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By the Commissioner of Patents. star and petton w. farmer.--electric light. In the interference between the application of Moses G. Farmer, flled October 11, 1881, and the application of Starr and Peyton, flled January 9,1883, Held that. Starr and Pey-ton having failed to sh(jw any invention prior to the time when Farmer had matured his right to the patent by duly flling an application in the United States Patent OfBce in accordance with the law, Farmer is adjudged the prior inventor. When an inventor has duly flled an application for a patent, exhibiting by means of drawings, models, and written descriptions the nature and scope ofa hitherto unknown invention, and has made oaththat the said invention is original with himself, and that to the best of his knowledge and belief he is the flrst inventor tliereof, he has perfected his right to a patent, and one who would then seek to arrest the issue of such patent on the ground that he has a prior right to the invention must show that he had before that time matured his right to the invention, or that he had before that time an inchoate right, which has since been perfected, so as to relate back to a time anterior to such application. The flling of an application under the formalities prescribed by the patent law is in itself visible proof of the existence of the things or inventions therein shown and described, and when accompanied by the oath that the applicant isthe true and original inventor of such invention r discovery is prima faeie proof that such applicant is entitled to a patent for such invention. It is not a valid defense to a patent granted in compliance with the forms of law to show that the invention has never been reduced to practice. Scale of Hardness for tHetals. GoUner gives the following numerical scale for the hardness of metals, ranging over 18 degrees: Pure soft lead.............................................. 1. Pure tin.................................................. 3. Pure liard lead..............................................3. Soft tempered copper....................................... 4. Pure soft copper (cast)......................................5. Soft Babbitt metal (having copper 85, tin 10, zinc 5)............ 6. Tempered cast iron........................................... 7. Fibrous wrought iron...................................... 8. Flne grained, light gray cast iron........................... 9. Strengthened cast hon (0-1 turnings).....................10. Soft iron (with 0'15 of carbon) ............................... 11. Untempered steel (with 0'45 carbon).......................12. " (with 0-96 carbon)...........................13. Crucible steel, tempered and drawn to blue..............14. " " " drawn violet or orange..........IS. " " " drawn straw color...............16. Hard bronze for bearings.................................17. Cast crucible steel of glassy hardness.........................18. Pointed cylinders are made from each of the metals of this Scale, and these points are used for testing the hardness of other metals. In making the trial they are weighted with 11 pounds for example, and drawn over the polished surface of the other metal a certain number of times, say six.-- Teehn. Blaetter. An Athletic Electrician. Mr. Hiram S. Maxim, of New York, the well known elec trician, was robbed by two thieves on a night train near Dieppe, France, in 1881. Mr. Maxim bas kept a lookout for the robbers, and on the evening of June 5 he discovered them at Eouen. One of them escaped on an outgoing train, but Mr. Maxim chased and caught tbe otherasbewas about to board the moving train. Together the struggling men were carried into a tunnel, Mr. Maxim clinging with one arm to the car, his hand through a window, and holding tbe thief with the other hand. The struggle attracted attention, the train was stopi)ed, and Mr. Maxim took his prisoner to the Station and delivered him to the authorities. Mr. Maxim Said: "On the way to the police Station the prisoner conversed freely with me, and said that if 1 would refrain from accusing him he would ref und my money and payall expenses I had been put to. I told him that it was not a question of money with me, but a matter of principle. Upon being taken before the Chief of Police he pleaded guilty, and will probably soon be brought to Paris for sen-tence." Cocoa and Cbocolate. M. Boussingault, a member of tbe French Institute, contributes an interesting paper on cocoa and cbocolate to the Annales de Physique