If the above estimates of the income of the road be correct, there can be no doubt of the propriety of construction, and these your committee will now consider somewhat in detail. First, of the 50,000 bales of cotton. As to this item, it is within the personal knowledge of some members of your committee, that the amount of cotton to be brought within the reach and influence of this road is nearer 70 than 50 thousand bales; in fact, Camden and Wright's Bluff, alone, would furnish the quantity, without taking in some 20,000 bales that are shipped at intermediate points, or wagoned to this market; and also, without making any allowance for the large accession of cotton, which would be brought to Camden, and which is now sold in Cheraw, and is thence shipped in part to Charleston, but principally to New York by the way of Georgetown. As there is no doubt of this being the quantity of cotton, the question arises, will the Rail-Road obtain the transportation of it? of this, there cannot be a question, at the rate of freight assumed by your committee, that is 75 cents per bale. The present rate of freight from Camden to Charleston, is $1 per bale, which is the lowest it has ever been for any season, and is as low as it can be brought by boat. No boatman can long continue to bring cotton, from Camden to Charleston, at 75 cents per bale. But in competition with the Rail-Road, he could not get even this, as the Rail Road insures the delivery of cotton upon it; and to procure such insurance, either the boatman or the owner of the cotton, would have to pay 10 cents per bale for insurance: which would require the boat owner to carry at 65 cents per bale. Besides, the road would even at this rate have the preference, as it would deliver the cotton with greater certainty, and at a saving of time.

As to the second item of income, experience leaves us no room to doubt, that the up freights will always exceed those down. The Committee have had before them, the Reports of the Road from 1834 to 1845 inclusive, being eleven years, and embracing in those eleven years, every variety of seasons, and periods of the greatest commercial and agricultural prosperity and depression; so that, all reasonable tests have been applied, by which we can judge such a question; the result is well worth consideration. A table is appended to this report, headed "Freight Statement," which shows the operations of each of these 11 years, and from it, we find, that in that period

The up freights have yielded an income of

The Down freights 66

66

$1,208,336.19

786,679.04

Showing, excess of up freights over down freights of $421,657.15 Averaging during these eleven years, an excess of income from up freights over down freights, annually, of $38,332.47 being very nearly 57 per cent.

It is not, however expected, that this disproportion will continue; it has in fact diminished in the last two years and a half, not from diminished up freights, but from increased down freights, the road having brought greatly increased quantities of cotton and other heavy articles down, during that time. The wise policy of the Directors, in

lowering and affording every facility for bringing down the cotton and other produce, while it has increased the income greatly from down freights, has added considerably, but not in the same ratio, to the up freights. The same results, perhaps more favorable ones, may be expected from this Branch-the very least that can be counted on, is an equal amount, which the Committee has assumed.

As to the third item of income, that is from passengers, your committee believe, that the larger estimate will be the one which will be found to be correct, as it will open to the road, all that portion of the state below Camden, and east of the Wateree river; and which is now measurably deprived of the facilities of the same, even though within a distance to reach it, as there is no bridge over that river from Camden down; nor is there a ferry, which at all times can be crossed, nearer than Vance's, which is 60 miles below Camden, and too far south, to offer an inducement to go to the road. The influence of this road, would also command considerable travel from Cheraw, or the Pee Dee section of country, and from North Carolina, which your committee believe would give the higher estimate of passengers, but unquestionably the lower, that is 6 passengers daily.

The item for the transportation of the Mail is the lowest rate that

can occur.

As to the expenses of the road, the first item of $35,000 speaks for itself, being the interest on the estimated cost of the road, say $500,000; and as to the other items, they are all taken from the books of the company, and are of unquestionable authority.

Your committee for the foregoing reasons, have no hesitation in recommending to the company to accept the Act, so far as the interest of the company is concerned.

Total,

$288,834 81

AMERICAN PATENTS.

List of American Patents which issued in the month of January, 1845, with Remarks and Exemplifications. By CHARLES M. KELLER, late Examiner of Patents in the U. S. Patent Office. 1. For an improvement in the Press for Pressing Cotton; William Bullock, Jersey City, New Jersey, January 4.

The patentee says "The nature of my invention consists of an arrangement of a compound lever, in combination with an arrangement which is so contrived as to release the pressure after it has arrived at a certain limit, so as to have an uniformity in all the bales to be pressed."

Claim." What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by letters patent, is the combination of levers K, K, with the side links P, P, and with chains Q, Q, passing over rollers R, R, having vertical links to support the movable platen. I also claim the invention of the arrangement for connecting the self-adjusting platen to the machinery, by which the power is applied to the press, so that whenever it takes beyond a limited amount of power to propel the press, the simple action of the power in propelling the press will release the bale, until only the given amount of power is required. And I also claim the invention of the arrangement for connecting the above arrangement for adjusting the power upon the bale to the movable platen of the press, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth."

The main levers of the press, designated in the claim by the letters K, K, are jointed at each end to links P, P, attached to chains that pass over rollers, and are then connected with the lower (movable) platen by other links. The fulcra of these levers (they are not levers but four arms projecting from a shaft, two at each end) are in the middle of their length, so as to draw up both ends of the platen with equal velocity, and the lever that operates the whole press is their shaft. The rollers over which the chains Q, Q, pass have their bearings in horizontally sliding pieces attached to the frame above the bed of the press, and these are kept apart by a wedge-formed block on each side of the press, the upper ends of which bear on the periphery of an eccentric sector attached to the shaft of a segment cog wheel, the teeth of which take into the cogs of a pinion wheel on the arber of a friction or brake wheel, having a friction band passing around a portion of its periphery and connected with a spring. By this arrangement it will be apparent that when the power applied to the lever of the press is too great, the rollers Q, Q, will slide inwards, force up the wedge-formed blocks, and turn the friction brake instead of drawing up the platen, so that by increasing or decreasing the tension of the spring on the friction belt of the brake, the amount of force which the bale will receive can be regulated at pleasure.