and which I desire to secure by letters patent, is the within described manners, or modes, of mounting the loom, and tying up the harness, and of working the same, in which, under its various modifications, I combine a movable harness board, or boards, with one or more leaves of heddles or harness, and with the Jacquard machine in the power loom; such arrangement and combination being substantially the same with that herein described."

53. For a Machine for Manufacturing from Wood, such as Cedar, Basswood, Poplar,and other straight-grained Wood, a Commodity to be used as a Substitute for Curled Hair, in Stuffing Cushions, &c.; William Baker, Utica, New York, May 30; antedated November 30, 1841.

The patentee says,—“The nature of my invention consists in the construction of a machine by which the wood is cut, lengthwise of the grain, into fine threads, or fibres, which are so curled, and crimped, by the same process, that, when in the mass, they constitute a light and elastic article, suitable to the purposes aforesaid."

Claim." What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by letters patent, is the combination of the fluted cutters with the smooth cutter, for the purposes of producing the article herein described, and their arrangement in the plane stock, as above set forth; together with their adaptation to the uses of the machine, of the apparatus, above described, for holding the timber, and feeding out the same to the plane, as the surface is cut away. The whole being combined and connected with the machine, as herein set forth."

54. For an Improved Tent; James H. Dakin, New Orleans, Louisiana, May 30.

The patentee says, "The nature of my invention consists in the formation and combination of a light frame-work with a small upright shaft, and arins attached to it by means of hinges and cords, rendering the arms movable from a horizontal to a perpendicular position, and the application of such frame-work to any tent where the covering of the tent is made of cloth, or any flexible, or pliable, material, and formed with any number of sides. A tent so formed, may be suspended from above, or supported from below, as the case may be, and folded up, and expanded, in effect somewhat similar to the folding up and expansion of a common umbrella."

Claim. What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by letters patent, is the application of a light movable frame-work to tents, fixed permanently in the roof, or upper part, of the tent, which will allow the tent to be folded up and closed, or unfolded and formed for Occupation and use, at pleasure, as herein described, using, for that purpose, wood, metal, or any other material that will be suitable to accomplish the intended operation and effect."

55. For a Machine for Grinding and Polishing Saw Plates, &c.; Richard M. Hoe, New York, May 30.

Claim." What I claim as new, and desire to secure by letters patent, is the combining with the reciprocating beds, or tables, or with the revolving disk, or face-plate, the cylindrical lap, herein described, which is made to traverse back and forth upon its axis, and which may be borne up, with any required degree of force, against the article to be ground, or polished, in the manner set forth; the face, or periphery, of said cylindrical lap being composed of a number of separate and distinct plates of metal, which are to constitute the grinding and polishing surfaces, and which are to be held in place by a screw, and by being confined between rims, or in other suitable modes, substantially the same; the distinguishing feature of the said lap being the dividing of its periphery into separate plates, and combining the same together, as herein set forth."

56. For an Improved Press, for Pressing Hay, Cotton, &c.; Caleb Martine, Greensburg, New York, May 30.

The patentee says, "This improvement is principally in combining the gearing and piston with a turning post, so that the piston can be raised from the box, and turned aside from it, for the purpose of filling the box."

Claim." What I claim as my invention, and which I desire to secure by letters patent, is the mode of turning aside the piston from the box, to fill the same, and returning the piston and gearing to the box, in order to press the hay, by means of the combination of the turning post and beam with the gearing and cogged piston rod."

57. For an Improved Lamp for Burning Pine Oil; Michael Boyd Dyott, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 30.

Claim. First, I claim the air regulator, substantially as above described. Second, The combination of the two horizontal plates, the one above, and the other below, or even with, the top of the wick, to regulate the interior draught of the lamp, substantially as above set forth. Third, I claim the mode of regulating the light, by raising or lowering the burner and outside regulating cone combined, the centre plate being, at the time, stationary, substantially as above described. Fourth, I claim the mode of constructing a wick tube, its upper end being conical, or enlarged, so as to admit of a feeder being placed under the wick without enlarging it in diameter, substantially as above set forth."

58. For Improvements in Sloves for Culinary and other purposes; Benjamin Shepard, Boston, Massachusetts, May 30.

Claim." Having thus explained my invention, I shall claim surrounding the fire or flue space which encircles the oven, and through which the smoke and heated products of combustion pass from the

fireplace to the chimney, by an exterior casing, so as to form another space around said oven, into which atmospheric air may be introduced, and be warmed by contact with the casing, and from thence be conveyed to one or more apartments by pipes suitably arranged, in combination with a hot air chamber arranged in rear of the fireplace, and below the smoke passage, and open at bottom, for the free admission of air therein; said two hot air spaces, or chambers, being connected together by one or more suitable pipes, and otherwise arranged substantially as herein before set forth.'

