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New Composition for Railways and other Constructive Purposes.—Mr. Owen Williams, of Stratford, has patented a composition to be used in railways and other structures, in lieu of iron, wood, or stone, and for building purposes generally. One of these compositions consists of 180 Ibs. pitch, 4J gallons creosote, 18 Ibs. resin, 15 Ibs. sulphur, 45 Ibs. finely powdered lime, 150 Ibs. gypsum, and 27 cubic feet sand, breeze, scoria, bricks, stone or other hard materials, broken up and passed through a sieve with half-inch meshes. The sulphur is first melted with 30 Ibs, of the pitch, after which the resin, and then the remainder of the pitch is added with the lime and gypsum, by degrees, and well stirred till the mixture boils. The earthy and stony materials are then added, and the creosote mixed in, when the composition is ready for moulding into blocks, to which pressure i8 applied. The claim is the mode o1 preparing such composition, particularly the use of sulphur therein. Preparing Madder—C. A. Kurtz, chemist, of Manchester, Eng., patentee. The improvement is for treating madder roots and ground madder, or munjeet, for calico color-makers. The patentee takes 20 Ibs., of crushed malt and boils it in 100 gallons of water for half an hour; he then stops the boiling and adds 45 lbs. of wheat bran, stirring the whole together, and then nilijivs the liquor to settle. When settled the clear is run off', and to every 65 gallons of it 100 gallons of water are added, which is placed in a copper vessel and heated to 112° Fah., and to this is added 3 cwt., of madder or of munjeet (” Rubia Mun- jista"), which is stiired at intervals of 15 minutes, until a homogenous mass is produced. In this state the mass is allowed to stand until it exhibits symptoms offermentation, when they are checked by successive stirrings tor 18 hours. This prepared madder is then filtered, pressed, dried, and ground, and packed away for use like garancine. To Prevent Incrustations in Boilers— M. Libbald, patentee.—To prepare the compound, take one pound melted tallow, one pound of black lead, two ounces of powdered charcoal, and one gill of gas tar; these are well mixed together, and present the proportions of the scale preventative. This composition is applied while hot, with. a brush, to the inside of the boiler. It also makes a good black paint for fences, outhouses, 'c. Explosive Compounds—S. Davey, of Rouen, and A. L. Cance, of Paris, France, patentees.—The explosive compound is formed of 6 parts, by weight, ot the chlorate of potash; 5 parts of nitrate of potash ; 5 parts sulphuret ot antimony; 2 parts yellow prussiate of potash, and 2 parts bichromate of potash. A second explosive compound or powder is formed of 6 parts chlorate of potash; 3 parts nitrate of potash ; 3 parts sulphuret of antimony, and 4 parts of the prussiate of potash. Each of these ingredients is separately ground to a fine powder, and the whole ot them, when so ground, are thoroughly mixed together, when the said two compounds are fit for use. Machine for Restoring Human Hair— R. Griffiths, England, patentee.—This is a new touch in the hair restorative art, and does not consist in any of your lotions, 'c., but a real true-blue mechanical operation. It consists 01 a machine containing combs and brushes, so arranged and constructed as to produce a gal vanic current when used. The teeth of the combs are made of copper and zinc, alternately, and continued back to a chamber in the hind part of the (?.mb, in which is placed a flannel saturated with salt water as an excitant. The object of the invention is to excite an electric current when the combs or brushes are used. The brushes are made of fine copper and zinc in place of bristles.
