HYDRAULIC MACHINERY.
The siphon--The bucket pump--The force-pump--The most marvellous
pump--The blood channels--The course of the blood--The hydraulic
press--Household water-supply fittings--The ball-cock--The
water-meter--Water-supply systems--The household filter--Gas
traps--Water engines--The cream separator--The "hydro."
In the last chapter we saw that the pressure of the atmosphere is 15
lbs. to the square inch. Suppose that to a very long tube having a
sectional area of one square inch we fit an air-tight piston (Fig. 172),
and place the lower end of the tube in a vessel of water. On raising the
piston a vacuum would be created in the tube, did not the pressure of
the atmosphere force water up into the tube behind the piston. The water
would continue to rise until it reached a point 34 feet perpendicularly
above the level of the water in the vessel. The column would then weigh
15 lbs., and exactly counterbalance the atmospheric pressure; so that a
further raising of the piston would not raise the water any farther. At
sea-level, therefore, the _lifting_ power of a pump by suction is
limited to 34 feet. On the top of a lofty mountain, where the
air-pressure is less, the height of the column would be diminished--in
fact, be proportional to the pressure.
[Illustration: FIG. 172.]
[Illustration: FIG. 173.]
THE SIPHON
is an interesting application of the principle of suction. By its own
weight water may be made to lift water through a height not exceeding 34
feet. This is explained by Fig. 173. The siphon pipe, A B C D, is in the
first instance filled by suction. The weight of the water between A and
B counter-balances that between B and C. But the column C D hangs, as it
were, to the heels of B C, and draws it down. Or, to put it otherwise,
the column B D, being heavier than the column B A, draws it over the
topmost point of the siphon. Any parting between the columns, provided
that B A does not exceed 34 feet, is impossible, as the pressure of the
atmosphere on the mouth of B A is sufficient to prevent the formation of
a vacuum.
THE BUCKET PUMP.
We may now pass to the commonest form of pump used in houses, stables,
gardens, etc. (Fig. 174). The piston has a large hole through it, over
the top of which a valve is hinged. At the bottom of the barrel is a
second valve, also opening upwards, seated on the top of the supply
pipe. In sketch (_a_) the first upstroke is in progress. A vacuum forms
under the piston, or plunger, and water rises up the barrel to fill it.
The next diagram (_b_) shows the first downstroke. The plunger valve
now opens and allows water to rise above the piston, while the lower
closes under the pressure of the water above and the pull of that below.
During the second upstroke (_c_) the water above the piston is raised
until it overflows through the spout, while a fresh supply is being
sucked in below.
[Illustration: FIG. 174.]
THE FORCE-PUMP.
[Illustration: FIG. 175. Force-pump; suction stroke.]
[Illustration: FIG. 176. Force-pump; delivery stroke.]
For driving water to levels above that of the pump a somewhat different
arrangement is required. One type of force-pump is shown in Figs. 175,
176. The piston now is solid, and the upper valve is situated in the
delivery pipe. During an upstroke this closes, and the other opens; the
reverse happening during a downstroke. An air-chamber is generally
fitted to the delivery pipe when water is to be lifted to great heights
or under high pressure. At each delivery stroke the air in the chamber
is compressed, absorbing some of the shock given to the water in the
pipe by the water coming from the pump; and its expansion during the
next suction stroke forces the water gradually up the pipe. The
air-chamber is a very prominent feature of the fire-engine.
A _double-action_ force-pump is seen in Fig. 177, making an upward
stroke. Both sides of the piston are here utilized, and the piston rod
works through a water-tight stuffing-box. The action of the pump will be
easily understood from the diagram.
[Illustration: FIG. 177.]
THE MOST MARVELLOUS PUMP
known is the _heart_. We give in Fig. 178 a diagrammatic sketch of the
system of blood circulation in the human body, showing the heart, the
arteries, and the veins, big and little. The body is supposed to be
facing the reader, so that the left lung, etc., is to his right.
[Illustration: FIG. 178.--A diagrammatic representation of the
circulatory system of the blood.]
The heart, which forces the blood through the body, is a large muscle
(of about the size of the clenched fist) with four cavities. These are
respectively known as the right and left _auricles_, and the right and
left _ventricles_. They are arranged in two pairs, the auricle
uppermost, separated by a fleshy partition. Between each auricle and its
ventricle is a valve, which consists of strong membranous flaps, with
loose edges turned downwards. The left-side valve is the _mitral_ valve,
that between the right auricle and ventricle the _tricuspid_ valve. The
edges of the valves fall together when the heart contracts, and prevent
the passage of blood. Each ventricle has a second valve through which it
ejects the blood. (That of the right ventricle has been shown double for
the sake of convenience.)
