meal, which must afterwards be separated from it, otherwise a great portion of flour would be lost by being distributed through the mill. To effect this separation, the spout for conducting the meal from the stones terminates at bottom in a flap-valve, which allows the meal only to escape. Into one side of the spout is inserted an upright conical pipe, having the wider end upwards; the air escaping into this pipe expands gradually, until it becomes so rarefied as to be unable to hold the particles of flour in suspension, which, falling into the pipe, enter the spout, and are there collected. Claims. 1. The fan-blades, which are affixed to the top of the running stone. 2. The pipe for separating the flour from the air. JAMES BAIRD, of Gartsherrie, Old Monkland, Lanark, Scotland, iron master; and ALEXANDER WHITELAW, of the same place, manager. For improvements in the method or process of manufacturing iron. Patent dated March 7, 1849. These improvements are in the means employed to heat the air used in the manufacture of hot blast iron. The upper part of the blast furnace is surrounded with a bollow chamber, having free communication with the furnace by means of a number of openings in the brickwork; the pipes for heating the air for the blast are arranged round the hollow chamber, where they are sufficiently exposed to the action of the furnace to produce the requisite heating of the air within them, and yet are sufficiently protected from the direct action of the furnace to prevent their being speedily destroyed. Claim. The arrangement described of placing pipes for heating air to be employed in hot-blast furnaces in the arched top of the furnace. Specification Due, but not Enrolled. HENRY CONSTANTINE JENNINGS, of Abbey-street, Bermondsey, practical chemist. For improvements in the manufac ture of vehicles for mixing pigments, and also in the manufacture of white lead. Patent dated March 5, 1849. NOTES AND NOTICES. Self-Heating Shot for War Purposes.-We saw, the other day, in the establishment of Mr. Field, tin-plate worker, Argyll-street, a peculiar and apparently most valuable mode of obtaining red-hot shot for large guns. It is the invention of Mr. Scouller, the foreman in Mr. Field's workshop, and consists in the filling the hollow shot with a highly combustible powder, the composition of which we are not yet at liberty to make public. Two or three fuse-holes are made in the shot, so that, when fired from the piece, ignition takes place, and the shot is made red-hot before it arrives at its destination. In the trial we saw, the shot, which was about 24 inches diameter, was simply laid on the ground, and the composition was ignited by a light applied, to the fuse-hole. Violent combustion immediately ensued-liquid fire appeared to stream from its three fuse-holes, and the material became quite red-hot in a few seconds. The inventor states that, when fired from a gun, a red heat will be attained in less than 20 seconds from its leaving its mouth. The composition will burn under water. It is easily made, and there is little doubt as to its efficiency for war purposes, in place of the present expensive and troublesome system of heating, the shot being put into a gun in a cold state, as with ordinary solid ball.-Glasgow Chronicle. Pesth Suspension Bridge.-This splendid bridge is generally supposed to have been completely demolished during the recent events of the war operations between the Hungarians and Austrians, but, up to the present time, we are glad to learn, from a correspondent on the spot, no serious damage has been done to the structure. The first retreat the Austrian army was obliged to make from Pesth, the general gave orders for the destruction of the bridge, and 60 cwt. of gunpowder were placed on it, 30 cwts. on each side, or under the chains, with the view of breaking them. Both charges were fired at the same time; the person who superintended the arrangements and fired the charges, was literally dashed in pieces. The effect it produced on the bridge was the breaking down of the road, which consists of transverse cast-iron bearers, to a considerable extent. The vibration of the chains was very great, and continued for some length of time; but after the retreat of the Austrians, the bridge was again repaired. The Hungarians, however, were obliged again to retreat over the bridge, when Dembinski gave orders for its destruction. Mr. Clark, at Pesth, went to Dembinski, and remonstrated with him, and told him that it would be nothing to his credit as a general, to destroy so fine a structure. The general told Mr. Clark that his orders were peremptory, but, after a great deal of negotiation, he consented that some of the bearers should be taken down, and put into boats, and taken down to the Island of Schutt, the boats to be scuttled, and sunk in deep water; this was done. Then came the Russian and Austrian armies, when the bearers were taken up, and the bridge again repaired. Several shots have struck the stone-work in places, but no great damage is done.