25. For Manufacturing Potash from Wood Ashes; Ephraim Pearce, Lincklaen, Chenango county, New York, July 20. Leaches are to be prepared by placing sticks, straw, and quicklime, in the usual manner. They are not to contain more than six bushels of ashes, which must form a stratum of from eight to fourteen inches in thickness. Forty-five gallons of water, containing six pounds of salt, are to be heated to near the boiling point, and half a bushel of unslaked lime is then to be thrown in, which will immediately produce boiling. A bushel of ashes is to be boiled in another kettle with six gallons of water. A bushel of ashes is then to be put into the leach, and upon this three gallons of the boiling lime water are to be poured and allowed to soak in. Ashes are then to be added, a bushel at a time, with six gallons of the lime water after each, until the intended six bushels are in the leach. The remaining lime water is to be poured on, six gallons at a time, allowing it to disappear between each pouring.

Three gallons of cold water are then to be put into the kettle of boiling ashes and water, when a quart or two of slaked lime, and a pint, or less, of salt, are to be sprinkled on; after removing the coals, &c. by skimming, six gallons of this water are to be put into the ley kettle. The remainder, with the ashes, is to be put into the leach; cold water is afterwards to be poured on the leach until the strength is out. This leached liquid is to be put into the ley kettle containing the above named six gallons, and the boiling is then to be effected in the ordinary way; which, the patentee says, will at once produce the best quality of potash. He adds, that ashes, which, worked by the ordinary process, will produce one ton, will, by his method, yield more than two tons.

We have been at some pains to give the whole process by which the patentee says he produces a result so extraordinary, as we are altogether unable to discover in it any thing to justify the assertion; nor are we prepared to believe that manufacturers of potash have hitherto been in the habit of throwing away more than one-half of that which is contained in the wood ashes.

26. For an improvement in the Fly Net for Horses; Peter Mintzer, city of Philadelphia, July 20.

The patent granted to Henry Korn, of Philadelphia, (see vol. iv. p. 409,) is noticed, and the description of his net inserted in the present specification. The improvements claimed by the present patentee, is the using net work, and tasselling of silk, or other braid, instead of the parts which form the longitudinal straps in the former. The net so made, is said to be lighter and more convenient in use, as well as much handsomer. The difference, however, is very trifling.

There is no drawing of this fly net, but a "specimen deposited in the patent office," is referred to; we apprehend that the specimen might be exhibited in a drawing; and therefore that it ought to have been done, as the law expressly requires a "drawing with written. references, whenever the nature of the case admits of drawings."

27. For a machine for Cleaning Grain from Dirt; Thomas Reese, Jones' Falls, near Baltimore, Baltimore county, Maryland, July 20.

This machine consists, mainly, of a hopper, and rubbing plates, formed of sheet iron, to which motion is given by a crank. The lower rubber forms a plane a little inclined from the hopper, and is similar to the upper one, with the exception of being stationary. We are told in the specification, that the rubbers "are made by punch ing grooves and ridges in sheet iron, about half an inch deep, eighteen inches wide, and seven feet long, and fastening them on boards." As this description does not appear to us to be very luminous, we have given the exact words.

The claim is to "the before described machine for cleaning grain from all kinds of dirt."

28. For a Plough; Barnabas Thacher, jr. Barnstable, Barnstable county, Massachusetts, July 20.

This plough is to be made upon any known principle; but the beam is to be rendered capable of having its direction altered, either upwards, downwards, or laterally, by means of screws, wedges, or otherwise. The claim is to the making a plough capable of this al

teration.

The scratch of a pen, which, under the name of a drawing, accompanies the specification, lends but little aid to the description; the object, however, can be understood without it. We have, more than once, seen the farmer alter the set of his plough on the beam, by means of screws or wedges; but hereafter this will, of course, be forbidden by the present patentee.

29. For a machine for Dressing Staves and Heading, and for Jointing; John B. Tackels, Pomfret, Chatauque county, New York, July 20.

This may possibly be a very good machine, but as the specification, with the aid of the drawing, does not enable us to understand its particular structure, we must pass it by until we receive more light upon the subject. There are to be revolving cutters, fixed somehow, and jointers operating someway, to leave the stave with its required bulge. No claim is made.

30. For an Easy Motion and Pavement Saving Wheel, for Carriages of all descriptions; Felix Varela, of the city of New York, July 20.

We have heard of fortifying a city with leather, and the present invention takes one step towards the carrying this plan into execution, as our pavements are to be defended against the martial attacks to which they have hitherto been subjected by the hard tyre which has surrounded them. Every wheel, hereafter, is to carry with it, a leather rail road, altogether novel in its construction, and unique in its appearance.

VOL. IX.-No. 1.-JANUARY, 1832.

7

A

B

A.

In the first place the wheel is to be put together without iron tyre, but is to be closely embraced by a double strap of leather. A number of wooden boxes, or rattletraps, are then to be prepared, by taking two triangular pieces, A A, and one rectangular piece B, equal in width to the thickness of the wheel. a Upon the edges of this piece are to be nailed, or screwed, the triangular pieces, which triangular pieces will then stand parallel to each other. These wooden boxes are to be hinged together, at a, a, so as to form a chain considerably longer than the circumference of the wheel; but not sufficiently so to allow the angles of the boxes to leave the rim of the wheel. Leather is to be nailed upon each of the rectangular pieces B, which surround the wheel, and a continued or endless strap, is to be affixed within the whole of them, by small straps attached to the iron hinges. When one of these is put round each wheel, the system is ready to operate. The chain of triangular boxes being somewhat larger than the wheel, allows, according to the drawing, two of them to lie flat upon the pavement.