et de Chimie, of which the following forms a part. The cocoa tree flourisbes in the warm countries of America, but at the time of the conquest it was cultivated only in Mexico, Guatemala,and Nicaragua,where the inhabi-tants were of Toltec and Aztec origin. It was from these localities, under the reign of Montezuma, that the Spaniards transplanted this tree to the shores of the Canaries and the Philippine Islands, and thence to Venezuela and into the Antilles. A drink called "chocolatl," which was in general use there, was made from the seeds of tbe fruit reduced to a paste. It is a fact well known to planters that it is necessary, as far as possible, to plant the cocoa tree on a virgin soil; a blunder has frequently been committed by doing otherwise. This tree requires a rieh, deep, and moist soil, and warm weather. Nothing is more inviting than a cleared forest, having a slope that permits of Irrigation. But all the important plantations present a common aspect; they are met with in warm, sheltered regions, at a short distance from the sea, ornear a torrent on thebanks of a river. The cultivation of the cocoa tree ceases to be profitable when the mean temperature falls to 34 C. (75 Fabr.). The tree rarely blooms before the age of thirty months. The planters pluck these first flowsrs and do not let them bear fruit until the fourth year, and that under the most favorable climatic influence, when the mean temperature is from 37 to 38 C. (80 to 83 Fabr.). The blossem is very small, and out of all proportion to the size of the fruit. I measured one bud that was only 4 mm. (onesixth inch) long. The flesh colored corolla had ten petals surrounding flve stamens of a silver whiteness. They are not isolated, but collected inbouquets, surrounding the trank at all heights, and on the priucipal branches; they are even seen on the woody roots that creep on the surface of the ground. The interval from the time the flowers fall until the fruit matures is about four months. The fruit is long and slightly curved, being divided into flve lobes. Its length is nearly ten inches, its greatest diameter near the point of attachment is three to four inches, and it weighs ten to sixteen ounces. The color varies from greenish white to a reddish violet; the pericarp is furrowed by longitudinal ribs. Within the flesh or pulp is white, pink, and tart; itusually contains twenty-flve kernels, which are white and oily, and when dry have a brown color on the surface. There are two priucipal harvests in a year, but in a large grove they are gathered every day, and it is not uncommon to see a tree bearing both flowers and fruit at the same time. After breaking the shell the seeds are removed withapieceof wood rounded atone end, and then exposed (o the sun; in the evening they are collected in a heap under a shed. It is manifest that an active fermentation is going on which would prove injurious if allowed to increase, because the fresh cocoa when heaped up heats very mucb; so in tbe morning "Oiey are spread out again in the air. The cultivation of the cocoa tree requires but few men, for one man can take care of a thousand trees. What they dread the most are the sudden changes, even in favorable weather; if there comes a shower, the fruit falls off, but the priucipal occupation of the majordomo is to defend the fruit against ravages of animals (monkeys, deer, and parrots). The genus of the cocoa Theobroma) belongs to the family of the Butyriaam; it embraces several species, the most important of which is the Theotiroma caeao, tbe characters of which vary aceording to the province. Cocoa is decorticated by roastiog at a gentle heat. In the roasting Operation this bean, like the coffee, acquires a peculiar odor due to an inflnitesimal quantity of a volatile principle. To this the cbocolate owes its aroma. Tbe cocoa-bean is rieh in nutritive principles; besides a large quantity of fatty-like butter, it contains nitrogenous substances like albumen and caseine, also theobromine, and Compounds of ternary character. These constituents necessarily vary in quantity with tbe source. The decorticated beans, when deprived of the germ, contain, aceording to M. L'Hote, in one hundred parts: Province Water. Butter. Asli. N. Albumen. Guayaquil......... 650 40-10 3-75 2-38 14-9 Martinique......... 750 41-20 2-75 3-25 14-5 uayra............ foo 35-96 4'00 2-18 13 6 Maraguan (roasted) 4-20 45-80 2-75 2-22 13-7 Caraque.......... 