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288 THE GLASGOW MECHANICS' MAGAZINE.

of his passions, pourtrayed in the most glowing colours of his rich and exalted genius. Such works will ever instruct and charm, when the present age of drivelling has passed away. We would recommend this edition of the histories alluded to,* as the cheapest and best that ever was published; it is enriched with the most exquisite wood engravings we have yet seen, illustrative of the various characters and noble actions that adorn the pages of the work. The questions upon history are selected and arranged in a manner admirably well calculated to draw the attention of the young reader to the most important facts, and the references to the pages and columns of this edition for the answers, are the most complete that could be imagined. We shall select only two examples :

"814. When and where did Magna Charta receive the royal signature?-Page 238, col. 2, par. 3. "A conference between the king and the barons was appointed at Runnemede, between Windsor and Staines; a place which has ever since been extremely celebrated, on account of this great event. The two parties encamped apart, like open enemies; and, after a debate of a few days, the king, (John) with a facility somewhat suspi cious, signed and sealed the charter which was required of him (June 19, 1215.) This famous deed, commonly called the Great Charter, either granted, or secured very important liberties and privileges to every order of men in the kingdom; to the clergy, to the barons, and to the people."

"816. Enumerate the chief clauses of Magna Charta.-Page 239, col. 2, par. 2.

"It was ordained, that all the privileges and immunities granted to the barons against the king, should be extended by the barons to their inferior vassals. The king bound himself not to grant any

• Dolby's Universal Histories.

writ, empowering a baron to levy aid from his vassals, except in three feudal cases. One weight and one measure shall be established throughout the kingdom. Merchants shall be allowed to transact all business, without being exposed to any arbitrary tolls and impositions; they and all freemen shall be allowed to go out of the kingdom and return to it at pleasure; London, and all cities and burghs, shall preserve their ancient liberties, immunities, and free customs; aids shall not be required of them but by the consent of the great council; no towns or individuals shall be obliged to make or support bridges but by ancient custom; the goods of every freeman shall be disposed of according to his will; if he die intestate, his heirs shall succeed to them. No officer of the crown shall take any horses, carts, or wood, without the consent of the owner. The king's court of justice shall be stationary, and shall no longer follow his person: they shall be open to every one; and justice shall no longer be sold, refused, or delayed by them. Circuits shall be regularly held every year; the inferior tribunals of justice, the county court, sheriff's turn, and court-leet, shall meet at their appointed time and place; the sheriffs shall be incapacitated to hold pleas of the crown; and shall not put any person upon his trial from rumour or suspicion alone, but upon the evidence of lawful witnesses. No freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or dispossessed of his free tenement and liberties, or outlawed, or banished, or anywise hurt or injured, unless by the legal judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land; and all who suffered otherwise in this, or the two former reigns, shall be restored to their rights and possessions. Every freeman shall be fined in proportion to his fault; and no fine shall be levied on him to his utter ruin; even a villain, or rustic, shall not, by any fine, be bereaved of his carts, ploughs, and implements of husbandry. This was the only article calculated for the interests of this body of men, probably at that time the most numerous in the kingdom."

Aberdeen Mechanics' Institution. The Aberdeen Mechanics' Institution has at length been set a-going. Intelligent Lecturers have been appointed, and on Monday week they commenced operations by delivering their Introductory Lecture. The Hall is both elegant and commodious, and every way well adapted for the purpose. Upwards of 500 students have already joined this Institution. So much for the march of science!

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We request our Correspondent C. or T. G. Paisley, to adopt always the same signature, to prevent confusion; his last communication is very ingenious, but we must revise it; we wish he would bestow more attention on his composition, &c.-U. S. C. and B. T. cannot be inserted, as their communications are now of no importance.-" One of the Cyclops" is informed, that W. T. is as little known to us as he is, and therefore he must in future be sure of the value of his communication before he again puts us to the same expense." Joachim and Boaz" is too long and indistinct.-Y. is partly superseded.-I. D. C., J. F., C, J. H., J. P., M. W., and a Student of Chemistry, under consideration.R. B. must send his solution.-M. A., C., J. P., and D. B., will be inserted next week.-W. C., Paisley, has not been forgotten; we shall notice his communications in our next.

Published every Saturday, by W. R. M'PHUN, 155, Trongate, Glasgow, to whom Communications (post paid) must be addressed.

