i60 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGIIICULTUIIE. 



No. 168. Montgolfier's Ram. 



No. 169. Now suppose this valve open as m 

 No. 168, the water flowing through B soon ac- 

 quires an additional force that carries up the 

 valve against its seat ; then, as in shutting the 

 cock of Whitehurst's machine, a portion of the 

 water will enter and rise in F, the valve of the 

 air chamber preventing its return. When this 

 has taken place the water in B has been brought 

 to rest, and as in that state its pressure is insuf- 

 ficient to su,stain the weight of the valve, E 

 opens ; (descends) the water in B is again put 

 in motion, and again it closes E as before, when 

 another portion is driven into the air vessel and 

 pipe F ; and thus the operation is continued, as 

 long as the spring affords a sufficient supply and 

 the apparatus remains in order. 



The surface of the water in the spring or 

 source should always be kept at the same ele- 

 vation, so that its pressure against the valve E 

 may always be uniform — otherwise the weight 

 of E would have to be altered as the surface of 

 the spring rose and fell. 



This beautiful machine may be adapted to nu- 

 merous locations in every country. When the 

 perpendicular fall from the spring to the valve 

 E is but a few feet, and the water is required 

 to be raised to a considerable hight throueh F, 

 then, the length of the ram or pipe B, must be 

 increased, and to such an extent that the water 

 in it is not forced back into the spring when E 

 closes, which will always be the case if B is 

 not of sufficient length. Mr. !Millington, who 

 erected several in England, justly observes that 

 a very insignificant pressing column is capable 

 of raising a very high ascending one, so that a 

 sufficient fall of v^-ater may be obtained in almost 

 every running brook, by damming the upper 

 end to produce the reservoir, and cariying the 

 pipe down the natural channel of the stream 

 until a sufficient fall is obtained. In this way a 

 ram has been made to raise one hundred hogs- 

 heads of water in twenty-four hours to a per- 

 pendicular hight of one hundred and thirty- 

 four ffet. by a fall of only four feet and a half. — 

 M. Fischer of Schaff'hausen, constructed a 

 water-ram in the form of a beautiful antique al- 

 tar, nearly in the style of that of jE,sculapius, as 

 represented in various engravings. A basin 

 about six inches in depth, and from eighteen to 

 twenty inches in diameter, received the water 

 that formed the motive column. This water 

 flowed throui^h pipes three inches in diameter 

 that descended in a spiral form into the base of 

 the altar ; on the valve opening a third of the 

 •724) 



No. 169. The same. 



water escaped, and the rest was forced up to a 

 castle several hundred feet above the level of 

 the Rhine. 



A long tube laid along the edge of a rapid 

 river, as the Niagara above the falls, or the 

 Mississippi, might thus be used in.stcad of 

 pumps, water wheels, steam-engines and horses, 

 to raise the water over the highest banks and 

 supply inland towns, however elevated their lo- 

 cation might be ; and there is scarcely a larmcr 

 in the land but who might, in the absence of 

 other sources, furnish his dwelling and bams 

 with water in the same way, from a brook, 

 creek, rivulet or pond. 



If a ram of large dimensions, and made like 

 No. 108, be used to raise water to a great ele- 

 vation, it would be subject to an inconvenience 

 that would soon destroy the beneficial effect of 

 the air chamber. When speaking of tlie air 

 vessels of fire-engines, in the third book, we 

 ob.served that if air be subjected to great pres- 

 sure in contact with -water, it in time becomes 

 incorporated with or absorbed by the latter. — 

 As might be supposed, the same thing occurs 

 in water-rams ; as these when used are inces- 

 santly at work both day and night. To remedy 

 this, Montgolfier ingeniously adapteil a very 

 small valve (oi)ening inwards) to the pipe be- 

 neath the air chamber, and which was ojiened 

 and shut by the ordinary action of the machine. 

 Thus, when the flow of the water through B is 

 suddenly stopped by the valve E, a partial 

 vacuum is prq^uced immediately below the air 

 chamber by the recoil of the water, at which 

 in.stant the small valve opens and a portion of 

 air enters and supplies that wliich the water ab- 

 sorbs. Sometimes this snifiiH!,' valve, as it has 

 been named, is adapted to another diamber im- 

 mediately below that which forms the reser- 

 voir of air. as at B in No. 169. In small rams 

 a sufficient .supply is found to enter at the 

 valve E. 



Although air chambers or ve.«sels are not, 

 .strictly speaking, constituent elements of water- 

 rams, they are indispensable to the permanent 

 operation of these machines. Without them, 

 the pipes would soon be ruptured by tlie violent 

 concu.ssiou consequent on the sudden stoppage 

 of the efflux of the motive column. Tliey per- 

 form a similar part to that of the batrs of wool, 

 &c. which the ancients, when besieged, inier- 

 po.sed between their walls and the battering 

 rams of the besiegers, in order to break the 

 force of the blows. 



