WATER. 



is continued, the man being at reft during its defcent, and 

 labouring in the afcent. 



Defaguliers employed in this kind of work a tavern- 

 drawer, who had been ufed to run up and down ftairs ; he 

 weighed 160 pounds, and was defired to go up and down 

 39 fteps of 65 inches each (in all about 21 feet) at the fame 

 rate he would go up and down all day. He went up and 

 down twice in a minute, fo that allowing the bucket, with a 

 quarter of a hogfiiead of water in it, to weigh 140 pounds, 

 he is able to raife it up through 21 feet twice [in a minute, 

 which is equivalent to the whole hogfhead raifed io| feet in 

 a minute, and rather exceeds what Defaguliers affigned as 

 a maximum of human exertion ; from experiments made with 

 a mercurial pump. He recommends that the man in the fcale 

 (hould weigh one-fifth or one-fixth more than the weight of 

 the water in the bucket, in order to give him a prepon- 

 derance to bring up the bucket with a proper velocity. 



Balance Buckets. — This is an ingenious contrivance for 

 raifing water by the power of a fmall fall of water : fuppoie 

 a wooden lever twenty feet long, poifed upon a centre at 

 five feet from one end, one arm will then be five feet long, 

 and the other fifteen, or three times. At the extremity of 

 the long arm a fmall bucket is fixed, and at the extremity of 

 the (hort arm another bucket, which is rather more than 

 three times as great in capacity : the lever is fo poifed, that it 

 will place itfelf in an horizontal pofitlon when both the 

 buckets are empty; but fuppofe that in this fituation a fmall 

 fpout of water runs into each bucket, when they become 

 both filled, the larger bucket at the end of the fliort arm 

 will overweigh the fmaller one, becaufe it holds more than 

 three times as much water ; in confequence, the larger bucket 

 will defcend and move the lever into a perpendicular fitua- 

 tion, by which means the fmall bucket is raifed fifteen feet 

 above the level of the fpout at which it received the water, 

 whilft the great bucket has defcended five feet beneath its 

 fource of fupply. Both the buckets are fufpended to the 

 ends of the lever on pivots, fo that they can readily be 

 turned over to difcharge their contents ; this takes place 

 when the lever arrives near its vertical pofition : the fmall 

 bucket is caught by a hook, and overturned into the elevated 

 trough which is to receive the water, and immediately the 

 lower bucket is emptied by fimilar means. The long end 

 of the lever is now the heavieft, and in confequence the lever 

 returns to its horizontal pofition, in which it remains until 

 the buckets are both full, and then it makes another ftroke. 

 A fimple contrivance is applied to ftop the running of the 

 fpout of water during the time that the lever is in motion, 

 to prevent wafte of the water. 



