders, and to work
out his own results; accepting nothing as final that has
not the characteristics of real business. Much care is bestowed
in this department upon the form and essential
matter of business paper, and especially of correspondence.
A great variety of letters is required to be written
on assigned topics and in connection with the business
which is recorded, and thorough instruction is given in
the law of negotiable paper, contracts, etc. During all
this time the student devotes from half an hour to an
hour daily to penmanship, a plain, practical, legible hand
being aimed at, to the exclusion of superfluous lines and
flourishes. It is expected that the work in the first and
second departments will establish the student in the main
principles of bookkeeping, in its general theories, and their
application to ordinary transactions.

In the third department the student takes an advanced
position, and is expected, during the two or three months
he will remain in this department, to perfect himself in the
more subtle questions involved in accounts, as well as to
shake off the crude belongings of schoolboy work. He will
be required to use his mind in everything he does—to depend
as much as possible upon himself. The work which
he presents for approval here must have the characteristics
of business. His letters, statements, and papers of all kinds
are critically examined, and approved only when giving
evidence of conscientious work, as well as coming up to
strict business requirements. Before he leaves this department
he should be versed in all the theories of accounts,
should write an acceptable business hand; should be able to
execute a faultless letter so far as relates to form, spelling,
and grammatical construction, should have a fair knowledge
of commercial law, and have completed his arithmetical
course.

The next step is to reduce the student’s theoretical knowledge
to practice, in a department devoted to actual business
operations. This business or finishing department is
shown at the upper left corner of our front page illustration.
The work in this department is as exacting and as
real as the work in the best business houses and banks. At
the extreme end of the room is a bank in complete operation,
as perfect in its functions as any bank in this city or
elsewhere. The records made in its books come from the

[Pg 389]

real transactions of dealers who are engaged in different lines
of business at their desks and in the offices. The small
office adjoining the bank, on the right, is a post office, the
only one in the country, perhaps, where true civil service
rules are strictly observed. In connection with it is a transportation
office. From fifty to a hundred letters daily are
received and delivered by the post office, written by or to
the students of this department.

The correspondence thus indicated goes on not only between
the students of this college, but between members of
this and other similar institutions in different parts of the
country. A perfected system of intercommunication has for
years been in practice between co-ordinate schools in New
York, Boston, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore,
and other cities, by which is carried on an elaborate scheme
of interchangeable business, little less real in its operations
and results than the more tangible and obtrusive activity
which the world recognizes as business.

The work of the transportation office corresponds with
that of the post office in its simulation of reality. The alleged
articles handled are represented by packages bearing
all the characteristic marks of freight and express packages.
They are sent by mail to the transportation company, and
by this agency delivered to the proper parties, from whom
the charges are collected in due form, and the requisite
vouchers passed. Whatever is necessary in the way of manipulation
to secure the record on either hand is done, and,
so far as the clerical duties are concerned, there is no difference
between handling pieces of paper which represent merchandise
and handling the real article.

In the bank is employed a regular working force, such as
may be found in any bank, consisting of a collector or runner,
a discount clerk, a deposit bookkeeper, a general bookkeeper,
and a cashier. The books are of the regular form,
and the work is divided as in most banks of medium size,
and the business that is presented differs in no important
particular from that which comes to ordinary banks. After
getting a fair knowledge of theory, the student is placed in
this bank. He begins in the lowest place, and works up
gradually to the highest, remaining long enough in each
position to acquaint himself with its duties. He is made
familiar with the form and purpose of all kinds of business
paper, and the rules which govern a bank’s dealings with its
customers. He gets a practical knowledge of the law of
indorsement and of negotiability generally, and is called
upon to decide important questions which arise between the
bank and its dealers. Wherever he finds himself at fault he
has access to a teacher whose duty it is to give the information
for which he asks, and who is competent to do it.

Throughout the whole of this course of study and practice
the students are treated like men and are expected to
behave like men.

The college thus becomes a self-regulating community, in
which the students learn not only to govern themselves, but
to direct and control others. As one is advanced in position
his responsibilities are increased. He is first a merchant or
agent, directing his own work; next, a sub-manager, and
finally manager in a general office or the bank, with clerks
subject to his direction and criticism, until he arrives at the
exalted position of “superintendent of offices,” which
gives him virtual control of the department. This is, in
fact, an important part of his training, and the reasonable
effect of the system is that the student, being subject to
orders from those above him, and remembering that he will
shortly require a like consideration from those below him,
concludes that he cannot do a better thing for his own future
comfort than to set a wholesome example of subordination.

This, however, is not the only element of personal discipline
that the college affords. At every step the student’s
conduct, character, and progress are noted, recorded, and
securely kept for the teacher’s inspection, as well as that of
his parents and himself. Such records are kept in the budget
room, shown in the lower left corner of the front page.

This budget system was suggested by the difficulties encountered
in explaining to parents the progress and standing
of their sons. The inconvenience of summoning teachers,
and of taking students from their work, made necessary
some simpler and more effective plan. The first thing required
of a new student is that he should give some account
of himself, and to submit to such examinations and tests as
will acquaint his teachers with his status. This account and
these tests constitute the subject-matter of his first budget,
which is placed at the bottom of his box, and every four
weeks thereafter, while he remains in the school, he is required
to present the results of his work, such as his written
examinations in the various studies, his test examples in
arithmetic, his French, German, and Spanish translations
and exercises, various letters and forms, with four weekly
specimens of improvement in writing, the whole to be formally
submitted to the principal in an accompanying letter;
the letter itself to exhibit what can be thus shown of improvement
in writing, expression, and general knowledge.
These budgets, accumulating month by month, are made to
cover as much as possible of the student’s school work, and
to constitute the visible steps of his progress.

Besides this is a character record, kept in a small book assigned
to each student, every student having free access to
his own record, but not to that of any fellow student. Each
book contains the record of a student’s deportment from the
first to the last day of his attendance, with such comments
and recommendations as his several teachers may think
likely to be of encouragement or caution to him.

In addition to the strictly technical training furnished by
the college, there is given also not a little collateral instruction
calculated to be of practical use to business
men. For example, after roll call every morning some little
time is spent in exercises designed to cultivate the art of intelligent
expression of ideas. Each day a number of students
are appointed to report orally, in the assembly room, upon
such matters or events mentioned in the previous day’s newspapers
as may strike the speaker as interesting or important.
Or the student may describe his personal observation of any
event, invention, manufacture, or what not; or report upon
the condition, history, or prospects of any art, trade, or
business undertaking. This not to teach elocution, but to
train the student to think while standing, and to express himself
in a straightforward, manly way.

Instruction is also given in the languages likely to be required
in business intercourse or correspondence; in phonography,
so far as it may be required for business purposes;
commercial law relative to contracts, negotiable
paper, agencies, partnerships, insurance, and other business
proceedings and relations; political economy, and incidentally
any and every topic a knowledge of which may be of
practical use to business men.

In all this the ultimate end and aim of the instruction
offered are practical workable results. Mr. Packard regards
education as a tool. If the tool has no edge, is not adapted
to its purpose, is not practically usable, it is worthless as a
tool. This idea is kept prominent in all the work of the
college, and its general results justify the position thus
taken. The graduates are not turned out as finished business
men, but as young men well started on the road toward
that end. As Mr. Packard puts it: “Their diplomas do
not recommend them as bank cashiers or presidents, or as
managers of large or small enterprises, but simply as having
a knowledge of the duties of accountantship. They rarely
fail to fulfill reasonable expectations; and they are not responsible
for unreasonable ones.”

American Institute of Architects.

The fourteenth annual convention of the American Institute
of Architects began in Philadelphia, November 17. Mr.
Thomas U. Walter, of Philadelphia, presided, and fifty or
more prominent architects were present. In his annual address
the president spoke of the tendency of the architectural
world as decidedly in the direction of originality. But little
attention is paid to the types of building drawn from the
works of by-gone ages or to the mannerisms of the more recent
past. Progress in the development of the elements of
taste and beauty, and the concretion of æsthetic principles
with common sense in architectural design, are now everywhere
apparent. The responsibilities of architects are greater
than they have ever before been; the growing demand of the
times calls for intelligent studies in all that relates to architecture,
whether it be in the realm of æsthetics, in sciences
that relate to construction, in the nature and properties of
the materials used, in the atmosphere that surrounds us, or in
the availability of the thousand-and-one useful and ingenious
inventions that tend to promote the convenience and completeness
of structures.

Papers were read by Mr. A. J. Blood, of New York, on
“The Best Method of Solving the Tenement House Problem;”
Mr. George T. Mason, Jr., of Newport, on “The
Practice of American Architects during the Colonial Period;”
Mr. Robert Briggs, of Philadelphia, on “The Ventilation of
Audience Rooms;” Mr. T. M. Clark, of Boston, on “French
Building Laws, etc.”

The following named officers were elected: President, T. U.
Walter, Philadelphia; Treasurer, O. P. Hatfield, New
York; Secretary, A. J. Blood. Trustees, R. M. Hunt, H. M.
Congdon, J. Cady, Napoleon Le Brun, New York. Committee
on Publication, R. M. Upjohn, New York; T. M.
Clark, Boston; John McArthur, Jr., Philadelphia; A. J.
Blood, H. M. Congdon, New York. Committee on Education,
W. R. Narr, Boston; Russell Sturgis, New York; N.
Clifford Ricker, Champagne, Ill.; Henry Van Brunt, Boston;
Alfred Stone, Providence. Corresponding Secretary,
T. M. Clark, Boston.

The time and place of the next annual convention were
left to the Board of Trustees, with a request that Washington
be selected.

Vennor’s Winter Predictions.

He communicates as follows to the Albany Argus: “December
will, in all probability, open with little snow, but
the weather will be cloudy, threatening snow falls. During
the opening days of the month, dust, with the very light mixture
of snow which may have fallen, will be swept in
flurries by the gusty wind. There will probably be some snow
from about the 4th of the month. With the second quarter
of the month colder weather will probably set in with falls
of snow. The farmers will be able to enjoy sleigh rides in
the cold, exhilarating air, but good sleighing need not be expected
until after the middle of the month. There will be
a spell of mild weather about the 13th and 14th. After a
brief interval of mild weather, during which more snow will
fall, the third quarter of the month will probably see blustering
and cold weather—a cold snap with heavy snow storms
and consequent good sleighing. Very cold weather may be
expected during this quarter. The last quarter of the month
will bring milder weather, but will terminate, probably, with
heavy snow-falls and stormy weather; in fact, the heaviest
snow falls will be toward the end of the month, and snow
blockades may be looked for, the snow falls extending far
to the southward, possibly as far as Washington, with very
stormy weather around New York and Boston.” Mr. Vennor’s
latest predictions are that the coming month will be
“decidedly cold, with tremendous snow-falls during the latter
half and early part of January, causing destructive blockades
to railroads.”

The London Underground Railway.

The opening recently of the extension of the Metropolitan
Railway to Harrow, and the early commencement of another
of the lines of the company, give especial prominence to it.
The Metropolitan Underground Railway is emphatically the
great passenger railway of the country, for its few miles of
line carry more than the hundreds of miles of line of companies
such as the London and North Western or Great
Western. Seventeen years ago—in 1868—the Metropolitan
carried less than 10,000,000 passengers, and in the full year’s
work of the following twelve months it carried less than
12,000,000. But year by year, almost without exception,
the number of passengers has grown. In 1865, over 15,000,000
passengers were carried; in 1867, over 23,000,000; and
in 1870, over 39,000,000 passengers traveled on the line.
The years that have since passed have swollen that number.
In 1872, over 44,300,000 were carried, but in the following
year there was one of the few checks, and not till 1875 was
the number of 1872 exceeded. In 1875 it rose to 48,302,000;
in 1877 it had advanced to 56,175,000; in 1878 to 58,807,000;
and in 1879 to 60,747,000. In the present year there has been
a further advance, the number carried for the first six
months of the present year being 31,592,429. When it is
borne in mind that this is equal to 7,272 passengers every
hour, and that the length of line worked by the company’s
engines, including that of the “foreign” line worked, is
slightly less than 25 miles, the fecundity in traffic of the
metropolitan district must be said to be marvelous. It is to
be regretted that the official account from which these figures
are given does not give any idea of the number of passengers
in the different classes, for such a return would be
of value. It is a marvelous fact in the history of locomotion
that this great passenger traffic is worked with not more than
53 engines, while the total number of carriages, 195, is in
comparison with the number of travelers in them a marvel
in railway history. But it is tolerably clear that there is yet
a vast amount of undeveloped metropolitan traffic, and it is
also certain that as that traffic is developed the future of the
Metropolitan as it attains more completeness will be brighter
even than it has been in the past. The great city is more and
more the mart of the world, and the traffic and travel to and
in it must increase. That increase will be shared in considerable
degree by the “underground” companies, and as they
have shown that their capabilities of traffic are almost boundless,
it may be expected that the oldest and the chief of these
will in the early future know a growth as continuous if less
rapid than in the past.

We take the above from the Engineer, London. In this city
there are now existing 27 miles of elevated steam railways for
local passenger traffic. These roads have carried during the
past year 61,000,000 of passengers. In this service they employ
175 locomotives and 500 passenger cars. It is a terrible
nuisance to have these locomotives and cars constantly
whizzing through the public streets; still the roads are a
great accommodation. The only underground railway in
this city is that of the New York Central and Hudson River,
4 miles in length, extending under Fourth avenue from
Forty-second street to Harlem River. Over this road the
enormous traffic of the Central, Harlem, and the New Haven
roads, with their connections, passes. But so removed from
public sight are the cars and locomotives that the existence
of this underground railway is almost forgotten.

Tempering Chisels.

A practical mechanic communicates to the Scientific
American the following: In hardening and tempering a
cold chisel care should be taken to have a gradual shading
of temper. If there is a distinct boundary line of temper
color between the hard cutting edge and softer shank portion,
it will be very apt to break at or near that line. The
cutting edge portion of the chisel should be supported by a
backing of steel gradually diminishing in hardness; and so
with all metal cutting tools that are subjected to heavy
strain. Not every workman becomes uniformly successful
in this direction, for, in addition to dexterity, it requires a
nice perception of degree of heat and of color in order to
obtain the best result.

Mr. A. A. Knudson, of Brooklyn, N. Y., has lately perfected
and patented a system of protecting oil tanks from
lightning, which is approved by several prominent electricians.
The invention includes a device for distributing a
spray of water over the top of the tank for condensing the
rising vapor and cooling the tank; a system of lightning
conductors connected with a gutter surrounding the tank,
and a hollow earth terminal connected with the gutter by
a pipe, and designed to moisten the earth, and at the same
time prevent the earth around the terminal from becoming
saturated with oil.

A correspondant of the Christian Union, writing from
Constantinople, says that Abd ul-Hamid, the Sultan of
Turkey, reads the Scientific American, the engravings
in which seem to specially interest him. The writer adds
that whatever in literature the Sultan may chance to hear
of which he thinks may interest him, he has translated into
Turkish.

[Pg 390]

AMATEUR MECHANICS.

A SIMPLE SINGLE-ACTING STEAM ENGINE.

The great bugbear staring the amateur mechanic in the
face when he contemplates making a small steam engine is
the matter of boring the cylinder. To bore an iron cylinder
on a foot lathe is difficult even when the lathe is provided
with automatic feed gear, and it is almost impossible with
the ordinary light lathe possessed by most amateurs. To
bore a brass cylinder is easier, but even this is
difficult, and the cylinder, when done, is unsatisfactory
on account of the difficulty of adapting
a durable piston to it.

The engravings show a simple steam engine,
which requires no difficult lathe work; in fact
the whole of the work may be done on a very
ordinary foot lathe. The engine is necessarily
single-acting, but it is effective nevertheless, being
about 1-20 H. P., with suitable steam supply.
It is of sufficient size to run a foot lathe, scroll
saw, or two or three sewing machines.

The cylinder and piston are made from mandrel
drawn brass tubing, which may be purchased
in any desired quantity in New York
city. The fittings are mostly of brass, that being
an easy metal to work.

The principal dimensions of the engine are as
follows:

Cylinder.—Internal diameter, 1-1/2 in.; thickness, 1/8 in.;
length, 3-3/8 in.

Piston.—External diameter, 1-1/2 in.; thickness, 3-32 in.;
length, 3-3/4 in.

Length of stroke. 2 in.

Crank pin.—Diameter, 1/4 in.; length of bearing surface,
1/2 in.

Connecting rod.—Diameter, 5/16 in.; length between centers,
5-1/2 in.

Shaft.—Diameter, 5/8 in.; diameter of bearings, 1/2 in.;
length. 6 in.; distance from bed to center of shaft, 1-1/2 in.

Flywheel.—Diameter, 8 in.; weight, 10 lb.

Valve.—Diameter of chamber, 9-16 in.; length, 1-1/4 in.;
width of valve face working over supply port, 3/32 in.;
width of space under valve, 3/8 in.; length of the same, 1 in.;
distance from center of valve spindle to center of eccentric
rod pin, 3/4 in.

