144 



LUBRICATION 



contain paraffin, yet it ought not to deposit any when cooled to 2 Cent. See 

 NAPHTHA. 



ZiTTBRZCATIOir. The lubrication of the wheel and axle of railway carriages is 

 effected by a kind of soap : a combination of cocoa-nut oil or palm oil, or ordinary fats, 

 with soda being the ' grease ' with which the boxes are filled. The heat produced 

 by the friction melts the grease, and it flows out upon the parts in motion through an 

 opening in the bottom of the box. Heavy machinery, such as pumping-engines, 

 require tenacious bodies as their lubricants, while the finer parts must be carefully 

 oiled with oils as free as possible from any of the fatty acids. Spinning machinery, 

 for example, must be lubricated with the finest oils, or. as it is found to be still better, 

 with those peculiar hydro-carbon compounds, as paraffin, glycerine, and the like. 

 The following is a simple and efficacious plan of lubricating the joints and bearings 

 of machinery by capillary attraction, the invention of Edward Woolsey, Esq. : 



Fig. 1403 represents a tin cup, which has a small tin tube A, which passes through 

 the bottom. It may have a tin cover to keep out the dust. 

 Fig. 1404 is a plan of the same. 



Fig. 1405 is a section of the same. Oil is poured into the cup, the one end of a 

 worsted or cotton thread is dipped into the oil, and the other end passed through the tube. 

 The capillary attraction causes the oil to ascend and pass over the orifice of the tube, 

 whence it gradually descends, and drops slower or quicker according to the length of 

 the thread or its thickness, until every particle of oil is drawn over by this capillary 

 siphon. The tube is intended to be put into the bearings of shafts, &c., and is made 

 of any size that may be wished. If oil, or other liquids, is desired to be dropped upon a 

 grindstone or other surface, this cup can have a handle to it, or be hung from the ceiling. 

 Fig. 1406. It is frequently required to stop the capillary action when the machinery 

 is not going ; and this has been effected by means of a tightening screw, which passes 

 through a screw boss in the cover of the cup, and presses against the internal orifice 

 of the tube, preventing the oil from passing. 



Fig. 1407. As when these screw cups are used upou beams of engines and moving 

 bearings, the screw is apt to be tightened by the motion; and also, as the action 

 of the screw is iincertain, from the workman neglecting to screw it down sufficiently, 

 it answers best to take out the capillary thread when the lubrication is not required ; 

 and to effect this easily, a tin top is fixed to the cup, with a round pipe soldered to it ; 



this pipe has a slit in 



1406 -IAHA iAO" it, like a pencil-case, and 



allows a bolt B to slide 

 easily. In fig. 1408 the 

 bolt is down ; \nfig. 1409 

 the bolt, which is a piece 

 of brass wire, is drawn 

 up, and thus the flowing 

 of the oil is checked. In 

 fig. 1409 it will be ob- 

 served, that the bolt is 

 kept in its place by its 

 head c, resting in a lateral 

 slit in the pipe, and it 

 cannot be drawn out on 

 account of the pin E. 

 One end of the thread is 

 fastened to the eye-hole 

 at the bottom of the bolt, 

 and the other end is tied 

 to a small wire which 

 crosses the lower orifice 

 of the tube at D, and 

 i which is shown in plan, 

 fig.. 1410. 



The saving by this 

 plan, instead of pouring 

 oil into the bearings, is 

 2 gallons out of 3, whilo 

 the bearings are better 

 oiled. 



The saving in labour 

 is considerable where 

 there are many joints to keep oiled three or four times a day ; and the workman does 



