STEAM PUMPING MACHINERY IN SOUTH WALES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 326, 31 January 1874, Page 3

STEAM PUMPING MACHINERY IN SOUTH WALES.

A correspondent who had an opportunity of inspecting the patent pumping machinery of Messrs. Hayward Tyler & Co., of Whitcross Street, London' which has for some time been in use at the Gelli Colliery in Rhondda Valley, and which lately was awarded the medal for Progress at the Vienna Exhibiation (the only prize offered for direct acting pumps), thus describes what he saw :—: — " On entering the level we observed a wrought iron pipe running overhead, which carries the steam to the engiucs. At 352 yards we came to the first pumping engine. Though the steam cylinder is but twelve inches, and the pump six inches it is forcing over 10,000 gallons per hour 117 feet high and through 485 yards of pipe. The steam pressure is 40 lbs. on the boiler, which is placed at the outside of the heading, the steam being carried 404 yards through a 2£in. pipe. The second pump is working on an incline not far from the first, and supplies it with a part of its water ; its dimensions are the same as the first ; it is raising the watca 18' feet vertically through about 120 yards of pipe, the steam being carried 498- yards. The third pumping engine is of rather larger dimensions, having a steam cylinder of 15 inches and pump of 7i inches. It is raising about 17,000 gallons per hour to a verticle height of 156 feet, through 388 yards, of piping, (he steam being carried 406 yards through 3>-inchi pipes.. The lastnamed pump, is in a lower seam, but the work performed is of the same character. In all cases the exhausted steam is condensed. The machines appeared to. be working without the sh'gheet effort, and. to our astonishment, quite alone, the attendant regaling himself in the open air, and he informed us that only attention required was a little oil once a day. The measuements were kindly suppled by Mr. Morgan, engineer to- Messrs. Thomas and Griffins, owners of the colliery and we think they will not be without interest to our colliery friends. Mr. Charle3 D. Phillips, Newport, Mon,, supplied the pumps, together with several others in South Wales, all of which are giving the same excellent results.

Co-operative farming has, it seems, alreidy commenced in the United States, and so far, says the " New York Tribune," it is very successful.. Nor instance, the best and principal part of the cheese produced in the country is made by the co-operative plan, whether the farmers sell their milk, or put in their milk and receive their pay in dividends when the. cheese is. sold, for both methods are adopted. Country merchants have now almost ceased to buy cheese, and; well it is that they have done so,, for they are without the proper moans of taking care of it ; and many of them are such poor bussiness men, or they have so.little capital, that they cannot afford to pay what the cheese is worth ;:and formerly when they, dealt in it many of them failed. Butter is also- made in factories in the same way ; and even when made in families, it is bought by special dealers, who take it at the house and pay cask-.for it. This is. of great advantage to the dairy farmer, for he is able to pay cash for whatever he may need, and he can trade when he likes, If progress is made with like success in this manner for a few years, the country merchant will buy neither fruit, hops, nor vegetables, aud he will sell bufc few groceries or farm machinery, for these can be bought as they are in many sections at. wholesale. Grain could be sold by the farmers of a. tov/ngbip or district at wholesale or better- prices than they now get in the retail ysny, and buyers can afford fo pay better prices ; for, this, way of doing business *drops out, first the country merchant ; second the small dealer, making two middlemen, and ef^course, their, profits are saved to the farmer.

The following is from an article entitled "The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street," published in the "City Press" :— Another of the wonders of the place is the cellar in which the br n\ notes are kept seven years after they h. ye done their duty, and have returned frc m circulation. The signature is torn up, they .aw all tied up together,

stowed away down here ar the rate of 46,000 a day. At tirst they were kept twenty years then the number was reduced to ten, and then to seven So great has been the increase in this department, that whereas forty years ago 20,000 were deemed a heavy day's work, now twice that number is considered a light one. In the rooms above, the system of registering these bank notes is most admirable. A blunder seems impossible. Each note can be identified, By the reference to the registers, the clerks can at once lell on what day in what year it was paid in, and from whom it was received. To do this a great number of books are kept, and a great number of clerks are required, who are all day long entering the career of the various notes which come under their care. Amongst other curiosities in the cellar in which these notes are stored away, is one for a million qf money, with the signature of Abraham Newland. It is a very simple affair, and, apparently, very easy to be forged. It is a promise on a plain bit of note paper, to pay on demand a million. The modern bank note by the side of it is a very finished work of art indeed.. Here also they show a warrant for £25, which had been stored away, and never presented for payment, till at compound interest it represented as much as £6000. The bank notes as they come in are burnt, but at different times, and as many are burnt as correspond with the ne«, notes that are issued. As regards the issue, the notes are sent into the world generally i& bundles containing £500 each. The paper on which they are printed is manufactured at Messrs Portal's mills at Laverstock, Hants, 13,785 reams are usually supplied to the bank yearly, at a cost ef 16s 9d per ream of 500 pieces of paper, which is generally kept for six months before taken into use. The dies from which the water mark is made, as well as the plates used in printing, and machinery — all of the highest character — are placed under the joint care of the chief printer.

A correspondent of the Scotsman : — One reads occasionally stories about tables, &c. being set on fire by the rays of the sun acting through glass globes with gold fish as through a lens or burning glass, with which last every schoolboy is familiar. I for one never believed such a thing at at all probable until one daj^ lately, when an occurrence somewhat similar took place under my own eye. A common round decanter, filled with water, was standing on a dining-rooin table after lunch, in a house in the suburbs of Edinburgh, with the sun shining strongly upon it. I happened to feel the table-cloth at the place where .the concentrated rays fell behind the water-decanter. Finding it rather hot, I placed on the same spot first my own finger and then that of a boy who was in the room, when beyond all doubt the sensation was disagreeably hot end painful. I next tried pieces of cork and match-paper in the same position, when the cork was charred and theinatch-paper- was ignited." ah American paper tells the following almost incredible story : — "A young man residing at Bordentown, who was under an engagement of marriage with a young lady, died on Friday last. Bath the gentleman and lady as well as their families, were firm believers in the doctrines; of spiritualists, and, notwithstanding the death of the former, it was determined that tho marraige should place between the disembodied spirit of the young man and the living, breathing body of his affianced bride. Accordingly on Sunday the marriage ceremony was performed the clay-cold corpse, and the warm, blooming bride. It is understood that this was in compliance with directions of the spirit of the bridegroom. The great devotion of the lady to the spirit or the memory of her lover carried her through this ceremony without faltering, but it must lead to happiness, for she no doubt considers herself as the wife of ore whom she shall meet in the body no more. Her heart lies buried in the grave, with him who should have been her guide and protector. Among all the singular things recorded of the spiritulists, we never met with anj thing parallel to this."