86 



THE HYDRAULIC RAM. 



Fig. 16. Montgolfiir's Water Ram. 



tween their walls and the battering rams of 

 the besiegers, in order to break the force of 

 the blows. 



The ram has also been used in a few 

 cases to raise water by atmospheric pres- 

 sure from a lower level, so as to discharge 

 it at the same level with the motive column 

 or even higher* 



The device by which Montgolfier made 

 the ram self-acting, is one of the neatest 

 imaginable. It is unique : there never was 

 anything like it in practical hydraulics, or 

 in the whole range of the arts ; and its 

 simplicity is equal to its novelty, and use- 

 ful effects. Perhaps it may be said that he 

 only added a valve to Whitehurst's ma- 

 chine : be it so — but that simple valve in- 

 stantly changed, as by magic, the whole 

 character of the apparatus — like the mere 

 change of the cap, which transformed the 

 Leech Hakim into Saladin.* And the emo- 



* Walter Scott's Tales of the Crusaders. 



tions of Coeur de Lion, upon finding his 

 great adversary had beerf his physician in 

 disguise, Avere not more exquisite than 

 those, which an admirer of this department 

 of philosophy experiences, when he con- 

 templates for the first time the metamor- . 

 phosis of the English machine by the 

 French Savan. The name of Montgolfier 

 will justl}^ be associated with this admirable 

 machine in future ages. When all politi- 

 cal and ecclesiastical crusaders are forgot- 

 ten, and the memories of all who have 

 hewed a passage to notoriety merely by the 

 sword, will be detested — the name of its in- 

 ventor will be embalmed in the recollec- 

 tions of an admiring posterity. 



Montgolfier's water-ram is now manufac- 

 tured in this country, by Mr. H. M. Bir- 

 KENBiRNE, 17 South Eighth-Street, Philadel- 

 phia. Fig. 16 represents the exterior of the 

 apparatus. 