The action of the heart is this:--The auricles and ventricles expand;
blood rushes into the auricles from the channels supplying them, and
distends them and the ventricles; the auricles contract and fill the
ventricles below quite full (there are no valves above the auricles, but
the force of contraction is not sufficient to return the blood to the
veins); the ventricles contract; the mitral and tricuspid valves close;
the valves leading to the arteries open; blood is forced out of the
ventricles.
THE BLOOD CHANNELS
are of two kinds--(1) The _arteries_, which lead the blood into the
circulatory system; (2) the _veins_, which lead the blood back to the
heart. The arteries divide up into branches, and these again divide into
smaller and smaller arteries. The smallest, termed _capillaries_ (Latin,
_capillus_, a hair), are minute tubes having an average diameter of
1/3000th of an inch. These permeate every part of the body. The
capillary arteries lead into the smallest veins, which unite to form
larger and larger veins, until what we may call the main streams are
reached. Through these the blood flows to the heart.
There are three main points of difference between arteries and veins. In
the first place, the larger arteries have thick elastic walls, and
maintain their shape even when empty. This elasticity performs the
function of the air-chamber of the force-pump. When the ventricles
contract, driving blood into the arteries, the walls of the latter
expand, and their contraction pushes the blood steadily forward without
shock. The capillaries have very thin walls, so that fluids pass through
them to and from the body, feeding it and taking out waste matter. The
veins are all thin-walled, and collapse when empty. Secondly, most veins
are furnished with valves, which prevent blood flowing the wrong way.
These are similar in principle to those of the heart. Arteries have no
valves. Thirdly, arteries are generally deeply set, while many of the
veins run near the surface of the body. Those on the front of the arm
are specially visible. Place your thumb on them and run it along towards
the wrist, and you will notice that the veins distend owing to the
closing of the valves just mentioned.
Arterial blood is _red_, and comes out from a cut in gulps, on account
of the contraction of the elastic walls. If you cut a vein, _blue_ blood
issues in a steady stream. The change of colour is caused by the loss of
oxygen during the passage of the blood through the capillaries, and the
absorption of carbon dioxide from the tissues.
The _lungs_ are two of the great purifiers of the blood. As it
circulates through them, it gives up the carbon dioxide which it has
absorbed, and receives pure oxygen in exchange. If the air of a room is
"foul," the blood does not get the proper amount of oxygen. For this
reason it is advisable for us to keep the windows of our rooms open as
much as possible both day and night. Fatigue is caused by the
accumulation of carbon dioxide and other impurities in the blood. When
we run, the heart pumps blood through the lungs faster than they can
purify it, and eventually our muscles become poisoned to such an extent
that we have to stop from sheer exhaustion.
THE COURSE OF THE BLOOD.
It takes rather less than a minute for a drop of blood to circulate from
the heart through the whole system and back to the heart.
We may briefly summarize the course of the circulation of the blood
thus:--It is expelled from the left ventricle into the _aorta_ and the
main arteries, whence it passes into the smaller arteries, and thence
into the capillaries of the brain, stomach, kidneys, etc. It here
imparts oxygen to the body, and takes in impurities. It then enters the
veins, and through them flows back to the right auricle; is driven into
the right ventricle; is expelled into the _pulmonary_ (lung)
_arteries_; enters the lungs, and is purified. It returns to the left
auricle through the _pulmonary veins_; enters the left auricle, passes
to left ventricle, and so on.
A healthy heart beats from 120 times per minute in a one-year-old infant
to 60 per minute in a very aged person. The normal rate for a
middle-aged adult is from 80 to 70 beats.
Heart disease signifies the failure of the heart valves to close
properly. Blood passes back when the heart contracts, and the
circulation is much enfeebled. By listening through a stethoscope the
doctor is able to tell whether the valves are in good order. A hissing
sound during the beat indicates a leakage past the valves; a thump, or
"clack," that they shut completely.
THE HYDRAULIC PRESS.
It is a characteristic of fluids and gases that if pressure be brought
to bear on any part of a mass of either class of bodies it is
transmitted equally and undiminished in all directions, and acts with
the same force on all equal surfaces, at right angles to those surfaces.
