of the strands, to give the same hardness to all of them, and the ground on which the sledge, that holds back the moveable wheel or engine, at the bottom end of the ropery works, to keep the strands in proper tension, be regular and even, be very nearly regular in twist and hardness, from end to end; and for the cable-laid ropes, consisting generally of three small shroud-laid ropes, or for making flat-ropes, all of which require the ropes being made to great accuracy, that they may all take a regular stretch together, when applied to use, will be found a great acquisition and improvement in the strength and wear of them; and in any detached shroud-laid rope this regularity in the manufacturing will be found of great service.

TEA TRAYS.

A Composition for making Trays, Waiters, and various Articles by Presses or Stamps,

By Mr. Thomas Jones, of Bliston, Staffordshire. The ingredients used are varied according to the size of the articles to be manufactured. For those that are small, he takes 1000lbs. of rope, 20lbs. of rags, and for large articles 100lbs. of rope, and 100lbs. of rags are added. These are reduced to a pulp, and mixed with a certain small proportion of vitriolic acid. Various other materials are mentioned, but those above stated are deemed the best; and to make the said pulp into different articles, Mr. J. recommends that a wire or other sieve of a similar size and shape to the article required, to be taken and used in the manner directed in the specification. To render the mode of operation intelligible, the Patentee has given an example, shewing in what way the frame and sieve are placed

to collect the composition or pulp for making an oval canoe. He then puts on a flannel or woollen cloth, and upon that a board, and then turns the pulp out of the sieve upon the flannel and board upon the top of it, and presses the same together lightly, to force out part of the liquid by which the pulp felt is made. This being be tween the dies or tools of the shape of the articles wanted, is put into a press, in order to render it at once solid, and of the required shape. It is now to be put into a stove or oven of a proper degree of heat, where it is kept till it is nearly, but not entirely dry, and then it is to be taken out of the oven, put between the dies and pressed violently, so as to set it and make it smooth. After this it is put into the oven again till it is perfectly dried; but great caution must be used to prevent it from warping; this is effected by means of a frame, made in the form of the inside of the articles, and weights to keep it in its proper form. It may next, if necessary, be hammered over to make it smooth and flat, and then being perfectly dry, it is to be dipped in the Japan liquid, and there suffered to remain till the said liquid has perfectly penetrated it, when it is to be dried and varnished. The dies may be made of iron, or any other metal, or hard substance.

REMARKS BY THE EDITOR.

The preceding series of papers on isinglass, glue, rope making, and tea trays, suggest methods of saving scraps and fragments that would otherwise be thrown away as useless. The parings of leather might be further applied, as in England, to the making of snuff boxes, pocket inkstands, segar boxes, &c. The articles are reduced to shavings, macerated in warm water, and pressed in moulds of the required shape and size. They are then dried and varnished, the black with black japan, the brown with amber varnish.

In the hot summer of the year 1780 (the summer of the memorable Lord George Gordon Riots) I attended during the long vacation of the colleges at Oxford, a course of anatomical lectures under Mr. Sheldon (who afterward published on the anatomy of the lymphatic system.) Afrer that course, I, with several other anatomical students, attended veterinary dissections at a repository for dead horses in St. John's, Clerkenwell. I there was taught how usefully the meanest and most trifling articles might be employed under the direction of scientific skill: and I have from that time ceased to wonder at the pre-eminence in manufactures which the English have obtained, who so well know the value of saving and of using, what the negligent ignorance of foreign artists would abandon as worthless. We have a tolerably good poem on the life and death of a blood horse, "The high mettled racer," tracing his progress from being the favourite of the turf, through all the grades of hardships, till he is worn out with hunger, labour and blows, in the cart of the scavenger; I fear, a faithful account, not much to the credit of British Humanity*. I will now trace the progress of a dead horse through all the stages of his posthumous utility, greatly to the credit of the skill and frugality of that most ingenious people, as economical manufacturers.

A gentleman's horse dies. The routine of disposing of the dead animal, is this.

