1-847 



GENESEE FARMER. 



207 



Fig. 4.) 



the machine did not get in- 

 to general use, being found 

 oftener on the shelves of 

 physiological cabinets than 

 on the premises of the farm- 

 er. The late improve- 

 ments of using springs and 

 screws does away with the 

 weights, and makes the 

 hydraulic ram as nearly 

 perfect as any other ma- 

 chine for the same purpose. 

 A small vacuum valve sup- 

 plies to the air chamber, 

 as well as to the air vessel, 

 which makes the flow from 

 the raising main uniform, 

 enough air to compensate 

 for that which the water absorbs, besides aiding 

 the opening of the outlet or escape valve, by the 

 partial vacuum consequent on the rebound or re- 

 action. 



Montgolfier positively denied having borrowed 

 the idea from any one. He claimed the inven- 

 tion as wholly his own, and there is no reason 

 whatever to question his veracity. The same 

 discoveries have often been and still are made in 

 the same and distant countries, independently of 

 each other. It is a common occurrence, and 

 from the constitution of the human mind, will 

 always be one. 



A patent was taken out in England, for self- 

 acting rams, in 1797, by Mr. Boulton, the part- 

 ner of Watt ; and as no reference was made in 

 the specification to Montgolfier, many persons 

 imagined them to be of English origin — a cir- 

 cumstance that elicited some remarks from Mont- 

 golfier. The patent was granted to " Matthew 

 Boulton, for liis invention of improved apparatus 

 and methods for raising water." 



For the information of those unacquainted with 

 the operation of the hydraulic ram, it may here 

 be well to sketch briefly its operation. 



Explanation. — The head or motive column 

 descends from a spring or brook A, through the 

 pipe B, near the end of which an air chamber D, 

 and raising main F, are attached to it, as shown 

 in the representation. At the extreme end of 

 B, the orifice is opened and closed by a valve E, 

 instead of the cock in Whitehurst's machine be- 

 fore described. This valve opens downwards, 

 and may either be a spherical one, as in fig. 4, 

 or a common spindle one, as in fig. 3. It is the 

 play of this valve that renders the machine self- 

 acting. To accomplish this, the valve is made 

 of, or loaded with such a weight, or adjustment 

 of the spring, as just to open when the water in 

 B is at rest ; then as in shuUing the cock of 

 Whitehurst's machine, a portion of the water 

 will enter and rise in F, the valve in the air 

 chamber preventing its return. Meantime the 

 water in B has been brought to rest, and relieved 



APPARA'J'US FOR RAISING WATER.— No. 2. 



Monlgoljier's Ram. 



(Fig. 3.) 



for a moment of the pressure and rush of water, 

 the pressure is insufficient to sustain the weight 

 of the valve E, which drops, and re-opens the 

 outlet hole at E, when the current is again put 

 in motion, and acquires force enough to close the 

 valve E, when another portion of the water iS8 

 again forced into the air vessel C and pipe F ; 

 and thus the operation is repeated, as long as the 

 spring or brook afibrds a sufficient supply, and 

 the apparatus remains in order. This process, 

 or pulsation, like the click of a clock, continues 

 until accident or wear stops the working of the 

 valves. The valves make from twenty-five to 

 sixty strokes per minute. The machine is set 

 in motion by pressing down the valve E, fig. 3. 



The surface of water in the spring or source, 

 should always be kept at the same elevation, so 

 that its pressure against the valve E may always 

 be uniform ; otherwise the weight of E would 

 have to be adjusted, as the surface ol' the spring 

 rose and fell. 



As the eiscending column of water communi- 

 cates with the air in the reservoir D, this would 

 soon be exhausted, if a fresh supply or portion af 

 the air were not introduced at each stroke of the 

 ram. Thus when the flow of the water through 

 B is suddenly stopped by valve E, a partial vacu- 

 um is produced immediately below the air cham- 

 ber, by the recoil of the water, at which instant 

 the small valve B, in fig. 3, opens, and a portion 

 of air enters, and aupplies that which the water 

 absorb?. In small rams, a sufficient supply is 

 found to enter at the valve E. 



Air-vessels are indispensable to the permanent 

 operation of these machines. Without them the 

 pipes would soon be ruptured by the violent con- 

 cussion consequent on the sudden stoppage of 

 the current of the motive column. The air be- 

 ing elastic, breaks the force of the blows. 



This beautiful machine may be adapted to 

 numerous locations in the country. When the 

 perpendicular from A to the valve E, is but a 

 few feet, and the water is required to be raised 

 to a considerable height through F, then the 