The great natural philosopher Pascal first formulated this remarkable
fact, of which a simple illustration is given in Fig. 179. Two
cylinders, A and B, having a bore of one and two inches respectively,
are connected by a pipe. Water is poured in, and pistons fitting the
cylinders accurately and of equal weight are inserted. On piston B is
placed a load of 10 lbs. To prevent A rising above the level of B, it
must be loaded proportionately. The area of piston A is four times that
of B, so that if we lay on it a 40-lb. weight, neither piston will move.
The walls of the cylinders and connecting pipe are also pressed outwards
in the ratio of 10 lbs. for every part of their interior surface which
has an area equal to that of piston B.
[Illustration: FIG. 179.]
[Illustration: FIG. 180.--The cylinder and ram of a hydraulic press.]
The hydraulic press is an application of this law. Cylinder B is
represented by a force pump of small bore, capable of delivering water
at very high pressures (up to 10 tons per square inch). In the place of
A we have a stout cylinder with a solid plunger, P (Fig. 180), carrying
the _table_ on which the object to be pressed is placed. Bramah, the
inventor of the hydraulic press, experienced great difficulty in
preventing the escape of water between the top of the cylinder and the
plunger. If a "gland" packing of the type found in steam-cylinders were
used, it failed to hold back the water unless it were screwed down so
tightly as to jam the plunger. He tried all kinds of expedients without
success; and his invention, excellent though it was in principle, seemed
doomed to failure, when his foreman, Henry Maudslay,[35] solved the
problem in a simple but most masterly manner. He had a recess turned in
the neck of the cylinder at the point formerly occupied by the
stuffing-box, and into this a leather collar of U-section (marked solid
black in Fig. 180) was placed with its open side downwards. When water
reached it, it forced the edges apart, one against the plunger, the
other against the walls of the recess, with a degree of tightness
proportionate to the pressure. On water being released from the cylinder
the collar collapsed, allowing the plunger to sink without friction.
The principle of the hydraulic press is employed in lifts; in machines
for bending, drilling, and riveting steel plates, or forcing wheels on
or off their axles; for advancing the "boring shield" of a tunnel; and
for other purposes too numerous to mention.
HOUSEHOLD WATER-SUPPLY FITTINGS.
Among these, the most used is the tap, or cock. When a house is served
by the town or district water supply, the fitting of proper taps on all
pipes connected with the supply is stipulated for by the water-works
authorities. The old-fashioned "plug" tap is unsuitable for controlling
high-pressure water on account of the suddenness with which it checks
the flow. Lest the reader should have doubts as to the nature of a plug
tap, we may add that it has a tapering cone of metal working in a
tapering socket. On the cone being turned till a hole through it is
brought into line with the channel of the tap, water passes. A quarter
turn closes the tap.
[Illustration: FIG. 181.--A screw-down water cock.]
Its place has been taken by the screw-down cock. A very common and
effective pattern is shown in Fig. 181. The valve V, with a facing of
rubber, leather, or some other sufficiently elastic substance, is
attached to a pin, C, which projects upwards into the spindle A of the
tap. This spindle has a screw thread on it engaging with a collar, B.
When the spindle is turned it rises or falls, allowing the valve to
leave its seating, V S, or forcing it down on to it. A packing P in the
neck of B prevents the passage of water round the spindle. To open or
close the tap completely is a matter of several turns, which cannot be
made fast enough to produce a "water-hammer" in the pipes by suddenly
arresting the flow. The reader will easily understand that if water
flowing at the rate of several miles an hour is abruptly checked, the
shock to the pipes carrying it must be very severe.
THE BALL-COCK
is used to feed a cistern automatically with water, and prevent the
water rising too far in the cistern (Fig. 182). Water enters the cistern
through a valve, which is opened and closed by a plug faced with rubber.
The lower extremity of the plug is flattened, and has a rectangular hole
cut in it. Through this passes a lever, L, attached at one end to a
hollow copper sphere, and pivoted at the other on the valve casing. This
casing is not quite circular in section, for two slots are cast in the
circumference to allow water to pass round the plug freely when the
valve is open. The buoyancy of the copper sphere is sufficient to force
the plug's face up towards its seating as the valve rises, and to cut
off the supply entirely when a certain level has been attained. If water
is drawn off, the sphere sinks, the valve opens, and the loss is made
good.
[Illustration: FIG. 182.--An automatic ball-valve.]
THE WATER-METER.
[Illustration: FIG. 183.]
