The station is provided, in addition, with registering pressure gauges, a large double dynamometric indicator, a counter of electricity, balances of precision, etc.

An apparatus designed for measuring the rendering of presses is now in course of construction.

Although the station has been in operation only from the 1st of January, twenty-five machines have already been presented to be tested.—­Extract from Le Genie Civil.

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WATER SOFTENING AND PURIFYING APPARATUS.

We have recently had brought under our notice a system of water and sewage purification which appears to possess several substantial advantages.  Chief among these are simplicity in construction and operation, economy in first cost and working and efficiency in action.  This system is the invention of Messrs. Slack & Brownlow, of Canning Works, Upper Medlock Street, Manchester, and the apparatus adopted in carrying it out is here illustrated.  It consists of an iron cylindrical tank having inside a series of plates arranged in a spiral direction around a fixed center, and sloping downward at a considerable angle outward.  The water to be purified and softened flows through the large inlet tube to the bottom, mixing on its way with the necessary chemicals, and entering the apparatus at the bottom, rises to the top, passing spirally round the whole circumference, and depositing on the plates all solids and impurities.

All that is needed in the way of attention, even when dealing with sewage, or the most polluted waters, is stated to be the mixing in the small tanks the necessary chemical reagents, at the commencement of the working day; and at the close of the day the opening of the mud cocks shown in our engraving, to remove the collected deposit upon the plates.  For the past six months this system has been in operation at a dye works in Manchester, successfully purifying and softening the foul waters of the river Medlock.  It is stated that 84,000 gallons per day can be easily purified by an apparatus 7 feet in diameter.  The chemicals used are chiefly lime, soda, and alumina, and the cost of treatment is stated to vary from a farthing to twopence per 1,000 gallons, according to the degree of impurity of the water or sewage treated.

The results of working at Manchester show that all the visible filth is removed from the Medlock’s inky waters, besides which the hardness of the water is reduced to about 6 deg. from a normal condition of about 30 deg..  The effluent is fit for all the varied uses of a dye works, and is stated to be perfectly capable of sustaining fish life.  With results such as these the system should have a promising future before it in respect of sewage treatment, as well as the purification and softening of water generally for industrial and manufacturing purposes.—­Iron.

[Illustration:  Water softening and purifying apparatus.]