CAOUTCEOUC DRIVING BANDS.
Amongst the applications of caoutchonc which show the value of the material, has been its employment in the formation of driving bands. The material has been thus used for many years; but it has been, as is so often the case with the most obvious facts, only at a comparatively late date, that the advantage of the material has been ascertained in the almost boundless scope which it presents in size and strength. No com- bination of leather can in any degree approach to the newer ma- terial, which is, indeed, capable of a magnitude and power limited only by the need. Our attention has been attracted to some recent examples of this application which show what we mean. In the establishment of Messrs. Dodge, of St. Paul's Churchyard, we have seen a band more than a foot in width, and an inch thick, with a guaranteed breaking strain of more than 20,000 pounds. While the cost of this band was more than 60/., it was between fifty and seventy per cent cheaper than a band of the same strength made in leather. There were two other bands in the same house, still larger : the three, probably, being the largest ever made, even by makers who have already supplied bands to such an extent that the annual consumption amounts to several millions of feet.
IMPROVED ACTION FOR PIANOFORTES.
In the Spectator of March 26 of the present year we noticed Stewart's patent "Oblique Escapement Hopper." We have now to notice another improvement in the action of pianofortes, designed by the same in- genious brain. The ordinary action of an upright pianoforte consists of hopper, lever, sticker hammer, damper, damper wire, button, and locket. In his improved action, Mr. Stewart dispenses with the lever, sticker, damper wire, button, and socket. By this arrangement in the me- chanism of the instrunient, the number of pieces is considerably lessened, simplifying the action, and rendering it more effective. The friction and loss of power by the old method are entirely obviated, and the instru- ment is brought nearer in quality of tone and power of the action to the grand piano. Mr. Stewart's new arrangement, to which he has given the name of the "New Grand Action" for Boudoir pianofortes, is carried out under his superintendence by Mr. Ivory, the pianoforte maker of the Euston Road.
PORTABLE PHOTOGRAPHIC OPERATING CHAMBER.
Rouch's registered portable dark operating chamber is one of the many inventions brought into use by the progress of photography, and the desire to obtain sun pictures of landscapes, or other natural objects. When not in use the chamber is in size and form like an ordinary chest of about three feet long and two feet square, into which the whole of the apparatus re- quired on an excursion may be conveniently packed. It is so contrived that when fixed on a tripod the back, or the part nearest to the operator, falls down level with the bottom, and forms a table. In the middle of the front is a square of orange-coloured glass, and at the top is a window of the same material, through which the operator looks. - The bottom of the box is provided with a guttapercha dish to catch the water and che- mical agents, so as to prevent them from saturating the wood below ; and they are carried away by a tube passing through the bottom. Out in the front part of the bottom of the box is a alit about two inches in width and eighteen inches in length, for the reception of a rectangular indiarubber bag ; into which is placed the sensitizing bath. The box is provided with a reservoir for containing water, which, when in use, is placed on the top of the box, outside. The water is admitted into the chamber by a flexible tube, fitted with a spring clip to regulate the flow. The camera is also fixed on the top of the box or chamber, outside : it slides on a bar turning on a centre screw, which permits the camera to be adjusted to any angle. A tin box contains the chemical agents. In packing up, the squares of glass are easily removed and shutters are placed in their stead. Over all may be spread a tent sufficiently large for every purpose.
GAS BATH-BOILER.
We have more than once in these pages alluded to the improvements constantly made in utensils for cooking by gas ; the economy in many instances being remarkable—a half pound chop, for instance, being cooked for a half-farthing. Not only in the matter of cooking utensils is this improvement taking place, but in almost all domestic appliances where coal has been used, that rude material is fast giving way to gas. We need only allude to Phillips's patent gas bath-boiler and gas bath as instances. By a recent improvement, Mr. Phillips is enabled to move his bath from one room to another, and by the aid of an india- rubber tube the gas can be taken to any part of the house. The water for a fifty gallon bath is heated in a half-hour, and at a coat of two pence.
The boiler attached to the bath is about three feet six inches in height, and eighteen inches in diameter, surmounted on the to with a cap, and it is altogether a very ornamental affair. The lower half of this boiler contains the water for the bath, which is heated by a patent gas burner below. The upper part is constructed for heating, warming, or drying linen. Formerly the upper or drying part of the boiler bad a chamber of water around it, as in the case of the funnels of the Great Eastern. Whether the accident on board that ship taught Mr. Phillips a lesson we do not know ; suffice it to say, he has dispensed with the casing, and now dries the linen by the heat of the water used for the bath. The boiler being bronzed, and the bath grained or otherwise painted, it is not unsightly in appearance.
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