WATER. 



water-wheel. The greafing-pinion which works in thefe 

 teeth is mounted on an axis, as is clearly fhewn. 



N O a retarding lever, of which N is the fulcrum, and O 

 a weight to make it prefs on the axis of the greafing-pinion, 

 fo as to caufe a refiitance, and make the cogs of the wheel 

 prcfs forcibly on the cogs of the pinion. 



G H I K, the hollow teeth for containing the greafe ; 

 they are made of copper-plate or iron ; and to make the per- 

 forated fides of the greafing leaves come in clofe contaft 

 with the face of the teeth of the wheel, the lever N O, 

 with a fmall weight on it, afts on a pulley fixed on the axle 

 of the pinion, and ferves to retain it. 



E F, &c. the folid teeth of the pinion, made of wood ; 

 there are Aiders which open for admitting the greafe into the 

 hollow teeth at their ends. 



The number of leaves in the greafer ftiouid be fuch, that 

 thofe containing the greafe (hall apply themfelves in the 

 courfe of feveral revolutions of the wheel to each of its teeth. 

 Mr. Buchanan found a greafer of 1 2 leaves, 4 of which con- 

 tained greafe, had this eSe&. upon a wheel of 304 teeth ; and 

 one of 1 3 leaves, with one tooth only filled with greafe, 

 ferved a wheel of 168 teeth. 



It k beft to ufe a mixture of tallow, oil, and black lead for 

 greafing, made of a confiftency to feed regularly, and frefh- 

 ened about twice in a week. 



Con/lruclton of a Bnajl-Wtteel of very great Width. — At 

 Meffrs. Strutt's works is a very powerful bread-wheel, made 

 of the extraordinary width of 4ofeet, and it defervesour notice 

 from the manner of framing it together ; its diameter is only 

 I2| feet, and it is made without any axis, or rather the axis 

 is hollow, and fo large that the float-boards are fixed imme- 

 diately upon it. It is made like a very long caflv, 48 feet 

 long, compofed of 32 ftaves of fix inches thicknefs, bound 

 together by hoops like an ordinary caflc ; it is five feet in dia- 

 meter at one end and fix feet at the other, and in the middle 

 7 feet 2 inches ; the fmall end is made up folid for three feet 

 in length, and the gudgeon is fixed in this folid part ; the larger 

 end is folid for four feet from the end, and on this part the 

 large cog-wheel is fixed to communicate the motion to the 

 mill; it is 14 feet diameter, and has 120 cogs, whilft the 

 water-wheel is only 12 j feet diameter to the outfide of the 

 floats. The floats are fupported by 10 circular rings, 

 which are fixed on the outlide of the axis or cafl<, at four 

 feet diftance from each other, and the float-boards are fixed 

 between thefe rings, 24 floats being arranged in each 

 circle ; but the floats in the different fpaces are not made to 

 line with each other, becaufe if the water was to ftrike upon 

 the whole length of 40 feet of float-board at once, it would 

 give a fenfible fliock to the water-wheel, and work the mill 

 irregularly ; hence the floats between all the different rings 

 are placed oppofite to the intervals between the floats in the 

 adjoining fpaces, by which means the water afts on the 

 floats in rapid fucceflion, fo that the ftroke upon any one 

 float is imperceptible. 



The float -boards are not made to touch the central-barrel 

 or axis within two inches, in order to leave fpace for the air 

 to efcape. The float -boards in the middle of the wheel are 

 2 feet 4 inches wide, and at the ends are wider. This wheel 

 has two fhuttles, one above the other, hke the breafl-wheel 

 before defcribed in fig. 3, and the fame dimenfions ; for the 

 wheel is placed in the fame mill, but is adapted to work 

 when the tail-water rifes in time of floods to fuch a height as 

 to preveqf the other wheel from working. 



