Bill's, for the Construction of Boats and Barges. 119

which would bear the required heat would answer the purpose, but I prefer coal pitch and tar. I then rapidly draw off the hot stuff, and immediately cover the timber with thin varnish. I take care that little heat escapes during the change, for as the moisture and air contained in the timber are greatly expanded by the heat, so, as the heat decreases, the air and moisture will collapse and leave room for the thin varnish to enter the timber. The heat is discontinued when the varnish is added, and the timber remains until it becomes cool. One part of coal tar and five or six parts of spirit of coal tar make a good varnish, which I have used with full effect."

"The manufacture of such iron as I use for knees is entirely my invention; and I claim the application of it for the constructing of knees, the object of which is to increase the strength of a bar by the least possible additional weight where the bar is to sustain pressure by its flat bearing, and is thus effected: I take a bar of a proper size for the boat's knee, four inches broad and three eighths thick; another bar, called the rib, two inches broad, three eighths or four eighths thick. This rib is placed on the middle of the fore bar; they are then heated in a proper furnace to a welding heat, then passed through a pair of rolls with a proper groove in the lower one, and receiving sufficient pressure, the union of the two bars will be effected. Bars of any required size may be produced by the same process, by a proper adaptation of the machinery and the substance of the bars. But I find for the boats described before, if the face bar be from three to four inches broad and three eighths thick, the rib two inches broad and three eighths thick, the knees, when bent, will be sufficient."

Inrolled, June, 1822.

TO WILLIAM RAVENSCROFT, of Serle-street, Lincoln'sInn, London, for the invention of a Forensic Wig, the curls whereof are constructed upon a principle to supersede the necessity of frizzing, curling, or using hard pomatums, and for forming the Curls in a way not to be uncurled; and also for the Tails of the Wig not to require tying in dressing; and, further, the impossibility of any person untying them.

THIS invention applies to wigs which are formed with many ornamental curls; as those worn by gentlemen at the bar, whence they are denominated, Forensic Wigs. The curls are produced by a particular mode of weaving the hair, so as to render their forms permanent, a description of which process is particularly set out in the specification, but we question whether it will be found intelligible to the general reader.

The caul, lining, and top of the wig, are made as in the common bar wig; but those parts which are usually covered with curls are, in the present improved wig, first covered by a common weft of short snap hair, which forms a bed for the newly invented curls. The upper curls, which hang horizontally round the back and sides of the wig, are made in the following manner :-“ By a common frame of six threads of silk, commencing by passing the hair double from the middle round the fourth thread from the top downwards, then separating or dividing the fifth and sixth threads; and thence” (we presume passing the distinct hairs intended to form the curl,) "regularly round a pipe or roller, consisting of three separate pieces formed as a slide: that is, for the purpose of more conveniently withdrawing the block or pipe upon which the curl is formed. The hair is then fastened, by uniting and interweaving both ends of it

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121

with all the other threads. When these curls are formed, the ends of the hair, which would otherwise form the shank, are cut off, whereby the curl becomes a row of circular hairs, to be fixed to the caul and lining of the wig, upon the said bed of short snap hair, and when so fixed, spaces are cut by the scissars so as to divest it of formality, and give it the appearance of separate curls.

The lower ranges of curls are formed in the same manner as the above, with the difference only of "leaving the shank on, instead of cutting it off; and the shanks to these lower curls are made by bringing the same hair, immediately after the formation of the curl, down to a separate set of three silk threads, on the same frame, (placed at a given distance from the other threads,) and by interweaving them so as to make a secure finish, which affords a root by which it is affixed to the caul and lining, upon the short snap hair, already described." All the curls are made of grizzle, or grey hair, and are woven double, and passed once only round the pipe, tube, or cone, on which they are formed.

The side curls which hang perpendicularly are formed in the same manner as the horizontal ones, and are separately attached to the wig. "The ties, or tails, are made of three distinct sorts of weft; the first, by interweaving short curled hair, about six inches in length, with three silk threads; the second, by long straight hair, sixteen inches in length, woven in six silk threads, with the points and roots downwards; the third, by weaving the same sort of hair as the second, but with the roots upwards and the points downwards; the two last mentioned are then united by sewing them together at the weft, longitudinally. They are then separately tied about three inches from the said joint, and the parts so tied are then brought together to form the bow of

VOL. IV.

4

the tail, leaving that part where they have been sown together near the bottom of the bow; they are then united. with the first described part, and that junction is concealed by passing the two last round the whole by a common knot, which leaves the short curled hair to form the curl, as issuing from the middle of the knot. The extreme ends of the two latter parts are then united by a common weft on three silk threads, which leaves it ready to be attached to the wig when required." Inrolled, March, 1822.

To JAMES GLADSTONE, of Liverpool, for his Method of increasing the strength of Timber.

THE object of this invention is to increase the strength of timber beams and rafters, intended to be employed in the erection of bridges, roofs, and other buildings, which is to be effected by trussing and combining them together. When these beams are appropriated to the construction of bridges, they are proposed to be united by means of iron fastenings, as shewn in Plate VIII. fig. 1, a section, and fig. 2, an external view of the mode of coupling. As many pieces of timber as will be necessary to reach from one abutment or pier to another, are thus united, and the ends being properly secured the whole is drawn to the tension or tightness desired, thereby forming a catenarian curve between the piers or abutments;" that is, as a distended rope or chain would hang. Several beams or lengths of timber are described as being placed longitudinally and joined together by means of the iron fastenings; but the further description of the process not being perfectly clear to our comprehension, we must follow the words of the patentee himself, who, after stating that the lengths are