This is the design of Alfred Godfrey, of Clapton. According to this
improvement, as represented at Figs. 1 and 2, a rack, A, is employed
vibrating on the pivot a, and a pinion, a1, so arranged that instead of
the pinion moving on a universal joint, or the rack moving in a parallel
line from side to side of the pinion at the time the motion of the table
is reversed, there is employed, for example, the radial arm, a2, mounted
on the shaft, a3, supporting the driving wheel, a4. The opposite or
vibrating end of the radial arm, a2, supports in suitable bearings the
pinion, a1, and wheel, a5, driving the rack through the medium of the
driving wheel, a4, the effect of which is that through the mechanical
action of the vibrating arm, a2, and pinion, a1 in conjunction with the
vibrating movement of the rack, A, an easy, uniform, and silent motion
is transmitted to the rack and table.
[Illustration: IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY. Fig. 1]
[Illustration: IMPROVEMENTS IN PRINTING MACHINERY. Fig. 2.]
* * * * *
A CHARACTERISTIC MINING "RUSH."--THE PROSPECTIVE MINING CENTER OF
SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO.
A correspondent of the _Tribune_ describes at length the mining camps
about Lake Valley, New Mexico, hitherto thought likely to be the central
camp of that region, and then graphically tells the story of the recent
"rush" to the Perche district. Within a month of the first strike of
silver ore the country was swarming with prospectors, and a thousand or
more prospects had been located.
The Perche district is on the eastern flanks of the Mimbres Mountains,
a range which is a part of the Rocky Mountain range, and runs north and
south generally parallel with the Rio Grande, from which it lies about
forty miles to the westward. The northern half of these mountains is
known as the Black Range, and was the center of considerable mining
excitement a year and a half ago. It is there that the Ivanhoe is
located, of which Colonel Gillette was manager, and in which Robert
Ingersoll and Senator Plumb, of Kansas, were interested, much to the
disadvantage of the former. A new company has been organized, however,
with Colonel Ingersoll as president, and the reopening of work on the
Ivanhoe will probably prove a stimulus to the whole Black Range. From
this region the Perche district is from forty to sixty miles south. It
is about twenty-five miles northwest of Lake Valley, and ten miles west
of Hillsboro, a promising little mining town, with some mills and about
300 people. The Perche River has three forks coming down from the
mountains and uniting at Hillsboro, and it is in the region between
these forks that the recent strikes have been made.
On August 15 "Jack" Shedd, the original discoverer of the Robinson mine
in Colorado, was prospecting on the south branch of the north fork of
the Perche River, when he made the first great strike in the district.
On the summit of a heavily timbered ridge he found some small pieces of
native silver, and then a lump of ore containing very pure silver in the
form of sulphides, weighing 150 pounds, and afterward proved to be worth
on the average $11 a pound. All this was mere float, simply lying on the
surface of the ground. Afterward another block was found, weighing 87
pounds, of horn silver, with specimens nearly 75 per cent. silver. The
strike was kept a secret for a few days. Said a mining man: "I went up
to help bring the big lump down. We took it by a camp of prospectors who
were lying about entirely ignorant of any find. When they saw it they
instantly saddled their horses, galloped off, and I believe they
prospected all night." A like excitement was created when the news of
this and one or two similar finds reached Lake Valley. Next morning
every waiter was gone from the little hotel, and a dozen men had left
the Sierra mines, to try their fortunes at prospecting.
As the news spread men poured into the Perche district from no one knows
where, some armed with only a piece of salt pork, a little meal, and a
prospecting pick; some mounted on mules, others on foot; old men and men
half-crippled were among the number, but all bitten by the monomania
which possesses every prospector. Now there are probably 2,000 men in
the Perche district, and the number of prospects located must far exceed
1,000. Three miners from there with whom I was talking recently owned
forty-seven mines among them, and while one acknowledged that hardly one
prospect in a hundred turns out a prize, the other millionaire in embryo
remarked that he wouldn't take $50,000 for one of his mines. So it goes,
and the victims of the mining fever here seem as deaf to reason as the
buyers of mining stock in New York. Fuel was added to the flame by
the report that Shedd had sold his location, named the Solitaire, to
ex-Governor Tabor and Mr. Wurtzbach on August 25 for $100,000. This was
not true. I met Governor Tabor's representative, who came down recently
to examine the properties, and learned that the Governor had not up to
that date bought the mine. He undoubtedly bonded it, however, and his
representative's opinion of the properties seemed highly favorable.
The Solitaire showed what appeared to be a contact vein, with walls of
porphyry and limestone in a ledge thirty feet wide in places, containing
a high assay of horned silver. The vein was composed of quartz, bearing
sulphides, with horn silver plainly visible, giving an average assay of
from $350 to $500. This was free milling. These were the results shown
simply by surface explorations, which were certainly exceedingly
promising. Recently it has been stated that a little development shows
the vein to be only a blind lead, but the statement lacks confirmation.
In any case the effect of so sensational a discovery is the same in
creating an intense excitement and attracting swarms of prospectors.
But the Perche district does not rest on the Solitaire, for there has
been abundance of mineral wealth discovered throughout its extent. Four
miles south of this prospect, on the middle fork of the Perche, is an
actual mine--the Bullion--which was purchased by four or five Western
mining men for $10,000, and yielded $11,000 in twenty days. The ore
contains horn and native silver. On the same fork are the Iron King and
Andy Johnson, both recently discovered and promising properties, and
there is a valuable mine now in litigation on the south fork of the
Perche, with scores of prospects over the entire district. Now that one
or two sensational strikes have attracted attention, and capital is
developing paying mines, the future of the Perche District seems
assured.
* * * * *