In No. 1268 of the Mechanics' Magazine, some account was given of Sir Samuel Bentham's fire-extinguishing works in Portsmouth and other dock yards, as also of a plan of his which, in the year 1830, had been communicated to Sir Robert Peel, recommending analogous works for the better protection of the metropolis against conflagration. The public mind at that time was not ripe for such a measure, but the immense loss of property that has just occurred at London Wall may possibly rouse attention to the subject, and conduce to the introduction of means for preventing such a calamity in future.

Without any general adoption of his plan, parts of the works he devised for Portsmouth-yard, are applicable to private establishments, such as large cisterns of water on the roofs of buildings. Had there been a provision of this kind on the warehouses recently burnt down— cisterns contrived as were those he proposed to place on a mast store-tower at Portsmouth -on the outbreak of fire below, the whole body of water would have fallen on the burning mass, and would probably have quenched the fire before the most prompt application of any apparatus could have been had recourse to. From the account given in the Times of the fire at Messrs. Gooch and Cousins' warehouses, it appears that the wool was done up in covers which were highly inflammable, and rendered particularly so at the time from their dry state, and that the extraordinarily rapid spread of the flame arose from this circumstance; had water been let in immediately from cisterns above, even admitting that it might not at once have extinguished the fire, it could not but have wetted the coverings of the bales, and thus have prevented their sudden inflammation.

Messrs. Gooch and Cousins had no steam engine, it would seem, on their premises; but doubtless permission might have been obtained from the Water Company serving the district to place upon their mains such fire-plugs as those in Portsmouth - yard, for screwing hose upon them; in that low part of the town the Company's head of water would have been sufficient to have thrown a stream over the building. Promptitude in the application of water constitutes a promi

nent feature in Sir Samuel's fire-extinguishing arrangements; and if the police, as he proposed, had had the means of throwing water from two or three such hose at the outbreak of the fire, it would, without doubt, have been damped, if not entirely extinguished, long before the fire-engines could have arrived at the spot, prompt as was their attendance.

Most of the poor inhabitants from No. 1 to 18 of Sadler's-place,-five or six families in a house,-have had their clothes and furniture destroyed; they were not insured. It is to be regretted that insurances for small sums should not be permitted, free of duty. This description of persons are more deterred from insuring their property by the tax than by the per centage of the Company-thinking it hard to pay twice as much to Government as is sufficient to insure them against all risk by fire. But although the wealthier proprietors of warehouses and of wool, will most of them be reimbursed, yet the destruction of property to the value of 100,000Z. may be of serious commercial inconvenience; it is at least a substraction to that amount from the national wealth, and calls therefore for attention from the public as to the means of preventing such conflagrations in future.

It would seem, by an article in the Times of the 9th Oct., that the example first afforded in Portsmouth Dock-yard has been, in part, followed at the Chartered Gas Works with the best result. "The engines, as well as the steam engine of the Company, having been set to work, the fire was happily confined to that portion of the works where it first began." Wherever there is a steam engine, would it not be prudent to adapt it to the collateral purpose of extinguishing fire?

Some private manufacturers have, indeed, of late applied their steam engines, with suitable apparatus and other details of the fire-extinguishing works at Portsmouth, so as to promise protection against conflagration. Chambers's Journal, of Sept. 1st, relates that in the joiners' shop at the Thames Bank Building Works, there are self-supplying cisterns always full, with "a few buckets" "slung over each, ready for use in putting out fire." "Thus water, and the means of distributing it, are constantly on the spot.”

This arrangement is good, but not equal to that of Sir Samuel's in the wood mills at Portsmouth. In the interior of the shops there, pipes, connected with a cistern of three tons of water on the roof, were laid from end to end of each shop, having taps upon them, from which suspended water-buckets might be filled; there were at different parts of the pipe nozzles prepared for affixing a hose; consequently such hose were instantly available for throwing water with force on any part of a fire; and that, although its situation or excessive heat might prevent the efficacious use of buckets. At the same works on Thames Bank, "should flame promote itself into a conflagration, it can be played upon without by hose applied to a pump in the yard, always available by steam power as a capstan ;" an arrangement precisely the same as that of Sir Samuel's in Portsmouth-yard, and recommended by him for the metropolis.

These arrangements at the Thames Bank Building Works are said to afford "a lesson" to other manufacturers; but it is a lesson that has already been given to the public for nearly half a century in Portsmouth Dock-yard-not much later at Plymouth and Chatham, besides the subsequent fire-extinguishing works at Sheerness. Sir Samuel's steam-dredging machine, his caissoon gate, his steam engine moveable on wheels, and various others of his lessons, have produced good, extensive good, by their influence, and that so long ago that the origin of those improvements has been forgotten. Means of diminishing the ravages of fire would seem more generally interesting to the public than either steam-dredging or moveable steam engines, yet his fireextinguishing arrangements have remained singularly long unimitated: their general importance, as tending to the preservation of property and of life itself, seem to justify a recurrence to the subject, and a repetition of statements that have already been before the public in the Builder, as well as in the Mechanics' Magazine. M. S. B.

PHILLIPS'S FIRE ANNIHILATOR. Sir,-Numerous applications having been made to me for information respecting the so-called Fire Annihilator of Mr. Phillips, I attended last Friday at the London Gas Works, Vauxhall,

to hear Mr. Phillips's explanation of his invention, and to witness his exhibition of its powers. The audience there assembled was both numerous and respectable, and it is much to be regretted that better accommodation had not been provided for them.

Mr. Phillips prefaced his experiments by a lecture of a somewhat remarkable character, the gist of which was evidently to prove that "flame" was the vital part of "fire," and that, "without flame fire has no vitality!"

The fallacy of this position would, however, be apparent to such of his hearers as ever saw an ordinary coke fire, without looking into the furnace of a locomotive, or a foundry. The object of this assertion was, however, subsequently apparent enough. Mr. Phillips then went on to show that flame was instantly extinguished when deprived of air, as it might be by submersion in water, or in spirits, injudiciously asserting that spirits were as effectual in extinguishing flame as water; a philosophic truth assuredly, but a most dangerous one to be thus unguardedly propounded to a miscellaneous audience. It is not many months since a person attempted to extinguish fire with spirits (taken in mistake for water), when the attempt cost him his life and involved the premises in destruction. Mr. Phillips then proceeded to show the inefficacy of water to extinguish fire, by the aid of some far-fetched and inopposite illustrations among others, that of a burning mountain which the Mediterranean Sea was unable to extinguish.

Several miniature conflagrations were kindled in baby-houses, and model ships, and instantaneously extinguished by the application of an overwhelming proportion of gaseous vapour; forcibly reminding me of the remark of one of your correspondents, that "models of "machinery are bad enough in all conscience for testing practical results, but the idea of a model conflagration is beyond everything preposterous."

Mr. Phillips having worked upon the feelings of his hearers by a narration of several harrowing spectacles which he had witnessed (in his sleep?) of persons precipitating themselves from parapets, or falling backwards into the burning mass, concluded by stating, that this me

* Mech. Mag., vol xlii., p. 101.

tropolis would shortly be placed under the protection of a "Fire Militia," who would turn out on the first alarm of fire, and apply their annihilators with such promptitude as to extinguish the flames before the inmates of the burning house would be cognisant of their danger!

A fire was then kindled within a mimic house, destitute of either floors or staircase, the combustibles being merely a few timbers laid slantwise against the back wall, and prepared for burning with some inflammable liquids.

The flames raged fiercely for a few minutes, and to the unpractised eye presented the appearance of an awful conflagration. Just as the more inflammable matter had become expended, Mr. Phillips's man "Friday" walked into the burning building (and I accompanied him), and commenced discharging the gas, amidst the remaining flames, which were speedily extinguished; two vessels of gas having been expended. The timbers, however, which had been partly converted into charcoal, burned as brightly as ever, but without flame, and the aid of water was required (that inefficient agent!) to complete the extinction of the fire. Mr. Phillips's reason for describing flame as the vital part of fire was not apparent-his apparatus can only extinguish flame; while admitting this fact, he affected to treat it as of no importance, observing, that the fire-engines-the heavy artillery-would always come up to finish the extinction of the fire!

Upon the whole I was somewhat disappointed, as I had previously given Mr. Phillips credit for more candour, and his apparatus a character of greater usefulness than his lecture and exhibition warranted.

To all persons practically conversant with fire extinguishing, Mr. Phillips's experiment must be anything but satisfactory. Nevertheless, his invention is not wholly destitute of merit, or of utility, and would he but confine its application to legitimate uses, he may do much good, and derive suitable remuneration. In confined situations, such as the holds and cabins of ships, the rooms of dwelling-houses, and other similar places, Mr. Phillips's apparatus may be used with great probability of success. In a room provided with it, suppose the bed curtains to be set on fire, the inmates have only to discharge the apparatus and quit the room; the fire, being at first

almost entirely composed of flaming surfaces, will be speedily extinguished. But here again comes the great drawback, that even the small amount of presence of mind required for discharging the apparatus, is too often wanting. The mental power at command is, in too many cases, inadequate to ensure the mere closing of the door-how can we then expect that use will be made of even the most simple apparatus ?

