The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-10-19 00:00:00

A poor frame-WA knitter, of Hinckley, nattied Joseph
Hutt, has, after twenty years application and study, com-
pleted a machine, which he calls a " self-moving machine"
or " perpetual motion." He set it in motion on the 26th
August last, since which time it has continued to work
with the greatest regularity. The motions of the machine
are both quick and powerful, and may be greatly in-
creased, and applied to any purpose. It does not require
the aid of steam or any other power to keep it in motion,
having one continual and .regular movement of its own.
Hutt, who is a poor man, is anxious to obtain assistance
to enable him to test still further the value of his inven-
tion.

A VIPER Iv A CARRIAGE.—On Saturday, Miss Ca-
tharine Hayes, daughter of Captain Edgar Hayes, of
Lauder-house, Brompton, accompanied by a female
friend, her brother (in his ninth year), and the governess,
were proceeding in the carriage to a friend in Burlington-
street, when, at the corner of Sloane-street, the young
gentleman, imagining that he saw something moving in
the pocket of the coach, drew his sister's attention to the
subject, placing his hand at the same time within the
pocket, but almost immediately withdrew it, exclaiming
that he had been bitten in the wrist. The governess was
about to order the carriage to be stopped, when a small
viper sprang from the pocket and fastened itself upon the
fur mantle of the friend of Miss Hayes, wounding her
just above the shoulder. The screams of the ladies
brought several persons to their assistance, and a young
man of the name of Brodie, a waiter at an hotel in Bow-
street, seized the viper and destroyed it, the creature mea-
suring seven or eight inches in length. Medical assistance
was procured, and the wounds of the young lady and gen-
tleman dressed, those of the latter being of rather an ex-
tensive character.