The lojing and gaining Buckets is a fimilar machine to the 

 preceding, but admits of raifing the water to a greater 

 height, becaufe chairs and wheel-work are employed inilead 

 of a lever. This machine will raife water fufficient to ferve 

 a gentleman's feat, with an overplus for fountains, fifii-ponds, 

 &c. A machine of this kind can be erefted wherever 

 there is a fpring affording a fmall fupply of water, and 

 having even fo fmall a fall as ten feet. It ispofiible, by 

 this invention, with the lofs of part of the water, to raife the 

 reft, to fupply a houfe, or any place where it is required ; but, 

 of courfe, it muft be in a lefs quantity than the fall of water 

 which is to aftuate the machine, nearly in the fame propor- 

 tion as the place to which the water is to be raifed is higher 

 than the fall of the fpring. For example, the fall of one hogf- 

 head through ten feet will raife about one-fixth of a hogthead 

 to the height of forty feet. This machine had been con- 

 ceived by Schottus a great many years ago, and he gave a 

 draught of it. It is defcribed in Leopold's Theatrum 

 Machinarum Hydraulicarum, 1720; but it was never 



put in execution to any good purpof« in England, till 

 Mr. George Greaves, a carpenter, ereded an engine upon 

 this prmciple, about 1730, for fir John Chefter, baronet, at 

 his feat at Chickley, in Buckinghamfhire ; a fetch of 

 which is given at /^. 13, Plate Water-Works. A fmall 

 fpring of water, fupplying four gallons per minute, is con- 

 veyed feventy-two yards, by a gutter, into a ciftern N, 

 containing about twelve gallons. This water has a de- 

 fcent to the other ciftern at R, ten feet below X ; from 

 the latter, the wafte is conveyed off along H, by a drain or 

 fewer. The defcent of part of the water through this ten 

 feet is the motive force to work the machine. A, B, are two 

 copper pans, or buckets, of unequal weights and fizes, fuf- 

 pended by chains, which alternately wind off, and on the 

 two multiplying-wheels Y and Z, whereof the wheel Y is 

 fmaller in diameter, and Z larger, in proportion to the dif- 

 ferent lifts each bucket is defigned to perform. A houfe 

 is built over the well or ciftern, with three floors, for the 

 conveniency of fixing the parts of the engine. On the 

 uppermoft floor is fixed a frame of timber 2 2, in which the 

 moving parts are fupported, as is fhewn, (part being broken 

 off in the figure, to explain the work) : acrofs this frame 

 lies an horizontal axis G, three feet and a half long, moving 

 on two gudgeons in braflfes. Upon this axis are framed 

 three wheels ; firft, the fmall wheel Y, which is two feet 

 diameter, and flirouded, or made with a raifed rim at each 

 fide : tlie edge of the wheel is five inches broad, and fhod 

 with iron. Upon the wheel Y is fixed a chain, made very 

 flat and flexible, which, after it has wrapped once round 

 the wheel, is then made double, that it may he on each 

 fide of the edge part, the double parts having a fufficient 

 opening between them to admit the fingle part, and this pre- 

 vents fretting or galling, and keeps the chain exaftly per- 

 pendicular : from the extremity of the double part is hung 

 a long rod of iron, at the bottom of which the great bucket 

 A is fixed. The largeft wheel Z on the axis is fix feet 

 diameter, and one inch and a half broad on the face, which 

 is alfo (hrouded : this wheel is not circular, but fpiraled 

 two inches, both in the fole and in the fhrouds ; fo that its 

 radius at the leaft part is two inches lefs than three feet. 

 Upon the large wheel Z is fixed a fmaller chain, to fuf- 

 pend the bucket B : it is made hke the former, and fo 

 arranged, that when the wheel Z has made one revolution 

 from left to right, the fpiral fole will take up a certain 

 length of the chain. After this length, the lower or re- 

 maining part of the chain has crofs-bars fixed to it, at equal 

 diftances, which fall upon the edges of the fhrouds into 

 notches plated with iron : by this means, and by the help 

 of the fpiral, this part of the chain is not only prevented 

 from riding upon the other, but helps to equiponderate the 

 increafe of weight of the other chain of the bucket A. 

 A third wheel r, three feet ten inches diameter, is fixed 

 on the axis G, between the other two wheels : it is fhrouded 

 like the others, and is fpiraled three-fourths of an inch ; it 

 receives a rope, the lower end of which goes about a wheel 

 d, of two feet diameter, to which that end is fixed, and on 

 the axis, </, of this wheel is another, /, one foot diameter, 

 and to this is faftened a rope, which goes down upon the 

 quadrant ah, which carries a Aiding weight in a box at the 

 extremity of the arm Q ; the quadrant a moves on the 

 axis b, and the rope defcending from the wheel /, is guided 

 between iron plates, upon the circumference of the qua- 

 drant. The box, at the end of the arm Q, contains a fliding 

 lead weight, to counter-balance the weight of the chains, 

 by keeping an exaft equilibrium in every pofition of the 

 machine. Befides the aftion of the quadrant, the motion is 

 regulated by wheel-work, like that of a jack ; thus, upon 

 F z one 