Some consumers pay a sum quarterly for the privilege of a water supply,
and the water company allows them to use as much as they require.
Others, however, prefer to pay a fixed amount for every thousand gallons
used. In such cases, a water-meter is required to record the
consumption. We append a sectional diagram of Kennedy's patent
water-meter (Fig. 183), very widely used. At the bottom is the measuring
cylinder, fitted with a piston, (6), which is made to move perfectly
water-tight and free from friction by means of a cylindrical ring of
india-rubber, rolling between the body of the piston and the internal
surface of the cylinder. The piston rod (25), after passing through a
stuffing-box in the cylinder cover, is attached to a rack, (15), which
gears with a cog, (13), fixed on a shaft. As the piston moves up and
down, this cog is turned first in one direction, then in the other. To
this shaft is connected the index mechanism (to the right). The cock-key
(24) is so constructed that it can put either end of the measuring
cylinder in communication with the supply or delivery pipes, if given a
quarter turn (see Fig. 184). The weighted lever (14) moves loosely on
the pinion shaft through part of a circle. From the pinion project two
arms, one on each side of the lever. When the lever has been lifted by
one of these past the vertical position, it falls by its own weight on
to a buffer-box rest, (18). In doing so, it strikes a projection on the
duplex lever (19), which is joined to the cock-key, and gives the latter
a quarter turn.
In order to follow the working of the meter, we must keep an eye on
Figs. 183 and 184 simultaneously. Water is entering from A, the supply
pipe. It flows through the cock downwards through channel D into the
lower half of the cylinder. The piston rises, driving out the water
above it through C to the delivery pipe B. Just as the piston completes
its stroke the weight, raised by the rack and pinion, topples over, and
strikes the key-arm, which it sends down till stopped by the
buffer-box. The tap is then at right angles to the position shown in
Fig. 184, and water is directed from A down C into the top of the
cylinder, forcing the piston down, while the water admitted below during
the last stroke is forced up the passage D, and out by the outlet B.
Before the piston has arrived at the bottom of the cylinder, the lifter
will have lifted the weighted lever from the buffer-box, and raised it
to a vertical position; from there it will have fallen on the right-hand
key-arm, and have brought the cock-key to its former position, ready to
begin another upward stroke.
[Illustration: FIG. 184.]
The _index mechanism_ makes allowance for the fact that the bevel-wheel
on the pinion shaft has its direction reversed at the beginning of every
stroke of the piston. This bevel engages with two others mounted loosely
on the little shaft, on which is turned a screw thread to revolve the
index counter wheels. Each of these latter bevels actuates the shaft
through a ratchet; but while one turns the shaft when rotating in a
clockwise direction only, the other engages it when making an
anti-clockwise revolution. The result is that the shaft is always turned
in the same direction.
WATER-SUPPLY SYSTEMS.
The water for a town or a district supply is got either from wells or
from a river. In the former case it may be assumed to be free from
impurities. In the latter, there is need for removing all the
objectionable and dangerous matter which river water always contains in
a greater or less degree. This purification is accomplished by first
leading the water into large _settling tanks_, where the suspended
matter sinks to the bottom. The water is then drawn off into
_filtration beds_, made in the following manner. The bottom is covered
with a thick layer of concrete. On this are laid parallel rows of
bricks, the rows a small distance apart. Then come a layer of bricks or
tiles placed close together; a layer of coarse gravel; a layer of finer
gravel; and a thick layer of sand at the top. The sand arrests any solid
matter in the water as it percolates to the gravel and drains below.
Even the microbes,[36] of microscopic size, are arrested as soon as the
film of mud has formed on the top of the sand. Until this film is formed
the filter is not in its most efficient condition. Every now and then
the bed is drained, the surface mud and sand carefully drained off, and
fresh sand put in their place. A good filter bed should not pass more
than from two to three gallons per hour for every square foot of
surface, and it must therefore have a large area.
It is sometimes necessary to send the water through a succession of
beds, arranged in terraces, before it is sufficiently pure for drinking
purposes.
THE HOUSEHOLD FILTER.
When there is any doubt as to the wholesomeness of the water supply, a
small filter is often used. The microbe-stopper is usually either
charcoal, sand, asbestos, or baked clay of some kind. In Fig. 185 we
give a section of a Maignen filter. R is the reservoir for the filtered
water; A the filter case proper; D a conical perforated frame; B a
jacket of asbestos cloth secured top and bottom by asbestos cords to D;
C powdered carbon, between which and the asbestos is a layer of special
chemical filtering medium. A perforated cap, E, covers in the carbon and
prevents it being disturbed when water is poured in. The carbon arrests
the coarser forms of matter; the asbestos the finer. The asbestos jacket
is easily removed and cleansed by heating over a fire.
