less, and these English worben have been obliged to submit to such reductions, from the difficulty and danger of getting back. This is a thing within my own knowledge. (To be continued.) EXPORTATION OF MACHINERY. Mr. BRYAN DONKIN, Mr. TIMOTHY BRAMAH, Mr. PHILIP TAYLOR, Mr. HENRY MAUDESLEY, and Mr. JOHN HAGUE, all engineers, examined— Will you state whether, of your own knowledge, there is a very considerable demand for English machinery in almost every part of the continent ?~Certainly there is. Mr. TAYLOR.-A very great demand. If persons from other countries are driven from our market to a dearer one, by the prohibitory laws, they will probably go to France for their supply. Mr. BRAMAI-I can state an instance which happened within this fortnight; I am making some machinery for packing cotton, to be sent to Egypt; the agent in London wanted a number of machines for carding wool; he referred to me, to know how he could get them supplied, as they were not allowed to go out of this country. I gave him the address of Mr. Cockerell, of Liege, who is one of the largest manu. facturers, and has been almost exclusively employed for twenty-seven years, in making machinery for cotton and wool mannfacturers; he is an engineer who went ont from Manchester, and has realized an immense fortune. Will you state the nature of that manufactory? Mr. MAUDESLEY.-It is a large manu factory; they have one at Liege, another at Sarang, about four miles off; that at Sarang was the Bishop of Liege's palace. I suppose that manufactory must at least cover seven acres of land, and they employ about five or six hundred people; they wanted me to take orders for a great deal of machinery, but I told them it was im possible. The king of the Netherlands has given Mr. Cockerell 30,0002. for the purpose of establishing an iron-mill, and exLending his manufactory to the making boat-engines and steam-engines in general. The manufactory at Liege is principally: for carding and woollen machines. What countries do they principally sup ply -The whole of the continent: I have seen hundreds of their carding machines in France. Can you state whether there are any other manufactories on the continent, in Prussia, or any other country?-There is a very large manufactory established by one of the brothers of Cockerell, at Berlin, for cotton and wool. Mr. MARTINEAU examined Have you, in the course of your busi. ness, received orders for tools and ma chines from abroad?—Frequently. Have you executed those orders?-That Passports, as the preceding witnessTM states, have been refused them. has depended upon the description o machines ordered; whenever they have come under the description of machines prohibited by Act of Parliament, I have refused to execute them, because it would be necessary to enter them under false names, in order to deceive the officers of the customs. Could you have exported them by enter ing them under another name, if your scruples of violating the law had been satisfied?-Certainly; it would have been utterly impossible for the officers of the customs to detect the nature of the maching when it was sent away in parts. From your own knowledge, do you con sider it an easy matter, by breaking up machinery, and exporting it at different times and by other names, to send abroad any thing you please?-I think any pro hibited machinery might be sent abroad by a little management; there is one obvious mode, which would be that of mixing two or three machines together in such a way, that no officer of the customs, or indeed any engineer, could detect the nature of the machine exported; and detection would be still further prevented by shipping these parts so mixed, at different periods. Have not some manufactories been es tablished in foreign countries for the parpose of making machines and tools which the laws forbid you to export?-Many manufactories have lately been establish ed, and more particularly in France; and no doubt one of their objects was to manufacture those machines, the exportation of which from this country is prohibited; but they likewise manufacture various machines, which are not prohibited to be exported from this country. Are not those manufactories, or many of them, conducted by Englishmen?-I be. lieve almost entirely; the three principal manufactories at Paris are conducted by Englishmen-viz. the works at Charenton, by Mr. Manby; those at Chaillot, by Mr. Edwards, and a third by a Mr. Steele. Can foreigners at present mannfacture tools and machinery, generally, as cheap or as good as they can be purchased here? -Certainly not so cheap. In the first place, their labour may be stated at least, from 25 to 30 per cent higher than it is in this country, arising from the circumstance of their generally employing English workmen; the raw material is at least or even more than cent per cent higher than the raw material in this country. Are you able to state what is the rela. tive difference of wages given in the same manufactory in France, to Frenchmen and the same to Englishmen engaged in branches?-I will state an instance of a smith, which may serve as a criterion for all; a sn.ith in France would receive about four francs per day, while the rate of wages paid to an expeit English smith at Paris would be tenor eleven francs per day. · Do you think if the trade was free, En. glish engineers would supply the greater part of the world with tools and chinery-I have no doubt but that they would. ma Can you state any rules for forming that opinion?