Prussic Acid
Prussic Acid. Hydrocyanic Or Prussic Acid, Which Consists Of 1 Atom Of Cyanogen=26,1-1 At. Of Hydrogen = 1, Is Prepared By Distilling The Mercurial Bi Cyanide In A Glass Retort With The Saturat Ing Quantity Of Dilute Rnuriatie Acid. Prussic Acid May Also Be Obtained By Precipitating The, Mercury By ...
Puddling
Puddling. This Process Has Been Explained Under Irox Manufacture. In Stead Of Heat, Electricity Is Now Brought Into Play To Effect The Object, Namely, The Decarbonization And Purification Of The Metal. A Great Economy In The Conver Sion Of The Cast Into Wrought Meta/ Seems About To Be Effected In ...
Pulley
Pulley. In Mechanics, One Of The Six Simple Machines, Or Mechanical Pow Ers. It Consists Of A Wheel, Movable About An Axis, And Having A Groove Out In Its Circumference, Over Which A Cord Passes. The Axle Is Supported By A Box Or Sheave, Called The Black, Which May Either ...
Pumice
Pumice. A Substance Frequently Ejected From Volcanoes, Of Various Colors, Gray, White, Reddish Brown, Or Black ; Hard, Rough And Porous ; Spe Cifically Lighter Than Water, And Resem Bling The Slag Produced In An Iron Furnace. It Consists Of Parallel Fibres, And Is Sup Posed To Be Asbestos Decomposed ...
Purification
Purification Of Goln And Silver, By Antimony. (under The Article Assay And Metallurgy, This Has Been Partly Treated Of.) The Gold Is To Be Melted In A Crucible Large Enough To Contain Thrice The Quantity Of Metal. When The Gold Is Melted, Twice Its Weight Of Sulphuret Of Antimony Powdered ...
Pyroligneous Acid
Pyroligneous Acid Has Been No Ticed Ander Acetic Acid. It Is Made By The Distillation Of Wood In Close Vessels. The Retorts Are Of Cast Iron, 6 Feet Long, And 3 Feet 8 Inches In Diameter. Two Of These Cylinders Are Heated By One Fire, The Flame Of Which Plays ...
Pyrophorus
Pyrophorus. An Artificial Product, Which Takes Fire On Exposure To The Air. It Is Prepared By Several Methods. Four Or Five Parts Of Burnt Alum Aro Mingled With Two Of Charcoal Powder. The Mix Ture Is Introduced Into A Vial Or Matrass. The Vial Is Filled Two-thirds, And Put In ...
Railroads Or Railways
Railroads Or Railways. Roads Constructed Of Tracks Of Iron Called Rails, On Which The Wheels Of Carriages Roll, And To Which They Are Confined By Ledges Or Flanges Raised Either On The Rail Or On The Tires Of The Wheels. History Of Railways. About The Mid Dle Of The 17th ...
Rain Gauge
Rain-gauge, Also Called Ombro Meter, Udometer, And Pluvia Meter. An Instrument For Measuring Or Gauging The Quantity Of Rain Which Falls At A Given Place. " The Rain-gauge May Be Of Very Sim Ple Construction. A Cubical Box Of Strong Tin Or Zinc, Exactly 10 Inches By The Side, Open ...
Rectification
Rectification Is The Final Purifier), Con Of Liquors, Generally Alcohol, By Dis Tillation. It Is Not Often Carried On Un Der The Same Roof With The Distillation. Rectifiers Receive Malt Spirits From Dis Tillers From Proof To 25 Per Cent. Their Business Is To Re-distil Once For Rectifica Tion. Then ...
Refining Of Gold And
Refining Of Gold And Sil Ver; Called Also Parting. For Several Uses In The Arts, These Precious Metals Are Required In An Absolutely Pare State, In Which Alone They Possess Their Malleabil Ity And Peculiar Properties In The Most Eminent Degree. Thus, For Example, Neither Gold Nor Silver Leaf Can ...
Regulator
Regulator. In Machinery,. A Gen Eral Name For Any Contrivance Of Which The Object Is To Produce The Uniform Movement Of Maohmes. The Regulators Most Commonly Applied Are The Fly And The Governor, For Which See The Respective Terms. The Regulator Of A Watch, Is The Spiral Spring Attached To ...
Repeating Circle
Repeating Circle. In Order To Diminish The Effect Of Errors Of Gradua Tion, And To Obtain Very Accurate Measure Ments By Means Of Comparatively Small, And, Therefore, Portable Instruments, A Method Of Observing Was Invented, Or Rather Brought Into Use, By Borda, Which Is Now Extensively Employed, Especially In Geodetical ...
Resins
Resins Are Proximate Principles Found In Most Vegetables, And In Almost Every Part Of Them; But The Only Resins Which Merit A Particular Description, Are Those Which Occur Naturally In Such Quantities As To Be Easily Collected Or Ex Tracted. They Are Obtained Chiefly In Two Ways, Either By Spontaneous ...
Resistance Of Fluids
Resistance Of Fluids. In Hydrodynamics, The Force With Which A Solid Body Moving Through A Fluid Is Re Sisted Or Retarded. Of All The Different Kinds Of Resistance Which Manifest Them Selves Among Bodies, There Is None Of Greater Importance Than This, On Account Of Its Application To The Theory ...
Rhodium
Rhodium, Is A Metal Discovered By Dr. Wollaston In 1803, In The Ore Of Pla Tinum. His Contained To The Amount Of Three Per Cent. In The Platinum Ore Of Antioquia In Colombia, Near Bar Bacons ; It Occurs In The Ural Ore, And, Alloyed With Gold, In Mexico. The ...
Rice
Rice. The Name By Which Rice Was Known To The Ancient Greeks And Ro Mans Was Oryza, And Has Been Adopt Ed By Modern Botanists As The Generic Name Of The Plant Yielding That Invalua Ble Grain. The Genus Oryza Belongs To The Class Herandria, Order Dygynia ; And Has ...
Roads
Roads, Are Pathways Formed Through A Country, By Which Passengers And Com Modities May Travel, Or Be Transported, With More Or Less Facility And Expedition, From One Place To Another. Roads Are Of Various Kinds, According To The State Of Civilization And Wealth Of The Country Through Which They Are ...
Roman Alum
Roman Alum. An Alum Extracted From The Volcanic Rock Of The Solfaterra Near Naples : It Crystallizes In Opaque Cubes, And Appears To Contain More Alu Mina Than The Common Octohedral Alum. Roof. In Architecture, The Upper Most Part Of A Building, Containing The Timber Work, With Its Covering Of ...
Rope Making
Rope-making. The Fibres Of Hemp Which Compose A Rope, Seldom Exceed In Length Three Feet And A Half, At An Average. They Must, Therefore, Be Twined Together Bo As To Unite Them Into One; And This Union Is Effected By The Mutual Cireum Torsion Of The Two Fibres. If The ...
Saccharometer
Saccharometer Is The Name Of A Hydrometer, Adapted By Its Scale To Point Out The Proportion Of Sugar, Or The Sac Charine Matter Of Malt, Contained In A Solution Of Any Specific Gravity. Brew Ers And Distillers Sometimes Denote By The Term Gravity, The Excess Of Weight Or 1,000 Parts ...
Saccholactic Acid
Saccholactic Acid. An Acid Obtained By Digesting Sugar Of Milk In Nitric Acid. It Is Identical With That Ob Tained From Gum, And Termed Mucous Acid. Safety Lamp. A Lamp Invented By Sir H. Davy, Which Is So Constructed As To Burn Without Any Danger In An Ex Plosive Atmosphere. ...
Saffron
Saffron. The Prepared Stigmata Of The Crocus Satins. The Stiginata.of This Purple Crocus Are Of A Deep Orange Color, And When In Quantity Have A Pecu Liar And Very Characteristic Odor; They Are Used Im Medicine, Chiefly As A Rich Yellow Or Orange Coloring Matter. Saffron Is Now Chiefly Imported ...
Saltpetre
Saltpetre, Is A Natural Compound Of Potash And Nitric Acid. It Abounds In Soils Where Animal Substances And Limo Are In Contact, And These Being Lixiviated, Decanted, And Evaporated To Dryness, Crystals Of Saltpetre Are Formed. Some-. Times They Are Redissolved, And Evapo Rated A Second Time. The Chief Of ...
Sand
Sand Is The Name Given To Any Mine Ral Substance In A Hard Granular Or Pal Verulent Form, Whether Strewed Upon The Surface Of The _ground, Found In Strata At A Certain Depth, Forming The Beds Of Rivers, Or The Shores Of The Sea. The Silicious Sands Seem To Be ...
Scagliola
Scagliola. In Architecture, A Com Position , Sometimes Called Also Mischia, From The Mixture Of Colors Employed In It, Being Made To Imitate 'warble. The Florentines Claim The Invention Of This Art, But It Had Been Practised In Loin , Bardy Previous To Its Introduction At Florence. Lanza Says That ...
Schweinfurth Green
Schweinfurth Green Is A More Beautiful And Velvety Pigment Than The Preceding, Which Was Discovered In 1814, And Remained For Many Years A Profitable Secret. M. Liebig Having Made Its Com Position Known, In 1822, It Has Been Since Prepared In A Great Many Color-works. Braconnot Published, About The Same ...
Scouring And Cleansing
Scouring And Cleansing. The General Principle Of Cleansing All Spots, Consists In Applying To Them A Sub Stance Which Shall Have A Stronger Affini Ty For The Matter Composing Them, Than This Has For The Cloth, And Which Shall Render Them Soluble In Some Liquid Men Struum, Such As Spirits, ...
Screw
Screw. In Mechanics, One Of The Six Mechanical Powers, Consisting Of A Spiral Ridge Or Groove, Winding Round A Cylinder, So As To Cut Every Line On The Surface Parallel To The Axis At The Same Angle. The Screw May Be Formed Either On The Outside Or Inside Of The ...
Screw Cutting
Screw-cutting. Those Who Are Possessed Of A Lathe With A Slide-rest To It, Which Is Now In Very Frequent Use, May The Screw Of That Rest Into A Pat Ter,. Screw, Whereby To Cut Original Right And Left Threaded Screws Of Various Rakes And Diameters, In The Following Simple Manner ...
Sedative Salt
Salt, Sedative, Is Boracie Acid. Salt. This Term, Though In Ordinary Language Limited To Common Salt, Or Sea Salt, Is Applied In Chemistry To All Combi Nations Of Acids With Alkaline Or Salifiable Bases. The Term Has Also Been Extended To Certain Binary Combinations Of Chlo Rine, Iodine, Bromine, And ...
Sewer
Sewer. In Architecture, A Subter Raneous Conduit, Or Channel, To Receive And Carry Off The Superfluous Water And Filth Of A City. The Sewers Of Rome Have Been The Models Of Those Of The Modern Cities Of Europe. They Are As Old As The Elder Tarquin. These Cloacaliad, Between The ...
Sewing Machines
Sewing-machines. Machines Of This Kind, Until Within A Few Years, Have Attracted But Little Attention ; But As They Are Coining Into Use, And Are Found To An Swer An Excellent Purpose, The Inventor Is Ingeniously Exercising His Skill To Im Prove Them. No Less Than Five Patents Have Been ...
Sfieet Iron Pipes
Pipes, Sfieet Iron. Sheet Iron Pipes Of A New Manufacture Have Lately Been Introduced Into England, From France, Where They Have Been In Use For Several Years. They Are Made Of Sheet Iron, Which Is Bent To The Required Form And Then Strongly Riveted Together ; After Which They Are ...