/I very large overjlot Wheel. — The largeft overfhot water- 

 wheel of which we have heard, is that at Mr. Crawfhaw's 

 iron-works at Cyfarthfa, near Mcrthyr Tidvil, in South 

 Wales : it is ufed to blow ai» into three of the large blafl 



furnaces for fraelting iron ; the water-wheel is fifty feet in dia- 

 meter and fix feet wide : it is chiefly made of call iron, and has 

 I 56 buckets. The axis is a hollow tube, and is ftrengthened 

 by twenty-four pieces of timber applied round it. On each 

 end of the axis is a cog-wheel of twenty-three feet diameter, 

 which turns a pinion. On the axis of thefe are two cranks, 

 and a fly-wheel twenty-two feet diameter, and twelve tons 

 weight ; each of the cranks gives motion to a lever, like that 

 of a large fteam-engine, and works the pifton of a blowing 

 cylinder or air-pump 5 2^ inches in diameter, and five feet ftroke, 

 which blows air into the furnace, both when the piflon goes 

 up and down. The work on the other fide being the fame, it 

 aftuates in the whole four of thefe double cylinders ; the 

 wheel makes about two and a half turns per minute, and 

 each cylinder makes ten flrokes. It is caUed ./Eolus, and was 

 built in 1800 under the direftion of Mr. Watkin George. 



At Aberdare, in South Wales, is an imraenfe double water- 

 wheel, confifting of two wheels of forty feet in diameter, placed 

 one above the other like the figure 8, ( fee our article Ca- 

 nal, ) the water from the upper one aftuating the lower one, 

 and both being connefted together by cog-wheels on their 

 refpeftive rings. We underftand this machine has not an- 

 fwered, and we only mention it as an attempt to occupy a 

 fall of water of eighty feet ; in fuch cafes, the Prejfure-engine^ 

 defcribed under that article, is a better method, particularly 

 if the work will admit of a reciprocating motion. 



Chain of Buckets This is applicable in many fituations 



where there is a confiderable fall of water. This flcetch was 

 taken from one in Scotland ufed to give motion to a thrafhing- 

 mill ; the Jig. 6. Plate I. is fo obvious as to need little explana- 

 tion. The buckets C, D, G, H, &c. muft be conneiSed by 

 feveral chains to avoid the danger of breaking, and united 

 into an endlefs chain, which is extended over two wheels 

 A and B, the upper one being the axis which is to com- 

 municate motion to the mill-work ; E is the fpout to fupply 

 the water. The principal advantage of this plan is, that 

 no water is loft by running out of the buckets before they 

 arrive at the loweft part, as is the cafe with the vfheel. 

 Another is, that the buckets being fufpended over the 

 wheel A of fmall diameter, it may be made to revolve 

 more quickly than a wheel of large diameter, and without 

 increafing the velocity of the defcending buckets beyond 

 what is proper for them. This faves wheel-work when the 

 machine is to be employed, as in a thrafhing machine to 

 produce a rapid motion. On the other hand, the friftion of 

 the chain in folding over the wheel at the top, and feizing 

 its cogs, will be very confiderable ; thefe cogs muft enter 

 the fpaces in the open links between the buckets, to pre- 

 vent the chain flipping upon the upper wheel. We think 

 this machine might be much improved by contriving it fo, 

 that the chain would pafs through the centre of gravity of 

 each bucket, whereas in the prefent form, the weight of 

 each bucket tends to give the chain an extra bend. 



The Chain-Pump reverfed has been propofed as a fubfti- 

 tute for a water-wheel when the fall is very great, and we 

 think it would anfwer the purpofe with fome chance of 

 fuccefs. It would have an advantage over the chain- 

 pump when employed for raifing water, in the facility of 

 applying cup leathers to the piilons on the chain, in the 

 fame way as other pumps, which leathers expand themfelves 

 to the infide of the barrel, and are kept perfeAly tight by 

 the preffure of the water. In the chain-pump fuch leathers 

 cannot be employed, becaufe the edges of the leather-cups 

 would turn down and ftop the motion, when the cups were 

 drawn upwards into the barrel. It is the defective mode 

 of leathering the piilons of the chain-pump which occafions 

 its great firiAion. In tlie motion of a machine of this kind 

 9 the 



