Recent Patented Improvements

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The following inventions have been patented this week, as will be found by referring to our List of Claims :— Gas Retort.—This invention consists in combining with an ordinary horizontal gas retort, a secondary retort, arranged horizontally above the ordinary retort, which for distinction may be termed the main retort, in such I a manner that both are exposed on all parts j of their exterior to the heat of the furnace, I the two being connected at their rear ends, and the secondary retort connecting at the front wid with the stand pipe, which has no direct connection with the main retort. The ; object of this improvement is, that the greater I proportion of the tarry vapors escaping from I the main retort may be decomposed and con-I verted into permanent gas in the secondary I one, and hence that more gas and less tar ^ may be produced. An escape pipe is also employed in connection with the secondary re-j tort, arranged below where the stand-pipe I connects with it, and it is provided with a cock which is to be opened from time to time to I draw off any tar that may accumulate in the secondary retort below the stand-pipe. The invention further consists, when the ordinary I horizontal gas retort is to be employed, wholly ; or in part, in the manufacture of rosin gas or I oil gas, in a certain mode of attaching the pipe through which the rosin or oil is fed to the retort to the ordinary movable head, which enables the common coal gas retort to be adapted readily to the manufacture of rosin or oil gas without any danger of burning the feed pipe, and enables the feed pipe to be detached from the retort with the head, so that the pipe may off er no obstacle to the cleaning of the retort. W. A. Simonds, of Chelsea, Mass., is the patentee. Carriage Brake.—This brake is intended f or vehicles which are drawn by horses, and the invention consists in having the draught poles and shafts of vehicles so arranged that a certain degree of longitudinal play or movement is allowed them, the back ends of the poles or shafts being attached to levers which have shoes at their ends ; the parts being placed in such relation to each other that the shoe3 are pressed against the wheels as the speed of the horses is checked, or as the horses are " backed," and the brake is therefore self-acting. G. L. Dickson, of Carbon-dale, Pa., is the patentee. Saddle Tree.—F. P. Ambler, Jr., of Trumbull, Conn., has invented an improved construction of wooden saddle tree, whereby a raised and perf ectly f ormed seat is obtained, and the labor of constructing the saddle greatly expedited and facilitated, so that any mechanic, even if possessing but ordinary ability and little taste, may be able to make a good and well-proportioned saddle. f

Scientific American Magazine Vol 13 Issue 40This article was published with the title “Recent Patented Improvements” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 13 No. 40 (), p. 315
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican06121858-315a

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