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding. In Merchantmen, The Primary Consideration Is, To Attain The Greatest Capacity To Carry Cargo, Com Bined, As Far As Possible, With Safe And Easy Movements, And Rapid Sailing. In This Way American Builders Have Suc Ceeded In Uniting Conflicting Desiderata In A Degree Heretofore Deemed Impossible. Our Packet Ships ...
Silica
Silica And Silicon. Silica Was Till Lately Ranked Among The Earths Proper ; But Since The Researches Of Davy And Berzelius, It Has Been Transferred To The Chemical Class Of Acids. It Constitutes The Principal Portion Of Most Of The Hard Stones And Minerals Which Compose The Crust Of The ...
Silk
Silk. A Fine Flossy Thread Or File Ment Spun By Various Species Of Cater Pillars Or Larvae Of The Phaleena Genus. Of These, The Phalsena Atlas Produces The Greatest Quantity ; But The Phalana Bom Byx Is That Commonly Employed For This Purpose In Europe. The Silkworm, In Its Caterpillar ...
Silk Manufacture
Silk Manufacture. This May Be Divided Into Two Branches: —1, The Production Of Raw Silk ; 2, Its Filature And Preparation In The Mill, For The Pur Poses Of The Weaver And Other Textile Arti Sans. The Threads, As Spun By The Silk Worm, And Wound Up In Its Cocoon, ...
Silver
Silver. When Pure And Planished, Silver Is The Brightest Of The Metals. Its Specific Gravity In The Ingot Is 10.47 ; But, When Condensed Under The Hammer Or In The Coining Press, It Becomes 10.6. It Melts At A Bright Red Heat, A Temperature Estimated By Some As Equal To ...
Slates
Slates. The Substances Belonging To This Class May Be Distributed Into The Following Species :— 1. Mica-slate, Occasionally Used For Co Vering Houses. 2. Clay-slate, The Proper Roofing-slate. 8. Whet, Slate. 4. Polishing-slate. 3. Drawing-slate, Or Black Chalk. 6. Adhesive Slate. 7. Bituminous Shale. 8. Slate-clay. Mica-elate.—this Is A Mountain ...
Smelling Salts
Smelling Salts Are Usually Either Pure Ammonia Or Its Carbonate. Take A Small Piece Of Burnt Unslaked Lime, Say Li Oz., And Add To It In A Mortar 1 Oz. Of Muriate Of Ammonia, Rub Them Well To Gether, And The Pungent Smell Of Ammonia Cal Gas Will Be Given ...
Soda
Soda. Natron ; Mineral Alkali. This Important And Useful Substance Is An Oxide Of Sodium. Sodium Was Discovered By Davy In 1808. It Is A Metal Much Re Sembling Potassium In Its General Charac Ters. It Is Soft, Malleable, Fusible At 100°, And Burns When Heated In Contact Of Air. ...
Soda Water
Soda Water. This Common And Refreshing Beverage Is, As Usually Pre Pared, A Supersaturated Solution Of Carbonic Acid Gas In Water. True Soda Water Was Formerly Prepared (and Is Still By Some Manufacturers) For Medical Use, Chiefly As A Remedy For Heartburn, And Certain Forms Of Dyspepsia And Calculons Complaints ...
Soldering
Soldering, Is The Process Of The Surfaces Of Metals, Process The Intervention Of A More Fusible Metal, Which Being Melted Upon Each Surface, Serves, Partly By Chemical Attraction, And Partly By Co Hesive Force, To Bind Them Together. The Metals Thus United May Be Either The Same Or Dissimilar ; ...
Specific Gravity
Specific Gravity Of A Body Is The Relation Of Its Weight, Compared With The Weight Of Some Other Body Of The Same Magnitude. A Body Immersed In A Fluid Will Sink If Its Specific Gravity Be Greater Than That Of The Fluid ; But If It Be Less, The Body ...