Ports, supply—Width, 1/16 inch.; length, 1 in. Exhaust.—Width,
1/8 in.; length, 1 in.; space between ports, 5-16 in.

Pipes.—Steam supply, 1/4 in.; exhaust, 3/8 in.

Eccentric.—Stroke, 3/4 in.; diameter, 1-5/16 in.
length of eccentric rod between centers, 8-3/8 in.

Cut off, 5/8

Thickness of base plate, 1/4 in.

Wooden base, 6-1/4 in x 8 in.: 2-3/8 in. thick.

Thickness of plate supporting cylinder, 3/8 in.

Total height of engine, 13-1/4 in.

Distance from base plate to under side of cylinder head.
9-1/4 in.

Diameter of vertical posts, 9-16 in.; distance apart, 3-1/2
in.; length between shoulders 6-1/4 in.

Base plate fastened to base with 1/4 in. bolts.

The connecting rod, eccentric rod, crank pin, and shaft,
are of steel. The eccentric-strap and flywheel are cast iron,
and the other portions of the engine are of brass. The
screw threads are all chased, and the flange, a, and head of
the piston, F, in addition to being screwed, are further secured
by soft solder.

Fig. 1 shows the engine in perspective. Fig 2 is a side
elevation, with parts broken away. Fig. 3 is a vertical
transverse section. Fig. 4 is a partial plan view. Fig.
5 is a detail view of the upper end of the connecting rod
and its connections; and Fig.
6 is a horizontal section taken
through the middle of the
valve chamber.

The cylinder, A, is threaded
externally for 1 inch from
its lower end, and the collar,
a, 1/4 inch thick, is screwed
on and soldered. The face
of the collar is afterward
turned true. The same
thread answers for the nut
which clamps the cylinder in
the plate, B, and for the
gland, b, of the stuffing box,
which screws over the beveled
end of the cylinder, and
contains fibrous packing filled
with asbestos or graphite.
The posts, C, are shouldered
at the ends and secured in
their places by nuts. Their
bearing surface on the plate,
D, is increased by the addition
of a collar screwed on.
The posts are made from
drawn rods of brass, and
need no turning except at the
ends.

Fig. 1.—SIMPLE SINGLE-ACTING STEAM ENGINE.

The cylinder head, E,
which is a casting containing
the valve chamber, is screwed
in. The piston, F, fits the
cylinder closely, but not necessarily
steam tight. The
head is screwed in and soldered,
and the yoke, G, which
receives the connecting rod
pin, is screwed into the head.
The connecting rod, H, is of
steel with brass ends. The lower end, which receives the
crank pin, is split, and provided with a tangent screw for
taking up wear. The crank pin is secured in the crank
disk, I, by a nut on the back. The eccentric rod, J, is of
steel, screwed at its lower end into an eccentric strap of
cast or wrought iron, which surrounds the eccentric, K.
The valve, L, is slotted in the back to receive the valve
spindle, by which it is oscillated. The ports are formed by
drilling from the outside, and afterward forming the slot,
with a graver or small sharp chisel. The supply port, for
convenience, may be somewhat enlarged below. The holes
for the exhaust port will be drilled through the hole into
which the exhaust pipe is screwed. The chamber communicating
with the exhaust is cored out in the casting.

The easiest way to make the valve is to cut it out of a
solid cylinder turned to fit the valve chamber.

An engine of this kind will work well under a steam pressure
of 50 lb., and it may be run at the rate of 200 to 250
revolutions per minute.

SIDE ELEVATION. SECTIONAL, AND DETAIL VIEWS OF SIMPLE STEAM ENGINE.

It is desirable to construct a flat pasteboard model to
verify measurements and to get the proper adjustment of
the valve before beginning the engine.        M.

MISCELLANEOUS INVENTIONS.

An improved finger ring has been patented by Mr. David
Untermeyer, of New York city. The object of this invention
is to furnish finger rings so constructed that
they can be opened out to represent serpents,
and which, when being worn, will give no indication
of being anything more than rings.

An improved heel skate-fastener has been patented
by Mr. Elijah S. Coon, of Watertown,
N.Y. This invention consists, essentially, of a
screw threaded hollow plug or thimble, a dirt
plate for covering the opening in the plug, and
a spring for holding the dirt plate in place. This
fastener possesses several advantages over one
that is permanently attached to the heel. Being
cylindrical, it is more easily connected, because
the hole for its reception can be made with a common
auger or bit without the necessity for lasting
the boot or shoe or using a knife or chisel.
Being screw threaded it can be readily screwed
into place with a common screwdriver; this also
enables it to be screwed either in or out, in order
to make it fit the heel key. The screw thread
permits of screwing it in beyond the surface of
the heel, so as to prevent it from wearing out by
the ordinary wearing of the shoe.

An improved velocipede has been patented by
Messrs. Charles E. Tripler and William H. Roff,
of New York city. The object of this invention
is to obtain a more advantageous application
of the propelling power than the ordinary
cranks, to avoid the noise of pawls and ratchets,
and to guard the velocipedes against being overturned
should one of the rear wheels pass over
an obstruction.

Mr. Philip H. Pax on, of Camden, N. J., has
patented a machine that will cut lozenges in a
perfect manner, and will not be clogged by the
gum and sugar of the lozenge dough.

Mr. John H. Robertson, of New York city, has
patented an improved mat, which consists of
longitudinal metal bars provided with alternate
mortised and tenoned ends, and composed of
series of sockets united by webs and of wooden
transverse rods entered through said sockets and
held therein by vertical pins.

Mr. Charles F. Clapp, of Ripon, Wis, has
patented a novel arrangement of a desk attachment for
trunks. The desk and tray may be lifted from the trunk
when the desk is either raised or lowered.

A combined scraper, chopper, and dirter has been patented
by Messrs. Francis A. Hall and Nathaniel B. Milton,
of Monroe, La. The object of this invention is to furnish
an implement so constructed as to bar off a row of plants,
chop the plants to a stand, and dirt the plants at one passage
along the row, and which shall be simple, convenient, and
reliable.

Mr. Hermann H. Cammann, of New York city, has patented
a basket so constructed
that it can be compactly
folded for transportation or
storage.

Messrs. David H. Seymour
and Henry R. A. Boys, of
Barrie, Ontario, Canada, have
patented an improvement in
that class of devices that are
designed to be applied to
steam cylinders for introducing
oil or tallow into the cylinder
and upon the cylinder
valves. It consists of an oil
cup provided with a gas escape,
a scum breaker, an interior
gauge, and an adjustable
feed pipe extension.

Mr. John H. Conrad, of
Charlotte, Mich., has patented
a portable sliding gate
which will dispense with
hinges and which can be used
in any width of opening. It
may be readily connected
with a temporary opening or
gap made in the fence.

An improved reversible
pole and shaft for vehicles
has been patented by Mr.
Francis M. Heuett, of Jug
Tavern, Ga. The object of
this invention is to so combine
the parts of shafts for
vehicles that they may be
readily transposed and re-employed
to form the tongue
without removing the thill
arms or hounds from the axle.

[Pg 391]

Mr. William Jones, of Kalamazoo, Mich., has patented
an improved box which is useful for various purposes, but
is particularly intended for shipping fourth class mail matter.
The feature of special novelty is the means of fastening
the hinged cover.

Mr. Louis J. Halbert, of Brooklyn, N. Y., has patented
an improved slate cleaner, which is simple, convenient, and
effective.

An improved boot, which is simple in its make, fits well,
and is convenient to put on and take off, has been patented
by Ellene A. Bailey, of St. Charles, Mo. The boot is provided
with side seams, one of which is open at its lower end,
and is provided with lacing, buttons, or a like device, so
that it can be closed when the boot is on the wearer’s foot.

THE HERCULES BEETLE.

In the handsome engraving herewith are shown the male
and female of the Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules) of Brazil.
The family of the Dynastidæ comprises some of the largest
and most beautiful of the beetle
race, and all of them are remarkable
for enormous developments
of the thorax and head. They
are all large bodied and stout
limbed, and by their great
strength abundantly justify their
generic name, Dynastes, which
is from the Greek and signifies
powerful. The larvæ of these
beetles inhabit and feed upon decaying
trees and other rotting
vegetable matter, and correspond
in size with the mature insects.
Most of them inhabit tropical
regions, where they perform a
valuable service in hastening the
destruction of dead or fallen
timber.

An admirable example of this
family of beetles is the one here
represented. In the male of the
Hercules beetle the upper part
of the thorax is prolonged into a
single, downward curving horn
fully three inches long, the entire
length of the insect being about
six inches. The head is prolonged
into a similar horn, which
curves upward, giving the head
and thorax the appearance of
two enormous jaws, resembling
the claw of a lobster. The real
jaws of the insect are underneath
the lower horn, which projects
from the forepart of the head.
The under surface of the thorax-horn
carries a ridge of stiff,
short, golden-yellow hairs, and
the under surface and edges of
the abdomen are similarly ornamented.

The head, thorax, and legs are
shining black; the elytra, or
wing-covers, are olive-green,
dotted with black spots, and are
much wrinkled. The wings are
large and powerful.

THE HERCULES BEETLE.

The female Hercules is quite
unlike the male. It is much
smaller, being not more than
three and a half inches long, is
without horns, and is covered
with a brown hairy felt.

These beetles are nocturnal in
habit, and are rarely seen in the
daytime, except in dark hiding
places in the recesses of Brazilian
forests.

A Poulterer’s View of Mechanical
Poultry Raising.

A prominent dealer in poultry,
Mr. H. W. Knapp, of Washington
Market, gives a discouraging
opinion of the probable success of chicken raising by
artificial means in this country. He said recently when
questioned on this subject by a representative of the Evening
Post:

“I went to France to study the matter, for if it can be
made to succeed it will make an immense fortune, as it has
already done in Paris. I was delighted with what I saw
there, and the matter at first sight seems to be so fascinating
that I do not wonder that new men here are always ready to
take hold of it as soon as those who have bought dear experience
are only too glad to get out of it. Even clergymen
and actors are bitten with the desire to transform so many
pounds of corn into so many pounds of spring chicken.
The now successful manager, Mackaye, spent about a
thousand dollars, in constructing hatching machines and
artificial mothers in Connecticut, but he found that the stage
paid better, and his expensive devices may now be bought
for the value of old tin.

“Enthusiasts will tell you that by the new discovery
chickens may be made out of corn with absolute certainty.
In Paris this has been done; but the conditions are entirely
different here. There the land is valuable, and they cannot
devote large fields to a few hundred chickens; the French
climate is so uniform that the markets of Paris cannot be
supplied from the south with produce which ripens or matures
before that of the neighborhood of Paris; the price of
chickens is so high and labor so cheap that more care can
be given with profit to one spring chicken than one of our
poultry raisers could give to a dozen. Here we have plenty
of land, the climate south of us is so far advanced in warmth
that even with steam we cannot raise poultry ahead of the
south, and the margin of profit is so small that one failure
with a large batch of chickens sweeps away the profits from
several successful experiments.

“When persons wanted me to go into the project I declined
and was called an old fogy. One man spent a fortune on
the enterprise in New Jersey, and at first was hailed as a
public benefactor. What was the result of all his outlay
and work? He managed to hatch quantities of young
chickens every February, but although he could fatten them
by placing them in boxes and forcing a fattening mixture
down their throats, he could not make them grow; they had
no exercise; they remained puny little things, and another
defect soon appeared: though fat they were tough and
stringy. The breeder sent lots of them to me, and they
looked fat and tender; but my customers complained that
they could not be young, for they were tough and tasteless,
and that I must have sold them aged dwarfs under the name
of spring chickens. It was found absolutely necessary to
let them run out of doors as soon as the weather allowed
it, and by the time that they were ready for market the
southern chickens were here and could be sold for less than
these. The upshot of the business is that this breeder has
sold out, and another man has now taken hold of a small
part of his old establishment to try other methods of making
it a success.

“As to raising turkeys in that manner it will tail more disastrously
than the chicken business. Size and weight are
wanted in turkeys; and that reminds me,” continued Mr.
Knapp, “that the newspapers ought to impress the country
people with the necessity of improving their poultry stock;
breeding in and in is ruining poultry; every year the stock
we receive is deteriorating, and this is the cause. I could
give you some striking examples from my experience of
forty years in the business. Some years ago we poulterers
thought that ducks were going to disappear from bills of fare
altogether; they were tasteless, worthless birds which people
avoided. On Long Island a farmer made experiments in
breeding with an old Muscovy drake, tough as an alligator,
and the common duck. The result was superb and has
changed the whole duck industry. If the farmers of Southern
New Jersey, the sandy country best suited to turkeys,
would bring from the West a few hundred wild turkeys we
should have an immediate improvement. I see no such turkey
now as we had twenty years ago. The breast is narrow
and the body runs to length; it is all neck and legs,
and can be bought by the yard.
Rhode Island sends us the best
turkeys, but they are not what
they used to be. If, instead of
attempting to beat nature at her
own game, the rich men who
have money to spend would devote
it to better breeding, there
would be an improvement. I
do not yet despair of seeing immense
farms wholly devoted to
raising better poultry than we
yet have.”

The Embrace of the Mantis.

Mr. Addison Ellsworth favors
us with a transcript of a letter
from Mr. Albert D. Rust, of
Ennis, Ellis County, Texas, describing
a remarkable exhibition
of copulative cannibalism on
the part of the mantis. The ferocious
nature of these strange
insects is well known, and is in
striking contrast with the popular
name, “praying mantis,”
which they have gained by the
pious attitude they take while
watching for the flies and other
insects which they feed upon.

About sunrise, August 28,
1880, Mr. Rust’s attention was
attracted by a pair of mantis,
whether Mantis religiosa or not,
he was not sure, but from the
length of the body and the shortness
of the wings he was inclined
to think them of some other
species. The female had her
arms tightly clasped around the
head of the male, while his left
arm was around her neck. Mr.
Rust watched intently to see
whether the embrace was one of
war or for copulation. It proved
to be both. As the two abdomens
began to approach each
other the female made a ferocious
attack upon the male, greedily
devouring his head, a part of the
body, and all the arm that had
encircled her neck. A moment
after the eating began, Mr. Rust
observed a complete union of the
sexual organs, and the eating and
copulation went on together.
On being forcibly separated the
female exhibited signs of fear at
her headless mate, and it was
with difficulty that they were
brought together again. On being
suddenly tossed upon the
back of the female the male
seized her with a grasp from
which she could not extricate herself, and immediately
the sexual union was renewed, to all appearances as perfectly
as before.

The pair were accidentally killed, otherwise, Mr. Rush
thinks, the female would have continued her cannibalistic
repast until she had devoured the entire body of her companion.

This peculiarity of the mantis seems not to have
been observed before, though their mutually destructive disposition
has been noted by several. Desiring to study the
development of these insects, M. Roesel raised a brood of
them from a bag of eggs. Though plentifully supplied
with flies, the young mantis fought each other constantly,
the stronger devouring the weaker, until but one was
left.

M. Poiret was not more successful. When a pair of mantis
were put together in a glass they fought viciously, the fight
ending with the decapitation of the male and his being
eaten by the female.

[Pg 392]

VARIEGATION OF LEAVES.

BY JAMES HOGG.

At the meeting of the Association of Nurserymen in
Chicago, last July, one of our prominent horticulturists described
leaf variegation as a disease. Incidentally this brought
up the question: Does the graft affect the stock upon which
it is inserted?

Much confusion of ideas exists upon this subject, largely
due to a loose application of the term disease. Strictly
speaking, this term is only applicable to that which shows
the health of the plant to be impaired. It should be distinguished
from aberrant or abnormal forms, for these are
not necessarily indicative of disease. Nobody thinks of saying
that red or striped roses are diseased because they are
departures in color from the white flower of the type species;
or that white, yellow, or striped roses are diseased when the
color of the type species is red. Nobody thinks of saying
that double flowers are evidences of disease in the plant, or
that diminution in the size of leaves or variation in their
form is a disease. Why then should it be said that because
leaves may become of some other color than green, or become
party-colored, therefore they are diseased? If it be said
that flowers are not leaves, and that therefore the analogy is
not a good one, the reply is, that flowers in all their parts,
and fruits also, are only leaves differently developed from
the type. This fact is a proven one, and so admitted to be by
all botanists and vegetable physiologists of the present day.
If it be objected that by becoming double, flowers lose the
power of reproducing the variety or species, the answer is,
that this loss of power is not necessarily the result of disease,
but may arise from various other causes. Because an animal
is castrated, it surely will not be claimed that therefore
it is diseased. In man and in the higher animals the power
of reproduction ceases at certain ages, but it cannot therefore
be said that such men or animals are diseased. Neither
is a redundancy of parts an unequivocal evidence of disease.

