20 TO BOIL WATER IN WOODEN VESSELS-STEAM-PIPE JOINTS. TO BOIL WATER IN WOODEN VESSELS. SIR,-I send you a drawing of an apparatus for boiling water in a wooden vessel, which I erected for a gentleman in a country where fuel is scarce and dear. It answered all the purposes desired, and is attended with both economy and cleanliness. The figure represents four old musket barrels (the breech-screws being out, and the touch-holes plugged), connected together by a leaden pipe, as in the dark part of the drawing. These constitute the bottom of the fire-place, or might be converted to form the front bars of the grate, or made to serve both purposes. They are to be set in stone or brick, so as to keep the lead from the action of the fire, and at a proper height from the ground to leave space for an ash-hole. A leaden pipe is to be joined to each end, EF, and the two are to be inserted in a wooden vessel containing water, the lid of which is to be steam-tight. Care must be taken that the pipes do not enter the water-vessel at equal heights; one should be near the top, and the other the bottom of the water, by which arrangement the heavier cold water enters the lower orifice, E, fills the pipes under the fire, and issues, in an attenuated boiling state, into the water-vessel through the upper orifice, F. The barrel or water-vessel may be in an adjoining room, out of sight, and the water heated by the parlour fire, without any inconvenience. This mode of heating water is peculiarly adapted for families and invalids who are in the habit of using the warm bath, which is by these means always at hand, and ready, in case of emergency, all hours of the day and night. It is surprising the little fuel necessary to keep the water hot, after it has been heated. In the morning it was painful to the hand, and kept so by only the wood embers and ashes with which the barrels were surrounded all night. The expense is trifling: for washing, the saving of fuel is considerable; and the wear and tear is almost nothing; neither is there any danger to be apprehended from the apparatus. I strongly recommend it to private families, and will show in my next how to steam-wash clothes by means of it. I am, Sir, Very respectfully yours, &c IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM-PIPE JOINTS. It SIR, The above is what I consiSteam Pipes, which I believe to be der an improvement in the Joints of new, never having seen it in use. consists of having the flanch of one of the pipes made with a rim about half an inch broad, and an inch thick, and the flanch of the other pipe made to fit within this rim, as in the engraving. Now, the advantages of this improvement are, that the gaskins cannot slip out of their place while the pipes are being screwed together; and that after they are screwed home, the seam round the rim can be caulked with hemp and white lead, which will render leakage impossible. Should you think this worthy a corner in your valuable miscellany, your insertion of it will much oblige, Yours truly, R. FARLEY, SIR,-Having come from Yorkshire to spend this season of festivity among my friends in town, I have been somewhat surprised to find, that where I expected to observe every thing depending on the skill of man in a state of the highest perfection, many things which seem to call for but little of that skill, and are yet objects of the first necessity, are no better than elsewhere-nay, not half so good. I would particularly instance the exceeding impurity of the water with which the knowing folks of the metropolis are in general supplied. I have nearly gone the round of my town cousins, and, strange to say, have not been able to obtain from one of them a glass of water fit to drink. Need I descant, Sir, on the importance to the health of having this indispensable article of life of as salubrious a quality as possible, or on the many diseases and infirmities which must be engendered, where it contains, as in London, such an abundant admixture of mud, insects, and other impurities? I should suppose, Sir, that it could be no difficult matter to remedy this grievance, especially now-a-days, that men of science and philosophy are condescending to bestir themselves a little about the affairs of ordinary life; and to you, as one somewhat distinguished in this way, I take the liberty to address myself on the subject, in the hope that you will either yourself point out, or, by submitting the matter to your numerous scientific readers, induce some of them to show how the good people of London may cease from drinking such aqueous abominations, and be able (when next he visits them) to give a glass of pure water to A YORKSHIRE Grazier. The impurity to which our Correspondent directs our attention, is undoubtedly one of very serious moment, and felt (we believe) very generally throughout the metropolis. In the district where we reside (Christ Church, Surrey), it is a subject of as much complaint, perhaps, as any where. The water, as supplied from the (Lambeth) water-works is so grossly impure, that (in the absence of filtering) it can only be safely used in food or drink after it has been boiled, recooled, and