The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-01 00:00:00

IMPORTANT lINWENTIONT.

Amongst the various enactments which have received
the sanction of the legislature, of recent date, none seems
more likely to affect the manufacturing industry of Eng-
land than the new patent law which came into operation
on the Ist October last. Since then, owing to the facili-
ties afforded to inventive genius,-and the comparative low
fees, upwards of 1,000 patents have been obtained, and
amongst them one first introduced into this town by two
gentlemen from America, to which attention was promi-
nently drawn by lectures de,ivered at the Liverpool Poly.
technic and Archaeological Societies, when s working
hand machine, showing the advantages of the nvention,
was exhibited. The invention is called a ne ,v mode of
banding pulleys; and though applicable to all machinery
requiring rotary motion, as blowers, fans, rice mills,
saw Mills, cotton factories, &c., has as yet only been ap.
plied to hand-sawing machines, steam saw mills, and
blowers. At both lectures, some of our first consulting
engineers and other practical gentlemen attended, and
considerable discussion ensued amongst them. Mr. New-
lands, the engineer for the borough of Liverpool, at once
recommended ft to the Health and 'Baths Committees,
both of whom have adopted it. It was universally admit-
ted that the machine was a perfect tool, indispensable
to all,joiners and carpenters, whereby wood either bard or
soft, of the thickness of half an inch to four inches, could
be cut by hand with the rapidity only previously attained
by steam,power ; but, at the same time, considerable
doubt was expressed whether the principle would be
equally effective when applied to larger machinery, re-
quiring greater power. That question is now satisfac-
torily answered. One of the olc;est and most respectable
firms in Liverpool engaged in sawing timber, Messrs. M.
Gregsnn and Son, has erected a machine to which the
principle isuttached, for driving a circular saw of 3 feet
4 in diameter, and by this all that the inventor claimed is
fully established,—vir.' that, with a saving of steam-
power to the extent of from 25 to 50 per cent.,,a velocity
at least double, say 1.300 to 2,000 revolutions per minute,
can be obtained, at the same time performing more work
than by the old method of banding. Several other firms
have.purchased the flight to use the invention, and no
doubt can be entertained that we shall shortly see it in
universal application. The saving of power in old-esta-
blislled saw mills, where the machinery is already erected,
and the fires are fed by the sawdust, entailing little 'cost
for coals,—the advantages will evidently not be so appa-
rent as when new concerns are erected, or where applied
to blowers, fans, &c., in manufactories depending solely
upon coal for the production of steam. In all instances
the invention will secure a saving of power, increased
speed, with little or no addition of motive power, and
economy of space and belting : these are advantages so
important to the manufacturing public, that immediate
success for the spirited gentlemen who have introduced
it into this country is certain. The simplicity in this,
like most other useful and practically beneficial disco..
reries, is one of its strongest recommendations; and we
would recommend all who are interested in machinery,
(and who is not ?) to inspect either the working hand-
sawing machine, or the 3 feet 4 lath circular saw, at Mr.
Gregson's establishment.