Theannexed figurerepresents a common sucking pump. is the barrel of the pump, being a hollow cylinder, made of metal, and smooth within, or of wood for very common purposes. CD is the handle, moveable about the pin E, by moving the end c up and down. an iron rod turning about a pin D, which connects it to the DF end of the handle. This rod is fixed to the piston, bucket, or sucker, FG, by which this is moved up and down within the barrel, which it must fit very tight and close, that no air or water may pass between the piston and the sides of the barrel; and for this purpose it is commonly armed with leather. The piston is made hollow, or it has a perforation through it, the orifice of which is covered by a valve H opening upwards. I is a plug firmly fixed in the lower part of the barrel, also perforated, and covered by a valve K opening upwards. 381. When the pump is first to be worked, and the water is below the plug I; raise the end c of the handle, then the piston descending, compresses the air in HI, which by its spring shuts fast the valve. K, and pushes up the valve H, and so enters into the barrel above the piston. Then putting the end c of the handle down again, raises the piston or sucker, which lifts up with it the column of air above it, the external atmosphere by its pressure keeping the valve H shut the air in the barrel being thus exhausted, or rarefied, is no longer a counterpoise to that which presses on the surface of the water in the well; this is forced up the pipe, and through the valve K, into the barrel of the pump. Then pushing the piston down again into this water, now in the barrel, barrel, its weight shuts the lower valve K, and its resistance forces up the valve of the piston, and enters the upper part of the barrel, above the piston. Then, the bucket being raised, lifts up with it the water which had passed above its valve, and it runs out by the cock L; and taking off the weight below it, the pressure of the external atmosphere on the water in the well again forces it up through the pipe and lower valve close to the piston, all the way as it ascends, thus keeping the barrel always full of water. And thus, by repeating the strokes of the piston, a continued discharge is made at the cock L. OF THE AIR-PUMP. 382. NEARLY on the same principles as the water-pump, is the invention of the Air-pump, by which the air is drawn out of any vessel, like as water is drawn out by the former. A brass barrel is bored and polished truly cylindrical, and exactly fitted with a turned piston, so that no air can pass by the sides of it, and furnished with a proper valve opening upward. Then, by lifting up the piston, the air in the close vessel below it follows the piston, and fills the barrel; and being thus diffused through a larger space than before, when it occupied the vessel or receiver only, but not the barrel, it is made rarer than it was before, in proportion as the capacity of the barrel and receiver together exceeds the receiver alone. Another stroke of the piston exhausts another barrel of this now rarer air, which again rarifies it in the same proportion as before. And so on, for any number of strokes of the piston, still exhausting in the same geometrical progression, of which the ratio is that which the capacity of the receiver and barrel together exceeds the receiver, till this is exhausted to any proposed degree, or as far as the nature of the machine is capable of performing; which happens when the elasticity of the included air is so far diminished, by rarefying, that it is too feeble to push up the valve of the piston, and escape. ' 383. From the nature of this exhausting, in geometrical progression, we may easily find how much the air in the receiver is rarefied by any number of strokes of the piston; or what number of such strokes is necessary, to exhaust the receiver to any given degree. Thus, if the capacity of the reeeiver and barrel together, be to that of the receiver alone, as as c to r, and I denote the natural density of the air at first; then So, if the barrel be equal to of the receiver; then cr:: 4," 5:4; and =0.8" is d the density after n turns. And 5" 1 if n be 20, then 0.82° 0115 is the density of the included air after 20 strokes of the piston; which being the 86% part of 1, or the first density, it follows that the air is 867 times rarefied by the 20 strokes. 384. Or, if it were required to find the number of strokes necessary to rarefy the air any number of times; because is the proposed density d; therefore, taking the loga rithms, x log. quired to rarefy the air 100 times: then door ‘01; and hence n = log. 100 = 20 nearly. So that in 20 strokes the air will be rarefied 100 times. OF THE DIVING BELL & CONDENSING MACHINE. 