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RUSSELL'S HYDRAULIC PRESS. Sir,-Seeing in No. 438 of the Mechanics' Magazine, an engraving and description of an Hydraulic Cider Press, with what appears to me, a complex ap paratus to work it; and having had longer practical experience in the manufacture of hydraulic presses than I believe any individual in existence, I am induced to send you a drawing of an apparatus of this sort, which I have lately fixed at the Refuge for the Destitute, for the purpose of pressing the rinse water from the linen, woollen, and other articles, washed at that establishment, instead of wringing; and which is, of course, equally applicable in all cases where similar pressure is required.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the press, without its railways.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, with the addition of the railway.

The squeezing box A has a perforated lining and bottom, through which the water passes, and runs off at a spout B at the back of the box. The diameter of the working piston of this press is four inches, that of the injecting pump C, is one inch diameter, and the power of this press on the article submitted, is upwards of 30 tons. If the piston of the injecting pump were one half an inch diameter instead of one inch, the power would be increased four-fold, that is, 120 tons pressure on the articles submitted, with the same labour at the pump. When the linen, &c. is sufficiently pressed, that is, almost dry, the pressing box is lowered down, by opening the discharge valve D, on which the water returns back to the cistern E, on which the pump is fixed. The squeezing box is then drawn out on the railways F, emptied, refilled, and wheeled back for a second charge, and so on. I should have observed, that the mallet G, which is fixed to the head of the press, enters the box, and is made to fit it nearly.

Having made and erected many presses of this description, for expressing the oil from various seeds, the molasses from sugar, &c. their power varying from 500 to 1000 tons pressure, I take leave to ask your opinion, whether a press so constructed and shown in the drawing accompanying this communication, is, or is not, as applicable to pressing apples

[We see no reason to doubt that this press of Mr. Fussell's is as applicable to the expression of the juice of apples and pears, as to any of the other purposes to which it has been so successfully applied. Neither can we refuse to acknowledge, that it is, in point of simplicity and probable efficiency, superior to any thing of the kind which has yet appeared in our pages. Our Devonshire and Herefordshire friends must feel obliged to Mr. Russell for making this description of it public. We have seen a sugarapparatus fixed on this plan, in which there are two boxes running alternately on the railway, so that the sugar in one box is submitted to the action of the press, while the contents of the other are removed, and a fresh charge put in, ready to wheel into the press as soon as it is at liberty; by this means nearly double the usual quantity of work is done in the same time.-ED. M. M.]

THE OVERFLOWING OF THE OHIO.

Plan for Preventing the Loss of Life and Property in all cases of Inundation.

By Mr. M. ROUGH, Schoolmaster. The Morning Chronicle of the 22nd March records the sufferings of the inhabitants of both sides of the Ohio, which "rose" in February last "64 feet above low water mark!" Perhaps no stretch of the human imagination could devise an effectual preventive remedy for all the evils that such an inundation must occasion; but it is an indisputable fact, that the greater part of the losses sustained by the people in countries liable to be overflowed, might be prevented; and no part of the globe possesses more ample means of adopting such preventive plans than the United States. The publication of these plans will, therefore, prove a blessing not only to the people of America, but also to all people in all countries, where inundations may be dreaded.

A year or two ago, a town or village on the estate of O'Donoughoe, near Killarney, Ireland, lost several of its inhabitants by an inundation. On that occasion, after two or three days' reflection, I composed a work, minutely detailing the form of a cottage that would be fireproof; and capable of floating, uninjured, where it was built, with all its

inhabitants, furniture, cattle, &c. in perfect safety. Circumstances that I could not controul, occasioned me to consign this manuscript to the shelf, where it rests in dumb oblivion, with a hundred more, the labour of many hours during the last twenty years.

My design was to have the frame of the cottage put together by rules of art, such as are well known to architects, or good house carpenters; but to make the bottom water-proof, and capable of sustaining any burthen that would not sink it beyond a given depth; I proposed having the first bottom outside, and to have the floor and bottom secured by screws and bolts passing through the beams and rafters. This, when the cottage floated, would prevent the floor from starting, which would inevitably take place, if the floor were laid after the ordinary manner of the floors of houses. Now, if we ima gine the cottage 12 feet high, half the height should be water-proof, and there should be an ascent by steps to the door. In poor cottages, there should also be a descent by stairs to the floor; but in others, the floor might be on a level with the lower part of the door; and by having trap doors, or hatches, the space between the bottom and first floor would be a store, resembling a ship's hold.

The steps should be ladders, hooked above to eye-bolts; and from the lower part, iron stancheons should rise, to which man-ropes being fixed, the upper end of the man-ropes should lead through sheaves in the uprights of the cottage; to small cleats inside, the man-ropes should be belayed; and in case of necessity, the ladders could be instantly drawn up to prevent them being carried away by a flood.

The beams and rafters forming the foundation, should project outside of the walls, more or less, in proportion to the size of the buildings. On these, troughs for holding water, victuals, &c., could be erected, and these would be serviceable to cattle at all times.

At the gable end of the building that would first be struck by the flood, a chain cable could be placed in a box, and a little practice would teach every man and woman, how to pay away in case of the flood rising.

