On . Jm2)rovem, nls i n Gas.,Lighting. ~7

Final!% albumemiu also:~used as an excellent cement. Ia"tkela- ~oratori~s ¢hey ~ofCe~ eo,~er the Iufings-0f their apparatuS" iii~ bands of lineg, dipped in powde'red qtiick-time, and¢h~ .~f6~!~Of eggs. Th is kind of lutin~ renders the jo in ts impermehble ~ i ih~ mo~ subtile gases. An ~nalogous preparation is likewise~US¢~.i!~ cement broken porcelain and glass. . . . . .

~a addition to these important ap'~-'pliCations of albumen~ we may add its great value in book-binding, as a Varnish for the:leather 6(~ ~erSo And also, that a letter closed or'cemented with )t~ is no t to be opened by the steam of boiling Water; as when d0sed.by :a common wafer; the heat only addm~ to ~ts firmness; , ]?he ,whtte:, of, eggs beat up with water is likewise'%sed by sign-painters, ~ t-o ~eo~r over the oil paint intended to be gilt, to pr~e~t ihe leaves Of goidl &ore adherin~ where ~oId size has no~ been laid ori. ' : ' . '

~ [Zgitor Tech. ~ : :

On Improvements in Gas-Lighting. By T~Ios~As GILLi Eaq,

of purifying Coal ~as:is getting into use; he effects i¢ b :i asSin ~h~ . . . . . ~ ~ -- . YP g.: gas from ~he retorts thro%h a ~mml)er of beds or thin layers of hme placed upon sieves laid one upon a~.mther~ the lime having been pre- viously bcou~;ht to such a state~ by adding more water to the hydrat~

~8 On .Improvements i~ Gas..Lighting° by adopting the judicious system introduced by Go Low% Esq°,in tl~e chartered comnanv's gas works, in Brick-lane, Old-street. In. Stead of sutthring'the" above nuisance to continue, as was the case nrevious to his undertakin~ the superintendence of the works, he ~aow evaporates the impm'e~cream of lime~ to the consistence of a thick mud, by putting it into cisterns, formed in the ash-pits of the retort ovens~ and thiis he nut only increases tile effect of the fuel contained in the ovens, by passing the steam fi'om the evaporating water through them, but he finds that the cast-iron furnace bars will

o • ~ r

last a much longer time than befbre he adopted tins plan. hen ~he mud is thus formed, he spreads it over the tops of the retort 6vens, and completes the drying of the lime. In this state it be- comes so causti% that the workmen wlio employ it in luting the mouths of the retorts, are obliged to wear gloves hi order to wotect their hands from the etihcts of its corroding action upon the skin.

Mr. Lowe lately exhibited to us, the mode he has also adopted of converting the coal.tar made in the Brick.lane works (which has accumulated in the Peter-st,'eet gas works to an enormous extent) into fuel, whereby to assist in heating the retorts. Through a hole made in the tar main above, he causes the tar to descend ia a thin stream, into a funnel, fixed into the top of a bent iron pipe, which passes into the retort oven,through a small hole made in its front~ here it is delivered upon the red-hot coals contained in the furnace, and is instantly converted i~to a bright flame~ by which the retorts are uniformIy heated fi'om end to end in the most complete manner° Here again he has converted what was a mfisance, into an advantage°

In the new retort-house, erected at the iBrickdane works, under the superintendence of Mr. Lowe~ he has greatly increased the como fort of the labourers employed in charging and emptying the retor% by having only one row of ovens erected therein, and ventilating the house~ by forming in the wall, opposite to the fi'onts of them, wil~- dows or other openings° The workmen thu%instead of being placed between two fires, as is the case in the retort-houses, as usually con structed, here pertbrm their laborious duties in comparative comfiwto

