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AMERICAN LAW OF PATENTS.

There is no additional room to be had in the building they now occupy. The Postoffice Department, in the same building, instead of having any room to spare which is now appropriated to it, requires a considerable extension of accommodations, from its increased and increasing business. It needs the whole building. The only way, therefore, of providing the necessary extension of room for the accommodation of the Post-office Department, and the city post-office, and of providing the requisite accommodation for the Patent-office, is to erect a suitable fireproof building for the latter on some one of the public lots. There are ample funds arising from duties on patents, heretofore paid into the Treasury, to the account of clerk hire in that office, which remain unexpended. A portion of that surplus fund, being now about 152,000 dollars, may well be appropriated to the construction of a building which should be commodious and comparatively safe from fire.

Such a building as this branch of the public interests requires, would do honour to the Government and the country.

The

Patent-office, with such accommodations, containing the records of this age of inventions, displaying in its halls and galleries numberless models of ingenious and useful mechanism, and contrivances in almost infinite variety, adapted to the mechanic arts, to manufactures, to husbandry, to navigation, steam-power, horse-power,

water

power, railroad transportation, and, in fine, to all the common trades and mechanical pursuits of life, as well as to our rapidly multiplying and magnificent public works, would present an object of interest, and tend not a little to elevate our national character. It has been justly remarked that we can go into no mechanic shop, into no manufactory of any description, upon no farm or plantation, or travel a mile on our railroads or in our steam-boats, without seeing the evidence of our originality, and witnessing the fruits and effects of our ingenuity and enterprise. All the inventions and improvements in mechanism which have done so much towards advancing the useful arts and manufactures, should, as far as practicable, be exhibited in one view in the halls of the Patentoffice. Such a display would attract the attention of the many thousands who annually visit the capital of the Union from all quarters of the country, and all parts of the world. No other nation has yet any thing to be compared with it; neither England nor France has ever required models to be deposited of patented machinery. Collections of models and drawings have sometimes been made by private associations, but they are small in number compared with those we possess.

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In addition to the models of machinery, it

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is proposed to embrace an exhibition of specimens of useful and elegant fabrics and of works of art, which manufacturers and artificers muy place there for that purpose. It might, too, embrace a cabinet of interesting minerals, which may be received from time to time from the various parts of our widelyextended country, with polished specimens of its beautiful marbles from their different locations, illustrating the geology and many of the natural resources of the country; and, also, a collection of Indian curiosities and antiquities, many of which are now in the possession of one of the departments, boxed up for want of some suitable place for their exhibition.

In short, the halls of the Patent office should present a national museum of the arts, and be a general repository of all the inventions and improvements in machinery and manufactures, of which our country can claim the honour; together with such other objects of interest as might conveniently and properly be placed under the superintendence of the Commissioner. Such an institution, while it would be an object of just pride to every American, would have scarcely less influence in advancing and accelerating the progress of the useful arts and the improvement of our manufactures, than would even the encouragement afforded by granting patents for inventions, or establishing high tariffs of protection.

With these views, the Committee cannot hesitate to recommend an entire re-organisation of the Patent-office, and several material alterations in our law of patents, suiting it to the present condition of the arts and the altered circumstances of the country.

A bill in conformity with our views is herewith submitted.

(The Bill in our next.)

THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

We have been much gratified by the perusal of a letter which has been addressed to the Chancellor of the Ex

chequer, and " privately printed," containing A Plan for the better Management of the British Museum," by Mr. John Millard. The writer, by way of apology for addressing Mr. Spring Rice on the subject, mentions some things which are very much to the honour of that respected functionary, though not, we suspect, so generally known as they deserve to be.

"Sir,-The public are so deeply indebted to you for the interest you have taken in the affairs of the British Museum, and the anxiety you have shown to extend its utility

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THE SILICA SOAP AND WASHING WITH PIPE-CLAY.

time that the ploughs have travelled five-and-a-half miles, and turned over a statute acre of land. This is, in truth, the prime distinguishing feature of the invention; it is the contrivance on which the genius of its author is more particuarly stamped, and which seems to be ssential to the economical application of steam to husbandry; for it is evident, that were it requisite to impel the machine with a velocity equal to that of the ploughs, by dragging them with it, a great proportion of the power of the engines would be uselessly expended.

