192 Sloan's Architectural Review and Builders' Journal. [Sept., ing to continue in business for a fair num- ber of years, ought surely to have a well-devised, convenient, substantial and safe establishment of this sort. He would find in the end, that it is economi- cal, as well as philanthropic ; and that artisans would give him a preference, as an employer, having some regard for their lives and their limbs — rather than the selfish man, who looked alone to his pocket and his profit. We are led to speak of this subject, by observing that an improvement in the way of hod-carrying, &c, is now in actual operation, on Broadway, New York, whereby a small steam-engine, on the ground floor, works a hoistway, carrying up a number of hods of brick or mortar to the story, at which the men are at work ; and even carrying up the men themselves, getting rid of the lad- der system, which is a decided improve- ment on an antiquated nuisance. This new hoisting apparatus is ex- tremely simple, being worked by a rope passing round a pulley, up aloft ; and drawing up a platform, which runs on elevated side pieces or guides. This platform is furnished with a contrivance to rest the hods against while in transitu. The hoistway is contrived by simply leaving the necessary space, in each floor, through temporarily omitting some joists, and securing the guides all the way up. We would suggest the use of a double hoisting apparatus, worked with an end- less rope, by which the descending plat- form may help raise the ascending one, and thus, by a reciprocal system, more than double the advantages be gained, by this most desh'able addition to the too meagre facilities for building. We trust that the Manhattan Hoist- ing Machine Company may succeed in making this adventure as successful as it well deserves to be ; and that other departments of the great art of con- struction may at last awaken to some sense of the necessity for a general advance, and an improvement in de- tails. The New Substitute for Silver. — Minargent, recently invented in Paris, and which may be compared to silver, possesses, according to the London Mining Journal, nine-tenths of its whiteness, malleability, ductility, tenac- ity, sonorousness, and density, while it has a superior metallic lustre, wears better, is less liable to be acted on by the emanations of sulphuretted hydro- gen, and is less fusible than silver. Minargent may be used for all purposes to which silver or other white metals or alloys are applicable. It is composed of one thousand parts of pure copper, seven hundred parts of pure nickel, fifty parts of pure tungsten, ten parts of pure aluminum. The inventors do not, however, limit themselves to the exact proportions given. The chief fea- tures of the minargent consist in the introduction in the alloy of pure tungs- ten and pure aluminum, and also the considerable proportion of nickel which they have succeeded in alloying with the aluminum. The metal is formed into ingots, and moulded in sand in the ordinary way. Mr. Kerr, of Edinburgh, has in- vented a reflector for a locomotive, by the means of which the engineer is able to see the rear of his train, the conductor and all who are either getting on or off, without moving from his seat. It can be arranged for any length of train by simply changing the angle of reflection. It has been tried on the Jeffersonville road, and pronounced to be a success in every respect.
