The Kanzas news., 1858-01-09
Progress of Invention.

The new Commissioner of Patents, Joseph
Holl. IN deciding against an application for
patent Ter an iron beam, has taken occasion
to announce some of the general principles
by which he shall be guided. Difficulty,
he says, has often been found in referring
an article claimed az new invention TO any
: head under the law, it not falling within the
statutory catalogue By marrow eonstruc
ton OF language, such-aa article however
yaluable and novel, would have to be excla-
ded from the protection which the law Is
expressly intended to give. : Names are not
things. aad if q specification describes an
invention uniting the indispensable .requi
sites of novelty and utility, it viii not, sun-
der Mr. Holts administration, be consider
ed Is the essence of the claim that it should
be. referred co nonzine, to any one of The
heads Of the statutory enumerations. a
failuFe to adopt some one of the designations
presented in that enumeration, or the adop-
. ton of what the Office might regard as an
Inappropriate designation, should no be al
loved to embarrass the application, if the
specification itself combines the character
isfics mentioned The commissioner has
rejected an application for a patent for new
polieeman's club. on. the ground that altho'
the instrument might be useful to the police,
it would be adopted by the desperate classes
and be an instrument of great mischief
He considers it essentially barbarous IN its
character, and as much out of place in a
civilized Community as the tomahsHk and
scalping knife of the savage. The club is a
hollow barrel, In which strong laneets are
concealed, that fiy ont upon touehinga spring
and make it a terrible weapon
Another printing telegraph has been pro-
duced By Edward F. Barnes of New York.
Its said to require less skill in the operator
than the other instruments, but We have seen
no account of Its mode of construction
The Heuse instrument stii keeps the field
IS the best printing telegraph for practical
use, the HeRes- instrument not having full
flied the expectations that were entertained
at the outset. We understand that Boston
inventor has printing telegraph nearly
completed, that combines The exceflencies of
both House and Hewes' with other improve
ments, and it is believed that it win take the
first rank among telegraphic instruments.
IN taking up some of the underground
wires of the English telegraph, it has been
found that where the wire was in the yicin-
ity of oak wood or the roots of oak trees,
the gutta percha has been entirely changed
by the growth of fungus, and its insula-
ting properties destroyed The gufta percha
laid in iron tubes was also found to be ruin
ed, but in a different manner. These facts
suggest further precautions to the engineers
of the Atlantic telegraph.
Its now proposed to obtain light by
electricity, by using for one of the electrodes
substance such as mercury, which Is caus-
ed to flow through an oriiee @or orifces on
to the point or points of steel or other ma
tcrial. But has anybody tried ii?
There have beenseyeral attempts to find
a means Of printing bank notes SO that they
cannot be copied By photograph. Printing
them in bright coiofs answers the purpose.
but it is necessary that these eolors should
be unchangeable and indestructible, other
wise they can be acted upon by chemical
agents and afterwards eopicd photograph
cally 7. Sterry Hunt, of Montreal, has
proposed to print with red ink composed
principally of the sesquioxide of chromium.
which he alleges answers the purpose fully.
Mr.. Carney, the chemist of the New Eng
land Association of Bsnks. says that Mr..
Hunts ink can be changed by two distinct
chemical processes. Whereupon Mr.. Mat
theBs. the proprietor of Dir. Hunts i1Ven-
,ion, offers $500 10 Mr.. Carney If he sue
eeeds In doing what he claims to have done.
Mr.. Carney will of course 60 to work and
verify his experiments or acknowledge that
he was mistaken. If the article turns out
TO be real preventive of Photographic coun-
terfeiting il viii be of great worth. &
"A new moving machine has been con-
str,icted by John W. Thompson, of Green
field, to be worked By. one horse. 1t takes
swarth three feet wide, and it is said that
it does the work well, and without clogging.
l. =
about half the price of the large machines.
If the statements made about it are true it
is Just what the small farmers want.
"A new corn planter is mentioned, which
can be adjusted SO as to plant and cover the
hills at any distance apart. The delivery is
effected by means of q wheel fitting into the
bottom of the hopper, and having a number
of holes In its periphery which receive the
seed and convey it into the spout. The axle
of this wheel projects through the block and
is turned by means of knotted band which
passes round the transport wheels; these
knots 6t into projections at the end of the
delivery wheel. By changing the position
of the knots either closer or further, the
corn may be sown closer or farther apart
The name of the inventor is not given.
--faichaId M. Hoe of New York. inyeR-
tor of the celebrated cylinder press. has pat
ented az Improvement in the feeding device
OF the press by giving the drop roller, or the
one that pulls the paper TO the type, posi-
tire instead of an intermitting motion, de-
pending on contact with the printing cylin-
der, such as II formerly had. =,
"A piano has been brought forward at
Dresden which viii supersede the assistance
of sixty socialists and instruments. Il is
most taneful, and already one hundred and
twenty Of the instruments. at f9e0, are or
dered for Austfzla and The colonies. -
An improved shuttle loom is coming