hydraulic pressure cylinder
Date: mid 19th-late 19th Century
Inventory Number: DW0995
Classification: Piezometer
Subject:
Maker: French ?
Dimensions:
54 x 54 x 8.3 cm (21 1/4 x 21 1/4 x 3 1/4 in.)
Accessories: bottom piece into which instrument was mounted (with wax)
Description:
Heavy-walled u-tube of glass, with a brass cap on top. It has a brass pressure cylinder operated by a thumb screw. The cap also has a small brass funnel and a stopcock. the bottom is rounded and mounted in a circular brass base with wax.
Signedunsigned
FunctionThis is an instrument designed to observe the effect of large pressures on objects, mostly liquids. The cylinder would be filled with water or another liquid and large pressures could be exerted on it by adjusting the screw on top.
This instrument was mostly used to determine the compressibility of fluids as what was called an Oersted Piezometer, for which an open vessel, filled with the fluid and kept in place by a layer of mercury, would be put in the cylinder. The liquid would compress by measurable amounts upon the application of the pressure.
For a more detailed description, see the Piezometer entry of the 1903 New International Encyclopedia, available online at Google Books here.
This instrument was mostly used to determine the compressibility of fluids as what was called an Oersted Piezometer, for which an open vessel, filled with the fluid and kept in place by a layer of mercury, would be put in the cylinder. The liquid would compress by measurable amounts upon the application of the pressure.
For a more detailed description, see the Piezometer entry of the 1903 New International Encyclopedia, available online at Google Books here.
ProvenanceAcquired by David Wheatland in Paris, 1962.