Topknot fowls and ducks are as healthy as those which do
not have such appendages, and a Shetland pony is as healthy
as a Percheron horse, notwithstanding the difference in their
size and weight. Again, color in block or in variegation is
not positive evidence of disease in animal life. The white
Caucasian is as healthy as the negro, the copper-colored
Malay as the red Indian. The horse, ox, and hog run through
white and red to black both in solid and party-color, and all
are equally healthy; so with the rabbit, dog, cat, and others
of our domestic animals. In wild animals, birds, reptiles,
fishes, and insects, it is the same, so that mere difference in
color or combinations of color are not prima facie evidence
of disease.

But some will say this may be true of animal life, but not
of plant life. That there is a strong and evident analogy,
the one with the other, is now universally admitted by physiologists.
Formerly many physiologists considered leaf variegation
a disease, because it generally ran in stripes lengthwise
of the leaf or in spots. In the former case it was supposed
to originate from disease in the leaf cells of the leaf
stalk, which, as the cells grow longitudinally, naturally prolonged
it to the end of the leaf. But the originating of varieties
in which the variegation did not assume this form, with
other considerations, has done much to upset this theory.
In the variegated leaved snowberry we have the center and
border of the leaf green, separated the one from the other by
an isolated white or yellow zone. In the zebra-leaved eulalia
and the zebra-leaved juncus, from Japan, we have the variegation
of the leaf transversely instead of longitudinally, so
that according to the old theory we have the anomaly of a
healthy portion of the leaf producing an unhealthy portion,
and that again a healthy one, and thus alternately along the
whole length of the leaf.

When we dissect a leaf in its primal development, we find
that its cells contain colorless globules, by botanists called
chlorophyl or phyto-color; these undergo changes according
as they are acted upon by light, oxygen, or other agents,
producing green, yellow, red, and other tints. This chlorophyl
only exists in the outer or superficial cells of the
parenchyma or cellular tissue of the leaf, and thus differs
from starch and other substances produced in the internal
cells, from which the light is more or less excluded. It is a
fatty or wax-like substance, readily dissolved in alcohol or
ether. The primal color of all leaves and flowers is
white or a pale yellowish hue, as can readily be seen by cutting
open a leaf or flower bud. The seed leaves of the French
bean are white when they come out of the earth, but they
become green an hour afterward under the influence of bright
sunshine. A case is on record where in a certain section,
some miles in extent, in this country, about the time of the
trees coming into leaf, the sun did not shine for twenty days;
the leaves developed to nearly their full size, but were of a
pale or whitish color; finally, one forenoon the sun shone out
fully, and by the middle of the afternoon the trees were in
full summer dress. These facts show that the green color
of leaves is due to the action of light. Variegation is sometimes
produced independently of the chlorophyl, as in Begonia
argyrostigma and Carduus marianus, in which it is produced
by a layer of air interposed between the epidermis or outer
skin of the leaf and the cells beneath; this gives the leaf a
bright, silvery appearance.

To what, then, are we to ascribe leaf variegation? I think
that it is entirely due to diminished root power; by this I do
not mean that the roots are diseased, but that they are either
in an aberrant or abnormal state; but disease cannot be predicated
upon either of these states. To explain: everybody
knows Spirea callosa to be a strong growing shrub, having
umbels of rosy-colored flowers and strong, stout roots; the
white flowered variety is quite dwarf, is more leafy and
bushy than the species, and has more fibrous and delicate
roots than the type; the crisp-leaved variety is still more
dwarf, very bushy, and very leafy, and has very fine threadlike
roots. This would indicate that the aberrance is in the
roots; the two varieties are much more leafy in proportion
to their size than the species, so that if the leaves controlled
the roots, the latter should have been larger in proportion
than those of the species. Again, once when, in the
autumn, I was preparing my greenhouse plants for their winter
quarters, I cut back a “Lady Plymouth” geranium,
which chanced to be set away in a cool and somewhat damp
cellar. When discovered the following February and started
into growth in the greenhouse it produced nothing but solid
green leaves, and never afterward produced a variegated
leaf. This I attributed to its having gained greater root
power during its long season of rest. By this I mean that
the roots had grown and greatly increased in size, although
there had not been any leaf growth. That roots under certain
circumstances do so is well known. The roots of fir
trees have been found alive and growing forty five years after
the trunks were felled. The same has occurred in an ash
tree after its trunk had been sawn off level with the ground.
A root of Ipomea sellowii has been known to keep on growing
for twelve years after its top had been destroyed by frost;
and in all that time it never made buds or leaves, yet it increased
to seven times its original weight. The tuberous
roots of some of the Tropæolums will continue to grow and
increase in size after the tops have been accidentally broken
off; and potatoes buried so deep in the earth that they cannot
produce tops will produce a crop of new potatoes.

On the other hand, I have had an oak-leaved geranium
overlooked in a corner of the greenhouse until it was almost
dried up for lack of water. When its branches were pruned
back and it was started into growth only one branch showed
the almost black center of the leaf, all the rest were clear
green. This was an evident case of diminished root power,
but the plant grew as thriftily as ever. The lack of the dark
marking in the leaves was equivalent to the variegation in
other varieties, only in a reverse direction.

In practice, when gardeners wish to produce an abnormal
condition in a tree or plant, they will, if they wish to dwarf
it, graft it on a species or variety of diminished root power,
and contrariwise, if they wish to increase its growth, will
graft it upon a stock of strong root power. But in neither
case can the graft be said to be diseased by the action of the
roots of the stock.

When this root power is so far diminished as to produce
complete albinism, the shoots from such roots appear to partake
of this diminished power, and to lose the power of
making roots, and thus become very difficult to propagate.
It is sometimes said that albino cuttings cannot be rooted at
all, but this is a mistake, for I have succeeded in striking
such cuttings from the variegated leaved Hydrangea. It required
much care to do it; they did not, however, retain
their albino character after they rooted and started into
growth.

Albinism and white variegation in leaves appear to be
due to the chlorophyl in such leaves being able to resist the
action of the three (red, yellow, and blue) rays of light.
What we call color in any substance or thing is due to its reflecting
these different rays in various proportions of combination
and absorbing the rest of them, the various proportions
giving the various shades of color. White is due to
the reflection of all of them, and black to the absorption of
them. In some plants with variegated foliage we have the
curious fact that the cells containing chlorophyl reflecting
one color produce cells which reflect an entirely different
color. In the coleus “Lady Burrill,” for instance, the
lower half of the leaf is of a deep violet-crimson color, and
the upper half is golden yellow. In other varieties of coleus,
in Perilla nankiensis, and other plants, we have foliage without
a particle of green in it, and yet they are perfectly
healthy. This shows that green leaves are not absolutely
necessary to the health of a plant.

As a proof of leaf variegation being a disease, the speaker
alluded to cited a case in which a green leaved abutilon,
upon which a variegated leaved variety had been grafted,
threw out a variegated leaved shoot below the graft. This
can easily be explained. The growth of the trunk or stem
of all exogenous plants, or those which increase in size on
the outside of the stem, is brought about by the descent of
certain formative tissue called cambium, elaborated by the
leaves and descending between the old wood and the bark,
where it is formed into alburnum or woody matter. Some
think that it is also formed by the roots and ascends from
them as well as descending from the leaves. Be this as it
may, there is no doubt about its descent. In such comparatively
soft-wooded, free growing plants as the abutilon
the descent of the cambium is very free and in considerable
quantity, so that the stock would soon be inclosed in a layer
of it descending from the graft. When being converted
into woody matter it also forms adventitious buds which
under certain favorable circumstances will emit shoots of the
same character as the graft from which it was derived.
The graft is such cases may be said to inclose the stock in a
tube of its own substance, leaving the stock unaffected
otherwise. The variegated shoot in this case was in reality
derived from the downward growth of the graft and not
from the original stock, which was not therefore contaminated
by the graft. In cases where the stock is of much
slower growth than the graft, or the graft is inserted upon
a stock of some other species, the descending cambium does
not inclose the stock, but makes layers of wood on the stem
of the graft, which thus, as is frequently seen, overgrows the
stock, sometimes to such an extent as to make it unsightly.
Nobody ever saw an apple shoot from a crab stock, a pear
from a quince stock, or a peach shoot from a plum stock.
This is one of the arguments in favor of the view that cambium
also rises from the roots.

Again, to show that the stock is not affected by the graft,
or the graft by the stock, except as to root power, let any
person graft a white beet upon a red beet, or contrariwise,
when about the size of a goosequill, and when they have attained
their full growth, by dividing the beet lengthwise he
will find the line of demarkation between the colors perfectly
distinct, neither of them running into the other.

The theory that leaf variegation is a disease has been held
by many distinguished botanists and is in nowise new. But
this theory has been controverted, and we think successfully,
by other botanists, and it is not now accepted by the more
advanced vegetable physiologists. There are now so many
acute and industrious students and observers in every department
of science, and the accumulation of facts is so
rapid and so great, that very many of the older theories are
being set aside as not in accord with the newly discovered
facts. A student brought up in institutions where the old
theories are inculcated has afterward to spend half his time
in unlearning what he had been previously taught, and the
other half in studying the new facts brought to his notice
and testing the theories promulgated by men of science.
Botanical science does not wholly consist in the classification
and nomenclature of plants, but largely consists in a knowledge
of vegetable anatomy and physiology, and these require
much study and some knowledge of other sciences, such
as chemistry, meteorology, geology, etc. Without such
general knowledge it is difficult to form a harmonious theory
in regard to any of the phenomena of plant life.

Vanilla, Cinnamon, Cocoanut.

The following interesting facts concerning the cultivation
of the above products in the island of Ceylon, were given in
Mr. H. B. Brady’s recent address before the British Pharmaceutical
Conference at Swansea:

The vanilla plant is trained on poles placed about twelve
or eighteen inches apart—one planter has a line of plants
about three miles in length. Like the cardamom, it yields
fruit after three years, and then continues producing its
pods for an indefinite period.

The cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) is, as its name
indicates, a native of Ceylon. It is cultivated on a light
sandy soil about three miles from the sea, on the southwest
coast of the island, from Negumbo to Matura. In its cultivated
state it becomes really productive after the sixth year,
and continues from forty to sixty years. The superintendent
of the largest estate in this neighborhood stated that
there were not less than fifteen varieties of cinnamon, sufficiently
distinct in flavor to be easily recognized. The production
of the best so injures the plants that it does not pay
to cut this at any price under 4s. 6d. to 5s. per lb. The
estate alluded to above yields from 30,000 to 40,000 lb. per
annum; a uniform rate of 4-1/2 d. per lb. of finished bark is
paid for the labor. Cinnamon oil is produced from this
bark by distillation; the mode is very primitive and wasteful.
About 40 lb. of bark, previously macerated in water,
form one charge for the still, which is heated over a fire
made of the spent bark of a previous distillation. Each
charge of bark yields about three ounces of oil, and two
charges are worked daily in each still.

The cultivation of the cocoanut tree and the production
of the valuable cocoanut oil are two important Cingalese
occupations. These trees, it appears, do not grow with any
luxuriance at a distance from human dwellings, a fact
which may perhaps be accounted for by the benefit they derive
from the smoke inseparable from the fires in human
habitations. The cultivation of cocoanuts would seem to
be decidedly profitable, as some 4,000 nuts per year are
yielded by each acre, the selling price being £3 per thousand,
while the cost of cultivation is about £2 per acre. In
extracting the oil, the white pulp is removed and dried,
roughly powdered, and pressed in similar machinery to the
linseed oil crushing mills of this country. The dried pulp
yields about 63 per cent by weight of limpid, colorless oil,
which in our climate forms the white mass so well known
in pharmacy.

Learning to Tie Knots.

A correspondent suggests that it would be a handy accomplishment
for schoolboys to be proficient in the handling,
splicing, hitching, and knotting of ropes. He suggests
the propriety of having the art taught in our public schools.
A common jackknife and a few pieces of clothes line are the
main appliances needed to impart the instruction with. He
concludes it would not only be of use in ordinary daily life,
but especially to those who handle merchandise and machinery.
Any one, he adds, who has noticed the clumsy haphazard
manner in which boxes and goods are tied for hoisting
or for loading upon trucks, will appreciate the advantage of
practical instruction in this direction. Probably a good
plan, he further suggests, would be to have one schoolboy
taught first by the master, and then let the pupil teach the
other boys. Our correspondent thinks most boys would
consider it a nice pastime to practice during recess and at
the dinner hour, so that no time would be taken from study
or recitation time.

[Pg 393]

DECISIONS RELATING TO PATENTS.

Supreme Court of the United States

PEARCE vs. MULFORD et al.

Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for
the Southern District of New York.

1. Reissued patent No. 5,774 to Shubael Cottle, February
24, 1874, for improvement in chains for necklaces, declared
void, the first claim, if not for want of novelty, for want of
patentability, and the second for want of novelty.

2. Neither the tubing, nor the open spiral link formed of
tubing, nor the process of making either the open or the
closed link, nor the junction of closed and open spiral links
in a chain, was invented by the patentee.

3. All improvement is not invention and entitled to protection
as such. Thus to entitle it it must be the product
of some exercise of the inventive faculties, and it must involve
something more than what is obvious to persons
skilled in the art to which it relates.

The decree of the circuit court is therefore reversed, and
it is ordered that the bill be dismissed.

By the Commissioner of Patents.

DICKSON vs. KINSMAN.—INTERFERENCE.—TELEPHONE.

The subject matter of the interference is defined in the
preliminary declaration thereof as follows:

The combination in one instrument of a transmitting telephone
and a receiving telephone, so arranged that when the
mouthpiece of the speaking or transmitting telephone is applied
to the mouth of a person, the orifice of the receiving
telephone will be applied to his ear.

1. While it is true that the unsupported allegations of an
inventor, that he conceived an invention at a certain date, are
not sufficient to establish such fact, the testimony of a party
that he constructed and used a device at a certain time is
admissible.

2. Abandonment is an ill-favored finding, which cannot
be presumed, but must be conclusively proven.

The decision of the Board of Examiners-in-Chief is reversed,
and priority awarded to Dickson.

Characteristics of Arctic Winter.

Lieutenant Schwatka, whose recent return from a successful
expedition in search of the remains of Sir John
Fanklin’s ill-fated company, combats the prevalent opinion
that the Arctic winter, especially in the higher latitudes, is
a period of dreary darkness.

In latitude 83° 20′ 20″ N., the highest point ever reached
by man, there are four hours and forty-two minutes of twilight
on December 22, the shortest day in the year, in the
northern hemisphere. In latitude 82° 27′ N., the highest
point where white men have wintered, there are six hours
and two minutes in the shortest day; and latitude 84° 32′
N., 172 geographical miles nearer the North Pole than
Markham reached, and 328 geographical miles from that
point, must yet be attained before the true Plutonic zone, or
that one in which there is no twilight whatsoever, even upon
the shortest day of the year, can be said to have been entered
by man. Of course, about the beginning and ending
of this twilight, it is very feeble and easily extinguished by
even the slightest mists, but nevertheless it exists, and is
quite appreciable on clear cold days, or nights, properly
speaking. The North Pole itself is only shrouded in perfect
blackness from November 13 to January 29, a period of
seventy-seven days. Supposing that the sun has set (supposing
a circumpolar sea or body of water unlimited to
vision) on September 24, not to rise until March 18, for that
particular point, giving a period of about fifty days of uniformly
varying twilight, the pole has about 188 days of continuous
daylight, 100 days of varying twilight, and 77 of
perfect inky darkness (save when the moon has a northern
declination) in the period of a typical year. During the
period of a little over four days, the sun shines continuously
on both the North and South Poles at the same time,
owing to refraction parallax, semi-diameter, and dip of the
horizon.

The Collins Line of Steamers.

The breaking up of the Baltic, the last of the famous Collins
line of steamships, calls out a number of interesting facts
with regard to the history of the several vessels of that fleet.
There were five in all, the Adriatic, Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic,
and Baltic. They were built and equipped in New York.
Their dimensions were: Length, 290 feet; beam, 45 feet;
depth of hold, 31½ feet; capacity, 2,860 tons; machinery,
1,000 horse power. In size, speed, and appointments they
surpassed any steamers then afloat, and they obtained a fair share
of the passenger traffic. A fortune was expended in
decorating the saloons. The entire cost of each steamer was
not less than $600,000, and notwithstanding their quick passages,
the subsidy received, and the high rates of freight paid,
the steamers ran for six years at great loss, and finally the
company became bankrupt.

The Atlantic was the pioneer steamship of the line. She
sailed from New York April 27, 1849, and arrived in the Mersey
May 10, thus making the passage in about thirteen days,
two of which were lost in repairing the machinery; the
speed was reduced in order to prevent the floats from being
torn from the paddle-wheels. The average time of the
forty-two westward trips in the early days of the line was 11
days 10 hours and 26 minutes, against the average of the
then so called fastest line of steamers, 12 days 19 hours and
26 minutes. In February, 1852, the Arctic made the passage
from New York to Liverpool in 9 days and 17 hours.

