from the top to the bottom of the cylinder, the air below it is condensed, and forced through the valves in the neck H into the pipe L, and thence into the receiver OP, while the space above the piston is a vacuum, and is instantly filled by the rush of the external air through the valves in the neck B. This operation is repeated at every stroke of the engine; the cylinder full of air, which is inhaled at the necks B and F, being forced through the opposite necks G and H. When the piston reaches the top or bottom of the cylinder, there would evidently be a short cessation in the blast of air that passes into the furnace, were it not for the regulating receiver O P. When the air is forced into this receiver, the water within it is pushed out or displaced, and rises in the cistern, so that the surface of the water in the cistern is often six, seven, or eight feet higher than the surface of the water in the receiver. The air in the receiver, therefore, is pressed upwards by a column of water, six, seven, or eight feet high, so that if there should be any intermission in the supply of air from the cylinder, the blast will be kept up by the extrusion of the air in the receiver. The receiver OP, as shown in the figure, is composed of a great number of cast iron plates, united by screws and flaunches. Its size in the drawing is purposely diminished, in order to comprise it within the limits of the plate. The general size is forty feet in length, twelve feet in depth, and twelve feet in breadth. The water cistern is then forty-seven feet long, fourteen feet deep, and nineteen feet broad. The receiver is supported upon blocks of wood and masonry; its lower edge being two feet from the floor of the cistern, to allow a free passage for the water. The buoyancy of the receiver is overcome by a great quantity of masonry placed upon the top of it; but we have omitted this in the figure, for the purpose of showing the manner of uniting the plates of which it is composed. A valve, loaded with a weight, is placed at T in the horizontal pipe. The weight is sufficient to keep the valve shut when the engine works with a proper velocity; but when it works too hard, the excess of air will escape through the valve. When this happens, the velocity of the engine must be diminished. The horizontal pipe N M, after bending downwards, is divided into two branches X, Y, which, by a series of pipes, convey the air round the furnace, so as to introduce the blast at opposite sides of the hearth; a practice which is now pretty generally followed. The cylinder AA is made of cast iron, with a flaunch at each end. The upper necks G, B, are cast in the same piece with it, but the lower ones, H, F, are screwed to the under flaunch of the cylinder. The valves within the necks B and F open inwards. They are made of leather, covered with plates of iron, and are screwed, by a projecting part of the leather, against the external plate, a, of the chamber, so as to cover three corresponding apertures in the plate (see fig. 2), ty, which is screwed to the neck by a number of bolts, shown in the figure. This plate is removed when the valves require any material repairs; but any trifling adjustments may be made, by the workman's thrusting his hand through one of the valves to repair the adjacent one. The plates which carry the valves in the chambers I, K, are not movable; but apertures are left above to give access to the valves. These apertures, when the engine is at work, are covered by the lids h,h, which are fixed down by screws at each end. The piston is rendered air-tight by means of a ring of leather screwed on the upper and one on the under side of the piston, which, in consequence of their elasticity, press gently against the inside of the cylinder. In order to renew these rings when worn out, there is a hole in the lid, and another in the bottom of the cylinder, sufficient to admit a man for that purpose. In some cases a movable lid in the piston. The cylinder is held down by four large bolts, two of which are seen in the figure at d, d, passing through a massive pier of brickwork or masonry, sufficiently stable to keep the cylinder steadily in its place. The cistern RS is placed at a much greater distance from the cylinder than is represented in the figure, lest the tremulous motion produced by the violent concussion of the included air should make the cistern leak. An accident of this nature ought to be carefully prevented; as the water which escapes may insinuate itself into the sand of the casting-house, and occasion the most perilous explosions, when the