Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-05-25
MECHANICS.

A very ingenious plan of constructing bridges
haa .laaelv been 'desigued.--adapteu 70 public
and private uses, and 20 formedo Of spall parts
that il may be carried to any assigned place
and nut together at short notice. The
bridge is supposed 10 consist of two princi-
pal RIBS made thus; The width Of the place
Is spanned atonce by an arch rising one-sixth
part of its extent--its curve divided into five
parts, which are proposed 10 be Of good
seasoned oak plank, of three inches thick and
twelve broad, their joint or meeting tending
to the center of the archj within this ridge is
another cut out Of plank, as before, OF three
inches thick and nine broad, in such sort as
TO break the joints of the other.
In each Of these ribs are made four NOR
tices four inches broad and three high, and
in the middle of the said nine inch plank
these mortices are best set out with tenn
plet, on which they have been truly divided
and adjusted Lastly, put each principal rib
in its place, driving loose keys into some oil
| the mortices, to hold the two thicknesses
| topether-while other help is ready to drive
| in the joists, which have a shoulder inward
aud a mortice in them outward, through
which keys being driven, the whole is kept
together. On these ioists, the planks, gravel,
&C., are laid, and the bridge will be found
suitable for rivers thirty-six feet wide. In
case the river is forty or fifty feet wide, the
stuff should be larger and more particularly
VI.
thick and twelve broad, in each Of which are
six mortices, four Of them being four inches
wide and two high, and through these are
driven keys, which keep the ribs better to-
pether the other two mortices are six inches
wide and four high, into which are framed
the joists of six inches by twelve--the lemons
Of these joists being morteed to receive the
posts, which serve as keys. The whole being
performed without iron, rusting, scaling and
lnO ,iv,or of IA in
are avoided, sound timber keeping tight and
& IN together. No part of this timber arch
can yield or give way till the keys are broken
short off at once, ....t .. .. ..D
Use OF NAPHTHA FOR ILLUMINAT1oN.--It is
found, by careful experiment, that the only
lamp in which the new rock oil, or petroleum,
can be burned with success is the camphene
lamp, OF one having button to form the flame,
and an external cone to direct the current OF
air, as is now used in all lamps designed to
burn either camphene, resin oil, sylvic oil, or
any other similar product. As the distilled
product of petroleum are nearly all quite in
soluble in alcohol, burning fluid-that is,
solution of the oil in alcohol-can not be man
ufactured from it. As consequence, the oil
can not be burned in hand lamp, since, with
an unprotected wick, itsmokes badly. Neither
can It be burned in a Carceps mechanical
lamp, because portion of the oil being more
volatile than the rest, rises in vapor on the
elevated wick required in that lamp, and so
causes it TO smoke. All the products of dis
tillation from the copper still are found capa-
BILE of burning well in the oamphene lamp,
except the last third or fourth part-that por-
ton which comes off at seven hundred de-
grees Fahrenheit and rising, and which is
thick with the crystals of paraffine. Freed
from acidity by boiling on water, the oils of
this distillation burn for twelve hours with
out iujuriously coating the wick, and with
out smoke. The wick may be elevated con-
siderably above the level required for cam
phene without any danger of smoking, and
the oil shows no signs of crusting the wick
tubes with coating of resin, such as happens
with camphene and occasions SO much incon-
venieuce. The light from the rectifed
naphtha is pure and white, without odor.
The rate of consumption is less than half that
ofcamphene, or resin oil-which fact is, of
course, much in its favor. ...
p APPARATUS FOR THE EXTRACTION OF CoAL.--
1t is now some considerable length of time
since continuance was introduced into the
mining districts of Germany, England and
Belgium, the object of which was to prevent
the great fatigue and frequent accidents ex-
perienced by miners on account of their hav-
ing to descendaand ascend the shafts of deep |
mines by means of vertical ladders, or by the |
tubs and tackle used in lifting the produce |
This apparatus consists of two wooden beams
placed in the same shaft opposite to and bal |
ancing each other, and moving up and down |
by an alternate vertical motion communica- |
ted by machinery. On each of these beams |
small sets of horizontal planks or steps are
placed, the distance between each being |
twice the length of one lift The miner then |
standing at the bottom ON the ascending |
beam, in order to come to the plymouth, |
stepN to the opposite plank, as soon as by the |
motion of the frame he is brought to its level, |
taking advantage of the short interval that |
elapses while the levels of the two steps are |
the same. He is then lifted again BY the |
rise of this part of the frame, that on which |
he first stood descending, and again steps of |
when the lift is concluded. He then rises
step by step till he reaches the top. This ap-
paratus was great improvement in the
mode OF working mines, but it is neverthe-
less characterized by serious inconvenience,
as it Is impossible to lift ore or coal from the
shaft in which it is fixed. 20 .'51 s.l i'
A similar machine has therefore been de-
vised, which overcomes these difficulties.
Thus, for each of the wooden rods is substi-
tuted a pair of connected rods, provided with
spring catchers on which the wagons rest
while being raised or lowered. One of these
pairs of rods serves 10 raise the loaded wag-
ons, and the other pair to lower the empty
ones; on both lines the wagons are raised or
intervals Of rest, during which they remain
resting on other catches, fixed in the sides OF
the shaft and arranged in stages at certain
appropriate distances. a1' l.. .
IRON DIRECT FROM THE ORE.-M. Chenot
has endeavored to solve very important
problem, which has for its object the obtain
ing of iron directly from the ore without
passing through the intermediate condition of
| pig, as in the Catalonian method, or without
being obliged to perform two operations, and
/ smelt the cinder. To do this the ore is deoxo
| died in a closed vessel at dull red heat by
the contact Of a reducing gas and there is
thus obtained porous iron to which is given
the name of metallic sponge. This metallic
sponge presentssonne remarkable properties
burning with flame at the single contact of a
| lighted match, the iron being transformed
into oxide. NJ. Chenot hopes to be able to
bring this sponge-like substance into mas
sive form, by simple compression at the usual
heatemployedi in forging, but his expectations
in this respect have not as yet been crowned
with success. ia., II. i,.a.' ...- a.1aa -
| The SoUTH DEMANDING TERRITORIAL SLAVE
PRoTEcrIoN.-The Richmond Enquirer de-
clares that the claim of the South to Federal
| protection for slave nronprtv in the Tarrito