THE

Commercial and Agricultural Magazine.

No. XXX.] JANUARY, 1802. PVE. VL.

For the Commercial and Agricultural Magazine. DESCRIPTION OF A MORTAR MIEL.

(WITH A- PLATE.)

Extra from a Letter from Mr. Richard Supple, addreſſed to the Dublin Saciety; publiſhed in the /ecend volume ef their Tranf- actions, and printed in 1801.

cd Paw incloſed plan of a Mortar Mill I can recommend, from

experience, as a moſt excellent machine, not only in abridg- ing the labour uſually beſtowed in making mortar in the com- mon way, but in making it infinitely better, at a very ſmall expence.-

My method is as follows:—I have a pit dug in the ground, which is bricked at the bottom and ſides, into which LL put my lime. I have the command of 2 ſmall ſtream of water, which is conveyed at pleaſure into this pit, and ina few days the lime 1s ſufficiently ſlacked; 1 then put the lime and ſand, or gravel, into the mill, which not only mixes both together, but intorpo- rates them in a very effetual manner; and, as the lime is ſuf- ficiently moiſt when taken out of the pit, no more water is re=-« quired for the mortar. If for preſent uſe, the quantity I make at a time is ſix buſhels, as I find when more js put in, it is apt to frain the cogs, if not made very ſtrong. If the mortar is made with fand alone, the ſpace between the cogs need not be made ſo Wide as three inches. LI have a ſecond ſhaft, with cloſer cOgS, in orderto give the mortar another workins; the ſpace berween theſe cogs is but two inches; but it does not anſwer well till after the firſt ſhaft has been uſed, nor is it neceſlary, unleſs for very nice work.

I inade 200 barrels of lime into mortar laſt ſuramer, and have now the like quantity of lime in the pit for the ſame purpoſe, I made ſix barrels of mortar in a day, with eaſe; a boy of ſeven years old drives the horſe, and the moſt indifferent one is goód enough for the purpoſe, the draught being lo eaſy.

PLAN OF THE MORTAR MILL,

A. plan of the board-d floor, raiſed eight inches from the ground, it is four feet two inches in diameter, and ſurrounded by a fourteen-inch wall, whoſe outſide height is two feet,

B. a fliding door, two fect wide,

C. plan of the ſhaft, with its cogs, or teeth; its length eleven feet eight inches, breadth eight inches, depth five inches.

Com.& Ag. Mag. Val, VI, B