hot metal is introduced into the moulds. The internal diameter of the cylinder A A is five feet two inches, and the stroke seven feet. It is capable of blowing one furnace, when working at the rate of six strokes per minute. But the blowing machine lately erected at the smithery in his Majesty's dock-yard, Woolwich, is perhaps the most powerful and most complete in the kingdom. It is equal to the supply of air for forty forge fires, amongst which are those for forging anchors, iron knees, and other heavy smithery works. It is represented in our plate II. BLOWING MACHINE; fig. 1, being a perspective view of the engine, and figs. 2, 3, and 4, elevations and sections of the blowing cylinders. The part seen in fig. 1, is only that which appears above the level of the floor. The other part is below, and may be seen in figs. 2, 3, and 4. The length of the cylinders is five feet five inches, of which two feet four inches appear above the floor; the interior diameter of each cylinder is four feet eight inches, and the length of the stroke is also four feet eight inches; which is repeated in each of the three cylinders A, B, C, twenty times per minute, which corresponds to an expulsion of nearly 5000 cubic feet of air per minute. The fourth cylinder, D, is used only to regulate the: pressure, as will be explained below. The motion communicated to the piston rod's is so contrived, that while one piston rod is at its highest point, another is half way down, or up, and the other quite down. A large iron wind-chest, twenty-two feet five inches in length, is placed on proper stone supports or pillars in the cellar below, and upon this are fixed the four cylinders A, B, C, D, the latter being open to the chest at its bottom, but the others are closed From this chest, under the cylinder C, proceeds the main eduction pipe, shown in the elevations, figs. 3 and 4, and from this, branch pipes proceed to the several forges, each pipe near the forge being furnished with a cock, so that the blast may be turned off or on at pleasure. In fig. 3 will be seen a short cylinder behind the eduction pipe, in which is a valve shown more particularly in fig. 2, where the section is made to pass through the axis both of the valve cylinder and blowing cylinder; the former elevation being at right angles to the principal axis of the machine, and that in fig. 4, parallel to the same, neither of which therefore embrace the valve cylinder, which is placed somewhat on one side. On the principal axis, fig. 1, are seen three eccentric wheels, furnished with iron straps, fig. 3, which are connected with the lever under the wind chest, seen in fig. 3, at E: and these wheels are so arranged, in respect to the corresponding crank, that when the piston of any cylinder is either above or below, the lever, fig. 3, is horizontal, and the valve a then exactly closes the hole h, fig. 2. When the piston in this figure begins to ascend; the end, E, of the lever, fig. 3, continues to ascend also, and the other end, F, descends, and being connected with the valve rod at G, fig. 2, this also descends, and thereby opens a communication between the interior of the cylinder and the atmosphere, which former thus receives a fresh supply of air. This valve continues to descend till the piston is half way up; it then begins to ascend till the piston is at its highest point, when the valve has again exactly the position shown in the figure. The piston now descends, but the valve rod still continues to ascend, and thereby opens a communication between the cylinder and wind chest, into which latter the air is forced by the action of the piston. When this latter is half way down, the valve rod has reached its highest point, and then continues to descend with the piston till the latter is down, when the hole h is again covered with the valve, and the whole is situated as at first, to have the process again repeated as above described. By these means the cylinders are successively opened to the atmosphere, and then to the wind chest, and a constant influx of air is produced. To preserve a steady action in the valve rods, they are made to pass through guards level with the floor, as shown in figs. 1 and 2. The cylinder, D, has no bottom, being open to the wind-chest, and its piston, which weighs 700 lbs. serves only to regulate the pressure, which amounts to about one-fourth lb. per square inch. When the pressure exceeds this, the piston rises and opens a safety valve connected with this cylinder at the back, not seen in our drawing, but the operation of which will be easily conceived. The