-Mining Journal. WEEKLY LIST OF NEW ENGLISH PATENTS. Malcolm Macfarlane, of Thistle-street, Glasgow, coppersmith, for certain improvements in machinery, or apparatus for the drying and finishing of woven fabrics. August 30; six months. Alexander Haig, of Smith-street, Stepney, engineer, for an improved apparatus for exhausting and driving atmospheric air and other gases, and for giving motion to other machinery. September 6; six months. Alexander Robert Terry, of Manchester-street, Manchester-square, engineer, for improvements in the manufacture or preparation of firewood. September 6; six months. Josiah Marshall Heath, of Hanwell, Middlesex, gentleman, for improvements in the manufacture of steel. September 6; six months. Sir John Macneill, Knight, of Dublin, and Thomas Barry, of Lyons, near Dublin, mechanic, ter improvements in locomotive engines, and in the construction of railways. September 6; six months. John Hosking, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, engi neer, for an improved pavement. September 6; six months. LIST OF IRISH PATENTS FROM THE 21ST OF JULY, TO THE 21ST OF AUGUST, 1849. Thomas Robinson, of Leeds, York, flax dresser, for improvements in machinery for breaking, scutching, cutting, hackling, dressing, combing, drawing, roving, spinning, and doubling flax, hemp, tow, wool, silk, and other fibrous substances, and in uniting fibrous substances. August 7; six months. John Edward Hawkins Payne, of Great Queen street, Middlesex, coach-lace manufacturer, and Henry William Currie, engineer, in the employ of the said John Edward Hawkins Payne, for improvements in the manufacture of coach-lace, and in other similar looped or cut-pile fabrics. August 7; six months. WEEKLY LIST OF DESIGNS FOR ARTICLES OF UTILITY REGISTERED. Date of No. in Registra- the Re Proprietors' Names. Addresses. Subjects of Design. Hilary Nicholas Nissen Andrew Lindsay 250 Andrew Lindsay John Duley Greenock ............................. Spindle bearing. Spindle bearing. Stone-cutting machine. Windlass. South Shields, Durham, found- Paris.................................... Needle threader and case. Northampton IT cannot now be doubted even by the most sceptical, but that GUTTA PERCHA must henceforward be regarded as one of the blessings of a gracious Providence, inasmuch as it affords a sure and certain protection from cold and damp feet, and thus tends to protect the body from disease and premature death. Gutta Percha Soles keep the feet WARM IN COLD, AND DRY IN WET WEATHER. They are much more durable than leather and also cheaper. These soles may be steeped for MONTHS TOGETHER in cold water, and when taken out will be found as firm and dry as when first put in. Gutta Percha Tubing, Being so extraordinary a conductor of sound, is used as speaking tubes in mines, manufactories, hotels, warehouses, &c. This tubing may also be applied in Churches and Chapels, for the purpose of enabling deaf persons to listen to the sermon, &c. For conveying messages from one room to another, or from the mast-head to the deck of a vessel, it is invaluable. For greater distances the newly-invented ElectricTelegraph Wire covered with Gutta Percha is strongly recommended. Mill Bands. The increasing demand for the Gutta Percha strapping for driving bands, lathe-straps, &c., fully justifies the strong recommendations they have everywhere received. Gutta Percha Pump Buckets, Clacks, &c. Few applications of Gutta Percha appear likely to be of such extensive use to manufacturers, engineers, &c., as the substitution of it for leather in pump buckets, valves, &c. These buckets can be had of any size or thickness WITHOUT SEAM OF JOINT, and as cold water will never soften them, they seldom need any repair. Gutta Percha Picture Frames. The Gutta Percha Company having supplied HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN with several elaborate Gutta Percha Picture Frames for Buckingham Palace, which have been highly approved by the Royal Family, fully anticipate a great demand for frames from the nobility throughout the country. In order that the picture-frame makers may not be injured, the Company will supply the trade with the mouldings, corner and centre pieces, &c., and allow them to MAKE UP the frames. Pattern books for the trade are now ready. Gutta Percha soles, solution, inkstands, card-trays, medallions, picture-frames, brackets, mouldings, window-blind cord, soap-dishes, tap-ferrules, cornices, vases, fire-buckets, bowls, pen-trays, stethoscopes, thin lining, thread, flower-pots, ear-trumpets, &c., &c., manufactured at the Company's Works, Wharfroad, City-road, London; and sold by their Wholesale dealers in town or country. The London Indisputable Life Policy Company. INCORPORATED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT. No. 31, LOMBARD-STREET, LONDON. TRUSTEES. J. Campbell Renton, Esq., M.P. Richard Malins, Esq., Q.C. Richard Spooner, Esq., M.P. James Fuller Madox, Esq. William Wilberforce, Esq. DIRECTORS. William Adams, Esq. Henry Augustus Bevan, Esq. AUDITORS. George Cumming, Esq. Samuel Field, Esq. William Ghrimes Kell, Esq. MEDICAL ADVISER. Benjamin Phillips, Esq., F.R.S. BANKERS. Messrs. Spooner, Attwood, and Co. SOLICITORS. Messrs. Atkins and Andrew. SECRETARY. David Alison, Esq. The POLICIES are INDEFEASIBLE and INDISPUTABLE, which renders them certain as Family provisions, and negotiable instruments of security for pecuniary transactions. To remove all doubt upon this important subject, at present, and for all future time, the following clause has been inserted in the Deed of Incorporation of the Company; Clause 84. "That every Policy issued by the Company shall be indefeasible and indisputable, and that the fact of issuing the same shall be conclusive evidence of the validity of the Policy, and it shall not be lawful for the Company to delay payment of the money assured thereby on the ground of any error, mistake or omission, however important, made by or on the part of the person or persons effecting such Assurance, and that on the contrary, the amount so assured shall be paid at the time stipulated by the Policy, as if so much error, mistake or omission had been made or discovered." The whole Profits belonging to the Assured. ALEXANDER ROBERTSON, Manager. J. L. has great pleasure and confidence in making this invention public, as, from the distinctness and accuracy of its work, it must prove invaluable to all who regard these objects as of primary importance. It is simple of construction, accurate in execution, throws off 12,000 or 15,000 impressions per hour, occupies but little space, and a boy eight years of age may work it with ease. N.B.