Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1839-12-26
HYDRAULIC

AZ EDITOR:-The improvements now dai-
I'VE ly taking place in the arts and sciences, bid
us naturally to infer still greater results from the
spirit of enquiry that has taken such deep root with
the people. We could indeed wish our Govern
ment more disposed to countenance scientific men
and scientific pursuits-but go long as the Govern
ment is the creature, it will be also the instrument
Of the peoples will. Individual enterprise, there
fore, must and can accomplish in America, what
monarchical patronage has done in Europe. The
vast discoveries that are springing up daily in eve
ny part Of our land, in the cultivation Of the fine
| and mechanical arts, forbid US to despair that our
beloved country will be other than foremost in the
race of scientific pursuits to accomplish which,
does il not behuoye every lover of his country and
its system of Government, TO show to the world
that man constitutes a state, and what kings, prin.
ccs, and mobiles can do in Europe, men can do
here.
We were led to these reflections by observing
the application, at The Cotoctin nqueduct on the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, of a new and peculiar
kind of Cement, patented by I. c. CoYLE, of Bal
timore, Md. We were entirely sceptical of this
high Cement, and believed that human ingenuity
had exhausted itselftn vain without suggesting any
improvement on the Clements used in our age; bHt
in this we were agrecably disappointed by seeing
the application of the Cement ON the works refer
red to.
This new improvement bids fair to revolutionize
in a great measure the mechanic arts with the most
happy results to the world; il is simple in its man
ufacture and application, and above all its cheap
ness, as the materials Of which it is composed are
to be found every where.
We have seen the skeleton ofthe wall OF an aque-
duct formed with planks and the space filed with
stones and Cement, and when the planks were re-
moved, and after the Cement became hard, the
whole walls and bottom Of the aqucduct presented
the appearance of a dark marble basin, perfectly
clear and free from pores, with a beautiful high
polish, as tight as a bottle and as hard as IRON
thus making the work (Which had been construc-
ted with other Cement, but failed } perfectly tight
and imperyious TO water; besides, by this simple
process, the company have been saved The vast ex-
pense of rebuilding, which soon must have taken
place, as the pressure of The water had washed the
old Cement away and left the pile of stone a mere
skeleton, without any thing to bind togetker the
rock composing the structure. We have seen
where the Cement was thrown promiscuously on
hard mountain rock which formed the arch of the
work, and when the sedgeor crowbnr was applied,
the rock invariably broke before the Cement would
separate the bond which it formed with the stones.
We perceive from reading the pamphlet of the
Patentee, containing certificates of the important
value of this Cement from the highest sources in
our country, proving that which We had heretofore
believed impracticable, namely, the cementing of
stone work under water without the aid Of Golfer
dams this is effected in the simplest manner ina
ginable, but the reader must see it applied before
he can form any idea of the important result ema-
mating from this Cement to our common country -
1t will, in our opinion, supeIsede the necessity of
dressed stone altogether; it will cement any kind
of stone into one solid mass, and become as hard
az granite in twenty four hours il team be moulded,
shipped, or formed into any wall, vessel, pier, OF
arch which may be required, or, if desired, the
Cement can be made as elastic as India rubber;
this may seem strange but it is Notwithstanding
true, as hundreds have proved throughout the eoun-
try for the last two years. Ii seems to US that MIR.
CoYLE has laid his Cement fairly before the public,
and in doing so, he has shewn the practical results
ola ripe and energetic mind, which could only have
been successful by energy of action and untiring
zeal. This Cement is admirably adapted to all by
draulic purposes, such as fore,bays of mills, water
tanks, water-works, dams, piers, cisterns, granary
floors, spring-housos troughs, r~at-proof warehouses,
&c. &c. 1t will no doubt be found useful for many
other purposes thar experience alone will suggest.
The subscribers, having purchased ofthe Paten-
tee the right for the State of Virginia, avail them
selves of the present opportunity Of making known
to the citizens of Virginia that they are now manu-
featuring the above Cement az the Point of Rocks,
where any quantity can be furnished 10 order. We
will also sell the rights for Counties, Cities, Towns,
DlstiiCtSs L ululH VI DuliullRs AppllCatlOns To be
made TO the subscribers living at the Point of
Rocks, Md. JOHN MANN,
PHILIP McGAUGHAN.
Or to WILLIAM c. CLARK,
of Harpers-Ferry Jefferson County, Va, who is our
general Agent for the State.
REFERENCES.
@-Artisans and Builders, who are not acauain-
ted with the merits of this Cement, are referred TO
the following gentlemen for furlher particulars, as
the subject has been before the Congress Of the
United States, who have investigated the matter,
and consequently are enabled to arrive at correct
conclusions.
His Excellency, r. M. Johnson; His Excellen-
ey, g.. Wolf, Philadelphia; His Excellency, Gen.
Hunt, Washington; Cornelius McLane, ESQ. Bal
timore; DR.. Stewart, do; Hon. George c. Wash.
iugtoni Hon. Messrs. Mercer, Garland. Preston,
Wise, w. C.. johnson. Taliaferro. Thomas