Crystal Palace International Electric Exhibition 1881-82

.. . 101 449.—Professor Denis Monnier, University, Geneva, Switzer- land. The Automatic Methanometer, or, Automatic Analyser of i Firedamp, by Denis Monnier, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Geneva, is not only a detector of firedamp, but an instrument which analyses, at a great distance, automatically and quantitatively, the hydrogen at the carburets of that metalloid. 8 The Methanometer consists of two distinct portions : (1) The Analyser; (2) The Receiver. The Analysers ai’e placed in the galleries of mines, the Receivers outside in a central office, under the eye of the engineer. Each. Analyser transmits every hour to the Receiver the proportions of firedamp, between 1 and 9 per cent., contained in the air of the locality where it is placed. The proportion 9 per cent, is that which, determines the explosion. It is at the central office that the instrument becomes an alarm- signal ; for the engineer himself places on the receiver the contacts which will set going a continuous alarum, as soon as the gaseous compound shall have attained the proportion beyond which it must not pass. He will give the necessary instructions, and the apparatus will allow to be watched at a distance the effect of the ventilation directed on the threatened spot. South Nave. 450 .—Naudin & Schneider, Montreuil-sous-Bois, France. Purification of Alcohol by Electricity. Eastern Gallery. 451 .—Léon Poultier, 267, Rue du Faubourg St. Martin, Paris. s Drawings representing Electric Machinery for putting on the breaks. This apparatus has been found useful (1) for stopping trains as safely and as swiftly as possible; (2) for deadening the jolting and shaking of ordinary camages. The inventor has a wood apparatus used by him in studying his system. Eastern Gallery. 452 .—Léon Rageot, 26, Rue Notre Dame de Nazareth, Paris. An Apparatus for quadrupling any kind of light fixed in its centre, and for softening the intensity of electric light. Southern Gallery. 453 .—Joseph Sauvajon, Tournon, Ardeche, France. A Design showing an. Automatic Apparatus to prevent railway collisions; another Diagram, an Automatic Alarm, showing the rise of water in the event of floods. Eastern Gallery. 454 —Edward W. Sereell, Jun., C.E., of New York, U.S. Automatic Silk-reeling Machine. This machine reels the silk from the cocoon. It is driven by any suitable power, but its automatic action is regulated and controlled by means of a current of electricity. It is the first successful machine of its kind, and bears the same relation to the silk manufacture that spinning machinery does to that of cotton. Seregraph or Silk-testing Machine. This is a machine, driven by electricity, which has recently been invented for testing the regularity and other qualities of silk threads. By passing a thread through it at the rate of about a mile in eight minutes, the thread itself writes upon a band o£ paper all its excellences and defects in such a way that they are clearly indicated and made known. Inventions of Edward 8 err ell, jun., C.E. West Corridor.