He is sent to the sadler, who gives credit for him at a Guinea. The sadler gives notice to the currier, who has the horse conveyed to some repository for dead horses; where he is skinned, and the currier takes away the skin, leaving the carcase. The skin, is depiled by lime, drest and tanned in the usual way: the offal of the skin cut off

I republished about three years ago, Lord Erskine's admirable speech on cruelty to animals: it well deserves frequent perusal.

by the currier is sold to the glue maker: the offal of the leather during the process or after tanning, is laid by and sold to the makers of snuff-boxes, &c.

The dead horse, is a subject for dissection to young students in comparative anatomy, who pay for the licence of going to the repository, a guinea a quarter. The flesh is then cut off, boiled, and sold to people who hawk it about the streets of London in wheelbarrows, as cat's meat and dog's meat, at 1 1-2d. per lb.

The hoofs, are sold to the makers of Prussian blue. The bones, are sold to two descriptions of manufacturers; 1st, to the makers of cart-grease, who reside at the outskirts of London, and boil the bones for the sake of the fat and marrow; which, when cold, is skimmed off, and mixed with an equal quantity of tar to make the composition necessary to grease carriage wheels. Or, 2dly, they are sold to the manufacturers of volatile alkali, who make spirit of hartshorn, and sal ammoniac out of them, by distilling in large iron cylinders. The bones thus boiled down, used in my time, to be sent back again to a steam mill near St. John's, Clerkenwell, where they were ground into a coarse powder, and sold as a top dressing for grain crops. T. C.

ON PATENTS.-BY THE EDITOR.

THIS subject is now becoming very important, and is intimately connected with the whole range of domestic manufacture. The number and nature of the patents granted under the laws of the United States, have hitherto contributed little to the improvement of manufactures, but threaten much to the increase of lawsuits and impositions. I propose to offer a few remarks on this topic and as we are not likely to throw aside the lights we may acquire from British precedents, and British practices, I shall give a summary of the decisions of that country on this set of questions.

By the 6th section of 21 James 1. ch. 3. the enacting clauses of that statute against monopolies generally, are declared not to extend to letters patent, and grants of privileges for 14 years or under, thereafter to be made, for the sole working or making of any manner of new manufactures within this realm, to the true and first inventor of such manufactures, which others at the time of making such letters patent shall not use, so as also, they be not contrary to law-nor mischievous to the state by raising the prices of commodities at home-or hurt of trade-or generally inconvenient.

The following comprize all the cases of consequence on patent rights, not including the questions on the copy-right of authors. The cases in Godbolt are too obsolete to be noticed.

3 Inst. 184. 1 Hawk. 233, Birscot's case. In which, additions to known manufactures are said not to be entitled to patent. But this case was overruled by Lord Mansfield in Morris v. Branson.

5 Co. 94. a, Barwick's case: a false suggestion will avoid a grant. Edgberry v. Stephens, Salk. 447. 1 Hawk. 233. Inventions imported from abroad, never before used at home, entitled to patent. I shall observe upon this doctrine presently. This is the foundation for the New York patent to Livingston and Fulton. Rex v. Mussary, 12 Geo. 2. Buller, N. P. [75.] Morris v. Branson, 1776, Buller, N. P. [77.] Liardet v. Johnson, 1778, Buller, N. P. [76.] usually, but falsely cited as a case on a patent for Rex v. Arkwright, 1785, Buller, N. P. [77.] Cotton spinning.

Rex v. Else, 1785, Buller, N. P. 76.

Stocking frame.

Patent stucco: elastic trusses.

Turner v. Winter, 1787, 1 Durnf. & East, 602. Patent mineral yellow.

Boulton and Watt v. Bull, 1795, 2 H. Blacks. 463. 3 Vez. 140. Court divided on the law. Steam engine.

Hornblower v. Boulton and Watt, in error, 1799, 8 Durnf. and East, 95. Steam Engine.

Harmer v. Plane, 1807, 14 Vez. 130. Woollen cloth.

Much of the discussion in the cases of Boulton and Watt con sists of argument on the grammatical meaning of the words manufacture, machine, method, principle.

The points substantially determined by these cases, may be reduced to the following heads.

1st. No patent is valid, in England, for any thing contrary to law-for any thing mischievous to the state by raising the price