Av_ inteliigent friend informed us recently~ that in the gas w~.)rks at Ghen*:, in Flanders, where, in consequence of the high price of coals, they were obliged to extract gas fl'om rosh~, amI had adopted Mr. Daniel's process ~br that pmpose~ the re/~orts were destroyed ia so short a time, that the expen~ses of replacin~ them wouM have been enormous. In lhis predicament~ amt ~fter f~:e(~ueng cnmplaint:a had been made to him, Mro Daniel res~Ived upon ticking Mro Lowe with him to Ghent, where they fl)und the ~kct to be as represented° On investigating ~he cause of this evil, Mr., Lowe tbtmd that the retorts were destroyed not so much by the action of the fire t~pm them~ as by the corrosion of the pyrsggneous acid, extracted fl'om the rosin, in co,vetting it into gas° Mr° Lowe provided a remedy Nr thin mlscmef, m the emi?Ioyment of lime to neutralize the acid.

The same friend also mentioned, fha~ ht had seen at the work- ~hops of a ma~auib.e~rcr of ~'as Ianterns~ in London~ the head of several which l~ad beei~. ('orro~ied so nearly through~ by flit act i~ of

0~ a~ effectualcure.for Smoky Uhimnies. 29

the sulphuric acid and water upon them~ which is extricated in the combustion of the ordinary coal gas, that the fin~er could be uassed Chrnugh them withthe g~eatestease; and this effect had be¢:n pro: Auced in a very short space of time. The Editor~ on calling upon ~he manut:actut:er to ascertain the fac~. found it t0 be as stated ; ~he iron being chi~;Ierted into rust~ and nothing !eft butthe outwardc6a¢ eft!n, and the paint with which it had been Covered. . . . . . . .

Ihe foreman stated that this was a very common occurrence, and was entirely caused by the maker of the lanterns neglecting to paint *he inside as well as the outside of the covers with oiI-paint~ and which, his employer constantly made it a point of doing, not only on first sending them out of his manuihctory, but he also periodically renewed the painting afterwards~ and that in this way, and by thi~ cheap and simple expedient~ the lanterns were made to endure for a considerable length of time. [ Tech. Rap.

Or, an effectual cure for Smoky Chimnies. .By Mr. S. MortDA~.

M~. MOaDAN, the patentee of the ever-pointed pencils, showed the Editor lately his contrivance for preventing his kitchen chimney from smoking, and also ibr quickly exciting his fire~ without the ai~l of bellows.

t{~s fire-place, like many others, had a wide open chimney to it, and was continually annoyinghis family by smoking. He determinecl~ • aeremre, to contract ~he throat of his chimney in the following judicious manner:--He caused the entire opening at the bottom or throat of lhe chimney to be closed up, with the exception of an up- right flue, just above the top of the grate~ about a foot wide and high~ and which led into tile chimney. To the face of this flue he aunlied

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a square flat frame of wrou~,ht-lron, hawng upright grooves ma~le on each side of it, in which a sort of hood, made of sheet-iron, could slide up and dawn. This hood is open behind~ and projects about a foot square in front of the chimney back, over the fire-plac~ or grate, and is sloped off at its top~ towards the back of the chimney~ and it has a handle in the front of it to raise and lower it by.

When the hood is elevated, it serves to guide the smoke and heated air into the upright opening leading into the chimney, its sides being closed to fit the upright back of the fire-place~ and the fire then burns in the usual n~anner, but the chimney never smokes. When, however, he wishes to excite the fire at any time, he lowers the hood until its bottom nearly reaches down to the tops of the cheeks, or two keepers of the grate, and the fire, by the draught ~hus caused, instantly revives. In addition to this hood, he likewise

ccasionally l~angs upon Iedges,formed ul~on each side of it; an appen~ ge made oi sheet-~ron~ which lengthens it so that its sides fit close

upon the tops of the keepers~ and thus the air can only gain access ~:o the fire ti~rough the f~oat and bottom bars of the grate, and then, indeed, the tire burns most ~chc~nentlyo Ib