How TO CiBT UP CHEAP TEAS.—On Saturday, James
Styles, a marine store dealer, living at No. 8, Milton-
street, Cripplegate, appeared at the Guildhall, London to
answer an information filed by the solicitor of excise, for
unlawfully converting 131 b. of leaves of tea that had been
used in a spurious tea, by means of their being dyed and
dried. There was also another complaint laid out in the
information, for fabricating a certain description of tea,
by mixinc, a peculiar shrub with colouring, &c. James
Jordan, officer of the customs, stated that on the 29th of
June, he went to the defendant's house, and saw his wife,
who said he was not at home. He went into the back
room, where he found a pan before the fire, with old teas
in it drying, and a deal box, containing waste leaves.
Under the bed he found more old leaves, with gum about
them, and mixed in a preparation of what seemed to be
stone blue and French chalk. In a cupboard in an ad-
joining room he discovered ttree• paper bags filled with
spurious tea, in all Silb. One was filled with mixed tea,
and the other black, and the third green. The samples
of the stuff said to be tea in the paper bags were pro-
duced, and their inspection created some amusement.
Several excise officers gave corroborative testimony, and
deposed to the probable object of fabricating tea. Mr.
Phillips, chemist to the excise, said 'he had analysed the
contents of the paper bags. The black• was dried ex-
hausted leaves. The green was dried leaves, covered
with a slight coloured coating, and the mixed had some
genuine in it. What he had seen of the colouring mat-
ter, it comprised the ordinary stone blue, Prussian blue,
chrome, and Dutch pink.—Mr. Alderman Musgrave in-
flicted a penalty of £5 for each of the 81bs. fbund in the
cupboard.
THE ROBBERY AT ROGERS'S BANK.—The•manner in
which the strong room was entered is one of the most
extraordinary circumstances connected with this extensive
robbery. Against the door was a turn-up bedstead, on
which one of the clerks slept on both nights, yet he was
not disturbed, and the bed was found in its place. The
probability appears to.be that the thief or thieves got in
with assistance, and remained there all night. Another
of those employed by the concern, from some words used
by him, and also from being possessed of several sums
of money,. and making purchases, was strongly suspected,
but great caution was used in accusing him. The com-
panions he was seen with also heightened the suspicions
against him. The sum of £3,000 was offered for the
capture of the spoil and offenders, and the police were
very active. A connection was traced between the person
alluded to and a man who had before been convicted, and
the house of the former being searched by warrant, 500
sovereigns were found, which he failed fully to account
for. It was contemplated to arrest him. This step, how-
ever, was abandoned on the arrival of one of the partners,
who declined giving the party into custody on the grounds
that they could not swear to gold, or the box. At this
juncture, remarkable to state, the officers were informed
that their services were no longer required, and so the
prosecution of the affair in this quarter ceased. The
original reward, £3,000, was the sum named to effect it.
A larger amount was desired, and refused. Ultimately it
fell to £2,500, and finally a personal interview took place.
A guarantee passing to stay all ulterior proceedings, an
appointment was made for the following evening. The
parties met, the stolen notes were returned, and the re-
ward, £2,500 in gold, was handed over. The expenses
are said to have exceeded £12,000. The amount stolen
was upwards of £40,000.
DREADFUL ACCIDENT.—At the Wesleyan Methodist
Association Chapel, Bacup, on Sunday evening week,
there were about one thousand persons present, (the place
being crowded,) to hear a female preacher. The piping
of the stove which warms the chapel' is attached to the
beam which supports the roof, and both the beam and
piping are visible from below. Prior to the sermon, and
while Mr. Newton, the minister, was giving out the first
hymn, this piping was observed o give way.; caused, we
understand, by the pressure of the crowd against the
stove. An alarm was unfortunately raised that the roof
was falling, and instantly, although implored by the
minister to remain seated, the dense assemblage rushed
to the door, eager to escape from the anticipated danger.
A fearful scene ensued. The only means of egress from
the chapel (a folding door of the usual size) was soon
blocked up by those of the .terror-stricken congregation
who were nearest to it, and whose frenzied efforts to
escape _ only served to retard each other's exit. Within
the chapel the scene was indescribable: Strong men,
under the influence of fear, were seen leaping over the
forms, regardless of those lying crushed' beneath them,
and intent only upon individual safety. A. few of the
congregation, who had the presence of mind to remain
seated, escaped altogether unhurt. When the chapel
was at last cleared, a most distressing scene presented
itself. Three persons were taken up in a dead or dying
state, and several others were found to have sustained
serious injuries. The names of the unfortunate victims
of this distressing occurrence are Mary- Ashworth, aged
thirty, the wife of Nathaniel Ashworth, weaver, of Bacup ;
James Moorhouse, aged ten, the son of a blacksmith at
Broadclough ; and Richard Law, aged nineteen, also of
Broadclough. Mrs. Ashworth was taken up in a dying
state, and conveyed to her home, where she expired a few
minutes after. The print of a man's, heel was distinctly
visible on the unfortunate woman's face.
NEW STEAM ENGINE.—Mr. Remond, of Birmingham,
has just completed a. new steam-engine, with improve-
ments. His object has been to get rid, of back action
of the steam, by which in all engines of the ordinary con-
struction a great amount of power is lost. It is estimated
that a cubic foot or 601 b of water should give one-horse
power, but it is known that high pressure engines of the
ordinary construction consume at least 100th per horse.
This shows that the loss of power from reaction is forty
per cent. By making the passages for the exhaustion of
the steam much larger than at present, and by slide valves
of a new construction, M. Remond gets rid almost entirely
of this reacting power, and thus saves steam and fuel to a
Firth, of Broad-street, on the most improved principles at
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present acted upon in the construction of steam-engines.
Its power is nearly 14 horse. The cylinder is so con-
structed that it can be worked with Either the ordinary
three port valve or those of M. Remond, thus ensuring a
fair trial, since whatever may be the defects of the cylin-
der or piston, they must tell equally against both contri-
vances. The engine was fitted with Prony's friction
break, and the strain was not altered during the,experi-
ments, which proved that with half the steam the amount
of work done was nearly fifty per cent. more on the new
construction. The manner in which the waste steam
escaped was an important corroboration of the results.
Under the old system the escape was attended with great
force and noise ; under the new. the escape was gentle
and almost noiseless. The main principle of the inven-
tion is the effective manner in which the steam is emitted
from the cylinder, reducing the back pressure as much as
possible. When the piston rises there is little or no
waste steam to prevent its ascent ; when it descends, there
is little or no steam to retard the descent. We under-
stand that engines of considerable power on this principle
are in daily work on the continent at the present time.
DRAINING ON SIR R. PEEL'S ESTATES.—Ii is to be
regretted that the proceedings of Sir R. Peel in Stafford-
shire should not be more generally known—how large the
sums expended by him for the benefit of the land, how
moderate the charge made to his tenantry (4 per cent.)
for the money sunk upon their farms. We believe we are.
thr.b Ma. Yal Kt-5 alone-has-already-
drained for him 500 or 600 acres from four to six feet deep,
with 11-inch pipes, and that 1,000 acres more near Black-
burn, in Lancashire, are about to be drained by him in
the same manner. By this means, by throwing down
useless fences, filling up useless ditches, felling useless
trees, and pulling up or undercutting the old useless tile
and sole drains, the productiveness of the soil cannot but
be enormously increased. It appears, indeed, from the
statements at the Drayton dinner, that in some cases the
produce of wheat land has been nearly quintupled by
similar operations. With respect to the draining, we
cannot do better than recommend all, who have the op-
portunity, to inspect it ; for they will find- the details of
Mr. Parkes's arrangements such as cannot,. be too gene-
rally imitated. All the pipes are collared, so that neither
soil nor roots can find their way into them, nor the joints
be dislocated ; and the expedition with which the appa-
rently tedious operation of collaring is performed by boys
is not the least interesting part of the operation. Where
the pipes meet from opposite directions, they deliver their
water into open cesspools, or wells so contrived that the
action of the draining can at all times be readily examined,
while at the same time the water from the pipes is thus
conducted to a common outfall. One of the most re-
markable features in these operations is the drainage of
about 100 acres of the Drayton meadows on the banks of
the river, on a dead level, and subject to annual flooding
to the depth of about two, feet. The whole of this has
been drained four feet deep, and although the flooding is
not thus prevented, the consequences of the floods are
converted from an injury into a benefit ; for the moment
the waters fall the superfluous moisture passes off with
great rapidity, all the matters suspended in the overflow
being left in the ground, which acts as a filter. It is like
the inundation of a little Nile. One of the results of this
action is that the drainage water becomes so pure and
transpr,rent that it is perfectly fit for drinking. Nor are
these, (training operations confined to the farm. The
gr.rden of Drayton Manor has been treated in a similar
manner. The whole of it is drained five feet deep, with
collared pipes, and the, consequence is abundantly conspi-
-
ipieu/
cuous in the altered character of the produco..-4
(ural Ga;ette,