20. For Improvements in the Manufacture of two and three ply Carpets; Alexander Smith, West Farms, New York, December 10.

"My invention consists in weaving two and three ply ingrain carpets by the combination of parti-colored warp and weft, arranged so as to cause the warp and weft to unite in forming the same color in the figure as produced by the jacquard or any other mechanical means by which any variety of colors or shades on one or more plies that may be desired may be produced in the same range, in the direction both of the warp and the weft, the figure being formed by throwing down the weft, which obviates any difficulties arising from imperfections in the parti-coloring of the yarn."

Claim. "What I claim as my invention in the weaving of two or three ply ingrain carpets, is the employment of parti-colored warp and weft, operated by the jacquard or other mechanical means to form the figure, when the same colors in the warp and in the weft are caused to combine together to form the same colored figure in the fabric, substantially as described.

21. For an Apparatus attached to Vessels for Indicating the Depth of Water; Henry B. Sommers, Ithica, New York, December 10.

Claim. "What I claim as my invention, is the combination of a sounding chain or jointed rod with an indicator on the deck of a vessel, operated by means of a cord, pulley, or other equivalents, so as to indicate the depth of water whilst the boat is making headway, as herein described and represented."

22. For an Improvement in Planing Machines; Daniel H. Southworth, City of New York, December 10.

"My invention mainly consists in so attaching a narrow circular saw-blade to a strong, firm, and steady cast or wrought iron planing wheel, to contain planing cutters, that the saw may be stiffened and rendered free from trembling, shaking, or running in, and made to cut in advance of the planing cutters, to level and cleanse the surface of the plank or timber, so that the planing cutters may with facility produce an extra smooth surface; and in clearing cutters being so arranged and adjusted as to immediately follow the saw, being attached to the wheel, near the periphery, on the rear or slab side thereof, and cut and clear away any timber or slab which may be left to pass back of the saw and on the rear or slab side of the same and of the wheel."

Claim. "I do not claim as any part of my invention a planing wheel, or planing or clearing cutters; nor do I claim the combining of a circular saw with a planing wheel, by uniting two circular saw plates, and attaching planing knives thereto, as these have been known and used before; but what I do claim as my inventiou, are the following new and useful improvements by way of new attachments and combinations.

"1st, The attachment, either whole or in segments, of a narrow circular saw-blade to the front of the periphery of an iron or other metallic planing wheel, (properly counter sunk for the purpose,) in combination with the clearing and planing cutters, so that the saw shall be stiffened and rendered free from trembling, shaking, or running in, and made to cut in advance of the planing cutters to cleanse and level the surface of the plank or timber, that the planing cutters may with facility produce an extra smooth surface, and be cleared of timber or slab by the clearing cutters, as set forth;—the attachment of the saw-blade to the wheel being such, by screws or otherwise, that the saw-blade may be easily removed or taken off, for the purpose of turning the reverse face to the plank or timber, whenever the teeth on one side have become worn, dulled, or out of set from long usage against the timber.

"2d, The clearing cutters n n n, in combination with the saw and planing wheels, arranged in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth, the whole being arranged in the manner and for the purposes herein set forth and described."

23. For an Improvement in Elevating, Cooling, and Conveying Flour; Jesse White and Jonathan Bundy, Barnesville, Ohio, December 10.

"Our invention consists in effecting any one or all the operations of elevating, conveying, and cleaning grain, and of elevating, conveying, and cooling flour and meal, by means of a current of air produced artificially, with sufficient velocity to carry the grain or flour along with it through the tube, or other channel through which it is forced."

Claim. "What we claim as our invention, is the method of elevating, conveying, and cooling flour or meal by passing it, by means of a blast, through an air trunk and head, constructed substantially as herein set forth."

24. For Improvements in Machines for Making Pill Boxes; Nelson D. White, Winchendon, Massachusetts, December 10.

Claim. "What I claim as my invention, is the contrivance for supporting the stick, and feeding each stick forward towards the cutters, the same consisting of the saddle and orifice, (applied to the rotary block holder,) the endless screw D, the shaft E, the spring G, the bearing plate g, fixed to the shaft B, the pinion H, and the stationary gear wheel I-the whole being applied and made to operate together, substantially in the manner as above set forth.

"I do not claim the employment of a circular saw for the purpose of separating portions of the sticks; but what I claim as my invention or improvement, is the combination of said saw with the rotating series of sticks, or their rotating holding frame, substantially in the manner and so that they shall be successively operated upon by it as specified."

25. For an Improved Cut-off Motion for Puppet Valves; Samuel H. Gilman, Cincinnati, Ohio, December 10.

"The nature of my invention consists in a provision for cutting off, at any desired point, the supply of steam to the cylinder when drop valves are used, by making the lifters vibratable upon the rock shaft, and causing them to act in obedience to the motions of gravitating toggles, which being trippled by impact with an adjustable stop, allow the lifter to rotate upon the shaft, and the valve to descend.