allowed to settle for some time-a process which is not only attended with considerable trouble, but which necessarily deteriorates the quality of the water. A 1 1 22 IMPROVED FILTERING APPARATUS. Correspondent (Mr. James Lewis) in our 21st Number (p. 325, vol. 1.), and who resides in the same neighbourhood, having described a filtering apparatus (made with two flowerpots), by which he had succeeded in obtaining water "beautifully clear," a friend was induced to make a trial of one of that description, and found that, in all but the inconsiderable quantity which it was calculated to supply, it answered well. The following is a description of a somewhat similar method of filtering, which we have ourselves adopted. We procured a cask, somewhat less than a porter hogshead, but of a different shape, in order to give the better effect to the filtering process, being 40 inches deep on end, and 20 inches in diameter at the top and bottom. We then had a second or false bottom made, and perforated by a threequarter inch gouge with about 18 holes; this we grooved into the cask about four inches above the undermost or real bottom, and covered it over with four plies of coarse flannel. Our next business was to procure a quantity of coarse fresh water sand (for in a trial which our friend made with the flower-pots, he found that small or sea sand would not answer the purpose), and with this we filled the cask to the height of 20 inches from the false bottom, beating it hard down as it was put in. Above the sand we inserted another false bottom, perforated like the former, but not grooved into the cask; and over that again, two plies of flannel. We then added layers of sand and pounded charcoal alternately, for the height of ten inches more, and above these placed a lid, perforated and covered with flannel, like the two false bottoms. The six inches of the cask which were now left unoccupied, we appropriated to the water to be filtered; a space equal to the reception of from eight to ten gallons. On making an experiment with the filter we had the constructed, we found that the water, however impure when first put in, came out as clear and sparkling as crystal; and finding, on a continued trial, that we can procure in this way more than twenty gallons of such water every twelve hours, we rested at first well satisfied with the degree of benefit we had realized. On farther reflection, however, we are convinced that the water might be produced of even greater purity, were it made to percolate upwards instead of downwards (as partly suggested by our Correspondent, Mr. Lewis); we intend, therefore, to have our apparatus altered to one of the improved description represented in the prefixed sketch. Description. No. 1 is a cask, 40 inches deep by 20 in diameter, to be filled with water from a cistern, W. No. 2, another cask of the same capacity, to contain the filter. B, the first false bottom, perforated and covered with flannel. D, the height to which the cask (No. 2) should be filled with sand, and at which the second false bottom should be inserted. E, the lid, between which and D equal quantities of sand and charcoal are to be interposed. C, communicating cock between the two barrels. A, a cock to discharge the pure filtered water, F, a vessel to receive the water. G, the false bottom, to be grooved into the cask, No. 2. H, a ball-cock, to regulate the filling of the cask, No. 1. An apparatus of the kind we have described, must obviously have great advantages over any filter than can be made of stone. By removing the upper lid, E, whatever refuse may gather on the top can be skimmed off occasionally. New layers of sand, and charcoal too, can be introduced with great ease, so that the apparatus can, with very little trouble, be kept at all times tolerably efficient action, and may, at a little expense, be renovated entirely, whenever that is found necessary. All the stone filters, on the contrary, that we have ever seen, get rapidly clogged with the earthy deposits from the water, and if not frequently cleaned out, soon cease running altogether. It is deserving of remark, that when the water is suffered to stand in MOVEABLE BALL-CLOCK-SAVING LIVES FROM SHIPWRECK. the filter for any considerable time, it is apt to acquire a rank taste. It should be drawn off regularly at short intervals, or, what is better, kept constantly running. SIR WILLIAM CONGREVE'S MOVE ABLE BALL-CLOCK. The cognoscenti in elegant mechanism have long been in the habit of admiring a beautiful timepiece, which bears Sir William Congreve's name, in which the minutes are indicated by the descent of a brass ball along a number of inclined planes, running alternately from right to left, and left to right, on the face of an inclined brass plate. When the ball reaches the bottom of the plate, after having described the last of the inclined planes, it releases å detent, which tilts the brass plate, and inclines it in the opposite direction. The ball being now at the top of the system of inclined planes, commences its retrograde motion, and when it again reaches the bottom, the plate is again tilted at the opposite