form of the bottom of the cylinder, shown in fig. 2, is peculiar only to that particular section, the other part of the bottom is perfectly flat, its purpose is to furnish a communication with the valve cylinder. BLOWING SNAKE, in zoology, a name given in Virginia to a species of serpent, resembling the European viper, but considerably larger, and remarkable for inflating and extending the surface of its head before it bites. Its wound is fatal. BLOW-PIPE, the blow-pipe has become in chemistry, mineralogy, &c. so extremely useful an instrument, as to form an essential article in the laboratory. It is employed to raise an intense heat by the flame of a lamp or candle, and operates by rapidly and strongly throwing a current of air through the flame, against the object to be heated. The blow-pipe is capable of heating a small object in a manner that would be difficult to heat a large quantity of the same substance in the most powerful furnaces; with this advantage also that the process is much more under the inspection of the operator We refer to LABORATORY for an account of the more scientific inventions and improvements of this kind. The blow-pipe of artificers, consists of a conical metal tube, regularly tapering from the size convenient to be held in the mouth to that of a small pin: The small end is bent with a regular curvature, so as to be nearly at right angles to the main tube. This pipe being held in the mouth, and a regular stream of air discharged through it into the flame of a candle, the flame is projected sideways into a long conical spiracle of fire, which is of a blue color at its root, or the part where it joins the flame; farther on it is of a yellow cast, growing more and more faint towards the extreme point. The object to be heated is held so that the flame strikes upon it; or, if it is large, it should be placed upon a piece of charcoal, which reverberates the flame forcibly on all sides of the object, and at the same time maintains the heat by its own combustion. This instrument is very effective in the hands of a skilful operator. There is an artifice, says Dr. Ure in the blowing through this pipe, which is more difficult to describe than to acquire. The effect intended to be produced is a continual stream of air for many minutes, if necessary, without ceasing. This is done by applying the tongue to the roof of the mouth, so as to interrupt the communication between the mouth and the passage of the nostrils; by which means the operator is at liberty to breathe through the nostrils, at the same time that by the muscles of the lips he forces a continual stream of air from the anterior part of the mouth through the blowpipe. When the mouth begins to be empty, it is replenished by the lungs in an instant, while the tongue is withdrawn from the roof of the mouth, and replaced again in the same manner as in pronouncing the monosyllable tut. this way the stream may be continued for a long time without any fatigue, if the flame be not urged too impetuously, and even in this case no other fatigue is felt than that of the muscles of the lips. A wax candle, of a moderate size, but thicker wick than they are usually made with, is the most convenient for occasional experiments; but a tallow candle will do very well. The candle should be snuffed rather short, and the wick turned on one side toward the object, so that a part of it should lie horizontally. The stream of air must be blown along this horizontal part, as near as may be without striking the wick. If the flame be ragged and irregular, it is a proof that the hole is not round and smooth; and if the flame have a cavity through it, the aperture of the pipe is too large. When the In hole is of a proper figure, and duly proportioned, the flame consists of a neat luminous blue cone, surrounded by another flame of a more faint and indistinct appearance. The strongest heat is at the point of the inner flame.' BLOW-PIPE, in anatomy, is a straight hollow brass tube, of an elongated conical form, about six inches in length, and open at both ends. The large end is three-tenths of an inch in diameter, the smaller is of the size of a needle's point. It is used for blowing air into the collapsed vessels of a dead subject, in order to ascertain the course of them. BLOWZE, One who by exposure to BLOW'ZED, wind and weather has a ruddy BLOW'ZY. and coarse complexion; an appearance of boisterous health; unfeminine. I had rather marry a fair one, and put it to the hazard, than be troubled with a blowze; but do thou as thou wilt, I speake only of myselfe. winners of a smock