1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



life 



During a storm of wind, 

 long swelling waves in t^e 

 open sea alternately rise 

 and fall, without the crests 

 or tops of any being ele- 

 vated much above those of 

 the rest ; but when they 

 meet from opposite direc- 

 tions, or when their pro- 

 gress is suddenly arrested 

 by the bow of a ship, by 

 rocks, or other obstacles, 

 part of the water is driven 

 to great elevatioriS. 



The Hydraulic Ram 

 raises water on precisely 

 the same principles; a 

 quantity of the liquid is 

 set in motion through an 

 inclined tube, and its es- 

 cape from the lower ori- 

 fice is made suddenly to 

 cease, when the momen- 

 tum of the moving mass 

 drives up, like the waves, 

 a portion of its own vol- 

 ume, to an elevation 

 much higher than that 

 from which it descend- 

 ed. This may be illus- 

 trated by an experiment 

 familiar to most people. 

 Suppose the lower orifice 



of a tube (where the upper one is connected to a 

 reservoir of water) be closed with the finger, and 

 a very minute stream be allowed to escape from 

 it in an upward direction, the tiny jet would rise 

 nearly to the surface of the reservoir. It could 

 not of course ascend higher. But if the finger 

 was then moved to one side, so as to allow a free 

 escape, until the whole contents of the tube were 

 rapidly moving to the exit, and the orifice then 

 at once contracted or closed as before, the jet 

 would dart far above the reservoir ; for, in addi- 

 tion to the hydrostatic pressure which drove it 

 up in the first instance, there would be a new 

 force acting upon it, derived from the momentum 

 of the water. As in the case of a hammer of a 

 few pounds weight, when at rest on an anvil, it 

 exertsa pressure on the latter with a force due to 

 its weight only ; but when in motion by the 

 hand of the smith, it descends with a force that 

 is equivalent to the pressure of perhaps a ton. 



At a hospital in Bristol, England, a plumber 

 was employed to convey water through a leaden 

 tube, from a cistern in one of the upper stories, 

 to the kitchen below; and it happened that the 

 lower end of the tube was burst nearly every 

 time the cock was used. After several attempts 

 to remedy the evil, it was determined to solder 

 one end of the smaller pipe immediately behind 

 the cock, and to carry the other end to as high a 



APPARATUS FOR RAI8IN!'i WATER.— No. 1. 



Birkvnhine's Ram — (Fig. 1.) 



level as the water in the cistern. And now it 

 was found that on shutting the cock, the pipe did 

 not burst as before, but a jet of considerable 

 height was forced from the upper end of this new 

 pipe. It therefore became necessary to increase 

 its height, to prevent water escaping from it; 

 upon which it was continued to the top of the 

 hospital, being twice the height of the supplying 

 cistern; but then, to the great surprise of those 

 who constructed the work, some water still issued. 

 A cistern was therefore placed to receive this 

 water which was found very convenient, since it 

 was thus raised to the highest floors of the build- 

 ing, without any extra labor. Here circumstan- 

 ces led the workman to the construction of a wa- 

 ter ram, without knowing that such a machine 

 had been previously devised. 



It is now more than fifty years since the first 

 discovery was made known, and it has, until 

 within a iew years, been regarded more as a sci- 

 entific toy, than of practical utility. It is a mat- 

 ter of surprise, too, that so beautiful a contri- 

 vance should have laid dormant and neglected, 

 and scarcely known, except to the scientific. 



The first person who is nown to have laised 

 water by a ram, designed for the purpose, was 

 Mr. Whitehurst, a watch-maker of Derby, in 

 England. He erected a machine similar to the 

 one represented by the next figure, in 1772. 



