Automatic Valve Pump and an Interlocking-Beam Arch
Two mounted fragments: a lattice arch of crossed beams and a two-stage valve mechanism
The upper fragment (69a) shows a shallow arch built of crisscrossing wooden beams, with a mutilated note stating the beams can be set out in four or five rows; smaller beam-lattice studies and spiked forms accompany it. The lower fragment (69b) carries a lettered mechanism in which falling and rising members (g, h, f) trip latches to open and close valves labelled b, c, d, e, admitting air above and expelling water below in alternation. Two lettered figures describe successive stages of this self-acting valve pump. Some faint annotations on the sheets remain beyond the transcribed captions.
On this page
Arch of interlocking beams, arrangeable in four or five
A shallow span formed of crossed wooden beams. The mutilated caption, complete on another leaf, reads that these beams can be set out 'in four or five' and that further beams are placed. It grounds the large lattice-arch drawing above.
First valve stage driven by weights a, g, h
When g rises to its highest point, h is unlatched and falls, drawing a behind it; this closes S t and opens b c above and d e below, so that water pours out below while air enters above. When f reaches its lowest point, g falls and strikes r S with n m, resetting h.
Second valve stage: n descends to strike p q
When r S reaches its lowest point, t v touch and h K widens, so that n is unlatched and descends with force, striking p q with m o, whereupon f rises. The action alternates the intake and discharge of water and air.