The destruction of Raggett's Hotel, with its awfully-tragic accompaniments; as well as the deplorable losses of life in Ivy-lane, Spitalfields, King Williamstreet, &c., might each have been prevented by the closing of a door.

Mr. Phillips's apparatus might easily be made self-acting, but that there is an insuperable difficulty in ensuring its action at a sufficiently early period of a fire-a difficulty which has proved fatal to all our fire-alarms (many of them exceedingly ingenious and well arranged).

Mr. Phillips's apparatus has the advantage of requiring no labour (as in pumping) to be performed at the moment of danger, and a still greater advantage, that it does not entail the necessity of the user remaining in the apartment to direct its application. In the latter respect it has an important advantage over the portable apparatus of Captain Manby; with one of the Captain's portable antiphlogistic vessels, however, I would undertake to extinguish entirely (sparks and all) a body of fire three times as great as that upon which two of Mr. Phillips's vessels were discharged, on Friday last, extinguished the flame alone. Of 805 fires in the Metropolis, during 1848, no less than 577 were extinguished by the exercise of as much presence of mind as would be required to apply Mr. Phillips's apparatus, and the extinction of 228 only devolved on what he calls the "heavy artillery."

Prevention is better than cure-fires are much more easily avoided than extinguished, and we know that by the exercise of a small amount of carefulness, nearly one-half of last year's fires might have been prevented.

While the public are so reckless, therefore, it is almost hopeless to expect that any contrivance for extinguishing fire will be generally adopted by house

See Mech. Mag., vol. iii., page 28; also vol. xxxiii., page 117.

I remain, Sir, yours respectfully, WM. BADDELEY.

29, Alfred-street, Islington, October 29, 1849.

ON THE MEANS OF REPAIRING WHARFWALLS WHEN THEY SINK OR SLIDE OUT OF THEIR PLACES. FROM THE PAPERS OF THE LATE BRIG.-GEN. SIR SAMUEL BENTHAM.

In the year 1811, parts of the wharfwall at the Victualling Premises at Deptford cracked and sank down in some places very considerably, when it was proposed to hold the wall in its place by tying it to the nearest storehouses, on which Sir Samuel Bentham gave it as his opinion, in 1812, that "had the wall only slid outwards, such means might prove effectual in resisting any tendency in the wall to slide out farther; but in the case in question, it was evident that the foundation of the wall was not, at the time of its construction, carried down to the firm ground, therefore the tying the wall as proposed would be, in effect, the suspending it by the storehouse—an expedient as dangerous as ineffectual." He continued thus:

"The cause of failure of this wall is evidently the not having paid sufficient attention to the different degrees of firmness of the ground at the time of laying the foundation of the different parts of the wall." "The remedy therefore the most to be depended upon, and consequently the one which I must adopt, is now to force the wall downwards with a pressure that may be considered as sufficient to cause such parts as are built over the less firm ground to sink till they find a firm support, either by really coming to firmer ground or by compressing the yielding ground into a firmer state. For this purpose, the whole of the part of the wall that has given way should be disconnected from the storehouse, and should be loaded on the top so much as to double, at the least, the pressure of the wall itself on the foundation.

"The easiest mode of effecting this is by piling iron ballast on the wall. If a sufficient quantity cannot be obtained to load the whole at once, or if the hindrance to the use of the wharf would be the less by loading only a part at a time, the laying on the ballast may then be extended at one time no farther than from crack to crack of the wall, and so on progres

forcing it down separately in portions, however much one portion may be pressed down more than another on account of difference in the firmness of the ground; and this although it be very probable that some farther cracks may be occasioned by the operation.

"Supposing pigs of ballast of three hundred weight each to be laid across the wall close together, it would require them to be piled up ten pigs in height."

Such were his instructions to his assistant in the architectural department; they are remarkable as exhibiting a new expedient, that of pressing down a wall not originally carried down to a sound foundation; and they afford an example of the part he took himself in the contriv ance of every work that came under his cognizance, as also of the distinctness of

the instructions he was in the habit of giving to his subordinates. They were followed by directions as to the repair of cracks, the adding to the thickness of the wall, and the puddling in behind it.

This manner of repairing a wall is analogous to the mode he invented for the construction of foundation walls on bad ground. (See Mechanics' Magazine, Nos. 1300 and 1310, particularly page 282 of the latter number.) The principle of weighting walls till they find a firm foundation is applicable in many cases where failures have occurred from the same cause as the injury to the wall at Deptford, and that in the instance of minor works as well as in those of magnitude; and as to new works, the recent accident to the bridge for the railroad to Windsor, affords an example where, had the piers been weighted previously to building the superstructure, no such unfortunate failure would have occurred. M. S. B.

