devised for raising vessels out of the water for the purpose of repair, know that the principle of Bramah's press is applied to that purpose in the Hydraulic Dock, at New York, and probably elsewhere. The present patent is taken for improvements on the mode of constructing and using certain parts of that apparatus, which improvements are explained at large, and fully shown in the drawings, but cannot well be presented in a sum[TO BE CONTINUED.]

mary.

Specification of a patent for an improvement in the art of manufacturing Rope or Cordage. Granted to WILLIAM FANNING, City of New York, February 3rd, 1836.

To all to whom these presents shall come, be it known, that I, William Fanning, of the City of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and useful improvement on the art and manufacture of rope, or cordage, made from hemp, flax, cotton, manilla, cicol, or grass, and that the following is a full and exact description of the method of making the circumvolved rope.

What I claim as my own improvement, and not previously known, in the art and manufacture of rope, or cordage, is making the ready, or strand, of the rope, with as many true and separate spiral twists and turns, as there are circles of threads in the ready, or strand, when finished; which is done by first taking as many threads as are necessary to form the inner, or centre, circle of the ready, or strand, placing them through as many holes made circular on a plate; they are then fastened to a machine sufficient to give sufficient turn, and drawn through a tube of proper size, giving to threads and centre circle of ready, or stand, a spiral form in exact proportion to its size. The first circle formed is then put through the centre hole of the plate, and as many threads rove through the holes of the plate in a circular manner, as are necessary to form the second circle; the threads and centre circle first formed, is then fastened to a second machine, standing a proper distance from the first named, and drawn together through a second tube of proper size, the circle of threads last rove completely circumvoling the centre of first circle formed, giving to yarns and second circle a spiral form in exact proportion to size of circle formed, and every succeeding circle is rove through the plate, tubed, twisted, and formed in the same manner as the above described second circle, giving to each circle a spiral form in exact proportion to its size, and every circle of threads rove separately through the holes of the plate tubed and formed, giving a true spiral form to each, will be completely circumvolved by the succeeding circle and rendered impervious to water: the threads are reeled separately on bobbins, and placed in a frame, as usual, in making other ropes. The machine used in making the circumvolved, together with the rope, or band, applied to the same, is such as has been in common use for many years, to which I have no claim of invention or improvement.

WILLIAM FANNING.

Specification of a patent for an improved machine for Cutting Straw. Granted to ISAAC S. WRIGHT, Elbridge, Onondaga county, New York, February 3rd, 1836.

To all whom it may concern, be it known, that I, Isaac S. Wright, of

Elbridge, in the county of Onondaga, and the State of New York, have invented certain improvements in the construction of machines for cutting straw, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The straw to be cut is placed in a trough in the usual way, but the trough differs in form from those generally employed, being, most commonly, made out of two pieces of plank, joined together lengthwise, at right angles, or at any angle greater or less than a right angle, as may be preferred. This trough has a cutting knife at one end, which is fixed into a frame sliding up and down in grooves, like a mill saw frame. This knife consists of two cutting parts, united together at the middle, so as to form a right angle, or any angle greater or less than a right angle, as may be preferred. The angle of the trough points downwards, and the angle of the knife upwards, the cutting edge being downwards. The gate, or frame, which carries the knife, may be moved up and down by means of a lever, a treadle, a crank, or in any of the known ways of producing such a motion. The fore edge of the trough is armed with iron and steel for the knife to cut against. Both the knife and the trough, may, instead of being in the angular shape described, be made curvilinear, in which case it will be best to make the curve a segment of a small circle in the middle, corresponding with the angular point above mentioned. The object in view will, in either case, be equally well attained; this object being so to form the knife and the trough, that as the former comes down upon the straw they shall concur in gathering and forcing it into a compact state. The same end may be partially attained by giving the described shape to the knife alone. I intend sometimes to surmount that part of the trough which is against the knife, by a short angular or curved piece in the same form with the trough inverted, for the purpose of keeping the upper portion of the straw more completely together whilst feeding. The feeding may be performed in any of the usual ways.

What I claim as my invention, and which I intend to secure by letters patent, is the angular, or curved, form of the knife above described, whether used with or without a trough, similarly formed for the purpose set forth. I do not claim the angular trough when used alone, the same having been previously employed, but without an angular or curved knife, such as is herein described.

ISAAC S. WRIGHT.

Specification of a patent for a method of preventing ale, beer, and other mall liquors from becoming acid in warm weather. Granted to JOSIAH STOW. ELL, Manchester, Hillsborough county, New Hampshire, February 5th, 1836.

To all to whom these presents shall come, be it known, that I, Josiah Stowell, of Manchester, in the county of Hillsborough, and State of New Hampshire, have discovered and applied to use a new and useful method, or process, for preventing ale, beer, and other malt liquors, from becoming acid, or sour, in warm, or hot, weather, and from preventing the wash, or mash, of distillers, from becoming acid: and that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

To preserve malt liquor where the temperature of the weather is from seventy-four to ninety-four degrees, Fahrenheit's thermometer, for every

one hundred and seventy gallons of liquor apply one pound of raisins in the following manner: Put the raisins into a linen, or cotton, bag, and then put the bag containing the raisins in the liquor before fermentation. The liquor may then be let down at sixty-five, or as high as seventy degrees Fahrenheit's thermometer.

