41.3 x 54 x 21.2
Carved wood, glass and brass
INDEX 1788 : N.II.225
Machina ex duobus tubis angustioribus et vase vitreo ampliori composita, cum basi lignea; qua demonstratur fluidum in vasis secum communicantibus, etiam si fuerint diversae amplitudinis, superficiem formare ad libellam.
A machine composed of two very narrow tubes and of a very wide glass vessel with a wooden base; by means of which it is demonstrated that a fluid in communicating vessels, even if they are of differing sizes, forms a surface in equilibrium.
This apparatus is to illustrate the principle of communicating vessels.
It consists of three pieces of glass, two of these being cylindrical tubes with different interior diameters, mounted on a wooden base, with different inclinations. These tubes communicate with each other by a brass tube seated on the base. A receptacle with the shape of an inverted bottomless bottle is positioned between the two tubes and communicates with them through the same brass tube. Any of these three pieces of glass fit into the three openings of the brass tube, the junctions being sealed with sealing wax and beeswax. A ring of brass is fixed to the upper part of the central vessel.
From Colégio dos Nobres, catalogue n.º 214.'s Gravesande, Physices Elementa, Leiden, 1742, Vol. I, p. 1424, Tab. XLVII, Fig. 2.