Part 2 (2/2)
A diagrammatic sketch showing the course of the water-current is given (fig. 14), in which A is the tank on the top floor controlled by the ball c.o.c.k and valve, and _a_ is the main valve which controls this supply to the cooler B, and by adjusting the valve _b_ and valve _c_ any desired mixture of water can be obtained. A thermometer C gives a rough idea of the temperature of the water, so as to aid in securing the proper mixture. The water then pa.s.ses under the floor of the calorimeter laboratory and ascends to the apparatus D, which is used for heating it to the desired temperature before entering the calorimeter. The temperature of the water as it enters the calorimeter is measured on an accurately calibrated thermometer E, and it then pa.s.ses through the absorber system _d d d_ and leaves the calorimeter, pa.s.sing the thermometer F, upon which the final temperature is read. It then pa.s.ses through a pipe and falls into a large can G, placed upon scales. When this can is filled the water is deflected for a few minutes to another can and by opening valve _f_ the water is conducted to the drain after having been weighed.
_Brine-tank._--The cooling system for the water-supply consists of a tank in which there is immersed an iron coil connected by two valves to the supply and return of the brine mains from the central power-house.
These valves are situated just ahead of the valves controlling the cooling device in the refrigeration room and permit the pa.s.sage of brine through the coil without filling the large coils for the cooling of the air in the calorimeter laboratory. As the brine pa.s.ses through this coil, which is not shown in the figure, it cools the water in which it is immersed and the water in turn cools the coil through which the water-supply to the calorimeter pa.s.ses. The bra.s.s coil only is shown in the figure. The system is very efficient and we have no difficulty in cooling the water as low as 2 C. As a matter of fact our chief difficulty is in regulating the supply of brine so as not to freeze the water-supply.
_Water-mixer._--If the valve _b_ is opened, water flows through this short length of pipe much more rapidly than through the long coil, owing to the greater resistance of the cooling coil. In conducting these experiments the valve c is opened wide and by varying the amount to which the valve _b_ is opened, the water is evenly and readily mixed.
The thermometer C is in practice immersed in the water-mixer constructed somewhat after the principle of the mixer inside the chamber described on page 21. All the piping, including that under the floor, and the reheater D, are covered with hair-felt and well insulated.
_Rate-valves._--It has been found extremely difficult to secure any form of valve which, even with a constant pressure of water, will give a constant rate of flow. In this type of calorimeter it is highly desirable that the rate of flow be as nearly constant as possible hour after hour, as this constant rate of flow aids materially in maintaining the calorimeter at an even temperature. Obviously, fluctuations in the rate of flow will produce fluctuations in the temperature of the ingoing water and in the amount of heat brought away. This disturbs greatly the temperature equilibrium, which is ordinarily maintained fairly constant.
Just before the water enters the reheater D it is caused to pa.s.s through a rate-valve, which at present consists of an ordinary plug-c.o.c.k. At present we are experimenting with other types of valves to secure even greater constancy, if possible.
_Electric reheater._--In order to control absolutely the temperature of the water entering at E, it is planned to cool the water leaving the water-mixer at C somewhat below the desired temperature, so that it is necessary to reheat it to the desired point. This is done by pa.s.sing a current of electricity through a coil inserted in the system at the point D. This electric reheater consists of a standard ”Simplex” coil, so placed in the copper can that the water has a maximum circulation about the heater. The whole device is thoroughly insulated with hair-felt. By connecting the electric reheater with the rheostat on the observer's table, control of the quant.i.ty of electricity pa.s.sing through the coil is readily obtained, and hence it is possible to regulate the temperature of the ingoing water to within a few hundredths of a degree.
The control of the amount of heat brought away from the chamber is made either by (1) increasing the rate of flow or (2) by varying the temperature of the ingoing water. Usually only the second method is necessary. In the older form of apparatus a third method was possible, namely, by varying the area of the absorbing surface of the cooling system inside of the chamber. This last method of regulation, which was used almost exclusively in earlier experiments, called for an elaborate system of s.h.i.+elds which could be raised or lowered at will by the operator outside, thus involving an opening through the chamber which was somewhat difficult to make air-tight and also considerably complicating the mechanism inside the chamber. The more recent method of control by regulating the temperature of the ingoing water by the electric reheater has been much refined and has given excellent service.
_Insulation of water-pipes through the wall._--To insulate the water-pipes as they pa.s.s through the metal walls of the calorimeter and to prevent any cooling effect not measured by the thermometers presented great difficulties. The device employed in the Middletown chamber was relatively simple, but very inaccessible and a source of more or less trouble, namely, a large-sized gla.s.s tube embedded in a large round wooden plug with the annular s.p.a.ce between the gla.s.s and wood filled with wax. An attempt was made in the new calorimeters to secure air insulation by using a large-sized gla.s.s tube, some 15 millimeters internal diameter, and pa.s.sing it through a large rubber stopper, fitting into a bra.s.s ferule soldered between the zinc and copper walls.