The Arctic was afterward run into by a French vessel at sea
and only a few of her passengers were saved. The Pacific
was never heard from after sailing from Liverpool, and all
the persons on board were lost. The Atlantic, after rotting
and rusting at her wharf, was deprived of her machinery
and converted into a sailing vessel, and was broken up in
New York last year. The Adriatic, the “queen of the fleet,”
made less than a half dozen voyages, was sold to the Galway
Company, and is now used in the Western Islands as a coal
hulk by an English company.

The Baltic was in the government service during the war
as a supply vessel, and was afterward sold at auction;
her machinery was removed and sold as old iron. She was
then converted into a sailing ship, and of late years has been
used as a grain carrying vessel between San Francisco and
Great Britain. On a recent voyage to Boston she was strained
to such an extent as to be made unseaworthy, and for that
reason is to be broken up.

One cannot but remark in this connection how small has
been the advance in steamship building during the quarter
century since the Collins line was in its glory.

CHINESE WOMEN’S FEET.

An American missionary, Miss Norwood, of Swatow, recently
described in a Times paragraph how the size of the
foot is reduced in Chinese women. The binding of the feet
is not begun till the child has learnt to walk. The bandages
are specially manufactured, and are about two inches wide
and two yards long for the first year, five yards long for subsequent
years. The end of the strip is laid on the inside of
the foot at the instep, then carried over the toes, under the
foot, and round the heel, the toes being thus drawn toward
and over the sole, while a bulge is produced on the instep,
and a deep indentation in the sole. Successive layers of
bandages are used till the strip is all used, and the end is
then sewn tightly down. The foot is so squeezed upward
that, in walking, only the ball of the great toe touches the
ground. After a month the foot is put in hot water to soak
some time; then the bandage is carefully unwound, much
dead cuticle coming off with it. Frequently, too, one or
two toes may even drop off, in which case the woman feels
afterward repaid by having smaller and more delicate feet.
Each time the bandage is taken off, the foot is kneaded to
make the joints more flexible, and is then bound up again as
quickly as possible with a fresh bandage, which is drawn up
more tightly. During the first year the pain is so intense
that the sufferer can do nothing, and for about two years the
foot aches continually, and is the seat of a pain which is like
the pricking of sharp needles. With continued rigorous
binding the foot in two years becomes dead and ceases to
ache, and the whole leg, from the knee downward, becomes
shrunk, so as to be little more than skin and bone. When
once formed, the “golden lily,” as the Chinese lady calls her
delicate little foot, can never recover its original shape.

Our illustrations show the foot both bandaged and unbandaged,
and are from photographs kindly forwarded by
Mr. J. W. Bennington, R.N., who writes: “It is an error to
suppose, as many do, that it is only the Upper Ten among
the daughters of China that indulge in the luxury of ‘golden
lilies,’ as it is extremely common among every class, even to
the very poorest—notably the poor sewing women one sees
in every Chinese city and town, who can barely manage to
hobble from house to house seeking work. The pain endured
while under the operation is so severe and continuous
that the poor girls never sleep for long periods without the
aid of strong narcotics, and then only but fitfully; and it is
from this constant suffering that the peculiar sullen or stolid
look so often seen on the woman’s face is derived. The
origin of this custom is involved in mystery to the Westerns.
Some say that the strong-minded among the ladies wanted
to interfere in politics, and that there is a general liking for
visiting, chattering, and gossip (and China women can
chatter and gossip), both and all of which inclinations their
lords desired, and desire, to stop by crippling them.”

CHINESE WOMEN’S FEET.

To the alteration and metamorphism of rocks by the infiltration
of rain and other meteoric waters, M. De Koninck, of
the Belgian Academy of Sciences, assigns the cause of
many hitherto unexplained phenomena in geology.

CORRESPONDENCE

Ice at High Temperatures.

To the Editor of the Scientific American:

Your issues of October 23 and 30 contain some remarkable
articles under the heading of “Ice at High Temperatures.”

Prof. Carnelley says; “In order to convert a solid into a
liquid, the pressure must be above a certain point, otherwise
no amount of heat will melt the substance,” as it passes at
once from the sold state into the state of gas, subliming away
without previous melting. And, “having come to this conclusion,
it was easily foreseen that it would be possible to
have solid ice at temperatures far above the ordinary melting
point.”

The first conclusion of the professor is correct, but not
new. The second conclusion is new, but very doubtful as
to its correctness, and certainly does not follow as a sequence
from his premise.

If we try to heat ice in a vacuum, we cannot apply any
heat to the ice direct, but only to the vessel containing the
ice. The vessel may be much heated; but whether it will
convey heat to the ice quick enough to heat it over 32°, and
whether at all it can be heated over 32°, this is a question of
a different nature. Before crediting such a conclusion we
must know more of the details of the experiments which the
professor made in order to verify its correctness. When
saying that “on one occasion a small quantity of water was
frozen in a glass vessel which was so hot that it could not be
touched by the hand without burning it,” he evidently assumes
that if the vessel is hot, the ice inside must be equally
so; but this assumption is erroneous. Faraday has made
water to freeze in a red hot platina pot; the ice thus formed
was not red hot like the platina, but was below the freezing
point. Just so with Professor Carnelley’s glass vessel: the
vessel was hot, but the ice inside no doubt was “ice cold.”
If the professor would surround a thermometer bulb with
ice and then make the mercury rise above the freezing point,
we would believe in “hot ice;” not before. Until he does,
we prefer to believe that the heat conveyed through the vessel
to the ice is all absorbed in vaporizing the ice, and not
in raising its temperature above 32°.

Professor Carnelley’s further statement, apparently proving
his theory, that the ice at once liquefies as soon as pressure
is admitted (say by admitting air), is readily accounted
for by the phenomena connected with the “Leydenfrost
Drop.” Water in a red hot vessel will vaporize off much
slower than in a vessel heated a little above the boiling point,
from the reason that in the red hot vessel no real contact
takes place between the vessel and the water. At the place
where the two ought to touch, steam is formed quicker than
it can escape, which steam prevents the contact between vessel
and water; therefore, as no real contact takes place, the
heat from the vessel can pass into the water but slowly, viz.,
in the proportion as it works itself through the layer of
steam, which in itself is a bad conductor. Just so in Prof.
Carnelley’s experiment: The heated glass vessel will convey
heat to the ice only at those points where it touches the ice;
at those points at once a formation of vapor takes place,
which prevents an intimate contact between the glass and
the ice, so that they do not really touch each other, consequently
the heat can pass into the ice but slowly, having to
work its way through the thin layer of rarefied vapor between
the two. As soon as pressure is admitted by admitting
atmospheric air, vapors can no longer form; an intimate
contact will take place between the glass and the ice, and
consequently the heat be conveyed over quick enough to
make the ice melt away rapidly.

The professor’s experiments, therefore, so far as published,
do not prove anything to justify his strange conclusion. It
is perfectly true that in a vacuum of less than 4.6 mm. mercury
pressure, no amount of heat will melt ice, all heat that
can be conveyed to the ice being absorbed by vaporization.
But before crediting the professor’s further conclusion, that
ice can be heated much above the freezing point, he must
actually produce “hot ice,” not only a hot vessel containing
ice. N. J.

Brooklyn, N. Y., October 25, 1880.

Schools of Invention.

The school of invention has not yet been established, but
its germ is growing in the mechanical schools. This school,
according to Hon. W. H. Ruffner, in Va. Ed. Journal, will
educate men, and women too, for the special career of inventing
new things. Why not? We already have something
closely analogous in schools of design, where the pupil is
trained to invent new forms or patterns, chiefly of an artistic
or decorative character. The same idea will be applied to the
invention of machinery, or improvements in machinery, or
the adaptation of machinery to the accomplishment of special
ends. Inventions usually spring from individuals striving
to lighten their own labor, or from some idea entering
the brain of a genius. But we shall have professional inventors
who will be called on to contrive original devices,
and his success will depend on the sound and practical character
of his prescriptions.

Proposed Exhibition of Bathing Appliances.

The Board of Health of this city has recently been notified
that a Balneological Exhibition, to illustrate the various systems
of bathing, bath appliances, and kindred matters, is to
be held in Frankfort-On-Main, Germany, next summer. The
exhibition will last from May to September, 1881.

[Pg 394]

H. H. Heinrich, No. 41 Maiden Lane, New York, Inventor
Patentee, and Sole Manufacturer of the Self-Adjusting
Chronometer Balance, which is not affected
by “extremes of high and low temperatures, as fully
demonstrated by a six months’ test at the Naval Observatory
at Washington, D. C., showing results in temperatures
from 134° down to 18°, of 5-10 of a second only,
unparalleled in the history of horology and certified to
by Theo F. Kone. Esq., Commander U. S. N. in charge
of the Observatory. Mr. Heinrich is a practical working
mechanic and adjuster of marine and pocket chronometers
to positions and temperatures, and is now prepared
to apply his new balance wheel to any fine timekeeping
instrument, either for public or private use, he
also repairs marine and pocket chronometers, as well as
all kinds of complicated watches, broken or lost parts
made new and adjusted. Mr. Heinrich was connected
for many years with the principal manufacturers of
England, Geneva and Locle, Switzerland, and for the
last fifteen years in the United States, and very recently
with Messrs. Tiffany & Co., of Union Square, New York.
Shipowners, captains naval and army officers, railroad
and telegraph officials, physicians and horsemen, and all
others wanting true time, should send to him. Fine
watches of the principal manufacturers, for whom he is
their agent, constantly on hand. His office is connected
by electric wires with the Naval Observatory’s astronomical
clock, through the Western Union Telegraph, thus
giving him daily New York’s mean time. Many years
ago the British Government made an offer of £6,000 for a
chronometer for her navy, keeping better time than the
ones in use, but no European horologist ever discovered
the sequel which Mr. Heinrich has now worked out to
perfection, overcoming the extremes, as stated above.
With him is connected Mr. John P. Krugler for thirty
years connected with the trade as salesman.—Adv.

Toope’s Felt and Asbestos Covering for Steam Pipes
and other surfaces, illustrated on page 357, present volume,
received a Medal of Excellence at the late American
Institute Fair. See advertisement on another page.

Business and Personal.

The Charge for Insertion under this head is One Dollar
a line for each insertion; about eight words to a line.
Advertisements must be received at publication office
as early as Thursday morning to appear in next issue.

The publishers of this paper guarantee to advertisers
a circulation of not less than 50,000 copies every
weekly issue.

Chard’s Extra Heavy Machinery Oil.

Chard’s Anti-Corrosive Cylinder Oil.

Chard’s Patent Lubricene and Gear Grease.

R. J. Chard, Sole Proprietor, 6 Burling Slip, New York.

Wanted—Superintendent for six thousand spindle
cotton yarn mill. State salary and references, Rosalie
Yarn Mills, Natchez, Miss.

Use Vacuum Oil Co.’s Lubricating Oil. Rochester, N.Y.

50,000 Sawyers wanted. Your full address for Emerson’s
Hand Book of Saws (free). Over 100 illustrations
and pages of valuable information. How to straighten
saws, etc. Emerson, Smith & Co., Beaver Falls, Fa.

Interesting to Manufacturers and Others.—The worldwide
reputation of Asbestos Liquid Paints, Roofing, Roof
Paints, Steam Pipe, Boiler Coverings, etc., has induced
unscrupulous persons to sell and apply worthless articles,
representing them as being made of Asbestos. The
use of Asbestos in these and other materials for structural
and mechanical purposes is patented, and the genuine
are manufactured only by the H.W. Johns M’f’g Co.,
87 Maiden Lane, New York.

Three requisites—pens, pins, and needles. The two
latter you can get of any make, but when you want a
good pen get one of Esterbrook’s.

For Heavy Punches, etc., see illustrated advertisement
of Hilles & Jones, on page 380.

Frank’s Wood Working Mach’y. See illus. adv., p. 382.

Painters’ list of 65 good recipes. J. J. Callow, Clevel’d, O.

Improved Speed Indicator. Accurate, reliable, and of
a convenient size. Sent by mail on receipt of $1.50. E. H.
Gilman, 21 Doane St., Boston, Mass.

Astronomical Telescopes, first quality & low prices, Eye
Pieces, Micrometers, etc. W. T. Gregg, 75 Fulton St., N. Y.

Engines. Geo. F. Shedd, Waltham, Mass.

The Mackinnon Pen or Fluid Pencil. The commercial
pen of the age. The only successful reservoir pen
in the market. The only pen in the world with a diamond
circle around the point. The only reservoir pen
supplied with a gravitating valve: others substitute a
spring, which soon gets out of order. The only pen accompanied
by a written guarantee from the manufacturers.
The only pen that will stand the test of time.
A history of the Mackinnon Pen, its uses, prices, etc.,
free. Mackinnon Pen Co. 200 Broadway, New York.

Among the numerous Mowing Machines now in use,
none ranks so high as the Eureka. It does perfect work
and gives universal satisfaction. Farmers in want of a
mowing machine will consult their best interests by
sending for illustrated circular, to Eureka Mower Company,
Towanda, Pa.

Peck’s Patent Drop Press. See adv., page 333.

The Inventors Institute, Cooper Union Building, New
York. Sales of patent rights negotiated and inventions
exhibited for subscribers. Send for circular.

Fragrant Vanity Fair Tobacco and Cigarettes. 7 First
Prize Medals—Vienna, 1873: Philadelphia. 1876; Paris,
1878: Sydney, 1879—awarded Wm. S. Kimball & Co.,
Rochester, N. Y.

Superior Malleable Castings at moderate rates of
Richard P. Pim, Wilmington, Del.

Wood Working Machinery of Improved Design and
Workmanship. Cordesman, Egan & Co., Cincinnati, O.

The E. Stebbins Manuf’g Co. (Brightwood, P. O.),
Springfield, Mass., are prepared to furnish all kinds of
Brass and Composition Castings at short notice; also
Babbitt Metal. The quality of the work is what has
given this foundry its high reputation. All work
guaranteed.

The “1880” Lace Cutter by mail for 50 cts.; discount
to the trade. Sterling Elliott, 262 Dover St., Boston, Mass.

The Tools, Fixtures, and Patterns of the Taunton
Foundry and Machine Company for sale, by the George
Place Machinery Agency, 121 Chambers St., New York.

Improved Rock Drills and Air Compressors, Illustrated
catalogues and information gladly furnished.
Address Ingersoll Rock Drill Co., 1-1/2 Park Place. N. Y.

Mineral Lands Prospected, Artesian Wells Bored, by
Pa Diamond Drill Co. Box 423. Pottsville, Pa. See p. 349.

Experts in Patent Causes and Mechanical Counsel.
Park Benjamin & Bro., 50 Astor House, New York.

Corrugated Wrought Iron for Tires on Traction Engines,
etc. Sole mfrs. H. Lloyd, Son & Co., Pittsb’g, Pa.

Malleable and Gray Iron Castings, all descriptions, by
Erie Malleable Iron Company, limited, Erie, Pa.

Power, Foot, and Hand Presses for Metal Workers.
Lowest prices. Peerless Punch & Shear Co. 52 Dey St., N. Y.

Recipes and Information on all Industrial Processes.
Park Benjamin’s Expert Office, 50 Astor House, N. Y.

For the best Stave, Barrel, Keg, and Hogshead Machinery,
address H. A. Crossley, Cleveland, Ohio.

National Steel Tube Cleaner for boiler tubes. Adjustable,
durable. Chalmers-Spence Co., 40 John St., N. Y.
For Mill Mach’y & Mill Furnishing, see illus. adv. p. 349.

The Brown Automatic Cut-off Engine; unexcelled for
workmanship, economy, and durability. Write for information.
C. H. Brown & Co., Fitchburg, Mass.

Gun Powder Pile Drivers, Thos. Shaw, 915 Ridge
Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa.

For Separators, Farm & Vertical Engines, see adv. p. 349.

For Patent Shapers and Planers, see ills. adv. p. 349.

Best Oak Tanned Leather Belting. Wm. F. Forepaugh,
Jr., & Bros., 531 Jefferson St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Stave, Barrel, Keg, and Hogshead Machinery a specialty,
by E. & B. Holmes, Buffalo, N. Y.

Split Pulleys at low prices, and of same strength and
appearance as Whole Pulleys. Yocom & Son’s Shafting
Works, Drinker St., Philadelphia. Pa.

C. B. Rogers & Co., Norwich, Conn., Wood Working
Machinery of every kind. See adv., page 348.

National Institute of Steam and Mechanical Engineering,
Bridgeport, Conn. Blast Furnace Construction and
Management. The metallurgy of iron and steel. Practical
Instruction in Steam Engineering, and a good situation
when competent. Send for pamphlet.

Reed’s Sectional Covering for steam surfaces; any
one can apply it; can be removed and replaced without
injury. J. A. Locke, Agt., 32 Cortlandt St., N.Y.