Another valuable property appertaining to the machine, and which conduces greatly to its economy as a bog cultivator is, that it requires no previous outlay in the formation of roads, no preparation of any kind further than a drain on each side of it. That a locomotive machine of such great dimensions and power could be so constructed as to travel on mere raw bog, was an excellence the more appreclated as it was unexpected by those persons who are conversant with the soft, unstable nature of bog. The Irish gentlemen present also pronounced Red Moss to be a fair specimen of the great mass of the flat, red, fibrous bogs of Ireland, and that neither the machine nor the ploughs would have any difficulties to encounter in that country which had not been already overcome on Red Moss, the field of experiment. The engines are capable of working up to fifty horses power, but the operations subsequent to ploughing will require a small force contpared with that necessary for breaking up the surface of the bugs, to the depth and at the speed effected by these ploughs. The power consumed by each plough is estimated at about twelve horses, and the weight of the sod operated upon by the plough, from point to heel, is not less than three hundred pounds. The boiler is of unusually large dimensions for locomotive engines, being suited to the use of peat as fuel, so that the culture of a bog will be effected by the produce of its drains. At Red Moss, however, coals are so cheap, being found contiguous to and even under it, that they are used in preference to turf. Eight men are required for the management of the machine and the two ploughs, or at the rate, nearly, of one man per acre; but it must be understood that this number of men will only be required for the first heavy

process, an has no relation to any subsequent operations in the cultivation of bogs, nor to the application of the inven tion to the culture of hard land.

After passing a sufficient time on the Moss to witness the exhibition of the ploughs, and the various other functions and properties of the machine, the party expressed to Mr. Heathcoat the extreme pleasure they had received, and their earnest hope that he would extend the sphere of his exertions by applying the invention to the culture of stiff clay soils; and more especially to carry into effect those important operations of sub-soil ploughing and improved drainage recently introduced to the agricultural world by Mr. Smith, of Deanston. To effect these processes, great power is essential, and it was evident that Mr. Heathcoat's invention was equally well adapted to them, and would be attended with results no less important than those which will arise from its application to the reclamation and culture of bogs.Morning Chronicle.

THE SILICA SOAP, AND WASHING WITH
PIPE-CLAY.

Sir, I have just observed in your Magazine for last month an article from Dundee, relative to the use of pipe-clay as an auxiliary to soap. In corroboration of the facts stated therein, I beg leave to say, that I and some of my friends have for many years been in the habit of using a silicious clay or species of soapstone, both in solution with water and in combination with soap, and have found it to possess such valuable detergent qualities, as to effect a considerable saving in that article.

I am not aware whether pipe-clay, or a clay such as mine, be the better material; the former you know is highly aluminous, while the principal constituent of that on my land is silex, and differing, I should think, very little, if at all, from the pulp of flint; for the use of which, in the manufacture of soap, you noticed in a late Number that a patent had been obtained.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant,
I. S.

Dublin, June 20, 1836.

RAISING THE STATUE OF NAPOLEON.

New House of Commons, with other beautiful productions of this enlightened artist, deservedly place him at the head of his profession. The field of literature would offer an abundant choice of distinguished authors, and of gentlemen eminently skilled in books and manuscripts; suffice it to mention the names of Mr. Petrie, the Keeper of the Records in the Tower, Sir Harris Nicolas, and Mr. Hallam. The study of Egyptian Antiquities has been ably illustrated, and the National Museum benefited, by the labours and researches of Mr. Wilkinson, and others; and no small praise is due to Mr. Gage, the Director of the Society of Antiquaries, for his perfect acquaintance with the much neglected study of the Antiquities of Britain. It would, I fear, sir, occupy too much of your valuable time to pursue this subject; but I cannot conclude the imperfect list I have hastily sketched without recording the names of Sir John Barrow, whose geographical and ethnographical acquirements are so eminently displayed in his valuable publications; and of Mr. Babbage, whose knowledge of the arts and manufactures, and the best means for their successful improvement, are too well known to need any eulogium from my pen.

"I would further propose, that the individuals forming the new Council should annually elect from among themselves a President, subject to the approval of the Government, and should possess the entire management of the Museum; but should, like the Record Commission, report from time to time to the Executive Government, and be placed under the immediate control of one of the ministers of state, as is almost uniformly the case in foreign museums.

"I would also submit to your consideration the propriety of dividing the Museum into twenty distinct departments, as before enumerated, and of appointing a Director to each of them, who should be named by the Government, at the recommendation of the Council. These Directors, together with a Principal Director, to be appointed by his Majesty, also at the recommendation of the Council, should be entitled to a seat at the board, but without a vote.

"The benefits to be derived from such an association of the officers with the Council would be very great; the Council, being all men of high attainments in their respective branches of science and learning, would be competent judges of the deficiencies in the various collections, and would thus be enabled to determine on the expediency of complying with the requests of the Directors of the several departments. Another advantage would accrue; there would be an equal division of the money granted by Parliament for the support of the various objects of the Museum; and no one department

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would be favoured at the expense of another. If it were considered necessary, a Board of Visiters, similar to that attached to the Board of Longitude, might be named by the Government-a measure recommended by Sir Hans Sloane, the founder of the Museum-who might from time to time visit and examine the establishment, report to the Government on the proceedings of the Council, and make any useful suggestions that might occur to them.

