by my said elevator, and shutting it by the said spring; and also in making it to press the snuff against the inclined side and bottom of the receiver, and also in remaining shut whilst the blades of the snuffers are open. Nor do I claim as new the guard fixed on the moveable blade; but I claim as my improvement thereon the fixing of the same in accordance with my said extinguisher as above described."

Inrolled, December 1821.

The description above quoted, however particular in its details, does not convey to us so clear an idea of the construction as might be wished, and must plead our apology for giving so much of the specification literally. Surely a slight sketch, shewing the forms of the parts and the general appearance of the whole would have been a desirable appendage to the specification, which document is designed to enable a workman to make the article described without the exercise of his own inventive talents.

To SAMUEL WELMAN WRIGHT, of Kennington, for an Improved Combination of Machinery for making Bricks and Tiles.

THIS elaborate piece of mechanism, `consists of a multitude of levers, wheels, &c. mounted upon an iron frame, which may be removed from place to place upon rollers, and dismounted when intended to be put to work; the whole being then supported by four feet, extending from the bottom of the frame. The clay or brick-earth, is to be prepared in as stiff a consistence as possible, and in that state, thrown into hoppers by manual labour. From the

hoppers, the clay descends obliquely into the feeding boxes where it is acted upon by pistons, which force it into moulds or boxes formed to the shape of the intended brick.

The motion of the machinery (which is extremely complicated) may be effected by forming a connection with a steam engine, or by horse power, or otherwise. The power of the first move is communicated to a main axle which passes through the middle of the machine, and, by means of cog wheels, snail wheels, or excentric peripheries, cams, or wheels with projections on their sides, fixed upon the axle, the various levers, pistons, &c. &c. are put in motion. The subject of this invention, we conceive, is not one of sufficiently general interest to warrant us in giving a plate of the machine, which, in the inrolled specification, is exhibited in an extremely large drawing, with many detached figures and parts in detail.

The clay, as above said, falls from the hoppers into the feeding boxes, and there receives the pressure given, by the descending pistons, which are brought down by the force of heavy weights, placed on the tops of the piston rods. By these means, the brick moulds are filled with compressed clay, when a thin plate or cutter of steel is passed over the tops of the moulds, and the upper sides of the bricks formed, by being thus severed from the clay which occupies the feeding boxes above.

Having thus formed the bricks, the cams, by working against horizontal levers, cause the moulds to be slidden on one side; the bricks are then forced out of the moulds by the descent of plungers; when other moulds occupy their former places, and receive the brick earth from the hoppers, which is again acted upon by the pressing pistons as above described. The bricks are now deposited upon an endless webb or bands, and conducted away.

The pistons, brought down, as before described, by weights, are again raised by means of vertical levers, their fulcrums about one third from their centres; the shorter ends of the bows are connected by rods to excentric wheels; and the plungers, which have displaced the bricks from the moulds, are again forced up by springs. The vertical levers of the pistons are supported by an axle resting. upon two standards in the middle of the frame; and the parts are placed so as to produce a double engine discharging the bricks at both ends.

The machine or engine above described, is contrived to make eight bricks at every revolution of the main axle; a greater or less number, however, may be made by a machine of this construction by slight alterations and modifications of the parts. In order to make tiles by these means, it will be necessary to vary the proportions or sizes of the various parts of the moulds according to the size and figures of the tiles to be made.

The patentee, lastly, observes: "I do not mean or intend hereby to claim as my invention, any of the individual parts of which this machine may be composed, but I do hereby claim the improved combination thereof; and particularly the apparatus for feeding and forcing the clay or brick earth into the moulds, either in its natural state, as taken out of the earth, or after being mixed with the usual materials for making bricks and tiles."

Inrolled, May, 1821.

See Hague's patent for pottery ware, bricks and tiles, Vol. II. page 21-also Shaw's patent for making bricks by machinery, Vol. II. page 23.

TO SAMUEL BAGSHAW, of Newcastle under Lyne, Staffordshire, for an Invention of a Method of Forming, and Manufacturing Vases, Urns, Basins, and other ornamental articles, which have been heretofore usually made of stone, or marble, from a combination of materials never heretofore made use of in the manufacture of such articles.

THE method of forming these urns, vases, or other articles in imitation of stone, consists in preparing a shape or nucleus of clay of the desired form, and baking or burning it afterwards in the usual manner of pottery articles; or it may be made of cast or wrought iron, or indeed of any other hard material. This shape or nucleus is then to be coated or incrusted both within and without, with a cement of the plastic nature, capable of being modeled in the same manner as other plaster figures. In this mode, a variety of ornamental articles may be wrought, so nearly resembling stone as not to be easily distinguished from it.

The cement recommended to be employed is that called "Parker's Roman Cement," which may be used either alone or mixed with colours and other ingredients, so as to resemble any particular kinds of stone, at the desire of the manufacturer.

The form of the nucleus or a portion of it, is to be prepared in a rude manner in common clay, by an apparatus, known among potters by the name of the throwing wheel, where the clay intended to form the article is turned round quickly, and moulded both within and without to the desired form by the hands of the workman. The mode of finishing an urn or vase, when made of clay, as described in the specification, is by providing a table, and placing on it an iron plate or tablet,

1

mounted upon a spindle, so as to be capable of turning round horizontally: the spindle is to be carried perpendicularly, and its pivot secured in a bearer above. The nucleus, rudely formed, is to be baked as usual; after which it is placed upon the middle of the revolving plate or tablet above described, with the spindle passing through its axis, in which situation it must be firmly secured.

A board, cut in profile to the form of a section of the vase, is then brought against it, and fixed perpendicularly to one of the upright standards of the frame, between which board and the nucleus a sufficient space must be left to admit of a thick coating of the cement. The tablet or plate, with the vase fixed upon the spindle, is then turned round, while the cement is applied by hand to the vase, and the superfluous cement becomes scraped off, leaving the nucleus coated in the form of the moulding cut in the scraping board: the form of the vase is then completed; it may be removed from the plate by withdrawing the spindle which passed through it while turning.

When the article is of large dimensions, the nucleus may be formed and coated in several parts, and afterwards united together by cement. This apparatus is employed only for the production of such articles as are circular; but eliptical figures may be wrought by similar means, provided that the revolving plate or tablet be constructed as an oval chuck or excentric lathe.

Inrolled, September, 1821.

Original Communications.

To the Editor of the London Journal of Arts, &c.

OUR researches on vegetation are by no means exhausted; on the contrary I am rather disposed to consi