Downer’s Cleaning and Polishing Oil for bright metals,
is the oldest and best in the market. Highly recommended
by the New York, Boston, and other Fire Departments
throughout the country. For quickness of
cleaning and luster produced it has no equal. Sample
five gallon can be sent C. O. D. for $8. A. H. Downer, 17
Peck Slip, New York.

Presses. Dies, and Tools for working Sheet Metal, etc.
Fruit & other can tools. Bliss & Williams, B’klyn, N. Y.

For Pat. Safety Elevators, Hoisting Engines. Friction
Clutch Pulleys, Cut-off Coupling, see Frisbie’s ad. p. 349.

Nickel Plating.—Sole manufacturers cast nickel anodes,
pure nickel salts, importers Vienna lime, crocus,
etc. Condit. Hanson & Van Winkle, Newark, N. J., and
92 and 94 Liberty St., New York.

Sheet Metal Presses. Ferracute Co., Bridgeton, N. J.

Wright’s Patent Steam Engine, with automatic cut
off. The best engine made. For prices, address William
Wright, Manufacturer, Newburgh, N. Y.

Machine Knives for Wood-working Machinery, Book
Binders, and Paper Mills. Also manufacturers of Soloman’s
Parallel Vise, Taylor, Stiles & Co., Riegelsville, N. J.

Rollstone Mac. Co.’s Wood Working Mach’y ad. p. 366.

Silent Injector, Blower, and Exhauster. See adv. p. 380.

Fire Brick, Tile, and Clay Retorts, all shapes. Borgner
& O’Brien, M’f’rs, 23d St., above Race, Phila., Pa.

Clark Rubber Wheels adv. See page 381.

Diamond Saws. J. Dickinson, 64 Nassau St., N. Y.

Steam Hammers, Improved Hydraulic Jacks, and Tube
Expanders. R. Dudgeon, 24 Columbia St., New York.

Eclipse Portable Engine. See illustrated adv., p. 382.

Peerless Colors—For coloring mortar. French, Richards
& Co., 410 Callowhill St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Tight and Slack Barrel machinery a specialty. John
Greenwood & Co., Rochester, N. Y. See illus. adv. p. 380.

Elevators, Freight and Passenger, Shafting, Pulleys
and Hangers. L. S. Graves & Son, Rochester, N. Y.

Steam Engines; Eclipse Safety Sectional Boiler. Lambertville
Iron Works, Lambertville, N. J. See ad. p. 349.

Magic Lanterns, Stereopticons, and Views of all kinds
and prices for public exhibitions. A profitable business
for a person with small capital. Also lanterns for home
amusement, etc. Send stamp for 116 page catalogue to
McAllister, M’f’g Optician, 49 Nassau St., New York.

Lenses for Constructing Telescopes, as in Sci. Am.
Supplement, No. 252, $6.50 per set; postage, 9 cts. The
same, with eye piece handsomely mounted in brass,
8.00. McAllister, M’f’g Optician, 49 Nassau St., N. Y.

For best low price Planer and Matcher, and latest
improved Sash, Door, and Blind Machinery, Send for
catalogue to Rowley & Hermance, Williamsport, Pa.

The only economical and practical Gas Engine in the
market is the new “Otto” Silent, built by Schleicher,
Schumm & Co., Philadelphia, Pa. Send for circular.

Penfield (Pulley) Blocks, Lockport N. Y. See ad. p. 381.

4 to 40 H. P. Steam Engines. See adv. p. 381.

Tyson Vase Engine, small motor. 1-33 H. P., efficient
and non-explosive: price $50 See illus. adv., page 380.

For Yale Mills and Engines, see page 381.

Lightning Screw Plates and Labor-saving Tools. p. 333.

English Patents Issued to Americans.

From November 9 to November 12, 1880, inclusive.

Book binding, L. Finger, Boston, Mass.
Draining and sewerage. G. E. Waring Newport, R. I.
Electric gas lighter, G. D. Bancroft. Boston, Mass.
Electric signal. EH Johnson et al., Menlo Park, N. J.
Horse nail manufacture, S. S. Putnam. Boston, Mass.
Hygienic confection, T. S. Lambert et al., New York city.
Looms, F. O. Tucker, Hartford, Conn.
Reflectors for lamps. J. S. Goldsmith, New York city.
Railroad vehicles, E. R. Esmond et al.. New York city.
Sewing machine. G. F. Newell, Greenfield. Mass.
Steam boilers, D. Sutton. Cincinnati. Ohio.
Steam boilers, W. D. Dickey, New York city.
Toy money box, J. E. Walter. New York city.
Trucks, hand., E. J. Lyburn, Fredericksburg, U. S. A.

HINTS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

No attention will be paid to communications unless accompanied with
the full name and address of the writer.

Names and addresses of correspondents will not be given to
inquirers.

We renew our request that correspondents, in referring to former
answers or articles, will be kind enough to name the date of the
paper and the page, or the number of the question.

Correspondents whose inquiries do not appear after a reasonable time
should repeat them. If not then published, they may conclude that,
for good reasons, the Editor declines them.

Persons desiring special information which is purely of a personal
character, and not of general interest, should remit from $1 to $5,
according to the subject, as we cannot be expected to spend time and
labor to obtain such information without remuneration.

Any numbers of the Scientific American Supplement referred to in
these columns may be had at this office. Price 10 cents each.

(1) L. L. asks: 1. How can I grind and polish quartz and agate rock,
and what kind of grinding and polishing material should I use? A.
Quartz and agate are slit with a thin iron disk supplied with
diamond dust moistened with brick oil. The rough grinding is done on
a lead wheel supplied with coarse emery and water. The smoothing is
done with a lead lap and fine emery, and the polishing may be
accomplished by means of a lead lap, whose surface is hacked and
supplied with rottenstone and water. 2. What is the best method of
polishing steel? A. The usual method is to grind first on a coarse
wet stone, then on a fine wet stone, then on a lead lap supplied
with fine emery and oil, and finally polish on a buff wheel supplied
with dry crocus and revolving rather slowly.

(2) R. L. J. asks how to make copying black and red inks. A. 1.
Bruised Aleppo nutgalls, 2 lb.; water, 1 gallon; boil in a copper
vessel for an hour, adding water to make up for that lost by
evaporation; strain and again boil the galls with a gallon of water
and strain; mix the liquors, and add immediately 10 oz. of copperas
in coarse powder and 8 oz. of gum arabic; agitate until solution of
these latter is effected, add a few drops of solution of potassium
permanganate, strain through a piece of hair cloth, and after
permitting to settle, bottle. The addition of a little extract of
logwood will render the ink blacker when first written with. Half an
ounce of sugar to the gallon will render it a good copying ink. 2.
Shellac, 4 oz.; borax, 2 oz.; water, 1 quart; boil till dissolved,
and add 2 oz. of gum arabic dissolved in a little hot water; boil
and add enough of a well triturated mixture of equal parts indigo
and lampblack to produce the proper color; after standing several
hours draw off and bottle. 3. Half a drachm of powdered drop lake
and 18 grains of powdered gum arabic dissolved in 3 oz. of ammonia
water constitute one of the finest red or carmine inks.

(3) X. inquires: What is the rule for making a counterbalanced face
wheel for engines? A. It is a common practice to place the counter
weight directly opposite the crank, with its center of gravity at
the same distance from the center of the shaft as the center of the
crank pin, making its weight equal to weight of piston, piston rod,
crosshead, and crank pin, plus half the weight of the connecting
rod.

(4) A. R. asks: What is the best way to remove cinders from the eye?
A. A small camel’s hair brush dipped in water and passed over the
ball of the eye on raising the lid. The operation requires no skill,
takes but a moment, and instantly removes any cinder or particle of
dust or dirt without inflaming the eye.

(5) D. F. H. asks: Can I move a piston in a half inch glass tube by
the expansion of mercury? A. Yes, but you will require a long tube
to get any appreciable motion of the piston.

(6) J. W. asks: What size of a bore and what length of a stroke I
would want for a rocking valve engine of half a horse power? A.
About 2 inches cylinder and 3 inch stroke, depending upon pressure
and velocity.

(7) R. W. H. writes: In a recent discussion on hot air and steam
portable engines it was decided to ask your opinion, which should be
final. Water is scarce, though enough to use steam is easily
procured. The country is hilly, so that lightness is desirable. The
power wanted is 6 horse, and movable, that is, on wheels. Which will
be best, hot air engine or steam engine? Which consumes most coal
for a given power? Which will be cheapest in above case? A. For
small powers the hot air engine is most economical, but we do not
think it adapted to your purpose. We would recommend the steam
engine for a portable power.

(8) J. C. T. writes: 1. I have a water tank for supplying my boiler,
which is made of No. 22 galvanized iron; size 30 inches by 9 feet 4
inches. How many gallons will it hold? A. 342 gallons. 2. Will it be
better to have it painted inside? A. Yes. 3. How many years will the
tank wear under favorable circumstances, using well water? A.
Depends upon the care taken of it.

(9) W. H. C. asks: Is there any way of deadening the noise of
machinery overhead from the engine room below? The noise comes from
machinery in the weave room of an alpaca mill. A. This is generally
accomplished by setting the legs of the machines on thick pieces of
India-rubber or other non-conductor of sound.

(10) G. H. asks: How can I mount photos on glass and color them? A.
Take a strongly printed photograph on paper, and saturate it from
the back with a rag dipped in castor oil. Carefully rub off all
excess from the surface after obtaining thorough transparency. Take
a piece of glass an inch larger all round than the print, pour upon
it dilute gelatin, and then “squeegee” the print and glass together.
Allow it to dry, and then work in artists’ oil colors from the back
until you get the proper effect from the front. Both landscapes and
portraits can be effectively colored by the above method without any
great skill being required.

(11) C. W. S. asks: 1. Is there any practical and effective method
known for cutting screws by connecting the slide rest with the
mandrel of the lathe by gears or otherwise? A. This can be done in
this way: attach a spur wheel to the back of the face plate. Mount a
similar wheel on a short hollow shaft, and support the shaft by an
arm bolted to the lathe bed so that the two spur wheels will mesh
together. Fit right and left hand leading screws to the hollow shaft
of the second spur wheel, and drill a hole through them as well as
through the hollow shaft to receive the fastening pin. Now remove
the longitudinal feed screw of the slide rest and attach to one side
of the carriage an adjustable socket for receiving nuts filled to
the leading screws. The number of leading screws required will
depend of course on the variety of threads it is desired to cut
unless a change of gear is provided. 2. A writer in a foreign
journal claims to make slides, or V-shaped pieces for slide rests,
eccentric chucks, etc., on his lathe. Is any such process known
here, or any process within the capabilities of an amateur mechanic
by which the planing machine can be dispensed with? A. For small
work held between the lathe centers a milling device fitted to the
slide rest in place of the tool post will answer an excellent
purpose. This device consists of a mandrel carrying at one end the
cutter and at the other end a large pulley. This mandrel is
journaled in a hinged frame supported by a block replacing the tool
post, and is adjusted as to height by a screw passing through an arm
projecting from the supporting block. The direction of the belt is
adapted to this device by means of pulleys.

(12) J. E. B. asks: 1. What is the best turbine water wheel now in
use? A. There are several wheels in market that seem equally good.
You should examine all of them and decide from your own observation
which is best. 2. What is the rule for finding the horse power of
water acting through a turbine wheel which utilizes 80 per cent of
the water? A. Finding the weight of water falling over the dam and
its velocity in feet per minute, multiply the weight in pounds by
the velocity, and the result is foot pounds, divided by 33,000, the
quotient is theoretical horse power; if your wheel gives out 80 per
cent. then 80 per cent of that result is the horse power of the
wheel. 3. How can I calculate the capacity of a belt? A. You will
find an exhaustive article on the subject of belts on pp. 101, 102,
Vol. 42, Scientific American, which contains the information you
desire. 4. What machine now in use is the best, all things
considered, for the manufacture of ground wood pulp? Where are they
manufactured? A. This information can probably be obtained by
inserting an advertisement in the Business and Personal column of
this paper.

(13) C. A. R writes: Wishing to renew my Leclanche batteries, which
were giving out, I bought some new empty porous cells. Please give
the following information: 1. Can I use the carbon plates of the old
elements over again? If so, do they need to undergo any washing or
soaking; or are they as good as ever? A. Yes. Soak them for a few
hours in warm water. 2. Is there anything I must add to the granular
manganese with which I fill the cells, in order to obtain maximum
power and endurance? Some makers add pulverized or even coarsely
broken carbon. Is it an advantage? A. It is an advantage to add
granulated carbon to the manganese. Use equal parts of each. 3. What
is the exact composition of the curdy mass which forms around and
especially underneath the zincs of newly mounted and old gravity
batteries. Is this substance formed naturally, or is it the result
of using poor zinc or sulphate of copper? A. It is copper, and
should be removed, for it weakens the battery. It is the result of
placing the zinc in the sulphate of copper solution. 4. Is there any
real advantage in amalgamating the zincs of the above batteries? A.
No. 5. Is there a speedy way of cleaning them when coated with this
substance? A. They can be cleaned by scraping. 6. At certain
occasions my electric bells began ringing without anybody apparently
closing the circuit. I often notice that if I unjoin the batteries
and let them remain thus for a few hours, on reconnecting them the
bells would work all right for a week, sometimes a fortnight, when
the same trouble would again occur. Can you in any way explain this
phenomenon? The batteries are not placed in a very dry part of the
house, but the wires, which run pretty closely together, are nearly
all exposed, so that I can control the slightest corrosion or
uncovering of the conductors. A. There must be some accidental
closing of the circuit. We could not explain the action of your line
without seeing it.

(14) J. E. E. asks: What is the number of layers of wire, and the
size used for the primary of the induction coil in the Blake
transmitter, and as near as you can the amount used for secondary?
A. For primary, use three layers of No. 20 magnet wire, and for the
secondary use twelve or fourteen layers of No. 36 silk covered
copper wire. The resistance of the secondary wire should be from 100
to 150 ohms.

(15) J. M. I. asks how to make a barometer by coloring ribbon, so
that they will change color, indicating weather changes. A. Use a
moderately strong solution of chloride of cobalt in water.

(16) O. C. H. writes: In reply to R. A. R., question 22, in
Scientific American, December 4, I will say that some months ago I
was engaged in running a saw mill, lathe, and shingle factory; was
troubled with two hot boxes, and frequently had to stop and apply
ice. Seeing in the Scientific American a reference to the use of
plumbago, I sent for some, and after three or four applications was
troubled no more with hot boxes.

(17) F. W. asks: What is the best way for return pipe to go into
the boiler from radiators—steam at 60 lb. per square inch, fall 15
feet? A. If your job is properly piped you can bring your return
pipe in at any convenient place in your boiler below the water line.
If you go into the feed pipe, have your connection inside all other
valves.

[Pg 395]

(18) L. T. G. writes: 1. I have four cells of carbon battery; the
solutions are bichromate of potash and sulphuric acid. Also three
cells of the Smee; sulphuric acid one part, to ten of water; and the
four cells of the carbon battery are not sufficient to run my small
electro-magnetic engine, for more than two or three minutes. I wish
to know if it would be injurious to either one of the batteries if I
should unite them both in one circuit, to run the engine, for about
one or two hours at a time. A. The batteries will not be injured,
but they will not work well together. Better increase the number of
carbon elements. 2. Will either of the above batteries freeze in
winter, or will cold weather affect their working? A. They will not
freeze, but it is better to keep them at a temperature above
freezing 3. Is it always best to use the largest wire in connecting
batteries with any instrument, say, above No. 11 or No. 12 wire, as
the larger the wire the less the resistance, thereby getting nearly
the full power of the battery? A. Yes. 4. What purposes are quantity
and intensity electricity best suited for respectively? A. Batteries
are arranged for quantity or intensity according to the work to be
done. The maximum effect is obtained when the battery elements are
combined, so that the total resistance in the elements is equal to
the resistance of the rest of the circuit.

(19) J. H. asks: Which would be the strongest, two 2-inch by 4-inch
joists nailed together, or one 4-inch by 4-inch joist? A. One 4-inch
by 4-inch.

(20) J. K. B. writes: I suppose every experimenter who uses a carbon
battery has been troubled by the uncertainty of the carbon
connection. The makers of the Grenet battery seem to have solved the
problem. Can you tell us through your correspondence column what
solder they use, and how they make it stick? A. The carbon is coated
with copper by electro-deposition; this coating is readily soldered
to the carbon support with common soft solder.

(21) M. D. M. asks: 1. Is there a difference in a steam engine
between the boiler pressure and the pressure on the piston when the
piston is moving 460 feet per minute? A. Yes. 2. About what
difference? A. From 2 to 8 lb., depending upon size and length of
steam pipe. 3. Does the difference between them vary with a
difference in the motion of the piston in the same engine? A. Not
appreciably within usual limits of speed.