Sponge
Sponge, Is A Cellular Fibrous Tissue, Produced By Small Animals, Almost Im Perceptible, Called Polypi By Naturalists, Which Live In The Sea. This Tissue Is Said To Be Covered In Its Recent State With A Kind Of Semifluid Thin Coat Of Animal Jelly, Susceptible Of A Slight Contraction Or Trembling ...
Stained Glass
Stained Glass. Under The Head Of Glass Painting This Sabject Has Been Already Noticed. The Following Details Are Additional. The Blues Of Vitrified Co Lors Are All Obtained From The Oxide Of Cobalt. Cobalt Ore (snlphuret ) Being Well Roasted At A Dull Red Heat, To Dissipate All The Sulphur ...
Steam 1
Steam. 1. The Vapour Of Water ; Or The Elastic Aeriform Fluid Generated By Heating Water To The Boiling Point. When Water In An Open Vessel Is Heated To The Temperature Of 212°, Or To The Boiling Point, Globules Of Steam Are Formed At The Bottom, And Rise To The ...
Steam Carriage
Steam-carriage. A Name Usual Ly Applied To Locomotive Engines Adapted To Work On Common Roads. The Principle Of The Construction Of These Is In The General Conditions, Similar To That Of The Locomotive Engine Used On Railways (855 Locomotive Engine) ; But The Engine Adapted To Common Roads Must Have ...
Steam Engine
Steam Engine. The First Actual Working Steam Engine Of Which There Is Any Record, Was Invented And Construct Ed By Captain Savery, An Englishman ; To Whom A Patent Was Granted For It, In 1693. These Engines Were Employed To Raise Water By The Expansion And Conden Sation Of Steam, ...
Steam Navigation
Steam Navigation.) She Was Built Mr. T. Collyer, In 1850. She Is Not The Largest, But Is The Fastest Wooden Steamer In The Northern States. Her Di Mensions Are, Length, 260 Feet; Breadth, 34.08 Feet; Depth Amidships From Bare Line To Deck Line, Round Of Beam Deduct Ed, 9/5 Feet ...
Stearic Acid
Stearic Acid, Improperly Called Stearine, Is The Solid Constituent Of Fatty Substances, As Of Tallow And Olive Oil, Converted Into A Crystalline Mass By Sa Ponification With Alkaline Matter, And Ab Straction Of The Alkali By An Acid. By This Process, Fats Are Convertible Into Three Acids, Called Stearic, Margaric, ...
Steel
Steel. This Most Useful And Curious Substance Is A Compound Of Iron And Car Bon : Their Relative Proportions Vary In Steel Of Different Qualities ; But In That Used For Ordinary Purposes, The Carbon Rarely Exceeds 2 Per Cent., And Is Gene Rally Below It. Certain Kinds Of Iron ...
Steelyard
Steelyard. A Balance By Which The Weights Of Bodies Are Determined By Means Of A Single Standard Weight. In The Roman Steelyard, Or Staters, The Lever Was So Constructed That The Centre Of Gravity Was Brought Immediately Over The Point Of Support ; And The System Be Ing Accordingly Balanced ...
Steering Apparatus
Steering Apparatus. An Im Provement On The Steering Wheel, As Commonly Used On Shipboard. Capt. C. F. Brown, Of Warren, Rhode Island, Has Invented A New And Ingenious Im Provement In Steering Apparatus For Ves Sels, For Which He Has Taken Measures To Secure A Patent, And Which Will, No ...
Stereotyping
Stereotyping. The Invention Of Stereotyping Has Usually Been Attributed In Europe To W. Ged, Of Edinburgh, About 1780: But There Is Evidence On Re Cord That In 1779 Cadwallader Colden, Of New-york, Communicated The Plan Of The Art To Dr. Franklin, Then In Paris, And The Details Were By Him ...