race. Burton. Anat. of Mel. I protest I do not like to see my daughters trudging up to their pews all blowzed and red with walking, and looking for all the world as if they had been Goldsmith. BLUB', From bleb; Germ. blaen, BLUBBER, v. & n. to inflate; to swell; to BLUBBER ING. tumify. To blubber is to indulge in unseemly violent weeping, so as to distend the cheeks and inflame the eyes; the precise idea is distension. Fair streams represent unto me my blubbered face; let tears procure your stay. Sidney. The wild wood gods, arrived in the place, Faerie Queene. Even so lies she Blubbering and weeping, weeping and blubbering. Shakspeare. Romeo and Juliet. A thief came to a boy that was blubbering by the side of a well and asked what he cried for. L'Estrange. Soon as Glumdalclitch missed her pleasing care, She wept, she blubbered, and she tore her hair. Swift. Thou sing with him, thou booby! never pipe Was so profaned, to touch that blubbered lip. Dryden. Tired with the search, not finding what she seeks, With cruel blows she pounds her blubbered cheeks. Id. Dear Chloe how blubbered is that pretty face, Thy cheek all on fire, and thy hair all uncurled, Pri'thee quit this caprice; and (as old Falstaff says) Let us e'en talk a little like folks of this world. Prior. The maudling hero, like a puling boy Robbed of his play-thing, on the plains of Troy, Had never blubbered at Patroclus' tomb. Churchill. BLUBBER is the fat of whales and other large sea animals, whereof train oil is made. It is properly the adeps of the animal: it lies immediately under the skin, and over the muscular flesh. In the porpoise, it is firm and full of fibres, and invests the body about an inch thick. In the whale its thickness is ordinarily six inches; but, about the under lip, it is two or three feet thick. The whole quantity yielded by one of these animals ordinarily amounts to forty or fifty, sometimes eighty hundred weight, or even more. BLUBBER, SEA. See MEDUSA and URTICA. BLUCHER (Gebharal Lebrecht Von), a celebrated Prussian general, was born at Rostock, in 1742. At the age of fourteen he entered the Swedish service, but being taken prisoner he transferred his services to Prussia. After the seven years' war he resigned his commission in disgust, and devoted himself to agriculture, but was recalled to his old regiment as major, by William II. and fought at the head of it till the battle of Leystadt, September 18th 1794, when he was made major-general. In 1806 he took possession of Erfurt and Muhlhausen, and after the battle of Jena made an extraordinary retreat through Lubeck, by which he drew the French across the Oder. On the taking of Lubeck he was obliged to capitulate, but was soon exchanged for marshal Victor. He was now employed in the war department, till the renewal of hostilities against France in 1813, when he displayed the utmost activity and courage for the deliverance of Europe. At Lutzen the order of St. George was given to him by the emperor Alexander, and on the 26th of August he defeated Macdonald at Katsbach. The glorious victory of Leipzic was in a great degree owing to his exertions; and he pursued the flying enemy across the Rhine with such celerity as to be called by the Russians Marshal Forwards." After the battle of Montmartre, on the 31st of March, he would have severely retaliated the wrongs of Berlin upon Paris, had he not been restrained by the allied sovereigns, whom he accompanied to England, and was received with enthusiasm. His military glory attained its height at the battle of Waterloo. In a preceding engagement he had been defeated, his horse shot under him, and a whole regiment had charged and been repulsed over his person. After this great victory, to which he contributed by bringing up the Prussian forces towards the close of the battle, he was created prince of Wahlstadt, and received several additional orders of knighthood. Falling ill at Kriblowtz in 1819, the king of Prussia which carried him off on the 12th of September visited him repeatedly during his last sickness, in that year. BLUE', BLUE'LY, BLUE'NESS, BLU'ISH, BLUISH'NESS, BLU'EYED, BLUE HAIRED, BLUE'SWOLLEN, BLUE'VEINED. Sax. blæo; Fr. bleu. One of the seven original colors. So says Johnson; but he attempts not either the etymology or the definition. It seems to be derived from the Ang.