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APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING STARCH FROM POTATOES.

In the apparatus of Mr. Angele, of Berlin, shown in the annexed cuts (Figs. 1 and 2), the potatoes, after being cleaned in the washer, C, slide through the chute, v, into a rasp, D, which reduces them to a fine pulp under the action of a continuous current of water led in by the pipe, d.  The liquid pulp flows into the iron reservoir, B, from whence a pump, P, forces it through the pipe, w, to a sieve, g, which is suspended by four bars and has a backward and forward motion.  By means of a rose, c, water is sprinkled over the entire surface of the sieve and separates the fecula from the fibrous matter.  The water, charged with fine particles of fecula, and forming a sort of milk, flows through the tube, z, into the lower part, N, of the washing apparatus, F, while the pulp runs over the sieve and falls into the grinding-mill, H. This latter divides all those cellular portions of the fecula that have not been opened by the rasp, and allows them to run, through the tube, h, into the washing apparatus, F, where the fecula is completely separated from woody fibers.  The fluid pulp is carried by means of a helix, i, to a revolving perforated drum at e.  From this, the milky starch flows into the jacket, N, while the pulp (ligneous fibers) makes its exit from the apparatus through the aperture, n, and falls into the reservoir, o.

[Illustration:  ANGELE’S potato-starch apparatus.]

The liquid from the jacket, N, passes to a refining sieve, K, which, like the one before mentioned, has a backward and forward motion, and which is covered with very fine silk gauze in order to separate the very finest impurities from the milky starch.  The refined liquid then flows into the reservoir, m, and the impure mass of sediment runs into the pulp-reservoir, o.  The pump, l, forces the milky liquid from the reservoir, m, to the settling back, while the pulp is forced by a pump, u, from the receptacle, o, into a large pulp-reservoir.

The water necessary for the manufacture is forced by the pump, a, into the reservoir, W, from whence it flows, through the pipes, r, into the different machines.  All the apparatus are set in motion by two shaftings, q.  The principal shaft makes two hundred revolutions per minute, but the velocity of that of the pumps is but fifty revolutions.—­Polytech.  Journ., and Bull.  Musee de l’Indust.

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A SIMPLE APPARATUS FOR DESCRIBING ELLIPSES.

By Prof.  E.J.  Hallock.

A very simple apparatus for describing an oval or ellipse may be constructed by any apprentice or school boy as follows:  Procure a straight piece of wood about 1/4 inch wide by 1/8 inch thick and 13 inches long.  Beginning 1/2 inch from the end, bore a row of small holes only large enough for a darning needle to pass through and half an inch apart.  Mark the first one (at A) 0, the third 1, the fifth 2, and so on to 12, so that the numbers represent the distance from O in inches.  A small slit may be made in the end of the ruler or strip of wood near A, but a better plan is to attach a small clip on one side.