IMPROVEMENTS IN LAMPS-STEAM-ENGINES. 499 the apparatus for drying grain, which, owing to the heavy movements of the grain crops of the West, has been in great demand; also, the devices for cooking and heating by gas, and the still more recent contrivances for supplying Petroleum and its products as generators of light and heat for domestic purposes, and numerous improvements in apparatus for burning gas, kerosene, patent burning fluid, and the various liquid hydrocarbons. The influence exerted upon the latter class of inventions by the introduction of Petroleum, is seen in the fact that from March 1, 1862, to December 30, 1863, the number of applications for patents for Lamps specially designed for burning it, numbered six hundred and twenty-three, while in the three years previous to March, 1861, the number was only one hundred and ninetythree. The machinery for breaking, washing, screening, and otherwise preparing coal for market was also much improved in the same time. VII. The great activity of every form of productive industry, of travel and transportation in this country, has stimulated improvements in the construction of Boilers, and Steam and Gas and Air Engines, and other appendages, whether for stationary, locomotive, or marine use. The higher cost of coal in the United States has led to modifications of steam boilers, whereby they have been rendered, if not more durable, at least more economical of fuel than English boilers. By an improvement in 1855, a further saving of fuel was made by the consumption of the combustible gases, commonly called smoke. Many of these improvements have been made within the last ten or fifteen years, as well as the introduction of spring gauges, for determining the pressure of steam in locomotive and other boilers; and of upward of forty dif ferent kinds of these in use, all but two or three, which have also been improved here, are of American invention. Among the principal improvers in the Steam-engine and its appurtenances, since 1850, may be mentioned the following: John Ericsson, of New York, O. M. Stillman, of Connecticut, S. Wilcox, Jr., of Rhode Island, Philander Shaw & S. H. Roper, of Boston, and others, in Caloric engines; J. C. F. Salomon, Cincinnati, Carbonic Acid and Gas engines; William Mt. Storm, of Troy, New York, Compressed Air or Gas engine; Loper & Nystrom, of Philadelphia, W. Kennish, Jr., of New York, and others, in Marine engines; M. W. Baldwin, of Philadelphia, Ross Winans, Baltimore, and others, in Locomotives; Jacob Perkins, London, Joseph Harrison, Jr., of Philadelphia, and George H. Corliss, of Rhode Island, and others, in Boilers; R. Montgomery, New York (Corrugated) and other Boilers; Horatio Allen, D. G. Wells, F. E. Sickles, New York, Cut-off Valves; Edward Ashcroft, Boston, Pressure Gauges; G. Weissenborn, New York, Filtering Apparatus to prevent boiler explosions, and expedients for the 500 IMPORTANT INVENTIONS FROM 1850 To 1860. same purpose by Joseph Harrison, Jr., Norman Wiard, of New York, and others; William Baxter, Newark, N. J., Hydro Steam-engine; Paul Stillman, New York, Gas engine; Joseph Echols, Georgia, Water Gauges; Professor M. Vergnes, of New York, Electro Magnetic engines. The Steam Pump or Fire engine is also an American invention of the same period, although it was attempted many years ago by Mr. Ericsson, who designed the Braithwaite engine now used in England. It was first successfully introduced at Cincinnati, in 1852, the constructors being A. & B. Latta, and the engineer, Miles Greenwood, of that city, where the first paid fire department was organized, the same year, through the exertions of the latter gentleman. The Steam Fire Engine has been since improved by Neafie & Levy, of Philadelphia, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Co., of New Hampshire, and others. VIII. In the manufacture of Leather and its ultimate products, which are interests of great magnitude in the United States, several valuable improvements have been made within the last fifteen years. Several of these relate to methods of extracting the tannin from bark, and to other processes and appliances for quick tanning. Among these more expeditious modes may be mentioned the systems of L. C. England, of Williamsburg and