-Sax. bleo, to blow; on which the writer in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana has ventured a very ingenious, and as it should seem satisfactory conjecture:-may not the blue, formerly blewe sky, be the blew-en, or blown skye,-the sky from which the clouds are blown, dispersed. Vossius derives cœruleus from cœlum. As other colors take their name from that by which they are produced, may not blue, the color of the clear sky after wind, derive its name from this circumstance.' The blowing color; the color exposed to view by the dispersion of the clouds; the blew-en, or blown sky. The greatest and the best of all the main, He quarters to his blue-haired deities. Id. Comus. In a moment our liquor may be deprived of its blueness, and restored to it again by the affusion of a few drops of liquor. Boyle on Colours. At last, as far as I could cast my eyes Upon the sea, somewhat, methought, did rise Like bluish mists. Dryden. Nor to the temple was she gone, to move Id. Prior. There was scarce any other colour sensible besides red and blue; only the blues, and principally the second blue, inclined a little to green. Newton. This esquire he dropped his pen full soon, While as the light burnt bluely. Swift. Rise, then, fair blue-eyed maid, rise and discover Thy silver brow, and meet thy golden lover. Crashaw. I could make, with crude copper, a solution without the bluishness that is wont to accompany its vulgar Boyle. solutions. Here, in full light, the russet plains extend; Collins' Eclogues. In vain she [Circassia] boasts her fairest of the fair, Their eyes' blue languish, and their golden hair; a. Long Pity let the nations view BLUE is one of the seven colors into which the rays of light divide when refracted through a glass prism. For an account of the particular structure of bodies by which they appear of a blue color, see CHROMATICS. BLUE ASHES, Cendre blue, Fr. by corruption, Saunders blue, much used in water-colors; but in oil they grow greenish, being of the nature of verdigris. They are found in the form of a soft stone, in places where there are copper mines, and water only is used in levigating them, to reduce them to a fine powder. This kind of blue ought to be used in works to be seen by candle light, as in scene painting; for though a great deal of white is mixed with it, it appears very beautiful, notwithstanding it has a greenish cast. BLUE BOTTLE, n. s. cyanus; from blue and bottle; a flower of the bell-shape; a species of bottleflower; a fly with a large blue belly. If you put bluebottles, or other blue flowers, into an ant-hill, they will be stained with red: because the ants thrust their stings, and instil into them their stinging liquor. Say, sire of insects, mighty Sol, Ray, Prior. Did ever with such fury drive? BLUE CAP, an English name for a peculiar species of fish of the salmon kind, distinguished by a broad blue spot on the head, whence they have their name. These seem not to breed with us; but appear in our rivers only at certain seasons, when there have been violent north winds. This fish is seldom found single; so that the fishermen rejoice at their taking one of them, as they expect a large shoal of them at hand. BLUE HILLS, a range of mountains in New England, whose first ridge in New Hampshire passes through Rochester, Barrington, and Nottingham. BLUE JAPAN.-Take gum-water, and white lead, a sufficient quantity; grind them well upon porphyry: then take isinglass size, and the finest and best smalt, sufficient quantities: mix them well, and add, of the white-lead, before ground, so much as may give it a sufficient body. Mix all these together to the consistence of a paint. the island of New Holland, north-west of the BLUE MOUNTAINS, a range of mountains in British settlement at Port Jackson. 2. A chain of mountains longitudinally intersecting the island of Java. 3. A range of mountains in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, which extend from south-west to north-east, and a short way across the Delaware. 4. A range of mountains which run from south-east to north-west, through Surrey county, in the island of Jamaica. BLUE RIDGE, the easternmost ridge of the Allegany mountains, in Pennsylvania and Virginia, about 130 miles from the Atlantic, and rising to the height of 4000 feet above the level of the sea; thickly covered with large trees to the very summit. Some of the mountains are rugged and stony; in others the soil is found to be rich and fertile. See ALLEGANY. BLUE, LACMUS or LITMUS. This is a beautifur blue, made of lacmus in the following manner: Take an ounce of lacmus, and boil it in a pint Byron. of small beer wort, till the color is as strong as you would have it; then pour off the liquor into a gallipot, and let it cool for use. BLUE, PRUSSIAN, is considerably in use among painters, though inferior to the ultramarine