(22) F. writes: We have just closed up our steam stone works for
this season, and we wish to know what is best to coat the inside of
our steam boilers to keep them from rusting. Some say black oil, and
others common tallow: which do you recommend as the best? A. We
think the black oil quite as good and cheaper than tallow. Have the
surfaces thoroughly cleaned before applying the oil.

(23) O. H. asks for a cheap and easy way of amalgamating battery
zincs. A. It depends on the kind of battery. In the Fuller the
mercury is placed in the porous cell with the zinc. In bichromate
batteries all that is necessary is to dip the zinc in the bichromate
solution and then pour on a drop or two of mercury. It soon spreads
over the entire surface of the zinc. Another method is to dip the
zincs in dilute sulphuric acid and then pour on a little mercury,
but these methods, except in the case of the Fuller battery, are
wasteful of mercury. It is better to apply an amalgamating solution
with a brush. This solution is made by dissolving one part (by
weight) of mercury in five parts of nitro-muriatic acid (nitric acid
one part, muriatic acid three parts), heating the solution
moderately to quicken the action; and, after complete solution, add
five parts more of nitro-muriatic acid.

(24) G. W. asks: 1. Would a perfectly round ball of the same
specific gravity throughout lie still on a level surface? A. Yes. 2.
Can a mechanic’s square be made so true that a four-inch block may
be made exactly square by such an instrument? A. Yes.

(25) W. H. asks: 1. What is the weight of a boiler 24 feet long, 44
inches diameter, ¼ inch thick? A. With two flues, 16 inches
diameter, 6,900 lb. 2. What is the contents (in gallons) of a tank
15 feet deep, 10 feet in diameter, top and bottom diameters being
equal? Please give me a formula. A. Area of 10 feet diameter = 78.54
x 15 feet deep = 1,178 cubic feet, and, allowing 7½ gallons per
cubic foot = 1,178 x 7.5 = 8,835 gallons.

(26) C. L. W. writes: I have constructed a small induction coil to
be used for giving shocks. It is 3 inches long. The primary coil is
wound with 3 layers of No. 18 cotton covered wire, and the secondary
consists of about 12 layers of No. 38 silk covered. 1. How many
cells and what kind of battery shall I use to get the best results?
A. For temporary use one cell of Grenet battery would answer, but
for continued use some form of sulphate of copper battery is to be
preferred. 2. Is it necessary that the spring and screw in the
interrupter should be coated with platinum? A. Yes; otherwise they
would soon burn out.

(27) H. C. P. writes: In the Scientific American of September 18,
Mr. B. Y. D., query 26, asks whether a sun dial, made for latitude
48° 15′, can be utilized in latitude 38° 50′ for showing correct
time. To make his dial available in the lower latitudes, he has only
to lift the south side, so as to give the face a slope to the north,
equal to the difference of the latitude, in this case 9° 25′. For
then the plane of the gnomon being in the plane of the meridian, the
edge of the gnomon casting the shadow will be parallel with the
earth’s axis; and the face of the dial will be parallel with the
horizon of the latitude for which the dial was made, and the
graduation will show the time required; that is, on the supposition
that it was correctly made, and for a horizontal dial.

(28) O. M. M. asks for a cheap process of plating steel case knives
with tin. A. Clean the metal thoroughly by boiling in strong potash
water, rinsing, pickling in dilute sulphuric acid, and scouring with
a stiff brush and fine sand. Pass through strong aqueous salammoniac
solution, then plunge in hot oil (palm or tallow). When thoroughly
heated remove and dip in a pot of fused tin (grain tin) covered with
tallow. When tinned, drain in oil pot and rub with a bunch of hemp.
Clean and polish in hot sawdust.

(29) V. R. P. writes: I have an aquarium which contains 4-2/3
gallons of water. How many fish must I have in it—average length of
fish 1½ to 2 inches to insure the health of the fish? At present, I
refill the aquarium semi-weekly. Please tell me a process by which I
can lengthen the time. A. Put in three fish, 1½ inches in length, to
one gallon of water, one small bunch of fresh water plants to one
gallon of water. Tadpoles (after they have cast their branchia or
gills), newts, and rock fish can be used to the extent of six to the
gallon. The aquatic plants will supply the fish with sufficient
oxygen, so that the water will seldom require changing.

(30) A. S. writes: I am about to construct an aqueduct 1,200 feet in
length, the water level differing 40 feet. By placing a forcing pump
in the valley I could then raise the water to a height of 40 feet,
and having erected a tank at that height and connected it by means
of pipes with another tank 1,200 feet distant, but on the same
level, the water according to a law of nature would travel over the
distance of 1,200 feet. But finding it very difficult to erect tank
40 feet high, I would prefer to construct the whole on the incline.
Will the forcing pump having just power enough to raise the water 40
feet perpendicularly into the tank have sufficient power to force it
into a tank of the same elevation through 1,200 feet of pipe running
on the incline, or must I have more power, and how much more? A. The
forcing pump must have enough more power to overcome its own
additional friction and the friction of water in the long inclined
pipe. Allow 20 per cent more power at least.

Minerals, Etc.—Specimens have been received from the following
correspondents, and examined, with the results stated:

Box marked C. H. (no letter.)—1. and 2. Garnetiferous quartz rock.
3 and 4. Micaceous quartz rock. 5. Granite. 6. Basalt with traces of
chalcopyrite.—L. C. G.—They are fossil sharks’ teeth, common in
marl beds.—J. E. C.—1. Iron sulphide and lead sulphide. 2.
Quartzite, with traces of galena and molybdic sulphide. 3 and 4.
Dolomite. 5. Fossiliferous argillaceous limestone, containing traces
of lead sulphide. 6. Lead sulphide in argillite.—C. T. M.—1. A
silicious kaolin. 2. Similar to No. 1. Useful if mixed with finer
clay for white ware. 3. Silicions carbonate of lime—some of this
would probably make fair cement. 4. Brick—the clay from which this
was made would probably be useful to potters. 5 and 6 are very
silicious clays.

COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED.

Liniment. By J. L. T.

Seen and Tangible and the Unseen and Intangible. By J. L. T.

On Cheap Railroads. By R. P. N.

On a Meteor. By W. E. C.

[OFFICIAL.]

INDEX OF INVENTIONS

FOR WHICH

Letters Patent of the United States were Granted in the Week Ending:

November 16, 1880,

AND EACH BEARING THAT DATE.

[Those marked (r) are reissued patents.]

A printed copy of the specification and drawing of any patent in the
annexed list, also of any patent issued since 1866, will be
furnished from this office for one dollar. In ordering please state
the number and date of the patent desired and remit to Munn & Co.,
37 Park Row, New York city. We also furnish copies of patents
granted prior to 1866; but at increased cost, as the specifications
not being printed, must be copied by hand.

DESIGNS.

TRADE MARKS.

[Pg 396]

ADVERTISEMENTS.

Inside page, each insertion—75 cents a line.

Back page, each insertion—$1.00 a line.

(About eight words to a line.)

Engravings may head advertisements at the same rate
per line, by measurement, as the letter press. Advertisements
must be received at publication office as early
as Thursday morning to appear in next issue.

The publishers of this paper guarantee to advertisers
a circulation of not less than 50,000 copies every
weekly issue.

A SPLENDID HOLIDAY GIFT.

DR. SCOTT’S ELECTRIC HAIR BRUSH.

A REMARKABLE INVENTION,

Which has won its way to Royal favor in England, been cordially indorsed by the Prince and Princess
of Wales, and written upon by the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, is now brought to the notice
of the American public. It cures by natural means, will always do good, never harm, and is
a remedy lasting for many years. It should be used daily in place of the ordinary Hair
Brush. The Brush Handle is made of a new odorless composition resembling ebony; a
combination of substances PRODUCING A PERMANENT ELECTRIC
VOLTAIC CURRENT WHICH ACTS IMMEDIATELY UPON THE
HAIR GLANDS AND FOLLICLES. This power can always be tested by
a silver compass which accompanies each Brush.

IT IS WARRANTED TO
CURE NERVOUS HEADACHE IN 5 MINUTES!!!
CURE NEURALGIA IN 6 MINUTES!!
PREVENT FALLING HAIR AND BALDNESS!!
CURE DANDRUFF & DISEASES OF THE SCALP!!
PROMPTLY ARRESTS PREMATURE GRAYNESS!!
MAKES THE HAIR GROW LONG & GLOSSY!!
IMMEDIATELY SOOTHES THE WEARY BRAIN
MONEY RETURNED IF NOT AS REPRESENTED.

IT RARELY FAILS TO PRODUCE
A RAPID GROWTH OF HAIR ON
BALD HEADS, WHERE THE
GLANDS and FOLLICLES ARE
NOT TOTALLY DESTROYED.

Proprietors: The Pall Mall Electric Association
of London.

5th New York Branch: 842 Broadway.

[From the Mayor of Saratoga.]

August 12, 1880.

“I cheerfully testify to the merits of
Dr. Scott’s Electric Hair Brush.
It cures my headaches within a
few minutes. I am so pleased
with it I purchased another
for my wife. It is an excellent
Hair Brush, well worth the price,
aside from its curative powers.”

JAS. B. CHAPMAN.

[From
Rev. Dr.
Bridgeman.]

Brooklyn,
June 1st, 1880.

“Gents: I have
never before given a
testimonial, but am willing
to encourage the use
of an honest remedy. I am
so Pleased with your Hair
Brush that I deem it my duty
to write you recommending it
most cordially. My hair, about a
year since, commenced falling out,
and I was rapidly becoming bald; but
since using the Brush a thick growth of
hair has made its appearance, quite equal
to that which I had previous to its falling
out. I have tried other remedies, but with no
success. After this remarkable result I purchased
one for my wife, who has been a great sufferer
from headache, and she finds it a prompt and
infallible remedy.”

A. C. Bridgeman, D. D.

218 Pulton Street, New York, August 31, 1880.

“I would Not take $1,000 for my Brush
If I could not replace it.”

PLINY F. SMITH.

Mr. Smith is a gentleman well known in this City as a Law Publisher, and also as a Director in several
Public Institutions of New York.

“Domestic” Sewing Machine Co., New York, August 16, 1880.

Dr. Geo. A. Scott—Dear Sir: Permit me to add the testimony of my wife to that of the many others who
have been benefited by the use of your Electric Brush. She has for years been a sufferer from Neuralgia in an
acute form, but since I obtained for her one of your Brushes, she has experienced entire relief. Please accept
her sincere thanks.

Henry Bartlett.

Round Lake Camp-Meeting Grounds, Saratoga Co., N. Y., June 8, 1880.

Your Brush is certainly a remarkable cure. I am highly pleased with it. Its effect is most wonderful, and you
may be sure I shall recommend it heartily among my friends. It is also a splendid Hair Brush, well worth the money,
and will last me for years.

Rev. J. D. Rogers, Superintendent.

Mention this Paper. Over 7,000 similar Testimonials can be seen at our office.

Remember that this
is NOT a “metallic”
wire brush, but made
of PURE BRISTLES.

A BEAUTIFUL BRUSH, LASTING FOR YEARS.

We will send it, postpaid, on receipt of $3.00;
or by Express C. O. D. at your expense, with privilege of opening and examining.
Or request your nearest Druggist or Fancy Store to obtain one for you, FROM US.

MONEY RETURNED IF NOT AS REPRESENTED.

As soon as you receive the Brush, if not well satisfied with your bargain, write us, and we will return the money. What can be fairer?

This paper will not knowingly publish any humbug, and I have placed a Brush in the hands of Mayor Cooper and Postmaster
James of New York, as a guarantee of my good faith.

Remittances should be made payable to GEO. A. SCOTT, 842A Broadway, New York. Agents wanted in every town.

They can be made in checks, drafts, post office orders, or currency. Inclose 10 cents for registration, and we guarantee safe delivery of Brush.

THE SWISS WARBLER

OR MOCKING-BIRD WHISTLE

IT
IMITATES
EVERY SOUND
IN THE
ANIMAL
KINGDOM
FROM THE THRILL OF THE
NIGHTINGALE TO THE HOWL
OF THE WOLF

AFTER A LITTLE
PRACTICE YOUR MOUTH
WILL SEEM TO BE A
COMPLETE MENAGERIE

YOU can raise a laugh or pierceing cry of
horror at pleasure. Sample by mail, only 10 cts., 6 for 25 cts.,
15 for 50cts. Valuable catalogue of agent’s goods free.

WORLD MANUFACTURING CO., 122 Nassau Street, New York.

STEAM BOILERS;

THEIR
DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND
MANAGEMENT.
BY
WILLIAM M. SHOCK,

Chief of Bureau of Steam Engineering, United States
Navy.

In one large quarto volume of 480 pages, and illustrated
with 150 wood-cuts and 36 full-page plates (20 of which
are double). Bound in half crimson Morocco, gilt tops.

Price $15

D. VAN NOSTRAND. Publisher,
23 Murray and 27 Warren Sts., New York.

^*_*^* Copies sent by mail, postpaid, on receipt of price.

TOOPE’S PAT. FELT AND ASBESTOS

Non-Conducting, Removable Covering,

as manufactured by Toope’s Asbestos Covering Co.,
Limited, London, England. Awarded a Medal of Excellence
at the late American Institute Fair. For steam
Boilers and Pipes, Steam Pans and Coppers, Hot and
Cold Water Pipes, Refrigerators, Meat Cars, etc. Samples
free. A few first-class agents wanted. Address
CHS. TOOPE, Sole Manufacturing Agent in U. S. Office
and Works, 353 East 78th Street, New York City.

Agents Wanted Sells rapidly. Particulars free.

S. M. Spencer, 112 Wash’n St., Boston, Mass.

FOR SALE-LARGE MACHINE SHOP, WITH
Machinery, Tools, Engine, etc., ready for running.
Inquire of A. MONNETT & CO., Bucyrus, Ohio.

50 A Elegant, All New, Chromo & Scroll Cards, no 2 alike,
Name Nicely printed, 10c. Card Mills, Morthford, Ct.

PATENT BENDING ROLLS,

For Heavy Punches, Shears, Boiler Shop Rolls, Radial
Drills, etc., send to

HILLES & JONES, Wilmington, Del.

Oline Lubricating Compound, manuf’d by HOLLAND
& THOMPSON, Troy, N. Y. Avoids hot journals, dripping,
and waste. Send for catalogue of Grease and Cups
for all kinds of machinery.

PLAYS! PLAYS! PLAYS! PLAYS!

For Reading Clubs, for Amateur Theatricals, Temperance
Plays, Drawing Room Plays, Fairy Plays, Ethiopian
Plays, Guide Books, Speakers, Pantomimes, Tableaux
Lights, Magnesium Lights, Colored Fire, Burnt
Cork, Theatrical Face Preparations, Jarley’s Wax
Works, Wigs, Beards, and Moustaches at reduced
prices. Costumes, Scenery, Charades. New catalogues
sent free containing full description and prices.

Samuel French & Son, 38 E. 14th Street, New York.

ICE AND ICE HOUSES—HOW TO MAKE
ice ponds; amount of ice required, etc., and full directions
for building ice-house, with illustrated plan. Contained
in Scientific American Supplement, No. 55.
Price 10 cents. To be had at this office and of all newsdealers.

THE NEW TOY!

Old Folks Tickled and Children
Delighted

Mechanical grasshopper, jumps
6 feet high. Samples free for 10
cents, 4 for 25 cents, 1 doz. for 50cts.
By mail. Big Profit to Dealers.

Agents Wanted.

Valuable
Catalogue of Agents Goods
free. Address, WORLD M’F’G,
CO. 122 Nassau St., New York.

50 CHROMOS, name in new type, 10c. by mail.
40 Agts. Samples, 10c. U. S. Card Co., Northford, Ct.

WANTED, BY THE SOUTHWARK FOUNDRY AND
MACHINE CO., Philadelphia, a number of first-class
fitters on engine work.

ICE-HOUSE AND COLD ROOM.—BY R.
G. Hatfield. With directions for construction. Four
engravings. Contained in Scientific American Supplement,
59. Price 10 cents. To be had at this office
and of all newsdealers.

For Sale.—Engine for Steam Launch,

at a bargain. Cylinder, 4-1/2 in. diameter, 5 in. stroke.
For particulars, address JAMES T. MILLER, 119 Monroe St., Chicago, Ill.

Langdon Mitre Box Co,
MILLERS FALLS
MASS.

Langdon and New
Langdon Mitre Box.

Send for Circular.

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT.
Any desired back number of the Scientific American
Supplement can be had at this office for
10 cents. Also to be had of newsdealers in all parts of
the country.

THE OPEN FIREPLACE IN ALL AGES.

By J. P. Putnam, Architect. One vol. 12mo. Price $2.

With 269 illustrations of famous fireplaces of historical
and artistic interest, together with original designs
and suggestions for modern use.

^*_*^* For sale by all Booksellers, or will be sent, postpaid, on
receipt of price, by the Publishers,

JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., BOSTON.

STEAM PUMPS,
THE NORWALK IRON WORKS CO.,
SOUTH NORWALK, CONN.