"This invention is shown as applied to the supply valve of an oscillating engine, the steam chest of which is upon the trunnion sides, the trunnion making part of the supply passage, and being cast in one piece with the front of the steam chest."

Claim. "What I claim as new, is, 1st, raising and dropping at any desired point the puppet valves that admit steam to the cylinder, by means of a lifter that vibrates with and upon the usual rock shaft, the said lifter being operated by a gravitating and counter-balancing toggle, as described, so that the lifter, in the manner described, or its equivalent, is fixed for raising the valve, and is depressed and allowed gradually and easily to drop the valve when the counter-balance of the toggle is operated by the adjustable stop, substantially as herein described."

26. For an Improvement in Seed Planters; John Signer and Thomas N. Shipton, Kishacoquillas Valley, Pennsylvania, December 10.

Claim. "What we claim as new and of our own invention, is dividing the drill teeth or depositing tubes into two separate sections G H, and hinging or connecting the two sections at their upper ends, in such a manner as to permit the longest or rear section H, to recede or turn on its connecting pins, (a,) while the upper or short section retains its proper position in relation to the drag bar and flexible conducting tube, and providing the upper or short section G with two arms, JJ, having notches therein, which, when the two sections of the drill tooth are closed, becomes coincident with a notch formed in an arm, K, projecting from the rear or longest section H, into which is inserted a wooden pin, which it is intended shall break when the rear or longest section of the drill tooth shall strike against a rock or other obstruction and thus separate the sections, and permit the longest section H, to recede and clear itself from the obstruction, whilst the flexible conducting tube is held in its proper position by an oval loop on the inside of the section G, as herein fully set forth and represented.

"2d, We also claim providing the clutch plate R, with an additional row of teeth (1) adjacent to the side beam of the frame for engaging with a tooth, T, projecting therefrom, for arresting the motion of the seeding rollers simultaneously with unlocking the axle from the propelling wheel, and thus stop the operation of the machine, as fully set forth."

MECHANICS, PHYSICS, AND CHEMISTRY.

Remarks Suggested by an Examination of the Recent Statistics of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain. By MR. G. R. PORTER.*

The fear of being dependent upon foreign countries for the supply of any article of first necessity has often influenced the mind of the public, although the cases can be but very few in which that fear can have any just foundation. It must be evident, upon the slightest reflection, that if the industry and capital of any country have been applied to the production of any article, the market for which is habitually found in some other country, it must be at least as disastrous for the producing country to be deprived of its market as it could possibly be for the consuming country to have its supplies cut off. In point of fact, both countries would necessarily be placed by the interruption in the same condition of distress, since, to be in a condition to deal together, both must be producing and both consuming countries. There are circumstances, however, under which it might be unwise for a country to be willingly dependent upon another for the means of setting its industry in motion, viz., when the causes of the interruption that will operate injuriously are beyond the control of the country of supply; and such a case actually exists in respect of the, to us, all-important article, cotton. Our supply of cotton has hitherto been drawn. in very fluctuating proportions from British India, Brazil, Egypt, our West India Colonies, and the United States of America. From this last-named country the quantities were for a long series of years in a continual condition of increase. From Brazil our importations have sensibly lessened without any reasonable prospect of future increase. From Egypt the quantities fluctuate violently, and depend greatly upon causes not falling within ordinary commercial considerations. In the British West Indies the cultivation of cotton has for some time ceased to form a regular branch of industry, and it is hardly to be expected that having thus ceased to be profitable when prices in Europe were uniformly at a higher level than they have been for now a long series of years, the cultivation of cotton to any important extent will be resumed in these colonies. From British India the quantities received depend upon a different set of circumstances, but of such a nature as to forbid any very sanguine hope of great and permanent increase in the shipments. To those who reflect seriously upon these facts, it must appear a matter of grave importance how any continued failure of cotton crops is to be met; and not only so, but also, how a substitute is to be found for the hitherto constantly increasing amount of those crops; for it will not be enough to provide the same amount of employment as before for our continually growing numbers in a branch of industry which, by its ordinary operations, necessarly brings forward those increased numbers. The uneasiness which it is natural to feel under the circumstances here described, has led to the inquiry, as diligently and as carefully as opportunity has allowed, whether some substitute or auxiliary may not be called into action which shall meet the evil that threatens us; and this, * From the London Athenæum, August, 1850.