SPECIFICATIONS OF ENGLISH PATENTS ENROLLED DURING THE WEEK ENDING 1ST OF NOVEMBER, 1849.

BARTHOLOMEW BENIOWSKI, Bow-street, Covent Garden, major in the late Polish army. For improvements in the apparatus for and process of printing. Patent dated April 26, 1849.

These improvements refer to a system of printing from types arranged on the inside circumference of a cylinder, which was the subject of a patent granted to the same gentleman in 1847.

1. He now proposes to coat the nick and

back surfaces of the types, for about onehalf their length from the foot, with two or more layers of any suitable varnish, and subsequently to dress them, in order to give them a tapering form, and thereby obtain a cylindrical printing surface. When the types are employed to print from the outside periphery of a cylinder, they are, of course, coated from the top downwards. They are cleansed by passing a few blank sheets of paper through the machine, then sponging them with water to prevent the turpentine, with which they are afterwards to be brushed over, acting on the varnish. Blank sheets of paper are subsequently passed through, and the types will present as clean a face as when cast.

2. He further dispenses with the use of the mouth-piece in type-mould (used in his former machine), and makes the channel through which the metal is pumped in the side of the carriage.

3. He cuts notches in the divisions of the case, to enable the legs of the tweezers employed in composing type, according to the patentee's system, to enter and seize hold of such type as may rest against the partitions.

4. He supports the composing stick upon one of the faces of an angular piece of wood, which is attached to the top of a revolving vertical rod, supported in a bracket screwed to the front of the table, to prevent the compositor from being obliged to carry the stick full of type, which often produces deformity by causing one shoulder to be higher than the other.

5. He protects the substance of which inking rollers are composed from atmospheric influences and injury in rapid printing, by inclosing them in tubes of vulcanized India rubber, or other suitable material, and he makes inking rollers of tubes composed of some impermeable material, filled with water, and fitted with stuffing-boxes at both ends, through which the axle is passed.

6. The patentee next describes an improved concave-cylinder printing machine, which consists of a cylindrical framework, containing the main cylinder, which is driven by a number of anti-friction rollers, arranged around its periphery. The form is fixed on a portion of the inside circumference, and around it are placed the ink-supplying and distributing rollers. The printing roller is placed after the last distributing roller, behind which, and within the main cylinder, are placed the delivery and receiving boards. The paper is placed on the delivery board, underneath the paper-supplying roller, supported in a vibrating frame on one end of a lever, which is made to rise from the paper, just before the arrival of the form in front of the printing roller, by the action of a cam on the edge of

the main cylinder. An endless band of blanketing, with strips of some sticky substance upon its external face, is passed round the paper-supplying roller, so that at each fall and rise they will lift up a sheet of paper by adhesion. In front of the supply roller, and supported in the vibratory frame, are several wires, the free ends of which take into the spaces between the strips, and throw the paper down, which is still slidden forward until it is laid hold of by a projection in front of the form, and thereby drawn between the printing roller and the type. At each end of the main cylinder is a polished "skating rail," above which revolves an endless band, with "skating pieces" attached thereto, while beneath is the receiving board. As the printed sheet issues from between the printing roller and the form, it is pressed by the skating pieces upon the skating rails, and thereby pushed up them until the pieces come uppermost, and consequently allow the paper to fall through the rails on to the receiving board beneath. Two or more of these apparatuses may be adapted to the cylinder, so that the same number of impressions may be struck off at each complete revolution; and the vibratory frames may be worked by a boy instead of by cams, on the other edge of the cylinder.

Claims.-1. The mode of manufacturing type for printing from a cylindrical surface, by coating a portion of their nick and back surfaces with some suitable varnish.

2. Making moulds for casting types with channels in the side, and dispensing with mouth-pieces.

3. The cutting notches in the partitions of cases.

4. The arrangement of apparatus for supporting the composing-stick.

5. The mode of protecting the substance of which inking rollers are composed from injury, either from atmospheric influence or the centrifugal force developed in rapid printing, by inclosing it in a tube of vulcanized India rubber, or other suitable material.

6. Manufacturing inking rollers of tubes composed of some impermeable material, and filled with water.

7. The arrangement of apparatus for feeding-in the paper.

8. The arrangement of apparatus for delivering the paper.

9. The employment of strips of some sticky substance for lifting the sheets of paper successively.

10. The apparatus for causing the blanketing which carries the strips to fall and rise with sheets successively.

11. The substitution of a sliding motion for a rolling one, in printing.