GREAT IMPROVEMENTS
Recently made in

CRUSHING AND GRINDING

GOLD and SILVER ORES, BONES, PHOSPHATE
ROCK, and CHEMICALS. We compel
QUARTZ to grind QUARTZ.

Address, for new circular,
BAUGH & SONS, Philadelphia, Pa.

BEST FOOT LATHES,

Back geared and screw cutting. Small
Lathes, Hand Planers for Metal, Small
Gear cutters, Slide Rests, Scroll and
Circular Saw Machines. Lowest Prices.
Send for illustrated catalogue.

N. H. BALDWIN,
Laconia, N. H.

MECHANIC WANTED.

A skilled mechanic, capable of constructing and operating
a works for the manufacture of wrought iron pipe
and tubing. Address

DUNMOYLE, Lock Box 1459, Pittsburg, Pa.

CENTENNIAL, AND PARIS MEDALS.

Mason’s Friction Clutches and Elevators.

“New and Improved Patterns.”

VOLNEY W. MASON & CO., Providence, R. I., U. S. A.

WANTED

A thoroughly competent and experienced man to take
charge of a foundry employing 200 men, doing engine
and general work. Address A. & Co., Box 773, New York.

BLAKE’S PATENT POSITIVE STEAM TRAP.

This Trap is adapted to all
places where steam is used for
heating or drying purposes.
It is simple in construction,
positive in its working and
much lower in price than any
other Trap.

Descriptive Circular sent on
application. Address
SALAMANDER GRATE BAR CO,
110 Liberty Street, New York.

THE PERFECTED STYLOGRAFIC

LITTLE

GIANT

The most convenient and economical outfit for writing. Pen, Pencil, and Inkstand in one. Writes 50 large pages
without refilling. Lasts a lifetime. Attaches to watch chain or neck cord, or fits vest pocket. Price $2.50. Can
be ordered by mail, and exchanged or returned if not suited. For full description of various styles, send for
circular.

READERS’ AND WRITERS’ ECONOMY CO.,
25-33 Franklin Street, Boston; 4 Bond Street, New York; 38 Madison Street, Chicago.

Phosphor-Bronze
Wire, Sheets, Rods, Bolts.

TRADE

MARK

Pamphlets and particulars on application to
The Phosphor-Bronze Smelting Co. Limited,
2038 Washington Ave., Phila., Pa.

OWNERS OF THE U S. PHOSPHOR-BRONZE
PATENTS.

Sole Manufacturers of Phosphor-Bronze in the U. S.

Magic Lantern Catalogue, 50 pp, and Lecture, 10cts.

THE MAGICAL ORGANETTE, ONLY $8.00.

Double size Reeds, extra strength and finish.
Circulars and beautiful Set Fancy Cards, 8 Cents.

THEO. J. HARBACH, 809 FILBERT ST., PHILA., PA.

PERKINS’
High Pressure Engine and Boiler, Etc.

On returning to England, I have arranged with Mr.
James L. Howard, of Hartford, Conn., to represent
the interests of The Perkins’ Engine Company,
Limited, of London, in this country. All communications
addressed to him on this subject will receive
attention.

GEO. DEANE. Secretary,
The Perkins’ Engine Co., Limited.

50 Lithographed Chromo Cards, no 2 alike, 10c.
Name in fancy type. Conn. Card Co., Northford, Ct.

DO YOUR OWN PRINTING

Presses and outfits from $3 to $500
Over 2,000 styles of type. Catalogue and
reduced price list free.

H. HOOVER, Phila., Pa.

STRAUSS’S LAST. THE HEKTOGRAPH SCHNELL POLKA
pronounced by critics as unrivalled, the rage
at balls and parties, sent on receipt of 15 cts.
Hektograph Co. Pub’s, 22 Church St., N. Y.

TOOPE’S PATENT FURNACE GRATE BAR.
Best and cheapest in the world. CHS. TOOPE, Manufacturing
Agent, 353 East 78th Street, New York.

Wanted Manufactured on royalty, a valuable patented
two-horse Corn Planter. Box 1525, Terre Haute, Ind.

Pond’s Tools,

Engine Lathes, Planers, Drills, &c.

DAVID W. POND, Worcester, Mass.

THE GREAT WORK, splendidly illustrated with colored
plates, now ready. It sells at sight. Agents wanted. Send
for particulars. Rich Masonic goods, Kt. Templar outfits,
and books at hard-pan prices. Send for illustrated catalogue.
REDDING & CO., Masonic Publishers, 731 Broadway,
New York. Beware of spurious works.

SPARE THE CROTON AND SAVE THE COST.

Driven or Tube Wells

furnished to large consumers of Croton and Ridgewood
Water. WM. D. ANDREWS & BRO., 235 Broadway. N. Y.,
who control the patent for Green’s American Driven Well.

WOOD WORKING

Machinery. Celebrated “Schenck” Planers and Matchers.
20,000 ft. flooring, 45,000 ft. surfacing per day. Re-sawers,
Moulders, Tenoners, Scroll Saws, etc. H. B. Schenck,
Successor to Jno. B. Schenck’s Sons, Matteawan, N. Y.

“The 1876 Injector.”

Simple, Durable, and Reliable. Requires no special
valves. Send for illustrated circular.

WM. SELLERS & CO., Phila.

Shafts, Pulleys, Hangers, Etc.

Full assortment in store for immediate delivery.

WM. SELLERS & CO.,
79 Liberty Street, New York.

[Pg 397]

Two New and Important Books.

SOAP AND CANDLES,
STARCH, DEXTRINE, and GLUCOSE.
IN PRESS.

A Technical Treatise on Soap and Candles, with
a Glance at the Industry of Fats and Oils. By R. S.
Cristiani. Fully illustrated. 500 pages 8vo, handsomely
printed on fine paper.

Subscriptions will now be received at $6.00 per copy, payable
on delivery.

A Practical Treatise on the Manufacture of
Starch, Dextrine, and Glucose. Illustrated by
about 75 engravings. 300 pages 8vo, handsomely printed
on fine paper.

Subscriptions will now be received at $3.50 per copy, payable
on delivery.

HENRY CAREY BAIRD & CO.,
Industrial Publishers, Booksellers, and Importers,
810 Walnut Street, Philadelphia.

WITHERBY, RUGG & RICHARDSON, Manufacturers
of Patent Wood Working Machinery of every description.
Facilities unsurpassed. Shop formerly occupied
by R. Ball & Co., Worcester, Mass. Send for Catalogue.

$72 A WEEK. $12 a day at home easily made. Costly
outfit free. Address True & Co., Augusta, Me.

Superior Wood Working Machinery, principally for Cabinet,
Piano, and Piano Action Makers. Shafting, Pulleys,
and Hangers. P. Pryibil, 461 to 467 W. 40th St., New York.

SURFACE FILE HOLDERS.

By their use a crooked file may be utilized as well as a
straight one, and both are made to do better execution in
filing broad surfaces than has hitherto been possible.

No. 4 holds files 12 to 14 in. long. Price 75c. each.
No. 5     ”     ”    14 to 16 in.   ”   Price $1.00 each.

For sale by the trade generally. Manufactured only by the NICHOLSON
FILE CO., Providence, R. I.

THE BIGGEST THING OUT. Illustrated book sent free. Address E. NASON
& CO., 111 Nassau St., New York.

ORGANS $30 to $1,000; 2 to 32 Stops. Pianos $125 up. Paper free.
Address Daniel F. Beatty, Washington, N. J.

Leffel Water Wheels, With recent improvements.

Prices Greatly Reduced.

8000 in successful operation.

FINE NEW PAMPHLET FOR 1879,

Sent free to those interested.

James Leffel & Co, Springfield, O. 110 Liberty St., N. Y. City.

THREE BEAUTIFUL GIFT BOOKS FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

“THE DORE BIBLE GALLERY.”

Containing One Hundred of the choicest of Gustave Doré’s
illustrations of the Bible, and a page of explanatory letter-press
facing each engraving, together with a superb portrait of the
artist.

Large quarto, cloth, full gilt, $6; morocco, full gilt, $10.

“ATALA”

By M. De Chateaubriand.

An American story, and one of the best efforts of the celebrated
author. Superbly illustrated with numerous full pages of some of our
grandest scenery, by Gustave Doré. Printed on heavy tinted paper,
and richly bound.

Large quarto, cloth, full gilt, $5; morocco, full gilt, $10.

“THE WANDERING JEW.”

A series of twelve illustrations by Gustave Doré, picturing the
weird and unearthly scenes of the legend, with explanatory
letter-press.

Large quarto, cloth, gilt, $2.50.

“A most beautiful production.”—Brooklyn Advance.

“Published in very rich style.”—Publishers’ Weekly.

“Is meeting with deserved success.”—Bookseller and Stationer.

“Such books are educators in the highest sense of the
term.”—Chicago Inter-Ocean.

“One of the most successful productions that have done honor to the
pencil of Gustave Doré.”—Providence Journal.

“Contains some of the most striking productions of Doré at a
moderate cost.”—N. Y. Tribune.

“We are very glad they have been put within the reach of the
many.”—Hartford Courant.

THE FINE ART PUBLISHING CO., 535 Pearl Street, New York.

For sale by all Booksellers, or sent, postpaid, on receipt of price,
by the Publishers.

SASH DOVETAILING MACHINE.

Planers, Moulding Machines, Mortisers and Borers, Tenoning Machines,
Blind Rabbeting Machines; also, a large variety of other wood
working machines, manufactured by

LEVI HOUSTON, Montgomery, Pa.

TELEPHONE Works 1 mile. Price $4. Pat’d. Circulars free. Holcomb &
Co., Mallet Creek, Ohio.

AGENTS WANTED TO INTRODUCE a new and novel Account Book to business
men. A rich harvest to competent parties during the next three
months. All particulars by return mail.

H. W. PAMPHILON, 30 Bond St., New York City.

$5 to $20 per day at home. Samples worth $5 free. Address Stinson &
Co., Portland, Me.

CATALOGUE OF NOVELTIES FOR AGENTS Free. J. F. GAGE, Boston, Mass.

ERICSSON’S NEW MOTOR.

ERICSSON’S NEW CALORIC PUMPING ENGINE, FOR DWELLINGS AND COUNTRY
SEATS.

Simplest cheapest, and most economical pumping engine for domestic
purposes. Any servant girl can operate. Absolutely safe. Send for
circulars and price lists.

DELAMATER IRON WORKS

C. H. DELAMATER & CO., Proprietors, No. 10
Cortlandt Street, New York, N. Y.

THE BLAKE “LION AND EAGLE” CRUSHER,

A patented improvement of the former “New Pattern” Blake machine.
Has much greater efficiency than the old. It requires only about
half the power to drive, and is transported at much less expense
(the size most used weighing several thousand pounds less than the
unimproved machine). It requires less than half the time in oiling
and other manipulation, and less than half the expense for repairs.
Address

E. S. BLAKE & CO., Pittsburgh, Pa., Sole Proprietors and
Manufacturers.

W. C. WREN’S
Pat. Grate Bar,
Manufactured by
D. & S. CRESWELL,
Eagle
Iron Foundry,
816 RACE ST.,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.

ROCK BREAKERS & ORE CRUSHERS.

(THE “BLAKE” STYLE.)

This machine has for twenty years stood the Test, and found to be
the best one made for breaking all kinds of hard and brittle
substances, such as Ores, Quartz, Emery, etc., etc. Mr. S. L.
Marsden, for the past twenty years connected with the manufacture of
this machine, superintends its manufacture.

FARREL FOUNDRY AND MACHINE CO., Manufrs., Ausonia, Conn.

The Melodette, or Automatic Piano,

The most marvellous mechanical invention of the age. It will play
any tune that ever was written, in a melodious and pleasing manner.
Difficult and simple music produced in a masterly style, and it can
be played by a child as well as by a grown person, and will furnish
music for social gatherings of any description, playing hour after
hour, without any knowledge of music being required in the
operation. The most wonderful of all musical inventions; a machine
which in a purely mechanical manner produces any kind of music,
Waltzes, Polkas, Marches, &c., &c., without any practice or
knowledge of music whatever; in this respect far superior to any
music-box, even though it costs many times as much, for there is no
limit whatever to the number of tunes it will play. This instrument
is on a somewhat similar principle to the wonderful Phonograph, the
perforations in a flexible strip producing the effect. It has just
been perfected (the accompanying cut showing it in its improved
form), and is having the largest sale ever obtained by a musical
instrument in the country. It has solid metal cases in imitation of
green bronze; the notes or bars (the music producers) are metal, on
same principle as a tuning-fork, which produce clear and most
melodious notes, and never get out of tune; the bars are struck by
strikers, the same as the wires are in a piano, only they work
automatically instead of by the fingers. The strip of prepared paper
in which the tune is stamped or perforated, is about 10 inches wide,
and as it passes through the rollers and over the keys the strikers
spring through the perforations in the paper and strike the right
note; this is all done automatically, without any assistance from
the operator (except turning the rollers), and the tune is played
perfectly. It would be one of the most appropriate presents to make
anyone, especially where there is no other musical instrument. Its
execution is admirable, and its capacity or capability almost
unlimited. It is selling faster than any musical instrument ever
invented. The music is fine, and everybody delighted. The regular
retail price of the Melodette is only $5, including a selection of
popular tunes. Address, The Massachusetts Organ Co., 57 Washington
Street Boston, Mass., U. S. A., Sole Manufacturers. SPECIAL
OFFER—Agents Wanted—We wish a good Agent in every town, and big
money can be made selling these instruments. We will send a sample
instrument to any one wishing to act as our agent, for $3.25, Boxed
Free, including music price lists, etc., etc., and will give
territory. Order at once. $50 a week easily made. We have 1000
testimonials.

RUBBER BACK SQUARE PACKING.

BEST IN THE WORLD.

For Packing the Piston Rods and Valve Stems of Steam Engines and
Pumps.

B represents that part of the packing which, when in use, is in
contact with the Piston Rod.

A the elastic back, which keeps the part B against the rod with
sufficient pressure to be steam-tight, and yet creates but little
friction.

This Packing is made in lengths of about 20 feet, and of all sizes
from 1/4 to 2 inches square.

JOHN H. CHEEVER, Treas. NEW YORK BELTING & PACKING CO., 37 & 38 Park
Row, New York.

THE STEARNS MANUFACTURING CO.,

ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA, make a specialty of improved

SAW MILL MACHINERY.

Designed in its construction for producing lumber economically and
rapidly. Plans and estimates for Mills of any capacity furnished on
request. Also build ENGINES, BOILERS, AND MACHINERY IN GENERAL.

Forster’s Rock & Ore Breaker and Combined Crusher and Pulverizer.

The simplest machine ever devised for the purpose.

Parties who have used it constantly for six years testify that it
will do double the work of any other Crusher, with one-third the
Power, and one-half the expense for keeping in repair. The smaller
sizes can be run with Horse Power.

Address TOTTEN & CO., Pittsburgh, Pa.

The BELMONTYLE OIL

Prevents Rust, Tarnish, etc., on Firearms, Machinery, Tools,
Cutlery, Safes, Saws, Skates, Stoves, Hardware, etc., without injury
to the polish. In use over 10 years. Highest Testimonials. Samples
50 cents, three for $1.00, sent free of expressage. Send for
circular.

BELMONTYLE OIL CO.,
SOLE MANUFACTURERS,
150 Front Street, New York.

The attention of Architects, Engineers, and Builders is called to
the great decline in prices of wrought

STRUCTURAL IRON.

It is
believed that, were owners fully aware of the small difference in
cost which now exists between iron and wood, the former, in many
cases, would be adopted, thereby saving insurance and avoiding all
risk of interruption to business in consequence of fire. Book of
detailed information furnished to Architects, Engineers, and
Builders, on application.

MICROSCOPES,
TELESCOPES, FIELD GLASSES,
MAGIC LANTERNS,
ANEROID BAROMETERS,
SPECTROSCOPES,
DRAWING INSTRUMENTS,
PHILOSOPHICAL & CHEMICAL
APPARATUS.

Catalogues as follows sent on application: Part 1, Mathematical
Instruments, 162 pp.; Part 2, Optical Instruments, 186 pp.; Part 3,
Magic Lanterns, 112 pp.; Part 4, Philosophical and Chemical
Apparatus, 160 pp. JAMES W. QUEEN & CO. 924 Chestnut St.,
Philadelphia, Pa.

“RELIABLE”

Engines a complete success. Prices still 40 per cent. below those of
other makers. Unequaled for efficiency, simplicity, and durability.
Prices from $250 for 10 H. P., to $400 for 30 H. P. All complete,
with Governor, Pump, and Heater. Address, for circular,

HEALD, SISCO & CO., Baldwinsville, N. Y.

UNIVERSAL GRINDER.