it is suggested, may be found in a kindred branch of manufacture--that of flax. A very few years ago, when first anxiety began to arise concerning the prospects of our cotton manufacture, the resource which has just been named did not present itself. At that time, our linen manufacture had not made the progress by which it is at present marked-a progress proportionally equal to any that has been made at any time in the cotton manufacture. Hitherto we have, in this kingdom, been greatly dependent upon our foreign importations for supplies of flax; and while the law imposed restrictions upon the importation of grain for human food, there existed a kind of moral impediment in the way of increasing our home growth of articles for any purpose not of equal primary necessity. That impediment is now removed; and there can be no reason given why our fields should not be henceforth used for the production of any article that promises an adequate profit to the farmer. It is especially desirable so to apply the productive power of the soil for the supply of articles as indispensable to the support of millions of people as corn itself; and an additional inducement to the growth of flax beyond that offered by other articles, may be found in the fact that to bring it to the same condition as that in which it is usually imported from foreign countries, calls for the employment of a considerable amount of human labour. There is no part of the United Kingdom in which the flax plant cannot successfully be cultivated; and there is hardly any country where it might not be brought to supply our deficiencies, should such arise. It should not in any degree interfere with the prosperity of the present race of cotton manufacturers if flax were to be substituted in part for the material now employed by them. Some changes are doubtless necessary in order to adapt their present machinery for the spinning of flax, but not to any important extent; and the expense to which the proprietors might thus be subjected would be well compensated during the first year of short supply of cotton that might arise, by the security that they would feel in the future regularity of their operations; assured as they then would be against the irregularity of seasons, or those disturbances which have arisen, and which always may arise, to disarrange their operations and to interfere with the regular employment of their hands. It would not appear difficult so to order the arrangements of a spinning-wheel or a weaving shed that both flax and cotton might be included within its operations, and that the preponderance in those operations might be giving from time to time either to the one or to the other, according to the capabilities of the markets of supply on the one hand, and the requirements of the markets of consumption on the other.

The Present System of Steamboat Inspection-Explosion of the Boiler of the "Queen" Steamer.*

On Wednesday, July 10th, a fatal explosion occurred at Devonport, on board the steamer, Queen, the boiler of which burst just as she was coming from her night moorings to the Quay, for the purpose of taking on board a large party who, in a few moments more, would have been all on board.

• From the London Artizan, for November, 1850.

Upon an examination of the boiler, immediately afterwards, it was found to have been driven forward about 2 feet from its former position, and the back plates had been entirely removed; and so great had been the amount of force exerted on it that it was completely torn off, the line of separation being through the centre of the angle iron which connected the sides, bottom, and top of the boiler to the back, which had now been blown overboard. The area of the open end was found on measurement to be about 40 square feet, or about 8 feet by 5 feet. The tubes, which were of iron, and about 24 inches diameter, were covered with a slight incrustation, or scale, and on examining the top ones, no indication of their being left dry for want of water was to be found, as there was no sign of recent oxidation, and the scale was adhering to the top of them as firmly as on any of the surrounding parts of the boiler. On the back of the fire-box, between which and the back there had been a water space of between 4 and 5 inches, were two angle iron stays of about 3 inches wide, and 12 inches long, fastened to the plates with 2 inch rivets, with three holes inch diameter, to connect with similar pieces riveted to the back of the boiler, by means of cotter pins, each overlapping the other; one of the stays was split through these pin holes from top to bottom, and on the fractured surface there was an amount of incrustation about equal to that on the surrounding parts, indicating that the stay had been in that state for some considerable time, and of course was of no use as a stay; the other stay, situated in a similar position on the back of the fire-box, was of the same general dimensions, but entire, with two of the three connecting pins in their places; clearly showing that its fellow stay connected to the missing back must be split also, which, upon subsequent examination, was found to be the case, and which also, from the amount of scale on the fractured surface, proved that it had been long useless. The distance horizontally between the two stays was about 28 inches; there were no stays to the bottom of the boiler, to connect it with any other portion. There were six diagonal stays of about 14 inches round iron, connecting the bottom of the steam-chest with the sides of the boiler, which merely prevented the angle at the top of the sides being distorted by the upward and lateral pressures, the bottom and back being unsupported at the time. We should suppose that the first part to give away under these circumstances would be the junction of the bottom and back, in the centre of their length, as the two forces acting downward and backward would resolve themselves into one great force on that particular spot; and so it evidently had been, for the middle of the back edge of the boiler bottom was bent down about 3 or 4 inches, leaving two legs of flat iron which had been fastened to the bottom of the fire-box for support, about that much clear of the bottom of the boiler, and the bottom edge of the back part, when found at low water, was bent backward in the middle in a similar manner, and presented every indication of having been the first point to give way.

Upon a subsequent examination of the safety valve, it was found that there was insufficient space for the escape of steam from it, by the box above the valve being nearly filled with the lead weight on the spindle, the area of which space was only about the area of the valve itself. There was nothing which indicated a sticking of the valve at the time of the explosion.