"The great defect of the existing constitution of the Museum is, that the present Trustees are an irresponsible body-being amenable only to Parliament for the manage ment of the Institution; and unless the te dious process of a Committee of Inquiry be resorted to, no complete information can be obtained as to the state and condition of the Museum, as to its retrograde or forward movements; the annual account presented to Parliament of the receipt and expenditure, and of the number of visits and visiters to the Museum, affording no data by which the Executive can form a satisfactory opinion on these matters. It remains only then, Sir, to urge upon your consideration the plan which I have suggested for infusing new life and vigour into the national museum, being fully assured, that every improvement therein, now so anxiously desired by the public, would speedily follow the proposed change in its constitution; but without such an alteration, I fear there is little probability of any per manent good being effected by the present, or any other inquiry that may be instituted on the subject."

Mr. Millard has in this extract urged so well the advantages of the "Plan" he proposes, that we need only say that it has our entire approbation and best wishes for its speedy adoption.

RAISING THE STATUE OF NAPOLEON.

At a meeting of the Institute of British Architects, held on the 3rd of June, Mr. T, L. Donaldson, Honorary Secretary, explained the means lately employed for placing the statue of Napoleon upon the Colonne Vendome, Paris This operation was one of considerable difficulty. It is true that, as a statue had previously been placed on this column, and had been removed, M. Lepère, the architect charged with the task of erecting the present statue, had precedents to resort to; but, uufortunately, they were such as were of no use to him. When the first statue was placed in its elevated situation, the workmen availed themselves of the scaf folding already fixed firmly in the ground for erecting the column, and, of course, found scarcely any difficulty; and the apparatus

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STEPHENS' IMPROVED FOUNTAIN INKS.

displaces either of the above substances, and you impair or weaken the colour. Gallate of iron is a coloured or black compound; oxalate of iron is compara tively colourless. Oxalic acid having a stronger affinity for the iron than the gallic acid, displaces the latter, and changes the composition from a black to a colourless impression, and effaces the record. Many other influences attack the vegetable principle, subtracting and dissipating it, leaving the remains brown oxide of iron: such is the action of the sun, the slow operation of time, marine influences, and the operation of water in washing ink-stains on linen, &c., proved by the iron-mould remains. The practice of reviving old records by brushing them over with tincture of galls, evidences the departure of the vegetable principle, and the remains of the metallic oxide."

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The above sketch tends to show that common ink depends for its colour upon very simple affinities, which are easily disturbed, both by chemical agencies and by surrounding influences, and that a colour having more fixed and complicated affinities, would be less liable to such influence, and would consequently be more durable. Some interested individuals have asserted, that the writing fluid will corrode or injure the paper or textures to which it is applied, upon which point Mr. Stephens makes the following remark:

"It is well known that papers, &c., upon which records have been written, have been destroyed by the ink, and that, not by any immediate effect, but after the lapse of years. And how is this caused? I have seen no statement satisfactorily accounting for it. A hasty, but very erroneous solution is generally given-namely, that it is the acid in the ink, and this assertion has generally been deemed satisfactory; but I shall have no difficulty in showing that such is not the

case.

In the first place, there exists in common ink no uncombined acid.*

"If uncombined acid existed in ink sufficiently strong to destroy the paper, the effects would be early exhibited, and consequently be of less importance, as the record could be more easily restored. The real cause of destruction is as follows:-The affinity between the vegetable and mineral principle is,

• Unless when inks are made with a proportion of vinegar.

as I have shown, slight-the combination is easily disturbed, and this, which renders the composition liable to fade, gives to it also its insecurity. The action of the sun, time, and various other causes, abstract and dissipate the vegetable principle. The iron is thus gradually left uncombined. It is a property of almost every substance to seek for combination: deprived of one substance with which it had been united, it attracts to it another; thus the iron, deprived of the gallic acid on which its colour depended, and in which state of union it had no corrosive properties, begins to attract oxygen, and, as an oxide of iron, is more or less injurious to the textures on which it had been written. If the iron exists in small proportions, the evil is small; but if it abounds in the composition, it is more strongly corrosive. Without being aware of the above cause, the fact has been known that inks containing too large a quantity of iron soon become brown. There are not wanting other facts to support this opinion. Black dyes, the composition of which is the same as ink, are well known to be more destructive to cloth, &c. than other colours. • Black dyes perish the cloth,' is a very common expression, and results from the decomposition of the colouring ingredients, and the corrosiveness of the mineral remains. From this brief analysis, the inference is tolerably plain, that if the ingredients composing a colour are united by stronger affinities than common ink, such colour will be both more permanent and more

secure."

