+

of Watt, the condensing of steam in a separate vessel, by which the power of the steam-engine of that day may be said to have been doubled. But now for some explanation of the machine, and its probable general application. It is, then, as has before been said, very portable, not requiring more space than from three to four feet, and may be worked by steam or water power, and when moved by the former, as was the case at the exhibition, made 650 blows or impressions per minute; but from their very quick succession, and the work being effected by an excentric pressing down, not striking the hammer or swage, not the least noise was heard. There are five or six sets of what may be called anvils and swages in the machine, each varying in size. The speed and correctness with which the machine completes its work, is perfectly astonishing, and must be seen in order that its capabilities in this respect may be duly appreciated; for instance, when it was put into motion for the purpose of producing what is known as a roller, with a coupling square upon it, (and which had to be afterwards turned and fluted,) the thing was accomplished in fifty seconds! of course at one heat, to the astonishment of the bystanders. But what appeared as the most extraordinary part of the affair, was, that the coupling square was produced direct from the machine, so mathematically correct, that no labour can make it more The machine will perform the labour of three men and their assistants or strikers, and not only so, but complete its work in a vastly superior manner to that executed by manual labour. For engineers, machine-makers, smiths in general, file-makers, bolt and screw makers, or for any description of work parallel or taper, it is most specially adapted; and for what is technically known as reducing, it cannot possibly have a successful competitor--in proof of which it may be stated, that a piece of round iron 13%, inch in diameter, was reduced to a square of in., 2 ft. 5 in. long, at one heat. The merit of this invention belongs, it is said, to a gentleman at Bolton, of the name of Ryder.

1

LIST OF NEW PATENTS.

Charles Frederick Guitard, of Birchin-laue, notary public, for certain improvements in the construction of railways. August 31; six months,

Charles Tatcher, of Midsomer Norton, Somerset, brewer, and Thomas Tatcher, of Kilmersdon, in the said county, builder, for certain improvements in drags or breaks to be applied to the wheels of carriages generally. August 31; six months.

Robert Hazard, of Clifton, near Bristol, for improvements in ventilating carriages and cabins of steam-boats. September 3; six months.

William Roche, of Prince's-end, Stafford, mechanic and engineer, for improvements in the manufacture of mineral colours. Septem. ber 3; six months.

William Warburton, of Oxford street, gentleman, for improvements in the construction of carriages and apparatus for retarding the progress of the same. September 8; six months.

John Wordsworth Robson, of Jamaica-terrace, Commercial-road, engineer, for certain improvements in machinery and apparatus for raising, forcing, conveying, and drawing off liquids. September 8; six months.

James Insole, of Birmingham, saddlers' iron-monger, for improvements in the manufacture of brushes. September 8; six months. Joseph Henry Tuck, of Francis-place, New North-road, engineer, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for making or manufacturing candles. September 8; six months.

William Edward Newton, of Chancery-lane, civil engineer, for improvements in machinery or apparatus for making or manufacturing screws, screw-blanks, and rivets. September 8; six months.

Herbert George James, of Great Tower-street, merchant, for certain improvements in machines or apparatus for weighing various kinds of articles or goods. September 8; six months.

William Fothergill Cooke, of Copthall-buildings, Esq., for improvements in apparatus for transmitting electricity between distant places, which improvements can be applied, amongst other purposes, to apparatus for giving signals and sounding alarums at distant places by means of electric currents. September 8; six months.

Thomas Thirlwall, of Low Felling, Durham, engine-builder, for certain improvements in lubricating the piston-rods of steam-engines, and of other machinery. September 8; six months.

William Crofts, of New Radford, Nottingham, lace machine-inaker, for improvements in the manufacture of figured or ornamental lace. September 8; six months.

Thomas Marsden, of Salford, Lancaster, machine maker, and Solomon Robinson of the same place, flax-dresser, for improvements in machinery for dressing or hackling flax and hemp. September 8; six months.

James Walker, jun., of Goole, York, coal-factor, for certain improvements in propelling vessels. September 9; six months.

John Rolt, of Great Cumberland place, colonel in Her Majesty's army, for certain improvements in saddles. September 15; six months.

Frederick Bowles, of Moorgate-street, London, for a new method by machinery of preparing flour from all kinds of grain and potatoes, for making starch, bread, biscuits, and pastry. September 15; six months.

