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American Porcelain.

It is a matter of some singularity, that in the rapid advance of our manufactures, so little attention has been paid among us to a branch of so much importance as the manufacture of porcelain, an article of which large quantities are used by our people, especially the plain ware, and the raw materials for making which are very abundant and of excellent quality. We see that recently a manufacture of this ware has been established in Connecticut, but we have not as yet seen any of their products, and cannot, therefore, speak of their quality; but we take advantage of this as a fitting opportunity to record the previous establishment of such a manufactory in our own City, which for a time was very successful, both in making a very excellent article of plain porcelain, and in introducing it into extensive use; but finally came to an end, and is now almost entirely forgotten, even in the place where it formerly existed. The following letter will be found interesting to those of our readers who concern themselves with the history of American manufactures.

PROFESSOR FRAZER:

DEAR SIR-At your request, I give you with pleasure a few of the particulars of the first manufacturer of American porcelain. My brother, William Ellis Tucker, son of Benjamin Tucker, of the City of Philadelphia, was the first to make porcelain in the United States. My father had a china store on Market street, and in the year 1816 he built William a kiln in the yard back of the store, when William commenced painting upon the white ware in the store, and burning it in the kiln; after which he commenced trying experiments with different clays, to see if he could not make the ware; and finally he succeeded in producing an opaque ware, called queensware. He then commenced trying experiments with feldspar and kaolin, to make porcelain; and after many experiments and much labor, he was successful in making a very beautiful porcelain in a small way. He then rented of the City Corporation the old Water Works, at the north-west corner of Schuylkill Front and Chesnut streets. I do not remember the year, but it was prior to the year 1826. On the 23d of October, 1826, he purchased four acres of land, containing a feldspar quarry, and erected a large glazing kiln, enamelling kiln, mills, &c.; but he found it a very different thing to produce china on a large scale. He had kiln after kiln spoiled, until he almost gave up in despair; but with a perseverance that few others had, he continued until his efforts were crowned with success. In the year 1827, he received a silver medal from the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, and also in the year 1831, he received one from the Institute of New York, both of which I now have.

In the year 1828, I commenced to learn the different branches of the business, which I did by serving several years apprenticeship to the same. My brother, William Ellis Tucker, died on the 22d of August, 1832, before which time he had, in connexion with Judge Hemphill, erected a

large china factory at the south-west corner of Schuylkill Sixth and Chesnut streets, the store rooms of which were filled with porcelain of his manufacture.

After the death of my brother (William Ellis), Judge Hemphill and myself continued the manufacture of porcelain for some years, until he sold out his interest to a company of eastern gentlemen, who intended to carry on the business on a large scale; but just at that time they were unfortunate in their other operations, and therefore were unable to do anything for the china factory.

On the 2d of October, 1837, I rented the entire factory, with all the fixtures, &c., and continued the business for some time, until I filled a store with porcelain of my own manufacture, which I had taken in Chesnut street, between Seventh and Eighth. I then discontinued the manufacturing of porcelain, and commenced ordering from Europe, which I have regretted ever since.

I have now given you in a rough way the rise and fall of American porcelain at Philadelphia.

With much respect, I remain yours, &c.

Philadelphia, November 27, 1852.

THOMAS TUCKER.

Translated for the Journal of the Franklin Institute.

Memoir on the Consequences to be Deduced from the Experiments of M. REGNAULT, on the Laws of the Compressibility of the Gases. By M. AVOGADRO, (from the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences of Turin, 2d Series, Vol. XIII.)

M. Regnault, in his Memoir On the Compressibility of Elastic Fluids, which is the eighth of the collection published by him in 1847, among those of the Academy of Sciences, Vol. XXI., (see Journ. Frank. Inst., 3d Series, Vol. XVI, p. 190,) determined experimentally for atmospheric air, hydrogen gas, carbonic acid, and nitrogen, the values of the ratio of the density to the pressure in each of these aëriform fluids, taken at different densities. He found that expressing the pressure or elastic force by r, in metres of mercury, and desiguating by m, the density which corresponds to each pressure, taking as unity that which belongs to each gas, under a pressure of one metre of mercury, the value of which according to the assumed units must be one for the pres

r

m

sure of one metre, and according to the law of Mariotte, ought to remain constant for all pressures, is greater than one, and increases with the density m, for hydrogen; and on the contrary is less than one, and decreases with the increase in the density for atmospheric air, carbonic acid, and nitrogen. The experiments made by him on this point were at the densities, two, four, eight, and sixteen, and a common and constant temperature of 3° or 4° Cent. (37°-4 to 39°-2 Fahr.) In this elaborate memoir M. Avogadro discusses the various consequences which philosophers have sought to deduce from these experiments, and after examining the

subject fully and carefully, sums up by the enumeration of the following conclusions, to which his reasoning leads:

1. The law of the compressibility of a perfect gas, (that is, of one free from the influence exercised by the tendency to liquefaction in approaching the density at which this phenomenon takes place,) may be represented by an experimental formula of the form

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Where indicates the pressure in metres of mercury; m, the corresponding density, the unit of density being that belonging to the gas, under a pressure of one metre of mercury; a being a constant for all the gases at a given temperature. This formula may be presented under the

form

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quently the elastic pressure r=0, when the density is reduced to m=

1

a

This formula ought to be substituted for the law of Mariotte, which, in the

same notation, would be expressed by

formula would be reduced by making a

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m

=

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=1, or -10, to which the

m

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that is, by supposing that the pressure only becomes nothing when the density becomes nothing-a supposition which M. A. shows in his memoir to be inconsistent with our physical theories.