[Illustration: FIG. 185.]
The most useful form of household filter is one which can be attached to
a tap connected with the main. Such a filter is usually made of
porcelain or biscuit china. The Berkefeld filter has an outer case of
iron, and an interior hollow "candle" of porcelain from which a tube
passes through the lid of the filter to a storage tank for the filtered
water. The water from the main enters the outer case, and percolates
through the porcelain walls to the internal cavity and thence flows away
through the delivery pipe.
Whatever be the type of filter used it must be cleansed at proper
intervals. A foul filter is very dangerous to those who drink the water
from it. It has been proved by tests that, so far from purifying the
water, an inefficient and contaminated filter passes out water much more
highly charged with microbes than it was before it entered. We must not
therefore think that, because water has been filtered, it is necessarily
safe. The reverse is only too often the case.
GAS TRAPS.
Dangerous microbes can be breathed as well as drunk into the human
system. Every communication between house and drains should be most
carefully "trapped." The principle of a gas trap between, say, a kitchen
sink and the drain to carry off the water is given in Fig. 186. Enough
water always remains in the bend to rise above the level of the elbow,
effectually keeping back any gas that there may be in the pipe beyond
the bend.
[Illustration: FIG. 186.--A trap for foul air.]
WATER-ENGINES.
Before the invention of the steam-engine human industries were largely
dependent on the motive power of the wind and running water. But when
the infant nursed by Watt and Stephenson had grown into a giant, both of
these natural agents were deposed from the important position they once
held. Windmills in a state of decay crown many of our hilltops, and the
water-wheel which formerly brought wealth to the miller now rots in its
mountings at the end of the dam. Except for pumping and moving boats and
ships, wind-power finds its occupation gone. It is too uncertain in
quantity and quality to find a place in modern economics. Water-power,
on the other hand, has received a fresh lease of life through the
invention of machinery so scientifically designed as to use much more of
the water's energy than was possible with the old-fashioned wheel.
[Illustration: FIG. 187.--A Pelton wheel which develops 5,000
horse-power. Observe the shape of the double buckets.]
The _turbine_, of which we have already spoken in our third chapter, is
now the favourite hydraulic engine. Some water-turbines work on much the
same principle as the Parsons steam-turbine; others resemble the De
Laval. Among the latter the Pelton wheel takes the first place. By the
courtesy of the manufacturers we are able to give some interesting
details and illustrations of this device.
[Illustration: FIG. 188.--Pelton wheel mounted, with nozzle in
position.]
The wheel, which may be of any diameter from six inches to ten feet, has
buckets set at regular intervals round the circumference, sticking
outwards. Each bucket, as will be gathered from our illustration of an
enormous 5,000 h.p. wheel (Fig. 187), is composed of two cups. A nozzle
is so arranged as to direct water on the buckets just as they reach the
lowest point of a revolution (see Fig. 188). The water strikes the
bucket on the partition between the two cups, which turns it right and
left round the inside of the cups. The change of direction transfers the
energy of the water to the wheel.
[Illustration: FIG. 189.--Speed regulator for Pelton wheel.]
The speed of the wheel may be automatically regulated by a deflecting
nozzle (Fig. 189), which has a ball and socket joint to permit of its
being raised or lowered by a centrifugal governor, thus throwing the
stream on or off the buckets. The power of the wheel is consequently
increased or diminished to meet the change of load, and a constant speed
is maintained. When it is necessary to waste as little water as
possible, a concentric tapered needle may be fitted inside the nozzle.
When the nozzle is in its highest position the needle tip is withdrawn;
as the nozzle sinks the needle protrudes, gradually decreasing the
discharge area of the nozzle.
Pelton wheels are designed to run at all speeds and to use water of any
pressure. At Manitou, Colorado, is an installation of three wheels
operated by water which leaves the nozzle at the enormous pressure of
935 lbs. per square inch. It is interesting to note that jets of very
high-pressure water offer astonishing resistance to any attempt to
deflect their course. A three-inch jet of 500-lb. water cannot be cut
through by a blow from a crowbar.
