Reaction water wheel, Strode's-patent,

Wing's-patent,

, improvement in Wing's-patent,
testimonials in favour of,

Reeds, improved weavers, Senneff's-patent,
Resistance to water moving in pipes, .

of lead to pressure,

Results of machinery,

Rigging and masting vessels, De La Garde's-patent,

Ropes and cordage, manufacturing, Harris'-patent,

Ropes, manufacturing of, Townsend and Durfee's-patent,
Rust, preservation of iron from

Sail cloth, Ramsay and Orr's-patent,
Salt beef, curing, Tomlinson's-patent,
water, effect of, on steam boilers,

S

PAGE
382

85

86

89

26

143

141

342, 406

37

191

315

215

186

265

289

Sashes, window, Prosser's-patent,

185

Saw set, Whiting's-patent,

171

Scraping hides, William's-patent,

173

Self-adjusting rail-road car, with guide rails, Pollock's-patent,

Stiffening hats, composition for, Macomber's-patent,

Stringing piano fortes, mode of-patent,

Sugar cane, culture and manufacture,

-, crystallizing, Fawcett and Clark's-patent,
&c. from vegetables, Goulson's-patent.

258

observations on, by patentee,
by editor,

261

263

317

238

32

337

191

30

55

393

395

Sulphate of magnesia, manufacturing, Grisenthwaite's-patent,
Sullivan's remarks on Winan's rail-way carriage,

Tanning apparatus, Brown's-patent,

T

improvement in, Cogswell's-patent,

Telescopes, invention of

Thrashing and cleaning grain, Lane's-patent,
Timber, uniting, Annesley's-patent,

-, spruce and pine, strength of,

Tobacco, drying, or curing, Tuck's-patent,
Treatise on bleaching,

Turner on the value of ores of manganese,

Types for music, Bruce's-patent,

U

Ure on gunpowder, detonating matches, &c.

V

W

Vessels, rigging and masting, De La Garde's-patent,

Watches, improved pivot holes for

Water, report of Franklin Institute committee on, as a moving power,

-

-, boring for, Disbrow's-patent,
moving in pipes, resistance to,

wheel, improved, Howard's-patent,

- power, new system of

wheel shaft, splicing,

wheel, reaction, Wing's-patent,

improvement in Wing's-patent,

testimonials in favour of,

PAGE

33

47

181

320

327

270

179

229

384

. 62, 131

356

185

105, 202

37

128

145

92

143

386

214

292

85

86

OF THE

FRANKLIN INSTITUTE

OF THE

State of Pennsylvania;

DEVOTED TO THE

MECHANIC ARTS, MANUFACTURES, GENERAL SCIENCE,

AND THE RECORDING OF

AMERICAN AND OTHER PATENTED INVENTIONS.

EDITED

BY THOMAS P. JONES, M. D.

MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, AND OF THE ACADEMY OF
NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA, PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE
MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE COLUMBIAN COLLEGE, AND LATE

PROFESSOR OF MECHANICS IN THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE,
AND SUPERINTENDENT OF THE PATENT OFFICE AT

WASHINGTON.

VOL. VIII.

NEW SERIES.

PHILADELPHIA :

PUBLISHED BY THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, AT THEIR HALL; THOMPSON & HOMANS, WASHINGTON CITY; G. & C. & H. CARVILL, NEW YORK; AND MONROE & FRANCIS, BOSTON.

J. HARDING, PRINTER.

1831

JOURNAL

OF THE

FRANKLIN INSTITUTE

OF THE

State of Pennsylvania,

DEVOTED TO THE

MECHANIC ARTS, MANUFACTURES, GENERAL SCIENCE,

AND THE RECORDING OF

AMERICAN AND OTHER PATENTED INVENTIONS.

JULY, 1831.

On the Quadrature of the Circle, by the Editor.

ALTHOUGH the practicability of making a perpetual motion is a question settled in the negative by every man well versed in the principles of mechanics; and although those acquainted in the higher geometry, have given up the attempt to square the circle, or, in other words, to find a square the area of which shall be exactly equal to that of a circle whose diameter is given; we are yet not unfrequently amused, through the medium of the journals of the day, with the assurance, that what has eluded the researches of the most able engineers, and the most profound mathematicians, has been luckily discovered by some sciolist, without the use of the midnight lamp. In a former number of this journal, we gave some account of the most prominent schemes of perpetual motion, and it is our design in the present article to notice the attempts which have been made to square the circle.

We have been directed to this subject by some recent publications in the papers of Washington city, in which a gentleman in one of the public offices, has triumphantly announced his most complete success in this difficult, if not impossible problem; and informs us that he has entrusted his secret to fifteen individuals, all of whom are perfectly satisfied of the correctness of his principles. We are not told how many out of the fifteen are capable of forming a judgment upon the subject, but we happen, however, to know that at least one of the number is unacquainted with the meaning of decimals; and we also know that those most capable of deciding the question are not, and have no desire to be, of the number of the initiated. A few years ago VOL. VIII.-No. 1.-JULY, 1831.

1