Page:Scientific American - Series 1 - Volume 009 - Issue 50.pdf/1

 THE ADVOCATE OF INDUSTRY, AND JOURNAL OF

SCIENTIFIC, MECHANICAL AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS. [NUMBER 50.

VOLUME IX.]

SOIENTIFIO AMERIOAN, At 128 Fulton street, N. Y. (Sun BY MUNII .. CO. PlJIILISlIIID WDKLl'.

I'D

NEW-YORK AUGUST 26, 1854. PICKING AND CLEANING FLAX.

l'ederhen .t 00., jJ s to Btokes & Bro. Oook. Kinney.t 00.,

Oincinnatl.O Md. also be found In all the prin. cipal oities and town. in the United State�. �.'EltM8-ta 8�year :-.1 In advance and the remain der In six month�� H. Taylor. Baltimore, Responsible Agent. may

8. G. Courtenay. Oharleston,

Xu11f:aoC:%J'6'n ..[.sINfoprf. S.W. Peas��

Franoisco.

o n. . PniladelphlA. San

A g e n t ��

Buildings.)

Dexter.t Br. B. Dawson. Montreal, O.E M. Boullemet, Mobile, Ala

o New York

E. W. Wiley. New Orleans

The

CaUrornia Snake BIrd.

Cd.lifornia," says, that in the coast counties of Southern California there exists a singular spe

his " Familiar Sketches of the Natural History of

Alexander S. Taylor, of Monterey, in

his well known mortal aversion to all members of the snake tribe, the " snake bird." like the gallinacia. tip of its beak. not a bird of prey, but lives entirely on grain,

cies of bird, generally called, on account of It is

sures two feet from the end of its tail to the The tail has four or five long Its feet are fur feathers tipped with white.

When full grown, it mea

nished with four toes, two in front and two be like claws. of a pound.

hind, and all are guarded with sharp, needle The color of the bird is a mottled, Its beak is two and a half inches On the 14th of last February a patent was ed for the seed, and which our farmer3 unwise- These latter, b b, extend the whole width of issued to A. H. Caryl, of Sandusky, Ohio, for 1,., for want of proper machinery, have hereto- the frame and are covered with coarse cards, the improvements in machinery for Dressing fore generally snffered to rot in the barn yard. the teeth of which are hooked towards the Flax, represented by the accompanying engra For the table, B, an endless revolving apron is fluted rolls (cont-ary to the mode represented yellowish gray, and it rarely attains the weight

l ong, and very hard and sharp. When this bird finds a rattlesnake-and rat tlesnakes are to be found in great numbers in Southern California, wherever the ground is covered by the cactus plant-it immediately proceeds, with the greatest caution and des patch, to gather the fallen cactus fruit and dry lobes, and quietly enclose him in to the hight of a foot or more-the spikes and lipines of the plant, strong and sharp as needles, serving as an insurmountable barrier to the escape of the snake. This being accomplished, the bird gathers with its feet and claws the young cones of the pine, which are as hard and heavy as stones, and hovering over its enemy, lets them fall, one by one, from a hight. of five or six feet, upon the infuriated viper, who, surround ed by prickles and points wherever he turns, is soon fully aroused to the danger of his po sition. The bird, with malicious screams, con tinues to drop cone after cone, until his foe is exhausted, and then picks the snake to death with ita iron beak. French Exhibillon.

figure 2 a vert1cal longitudinal section. and cleaning tangled flax straw.

vings, of which figure 1 is a perspective, and used on the working machines ; a a a are fluted by a mistake on the model, from which the breaking rollers, to which the straw is carried draughtsman made the drawings) to prevent The object of this machine is for breaking The ma by the apron, B. These rollers have their bearing boxes resting on springs so as to ac- picker cylinder, C. ties of the straw, which is well broken-that is Between

out the breaker for cleaning scutched tow, the

chines now in use are of two kinds ; one with commodate their pressure to unequal quanti-

its periphery covered with section carde, as. shown, and between these there are slats or wire rods to sustain the flax. There is also a

the flax being too rapidly drawn into the large This cylinder has part of

A is a stout frame, and B a feed table for is placed a small revolving table which carries the tangled flax straw, which has been thrash- the straw from the breakers into the feeders.

the patent was granted.

breaking the straw having been added since reaches the feed card' rollers, b b.

other as here represented ; the apparatus for the heart, boon, or woody part of it, when it the breaking rollers, a, and the ones, b, there

I

stationary cover secured on the frame over the tion cards, c c, with their teeth inside. The. picker revolves in the direction shown by the picker cylinder. This cover is formed of sec

.. . -

..

M. Gardissal, our agent in Paris, writes thBt. " notwithstanding the influence of war and ap prehensions respecting the crops, immense pre parations are being made for the Exhibition. The Palais de I'Industrie is approaching its finish, and supplementary buildings are being added, 80 as to treble the showing room." We are urgently called upon to request American manufacturers to take their proper position in the Exhibition. We perceive very little spirit among our people respecting the affair, but we hope their skill and genius will be fully repre sented. Cannellon Collon Factory.

.B

In the " Scientific American " of the 29th July, there was a notice of the success of the cotton factory at Cannelton, Kentucky. should have been Cannelton, Indiana. A cor

woody matter.

card rolls, b b, and scrapes off most of the action of the brush roller, D, which thereby now in operation at Little Falls, N. of the top stationary cards, c c, by the slats or stripped or blown off the brush roller by a cross rods on its periphery. The by the picker cylinder, it is held to the action at the back end of the machine. The flax is in Painsville.

arrow and draws in: the flax through the feed over by the picker, C, this edge holds it to the clear to any person.

One of these machines is

As the flax is carried upward licks it up and carries it round to be discharged two in Ohio-one in Sandusky and the other

Y.,

and

It

respondent informs us, that upon the opposite side of the river, four miles from Cannelton, there has been a large cotton mill standing idle and for sale, for more than a year. The great success of Cannelton, Indiana-the town and manufactories-he attributes to the ilbundancf and cheapness of coal in it! immediate vicinity.

woody matter of the flax, by this carding ac blast is concentrated in the tapering hinged city, or of the patentee, in Sandusky, Ohio. tion, is separated from the fibrous part and trunk, F, and directed on the brush roller, falls down through the open slats to the pit be which revolves in an opposite direction to the .. '

,hive

or strong blast from the fan blower, E.

This tained of J. T. D aly, No. 113 Wall street, this .. . ..

More information respecting it may be ob

The Erics.on.

low ; D is a brush roller placed behind the blast. By this means the flax is stripped from The steamer Ericsson went down the Bay picker, C, and revolves as shown by the arrow. the brush and laid open and loose upon the yesterday, on another trial trip.-[N. Y. Tri with a thin edge. Below it is placed a curved spring curb, G, floor. When the flax is carried der the operation of the machine perfectly Th.! explanation of the figures will ren bune, Oh! what a change, Mr. T--.

Aug.

18th.

� 1854 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC