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This engraving represents the Artesian Well Borer of John Thomson, of Philadelphia, for which a patent was granted on the 30th of March last. - ^ote-tole, and about five feet long; to tils fe^-tom of this is attached the chisel for drilling. On the top of this cylinder, at D, is a swivel, with a square iron bar, about four feet long and one inch diameter, passing through an ffliptical steel spring and fixed to the rope, B. the eliptical spring, E, is of four strips, IB or 20 inches long, and embraces the sides of the bore-hole in the rock, 1jhe lower disc o which has a round, and the upper a square hole for the bar, C, to work in. It will be observed that there is a twist of about a quarter . turn upon the upper end of the bar, C, and a ring or shoulder, movable at pleasure, is fixed upon this bar and within the spring, as represented at F. The spring, E, acts as a brace by pressing outwardly and remains in a fixed position while the machine is at work. Various me- | thodsmaybe adopted for working thisappa| ratus either by manual power or otherwise,! as all that is necessary is to raise and drop the machine about 18' inches, more or less, by means of the rope from the surface of the ground. The figure in the engraving represents the machine suspended in the hole in the rock, having been raised a little; its operation is as follows:—The power from the top, by pulling the rope, lifts the whole, except the spring, E (the bar, C, merely passing through it) ; but as C is a square bar, and the top disc of the spring has a square hole neatly fitting it; and asthereis a twist upon that portion of the bar, it follows, as a matter, of course- that the whole apparatus (except the spring) will turn round a portion of a circle when rising, agreeable to the twist upon said bar. Having thus raised it 18 inches, the shoulder on C, repre^ sented within the spring at F, will be nigh | the top of the spring, and the next action is the drop, which must be done in the freest t manner, when down comes the weight, A, ex-jactly in the same position in which it was suspended, without in the least following the back course of the twisted bar which merely resumed its former position in the fall. This straight drop of the heavy weight.was obtained from the swivel, D, for although that swivel lifts the weight and bears it round witll itself in the rising, it will be observed that there is no weight upon it whilst in the act of falling, as the bar, C, comes down as quick as the bar, A. In raising for the second stroke, the heavy cylinder, A, with the chisel is swung round another portion of a circle by means of the twisted bar passing through the spring, and being suspended freely in the middle of the bore-hole, the drop is perpendicular and in the position in which it -is hung. The spring is gradually carried down as the boring proceeds. According to the nature of the rock, the chisel will make any number of strokes or cuts for each revolution by shifting the shoulder, F, to another position upon the bar, C, which allows more or less of the twist to pass through the spring. To clean the hole or boring, the machine is wound up by the rope to the surface and the cleaner substituted for the chisel A Committee of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, examined this machine at work last month, they reported that it was a great improvement on the Chinese mode of boring artesian wells, and considered it the best instrument in use for that purpose. Any size of hole may be drilled1 with it, and it will work for a few feet in depth or many hundred feefy by simply lengthening the rope. Any kind of power may be applied to-work it, and a good machinist can construct one. The common chisels and cleaner are used, but are modified to suit the machine. The cleaning out of the hole is done rapidly, as there are no rods to detach as in the common macMne. An advertisement of Mr. Thomson will be found in the first and second numbers of this volume ofthe Scientific American. Theclaim. is for the spring brace and the twisted bar, and will be found on page 238 of our last volume. More information about instruments, and the saleof rights may be "obtained by letter addressed to Mr. Thomson, No. 75 Otter st., Kensington, Phila., Pa.