We assure the reader that we are not joking, but have given as honest and exact a description of this truly astonishing contrivance, as we are capable of doing. Should the patentee make a public trial of his invention in the city of New York, he will attract a degree of attention, and acquire an amount of notoriety, which few beside will obtain. As muddy streets are unfavourable to such a concern, we hope the corporation of that metropolis will allow the scavengers to take the lead in the procession.

31. For a Machine for Cutting Paper; Edward Pine, city of Troy, Rensellacr county, New York, July 20.

A knife made of saw plate, or any plate steel, is to be fixed to a frame which works up and down in vertical cheeks. The reams of paper to be cut are placed upon a shifting platform, under the knife, which is to be brought down upon it, by means of a lever. The patentee claims the use of knives so made; the use of lever power in bringing the knife down; the cutting of wet paper, made by cylinder machines; and the use of the machine in cutting paper "not interfering with any other improvement heretofore known or used."

A patent was granted to John M-Clintock, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on the 31st March, 1827, for a machine for trimming the edges of paper; which machine consisted of a knife, brought down by a lever, similar to that above described. This probably may be news to the present patentee, but if the two interfere, as we are convinced they do, the concluding proviso of the claim will not operate as a saving clause.

32. For a Press for Cotton and other fibrous substances; Philenzo Payne, and Joshua Rundell, Port Gibson, Claiborn county, Mississippi, July 20.

This is a vertical press, the follower of which is to be forced down by toggle joints. Within each of the cheeks of the press there is a toggle joint, from the middle of each of which an arm or shaft, extends forward of the press, in a horizontal direction. The power is applied to these arms, to draw them forward, and consequently, to bring the levers of the toggle joints in a right line with each other. The lower sides of the projecting arms form racks, which take into teeth upon a cylindrical shaft, crossing in front of the press. A vertical shaft turns the horizontal one by means of bevel gear. A horse, or other power, may be applied through the medium of a lever, or sweep, to the vertical or main shaft, when the follower will descend. The claim is to the press as described.

We apprehend that this will not be a good press for the purpose intended, on account of the smallness of its range. When a follower is to go but a short distance, and to act with immense power at the end of its range, as in the printing press, the toggle joint offers every possible advantage: but the pressing of cotton, and other light fibrous articles, requires a press with a very long range, as well as of great power, and there are many presses now in use for this purpose, which combine these qualities in a way greatly superior to that now proposed.

33. For a Machine for Planing Boards; Joseph Percival, Northern Liberties, Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, July 20.

If this machine is a good one, it is unfortunate in not coming before us with a favourable introduction. A more inadequate description could not well be given, and although considerable pains have been taken with the drawings, they afford but a very incomplete representation of the details of the machinery. Some of the wheels are called segment wheels, whilst, according to the drawing, there is not one answering to this name in the whole machine.

The cutters, or irons, are, it seems, to be fixed in a frame, and are to operate in the manner of ordinary plane irons, the frame containing them being passed backward and forward over the board, by a chain attached to it. The driving wheel is a large cog wheel, called a large segment wheel. This drives two pinions, or small cog wheels, also called segment wheels. The shafts of these pinions have wheels upon them, which take into the links of the chain which moves the plane. There is a contrivance for throwing these latter wheels alternately out of gear, in order to change the direction of the machinery.

The whole apparatus is complex, and inartificial; and is certainly very inferior to some of the planing machines previously in use. There is no claim made, the general arrangement being undoubtedly, and, we apprehend, correctly, considered as new.

34. For an improvement in the Machinery for Winnowing and Cleaning Grain; Joseph D. Prescott, Chesterville, Kennebec county, Maine, July 20.

A trifling alteration in the mode of working the Dutch wheat fan, as generally used, constitutes the whole of this invention, all that is claimed being a kind of cam shaft, for moving the shoe and sieves, called by the patentee a "re-acting screw shaft," and an arrangement for altering the inclination of the sieves.

35. For a Plough; Albert Peebles, Henry county, Georgia, July 20.

This plough is to be used in the cultivation of cotton, and of corn. It is furnished with two feet, on each of which there is a shovel iron, or a shovel iron on one of them, and the other made in the common form of the share plough.

The inventor states that this contrivance was made by him in May, 1816. He has been somewhat tardy in obtaining a patent, and if his neighbours have used it during the interval, which they had a perfect right to do, his claim now will prove something worse than equivocal.

36. For a Thrashing Machine; James B. Palmer, city of Baltimore, July 20.

The beaters of this thrashing machine pass from one circular head to another, on a revolving shaft; but they are not fixed immoveably to these heads as is ordinarily done, but each of them works upon joints at their ends, allowing them to give way in passing over the straw after the stroke. To effect this they are bent at right angles at each end, thus, and a pin, or screw, passing

through an eye on the bent parts, attaches them to the drums, near their peripheries, and thus affords them the required play: about six of these beaters, standing two inches clear of the heads, is considered a good arrangement. The other parts of the machine differ but little from those generally used.

It is proposed sometimes to remove these beaters, and to attach to the heads, pieces furnished with spikes, and also to add a concave with spikes; thus converting the machine into the common cylinder thrashing machine. The beaters, as described, are claimed, and also the converting this instrument into a thrashing machine of the usual form, by the alteration above indicated.

We do not recollect having seen moveable beaters constructed and attached in the manner above specified, and think this therefore a valid claim; the second, however, we think altogether equivocal, as it consists merely in converting the original machine of the patentee into one for which he, confessedly, could not hold a patent.

37. For a Smoke Preventor; Levi Silliman, city of Albany, state of New York, July 20.

This smoke preventor is an iron chimney cap, intended by its