-My reasons for it principally consist in the natural advantages that Eng. land possesses, from the circumstance of the iron-stone and coal being invariably found in the same spot, and thus affording 1aneans of manufacturing iron at a cheap rate; the talent and ingenuity of the work men; the immense spare capital we have in this country; the circumstance of our Canals and rail-roads already established, enabling us to bring the raw material from the interior of the country at a very low rate; it would of course take a considerable time before France or any other country could possess any of these advan tages, even those which cannot be considered as peculiar only to us, such as canals and rail-roads. At the three principal places of manufac ture of iron in the neighbourhood of Paris, do you know what number of Englishmen are employed at each?-I think there are at least from three to five hundred in each of the two principal manufactories, namely, those of Chaillot and Charenton. Mr. GALLOWAY examined Is the larger proportion of that machi nery that is forbidden, of the finer or coarser kind?-I consider that both classes are prohibited under the Act; indeed, under the 26th Geo. III. there are very few things in the shape of machinery or tools, that can be permitted to be exported; and those articles of machinery that have been exported are, generally speaking, those articles that the Custom-house officers could not comprehend: a screw, for example, I cannot, by any species of disguise, prevent meeting the common understanding of every Custom-house officer; but a mnachine which can generate any number of screws, he has not the least knowledge of, and consequently permits it to pass. Of your own knowledge, have a great many prohibited articles been exported? -Morally, as well as legally speaking, I believe to a considerable extent. Are you aware of any instance in which any of those machines have been converted to other purposes?-I know that machines have been made to appear for one purpose when they were meant for another, and have been converted accordingly. Cannot specifications or descriptions of every new machine, with drawings and nodels, be easily obtained in this country by any foreigner?-With the greatest facility; for instance, with all our patents, there are regular drawings obliged to be made, and any man who will go to the ex• pense of paying for them will get them. (To be continued.) WIGHTMAN'S PERCUSSION LOCK. Malton, Feb. 8, 1824. GENTLEMEN ;-In the 18th Number of the Mechanic's Magazine, I saw a description of a percussion lock which I made two years ago. Had I been acquainted with the intention of my unknown friend, the "Admirer of Field Sports," of inserting it in your widely-circulated Journal, I would have given you my latest improvements, which can now only be done by a new plate; and were I to request this, I could only consider it as an encroachment on your spirited exertions to diffuse useful information by descriptive engravings. The best preparation for the prim ing powder for percussion guis is antimony 3 parts, chlorate of potash 1 part. On account of the corrosive properties of the chlorate of potash, it is advisable to use the smallest possible quantity that will be certain of ignition; the above ingredients, if well compounded, form a percussion powder that will fire with the greatest certainty, as has been not only proved by my own practice during the whole of last shooting season, but by the testimony of sportsmen of the first emi nence. One great objection to the stronger preparations for priming is, the great and sudden corrosion produced after firing. So violent is this, that should the interval between firing much exceed an hour, the touch-hole is not unfrequently completely closed by a strong rust.-Yours, &c. W. E. WIGHTMAN. POSSIBILITY OF A PERPETUAL, Brill Row, Somer's Town, GENTLEMEN; Of Mr. Bevan's abilities I will not presume to doubt; that he is acquainted with the laws of mechanism and of motion, the cause which "draws the stone projected to the ground," is of course; yet, with all his knowledge of cause and effect, the nature of fluid or the weight of matter, I do not think it is well in him to attempt to stop the inquiries of the present or the rising generation, as he. seems to be desirous of doing, by his demonstration, entitled "No Perpetual Motion." A mechanic, in the ardour of youth, full of impetuosity, will take every fragile structure formed in his imagination as a piece of durable architecture; but it is not so with one who carefully for years considers, who weighs probability against possibility, before he runs the risk of writing against what are called "established facts," though es tablished facts with those who attempt to overcome difficulties are but as customs to the wise. I will tell "R. B.," that what I asserted, I will still assert, and that I am not beholden either to cocks or valves to obtain the perpetual motion I have discovered. When the world, or those philosophically wise in the world, are acquainted with its principles, they will wonder at its simplicity, and will say, as was said to lord Napier, when he invented the logarithms, "How is it we never discovered before that which is now so plain"? Yours, with the greatest respect, WILLIAMSON'S IMPROVED LATHE. Feb. 16, 1824, GENTLEMEN ;-Allow me to ask Charles Williamson what sort of line he uses to his lathe, and how he prevents the one part of the line from cutting or chafing the other? [See p. 369]. I have made the addition he so kindly points out to my lathe, and am of opinion, that it will answer every purpose, if the above difficulty (for such I have found it) can be got over. I put on a catgut line, and in ten hours wear, it was so reduced that it broke, although I varied the shape of the groove in the mandrel pulley six different times. A WORKING TURNER. INQUIRIES. (All inquiries will in future be numbered, and the answers to them inserted in the numerical order of their application.] No. 1. TREVETHICK'S ENGINE. Salop. GENTLEMEN ;-Should this meet the eye of some of your Cornish readers, resident in the neighbourhood of Truro, I should be much obliged to any one, competent so to do, if he would inform me, either through the medium of your publication, or otherwise, whether the Hydraulic Engine which was erected some years ago at the Druid Coppermine, in the parish of Illogan, near Truro, by Mr. R. Trevethick, has fully answered its intended purposes. There are so many instances of prac tice falling far short of theory, even under the auspices of the most ingenious, that I trust I shall not, by this inquiry, be supposed to call the abili ties of the inventor into question. One objection to hydraulic engines on a large scale is the great degree of friction attendant on the working gear; but even with that objection, there are many opportunities for their advantageous application. A discussion upon this sort of engine is not, however, my present object; that which I seek to know is, whether the hydraulic engine of Mr. R. Trevethick, either at Illogan (or any other place where one may have been erected), has acquitted itself in such a manner as to render it deserving of adoption in situations where facilities present themselves for its application. I would also be glad to learn whether it winds as well as pumps, the depth to which it works, and if it often requires repair. Hoping this may engage the attention of some of your readers, who may be kind enough to furnish me with the desired information, I am, Gentlemen, Yours very obediently, No. 2.-BORING WELLS. The inhabitants of the low lands and marshes adjoining the river Wavenery (county of Suffolk) are often put to great inconvenience in summer from want of water, although their wells are usually sunk below the level of the bottom of the river. As far as I know, the banks are formed of four distinct strata:-1, a loose cozy alluvium, five feet deep; 2, A loose white sand, fifteen feet deep; 3, a close-grained bog earth, twelve feet, very black; 4, an earth resen bling the last, but mixed with fine sand, and a few fragments of muscle and cockle-shells. The uplands in the neighbourhood rise from 50 to 100 feet above the level of the river In sinking wells, I have found no difficulty in getting down my trick-work five or six feet into the second stratum (a loose white sand); but at this depth the water from the land-springs becomes troublesome, and the sand falls in in such quantities, that the curb on which the brick-work rests, will not settle downwards. From the bottom of a well, ten feet deep, I have lately bored thirty feet without finding any main spring: the soil being loose, it lies close to the borer, and has pre vented me getting further down, although four hands were employed. When the borer is withdrawn, the aperture is immediately filled, and all our work must be gone over again. Will any of your correspondents be so kind as to inform me, through the medium of your Magazine, by what mode I can reach the mainspring; if by pipe, what method ought to be used to get it down. As these wells are usually paid for by the foot, I have often been inadequately paid, owing to the time taken up in getting brick-work through this loose sand, which blows up nearly as fast as I can erect the brick. A CONSTANT READER, & NORTON'S SPIRAL WHEEL. GENTLEMEN;-I had a model of a similar wheel to that invented by Mr. Norton, and noticed in your last, made about twenty years ago, and thought at first it would be useful in tide-mills. I accordingly tried it both ways, horizontally and vertically, but found the power so much less than that of the common waterwheel, on account of the greater friction caused by the water sliding along the screw, and the great pressure endways of the bearings, as well as the difficulty of keeping the water on the wheel without waste between the spiral floats and the casing (which was a complete cylinder), that I came to the conclusion that it could never be used to advantage: X. Y. By KNIGHT and LACEY, 24, Paternoster-Row Communications from intelligent Mechanics, and from all others who may take an interest in the diffusion of useful information on any of the subjects embraced by this work (addressed to the Editor, and post-paid, to the care of the Publishers) will be thankfully received, and have every attention paid to them. It was well remarked by the great philosopher, Boyle, that if every artist would but communicate what new observations occur to him in the exercise of his trade, the advantages gained to philosophy would be incalculable. T. C. Hansard, Pater-noster Row Pros. |