constructed in the form of a clip with holes in it for the three ropes to pass through.  It is made to span the block, and is secured partly by the pin or bolt upon which the sheaves run, and partly by the bottom bolt, which unites the cheeks of the block.  Thus the brake is readily attachable to existing blocks.  The inner half of the clip or brake is fixed solidly to the block, while the outer half is carried by two screws, geared together by spur-wheels, and so cut that although rotating in opposite directions, their movements are equal and similar.  One of the screws carries a light rope-wheel, by which it can be rotated, the motion being communicated to the second screw by the toothed wheels.  When the wheel is rotated in the right direction the loose half of the clip is forced toward the other half, and grips the ropes passing between the two so powerfully that any weight the blocks are capable of lifting is instantly made secure, and is held until the brake is released.

A light spiral spring is placed on each of the screws, in order to free the brake from the rope the moment the pressure is released.  The hand rope has a turn and a half round the pulley, and this obviates the need of holding both ends of it, and thus leaves one hand free to guide the descending weight, or to hold the rope of the pulley blocks. Engineering says these brakes are very useful in raising heavy weights, as the lift can be secured at each pull, allowing the men to move hands for another pull, and as they are made very light they do not cause any inconvenience in moving or carrying the blocks about.  Manufactured by Andrew Bell & Co., Manchester.

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WIRE ROPE TOWAGE.

We have from time to time given accounts in this journal of the system of towage by hauling on a submerged wire rope, first experimented upon by Baron O. De Mesnil and Mr. Max Eyth.  On the river Rhine the system has been for many years in successful operation; it has also been used for several years on the Erie Canal in this State.  We publish from Engineering a view of one of the wire rope tug boats of the latest pattern adopted for use on the Rhine.

The Cologne Central Towing Company (Central Actien-Gesellschaft fuer Tauerei und Schleppschifffahrt), by whom the wire rope towage on the Rhine is now carried on, was formed in 1876, by an amalgamation of the Ruehrorter und Mulheimer Dampfschleppshifffahrt Gesellschaft and the Central Actien-Gesellschaft fur Tauerei, and in 1877 it owned eight wire rope tugs (which it still owns) and seventeen paddle tugs.  The company so arranges its work that the wire rope tugs do the haulage up the rapid portion of the Rhine, from Bonn to Bingen, while the paddle tugs are employed on the quieter portion of the river extending from Rotterdam to Bonn, and from Bingen to Mannheim.

[Illustration:  Rope pulley friction brake.]