These Grinders consist of a series of disks with beveled edges
locked together on a shaft. They revolve towards each other at
different rates of speed. They combine strength and durability. No
friction; hence no heat. They will grind all kinds of Grain, also
Quartz Rocks, Ores, Gypsum, Brimstone Shavings, Shells, Brick Clay,
Cork, Rubber, Bone, Oil Cake, Flax Seed, Cotton Seed, and any number
of articles in use by manufacturers and farmers. These Grinders are
disposed of on reasonable terms. Send for Illustrated Catalogue with
terms. NEWELL & CHAPIN, foot of West 19th Street, New York.

23 Sizes of Direct, 24 Sizes of Boilers, and the best Indirect
Radiation.

Send for circulars.

EUREKA STEAM HEATING CO. ROCHESTER, N. Y.

OTIS’

SAFETY HOISTING

Machinery.

OTIS BROS. & CO., No. 348 Broadway, New York.

JOHN R. WHITLEY & CO.

European Representatives of American Houses, with First-class
Agents in the principal industrial and agricultural centers and
cities in Europe. London, 7 Poultry, E. C. Paris. 8 Place Vendême.
Terms on application. J. R. W. & Co. purchase Paris goods on
commission at shippers’ discounts.

ROOTS’ NEW IRON BLOWER.

POSITIVE BLAST.
IRON REVOLVERS, PERFECTLY BALANCED
IS SIMPLER, AND HAS
FEWER PARTS THAN ANY OTHER BLOWER.

P. H. & F. M. ROOTS, Manuf’rs, CONNERSVILLE, IND.

S. S. TOWNSEND, Gen. Agt., 6 Cortlandt St., 8 Dey Street, NEW YORK.

WM. COOKE, Selling Agt., 6 Cortlandt Street, NEW YORK.

JAS. BEGGS & CO., Selling Agts., 8 Dey Street, NEW YORK.

SEND FOR PRICED CATALOGUE.

PROPOSALS FOR MAIL LOCKS.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
WASHINGTON. D. C., October 23, 1880.

SEALED PROPOSALS will be received at this Department, until 12
o’clock, noon, on the 26th day of January, 1881, for furnishing a
new kind of mail locks and keys for the sole and exclusive use of
the United States through registered mails.

As the public exposure and searching examination necessary to
intelligent bidding on any prescribed model of a lock and key would
tend to impair, if not entirely destroy, the further utility of such
locks and keys for the purposes of the mails, the Postmaster General
prescribes no model or sample for bidders, but relies for a
selection on the mechanical skill and ingenuity which a fair
competition among inventors, hereby invited, may develop in samples
submitted by them.

Specifications of the conditions and requirements relating to
proposals, samples, contract, etc., as well as forms of proposal,
will be furnished on application by letter to the Second Assistant
Postmaster General.

No proposal will be considered unless it shall have been submitted
in accordance with such specification and forms.

The contracts which may be made will be in conformity to the
specifications and the accepted proposal. But the right is, however,
reserved to reject any and all of the proposals.

JAS. N. TYNER,
Acting Postmaster General.

SHEPARD’S CELEBRATED
$50 Screw Cutting Foot Lathe.

Foot and Power Lathes, Drill Presses, Scrolls, Circular and Band
Saws, Saw Attachments, Chucks, Mandrels, Twist Drills, Dogs,
Calipers, etc. Send for catalogue of outfits for amateurs or
artisans.

H. L. SHEPARD & CO.,
331, 333, 335, & 337 West Front Street,
Cincinnati, Ohio.

HUB MACHINERY.—HUB TURNING, HUB MORTISING, and Hub Boring Machines.
Send for price list and circulars. DAVID JENKINS, Sheboygan, Wis.

ROOFING.

For steep or flat roofs. Applied by ordinary workmen at one-third
the cost of tin. Circulars and samples free. Agents Wanted. T. NEW,
32 John Street, New York.

The fact that this shafting has 75 per cent. greater strength, a
finer finish, and is truer to gauge, than any other in use renders
it undoubtedly the most economical. We are also the sole
manufacturers of the Celebrated Collins’ Pat. Coupling, and furnish
Pulleys, Hangers, etc., of the most approved styles. Price list
mailed on application to

JONES & LAUGHLINS, Try Street, 2d and 3d Avenues, Pittsburg, Pa.
190 S. Canal Street, Chicago, Ill.

Stocks of this shafting in store and for sale by FULLER, DANA &
FITZ, Boston, Mass. Geo. Place Machinery Agency, 121 Chambers St.,
N. Y.

Model Engines.

Complete sets of

CASTINGS

for making small Model steam Engines 1-1/2
in. bore, 3 in. stroke, price,$4; ditto 2 in. bore, 4 in. stroke,
price, $10, same style as cut. Gear Wheels and Parts of Models. All
kinds of Small Tools and Materials. Catalogue Free. GOODNOW &
WIGHTMAN, 176 Washington Street, Boston, Mass.

SEND FOR THE
BEST BAND SAW BLADE

in the market to London, Berry &
Orton, Phila., Pa.

MACHINISTS’ TOOLS.

New and Improved Patterns.
Send for new illustrated catalogue.

Lathes, Planers, Drills, &c.

NEW HAVEN MANUFACTURING CO.,
New Haven, Conn.

SKATES AND NOVELTIES.

Send for Catalogue.

R. SIMPSON, 132 Nassau St., N. Y.

PORTER MANUF’G CO.

The New Economizer, the only Agricultural Engine with Return Flue
Boiler in use. Send for circular to Porter MFG. Co., Limited,
Syracuse. N. Y.

G. G. YOUNG, Gen. Agt., 42 Cortland St., New York.

[Pg 398]

Advertisements.

Inside Page, each insertion—75 cents a line.

Back Page, each insertion—$1.00 a line.

(About eight words to a line.)

Engravings may head advertisements at the same rate per line, by
measurement, as the letter press. Advertisements must be received at
publication office as early as Thursday morning to appear in next
issue.

The publishers of this paper guarantee to advertisers a circulation
of not less than 50,000 copies every weekly issue.

THE WONDERFUL

CHRISTMAS “ST. NICHOLAS.”

A special Holiday number, designed for boys and girls everywhere,
whether regular readers of the magazine or not;—the best, and, by
reason of its immense edition, 105,000, the cheapest Christmas book
published, Price 30 cents.

A brilliant Holiday cover; superb pictures by the best American
artists; a capital acting operetta for children “The Land of Nod,”
with words and music; a splendid story by Washington Gladden, “A
Christmas Dinner with the Man in the Moon,” the illustrations of
which rival Dore’s; “King Arthur and his Knights,” by Sidney Lanier;
one of Frank R. Stockton’s inimitable FAIRY STORIES; the “Treasure
Box of Literature,” etc., etc.;—in all, thirty-three departments
and contributions.

A Grand Holiday Gift-Book of 100 Pages, printed on tinted paper,
illustrated with scores of charming pictures, for only 30 cents. Ask
for the Christmas (December) St. Nicholas. Four editions of last
year’s Holiday number were demanded. For sale everywhere.
Subscription price, $3.00 per year.

Scribner & Co., 743 Broadway, N. Y.

$100 PRESENT!

For a Machine that will
Saw as Fast and Easy
as this
one.

This is the King of Saw Machines. It saws off a 2 foot log in 2
minutes. 20,000 in use. The cheapest machine made, and fully
warranted. Circular free. United States Manufacturing Co., Chicago,
Ill.

THE NEW YORK BELTING AND PACKING COMPANY

LOOK FOR OUR STAMP

on the goods whenever you buy

BELTING, HOSE, OR PACKING.

37 & 38 PARK ROW, NEW YORK.

Watchman’s Improved Time Detector, with Safety Lock Attachment,
Patented 1875-6-7. Beware of Infringements. This Instrument is
supplied with 12 keys for 12 different stations. Invaluable for all
concerns employing night watchmen. Send for circulars to E.
IMHAUSER, P. O. Box 2875. 212 Broadway, New York.

Mill Stones and Corn Mills.

We make Burr Millstones, Portable Mills, Smut Machines, Packers,
Mill Picks, Water Wheels, Pulleys, and Gearing specially adapted to
Flour Mills. Send for catalogue.

J. T. NOYE & SONS, Buffalo, N. Y.

THE NEW

PULSOMETER

Is more economical in points of original cost,
expense for repairs and running expenses, than any other Steam Pump
in the World.

Simple and compact, with no machinery whatever to oil, or get out of
order, it stands at the head of all means of elevating water or
other liquids by steam. It needs no skilled labor to look after
it.

Send for book giving full description, reduced prices and many
letters of commendation from leading manufacturers and others
throughout the country who are using them.

Pulsometer Steam Pump Co., Sole Owners of Hall’s Patents in the U.
S., 131,515 to 131,543, both inclusive, and the NEW PULSOMETER,
Office, No. 83 John St., P.O. Box No. 1533. New York City.

Pictet Artificial Ice Co., Limited,

P.O. Box 3083 142 Greenwich St.,
New York. Guaranteed to be the most efficient and economical of
all existing Ice and Cold Air Machines.

H.W. JOHNS’
ASBESTOS

LIQUID PAINTS, ROOFING,

Steam Pipe & Boiler
Coverings, Steam Packing, Mill Board, Sheathing, Fire Proof
Coatings, &c.

Send for Descriptive Price List.

H. W. JOHNS M’F’G CO. 87 MAIDEN LANE, N. Y.

$66 a week in your own town. Terms and $5 outfit free. Address H.
Hallett & Co., Portland, Me.

The George Place Machinery Agency

Machinery of Every Description.

121 Chambers and 103 Beade Streets, New York.

EMERY WHEELS and GRINDING MACHINES.

THE TANITE CO., Stroudsburg, Monroe Comity, Pa.

Orders may be directed to us at any of the following addresses, at
each of which we carry a stock:

HARTFORD
STEAM BOILER

Inspection & Insurance

COMPANY

W. B. FRANKLIN, V. Pres’t, J. M. ALLEN, Pres’t. J. B. PIERCE, Sec’y.

COLUMBIA BICYCLE.

The Bicycle has proved itself to be a permanent, practical road
vehicle, and the number in daily use is rapidly increasing.
Professional and business men, seekers after health or pleasure, all
join in bearing witness to its merits. Send 3 cent stamp for
catalogue with price list and full information.

THE POPE M’F’G CO.,
89 Summer Street, Boston, Mass.

AGENTS
CAN MAKE $5,000.00

BY SECURING THE

MANUFACTURERS’ CABINET.

By employing Agents for 500 Manufacturers.
By manufacturing rapid selling articles.
By getting, through means of the Cabinet, the best agencies in the world.

Address J. B. CHAPMAN,
12 West St., Madison, Ind.

TELEPHONE and Electrical Supplies Send for Catalogue.

C. E. JONES & BRO., CINCINNATI, O.

Steam Fitters’ & Plumbers’ Supplies.

STURTEVANTS’ FAN BLOWERS.

ALBERT BRIDGES, 46 Cortlandt Street, New York.

BOILER COVERINGS.

Plastic Cement and Hair Felt, with or without the

Patent “AIR SPACE” Method.

ASBESTOS MATERIALS.

Made from pure Italian Asbestos in fiber mill board and round
packing. THE CHALMERS-SPENCE CO., 40 John Street, and Foot of E. 9th
Street, New York.

Perfectly Smooth Thoroughly Seasoned

CUT THIN LUMBER!!

Manufactured by our Patent Board Cutting Machines and Seasoning
Presses.

Pronounced the only Perfect Cut Lumber!!

MAHOGANY,

Rosewood, Satinwood, Walnut, Ash, Red Cedar, Cherry, Oak,
Poplar, Maple, Holly, French Walnut, etc., etc.. in Logs, Planks,
Boards, and Veneers.

Send for catalogue and price lists.

GEO. W. READ & CO.,
186 to 200 Lewis St. foot 5th and 6th Sts., New
York.

SNOW’S BEST
Water Wheel
Governor,

MANUFACTURED BY
COHOES IRON FOUNDRY
AND MACHINE, CO.,
COHOES, N.Y.

$55.66 Agents’ profit per week. Will prove it or forfeit $500.00.
Outfit and Samples worth $5.00 free. Address E. G. RIDEOUT & CO., 10
Barclay Street, New York.

Steel Castings

From 1/4 to 15,000 lb. weight, true to pattern, of unequaled
strength, toughness, and durability. 15,000 Crank Shafts and 10,000
Gear Wheels of this steel now running prove its superiority over
other Steel Castings. Send for circular and price list.

Chester Steel Castings Co., 407 Library St., Phila, Pa.

Pyrometers.

For showing heat of Ovens, Hot Blast Pipes, Boiler Flues Superheated
Steam, Oil Stills, etc.

HENRY W. BULKLEY, Sole Manufacturer, 149 Broadway, N.Y.

WM. A. HARRIS
PROVIDENCE, R. J. (PARK STREET),

Six minutes walk West
from station.

Original and Only builder of the

HARRIS-CORLISS ENGINE

With Harris’
Patented Improvements, from 10 to 1,000 H. P.

At Low Prices. Large Assorted Stock. A. & F. BROWN, 57-61 Lewis St.,
New York.

THE BAKER BLOWER,
Centennial Judges Report.

“Good Design and Material. Very efficient in action. With the
special advantages that they can be connected for motion directly
with engine without the use of gearing or belting.”

SEND FOR CATALOGUE.

WILBRAHAM BROS.

No. 2518 Frankford Avenue, PHILADELPHIA, PA.

MICROSCOPES, OPERA GLASSES, SPY Glasses, Spectacles, Thermometers,
Barometers, Compasses. R. & J. BECK, Manufacturing Opticians. Philadelphia, Pa. Send for Illustrated
Priced Catalogue.

The Oldest YANKEE NOTION HOUSE In the World. HOWARD BROTHERS & READ, Successors to Howard, Sanger & Co., OWNERS OF THE HOWARD MANUFACTURING CO., MANUFACTURE AND INTRODUCE PATENTED NOVELTIES. THE ONLY Real Pocket Scale IN THE MARKET. MADE OF METAL, Heavily Nickel Plated, COMPACT, STRONG, DURABLE. Can be carried in the Vest Pocket. Each one warranted absolutely accurate. Weighs up to 8 lbs. PRICE 25 CENTS. Sample by mail on receipt of price. A liberal discount to the trade. No. 1—”Post Office,” weighs to 8 ozs. No. 2—”Pocket,” weighs to 8 lbs. Howard Manufacturing Co., Box 2295, New York.

BOGARDUS’ PATENT UNIVERSAL ECCENTRIC MILLS—For grinding Bones,
Ores, Sand, Old Crucibles, Fire Clay, Guanos, Oil Cake, Feed, Corn,
Corn and Cob, Tobacco, Snuff, Sugar, Salts, Roots, Spices, Coffee,
Cocoanut, Flaxseed, Asbestos, Mica etc., and whatever cannot be
ground by other mills, Also for Paints, Printers’ Inks, Paste
Blacking, etc. JOHN W. THOMSON, successor to JAMES BOGARDUS, corner of White and
Elm Sts., New York.

THE

New York Ice Machine Company,

21 Courtland St., New York, Rooms 54, 55.

LOW PRESSURE BINARY ABSORPTION SYSTEM

Machines Making

ICE AND COLD AIR.

Low Pressure when running. No pressure at rest.
Machines guaranteed by C. H. Delamater & Co.

Our new Stylographic Pen (just patented), having the duplex
interchangeable point section, is the very latest improvement. THE
STYLOGRAPHIC PEN CO., Room 13, 169 Broadway, New York. Send for
circular.

KNABE

PIANOFORTES.

Unequaled in

TONE,
TOUCH,
WORKMANSHIP, &
DURABILITY.

Warerooms 112 Fifth Avenue. New York.
204 & 206 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore.

NON-CONDUCTOR COVERINGS,

FOR STEAM BOILERS AND PIPES.

THE RAYMOND M’F’G CO.,
642 West 52d St., 108 Liberty St., New York.

POWER SHEARS.

STILES & PARKER PRESS CO., Middletown, Conn.

DO YOUR OWN PRINTING $3 PRESS prints &c. (Self-inker $4) Larger sizes for larger work. For
old or young. Great money saver. A paying business anywhere for all
or spare time. Send two stamps for a catalogue of all sizes.
Presses, Type, Cards, Paper &c., to the Manufacturers KELSEY & CO.,
Meriden, Conn.

The Asbestos Packing Co.,

Miners and Manufacturers of Asbestos,

BOSTON, MASS., OFFER FOR SALE:

PATENTED ASBESTOS ROPE PACKING,
PATENTED ASBESTOS LOOSE PACKING
PATENTED ASBESTOS JOURNAL PACKING
PATENTED ASBESTOS WICK PACKING
PATENTED ASBESTOS MILL BOARD,
PATENTED ASBESTOS SHEATHING PAPER,
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OF THE

Scientific American

FOR 1881.

The Most Popular Scientific Paper in the World.

VOLUME XLIV. NEW SERIES.

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