Section 76
No. 76. An Altar Organ blown by manual Labour.
THE construction of a hydraulic organ. Let A B C D (fig. 76), be a
small altar of bronze containing water. In the water invert a
hollow hemisphere, called a pnigeus, E F G H, which will allow of the
passage of the water at the bottom. From the top of this let two tubes
ascend above the altar; one of them, G K L M, bent without the altar and
communicating with a box, N X 0 P, inverted, and having its inner
surface made perfectly level to fit a piston. Into this box
let the piston R S be accurately fitted, that no air
may enter by its side; and to the piston
attach a rod, T U, of great strength. Again,
attach to the piston rod another rod, U
Q, moving about a pin at U, and also working like
the beam of a lever on the upright rod W Y, which must be well secured.
On the inverted bottom of the box N X 0 P let another smaller box, Z,
rest, communicating with N X 0 P and closed by a lid above: in the lid
is a hole through which the air will enter the box. Place a thin plate
under the hole in the lid to close it, upheld by means of four pins
passing
through holes in the plate, and furnished with heads so that the plate
cannot fall off: such a plate is called a valve. Again, let another tube,
F I, ascend from F G, communicating with a transverse tube, A' B', on
which rest the pipes A, A, A, communicating with the tube, and having at
the lower extremities small boxes, like those used for money; these
boxes communicate with the pipes, and their orifices B, B, B, must be
open. Across these orifices let perforated lids slide, so that, when
the lids are pushed home, the holes in them coincide with the holes in
the pipes, but, when the lids are drawn outwards, the connexion is
broken and the pipes are closed. Now, if the transverse beam U Q be
depressed at Q, the piston R S will rise and force out the air in the
box N X 0 P; the air will close the aperture in the small box Z by means
of the valve described above, and pass along the tube M L K G into the
hemisphere: again it will pass out of the hemisphere along the tube F I
into the transverse tube A' B', and out of the transverse tube into the
pipes, if the apertures in the pipes and in the lids coincide, that is,
if the lids, either all, or some of them, have been pushed home.
In
order that, when we wish any of the pipes to sound, the corresponding
holes may be opened, and closed again when we wish the sound to cease,
we may employ the following contrivance. Imagine one of the boxes at
the extremities of the pipes, C D, to be isolated, D being its orifice,
E the communicating pipe, R S the lid fitted to it, and G the hole in
the lid not coinciding with the pipe E. Take three jointed bars F H, H
M, M M2, of which the bar F H is attached to the lid S F, while the
whole moves about a pin at M3. Now, if we depress, with the hand, the
extremity M2 towards D the orifice of the box, we shall push the lid
inwards, and, when it is in, the aperture in it will coincide with that
in the tube. That, when we withdraw the hand, the lid may be
spontaneously drawn out and close the communication, the following means
may be employed. Underneath the boxes let a rod, M4 M5, run, equal and
parallel to the tube A' B', and fix to this slips of horn, elastic and
curved, of which M6 lying opposite C D, is one. A string, fastened to
the extremity of the slip of horn, is carried round the extremity H, so
that, when the lid is
pushed out, the string is tightened; if; therefore, we depress the
extremity M2 and drive the lid inwards, the string will forcibly pull
the piece of horn and straighten it, but, when the hand is withdrawn,
the horn will return again to its original position and draw away the
lid from the orifice, so as to destroy the correspondence between the
holes. This contrivance having been applied to the box of each pipe,
when we require any of the pipes to sound we must depress the
corresponding key with the fingers and when we require any of the sounds
to cease, remove the fingers, whereupon the lids will be drawn out and
the pipes will cease to sound.
The water is poured into the altar that
the superabundant air, (I mean, of course, that whch is thrust out of
the box and forces the water upwards,) may be confined in the
hemisphere, so that the pipes which are free to sound may always have a
supply. The piston R S, when raised, drives the air out of the box into
the hemisphere, as has been explained; and when depressed, opens the
valve in the small box Z. By this means the box is filled with air from
without, which the piston, when forced up again, will again drive into
the hemispiere. It would be better that the rod T U should move about a
pivot at T also, by means of a single [loop,] it, which may be fitted
into the bottom of the piston, and through which the pivot must pass,
that the piston may not be drawn aside, but rise and fall vertically.
Section 77.
Index.