In order to get sufficient pressure for working hydraulic machinery in
mines, factories, etc., water is often led for many miles in flumes, or
artificial channels, along the sides of valleys from the source of
supply to the point at which it is to be used. By the time that point is
reached the difference between the gradients of the flume and of the
valley bottom has produced a difference in height of some hundreds of
feet.
[Illustration: FIG. 190.--The Laxey water-wheel, Isle of Man. In the
top right-hand corner is a Pelton wheel of proportionate size required
to do the same amount of work with the same consumption of water at the
same pressure.]
The full-page illustration on p. 380 affords a striking testimony to
the wonderful progress made in engineering practice during the last
fifty years. The huge water-wheel which forms the bulk of the picture is
that at Laxey, in the Isle of Man. It is 72-1/2 feet in diameter, and is
supposed to develop 150 horse-power, which is transmitted several
hundreds of feet by means of wooden rods supported at regular intervals.
The power thus transmitted operates a system of pumps in a lead mine,
raising 250 gallons of water per minute, to an elevation of 1,200 feet.
The driving water is brought some distance to the wheel in an
underground conduit, and is carried up the masonry tower by pressure,
flowing over the top into the buckets on the circumference of the wheel.
The little cut in the upper corner represents a Pelton wheel drawn on
the same scale, which, given an equal supply of water at the same
pressure, would develop the same power as the Laxey monster. By the side
of the giant the other appears a mere toy.
THE CREAM SEPARATOR.
In 1864 Denmark went to war with Germany, and emerged from the short
struggle shorn of the provinces of Lauenburg, Holstein, and Schleswig.
The loss of the two last, the fairest and most fertile districts of the
kingdom, was indeed grievous. The Danish king now ruled only over a land
consisting largely of moor, marsh, and dunes, apparently worthless for
any purpose. But the Danes, with admirable courage, entered upon a
second struggle, this time with nature. They made roads and railways,
dug irrigation ditches, and planted forest trees; and so gradually
turned large tracts of what had been useless country into valuable
possessions. Agriculture being much depressed, owing to the low price of
corn, they next gave their attention to the improvement of dairy
farming. Labour-saving machinery of all kinds was introduced, none more
important than the device for separating the fatty from the watery
constituents of milk. It would not be too much to say that the separator
is largely responsible for the present prosperity of Denmark.
[Illustration: FIG. 191.--Section of a Cream Separator.]
How does it work? asks the reader. Centrifugal force[37] is the
governing principle. To explain its application we append a sectional
illustration (Fig. 191) of Messrs. Burmeister and Wain's hand-power
separator, which may be taken as generally representative of this class
of machines. Inside a circular casing is a cylindrical bowl, D, mounted
on a shaft which can be revolved 5,000 times a minute by means of the
cog-wheels and the screw thread chased on it near the bottom extremity.
Milk flows from the reservoir R (supported on a stout arm) through tap A
into a little distributer on the top of the separator, and from it drops
into the central tube C of the bowl. Falling to the bottom, it is flung
outwards by centrifugal force, finds an escape upwards through the holes
_a a_, and climbs up the perforated grid _e_, the surface of which is a
series of pyramidical excrescences, and finally reaches the inner
surface of the drum proper. The velocity of rotation is so tremendous
that the heavier portions of the milk--that is, the watery--crowd
towards the point furthest from the centre, and keep the lighter fatty
elements away from contact with the sides of the drum. In the diagram
the water is represented by small circles, the cream by small crosses.
As more milk enters the drum it forces upwards what is already there.
The cap of the drum has an inner jacket, F, which at the bottom _all but
touches_ the side of the drum. The distance between them is the merest
slit; but the cream is deflected up outside F into space E, and escapes
through a hole one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter perforating the
plate G. The cream is flung into space K and trickles out of spout B,
while the water flies into space H and trickles away through spout A.
THE "HYDRO.,"
used in laundries for wringing clothes by centrifugal force, has a solid
outer casing and an inner perforated cylindrical cage, revolved at high
speed by a vertical shaft. The wet clothes are placed in the cage, and
the machine is started. The water escapes through the perforations and
runs down the side of the casing to a drain. After a few minutes the
clothes are dry enough for ironing. So great is the centrifugal force
that they are consolidated against the sides of the cage, and care is
needed in their removal.
[35] Inventor of the lathe slide-rest.
[36] Living germs; some varieties the cause of disease.
[37] That is, centre-fleeing force. Water dropped on a spinning top
rushes towards the circumference and is shot off at right angles to a
line drawn from the point of parting to the centre of the top.