Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-06-08
Compiled by the Springfield Republican
Progress in Science and Art.

Progress in Science and Art.
The machine for bending ship timber,
invented by Thomas Blanchard Of Boston,
formerly of Springfield, was exhibited in
operation to company of scientific gentle
men ana practical mechanics few DAYS
since. A straight stick of white oak timber
lld feet long and l3 inches square, was placed
in the machine after being steamed by
steam power an end pressure was applied,
ana In ten minutes the stick was forced
through n circular mould, and bent so that
the ends were at right angles with each
| other An examination of the timber bent
showed no signs of breaking, but the length
OF the stick on the inside of the curve was
! shortened more than q foot, and the fhrcs of
the wood had been forced together and into
each other, SO that a body Of wood equal to
fourteen inches of the length of the stick had
disappeared. And this too, without weak
ening the timber in the least but greatly
strengthening it. a ship-buildcr said he
would willingly pay S75 for such a knee as
that bent, although the timber before bend
ing cost less than So, and four sticks can be
easily bent in an hour. The same process
is applicable to the production of any irreg-
ular forms of wood desirable.
More than two thousand patents will bear
the date of 1855, as already five hundred
have been issued during the first quarter
Thus far, over twelve thousand patents have
appeared since 1896.
The unfortunate steamer Ericsson has been
rehtted with new steam machinery. with
some improvements of Captain Ericssons
upon ordinary steam engines, which seem to
be successful. We have no account of the
character of these Improvements except that
their design is to economise heat and fuel.
Captain Ericsson has by no means abandoned
his idea OF the use of hot air in the place of
steam. The disaster that oc urred to the
Ericsson, on her return from trial trip
which the inventor considered successful by
which the vessel was sunk and her expensive
machinery ruined, made it impossible to
repeat the experiment, as the large amount
OF money necessary to that end could not be
readily obtained. The inventor has been
obliged therefore to wait for more propitious
circumstances before putting his discovery
to u complete and satisfactory test. Mr..
Ewbank, formerly commissioner of patents,
suggests an improvement in the paddle wheels
of steamboats,. He would make tho paddles
long, wide where they leave the shaft and
tapering to point, and play in and out of
the water perpendicularly instead of hori-
zontally.
The new fuel patented by Hooker & Beau
mont of New Orleans consists of one hundred
and forty parts ofany kind of earth, thirty
parts OF common lime, twenty parts of the
refuse or dust of coal, two parts of clinkers
or iron dust, three parts OF common rosin or
pitch, two parts of carbonate of ammonia,
eight parts of sawdust or chips, mixed with
water and dried. If sufficient heat is applied
we have no doubt the sawdust, rosin and
coal IN the composition can be successfully
consumed, but they will burn much more
readily without the dirt, limo and clinkers.
oil ,In,, Of
process for converting fish into guano which
is endorsed by DR.. jackson and Prof Hare
The difficulty lies in getting the fish Our
grandfathers tell Of the times when in the
valleys of the Connecticut and Merrimac the
farmers put a shad into each hill of corn for
manure, but that was long ago, and it would
be an expensive system of farming in these
days.
1t is estimated that over one thousand
millions of pounds of coffee are annually con-
sumed in the world (Which furnishes a rea-
son for the scarcity of peas) and more than
twice that amount of tea. About three fifths
of the population of the globe regard one or
both OF these beverages as daily necessaries
of life. Professor johnson, of some author
ity in dietetic affairs, attributes to coffee the
quality of stimulating the digestive organs
and to tea that of retarding their operaeion
DR.. Bigelow, in his work entitled . Nature
and Disease" recently published in Boston,
assigns to both the same effect-that of
producing an increased action of the stomach
i'll the process Of digestion. The properties
and effects of coffee and tea are in most
respects similar. They exhlarate and pro-
duce wakefulness they stimulate the brain
and soothe the body they retard the waste
of the animal system, which is in constant
progress, and which it is the office of food to
repair. In those who labor much with the
head, they produce a condition of the svs-
TEN favorable for mental application ; and
in all, they tend to counteract the sluggish
ness which prompts to shrink from difficulties,
and to infuse the spirit which impels to
encounter and overcome them. They increase
the enjoyment of life, while they make no
sacrifice of its duration. On the contrary,
in the old and infrm, whose power. of dges-
tion begin to fail, they doubtless operate to
prolong it, by retarding the natural waste Of
the bodily substance.
Among the new implements of death recent
ly brought to notice, is what is called
revolving battery, invented at Baltimore,
Md, by E. n, Shaw. 1t consists of brass
cylinder, revolving horizontally, and contain
ing any number of chambers, with a station
airy barrel 1t is loaded, primed, fired and
swabbed, all with one simple movement of a
break, eghty times in one minute. The
the barrel and chambers are prevented from
being overheated by simple but eifoctual
arrangement. The mechanism for loading,
priming and swabbing is very simple and
ingenious, and can be operated by one man ;
and so complete is its arrangement that an
accident from premature discharge is nearly
impossible.
An experienced gunner recommends to
sportsmen to wash out their gun barrels
with spirits of turpentine, instead of water,
which dries off very rapidly and does not
create rust.