-Samples of the Tickets forwarded imme diately on application, and to be seen at the Mechanics' Magazine Office, 166, Fleet-street, London. Pesth Suspension Bridge.................... Monthly List of Irish Patents..................... Weekly List of New Articles of Utility Registered Advertisements 237 238 938 239 LONDON: Edited, Printed, and Published, Joseph Clinton Robertson, of No. 166, Fleet street, in the city of London, and 995, New street, Birmingham.-Sold by A. and W. Ga nani, Rue Vivienne, Paris; Machin and Co., Da lin; W. C. Campbell and Co., Hamburgh. MUSEUM, REGISTER, JOURNAL, AND GAZETTE. No. 1362.] SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1849. [Price 3d., Stamped, 4d. THE DISC ENGINE, AS IMPROVED BY MR. BISHOPP. 242 THE DISC ENGINE, AS IMPROVED BY MR. BISHOPP. [When noticing, recently, the disc engine erected at the Times Printing-office, and its admirable performances there (as well as elsewhere), we promised to give, on some future occasion, an explanation of those improvements made in it by Mr. Bishopp, by which he has redeemed it from a state of half oblivion and no inconsiderable odium, and raised it once more to a foremost place among the mechanical wonders of the day, Mr. Bishopp himself has since kindly favoured us with an account of his two improved disc engines, which are now in course of construction, for drainage purposes, by the eminent firm of Messrs. Whitworth and Co., of Manchester; and, by giving insertion to it, we shall no doubt render a much more acceptable service to our readers than we could do by any description or remarks of our own,-ED, M. M.] The accompanying engravings represent a 57-inch disc pump and a 21-inch disc engine, constructed by Messrs. J. Whitworth and Co,, of Manchester, on Mr. G. D. Bishopp's improved plan, and now in course of being erected at Pat rington, near Hull, to drain an estate under the superintendence of Josiah Parkes, Esq., C. E. The quantity of water to be lifted will be 12 tons per minute, and the greatest height of the lift will be seven feet. Fig. 1, represents a side elevation; fig. 2, a plan; and fig. 3, an end view of the engine and pump. The pump, A, is constructed with plain cones and a plain dise; and in order to keep the disc in contact with the cones, the diagonal shaft, B, is driven by a drag-link, C, which takes hold of a pin fixed in the spurwheel, E; the distance of the centre of the pin from the centre, S, being greater than the radius of the circle described by the end of the diagonal shaft, B. The spur-wheel, E, is driven by the pinion, F, on the engine-shaft, G; and the relative speeds of the engine and pump are five to one, The pump has no valves, and the stream delivered is continuous, and not intermittent, although neither a standpipe nor an air-vessel is employed. The suction-pipe, H, descends into a well, I, into which the water flows through a culvert, D, from the land reservoir. The culvert, N, leads into a drain, called the Winestead Drain, which leads to the sea, and has a sluice-gate at the end of it, to be opened in summer for the purpose of irrigating the land, The delivery-pipe, K, descends into another well, L, and from the latter a culvert (similar to N) leads into the Winestead Drain. Consequently, the level of the water in the well, I, will always be the same as that in the land reservoir, and the level of the water in the well, L, will be the same as that in the Winestead Drain. As the stream delivered by the pump is continuous, the water in the deliverypipe, K, above the level of the water in the well, L, will balance so much of the pressure of the atmosphere as is due to that height; or, in other words, it will balance an equal column of water in the suction-pipe, H, Therefore, the work done by the engine will never be more than that due to the difference of levels in the two wells, which will sometimes be no more than twelve inches, and at other times will be as much as seven feet. With an ordinary pump, or a scoop. wheel, which is usually employed for raising large volumes of water at a low lift, the power exerted would always be equal to that required to raise the water to a given height; viz., that of the highest level of water ever in the Winestead Drain, or some complicated contrivance must be employed to avoid doing so, The engine (M) is an 8-horse power high-pressure disc engine, with expansive gearing cutting, off at half-stroke, and is constructed with the improvements lately patented by Mr. Bishopp, who has been engaged for some few years past by the patentees of the disc-engine to superintend the construction of their engines. These improvements may be thus briefly indicated; Instead of using a disc and cones, with teeth or projections cast on them, a plain disc is employed, having parallel sides, and each of the two cones has twenty-two parallel and deep grooves placed in it, into which are fitted slips of metal. These slips project a sufficient distance above the surface of the cones for the disc to touch three of them at once, and |