Christopher Nickels, of York-road, Lambeth, gentleman, and Caleb Bedells, of Leicester, manufacturer, for improvements in fabrics produced by lace machinery. September 15; six months.

William Henry James, of Martin's-lane, London, civil engineer, for certain improvements in railways and carriage-ways, rail-way and other carriages, and in the mode of propelling the said carriages, parts of which improvements are applicable to the reduction of friction in other machines. September 16; six months.

John Sanders, William Williams, Samuel Lawrence Taylor, and William Armstrong, all of Bedford, agricultural implement makers, and Evan William David, of Cardiff, for improvements in machinery for ploughing, harrowing, and raking land, and for cutting food for animals. September 22; six months.

Patrick Stead, of Halesworth, Suffolk, maltster, for improvements in the manufacture of malt. September 22; six months.

John Juckes, of Putney, gentleman, for improvements in furnaces. September 22; six months.

PERMITTED TO BE PRINTED,

St. Petersburg, November 15th, 1842.

P. KORSAKOFF, CENSOR.

Printed at the Office of the Journal de St. Pétersbourg.

་་

AMERICAN NOTES FOR GENERAL CIRCULATION.

BY CHARLES DICKENS.

2 vols. Chapman & Hall. 1842.

(Second Notice.)

The travelling sketches we last week presented to our readers were perhaps less lively than those we are now about to exhibit.

Mr. Dickens describes one of his cross-country journeys as not unlike an ascent to the top of St. Paul's in an omnibus. We must allow him to make good this whimsical assertion, by a sketch on a Virginia road :

:

«Soon after nine o'clock we come to Potomac Creek, where we are to land and then comes the oddest part of the journey. Seven stage-coaches are preparing to carry us on. Some of them are ready, some of them are not ready. Some of the drivers are blacks, some whites. There are four horses to each coach, and all the horses, harnessed or unharnessed, are there. The passengers are getting out of the steam-boat, and into the coaches; the luggage is being transferred in noisy wheelbarrows; the horses are frightened

VOL. IV.

49

and impatient to start; the black drivers are chattering to them like so many monkeys; and the white ones whooping like so many drovers for the main thing to be done in all kinds of hostlering here, is to make as much noise as possible. The coaches are something like the French coaches, but not nearly so good. In lieu of springs, they are hung on bands of the strongest leather. There is very little choice or difference between them; and they may be likened to the car portion of the swings at an English fair, roofed, put upon axle-trees and wheels, and curtained with painted canvas. They are covered with mud from the roof to the wheel-tire, and have never been cleaned since they were first built. The tickets we have received on board the steamboat are marked No. 1, so we belong to coach No. 1. I throw my coat on the box, and hoist my wife and her maid into the inside. It has only one step, and that being about a yard from the ground, is usually approached by a chair: when there is no chair, ladies trust in Providence. The coach holds nine inside, having a seat across from door to door, where we in England put our legs; so that there is only one feat more difficult in the performance than getting in, and that is, getting out again. There is only one outside passenger, and he sits upon the box. As I am that one, I climb up; and while they are strapping the luggage on the roof, and heaping it into a kind of tray behind, have a good opportunity of looking at the driver. He is a negro-very black indeed. He is dressed in a coarse pepper and salt suit, excessively patched and darued (particularly at the knees), grey stockings, enormous unblacked high-low shoes, and very short trousers. has two odd gloves: one of party-coloured worsted, and one of leather. He has a very short whip, broken in the middle and bandaged up with string. And yet he wears a low-crowned, broadbrimmed, black hat: faintly shadowing forth a kind of insane imitation of an English coachman! But somebody in authority cries 'Go ahead!' as I am making these observations. The mail takes the lead in a four-horse wagon, and all the coaches follow in procession: headed by No. 1. By the way, whenever an Englishman would cryAll right!' an American cries Go ahead!' which is somewhat expressive of the national character of the two countries. The first half mile of the road is over bridges made of loose planks laid across two parallel poles, which tilt up as the wheels roll over then; and in the river. The river has a clayey bottom and is full of holes, so that half a horse is constantly disappearing unexpectedly and can't be found again for some time. But we get past even this, and come to the road itself, which is a series of alternate swamps and gravel-pits. A tremendous place is close before us, the black

He