1530
OFFICIAL DESCRIPTIVE AND ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE.
1794 Minister of Commerce.
Sledge made at the School of Art, Jassy, Moldavia.—1\ 1398.—Plate 301.
[This object has a peculiar appearance about it, arisingfrom the intermixture of Oriental ornament with English construction, as shown in the grasshopper springs, trace-bar, the lamp, &c. The termination of the several orna-mental scrolls, with the head of the cow, is peculiar, and,with the mode of stalling and material employed forcovering, mark its origin.—W. C. A.]
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CHINA.
9 IIewktt & Co., 18 Fenehurch Street —Manufacturer.
Set of carved ivory chessmen, mounted on carved ivoryballs, with smaller balls inside, carved from a solid pieceof ivory.—P. 1421.—Plate 302.
27 Rawhon, C.
Chinese carved ivory hall, containing fifteen smallerballs, all carved from a solid piece of ivory.— China ,p. 1424.—Plate 295.
[These puzzles to ordinary observers display, in a verypeculiar manner, the patience, industry, ingenuity, andskill of the Chinese in the art of working in ivory. Thequestion as to how the interior balls got in, is best answeredby saying that they never got out, but were separatedfrom the solid sphere of ivory, of which they were made,by a series of hooked or bent tools, the same being intro-duced while the ivory is running in a lathe; at the severalperforations or large holes, which is observed on the outersurface, and which it will be found correspond to othersin the concentric balls in the interior. The process ofmanufacture may be briefly described thus:—a solid blockof ivory is drilled with four or more holes, which passthrough the centre; the ivory is then fixed on a pegcliuck, and through the hole, directly opposite, a smallbent tool is introduced, by which a portion of the centreor smallest ball is turned. It will easily be understoodthat by a succession of change of the mandril and toolto the various holes, all the halls in turn become loosened:the outer ball and one or two next in order are more orless carved, ornamented, or perforated.—W. C. A.]
31a Dudgeon, P., Hang Kong —Producer.
The “ Celestial Cup,” in silver, presented at HongKong races, 1850. Silver tea-pot and other articles.—P. 1424.—Plate 313.
[This cup is remarkable as being characteristic of theexternal forms and style of ornamentation adopted andintroduced hy the Chinese ; the several animals, flowers,and leafage are conventional in character, and harmonizewith the several curves or surfaces on which they are ap-plied. The general form of the vessels appear, however,to be rather more graceful than those produced hy thenatives.—W. C. A.]
UNITED STATES.
05 IIossev, Oiied, Baltimore, Maryland —Inventor,Patentee, and Manufacturer.
Reaping and mowing machine.—Plate, p. 1437.
“ We have then two good American reaping machines.Their respective merits time will discover. At presentwe only know that Mr. McCormick’s machine is best forhurley and oats, when not intended to be bound up in thesheaf; Mr. Hussey’s for corn laid by the weather, or
standing upon steep ridges. Mr. Ilussey’s can cut ruslj L ’as was shown in Windsor Park. Mr. McCormick’s * l ■received a prize this autumn in the United States cutting prairie grass, competing with three others.
Jarks' lteports,
73 McCormick, C. 11., Chicago, Illinois — Inventor-
Virginia grain reaper.—Plate, p. 1437.
This machine is worked by four horses throughoutday, and is attended by a man or boy to drive ^team, and a man to take the grain from it into parcelssuitublc size for binding. Six to eight men are requirehind and shock the gram. This is the estimated hu' 1 ’of harvesting wheat that stands up and yields from 230 bushels per acre. If the wheat be heavier andthe operation will be more diflicult, and the speed itarded. t
The reaper is stated to cut from 1^ to 2 acres of "or other small grain per hour (equal to 15 or 20 acres Pday ), to save at least three-fourths of the grain that"'°ebe scattered by ordinary cradling; and it is warrantee ^be durable. It is constructed to cut as high or as * <><v Arequired, and the saving of the grain by it over that _by the cradle, is estimated at not less than one bushel Iacre, and in some situations more; it is not liable toobstructed hy weeds.
[The following account of this machine is extracefrom a published report of its performance on trial >JPhilip Pusey , Esq. The machine, drawn hy two ho> s ^’and carrying two men, a driver and a raker, cut the "about 8 inches from the ground with the utmost 'gularity. The exhibitor informed us that, hy a sl'Schange of construction, he has made the implement i2 inches nearer the ground. The horses found the 'to'light, though the machine was cutting at the rate of aacre per hour, making 15 acres per day of 1" ' 10U ' l jThe raker, standing behind the driver to rake the c ' 1 *wheat from the platform, certainly had to exert himsi jbut it is obvious that he and the driver, who has onlysit on the dicky, might very well exchange places 9”'^time to time. As one cannot put too high a price on ^ ^labour of farm horses at such a time, it is plain tlu ‘great saving must he effected by this machine, and e v <-Dfarmer can calculate it for himself, as he will also seeadvantage of being rendered independent of the arrivestrangers to get in his corn, who cannot always be 9n'“^This trial was witnessed by many farmers, and no 9“*was found with the work. The land, I should say* 1 yever, being stock land, is even; where ridges and "furrows exist, some difficulties seem to arise. R |lt * ^this level land it was wonderful to see a new inq'h' ll Uj^working so smoothly, so truly, and in such a inush-j^manner. The fact is, however, that it is not an UII ^ ( , i;nimplement. Though new in this country it hasused for some years in America , where experienceenabled the inventor to correct, in successive seasons ^defects invariably found in new implements. R 1S , ,tainly strange that we should not have had it over benor indeed should we have it now but for the Great ^hibition, to whose Royal originator the English lornUj 1 ^clearly indebted for the introduction of the most imp 11 ’ ^addition to farming machinery that has been i»vcsince the threshing machine first took the place oflail.”— Extract from the Journal of the ltoyal 1
[Though hy no means the first to originate tnstruetion of a reaping machine, it would seem that A> ^ cthas been the first to all but realize the most ^ 1’^^machine of the kind, had not evidence to the c (been in existence. This will appear from the 1°facts:—