Various

“ The phenomenon of the daily tides of our seacoasts and tidal rivers is attributed to the attraction of the moon upon the earth--that the moon draws the earth towards it, and that in drawing the earth towards it, it bulges up the water of the ocean on the side presented towards the moon, and drawing the earth and water thus on that side, also draws the earth away from the water on the opposite side of it, and thus leaves the water bulged up on that side, and in doing all this the effect comes after the cause some three hours, which is termed "the tide lagging behind." ”

“ Smith acquires an independence by giving his children an expensive education, and sees in every new dress or costly jewel which his growing daughters wear, a new mine of wealth for himself. If he can only persuade them to spend money enough he is sure of a support in his old age. ”

“ The motion of the sieves, the speed of the blower, and the action of the inlet hopper valve and the delivery hulling valve are always exactly proportioned to the speed of the hulling cylinder, whether fast or slow. The upper or feed valve opens upward and has a downward projecting lip that shuts into a recess in its seat which insures security against leakage from the hopper to the hulling cylinder during the intervals of its being raised; a great advantage in hominy making, as no grain ought to get into the batch until that in the cylinder is done. ”

“ Imagine Jones lecturing his wife on her economy, and reproaching her for a spirit of saving, "My dear, if you had bought this camel's hair shawl thirty years ago, it would now be a source of income to us; if you had not been so close we should now be wealthy." ”

“ With the next number the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN enters upon its twenty-third year. Probably no publication extent will furnish a more complete and exhaustive exhibit of the progress of science and the arts in this country for the past twenty-two years than a complete file of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. It is a curious and interesting pastime to compare the condition of the mechanic arts as presented in some of our first volumes with that shown in our more recent ones. ”

“ There are frequent occasions in a machine shop where light drilling is required on work it is inconvenient to bring to the lathe. For this the Scotch or ratchet drill, if the job is heavy, is employed, and if light, the breast drill. The placing and working of the former consumes considerable time, and the labor of drilling with the breast drill is excessive and exhausting. It is difficult also to hold the instrument so steady as not to cramp and break the drill. The combination of the drill with tongs and a pivoted bed piece, as seen in the engraving, obviates these objections. ”

“ The different departments of our paper are managed by those who are practically acquainted with the subjects they profess to elucidate. "To err is human," but we shall spare no pains nor expense to make the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN as reliable in its statements as it is interesting in the variety and matter of its subjects. There are none of our people, from the student or professional man to the day laborer, but will find something in every number, of present or future value to him in his business.
A CHANGE AT THE PATENT OFFICE.
T.C. Theaker has resigned as Commissioner of Patents. ”

“ Engineers are aware that there are more or less objections to the use of the ordinary spring pistons, owing to the changing tension of the springs, the necessity of frequent adjustment, and the impossibility of the packing rings adapting themselves to the varying pressures of the steam on the piston. A number of attempts have been made to produce a self packing or steam expanding piston, which will act always with the pressure of the steam and the velocity of the engine. ”

“ The object of the device exhibited in the engraving is to allow the teeth of a cultivator to turn slightly and avoid obstructions, while they will follow at all times the line of draft, so that in turning the cultivator there is no risk of breaking the teeth or their shanks, or of overturning the implement. The cultivator blade, A, may be of any desired form, and it is secured to the curved shank, B, which is pivoted by a bolt to the beam, C. On the under or lower side of the beam is an iron plate, D, having a projecting socket, E, which is the stud or pin on which the eye of the shank turns. ”

“ The earth revolves on its axis and makes a revolution every twenty-four hours, and this moves its equatorial surface nearly a thousand miles per hour. Now the water on its surface, covering about three-fourths of it, and being more mobile than the solid earth, is, by centrifugal force, made to roll around the earth, the same as the water is made to move around the grindstone when in motion, a thing familiar to every body that uses that instrument. ”

“ There is nothing in the heavens, nor in the earth, that proves to us positively that the sun holds the planets, and the planets their satellites, by attraction, as we are taught that the moon attracts the water of our world. We see that all terrestrial bodies tend toward the center of the earth, and we call this gravitation ”

“ The obvious objection to such an arrangement is, that it allows the steam to act on the rings with its full force during slow motion, as when a train is starting, while if effective under any circumstances, it will be so only at comparatively high piston speed. The efficacy of such a remedy, if it possesses any, is in fact inversely as the piston speed. ”

“ MESSRS. EDITORS:--Thinking it may be of use to some of the readers of your invaluable paper, I have taken the liberty of sending you a sketch of a new mode of securing the cutter in a boring bar or pin drill. Where the cutters are secured, as usual, by a key, all mechanics know that it is very difficult to set a cutter twice alike; and the notch, which is filed in the cutter, to prevent it from moving endways, is a great source of weakness, often causing the cutters to crack in hardening, as well as after they are put to work. ”

“ We say in dynamic philosophy, that bodies move in the direction of least resistance, and that we can positively understand; but what force per se is, we do not know. It is always better for us to explain phenomena by positive known laws and motions, than by any that rest merely upon conjecture. ”

“ In No. 9, present volume, you illustrated a plan for setting steam boilers. I was much pleased with it and showed it to a friend of mine who was about re-setting a 60-horse power boiler in his machine shop. He adopted the plan. Four week's use of the improved furnace proves all you claimed for it. My friend will be one of your new subscribers. I shall, in a few days, re-set my 15-horse power boiler according to the plan. Every live mechanic should take your valuable journal. ”

