Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 4, 1802).djvu/332

298] The stream of this pipe is directed in such a manner as to run into the bucket B, when the latter is elevated; but, as soon as it begins to descend, the stream passes over it, and flows progressively to supply the wooden trough or well, at the foot of which stands the forcing-pump C, being three inches in diameter.

D, is an iron cylinder, attached to the pump-rod, which passes through it: such cylinder is filled with lead, and weighs about 240lbs. This power works the pump, and forces the water to ascend to the house, through a pipe, one inch in diameter, and which is 420 feet in length.

At E, is fixed a cord, which, when the bucket approaches to within four or five inches of its lowest projection, extends, and opens a valve in the bottom of the vessel, through which the water is discharged.

The machine, here described, had at the time of Mr. 's communication to the Society above mentioned, been six months in use, and fully answered the purpose for which it was designed.—The artisans employed were a plumber, blacksmith, and carpenter: the whole expence, exclusive of the pump and pipes, did not exceed 5l.

The latest contrivance, within our knowledge, for facilitating the motion of machinery, is the undershot water-wheel, invented by the late Mr., of Brompton; on whose widow, the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. in 1801, conferred a reward of ten guineas: and, as it promises to be of great service in many situations, we have given a representation of it, in Plate II, for the Supplement.

Description of the late Mr. 's Undershot Water-wheel.

Fig. 1, a.—A, represents the body of the water-wheel, which is hollow, in tlie form of a drum, and is so constructed, as to resist the admission of water.

B, is the axis on which the wheel turns.

C, The float-boards, placed on the periphery of the wheel, each of which is firmly fixed to its rim, and to the body of the drum, in an oblique direction.

D, is the reservoir, that contains the water.

E, the pen-stock, for regulating the quantity of water, which runs to the wheel.

F, represents the current, that has passed such wheel.

Fig. 1, b, is a front view of the water-wheel, exhibiting the oblique direction, in which the float-boards C, are placed on the face of the wheel.

In the common water-wheels, more than half the quantity of that fluid passes from the gate through the wheel, without affording it any assistance: the action of the floats is resisted by the incumbent atmosphere, at the moment when these leave the surface of the tail-water; and, as a similar proportion of water with that which passed between the floats at the head, necessarily flows between them at the tail, the motion of the wheel is greatly impeded. On the contrary, by Mr. 's contrivance, no water can pass, excepting that which acts with all its force on the extremity of the wheel: and, as the floats emerge from the water, in an oblique direction, the weight of the atmosphere is thus prevented from taking any effect. Although