W A T 



w A a^ 



the leather is then anointed with the mixture, and dried. 

 Soles thus prepared ought to be ufed with the fmooth fide 

 inwards. 



Another receipt for an elaftic water-proof varnifh is, 

 gum afphaltum, two pounds ; amber, half a pound ; gum 

 benzoin, fix ounces ; linfeed-oil, two pounds ; fpirits of tur- 

 pentine, eight pounds ; and lamp-black, half a pound ; 

 united together in an earthen veflel over a gentle fire. 



The leather is to be nailed on a board, and the varnifh ap- 

 plied upon it ; it is then to be pafled into an oven feveral 

 times, the varnifhing being each time repeated, till the lea- 

 ther is completely covered. 



Mr. William Baynham took a patent in 1 8 1 6 for a water- 

 proof varnifh, which very much refembles thofe of his pre- 

 decefTors. It is prepared as follows : fix gallons of linfeed 

 oil, one pound and a half of rofin, and four pounds and a 

 half of red litharge, or any other fubftance ufually known 

 under the denomination of dryers, are to be boiled together 

 till they acquire fufScient confidence to adhere to the fingers, 

 and draw out into firings when cooled upon a piece of glafs 

 or otherwife. It is then to be removed from the fire, and 

 when fufBciently cooled, thinned to about the confiilence of 

 fweet oil, by adding fpirits of turpentine to it, which 

 generally requires about fix gallons. It is left to fettle 

 for a day or two, and tlien carefully poured off from the 

 grounds ; and about one pound and a half of ivory or lamp- 

 black, and one pound and a half of PrufTian blue ground in 

 linfeed oil, added to and intimately mixed with it. It is then 

 ready for ufe. 



To apply this varnifh, ftir it up, and lay it on with a 

 brufh until it lies on the furface of the leather with an 

 even glofs ; then hang up the article which has been operated 

 upon until the next day : repeat the application as before, 

 taking care to leave the furface as thin and even as poffible. 

 This muft be repeated each fucceffive day, until it has the 

 defired appearance. 



Water, Raiting, in Rural Economy. See Rait. 



WATER-Rociei. See Rocket. 



Water-5/3(7, in a Ship, denotes a fmall fail, fpread occa- 

 fionally under the lower fludding-fail, or driver-boom, in a 

 fair wind, and fmooth fea. 



WATER-Scape, of the Saxon waterfchap, denotes an 

 aqueduft, drain, or paflage for water. 



W ATER-Shie/d. See Hydraspis. 



Water-Woo/, a young fprig, which fprings out of the 

 root or flock of a tree. 



Water-5^0/, in Sea Language. See Mooring. 



WATER-Spoui. See fi^ater-SpoUT. 



W ATER-Tab/e, in Architeclure, is a fort of ledge, left in 

 ftone or brick walls, about eighteen or twenty inches from 

 the ground ; from which place the thicknefs of the wall be- 

 gins to abate. See Wall. 



Vf ATEK-Thermometer, a thermometer made with water by 

 Mr. Dalton, for the purpofe of afcertaining the precife de- 

 gree of cold at which water ceafes to be farther condenfed ; 

 and likewife how much it expands in cooling below that de- 

 gree to the temperature of freezing, or 32°. With this 

 view he took a thermometer tube, fuch as would have given 

 a fcale of ten inches with mercury from 32° to 212°, and 

 filled it with pure water. He then graduated it by an accu- 

 rate mercurial thermometer, putting them together in a bafon 

 filled with water of various degrees of heat, and flirring it 

 occafionaUy : as it is well known that water does not ex- 

 pand in proportion to its heat, it does not therefore afford a 

 thermometric fcale of equal parts, like quickfilver. 



From repeated trials agreeing in the refult, he found that 



the water-thermometer is at the loweft point of the fcale it is 

 capable of, that is, water is of the greateft denfity at 424" 

 of the mercurial thermometer. From 41° to 44' inclufively, 

 the variation is fo fmall as to, be jull perceptible on the fcale ; 

 but above or below thofe degrees, the expanfion has an in- 

 creafing ratio, and at 32° it amounts to fth of an inch, or 

 about T^-ath part of the whole expanfion, from 42^° to 2 1 2°, 

 or boiling heat. During the invelligation of this fubjeft, his 

 attention was arretted by the circumtlance, that the expan- 

 fion of water was the fame for any number of degrees from 

 the point of greateft condenfation, no matter whether above 

 or below it : thus he found tliat 32°, which are io^° below 

 the point of greateft denfity, agreed exactly with 53°, 

 which are io-^° above the faid point ; and fo did all the in- 

 termediate degrees on both fides. Confequently, when the 

 water-thermometer ftood at 53°, it was impofiible to fay, 

 without a knowledge of other circumftances, whether its 

 temperature was really 53^ or 32^. Our ingenious author, 

 recoUefting fome experiments of Dr. Blagden in the Phi- 

 lofophical Tranfaftions, from which it appears that water 

 was cooled down to si°or 22° without freezing, was cu- 

 rious to fee how far this law of expanfion would continue 

 below the freezing point, previoufly to the congelation of 

 the water, and therefore ventured to put his water-thermo- 

 meter into a mixture of fnow and fait, about 2 j° below the 

 freezing point, expecting tliebulb to be burft when the fud- 

 den congelation took place. After taking it out of a mix- 

 ture of fnow and water, where it ftood at 32°, (that is, 53° 

 per fcale, ) he immerfed it into the cold mixture, when it 

 rofe, at firft flowly, but increafing in velocity, itpafTed 60°, 

 70°, and was going up towards 80°, when he took it out to 

 fee if there was any ice in the bulb ; but it remained pcr- 

 feAly tranfparent : he immerfed it again, and raifed it 75^ 

 per fcale, wlien in an inilant it darted up to 128", and that 

 moment taknig it out, the bulb appeared white and opaque, 

 the water within being frozen : fortunately it was not burfl ; 

 and the hquid which was raifed thus to the top of the fcale 

 was not thrown out, though the tube was unfealed. Upon 

 applying the hand, the ice was melted, and the hquid re- 

 fumed its ilation. This experiment was repeated and varied, 

 at the expence of feveral thermometer bulbs, and it appear- 

 ed that water may be cooled down in fuch circumftances, 

 not only to 21°, but 5° or 6^, without freezing; and that 

 the law of expanfion above-mentioned obtains in every part 

 of the fcale from 42-|° to 10°, or below, fo that the denfity 

 of water at 10° is equal to the denfity at 75°. 



Vf ATER-Tight, in Sea-Language, the ftate of a fhip when 

 not leaky. 



WATER-TVaa'n^ Crefcent, in Rural Economy, the tool 

 formed in the manner of the gardener's edging-iron, but 

 made much larger, and in tlie crefcent form, very thin and 

 well-fteeled, and fharp in the edge, having a ftem about three 

 feet in length, with a crofs handle for bearing upon in 

 working with it, in cutting out the fides of the different 

 condudlors of the water in watering land. See Watering 

 Land. 



V^ ATER-Ways,m Ship-Building, the fide-ftrake of a deck 

 wrought next the timbers, and much thicker than the deck, 

 but reduced to the thicknefs of the deck in front : it makes 

 a channel for the water to run through the fcuppers, and 

 prevent leaking at the fide. 



W ATER-lVheel, an engine for raifing water in great quan- 

 tity out of a deep well. See PsRsiAif-lVheel, and Water, 

 Rating of, fupra. 



W ATER- 1 l^oriers, in ./Agriculture, a term applied to the 

 makers and formers of meadow-drains and trenches, or wet 



ditches. 



