84 



THE HYDRAULIC RAM. 



a well written novel who enter into the 

 vieAvs, feelings and hopes of the hero ; re- 

 alize his disappointments, partake of his 

 pleasures, and become interested in his 

 fate ; hence something like regret comes 

 over us, when an industrious experimenter, 

 led by his researches to the verge of an 

 important discovery, is, by some circum- 

 stance diverted (perhaps temporarily) from 

 it ; and a more fortunate or more sagacious 

 rival steps in and bears off the prize from 

 his grasp — a prize, which a few steps more 

 AA^ould have put him in possession of. 

 Thus Whitehurst with the water-ram, like 

 Papin with the steam-engine, discontinued 

 his researches at the most interesting point 

 — at the very turning of the tide that would 

 have carried him to the goal ; and hence 

 the fruit of both their labors has contribut- 



but the momentum of the water it is cm- 

 ployed to elevate. Like the organization 

 of animal life, and the mechanism by which 

 the blood circulates, the pulsations of this 

 admirable machine incessantly continue 

 day and night, for months and years ; while 

 nothing but a deficiency of the liquid, or 

 defects in the apparatus can induce it to 

 stop. It is, compared to Whitehurst's, what 

 the steam-engine of Watt is to that of Sa- 

 vary or Newcomen. 



Fig. 14. Dlontgolfier^s Ram. 



Fig. 15. The Same. 



ed but to enhance the glory of their suc- 

 cessors. 



The Bllier hydraiilique of Montgolfier 

 was invented in 1796. (Its author was a 

 French paper maker, and the same gentle- 

 man who, in conjunction with his brother, 

 invented balloons in 17S2.) Although it is 

 on the principle of Whitehurst's machine, 

 its invention is believed to have been en- 

 tirely independent of the latter. But if it 

 were even admitted that Montgolfier was 

 acquainted with what Whitehurst had done, 

 still he has, by his improvements, made the 

 ram entirely his own. He found it a com- 

 paratively useless device, and he rendered 

 it one of the most efficient — it was neglect- 

 ed or forgotten, and he not only revived it, 

 but gave it a permanent place among hy- 

 draulic machines, and actually made it the 

 most interesting of them all. It was, pre- 

 vious to this time, but an embryo ; when, 

 like another Prometheus, he not only 

 Avrought it into shape and beauty, but im- 

 parted to it, as it were, a principle of life, 

 that rendered its movements self-acting ; 

 for it requires neither the attendance of 

 man, nor anything else, to keep it in play, 



Fig. 14 represents a simple form of 

 Alontgolfier'sram. The motive column de- 

 scends from a spring or brook A through 

 the pipe B, near the end of which an air 

 chamber D, and rising main F, are attach- 

 ed to it as shown in the cut. At the ex- 

 treme end of B, the orifice is opened and 

 closed by a valve E, instead of the cock in 

 fig. 13. This valve opens downwards 

 and may either be a spherical one as in fig. 



14, or a common spindle one as in fig. 



15. It is the play of this valve that ren- 

 ders the machine self-acting. To accom- 

 plish this, the valve is made of, or loaded 

 with, such a weight as just to open when 

 the water in B is at rest ; i. e. it must be so 

 heavy as to overcome the pressure against 

 its under side when closed, as represented 

 at fig. 15. Now suppose this valve open 

 as in fig. 14, the water flowing through B 

 soon acquires an additional force that car- 

 ries up the valve against its seat ; then, as 

 in shutting the cock of Whitehurst's ma- 

 chine, a portion of the water will enter and 

 rise in F, the valve of the air chamber pre- 

 venting its return. When this has taken 

 place, the water in B has been brought to 