420 5150 40-0 2-16 13-5 (The albumen is calculated from the nitrogen in excess of that in the theobromine, the former containing sixteen per cent, the latter thirty-one per cent of nitrogen.) The cocoa bean, cleaned but not roasted, contains in oue hundred parts: Payen. Mitscherlich. Boussingault. Butter.................. 48 to 50 45 to 49 53-3 Albumen................21 to 20 13 to 18 12-9 Theobromine........... 4to3 l-2to l' 2-4 Starch and glucose...... 11 to 10 14 to 18 67 Cellulose.............. 3toa 60 9-1 Mineral suhst........... 3 to 4 3-B 4-0* Water................... 10 to 12 6-3 11-6 100--100 92-6 100 Analyses show that the principles contained in the seeds of the cocoa are as follows: Fatty matter, butter, albumen, theobromine, starch, glucoae, gum, cellulose, tartaric acid free ov goinbined, j tannin, mineral substances (phosphoric acid, potash, lime, magnesia, silica, traces of iron). Cocoa beans, when decorticated, slightly roasted, and separated from the germs by culling, are the base of cbocolate, the use of which is so widespread at the present day. It is not necessary to describe its preparation. Suflce it to say that it is obtained by grinding between cylinders kept at a certain temperature a mixture of cocoa beans from different sources of the aromatic varieties, and more or less unctuous. When the mass is sufBciently softened, sugar is gradually introduced in such a manner as to maintain the softness of the material. The grinding is accomplished by means of cylinders or cones revolving at different velocities on a granite platform; tbe paste is then made to fall into tin moulds. The sugar added to the cocoa increases the nutritive quality of the mixture; it is evidently one of the most prompt reparative aliments. The Mexicans prepare a pdte of cocoa which they call chocolatl, in which they put a little corn flour, somevanilla, and allspice. P. Gill asserts, on the authority of a passage in the Monarqnia Indiana, published by Torquemada, that tbe Aztecs made the Infusion of chocolatl with cold water. Even in the sixteenth Century travelers differed greatly in their opinions regarding this substance. Acosta thought its value had been overestimated. Humboldt remarked that this opinion reminded him of the pre-diction made about the use of coffee. On the other hand, Fernando Cortes perhaps exaggerated its value; after drink-ing a cup of it he wrote that a person could make a journey without any other nourishment. Nevertheless, I will admit that in an expedition to a great distance, where it is im-peratively necessary to reduce the weight of the rations, cbocolate offers undeniable advantages, as 1 have frequently had occasion to notice. In France the new beverage had its Partisans and enemies. It is known that Mme. De Sevigne, in a letter ad-dressed to her daughter, said: ''I have been try ing to ac-custommyself to the use of chocolate; day before yesterday I took it to help digest my dinner, and at the end of a good supper, and yesterday I took it for nourishment, so as to enable me to fast tili evening, and it accomplished everything I desired, and besides that I found it agreeable, and it acts as intended." Chocolate possesses one essential quality in that it contains a very large proportion of nutritive matter in a small volume. Humboldt recalls what has been said with reason, that in Africa rice, gum, and butter enable men to cross the desert; he adds that in the New World chocolate and corn meal render the plateaus ofthe Andes and the vast uuin-babited forests accessible to man. The manufacture of chocolate has made great progress in Europe. In examining the products of the priucipal establishments we arrive at this conclusion--that, when properly prepared, chocolate contains nothing but cocoa and sugar. (The author here gives analyses made in the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers of the different chocolates made in Paris and in Spain.) It is well known that the amount of sugar varies. The cocoas of Soconusco and Caracas are the most highly esteemed; that of Guayaquil is much in demand on account of its lower price and good quality when carefully preserved. Tbe development of the chocolate industry in France can be seen in a document of M. Marie, which shows that the importation in 1860 was 10,354,517 Ib., and in 1881 it had reached 36,798,745. In its combination of albumen, fat, and sugar and the presence of phosphates, cocoa and chocolate resemble milk, the type, aceording to Proust, of the whole diet that nour-ishes and sustains man. The emulsion of chocolate necessarily varies in consistence aceording to the volume of water used in preparing it. They generally take flve times the weight of the chocolate, and that is the proportion used for assay. Hence 579 grains of the cake chocolate would yield 3,430 grains of emulsion, in which are contained: Albumen............................................80 grains. Butter.................................................140 Sugar............................................320 Salts, Phosphates, etc................................. 10 " 500 In 3,430 grains of cow's milk there are contained: Albumen............................................ .136 grains. Butter................................................150 " Milk sugar..........................................150 " Salts, Phosphates, etc................... ............ 2T 463 It wnibe seen that milt Isrlcher In nitrogenous matter;-it contaiDS less sugar, and butter in the same proportion. A chocolate in which there is less sugar gives a beverage that approaches milk in composition. In all the chocolates analyzed the weight of the sugar was equal to and sometimes greater than that of the cocoa. The large proportion of sugar necessarily diminishes the nutritive value of the products. But in Central America, when they organize a river expedition or traverse the forests, they prepare chocolate for provision with eighty parts of cocoa to twenty of ^p^rse sugar, the composition l)Cing as follo-ffs; Sugar........................................................200 Butter ........'................,......................410 Albumen....................................................100 Phosphates and salts..............................,.......... 30 Other matter............................................260 l Each man receives sixty grammes (two oz.) of this chocolate per day, in which there are twelve grammes of sugar, twenty-six grammes of butter, and six of albumen. It is a useful addition to the ration formed of beef slightly salted and dried in the air (tasajo), of rice, of corn biscuit, or of cassava muflns. We will close with certain remarks made about chocolate at the International Exhibition of Great Britain. It has been remarked that when man reaches a certain State of civilization he frequently associates with the vegetable food that sustains him some fermented beverage. Wine taken in proper quantity favors the digestion of these aliments, excites the memory, exalts the Imagination, and develops a sentiment of ease and comfort without giving rise tothat grievous reaction frequentlyoccasionedby the abuse of alcoholic liquors. It is a curious fact that different races of men separated by long distances andnever having had any communication with each other, prepare stimulating drinks from certaiu plants--tea in China, mate in Paraguay, cocoa in Mexico, and Cocain Peru; using at one time the leaves, at another the seeds of plants that-have no botanical resemblance, but, in spite of this difference, exert the same eect upon the nervous system and ou digestion. In fact, there are substances in these plants that have the Constitution of alkaloids and are endowed with similar properties. In tbe leaves of tea and of mate and in tlie seeds of coffee it is caffeine; in the leaves of coca is is coceine; and in the seeds of cocoa it is theobromine. But the Chinese, the Arabs, the indians of Paraguay, the Incas, and the Aztecs were all under the influence of the same agent when they took their habitual drink, which custom is so widespread among all nations. The infusions of tea, mate, coffee, and coca are not, of course, to be considered as food. The amount of solid matter in them is very slight, and their effects are due only to their alkaloids. This is not true of chocolate, which is at the same time a complete food and an active excitant, since it approaches in composition that model food, the milk. In fact, we have seen that in cocoa there is some leguminous, some albumen, associated with fat, a mylaceous matter, and sugar to sustain respiratory combustion, and flnally phosphates, which are the basis of the bones, and then--what milk does not have-- theobromine and a dellcate aroma. Eoasted, ground, aud mixed witb sugar, cocoa becomes chocolate, the nutritive properties of which astonished the Spanish soMier that in-vaded Mexico. Varnish for Fonndry Patterns and Machinery. A varnish has been patented in Germany for tbe above purpose, which, it is claimed, (we do not know how justly), dries as soon as put on, gives the patterns a smooth surface, thus insuring an easy slip out of the mould, and which prevents the pattern from warping, shrinking, or