position. This clock was invented (as Dr. Brewster states, in his last Quarterly Journal of Science) by M. Serviere, and is minutely described, in various forms, in a French work entitled, "Recueil d'Ouvrages Curieux, &c. Lyons, 1719." In all those clocks, however, the ball is carried up, by machinery, from the bottom to the top of the inclined plane, whereas, in Sir William Congreve's, the plane is moveable, as above described, which is a very important improve ment. PLANS FOR SAVING LIVES FROM SIR,-Seeing the description of Mr. Bell's Invention for saving Lives from Shipwreck, published in the 68th Number of the Mechanics' Magazine, and knowing how necessary it is that some general plan should be adopted for giving this valuable invention its full effect, I am induced to request your insertion of the fol 1 23 lowing scheme, adapted to the mortar plan, for the purpose of bringing the crews of stranded vessels on shore, after the rope of communication has been thrown over the wreck. The rope thrown from the mortar should not be less than two-inch, which one of Bell's mortars, having its chamber bored to contain twenty ounces of powder, would throw from 250 to 300 yards. The moment this is received on board, the crew should reeve the end through a tail-block, and haul off as much as will be sufficient for the end and bight to go on shore again, in which they may be guided by a seizing or stop, seized on by the people on shore for that purpose; when this stop reaches the block, the end is to be secured to it, a single whip-purchase will be formed, and both parts being hauled on shore, by which the people on shore may haul off whatever the situation of the wreck may render most advisable for bringing the crew on shore.* If time and the circumstances of the case will admit, the end of a three and a half or four inch hawser should next be hauled off: this the block, which should be either at the crew must secure just above the tailmast-head, bowsprit-end, or most elevated part of the hull, as the master may deem most advisable, in which he will be guided by the state of the mast, bowsprit, &c. always remembering that the higher it can heads, with safety, the better. This be placed, under the lower masthawser is to be rove through a single block, strapped, with two grommets under it, just long enough for a man to sit in each, holding on below the block. When the end of the hawser is fast on board, this block is to be hauled off by one part of the whip, * Various machines have been invented for the purpose of bringing people on shore from stranded vessels, some of which it is my intention to describe in a future communication to your valuable Magazine, which I hope will be the means of making them known in every sea-port of the empire, and stimulate others to improve upon them. 24 PLANS FOR SAVING LIVES FROM SHIPWRECK. and two men may get into the grommets, and be hauled on shore by the other part; the block, &c. being thus hauled to and fro, as often as it may be necessary to bring the whole crew on shore. At all stations having a flat beach, a strong triangle should accompany the apparatus, for the purpose of raising the hawser on shore, with a snatch-block for it to traverse in; and the in-shore end of the hawser, being previously rove through the ring of a small anchor, must be kept in hand, so as to ease it occasionally to the motion of the vessel, and to keep the crew as much out of the water as possible in their passage from the wreck. The above plan is represented by the following figure. C Description. A represents the mast-head, or any part to which the hawser, &c. are screwed.. whip or hauling-line is rove. B, the tail-block, through which the CC, the two parts of the whip. E, the block and grommets, or traveller. F, the triangle, with snatch-block. G, the anchor, through the ring of which the hawser is rove. This plan is not given as original, nor is it merely theoretical; it has been partially practised with success under some of the most trying circumstances of shipwreck; and a descriptive plate, very similar, though not adapted to the mortar, may be seen in the Naval Chronicle for January, 1800. The following simple plan was lately invented by a Naval Officer, for the purpose of gaining a communication from the wreck to the shore, where it may be impracticable from the shore to the wreck.* Let two small casks be connected by a spar going through one head of each, having its ends secured to the inner centres of the other heads, and leaving a distance between the casks of rather more than the length of one of them. The spar will then represent an axle, and the casks two wheels firmly fixed to it, and made water-tight. Upon this axle a line is to be reeled, in the manner of a log-line, and when thrown overboard, with one end of the line fast to the ship, the power of the wind and sea will keep the casks in continual revolution, until the buoy reaches the shore; and it will be found that, as the line unreels only as the casks revolve, there will be little danger of the bight getting far into the underdraught. This might be entirely prevented by making the line buoyant.† |