soluble acetate of soda, and in an insoluble acetate of lead-the former of which is dissolved in the vats, while the latter is precipitated among the fibres of the cloth, and forms the principal means by which I render the cloth water-proof. After taking the cloth out of this last vat I immerse it in another, containing a solution of sulphuric acid in the proportion of about sixteen drops to the gallon of water, for the purpose of rendering the lead in the fibres of the cloth a perfect sulphate. The cloth I afterwards pass through a solution of camphor in water, but which is not necessary to my invention, for the purpose of removing the unpleasant odour arising from the use of the acetate of lead.

After which it is scoured with warm water and soap to remove the excess of acid, and any of the materials, or ingredients referred to, that may remain on its surface, I have mentioned sulphate of soda as one of the articles used in this process; this I employ only for the purpose of decomposing the sugar of lead as stated, and as there are several other sulphates which will produce the same effect, I do not intend to limit myself to the use of this, but to employ any of the others should I find it expedient to do so.

"What I claim as my invention, therefore, and desire to secure by letters patent, is the mode of rendering fabrics water-proof by passing them through successive solutions of sulphate of soda, or its equivalent acetate of lead, and sulphuric acid, as herein set forth."

IMPROVEMENT IN FISH NETS. John Carr, Jackson Shannon, and William Carr. -The patentees say," The nature of our invention consists in dividing a cylindrical net into different compartments, and furnishing each with a bait bag, the bait being suited to the different kinds of fish, and the large fish being prevented from entering the compartments of the smaller ones."

Claim.-"What we claim as new is the combination of a series of compartments in the manner and for the purpose described. We also claim the combination therewith of the bait bags, as specified."

The different compartments are separated by diaphragms of net work and funnels, the meshes in each succeeding one being smaller, so as to admit the kind of fish to be caught in the second compartment to pass through the first division, those to be caught in the third to pass through the second division, and so on..

Chris

IMPROVEMENT IN SPECTACLES. topher H. Smith.-The bows of these spectacles are without glasses, and to the main frame are attached, by swivel joints, two sets of different kinds of glasses; either or

both of which can be brought to cover the open apertures or bows, and by means of the swivel joint the glasses can be turned so as to have either set let into the bows, and the other at the sides or over them, and thus the colours or focal powers may be changed at pleasure.

Claim." What I claim as my invention is combining the glasses with each other and with the main frame, by means of the hinge and swivel joint arrangement described, which admits of the glasses being changed, and at the same time adapted to the vacant apertures, all as set forth.'

IMPROVEMENT IN ELLIPTICAL CARRIAGE SPRINGS. David E. Edwards.-Claim,— "I shall not confine myself to the method described of confining the ends of the plates; but I claim as novel, and of my invention, inserting between the main lower and upper plates of an elliptic spring, a double curved spring, or one forged into the shape of an oge curve, or approaching to that of the letter S, so as to divide it into two springs, and increase its rigidity, at the same time superseding the use of most, if not all the ordinary back plates; the whole being substantially as above described."

THE PADDLE-WHEEL AND SCREW.

The Royal Yacht Tender " Fairy." We quote the following from a Portsmouth article in the Morning Herald of Thursday.

"This splendid little screw - propelled yacht, has arrived at Portsmouth, from the River Thames, and in her passage thither has established a very high character for herself as a sea boat, and has afforded another proof of the excellent practical working of the screw propeller. She had her compasses adjusted at Greenhithe, and left at 1.38 p.m. on Tuesday, the tide being about three-quarters flood at the time. At two o'clock she was abreast Gravesend; at 3.31, abreast the Nore light; 4.23, Herne Bay; 5.12, Margate; and at Dover, at 7.1. She stopped there four minutes, while Mr. Knight, the pilot, left the vessel, and then proceeded. She was off Dungeness at 8.44; Beachy, Head, 12.18; and entered Portsmouth Harbour yesterday morning at 38 minutes past seven; thereby performing the distance from Gravesend to Dover pier in exactly five hours; and the total distance from Greenhithe to Portsmouth, in 18 hours, including stoppage at Dover. From the North Foreland to Portsmouth, she encountered a head wind, which blew half a gale, and it increased when off Beachy, and thence to the westward. After rounding the South Foreland she met a heavy sea, that appeared suffi

66 THE cient to smother the little yacht, but she shipped nothing but spray, which, as she cut through the waves, was occasionally dashed over the funnel top, and, through her not having any ports, the water was sometimes three or four inches deep all over the deck, the scuppers being insufficient to carry it off. The Fairy, however, was as stiff as a little frigate, and although once or twice, off Herne Bay, there was a disagreeable beam sea, she evinced no disposition to roll, nor to turn bottom up, as a certain sage of the Navy Office predicted she would. She is considered to steer as easy as a four-oared gig, even in a heavy sea. A single spoke of the wheel is sufficient for every purpose. On no occasion did the Fairy go less than 9 knots an hour through the water, and her maximum speed in running to Margate was upwards of 13 knots by Massey's log. From Margate to the Downs she hoisted her canvas, when she stood up under her sails very well, going 13 miles and 3-10ths, and with the exception of putting out the pilot, there was not the slightest occasion to stop the vessel throughout the trip, which circumstance considered with the great velocity at which her machinery works, cannot fail to impress every one with the degree of accuracy in its arrangement.