welling, and is quite impervious to moisture. This varnish is prepared in the following manner: 30 Ib. of sbellac, 101b. Manila copal, and 10 Ib. of Zanzibar copal are placed in a vessel, which is heated externally by steam, and stirred during four to six hours, after which 150 parts ol the flnest potato spirit are added, and the whole heated during four hours to 87 C. This liquid is dyed by the addition of Drange color, and can then be Used for painting the patterns. When used for painting and glazing machinery, it consists of 35 Ib. of sbellac, 5 Ib. of Manila copal, 10 Ib. of Zanzibar copal, and 150 Ib. of spirit. Pnrlflcatlon of Petroleum Benzin. The disagreeable odor of petroleum benzin is, aceording to the experiments of Fred. Grazer, not removed by per-3olation through wood or animal charcoal, or by treatment with carbonate of sodium or lead carbonate. Agitation with potassium plumbate removed a portion of the odor, but satisfactory results were obtained by using two ounces of potassium bichromate, twelve ounces of water and three Dunces of sulphuric acid, and when cool agitating with this i pint of benzin; flnally, washing with water, is necessary. A very useful method for disguising the remaining odor is to shake the product with a portion of cologne water aad ctting aside for two or three weeks, when it may be de-3anted; the odor of the perfume will predominate.--Proc. Oal. Pliar. 8oe. SelntlUatlon of Stars. M. Ch. Montigny, observing for many years at Brssels, has noticed, as previous observers have done, that the scin-jllation of stars is much increased during the oecurrence of m aurora. He has noticed, further, that every aurora pro-Juces immediately its effects upon the scintillation, that stars in the north are most affected, and thal the influence ot the Dhenomenon is most marked for the stars which are observed icross the upper regions of the air. Magnetic disturbances dso, even when accompanied by no aurora visible at Brssels, ncrease tbe scintillation to a marked extent. On two occa lions during July, 1881, the effect of magnetic disturbances vas observed with no aurora visible in Brssels, or even, so ar as can be learned, in any part of Den mark. Cementing Belts. An ordinary cement for leather belting is wheat flour boiled in oil of turpentine; but tbe ends must be secured by rivets or it is not reliable. The MiUng Wm-ld is our authority for saying that a better cement is made by soaking six ounces best glue in one pint of ale, then boil, add one and a half ouuces of boiled linseed oil, and stir well. Another pre-scription is to take dissolved glue in tbe form as the cabinet makers use it, and add tannic acid tili creamy and ropy. Make the leather surfaces to be uniied rough, apply the cement hot, let it cool and dry under pressure, and it will not need riveting, For rubber belting, take pure rubber in thin slices, two punces, dissolve in one pound bisulphide of carbon; this is a good cement, but if kept thickens very soon. In order to prevent this, add a Solution of pure rubber, resin, and oil of turpentine, made thus: Melt one ounce of rubber, add balf an ounce of powdered resin; wheti melted, add gradually three or four ounces of turpentine and stir well. When the two Solutions ate united, the hardening of the Compound is prevented, and a cement obtained especially adapted for gluing rubber surfaces together. Zinc Coating for Iron. Attention has recently again been drawn to MM. Neugean and Delaite's process of protecting iron surfaces against rust. A very fine powder of metallic zinc is mixed with oil and a siccafive, and applied to the iron by means of an ordinary brush. In many cases one coat is sufHcient; two coats are at any rate guaranteed to secure a protection against tho corrosive action of the atmosphere as well as of sea water. Tbe zinc coating gives the iron a steel gray appearance, and it does not interfere with subsequent painting. MM. Neu-gean and Delaite received a diploma at the Paris Electric Exhlbition of 1881, and now recommend their process for iron structures, bridges, lamp posts, etc., and also for iron ships. If tbis process really affords the protection it Claims, nothing need be said in recommendation of it, since it can hardly be surpassed in simplicity and cheapness, and is capable of application in cases where galvanizing, the Bower-Barfte,and similar processes, would hardly be practicable. A good mixture, of which only the necessary quantity ought to be prepared, consists of 8 parts by weight of zinc, 71 of oil, and 3 of associative.