blue. The following process for making the finest sort of Prussian blue with quicklime, is given in the History of the Academy of Sciences at Paris for the year 1756 : Take 3lbs. of ox's blood, dried and reduced into a kind of small scales, an equal quantity of quicklime newly baked, 2lbs. of red tartar, and 1lb. oz. of saltpetre; pulverise the whole grossly and put it into a crucible, placed in the midst of a great furnace, and give it a gradual fire. After four hours, when the matter is reduced into a kind of paste which emits no more smoke, and is equally red, throw it by spoonfuls into two pails of boiling water; and, having filtrated the lixivium, mix it with a solution of 6lbs. of alum, and 1lb. 8oz. of green vitriol. This operation will yield but 7oz. of fecula; but its beauty will make sufficient amends for the small quantity. BLUE, SAXON, a dye made by dissolving indigo in oil of vitriol by which the indigo becomes of a much more lively color. BLUE STONE, OF POWDER, used in washing of linen, is the same with smalt, either in the lump or powdered. When the smalt is taken from the pot, it is thrown into a large vessel of cold water: this makes it more tractable, and easily powdered. BLUE, ULTRAMARINE (beyond sea), from its being first brought into Europe out of India and Persia; one of the richest and most valuable colors used in painting, is prepared from lapis lazuli, by first calcining the stone in an iron pot; then grinding it very fine on porphyry; mixing it up with a paste made of wax, pitch, mastich, turpentine, and oil; and at last washing the paste well in clear water, to separate the coloring part from the rest, which precipitates to the bottom, in form of a subtile, beautiful, blue powder. The water is then poured off, and the powder dried in the sun. BLUFF, Bluntless; coarseness; BLUFF NESS. roughness of manner. Like those whom stature did to crowns prefer, Black-browed and bluff, like Homer's Jupiter. Dryden. BLUFF-HEADED, among sailors is applied to a ship that has an upright stern. BLUING, the act or art of communicating a blue color to bodies otherwise destitute thereof. Laundresses blue their linen with smalt; dyers their stuffs and wools with woad or indigo. BLUING OF IRON, a method of beautifying that metal sometimes practised; for mourning buckles, swords, and the like. The manner is this: Take a piece of grind-stone or whet-stone, and rub hard on the work, to take off the black scurf from it: then heat it in the fire; and as it grows hot, the color changes by degrees, coming first to light, then to a darker gold color, and lastly to a blue. Sometimes also they grind indigo and sallad-oil together; and rub the mixture on the work with a woollen rag, while it is heating, leaving it to cool of itself. BLUNDER, v. & n.` BLUNDERER, BLUN'DERINGLY, BLUNDERHEAD. Dutch, blunderer; perhaps, says Dr. Johnson, from blind. The blind miss their way; stumble; mistake; and were not their infirmity known, would thus expose themselves to contempt. To blunder is to act in the common affairs of life, as a stranger to a country would act in the dark, and as a blind man conducts himself without a guide; a blunderer is one who betrays great want, or obliquity of understanding, by the silly and barefaced mistakes into which he is constantly falling; a blunderer is a fool of the stupid clasɛ. We blundren, ever, and poren in the fire; And for all that, we faille of our desire. Chaucer. Cant. Tales. At the rate of this thick-skulled blunderhead, every plow-jobber shall take upon him to read upon divinity. L'Estrange. The grandees and giants in knowledge, who laughed at all besides themselves as barbarous and insignifi cant, yet blundered and stumbled about their principal concern. South. He seems to understand no difference between titles of respect and acts of worship; between expressions of esteem and devotion; between religious and civil worship: for he blunders and confounds all these together; and whatever proves one, he thinks proves all the rest. Stillingfleet. Means not, but blunders round about a meaning. Pope. He who now to sense, now nonsense leaning, author, or will pronounce him a mere blunderer, acAnother sort of judges will decide in favour of an cording to the company they have kept. Watts. But how shall I thy endless virtues tell In which thou dost all other books excel? No greasy thumbs thy spotless leaf can soil, Nor crooked dog's-ears thy smooth corners spoil; In idle pages no errata stand, To tell the blunders of the printer's hand. He ne'er suspects his want of skill, Tickell Gay's Fables. Id. |