MICHAEL ROUGH.

21, Earl-street, Seven Dials, London, March 26, 1832,

STEAM VESSELS OF WAR.: Sir,-To render steam boats fit for war, requires a better combination of construction and arming than our official The Salapeople seem to be aware of. mander, at Sheerness, and the Dee, at Woolwich, will both be useless as men of war; the former has sufficient depth of hold, but is built so sharp that she will not stow more than ten day's fuel when her stores and guns are on board; the latter is sufficiently flat, but so shallow that she also will stow little more than the former; and I understand those at Plymouth and Chatham are in the same predicament. A steam vessel of war ought neither to be so fine as a sailing vessel, nor, on the other hand, have the capacity of an Indiaman; in the first case, she would not stow a sufficient quantity of fuel, and would draw too much water for most purposes-in the latter case, she would not go with sufficient rapidity. Her floor should not be quite flat, but nearly so; its length should occupy half the vessel, the form of the bow and run should occupy the other half; the dimensions of the vessels building are thirty feet wide, and a hundred and sixty-five feet long; had they been twenty feet deep, and built in the above form, they would have been efficient vessels. I beg it to be fully understood, that I do not propose this as a vessel offering the least resistance in the water, but as one combining the requisites necessary for a steam man-of-war; such a vessel, when light, would draw little more than four feet water, without including the keel, whose depth should be according to circumstances, and quite independent of her construction. Her engines and boilers would immerse her between six and seven feet, and with about eight hundred tons of coals she would draw about fourteen, having her gun deck six feet above water at her greatest loading. With a two hundred horse engine, she would consume twenty tons of coals a-day, and if they were good, with great care, something less. The shaft should be as close to the deck as possible, and the diameter of the wheels about twenty feet; when loaded, to fourteen, the paddle boards should shift up, so as to reduce the diameter of the wheel to about fifteen feet; as the coal was expended, the boards should be

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shifted down till they came to their full extent; the coal boxes should be fitted in compartments, to receive water, in order that the wheels may remain sufficiently immersed as the coals were expended. The engine and boilers should be secured against shot, which has not been thought of in any of our vessels; no man will be found to attend them in their present state; men have long made up their minds on going into action to be killed or wounded, but I never heard of any who are ready to be boiled. It has been proved that a combination of oak timber, iron plates, bales of linen, leather, or reams of paper, five feet thick, would protect the boiler and engine against an eighteen-pound shot, and without that protection a steam boat is entirely useless in war. The wheels mus, of course, be exposed; but if the naves, which are at present of cast, were made of wrought iron, and the arms of the wheels connected with plates, it would require many shot to disable them. The main shaft would then be the only vulnerable part, and if the guards which snpport it are considerably rounded, or, indeed made like a cuirass, and covered with plate iron, they would glance off any shot. With these precautions, wheels would be less subject to accidents than either masts or yards. Experience has proved, beyond a doubt, that the fittest vessels for sea are those constructed with the wheels buried in the side, as the Irish steamers are. I believe the Salamander is built in this manner; the spencing of the Dee only covers one half the wheels-they are a great deal too wide. She will certainly go the faster in the river Thames (which is the only thing the engineers and builders think of); but in rough weather, such wheels will never be under command of the engines. I am not aware how it is intended to arm our steam boats; I should propose as many heavy guns on pivots as possible; on the upper deck and between decks, two bow-chasers: no arrangement of that nature seems to be intended in those now building. They should be rigged as three-masted schooners, with the lower masts in two, having topsails topgallant sails, and royals, and all the necessary sails for common purposes, which, with the exception of the lower part of the lower masts, could be got

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EMIGRATION TO CANADA.❤

We have now before us the second publication on the subject of our possessions in North America, sent forth within these few months. Colonel Bouchette's work we have already disposed of; and it now remains briefly to discuss the merits of that of Mr. M'Gre

gor, which has made its appearance so closely on the heels of the other, that it "galls his kibe." Mr. M'G. was for many years a resident in British America, and the results of his observations, with statistical details from Government returns and other resources, combine to form the matter of his two valuable octavos. A great proportion of their contents, however, as might have been expected, has been forestalled by the writer who managed to be" first in the market" (Mr. Bouchette); and, perhaps, both are chargeable with a want of that complete method and arrangement naturally looked for in productions which aim, in a certain degree, at standard excellence. Our present author, also, devotes a very large portion of his space to the History of the Colonies, and especially to the exploits of their first discoverers,-events which have no very great influence on their present state, or the actual condition of their inhabitants, and which ́ might have been dismissed, to the satisfaction of the reader for information, in a much smaller number of pages. The chapters which relate to the prospects of the emigrant, are of course the parts of the book most interesting and most important, and on which Mr. M'Gregor has bestowed the greatest degree of attention. He concurs with almost every writer on the subject, in allowing that Canada and the rest of our North American colonies, hold out the fairest prospects of success to the prudent and industrious settler,-although he warmly deprecates that precipitate emigration,

* British America; by John M'Gregor, Esq. In 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1832. Blackwood. 8vo., pp. 484, and 605.