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The pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria

Chapter 63: 59. A Vessel from which Wine or Water may be made to flow, separately or mixed.
By of Alexandria Hero
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About This Book

A systematic practical handbook of machines and demonstrations that uses air, steam, heat, and water to produce mechanical effects. The text gives clear descriptions, construction details, and diagrams for siphons, valves, pumps, fountains, jets, self‑acting mechanisms, and ritual or theatrical contrivances driven by pressure and temperature changes. Explanations focus on the mechanical principles behind pneumatic and hydraulic behaviors and on ways to control flow and timing, with numbered propositions that pair instructional steps with illustrative figures for building and operating each apparatus.

59. A Vessel from which Wine or Water may be made to flow, separately or mixed.

From a vessel full of pure wine sometimes the wine flows; if water is poured in, pure water flows out; then again pure wine; and, if it is desired, when the water is poured in a mixture shall be discharged. Let A B (fig. 59), be a vessel, having a partition near the neck, C D, through which a tube, E F, is inserted, passing out below and terminating in a spout. In the tube E F, within the vessel and near the bottom at G, let there be a fine hole, and a vent under the neck at H. Now, if we close the spout F, and pour in the wine, it will pass into the body of the vessel, the air escaping through the vent H: but if we stop the vent and set the spout free, nothing will flow out except what is intercepted in the tube E F. If water is then poured in, it will flow out pure, and, when the vent is set free, a mixture is discharged: if nothing more is poured in, pure wine will flow.