“ Riding down town these cold mornings in the horse cars, the unpleasant sensation of chilled feet reminds us of the plan adopted in France and other parts of Europe to keep the feet of car passengers warm. ”

“ The French are a curious people and one of the novelties of Parisian enterprises is a large warehouse, in which are sold, at retail, all manner of goods, from a diamond necklace to a shoe brush. The purchaser, having paid the price, receives not only the goods, but a bond for the whole amount of his purchase money, payable, after thirty years, and guaranteed by the Credit Foncier and other moneyed corporations. The prices charged are said to be no greater than in any other retail shops. This is really eating your cake in order to keep it; the more you spend the richer you will be ”

“ When I resided in Pennsylvania, I, in company with many other lads, used to tie a bundle of horse hairs into a hard knot and then immerse them in the brook, when the water began to get warm, and in due time we would have just as many animals, with the power of locomotion and appearance of snakes, as there were hairs in the bundle. ”

“ Probably no man now living has had a more intimate connection with the construction of the marine steam engine in all its remarkable changes and improvements, or been so long employed at one engine establishment. ”

“ MACHINE FOR SHARPENING SAWS.--E. B. Rich, South Boston, Mass.--This invention relates to a machine for the sharpening of saw blades, whether straight or circular, and consists in the combination of a revolving or rotating grinding wheel made of any suitable material, and a holder for the saw blade, so arranged together that as the grinding wheel revolves the saw will be presented to the same, or the wheel to the saw-blade, in such a manner as to produce the desired sharpening of the teeth, in regular order and succession. ”

“ I claim the manufacture of a movable boot heel in two parts, to be adjusted in different positions by means of a single central projection taking into a single slot hole or countersunk part, and secured in position by means of a central screw or pin, whether such projection and hole or countersunk part be square or many sided, and no matter what the shape of these sides, so that the shape of the projection and that of the hole which is to receive it be identical, the whole substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated on the annexed sheet of drawing. ”

“ A wrist-pin on the gear, D, forms a crank which is connected to a bar at the rear end of the sieves, G, pivoted to an arm at H, by which the sieves have a shaking or reciprocating motion as the machine operates. The blower drives out the hulls and the motion of the sieves with their inclined position insure access of the air to every portion of the hominy. ”

“ A mining company at Newton, Nev., are making preparations to work their claims by means of a steam engine which will be used to throw a stream of water instead of the ordinary hydraulic pressure They estimate that with a ten or twelve horse power engine, then can throw 100 inches of water with a force equal to at least 150 feet fall. ”

“ The man who stumbles upon a new and useful article is just as much entitled to the exclusive use of it as if he had elaborated it by the most profound and painful study. It is true that there is danger upon this principle of countenancing mere nostrums, and giving them undue prestige This can only be guarded against by the exercise of great caution and requiring convincing proof of utility. ”

“ The additional center ring, E, is intended to prevent leakage through the cut in the expanded ring and over the face of the unexpanded one, which might occur when the rings and cylinder should become so worn that the rings, when not expanded, should collapse and leave the surface of the cylinder. The rivets, F, shown by the dotted lines, are placed near the cuts in the L-rings, and are intended to hold the outside and inside rings together at that point, and prevent any tendency on the part of the latter to collapse and let steam under that part of the L-rings. ”

“ Judge Mason was educated at West Point, and he is a man of sterling integrity, a sound jurist, experienced in patent law, and a splendid executive officer. One thing may be relied upon, if Judge Mason should receive and accept the appointment of Commissioner, inventors will not have to complain long of delay in the examination of their cases The Judge is as industrious by nature as he is stern and systematic by education and he will have no drones about him. ”

“ These bolts pass through semi-circular or segmental slots, by which the drill frame can be swung around at different angles to the tongs, to adapt itself to the convenience of the workman and the requirements of the work. If desired, the crank by which the drill is driven may be used on the upright spindle, E. It will be seen that the pivoted base or bed, B, will allow the work to adapt itself always to the line of the drill.
In operation, the work being placed between the drill and platen, the left hand presses the handles of the tongs together, while the right turns the crank ”

“ I claim, 1st, In distilling hydrocarbon oils, vaporizing the oil by causing it to flow in a thin film or layer over the surfaces of a series of heated pipes in a vacuum still, with or without the application of superheated steam, substantially as above described.
2d, The application of the process of distillation, hereinbefore described, to the re-distillation of fire-distilled oils, for the purpose of producing an oil similar to the refined oil of commerce, substantially as above set forth. ”

“ But it is well known that different schools disagree widely on this subject, and there are remedies employed with success the effect of which the most intelligent are unable to account for. So long as there is a single one of this character to be found, and while the operations of the vital functions are so concealed from us that we are unable fully to comprehend the process by which any specific operates, so long it is impossible to prescribe as a conditon of patentability, a full explanation of the mode in which any one acts that is brought forward. ”

“ The advantages of such a piston will be readily appreciated by practical engineers, especially drivers of locomotives, working, as they nearly all do, at a very high pressure of steam. The general complaint against the several packings in use on our railroads is, that they "pack too tight," and rapidly wear out the rings, while the only remedy has been, the extremely uncertain one of contracting the openings by which steam is admitted under the ring, or rings, to expand them. ”

“ But it is not to be expected that our city railroad companies will do anything for the comfort of their passsengers, while without such trouble they continue to reap rich harvests. Very likely the idea of loading a lot of hot water upon their cars, for passengers to stand upon, would strike them as a good joke. ”