214 



PUMP. 



Pump. 

 V-*~v^w 



PLATE 

 GCCCLXXI 

 No. I. 

 Fig. 11. 



terminate in the perforated burners g, while the pipe 

 e terminates in small openings with sliders h h, in 

 the side of the cylinders a and b, immediately opposite 

 to which are lateral jets, communicating with the burn- 

 er ff. 



The reservoir i is filled with water, which, by pass- 

 ing through the pipej into k, raises the float /, and by 

 pushing up the rod m, will elevate the end n of the 

 beam n z. The cap o will thus be lifted from the cy- 

 linder b, and the cap p brought down upon the cylin- 

 der a. By opening the stop-cocks, the gas is to be let 

 into the pipes e and f, and the jets at both ends of the 

 pipe e, near h and h, are to be set fire to. The slider h 

 having been lifted by an arm g, moved by the ascent 

 of the rod m, the flame of the jet e instantly communi- 

 cates with the burner g, and causes it to burn within 

 the cylinder. In the upper part of the apparatus, there 

 is placed a small cylindrical glass vessel r, which is more 

 than half full of mercury. It vibrates on pivots, and 

 as the rod m ascends or descends, two small arms s, 

 fixed to the rod m, strike a pin on the side of the mer- 

 cury vessel, and thus raise and depress it alternately. 

 The mercury being thus made to flow to the lower side 

 gives motion to certain minor parts of the engine, as 

 will be afterwards explained. 



In the position of r in the figure the rise of the end 

 * of the vessel has by the rod t drawn the slider v over 

 the mouth of the pipej and closed it, opening at the 

 same time the mouth of the pipe u. The water thus 

 flows from t into w and into dd, forcing the float x to 

 ascend and lift the rod y, which raises the end z of the 

 beam, and takes the cap p from the cylinder a, while 

 it places the cap o air-tight on the cylinder b. 



By this descent of the end n of the beam the rod m 

 is brought down, which, by the intervention of the arm 

 y shuts the slider h. As the gas at g is now burning 

 within the closed cylinder b, the air is consumed du- 

 ring the combustion, and a vacuum produced. The 

 water, therefore, rises, as in a pump in the main d, and 

 flows over the top into the cylinder b, which is thus 

 nearly filled, the rarefied air escaping through small 

 valves in the top of the cylinder. 



During the process, the returning stroke of the beam 

 and the vessel r has shifted the slider v from the mouth 

 of the pipe j upon the mouth of u, and by the same 

 operation formerly described, the rod m and the end 

 n of the beam are raised, by which means the end z 

 descends and places the cap p on the top of its cylinder, 

 and the gas in the cylinder a turns and raises the 

 water into the cylinder in the manner already described. 

 In order to raise the caps off their respective cylinders 

 a and 6, after a vacuum has been made in them, a small 

 quantity of air is admitted by a slide valve in the air pipe 

 A, which is worked by chains BB attached to the floats 

 I x, and by means of the lever z z to which the slide 

 above A is attached, the ascent and descent of the floats 

 admits the air alternately into the cylinders a and b 

 immediately after the water is risen. 



The gas is turned off and oh by chains C, C, with 

 suspended weights, passing from the ends of the vessel 

 r to the stop cock in the gas pipey. The water raised 

 by the engine is retained by the valves at D, D, and 

 it occupies the mains and the outer cases of the cylin- 

 ders which keeps the interior cool ; but the greater 

 .portion of the water that is received into the cylinders 

 a, b, passes off through pipes EE to the trough Fj from 

 which it is delivered through a sluice into the buckets 

 of a water wheel GGC, which it drives, and from the 

 axle of which any kind of machinery may be driven. 



This wheel is unnecessary when the machine is to act p ump . 

 merely as a pump. i ~, j 



The inventor remarks, that a piston may be worked > 

 on the principle of producing a vacuum beneath it by 

 burning the air in the manner above described ; and 

 he proposes that this be done in a distinct vessel, so as 

 to communicate with several cylinders, and conse- 

 quently to work several pistons at once ; the air and 

 vacuum valves being opened and shut by the same 

 means as the induction and eduction valves in steam 

 engines. 



Mr. Brown proposes to impel steam boats with this 

 engine, which, he says, will require only a few butts of 

 oil for a long voyage. 



Among the advantages of this engine are its small 

 size, which is only one-fifth the weight of a steam en- 

 gine and boiler of the same power, and its entire free- 

 dom from danger. See l)r. Brewster's Journal of 

 Science, vol. i. p. 337- 



The Rev. Mr. Cecil has described in the Cambridge 

 Transactions, vol. i. part ii. an engine in which a vacu- 

 um is created by the explosion of a mixture of hydro- 

 gen and common air. Mr. Cecil suggested in his paper 

 that the expansive force of the explosion might also be 

 employed. 



23. Description rf Mr. Hunter's Self-acting Pump. 



This pump, invented by Mr. Hunter of Thurston, is Descrip- 

 founded on the same principles as the Hungarian ma- tion f Mr. 

 chine, which we have already described in our article " nte * s 

 HYDRODYNAMICS, Vol. XI. p. 56?. The object of it is 

 to raise water above the original reservoir, by the de- 

 scent of a certain portion of it. It is represented in 

 Plate CCCCLXXI. Fig. 12, where A is the cistern fill- PLATE 

 ed by the spring B, C the cistern at which the water is CCCCLXXI. 

 required, and D a water-proof metallic box, twelve inch- ?f.* * 

 es square, and four inches deep, placed within A, and .*' < 

 near the top of it. A pipe F, of half an inch bore, leads 

 from the top of A to the bottom of F, which is a me- 

 tallic box similar to D. A pipe G of half an inch bore, 

 leads from the top of the box F to the top of D, the 

 upper part of it being above the level of B. Ano- 

 ther pipe H, of half an inch bore, leads from the bottom 

 of D to the bottom of C, and is made as long as from R to 

 S. One valve I opening upwards, is placed at the mouth 

 of the pipe H, another K opening upwards at the 

 bottom of D, and a third L opening upwards at the 

 bottom of F. A pipe M conveys the overflowing 

 water of E to a small light pan N, which, when filled 

 with water, presses down one end of a lever O, which 

 opens the valve L. A flat piece of leather at the end 

 of a chain, is suspended from the pan P, and that piece 

 of leather opens a hole at A, when the arm O and pan 

 N are forced down. The hole Q must be of a suffi- 

 cient size to let the water escape from the pan N, in 

 the same time that D is filling with water through the 

 valve K. 



When the vessels D and F are full of air, the water 

 flows from A into E, drives out the air from F, passes 

 through G and D to I, and from E, F, and G, to the 

 level of B. It then flows over at R into the pipe M, 

 fills N, which descending by the weight of the water 

 round the fulcrum /, opens the hole Q, and the valve 

 L as formerly described. The vessel F then empties 

 itself at L, is filled with air from D through G, and D 

 is filled with water through K. At the same time N 

 is emptied through Q and returns to its place, allow- 

 ing L to shut and leaving F and G full of air. The 