The bag containing the raisins must remain in the vat until the process of fermentation has so far advanced as to produce a white appearance, or scum, all over the surface of the liquor, which will probably take place in about twenty-four hours. The bag containing the raisins must then be taken out, and the liquor left until fermentation ceases. The degree of heat in the place where the working vat is situated, should not exceed sixty-six, nor be less than sixty degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer.

To prevent distillers' wash, or mash, from becoming acid in hot weather, put about two pounds of raisins into one hundred and fifty gallons of the mash, the raisins to be chopped and put into the liquor without a bag, the wash may be let down into the working vat at seventy-five, on eighty degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, if the temperature of the place where the working vat may be, does not exceed seventy degrees. One pound of hops should be put into the wash, or mash, vat, for every eight bushels of malt, at the time of mashing, and three-fourths of a pound of hops for every bushel of malt brewed, to be boiled in the liquor in the copper.

JOSIAH STOWELL.

Specification of a patent for an apparatus for the drying of cotton and other articles, and of protecting them from the effects of rain and storms. Granted to JOHN PHILBRICK, Wilkinson county, Mississippi, February 12th, 1836.

To all whom it may concern, be it known, that I, John Philbrick of the county of Wilkinson, in the State of Mississippi, have invented an apparatus for the drying of cotton, after it has been picked from the plant, and of a great variety of vegetable and other substances, which require exposure to the sun and air; and by which apparatus they may be immediately protected from the effects of rain and storms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the drawing which accompanies, and makes a part of, this specification.

I erect a staging, consisting of parallel rails, which are to support platforms, troughs, or cars, upon which the cotton, or other articles, to be dried, are to be spread. These cars, or platforms, may be of any convenient dimensions, but for the sake of description, we will suppose them to be made five feet wide, and eight feet long, and the wheels, or rollers, upon which they run, to be six inches in height. In the accompanying drawing one of these rails is marked with the letter C, and rises six inches, or the height of the platform, above the rail upon which it reclines at its left end. P, B, K, L, are platforms, troughs, or cars, which rest and run upon the rails, having wheels, or rollers, upon their under sides for that purpose. The rails upon which the platforms rest, rise one above the other in the form of steps, as seen in the drawing; the platform marked K, is represented as having passed from the right hand rail on to the next platform, having been pushed forward by the man, H, and now stands upon the platform on the next rail, against which it catches, and both pass together under the shed in

the centre, the pair, marked P, being shown as already there. Those at the left hand of the shed are to be slid in, in the same way, when necessary, and pass above the others. I, is a latch, or catch, by which the two platforms are held together, or released, at pleasure. B, are movable steps, for conveniently reaching, charging, and discharging, the platforms.

Although two only of such platforms are represented as extending on each side of the shed, the number to be used is limited only by the convenience with which they may be managed; and this is the case also with their demensions. The mode of managing them also, will admit of being varied, whilst the principle upon which they operate will remain unchanged. Thus, for example, the shed may be made to cover the highest platform, and be itself pushed on, so as to gather all the cars, or platforms, under it, in its progress; the platforms may be in a single row, or there may be two or more rows in width, two being shown in the drawing. The platform may be run under the shed by hand, or by means of a winch with a windlass and ropes, or otherwise.

Having thus fully exemplified the general construction and use of my said apparatus, I wish it to be distinctly understood, that I do not intend, by the examples given, to limit myself thereto, but to vary the same in any way I may think proper, whilst the proposed end is attained by analagous means. What I claim as my invention, is the construction of a rail way, in successive steps, and having upon them cars, or platforms, upon which articles to be dried may be exposed to the sun and air, and which may, in a few seconds, be posited upon each other under a shed, to protect them from the weather when necessary, in the manner, or upon the principle, herein set forth.

JOHN PHILBRICK.

Progress of Physical Science.

Sir David Brewster has found

Absorption of light by nitrous acid gas. that heat so modifies the absorptive power of this gas for the different coloured rays, that while at ordinary temperatures it has an orange colour, by raising the heat it becomes red, and finally black, not a ray of any colour penetrating it. This gas produces in a spectrum formed from artificial light, dark bands analagous to those exhibited by the solar spectrum. By im. proving the arrangements and methods of observation originally devised by Fraunhofer, of Munich, Brewster has succeeded in detecting two thousand easily recognised portions of the spectrum, separated by thin dark lines, resulting from the absorption of specific rays.

Apparent irregularities in the dark bands of the solar spectrum, were traced to the greater or less proximity of the sun to the horizon, the effect being greatest when the sun sinks below the horizon.

Sir David Brewster infers from a comparison of the lines in the solar spectrum with those produced in the spectrum from artificial light by nitrous acid gas, that the same absorptive elements which exist in the gas also exist in the atmospheres of the sun and of the earth.

Liquid nitrous acid produces none of the fixed lines above alluded to.

Abstract from Lond. and Edin. Philos Mag. May.

Fact in the theory of vision. On the retina and pigment of the eye of the calamary (Sepia Loligo). It will be recollected that an important argument in favor of that theory of vision which assigns the choroid coat and