Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/527

 WATERLOO sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 40,251, of whom 22,050 were of German, 7,315 of Scotch, 5,056 of Eng- lish, 3,220 of Irish, 1,536 of French, and 583 of Dutch origin or descent. It is traversed by the Grand Trunk and Great Western railways. Capital, Berlin. WATERLOO, a city and the county seat of Black Hawk co., Iowa, on both sides of Cedar river, 85 m. W. of Dubuque and 90 m. N. E. of Des Moines; pop. in 1870, 4,337; in 1875, 5,508. It is regularly laid out, the streets run- . ning N. W. and S. E. in conformity with the course of the river. The business portion is substantially built, chiefly of brick. It is sur- rounded by a fine agricultural country, and has good water power. Ample railroad facilities are afforded by the Illinois Central, the Bur- - lington, Cedar Eapids, and Minnesota, and the Cedar Falls and Minnesota lines. There are two large flouring mills, a woollen mill, several founderies, a manufactory of agricultural im- plements, a cheese factory, and a pork-packing establishment. The city has a national bank, a private bank, a savings bank, three public school houses, a Roman Catholic school, a sem- inary, three weekly newspapers (one German), and Baptist, -Congregational, Episcopal, Evan- gelical, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Ro- man Catholic, and Universalist churches. Wa- terloo was first settled in 1846. It was laid out as a town in 1854, and incorporated as a city in 1868. WATERLOO, Antoni, a Dutch engraver, born about 1600, died near Utrecht in 1662. He was early admitted to the corporation of paint- ers in Utrecht. Several of his landscapes of Dutch scenery are in Rotterdam, Berlin, Mu- nich, and Dresden, and his "Fishermen" is at Florence. He excelled in engravings, which according to Bartsch comprise 136 pieces. Good impressions command high prices. WATERMELON. See MELON. WATER DIETER, an apparatus for measuring the water which flows through a conduit. An approximation may be arrived at by measur- ing the velocity of water passing through a pipe of a given section. A rotary apparatus in which two S-shaped arms play into each other within a circular box, against the inside of which one end or the other of each of the arms constantly rests, as in Payton's meter, is used by the London water meter company. But the most usual form of meter employs a tilting double pan, or a tilting double-cham- bered vessel. Cochrane's meter, exhibited in the United States section of the Paris exhi- bition of 1867, possesses nearly all the ele- ments of a good, instrument. It is represent- ed in section in the figure. The water enters through the pipejo into the chamber a a, which has a dome-shaped air chamber c at the top. From a a the water passes through the tube I into the double pan e e', divided into two equal compartments by a partition. This pan tilts with a rolling friction upon its bearings. Be- neath it is a lever, //', slightly bent, the mo- WATER RAT 507 tion of which is limited by the piece g below iff Suppose the pan e e' to be in the position represented in the figure, the water will flow into the compartment e' through the tube 5. When it contains a certain volume of wa- ter the side e' will pre- ponderate. In fall- ing, water will con- tinue to flow into it until the partition passes the tube &, when it will flow into the compart- ment e ; but the side e' will continue to descend until it strikes the lever f and causes this to descend to the sur- face of g. As soon as the side e in turn Cochrane's Water Meter. contains a certain quantity of water, it will descend and discharge itself, as shown in the figure. The rod j, moved up and down by the lever//', operates a lever n o q, which by means of a ratchet movement registers the number of vibrations on dial plates in a case r, at the same time alternately opening and shutting orifices in the box Im, which allow of the exit of a small quantity of water and the admission of air into the chamber d. The water is discharged through the stopcock ', or by pipes. Another form of tilting me- ter is that of E. Duboys of Paris. It con- sists of two basin-shaped vessels with thin rims applied so as to enclose a cavity. A flex- ible diaphragm of caoutchouc is held between the rims, dividing the cavity in two. Passing transversely through the axis of the double vessel there is a rod, having around it a sli- ding weight which is attached to the centre of the diaphragm. The water enters alternately through two ducts on either side of the dia- phragm, which is thus forced alternately to the bottom of each basin. As each side is in turn filled, the vessel tilts over, and the cur- rent of the water is reversed; what was an entrance becomes an exit duct, and what was an exit becomes an entrance duct. The rod holding the weight attached to the centre of the diaphragm has also a limited motion, and is so adjusted that the vessel is kept from tilting until each side is quite filled, by which means accuracy of measurement is secured. WATER OATS. See RICE, INDIAN. WATER RAM. See HYDRAULIC RAM. WATER RAT, or Beaver Rat, the common name of the hydromyt chrysogaster of Tasmania. It comes near the muskrat in size and habits, be- ing an excellent swimmer and diver, shy, and nocturnal in habit ; it lives in banks bordering both salt and fresh water, and has the habit of supporting itself on the hind legs and thick tail, while it conveys its food to the mouth by the fore limbs. It is of a dark rich brown