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 construction 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

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. a a 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. 111, 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 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. Z Z Z, 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 cc. 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.)

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 1 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.

per opportunity of making them; I shall therefore only hazard a few remarks, if you think them worthy of insertion, they may perhaps give D. L. M. some new light on the subject.

In the first place, there are very few metals so pure that they do not lose some weight in cooling, after having been heated red-hot, or melted. I am not aware of the degree of heat requisite to produce the maximum expansion of iron, I should, however, consider it far below the temperature of melted metals. Suppose a piece of iron were thrown into a furnace containing metal in a state of fusion, the scorice, or scum, always found on the surface, would counterbalance the difference, in specific gravity, between the melted metal and that thrown into it, until by expansion it acquired the same specific gravity with that in the furnace; which, I am convinced, would take place in a very short time, and when it had attained the same specific gravity it would continue on the surface until it united with the melted mass. It is a well known fact, that there is a repulsion between water and most substances brought into contact with it; for example, take a small sewing needle, make it very dry, and put it gently on the surface of a tumbler full of water; if neatly done, the needle will float, notwithstanding the great difference of specific gravity; and there will be an evident repulsion between the needle and the water. The experiment may be rendered more interesting by magnetizing the needle; it will then act as a mariner's compass, and may attracted from one side of the tumbler to the other, by means of a piece of iron, or steel: it does not, however, move through the water, a portion of the water surrounding the trough, (if I may be

be

allowed the term,) in which the needle lies, moves along with it. Now, the same repulsion will exist between melted and unmelted iron, even in a stronger degree; and, when we take into consideration the barrier interposed betwixt them by the dross and other extraneous matter of very small specific gravity in comparison with iron, always found floating on the surface of metal in a state of fusion, D. L. M. will perceive that the apparent anomaly is not so difficult to reconcile as might appear on a cursory examination.

The subject affords a field for some very interesting experiments, and I regret much that I am not in a situation to try a few of them; they will be rather difficult, I apprehend, as it is very rare to find two pieces of metal of the same specific gravity; a piece cut off one end of a bar, and a piece cut off the opposite extremity, will sometimes differ very considerably. With regard to J. C.'s query respecting steel, I rather think that he is under a mistake. I know that when mixed with a very small portion of iron, it contracts on being cooled. Would J. C. be so good as to specify the proportion of expansion it undergoes in cooling. If it does contract, I should attribute the contraction to the different arrangement of crystallization which takes place in hardening it.

Query.-Upon holding a shell, with spherical evolutions, to the ear, a faint rumbling noise is heard, would some of your Philosophical readers be so obliging as to assign a cause for it? I have formed an opinion on the subject, but should be glad to have another, as two heads are reckoned better than

one.

I am, Sir,

A Constant Reader,

Y.