MECHANICS, PHYSICS, AND CHEMISTRY.

On Reaction Water Wheels.

TO THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS OF THE JOURNAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE.

On the subject of Barker's wheel, which, with a few exceptions, appears to be the only reaction wheel noticed in the elementary books till recently, I have seen no notice of any variation in the discharge, caused by variations in the velocity of the wheel; from which I infer that the writers regarded them as uniform in their discharge under all velocities.

In practice, however, it has been observed that, when the wheel runs without resistance to its free motion, the orifice moves with a velocity considerably greater than that due to a pressure of the head of water, and that the discharge is greater than the theoretic discharge.

So far as I am informed, no experiments have been recorded, or rules given for determining the ratio of discharge under different velocities of such wheels.

The following rule, I think, will be found to hold good for all wheels of the reaction kind which discharge the water at their verge, and into which it enters without circular motion, or in which a circular motion of the water is caused by the wheel itself-the supply being full:

"To the head of water actually pressing at the orifice, add such a head as will, by its pressure, produce a velocity equal to the circular motion of the orifice; the velocity through the moving orifice will be the same that it would be if stationary, and under the pressure of the sum of the heads: For example:

Suppose such a wheel to have an issue of 36 square inches, under a head of nine feet, and that the orifice move at the rate of 16 feet per second; the discharge will be the same that it would be if the wheel were standing under a head of 13 feet. Consequently such a wheel would, by this theory, discharge, standing, 6 cubic feet per second, and running at that rate, 7-2 cubic feet. And, if the orifices. were suffered to move at the rate of 24 feet per second, the discharge would be the same as if standing under 18 feet head; in which case, the discharge should be 8-48 cubic feet per second.

It is obvious that, in applying this rule in practice, such deductions VOL. XV.-3RD SERIES-No. 1,-JANUARY, 1848.

5

must be made (as in other cases) as may be due to the form of the orifice, the angles in the passages, and the friction on surfaces.

The following experiments were made with a centre discharge reaction wheel of the form and proportions represented in the accompanying sketch. The wheel was 34 inches in diameter at its outer verge; the inner diameter of the annular rim 26 inches. It had 16 issues, (8 by 1.8 in.) 230 square inches. It received the water at the verge, from an involute sluice embracing the whole circumference. The water was conducted to the involute through a large spout; the discharge of which into the involute, 24 in. wide by 14 in. deep, = 336 square inches. The terminus of the involute was within an inch of the verge of the wheel. The circular motion of the water caused by the involute coincided with the motion of the wheel.

Power Expended.

Effect Produced.

1 8-66 1125-570,312·5 608,996 2 8-62 1119-0 69,937.5 602,861

30 143 255,600 411 39 138 312,920 ·518 3 8-61 1119-0 69,937-5 602,861 45 130 351,000 582 48-59 1104-069,000.0 592,711 66 87 344,520 579

Good.

do.

do.

do.

The condition of the works at the time the experiments were made was favorable to the wheel. It had run about two months after being repaired and adjusted, and the proprietor, (Mr. A. Atwood, of Troy, N. Y.,) stated that it was performing as well as it ever had. There was a fault, however, in the construction. The "spout" (so called) conducting the water from the flume had an elbow of nearly a right angle, first descending from the bottom of the flume and then passing horizontally to the involute; the section at the commencement of the horizontal portion being about 16 by 36 576 square inches. The opening into the "spout" from the bottom of the flume was about 30 ches square, with sharp angles. All things considered, I am of the opinion that this method of employing the "pressure" of water, with a good structure, in good condition, is capable of giving about 62 per cent. of available power.

=

A remarkable feature of inward-discharging reaction wheels is found in the smallness of their discharge, and its tendency to uniformity under all velocities of the wheel, obviously arising, in this application, from the outward pressure of the circular motion of the water in the Involute sluice and wheel.

The theoretic discharge of 230 square inches, under a pressure of 8-61 feet, is 2249 cubic feet per minute. The actual discharge is only 498 of this. Had the discharge been outward, through the same aggregate aperture, and with the same circular motion of water, in the portion of the wheel occupied by the vanes, the discharge, (judging from the results of my experiments made in 1844,) would have been -884 of theoretic discharge; and had it been outward, and without circular motion, it would have been about 1.289, at the speed of maximum power.

Philadelphia, November, 1847.

Z. PARKER.