J. CURLL, PRINTER.

MECHANICS' MAGAZINE.

No. XIX.

"Favoured of God, here Newton saw
Errors obscuring nature's law;

He saw, and cleared the gloomy way,
And showed mankind eternal day;

He showed, and worlds beheld with joy,

Labours which distant time, nor envy shall destroy."-Schomberg.

Saturday, 8th May, 1824.

Price 3d.

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MR. BUCHANAN'S PATENT CARDING MACHINERY.

SPECIFICATION by ARCHD. BUCHANAN, Esq. of Catrine Cotton Works, one of the Partners of the House of James Finlay & Co. Merchants in Glasgow, relative to his Patent for an improvement in Machinery, heretofore employed in Spinning-mills in the Carding of Cotton and other Wool, whereby the Top Cards are regularly stripped and kept clean by the machinery, without the agency of hand-labour.

NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I the said Archibald Buchanan, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said invention, and the manner in which the same may be performed. And in order that it may be clearly understood, I have represented on the drawings hereunto attached, and shall, in the first place, describe the construction of a machine, or engine, employed in spinning-mills, in the carding of cotton and other wool, which is not new, and for which I do not claim any right, title, or privilege; and I shall then describe the improvement which I have invented on the same, and which I declare to consist in a combination of the several parts of machinery, or materials hereinafter specified, as applied to machinery, heretofore employed in spinningmills in the carding of cotton and other wool, whereby the top cards are regularly stripped and kept clean by the operation of the machinery, without the agency of hand-labour. It may be necessary, however, to state, that though I do not claim any part of the materials or construction of the engine which I first describe as new, this engine differs in its struction in various respects from the carding engines presently in use by the public; and that though my improvement is adapted to carding engines of every construction, I consider the one which I am now

con

to describe, as best fitted for its application.

The various parts of this engine are distinguished on all the drawings and figures to which I refer, by the same alphabetical letters, and the references which follow, are to be found in fig. 1. Profile elevation right hand. The framing of cast iron is at A A A, &c. aa are the fast and loose pullies upon the end of the back shaft b, which receive motion from the mill-work by a belt or strap, and set the carding engine in motion, or at rest as required. b, is the back shaft, which gives motion to all the other parts of the carding engine on both sides. Its velocity is about eighty-five revolutions per minute, and from which the respective velocities of all the other parts may be calculated by the usual rules of mechanical computation. cc, are two bevel wheels, equal in their diameters and numbers of teeth, which give motion to the side shaft d. dd, the side shaft, which gives motion both to the feeding rollers J, and to the delivering rollers W. e e, bearers with bushes in which the side shaft d revolves. f, coupling box upon the side shaft, dd, which, for convenience, is constructed in two pieces. g, endless screw, worm, or spiral, upon the side shaft d, which moves the feeding rollers J. h, roll-web, or fleece of cotton, as brought from the picking machine, and which is to be carded. III, small iron shafts covered with wood, and turned to about three inches diameter, upon which the roll, or web of cotton rests. Upon the first of these are placed four straps to convey the roll, web, or fleece, to the feeding rollers J.

These straps are returned over another roller of the same diameter.

(See also fig. 2.)* JJJJ, are the feeding rollers. K, is a flanche of wood to keep the cotton roll, web, or fleece in its proper place, and to prevent it from diverging laterally upon either side. 71, are stud wheels to convey motion from the feeding rollers J, to the three rollers i ii, which give motion to the cotton at U m, is a screw wheel fixed upon the end of the feeding rollers J. nop, are the lever, chain, and weight, which keep down the top, or upper feeding rollers. (See also K, after referred to.) qq, the axis and circumference of the main cylinder, which is about 42 inches diameter. Upon this cylindrical circumference, sheet cards are fixed, which, in revolving, carry the cotton from the feeding rollers under the top cards, No. 1, to 20, inclusive, and deliver it upon the front, or doffing cylinder y. yy, the axis yy, the axis and circumference of the doffing cylinder, which is about 12 inches diameter upon its circumference, fillet or spiral cards are fixed to receive the cotton from the main cylinder q. sss, are the comb, its arms, and the balance weights of the taker-off, vibrating upon its centre at t. uu, are the pinching screws which regulate the action of the two cylinders upon each other at the point of contact. One screw is right-handed, and the other lefthanded, for facility of setting the cylinders properly. V V, the pinion and wheel which communicate motion from the side shaft d, to the delivering rollers W W. WW, the delivering shaft and top roller. X, the pulley upon the delivering shaft, and which gives motion to the doffing cylinder Y, by the band and pulley also marked Y. Ꮓ Ꮓ Ꮓ, is a piece of curved sheet iron, hinged

This figure, which is another view of the machine, will be given in our next Number.

to a strap of cast iron, stretching across the framing, in front of the top card, No. 1, which serves as a guard to prevent any substance from falling between the cylinders and injuring the cards.