Guided by these truths, Mr. Stephens has been eminently fortunate in the se lection of substances suitable for the production of a very superior writing fluid; but he has attained perfection by a minute attention to the proportions, and by being careful to use all the in gredients in a state of extreme purity. Few inventions have been so gratefully received, and so extensively patronised in a short space of time, as Mr. Stephens' writing fluid; one consequence of this has been, that imitators and adulterators have sprung up, like mushrooms, with various mixtures, pretending to possess the same good qualities as the original article.

I have critically examined most of these imitations, but have met with none yet that will compare with the writing fluid, either in point of colour, fluidity, or permanence. The following simple, experiment will put the claims of this and similar productions to a fair trial:

ORNAMENTAL SLATÉ MANUFACTURE.

Having written on a piece of paper with Stephens' and other fluids, pour over the writing a small quantity of a bleaching solution (chloride of lime), and the effect will be conclusive.

An objection has been made to the writing fluid, that, being more fluid, it necessarily sinks into the paper more than common ink; but I consider this, in a moderate degree, rather a virtue than a defect. It is quite evident that a colour which is intended to endure, should combine with, and in some degree dye, the substance to which it is applied. If it sits upon the surface like varnish, liable to be erased by slight scratching, and almost by friction, it cannot be expected to retain its impression strongly, any more than we should expect our coats, dyed on the outer surface only, to be durable in their colour.

A precipitate of colouring matter is liable to take place from all solutions by long standing, but the precipitate from the writing fluid is perfectly soluble; the inkstand should, therefore, be occasionally shaken, which can very easily be done, if the fountain-ink of Mr. Stephens. is employed. It will be perceived, by referring to the drawing, that these stands are constructed so as to lessen evaporation; to prevent lodgments of dust; to afford an oblique and more convenient access with grooved rests for the pen; it is also particularly adapted for the occasional agitation of the contents.

I have received much personal convenience from the use of Mr. Stephens' writing fluid; and have much pleasure in thus publicly expressing my thanks for the same. Wishing him every

success,

I remain, yours respectfully,
WM. BADDELEY.

London, June 9, 1836.

ORNAMENTAL SLATE MANUFACTURE.

Slate has of late years become extensively useful, and its application to new purposes is of every-day occurrence. A Mr. Stirling has for some time been labouring to bring it into use as a material for the manufacture of various articles of furniture, and, from the specimens which we have seen, we think it likely that he will meet with complete success. Tables

of all kinds, sideboards, wash-hand stands, and other articles of a similar nature,

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and which do not require to be often moved (as slate is, of course, heavy), may be made of it, decorated in the most ela borate style. The natural texture of the slate, it has been found, is peculiarly ap plicable as a ground for the reception of colours; and Mr. Stirling has some specimens of tables with a wreath of flowers round the edge, and a group in the cen tre, most beautifully executed-the neutral tint of the slate forming an appropriate back-ground. A very beautiful and ap propriate application of the article has been made in the formation of doorpanels. The General Steam Navigation Company has, we understand, given orders for the fitting up of the saloon of one of its new steam-vessels with these panels, painted with groups of fruit, flowers, and designs of a like nature. Amongst the numerous other articles of slate manufactured by Mr. Stirling, we shall merely particularise his door fingerplates and inkstands, which are extremely beautiful.

THE THREE-PRONG PEN.

Sir, In your No. 667, I observe that Messrs. Mordan and Co.'s last patent fort steel-pens is noticed. The public wilt, no doubt, derive a great benefit from the use of them, and it must be admitted that Mordan and Co are good makers of these articles; but as to their patent right, I fear it will cost a good deal to defend it. It was certainly rather a bold step of Mordan and Co. to speculate upon a patent under the peculiar circumstances stated by your correspondent However, I wish they may establish their patent, because I think it would prove whether the late act to amend the patent law be of any benefit or not.

For some years past I have formed several ideas about improving steel-pens, and, although not a pen-maker, I thought that I was, and perhaps am, the first ine ventor of the three-prong pen, for this is the name I gave what is now called the three-nibbed pen-but I think the nib of a pen consists of all its prongs together. About a year ago, after searching almost every place where steel-pens were sold, I could not find any thing approaching my ideas on the subject, which led me to think that had hit upon something I then applied to several of the pen-makers, and examined several speci

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