No. 8. 



Hydraulic Ram. 



249 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Hydraulic Ram. 



The statements of H. H. Strawbridge in 

 the last Cabinet relative to the working of 

 this machine, are so completely at variance 

 with our old notions of things, that if they 

 should be confirmed by future experiments, 

 they will entirely "confound all our philoso- 

 phy." It will afford occasion for inculcating 

 some philosophical truths, to inquire what 

 this new philosophy is] 



" By employing a syphon instead of a 

 straight pipe, a fall of six or twelve inches 

 may be increased in power so as to equal 

 that of a natural fall of many feet. The 

 power will, of course, be in proportion to 

 the perpendicular height of the syphon — not 

 exceeding 32 feet. This will give a power 

 of 14 pounds to the square inch, if merely 

 the dead pressure be taken into considera- 

 tion — but a much greater power if the mo- 

 mentum of the descending column of water 

 be calculated." — says H. H. S. 



Let a represent the spring or reservoir, h 

 the induction or feeding pipe, c the air cham- 



ber of the ram, d the escape valve, e the 

 eduction or raising pipe, f g h a syphon. 



Now the dead pressure or effective weight 

 of the water in the tube 6 is equal to a simi- 

 lar perpendicular column of the height h i. 



The power of the syphon is known to be 

 equal to the difference between the perpen- 

 dicular heights of the ascending and de- 

 scending columns — that is the difference be- 

 tween h k and f I, which is also equal to 

 h i. Therefore the effective powers of the 

 straight tube and of the syphon are precisely 

 the same. 



The motive power of the water is derived 

 from the force of gravity acting upon it. In 

 the syphon the columns / g and g in being 

 of the same altitude and weight, exactly 

 equipoise each other, and remain at rest; 

 but when the additional column h in is ap- 

 pended to g m, it preponderates the opposing 

 column fg, and the whole is put in motion. 



Whatever may be the motive power em- 

 ployed, the motion produced will be in an 

 inverse ratio to the quantity of matter 

 moved. Now if the quantity of water in 

 the straight tube be equal to 10, and that in 



