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The above is one of the material disadvantages in steam boilers, to obviate which an improved apparatus has been lately invented by Samuel B. Howd, of Syracuse, N. Y., who has taken measures to secure a patent. This invention is intended to keep the boiler clear from sediment and mud, an accumulation of which, as every one knows, is exceedingly detrimental to its efficiency. The idea followed out in this plan is to excite a continual circulating current, which will carry the mud into a receptacle, whence it can be withdrawn at will. The manner in which this end is attained is to allow no communication between the water chamber and the steam chamber, except through a cylinder, so that when the boiler is in operation the water chamber and cylinder, will be filled with water and the constant upward current caused by the steam rising through the water, will enable the latter to flow over the cylinder into the steam chamber, in which the level will be always below that in the cylinder. This is occasioned from the circumstance that, instead ol an upward, there is always a downward curren which is caused by th* water flowing back through two tubes. The impurities brought to the top of the cylinder by the upward tendency of the steam, will thu3 flow over and be carried by the downward current through the tubes into the mud receptacle, where by greater specific gravity, the sediment will sink to the bottom. The mud receiver is formed in the water-space by means of a partition that extends from the front 01 the boiler to nearly the back, leaving only an opening at that part, to permit the upward flow of the water.