70 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



to remove the great amount of friction, and enable the piston to be 

 moved with a low head of water. One improvement consists in form- 

 ing an air seal or packing, to separate the water above from the water 

 below the piston, by extending the piston upwards at its sides, in the 

 form of an open topped tube or cylinder, to enter a narrow open bot- 

 tomed but close topped chamber, which is formed around the upper 

 part of the interior of the vertical working cylinder, and always con- 

 tains a quantity of air, which cannot be expelled by the water. As 

 there is no communication between the spaces above and below the 

 piston, except this chamber, the air forms a seal or packing, and admits 

 of the piston being made to fit so loosely to the cylinder as to produce 

 a very small amount of friction. Another improvement is, that the 

 piston is fitted with an air float, so proportioned to its weight, that it 

 will preserve an equilibrium with the water, and offer no resistance to 

 its entrance upon either side. All the mechanism through which the 

 piston operates upon the valves is enclosed within the cylinder itself, 

 or a water chamber above or below the cylinder, having free commu- 

 nication therewith, whereby the necessity for stuffing boxes and other 

 packing, is obviated. Scientific American. 



Kenedy's Water Meter. In this meter the fluid is passed through 

 an adjustable valve, working in connection with an arrangement of 

 clockwork, the combination being so contrived that the exact flow of 

 the liquid shall be indicated by apparatus worked from the clock 

 movement. In one arrangement, the valve on the supply-pipe con- 

 sists of a small bored cylinder, fitted with a piston, and having a nar- 

 row longitudinal slot on one side. Then the water being admitted to 

 this cylinder beneath the piston, escapes through this slot into an outer 

 cylinder, communicating with the service-pipe or delivering stop-cock, 

 at a rate proportioned to the extent of slot left open to the water by 

 the piston. When placed vertically, the piston-rod is loaded with a 

 weight, to keep it steady upon the water, the rod being passed through 

 a stuffing-box at the top of the outer cylinder, above which it is con- 

 nected to a traversing pulley, which is kept constantly revolving by 

 contact with a cone pulley, driven at a continuous uniform rate by a 

 common clock. The result of this combination is, that as the piston 

 rises in its cylinder, admitting an increased flow of water, it draws the 

 traversing pulley towards the larger end of the cone ; and this pulley 

 being connected to the indicating mechanism, at once points out the 

 quantity of water passing through, as it is driven at a more or less 

 increased speed, from its position nearer to, or further from, the large 

 end of the cone. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN BEARINGS. 



M. Decoster, at Paris, has lately invented a novel method of lubri- 

 cating bearings, especially applicable to light shafting, and which is 

 thus described in the London Artisan : The bearing is made rather 

 wider than usual, and a small disc is fitted on the shaft, which dips in 

 a reservoir of oil in the base of the hanging carriage or pluminer-block, 