385. On the same principles too depend the operations and effect of the Condensing Engine, by which air may be condensed to any degree, instead of rarefied as in the airpump. And, like as the air-pump rarefies the air, by extracting always one barrel of air after another; so, by this other machine, the air is condensed, by throwing in or adding always one barrel of air after another; which it is evident may be done by only turning the valves of the piston and barrel, that is, making them to open the contrary way, and working the piston in the same manner; so that, as they both open upward or outward in the airpump, or rarefier, they will both open downward or inward in the condenser. 386. And on the same principles, namely, of the com-. pression and elasticity of the air, depends the use of the Diving Bell, which is a large vessel, in which a person descends to the bottom of the sea, the open end of the vessel being downward; only in this case the air is not condensed by forcing more of it into the same space, as in the condensing engine; but by compressing the same quantity of air into a less space in the bell, by increasing always the force which compresses it. 387. If a vessel of any sort be inverted into water, and pushed or let down to any depth in it; then by the pressure of the water some of it will ascend into the vessel, but not so high as the water without, and will compress the air into less space, according to the difference between the heights of the internal and external water; and the density and elastic force of the air will be increased in the same proportion, as its space in the vessel is diminished. A G B So, if the tube CE be inverted, and pushed down into water, till the external water exceed the internal, by the height AB, and the air of the tube be reduced to the space CD; then that air is pressed both by a column of water of the height AB, and by the whole atmosphere which presses on the upper surface of the water; consequently the space CD is to the whole space cɛ, as the weight of the atmosphere, is to the weights both of the atmosphere and the column of water AB. So that, if AB be about 34 feet, which is equal to the force of the atmosphere, then CD will be equal to CE; but if AB be double of that, or 68 feet, then CD will be CE; and so on. And hence, by knowing the depth AF, to which the vessel is sunk, we can easily find the point D, to which the water will rise within it at any time. For let the weight of the atmosphere at that time be equal to that of 34 feet of water; also, let the depth AF be 20 feet, and the length of the tube CE 4 feet: then, putting the height of the internal water DE = x, it is 34 AB 34:: CE CD, *:34 : 4:4 F DE, hence, multiplying extremes and means, 216 58x + x 136, and the root is x = 2 very nearly = 1414 of a foot, or 17 inches nearly; being the height DE to which the water will rise within the tube. 388. But if the vessel be not equally wide throughout, but of any other shape, as of a bell-like form, such as is used in diving; then the altitudes will not observe the proportion above, but the spaces or bulks only will respect that proportion, namely, 34 + AB 34 capacity CKL capacity CHI, if it be common or fresh water; and 33 + AB: 33: capacity CKL : capacity CHI, if it be sea-water. From which proportion, the height DE may A G B be found, when the nature or shape of the vessel or bell CKL is known. OF THE BAROMETER. 389. THE BAROMETER is an instrument for measuring the pressure of the atmosphere, and elasticity of the air, at any time. It is commonly made of a glass tube, of near 3 feet long, close at one end, and filled with mercury. When the tube is full, by stopping the open end with the finger, then inverting the tube, and immersing that end with the finger into a bason of quicksilver, on removing the finger from the orifice, the fluid in the tube will descend into the bason, till what remains in the tube be of the same weight with a column of the atmosphere, which is commonly between 28 and 31 inches of quicksilver; and leaving an entire vacuum in the upper end of the tube above the mercury. For, as the upper end of the tube is quite void of air, there is no pressure downwards but from the column of quicksilver, and therefore that will be an exact balance to the counter pressure of the whole column of atmosphere, acting on the orifice of the tube by the quicksilver in the bason. The upper 3 inches of the tube, namely, from 28 to 31 inches, have a scale attached to them, divided into inches, tenths, and hundredths, for measuring the length of the column at all times, by observing which division of the scale the top of the quicksilver is opposite to; as it ascends and descends within these limits, according to the state of the atmosphere. So |