INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS.
The experiment at the Houses of Parliament by M. Szerehney for sili- eating the stone, so as to arrest the decay visibly spreading on the ex- ternal walls, is accepted by the authorities on the spot as successfuL An insoluble petrified substance appears to fill up the pores, sufficiently to repel heat, frost, and damp; and the stone is converted into a solid of such adamantine hardness, that no chemical agents affect it. M. Sze- relmey preserves the secret of his composition exclusively to himself, and declares that his discovery was the consequence of meteorological observa- tions during a residence in Egypt of some duration.
From the same laboratory is announced an enamel composition for the preservation of wooden and iron vessels. Dry rot, decay, fungi, worms, the soaking in of water into the wood, or seams of the ship, as well as the accumulation of bilgewater in the lower part of the hull, are thoroughly prevented ; and the Admiralty await the trial of this process on the steam- era in daily intercourse between Dover and Calais, before the composition is used on the vessels of the Royal Navy. Had we not good warrant for commending these singular discoveries, we should pronounce them secrets from sonic Rosicrucian alchemist.
The dormitories. rooms, halls, offices, and passages, of the Wellington College are lighted with gas from works erected for the exclusive use of the building, by Mr. George Wolcott, C. E. The gas-works are distant about 150 yards from the College, their arrangement is considered per- fect, making the purest gas at little cost, and almost self-acting. Though only three months were allowed for the carrying out of the works, the first lighting of the College was performed with exact punctuality on the day appointed for that purpose.
The service of lighting the New Opera Colonnade Hotel and its va- rious extensive apartments is entrusted to Defies and Son, of Hounds- ditch ; the dining-room will be fitted with their new crystal sunlight, and the colonnade itself will be furnished with lamps after the style of those in the Rue de Rivoli, Paris.
The condemnation by Professor Taylor of the deleterious substances producing the tint known among paper-hangers as emerald green, as well as the efforts of the Society of Arts to stimulate competitive ingenuity to cease the use of arsenical preparations altogether in the paper-hanging trade, have already brought their comparatively successful results. Mr. Horne, a city manufacturer, has reduced the use of theinjurious colour- _ lug matter from fifty to five per cent, and this amount is so trifling that in a properly prepared paper no ill effects could arise to the most suscep- tible constitution.
Business generally is reported as brisk with the importations from France and with continental decorations. The first class Paris manufac- turers are forwarding papers with unglazed grounds of a chaste and deli- cate tone which bid fair to supersede the satin or glazed grounds : the variety and excellence of the enamelled decorations is remarkable. The ornamentations of the Pompeian character, always favourites, are being produced by the London makers, with noticeable excellence in style, harmonious colouring, and generally finished execution. Machine made papers, owing to their economical price, are now exported to Bel- gium and other continental districts formerly supplied by France: while block or hand made papers retain the favour, of the public at home, and appear from their variety to be in increasing request, especially in the metropolis.
It is well known that the supply of rags keeps no pace with the in- creasing demand for paper, and that by nothing but the discovery of some new material can this alarming deficiency be made good. Mr. Houghton's patent process for converting -crude vegetable matter into paper-maker's pulp seems likely to accomplish the desired end. This process, as we saw it exhibited on Tuesday at Mr. Perkins's factory, near Gray's Inn Lane, is exceedingly simple. It comprises only a single .operation—that of digesting the vegetable substance in caustic alkali at the temperature of 378° F., by which means the fibres are separated from each other, all other kinds of matter being completely dissolved away from around and between them. Any dry vegetable substance which is rich in fibre, such as wood-shavings, may be thus treated; but what the patentee prefers is inferior flax straw costing 508. a ton, or better still, waste flax, the refuse of the scutching-mills, which may be had at a mere nominal price, for the custom is to burn it, as totally use- less. About two tons and a half of this material yield one ton of paper. We saw a sample of it reduced by Mr. Houghton's process to a pulp, technically called "half-stuff" which was identical in character with that produced from the best linen rags costing 301. a ton in the bale, and 101. a ton for converting into half-stuff. The working of Mr. Hough- ton's process is very inexpensive, the- principal item of cost being the caustic alkali, only 10 per cent of which is lost on each boiling, the re- mainder being as serviceable as ever for subsequent operations.
We bring to notice Hazard's patent oscillating reclining easy chair. From its extreme simplicity, it can be regulated to the angle of the back or seat by the person sitting in it, so as to suit invalids of all ages. The mechanism consists of an iron rod with a ratchet passing under the chair, which is pushed in or out to obtain the required angle : for invalids, this bar is so adjusted as to meet a perpendicular brass or iron rod at the elbow of the chair, which has only to be pressed or raised according as the patient wishes the chair lifted up or lowered. It can be made into an excellent nursing chair. Other adaptations of this patent are made applicable for the use of ladies, and it is so put together as to be shut up and readily put in a box or trunk. • The proprietor claims for his patent cheapness and durability in the article, and that the workman as well as his rich neighbour may have a really easy chair.
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