Christopher Dumont, of Mark-lane, London, for improvements in the manufacture of metallic letters, figures, and other devices, being a communication.-Sealed 22nd May -6 months for inrolment.

John Winterborn, of Clarence-place, Hackney-road, surgeon, for improvements in machinery to facilitate the removal of persons and property from premises in case of fire; which improvements are applicable to raising and lowering weights generally, to assist servants cleaning windows, and as a substitute for scaffolding.-Sealed 22nd May -6 months for inrolment.

William Lewis Rham, of Winkfield, Berks, clerk, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for preparing land, and sowing or depositing grain, seeds, and manure. Sealed 25th May-6 months for inrolment.

John Whitehouse, of Deptford, engineer, for an improved method of making boilers, to be used in marine steamengines. Sealed 25th May-6 months for inrolment.

William Joest, of Ludgate-hill, merchant, for improvements in propelling vessels,- being a communication.— Sealed 26th May-6 months for inrolment.

George Hulme, of St. John street, West Smithfield,— cock founder, for improvements in water-closets.-Sealed 27th May-6 months for inrolment.

Joseph Bettridge, of Birmingham, wood turner, for an improved method of manufacturing papier maché, pearl, china, ivory, horn, wood, and composition, into pillars and stands for table and other lamps, and other articles of domestic furniture.-Sealed 27th May-6 months for inrol

ment.

James Shanks, of St. Helens, Lancashire, chemist, for improvements in the manufacture of carbonate of soda.-Sealed 27th May-6 months for inrolment.

THE

London

JOURNAL AND REPERTORY

OF

Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures.

CONJOINED SERIES.

No. CXV.

Recent Patents.

TO CHARLES WYE WILLIAMS, of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, gent., for certain improvements in the construction of furnaces and boilers.-[Sealed 17th November 1840.]

THIS invention consists, firstly, in a novel and peculiar mode, by which heat may be transmitted with increased rapidity, and in large quantities, through the plates of which boilers, stills, or refrigerators are constructed; and secondly, in the adoption of such mechanical arrangements as will perform the operation of charging furnaces with fuel more uniformly than is practicable by manual labour, and by which the formation of clinkers is prevented.

The objects of the first part of this invention, being to transmit heat with the greatest rapidity and in the largest quantity, to or from water, or other liquids, to be heated,

VOL. XVIII.

2 P

evaporated, or cooled, is effected by inserting into the plates, of which boilers, stills, pans, or refrigerators are formed, or the flues, tubes, or pipes, belonging to the same, a number of metallic pins or conductors, through, and by means of which, heat may be conducted in much greater quantities than is practicable where the action of such heat, or the heated products of combustion, are confined to the surfaces of such plates or tubes.

These metallic conductors may be made of iron, copper, brass, or other metal, and of such length and thickness, and distances apart, as the nature of the plates in which they are inserted, and of the liquid to be heated or cooled, may render advisable. In iron-plate boilers, for the generation of steam, these conductors may be from four to six inches long, and from one-half to three-quarters of an inch thick, and placed about two to three inches apart. The portion of such conductors, which projects into the flue to receive the heat, being about two-thirds of the length, and that which projects into the water, to give out the heat so transmitted, being about one-third.

In the case of locomotive engines, these conductors should be more numerous, and about one-quarter of an inch in thickness, and of proportionate length, and made of copper or brass, as those metals have a high conducting power; but it may be desirable to vary the proportions here mentioned, according to the nature and thickness of the material through which the heat is to be transmitted, or the liquid or vapour to be heated or cooled.

This mode of conducting heat by conduction, longitudinally through metallic pins or bars, is applicable to all operations in which a heating, cooling, or condensing process is required, as in the case of refrigerators or condensers for vapours or gases; or of evaporative pans, or in any of the operations of distillation; or boiling in close or

open vessels.

The various modes, however, of applying those conductors, are sufficiently obvious not to require enumeration.

Where the fluid or vapour, to be acted on, is likely to adhere to the conductors, they may be plated, tinned, or coated with other metal not subject to corrosion, incrustation, or oxidation. These conductors may be fixed in the plates or tubes, in the nature of screws or rivets, or driven into drilled or punched holes, or by any of the other wellknown means. Where, however, the liquid is to be evaporated to dryness, or to the state of crystallized saline or earthy matter, as in the evaporation of alkaline compounds; or where the projection of the conductors might interfere with the process of mixing or agitating the liquids to be evaporated, in such cases, any projection of the conductors inwards, is avoided.

Where the evaporative pan or boiler is made of cast-iron, these conductors may be of the same material, and cast solid with it.

The second part of the invention consists in so constructing the bars of a furnace, and giving them a peculiar longitudinal and alternating motion, that the fuel may be urged forward into the body of the furnace. These bars being made to project beyond the body of the furnace, receive the fuel as it descends from a hopper; while, by the motion described, a uniform supply is given; and, consequently, a uniform quantity of combustible gaseous matter is evolved from such fuel. The following will describe some of the modes by which the above purposes are effected:

Plate XV., fig. 1, represents a section of a land-engine boiler, shewing one of the modes of inserting the metallic conductors. a, a, represent the conductors; the larger portions of which project into the flue to receive the heat, and the shorter portions into the fluid, to give it out. For