2. The value of the constant a, in this formula, must vary with the temperature of the gas. For common temperatures, or more precisely when the temperature is 3 to 4 degrees above the melting point of ice, the value of a, calculated from the experiments of M. Regnault, is 9735-32, or nearly 10,000; hence employing the logarithms of the tables

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3. All the gases cease to be perfect, and present a value of

m

less

than that given by the preceding formula, when they reach a certain limit of density, which varies with the different gases, and which must also vary with the temperature to which the gases are reduced. For the temperature of 3 or 4 degrees (Cent.) above the melting point of ice, this

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limit corresponds in hydrogen nearly to m2, that is, to a density double of that which the gas possesses under a pressure of a metre of mercury; in nitrogen gas, m 1.25, and in oxygen gas, so far as can be deduced from M. Regnault's experiments on the air, of which oxygen forms a part, m = 1, that is, to the density which it has under a pressure of one metre of mercury. For carbonic acid, and at the tem

1 nearly; so

perature indicated, this limit is found to correspond to m ==

4

that the influence of the tendency to liquefaction begins to show itself in the law of compressibility of this gas, so soon as the density passes

1

4

of that which it has under the pressure of one metre of mercury.

r

m

4. The diminution which the tendency to liquefaction produces in the gases, starting from the limit indicated, in the value of 1, which would be given for each value of m, by the formula for perfect gases, may be represented by an expression of the form c (m—A) denoting by A the value of m, at which the influence of this tendency begins to show itself for each gas at the temperature at which it is taken, and by c, a coefficient, depending on the nature of each gas, which must also vary with the temperature.

At the temperature of 3 or 4 degrees (Cent.) above the melting point of ice, the value of this co-efficient is for hydrogen 0·0008465, for nitrogen 0·0017573, and for oxygen 0.003538; these numbers being deduced from the direct experiments of M. Regnault on hydrogen and nitrogen, and from these on the air, for oxygen.

Thus for these gases the complete formula for their compressibility would be::

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For oxygen,

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=0.015762 (log. m)3 — 0.003538 (m-1)s As to carbonic acid, in which the influence of the tendency to liquefaction begins to show itself at a density below that which it has under a pressure of one metre of mercury, this circumstance obliges us to modify even the positive part of the formula which supposes the gas perfect, and the complete formula for that gas, at the temperature indicated, may be put under the form

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where μ = 1.0053 m; and 0·0074716 being the value of c deduced from the experiments of M. Regnault.

In all these formula the negative part, due to the influence of the tendency to liquefaction, disappears of itself, at the limit of the density be

yond which this influence is shown for each of the gases, and must be suppressed for densities below this, when all the gases must follow the formula of perfect gases.

5. These formulæ give for the pressure r a maximum corresponding to a certain density, beyond which the gases could not sustain a pressure even equal to that which has been already applied to them, and at which, consequently, they must condense into liquids. This maximum of pressure is found to correspond for hydrogen to about the density of 357; for nitrogen, to 181; for oxygen, to 91; and for carbonic acid, to 44; always taking for the unit of density, that of each gas under a pressure of one metre of mercury; so that at these limits of densities respectively, these gases ought to be reduced to liquids, at the temperature of 3 or 4 degrees (Cent.) above the melting point of ice; and the pressure required for that, according to these same formulæ, would be 217 metres of mercury for hydrogen gas, 104 metres for nitrogen, 51 metres for oxygen, and 24 metres for carbonic acid; and this indication is found to be approximately verified for carbonic acid, the only one of these four gases which has heretofore been liquified at ordinary temperatures.--Archives des Sciences Phys. et Nat., June, 1852, p. 126.

Translated for the Journal of the Franklin Institute.

On the Purification of Iron and Coke from Sulphur.

At the meeting of the French Academy of Sciences, on the 27th September, M. Chevreul read a note upon this subject from M. Calvert, of which the following extracts will give the substance, which appears to be worthy of the attention of our iron manufacturers:-"The sulphur which the iron contains rarely comes from the ore, but from the combustible employed. After many trials, I have discovered that the chloride of sodium, applied in a certain way, and in proper proportions, will decompose the sulphurets present, whether in the ore or in the fuel. This process, which I have employed in three furnaces-two in Scotland and one in Wales-has given me very satisfactory results. In the iron thus obtained the crystals are not found, and the metal acquires a long and very tenacious fibre. I have not been able to ascertain the exact ratio of the tenacities of the purified and unpurified iron, but I have determined the comparative resistance of the two cast irons. I took bars of the irons carefully shaped, having one square inch cross-section and five feet long; I placed them on supports, distant 4 feet 6 inches from each other, and applied on the centre of the bars a gradual pressure, by means of a screw, until the bars broke. The breaking weights were

Unpurified-487 lbs.

Purified-556 lbs.

456"

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These irons were analysed, and the unpurified iron contained 0-006 sulphur, while the purified contained only 0.001.

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