“Kicking down” a well in the early days. A hole was dug in the rock and cased with a wooden tube eight or ten inches square. In this way the tools, suspended from a horizontal elastic hickory pole, which in turn was fastened to a stake, were worked over an upright piece as a fulcrum. The tools were worked up and down in the hole, as shown in the picture.
THE AIR PUMP
“There is this remarkable difference between bodies in a fluid and bodies in a solid form, namely, that every particle of a fluid is perfectly independent of every other particle. They do not cohere in masses, like the particles of a solid, nor do they repel one another, as is the case with the particles composing a gas. They can mingle among each other with the least degree of friction, and, when they press down upon one another by virtue of their own weight, the downward pressure is communicated in all directions, causing a pressure upwards, sideways, and in every possible manner. Herein the particles of a fluid differ from the particles of a solid, even when reduced to the most impalpable powder; and it is this which constitutes fluidity, namely, the power of transmitting pressure in every direction, and that, too, with the least degree of friction. The particles which compose a fluid must be very much smaller than the finest grain of an impalpable powder.”—Richard Green Parker, A. M.
PNEUMATICS.
Pneumatics treats of the mechanical properties and effects of air and similar fluids; these are called elastic fluids and gases, or aëriform fluids.
Hydro-pneumatics. This is a compound word formed from two Greek words signifying water and air; in its primary meaning it conveys the idea of the combined action of water and air or gas.
Fig. 330.
Note.—Fig. [330] is one of the simplest forms of an air pump. The description accompanying Fig. [341] properly applies to this one.