The references which follow are to fig. 2. Left-hand elevation. B, is a pulley of 12 inches diameter, giving motion to the large cylinder q, by means of the belt c c. D, the pulley on the large cylinder, which receives the motion communicated by the belt c c. E, another pulley attached to the arms of the pulley D, for driving the crank which moves the comb. F, pulley upon the crank shaft, which receives the motion from E, by means of the belt, L L. G G, bevel wheels of equal numbers of teeth, which convey motion from the delivering shaft ww, to the conducting rollers H H. I, the cann which receives the carded cotton sliver, when conducted between the delivering rollers H H, to the left-hand side of the machine. K, a pulley loose upon its axis for conducting the chain of the weight P, which keeps down the upper feeding rollers. (See nop, before referred to.) TT T, No. 1, to 20, inclusive, are the top cards, each of which turns upon hinges to admit of its being freely and quickly turned over, so that the side upon which the card is fixed, may be exposed to the operation of the machinery, to be after described, whereby they are "regularly stripped and kept clean," and also to allow them to be returned into their working positions after being so stripped and cleaned.

Having thus described the construction of an engine, or machine, for carding cotton and other wool, at present in use by myself, and which I consider best adapted for the application of my invention; but for which I do not claim any right of Patent; I now proceed to describe my said improvement, and to

exhibit the application of the same to the said engine, for the purpose of more distinctly illustrating its application to carding machinery of every construction. And, whereas, the separate parts of the machinery, or materials after specified, are not new, therefore I claim no right, title, or privilege, to any part thereof, as my invention, but to a combination of the whole, as applied in manner after described, to machin

ery heretofore employed in spinningmills, in the carding of cotton and other wool, whereby the top cards are regularly stripped and kept clean by the operation of the machinery, without the agency of hand-labour, and which combination so applied, is, to the best of my knowledge entirely new, and has never been before used in these kingdoms.

(To be continued.)

ON A NEW AND IMPOVED PROCESS FOR SINGEING

MUSLINS.

SIR, I had an opportunity, the other day, of seeing a process for singeing muslins with the flame from the coal gas, which is so plentifully distributed through our enlightened city, and I have no hesitation in saying that it possesses considerable advantages over the common method by the heated cylinder. It is simply this: The gas is conveyed into a pipe whose length is rather greater than the breadth of the muslin, say five feet; the diameter is 14 inches, and it is pierced full of small holes of nearly the same size as those of the single jets of the Glasgow Gas Company. The pipe is fixed in a frame, and there is attached to the frame an apparatus of the same kind as that used on the old plan, viz. rollers and guiding rods.

The cloth is passed over the flame of the gas at the distance of about an inch and a half; (this distance must, however, be regulated by the quality of the cloth;) the flame, being about four inches high, is pressed down by the cloth, so

near the pipe, that it spreads along in a sheet, and passes up through the body of the cloth, consuming the fibres of the cloth both externally and internally.

The superiority of the new plan over the old, consists in this, that the fibres in the body of the cloth, as well as on the external surface, are consumed; whereas, on the old plan, the external fibres only could be consumed. How far this advantage operates in favour of the goods, when brought to market, the manufacturer is sufficiently aware, without my enlarging upon it any farther.

I am not aware of a patent having been taken out for this new process, although the person who has adopted it, hints, in a mysterious manner, of such a bugbear being in his possession. Perhaps you, Sir, or some of your Correspondents, will be able to inform me whether or not a patent has been taken out for this process.

I am, Sir, your's, &c.

N. P.

ON THE EXPANSION OF METALS. SIR, To answer D. L. M.'s queries satisfactorily, would require

a series of experiments, and I am sorry that at present I have no pro

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