The propeller,

which on the average makes 13,200 revolutions per hour, cannot have made less than 237,600 during the run from Greenhithe to Portsmouth. At the latter place she is considered a most complete and beautiful vessel, and her fittings splendid in the extreme, reflecting credit on all parties engaged in her design and construction."

The preceding account commences with the starting from Greenhithe, but from another article in the same journal, the principal statements in which we subjoin, it appears that before she reached that point some incidents occurred, which it is equally due to truth to place on record.

The

"The Fairy started from off Blackwall Pier shortly before eleven o'clock. Meteor, paddle-wheel iron steamer, constructed by Messrs. Miller, Ravenhill, and Co., with upwards of 300 passengers on board, was getting ready at the same time, for Gravesend. The Fairy had evidently waited for the Meteor, in order to make a trial of speed, as the Royal yacht had some time before cast off her hawser and was hanging on to the buoy. As soon as the Meteor got into the stream the Fairy followed her at a distance of three or four times her own length, and in the run to a little below Bugsby's Hole, that is, about half way to Woolwich, the Meteor doubled her distance from the Royal yacht. The latter then stopped, and so did the Meteor; and in the next short run-namely, to the point opposite Woolwich

31

Dockyard, the Meteor left her in the same manner, in other words, at the rate of a mile and a half per hour, at the least.

"This trial with the Fairy is of more im portance than a mere matter of rivalry between iron-ship constructors and enginemakers; it is of interest to science, as it tends to show that, for river navigation, the paddle-wheel is calculated to give a higher rate of speed than the screw; though it may, perhaps, be otherwise at sea in rough weather."

We are not aware that any material exception can be taken to the fairness of this trial on account of any difference in point of tonnage or steam power between the two vessels. The Meteor is 170 feet in length, and 18 in breadth; the Fairy, 145 ft. and 21 2 ft. The former draws 4 ft. 5 in.; the latter, 4 ft. 9 in. The cylinders of the Meteor are 37 inches in diameter-stroke, 3 feet; the cylinders of the Fairy, 42 inches -stroke, the same. The Meteor, therefore, though it is the larger and (perhaps) betterproportioned vessel of the two, and presents a less midship area of resistance than her rival, is decidedly her inferior in point of steam power.

We happened (being townward bound) to pass the Fairy during her voyage to Portsmouth, and must cordially subscribe to all that has been said in commendation of her external appearance. We never saw a more beautiful vessel-one which seemed to be at once so buoyant and so steady.

The "Water Lily."

[From a correspondent.]

The Water Lily left Blackwall at 37 min. past 1, on the afternoon of Thursday the 3rd inst., and performed the passage to Portsmouth Harbour in 17 hours 11 min., having had to encounter a strong head wind all the way from the North Foreland; her average speed during this trip being something over 14 miles an hour.

The following day the vessel went from Portsmouth to Swannage Bay, and back again, a distance of 94 miles, in rather less than 6 hours; her average speed on this occasion being 14 miles an hour.

On the 8th July, the Water Lily started from Portsmouth for a trip round the Isle of Wight, and performed the passage (including a run up to the Southampton Docks) and back again to Portsmouth, in 7 hours, having had a strong tide against her nearly all the way.

The vessel on every occasion proved herself an excellent sea-ship, having been exposed to some very strong winds and heavy seas, and is remarkably stiff under canvas, seeming as if she would sooner tear her masts out of her than list over beyond a

certain point. Her steering qualities are

also first-rate. She may be left ten minutes or more, when under canvas, and hold a without the neces

perfectly straight course. 197

sity of touching

NOTES AND NOTICES.

[The Water Lily is a smaller vessel, and of less engine power, than either the Fairy or Meteor. Her length is 132 ft. ; breadth, 16 ft. 6 in.; cylinders, 29 in.; stroke, 14 in. Seeing that she went the distance from Blackwall to Portsmouth in 17 h. 11 min., this is a greater performance than that of the Fairy, which took 17 h. 56 min. to perform the distance from Greenhithe (only) to the same port of destination.-ED. M. M.]

REMARKABLE EFFECT OF THE LATE
THUNDER STORM.

