GEORGE RICHARDS, of Truro, in the county of Cornwall, architect; for single and double cannon, `cannonades, or ordnance, musquets, and all other kind of fire arms, on a new principle, and a new method of charging or loading the same, and of fixing or placing bayonets on fire arms. Dated July 30, 1808. Specifications to be enrolled within four months.

JOSEPH MASON GUEST, of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, Thread Manufacturer; for an improved mill for twisting thread for various purposes. Dated July 30, 1808. Specification to be enrolled within one month.

JOHN CURR, of Belle Vue House, in the parish of Sheffield, in the county of York, Gentleman; for a method of applying flat ropes, flat bands or belts of every kind, to capstans and windlasses of ships and vessels of every description, for the purpose of towing or conveying the said ships and vessels in, out of, or about Ports, Harbours, Rivers, Seas or Creeks, and also a method of applying flat or round ropes, lines, bands or belts, for the purpose of catching and detaining whales. Dated July 30, 1808. Specification to be enrolled within four months.

LUKE HEBERT, of the parish of Saint Stephen Walbrook, in the city of London, Gentleman; for a machine on an improved construction, for polishing, embossing, and graining, leather, and extending and flattening the same. Dated July 30, 1808. Specification to be enrolled within one month.

Specification of the Patent granted to JOHN HALL, of the Town and County of the Town of Kingston-upon-Hull, Rope-maker; for certain Improvements in making and manufacturing Ropes and other Cordage, and coiling of Lines in Whale Boats. Dated June 28, 1808.

With a Plate.

To all to whom these presents shall come, &c. NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I the safd John Hall do hereby declare and ascertain the nature of my said invention, and the manner in which the same are to be performed, used and exercised, as follows; that is to say: I give a regular turn or twist in all the threads or yarns spun by hand equally alike, by making use of a double wheel for spinning the same; the large or major wheel turns the spindles, the small or minor wheel turns the regulating belt, which belt may be made of any fit material, and placed in any situation so as the spinners can see it. The most conveniVOL. XIII.-SECOND SERIES,

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ent method is to fix two pullies above the minor wheel, a sufficient height above the men's heads, over which the belt travels, and above the beams down to the bottom of the walk, where another pulley is fixed, round which the belt is placed, and brought up again and the ends fastened together; upon the helt I fix a piece of red cloth or any other conspicuous marks, in number equal to the sets of spinners I have occasion to employ, taking care that the marks are placed at equal distances from each other to correspond with the spinning; the two wheels travelling on the same centre make a revolution in the same time. For spinning yarn of twenties, I make use of a minor wheel of ten inches diameter to a major wheel of five feet six inches, and spindles of two inches diameter; the minor wheel must be increased or diminished in size at the rope-maker's discretion, according to the different-sized yarn required; other sized wheels may be used for the same purpose in the proportion above described. The marks being adjusted, I set two or more companies of spinners to work, one man in each I select as head over the rest, and charge him to keep his men together; when the guide mark is at the wheel, the first company hang on their hemp, the man turning sets the wheels in motion, the major turning the spindles, the minor turning the belt; the regulating mark will then travel down the walk which the men keep pace with in a body; by so doing, and spinning the threads a proper thickness, they will have the same regular turn in them from one end to the other. Having finished their threads and arrived at the bottom, they are taken off the wheel, and made fast to a large hook placed near for that purpose, drawn tight, and the ends loosely fastened to a similar hook fixed at the bottom, the threads remaining

in the crooks all the way; to remove which, I employ a boy with a rod, having an iron ring at the end with a vacancy to admit placing the yarns in it, to unhook the threads from the crooks, and place therein a large hook hung to the beams for that purpose. The first company having got half way down the walk, one of the side marks will be at the wheel; and the second company must then hang on their threads and spin down in the same manner as the first; when arrived at the bottom, they unloose the threads first spun from the hook they are made fast to, and knot the end of theirs to them, leav ing the bight of the threads over the end of the hook, which threads are taken off the wheel, drawn tight at the top end, and loosely made fast to the top hook ready to knot the succeeding threads to. The boy passing up with his rod places the threads in the large hooks; the spinners proceeding in this manner, and knot ting their threads to the ends of the preceding ones, and placing the bight over the hooks at each end, will keep adding to the hank suspended in the large hooks down the ropery, and resting at each end on the top and bottom hooks: the boy employed to unhook the threads must nettle them where required. An equal number of men must be employed in each company of spinners. The hank having increased sufficiently large, the whole are then slightly twisted together with the hooks they rest on, and removed into the tar house ready for that operation. I likewise place a double spinning wheel at the bottom of the walk, or at any distance down it I require the length of my yarn to be, the wheel being placed on a moveable frame for that purpose. The belt being fixed round the minor wheel similar to the one at the top, it is drawn tight from the upper wheel, and the Pp 2

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regulating marks adjusted. The men having spun down and fastened their threads to the low hook, hang on to the low wheel, and spin up in company with the regulating mark in the same manner as they spun down. Having arrived at the top, their threads are taken off the lower wheel, and knotted to the ends of the threads spun down, and the bight of the yarn is left over the bottom hook; they are drawn tight at the top and loosely fastened as before; the boy with his rod removes the threads into the large hooks, which for conveniency of receiving the threads spun down and up should be double; the threads of the hank spun down are placed in the left side,, and those spun up in the right side of the double hook. The men in this manner spinning alternately down and up, and knotting their threads to each other as they are spun, will keep adding to the hank sus pended in the walk; the spinners going down pass on the left, and those coming up pass on the right hand side of it; and for the conveniency of catching the threads as they are spun up, the thread hooks on the right of the hank must be placed in a contrary way to those on the left. The belt travelling on both the minor wheels, it is necessary for the turners at each of the spinning wheels to keep pace together; the hank when full is treated as before described.

By taking the regulating belt from off the wheels, I spin common yarn in the same way down, or down and up, knotting the ends together to form the hank, and placing it in the large hooks; or hang it to the sides in any convenient situation, by which method I save in time and labour. The low wheel being moveable can be placed at any distance down the walk the yarn is wanted to be in length. The operation of tarring I perform in

the