Oswego, N. Y., embracing both handling and liquor making apparatus, patented in 1847, 1850, 1855, 1858, and 1859; the tanning process of Professor A. K. Eaton, of Rochester, N. Y., patented 1852, and involving use of sulphate of potash with the tanning liquids; that of Roswell Enos, of Woodstock, Ill., in 1854, and of Otis B. Wattles, of Waddington, N. Y., in 1855, for tanning compounds; the method of Abraham Steers, of Medina, N. Y., in 1856, for the manufacture of leather and extracts of bark, whereby it was claimed that sole leather could be perfectly tanned in four days, with a great saving of material; the patents of Samuel W. Pingree, of Methuen, Mass., and of E. A. Eliason, of Georgetown, D. C., in the same year, and that of H. G. Johnson, of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1858, have each attracted considerable attention. The latest invention of this kind, and one that gives promise of revolutionizing the leather manufacture, by reason of its great expedition and economy of capital and of material, is that of William H. Towers, of Boston, for which a patent was obtained in December, 1865. By this process, it is said, sheep and goat skins can be tanned in thirty minutes, calf skins in five days, and the heaviest sole leather in thirty days, while the product is deemed superior to that made by other methods. Many improvements have also been patented in bark mills, in leather rolling, splitting, skinning, and cutting machines, in shoe pegs, heels, tips, etc., and in machinery for sewing, pegging, crimping, etc. Among IMPROVEMENTS IN LEATHER MAKING. 501 these may be named Beardsley's Patent Bark Mill, Safford's Rolling and Splitting Machines, and Safford's and Chase's Skiving Machines; Stratton's, Hill's, Knox & Ditchburn's Sole Pressing and Cutting Machines; Baldwin's, Stewart's, and other Shoe Pegs; Bates', McKay's, and other Stitching Machines, and Gallahues', Greenough's, Sturtevant's, Vittum's, and other Pegging Machines; Mitchell's Patent Metallic Tips; Dinsmore's Metallic Heels, and those of W. Hunt, S. Oliver, and others; Lewis's Patent Boot Trees; various improvements in Lasts; McClallan's Wooden Sole Boots and Shoes and Brogans. IX. In the class of Household Furniture and Domestic Implements, the new articles and the improvements upon old ones patented, are too numerous to be specified, embracing every description of machine, utensil, and contrivance which could add to domestic comfort and economy. In this wide range of invention were embraced the more important articles of furniture, such as spring sofas, and other beds and bedsteads, refrigerators, washing and wringing machines, etc., in which many improvements have been made, and also such articles as cans and jars for preserving fruits, with the methods of sealing and opening them; brooms and brushes, carpet fasteners, stretchers and sweepers, clothes dryers and clamps, window'shades and fixtures. X. In the department of the Polite, Fine, and Ornamental Arts, the improvements patented in the last few years, though valuable in the aggregate, present few remarkable features. Considerable progress was made in Photography, Engraving, the founding, setting, and distributing of Type, Color printing, Bookbinding, and in Musical Instruments and notations, etc. Modifications and improvements of Hand, Power, Lithographic, and other Printing-presses were patented by several old improvers, as Danforth, Adams, Hoe, and others more recent, as Jeptha A. Wilkinson, Moses S. Beach, S. P. Ruggles, Jedediah Morse, W. H. Mitchell, F. O. Degener, G. P. Gordon, F. L. Bailey, and William Bullock, assignor to George W. Taylor, of Newark, N. J. The Automatic Paper Feeder and Power-press of the last mentioned, patented in 1858, and since improved, gives promise of becoming one of the most effective machines in use. It occupies far less space than the ordinary rotary press, and prints on both sides of a continuous sheet, fed by machinery, and cuts off and piles in regular heaps, without manual aid, newspaper sheets the size of the Philadelphia Inquirer, at the rate of eighteen thousand to twenty thou sand single impressions hourly, requiring the aid of only one pressman and two assistants. Type-setting, or composing and distributing machines, single or |