Sir,-If the following phenomenon is new, or likely to be of interest to your readers, you will please insert it in your next Number. On Sunday evening the 6th inst., the neighbourhood of Birmingham was visited with an awful thunder storm, which lasted about one hour and a quarter; the lightning was nearly constant flash after flash, with a heavy fall of rain, such as I never saw before. Next morning I visited a copperas manufactory (sulphate of iron), and to my surprise I found the whole surface of the copperas liquor which was in the crystallizing vessels completely of a bloodred colour. In the course of to-day a red powder began to separate from the liquor and fall to the bottom, so that by six o'clock in the evening the liquor had nearly resumed its original colour. It appears to me that the sulphate of iron had been decomposed by the lightning, and a peroxide of iron formed. I presume the sulphuric acid has been converted into sulphurous acid, and escaped. Probably this fact may throw some light on the application of electricity to agricultural purposes. There is no doubt but the electric fluid has the power of decomposing the salts of iron, and converting the iron into a peroxide, which we know absorbs ammonia rapidly. May not the peroxide, then, have the effect of retaining the ammonia until the vegetable takes it up by its roots for assimilation, and so act as a carrier of ammonia from the atmosphere to the vegetable? And may not all the alkaline, earthy, and metallic salts be decomposed in a similar manner in the earth, and not by vegetable life?

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

R. W.

land. This, as is thought, may be accomplished by winding the wire upon reels, and arranging it on board a steamer so as to be reeled off as fast as the boat goes, and dropped the whole width of the Atlantic. The writer says-" Its gravity would sink it to the depth where water was so dense as to be of equal gravity, and of course beyond the reach upon a bold shore, of any kind hore, beyond the reach of anchors, it would be out of harm's way, and exposed but to two kinds of accidents, viz., from separation by its own weight, and the loss of the coating with which the metal must be protected. The steamer Great Britain would carry more wire of this size than would extend to Europe, and its cost, I think, would be less than a million of dollars."

A Giant Stride in Photography.-A M. Martenz, of Paris, states that he has discovered the means of carrying on the Daguerréotype process on a gigantic scale. He can, he says, Daguerréotype an entire panorama, embracing 150 degrees!! His process consists in curving the metallic plate, and causing the lens which reflects the landscape to turn by clockwork. The lens, in turning, passes over on one side the whole space to be Daguerréotyped, and on the other side moves the refracted luminous cone to the plate, to which the objects are successively conveyed.

We

Patent Barrel Cleaning and Drying Process. -We some time since gave a description of the process for cleaning barrels, patented by Messrs. Davidson and Symington, which we had seen in operation at Messrs. Hanbury's brewery. understand, that not only has this process been in constant operation, with the most beneficial results, in that immense establishment, and in many others in which it has been introduced, but that the method of producing a continuous stream of hot air, which forms part of the barrel-cleaning process, has been applied with great success and economy to starch-making, coffee-roasting, calico-printing, and other matters in which a high controllable temperature is required. We think it right to return to the subject of this important patent, because a paragraph from the Birmingham Advertiser has gone the round of the papers, assigning the embarrassment of Messrs. Alsopp, the Pale Ale brewers of Burton, to "the failure of a patent process which they had purchased." Now we are enabled to state, on the best authority, that Messrs. Alsopp's difficulties have no relation whatever with any patent, but have arisen mainly from want of sufficient capital to support their large export trade. A want, we sincerely trust, which will shortly be supplied. It is true that Messrs. Alsopps have made use of the process, but, as they themselves acknowledge, not in the manner prescribed by the patentee; while Messrs. Bass, their neighbours and rivals, have used, and are still using it, with the most complete success. Patentees have so much to contend against, and patentees of mechanical improvements such enormous expenses to incur, that they deserve all the assistance the press can afford them.-Great Western Advertiser.

INTENDING PATENTEES may be supplied gratis with Instructions, by application (post paid) to Messrs. Robertson and Co., 166, Fleet - street, by whom is kept the only COMPLETE REGISTRY OF Patents.

The present improvements, though they resolve themselves into what may seem at first sight but a small matter, are in truth of great importance. The spinning of flax, in overcoming the intractability of which, so much mechanical ingenuity has been already expended, is not only greatly facilitated by them, but thread of a much superior quality produced. The improvements consist simply in passing the slivers of flax through water, or through some colouring fluid substance, "while they are yet in an untwisted state, and in the additions to, and modifications in, the ordinary spinning machinery required for the purpose.

Fig. 1 is an end elevation of a flaxspinning frame, adapted to, and embodying Messrs. Russell and Peter's improvements; and fig. 2, a sectional view of the parts to which their invention has more especial reference, detached from the rest.

A, fig. 2, is one of the retaining rollers; B, one of the drawing rollers; C is a trough, which is filled with water, or with some fluid colouring substance. S S represents the sliver of untwisted flax which, after it comes from between the drawing rollers B, is carried under a small roller, D, which is partly immersed in the water, or colouring fluid, and