(See N, fig. 25.) So far as insulation was concerned, this arrangement was very satisfactory, but unfortunately the gla.s.s tubes break readily and difficulty was constantly experienced. An attempt was next made to subst.i.tute hard-rubber tubing for the gla.s.s tube, but this did not prove to be an efficient insulator. More recently we have used with perfect success a special form of vacuum-jacketed gla.s.s tube, which gives the most satisfactory insulation. However, this system of insulation is impracticable when electric-resistance thermometers are used for recording the water-temperature differences and can be used only when mercurial thermometers exclusively are employed. The electric-resistance thermometers are constructed in such a way, however, as to make negligible any inequalities in the pa.s.sage of heat through the hard-rubber casing. This will be seen in the discussion of these thermometers.
_Measuring the water._--As the water leaves the respiration chamber it pa.s.ses through a valve which allows it to be deflected either into the drain during the preliminary period, or into a small can where the measurements of the rate of flow can readily be made, or into a large tank (G, fig. 14) where the water is weighed. The measurement of the water is made by weight rather than by volume, as it has been found that the weighing may be carried out with great accuracy. The tank, a galvanized-iron ash-can, is provided with a conical top, through an opening in which a funnel is placed. The diagram shows the water leaving the calorimeter and entering the meter through this funnel, but in practice it is adjusted to enter through an opening on the side of the meter. After the valve _f_ is tightly closed the empty can is weighed.
When the experiment proper begins the water-current is deflected so as to run into this can and at the end of an hour the water is deflected into a small can used for measuring the rate of flow. While it is running into this can, the large can G is weighed on platform scales to within 10 grams. After weighing, the water is again deflected into the large can and that collected in the small measuring can is poured into G through the funnel. The can holds about 100 liters of water and consequently from 3 to 8 one-hour periods, depending upon the rate of flow, can be continued without emptying the meter. When it is desired to empty the meter at the end of the period, the water is allowed to flow into the small can, and after weighing G, the valve _f_ is opened. About 4 minutes are required to empty the large can. After this the valve is again closed, the empty can weighed, and the water in the small measuring-can poured into the large can G through the funnel. The scales used are the so-called silk scales and are listed by the manufacturers to weigh 150 kilograms. This form of scales was formerly used in weighing the man inside the chamber.[7]
THERMOMETERS.
In connection with the calorimeter and the accessories, mercurial and electric-resistance thermometers are employed. For measuring the temperature of the water as it enters and leaves the chamber through horizontal tubes, mercurial thermometers are used, and these are supplemented by electric-resistance thermometers which are connected with a special form of recording instrument for permanently recording the temperature differences. For the measurement of the temperatures inside of the calorimeter, two sets of electric-resistance thermometers are used, one of which is a series of open coils of wire suspended in the air of the chamber so as to take up quickly the temperature of the air. The other set consists of resistance coils encased in copper boxes soldered to the copper wall and are designed to indicate the temperature of the copper wall rather than that of the air.
MERCURIAL THERMOMETERS.
The mercurial thermometers used for measuring the temperature differences of the water-current are of special construction and have been calibrated with the greatest accuracy. As the water enters the respiration chamber through a horizontal tube, the thermometers are so constructed and so placed in the horizontal tubes through which the water pa.s.ses that the bulbs of the thermometers lie about in a plane with the copper wall, thus taking the temperature of the water immediately as it enters and as it leaves the chamber. For convenience in reading, the stem of the thermometer is bent at right angles and the graduations are placed on the upright part.
The thermometers are graduated from 0 to 12 C. or from 8 to 20 C.
and each degree is divided into fiftieths. Without the use of a lens it is possible to read accurately to the hundredth of a degree. For calibrating these thermometers a special arrangement is necessary. The standards used consist of well-constructed metastatic thermometers of the Beckmann type, made by C. Richter, of Berlin, and calibrated by the Physikalische Technische Reichsanstalt. Furthermore, a standard thermometer, graduated from 14 to 24 C., also made by Richter and standardized by the Physikalische Technische Reichsanstalt, serves as a basis for securing the absolute temperature. Since, however, on the mercurial thermometers used in the water-current, differences in temperature are required rather than absolute temperatures, it is unnecessary, except in an approximate way, to standardize the thermometers on the basis of absolute temperature. For calibrating the thermometers, an ordinary wooden water-pail is provided with several holes in the side near the bottom. One-hole rubber stoppers are inserted in these holes and through these are placed the bulbs and stems of the different thermometers which are to be calibrated. The upright portion of the stem is held in a vertical position by a clamp. The pail is filled with water, thereby insuring a large ma.s.s of water and slow temperature fluctuations, and the water is stirred by means of an electrically driven turbine stirrer.
The Beckmann thermometers, of which two are used, are so adjusted that they overlap each other and thus allow a range of 8 to 14 C. without resetting. For all temperatures above 14 C., the standard Richter thermometer can be used directly. For temperatures at 8 C. or below, a large funnel filled with cracked ice is placed with the stem dipping into the water. As the ice melts, the cooling effect on the large ma.s.s of water is sufficient to maintain the temperature constant and compensate the heating effect of the surrounding room-air. The thermometers are tapped and read as nearly simultaneously as possible. A number of readings are taken at each point and the average readings used in the calculations. Making due allowance for the corrections on the Beckmann thermometers, the temperature differences can be determined to less than 0.01 C. The data obtained from the calibrations are therefore used for comparison and a table of corrections is prepared for each set of thermometers used. It is especially important that these thermometers be compared among themselves with great accuracy, since as used in the calorimeter the temperature of the ingoing water is measured on one thermometer and the temperature of the outgoing water on another.
Thermometers of this type are extremely fragile. The long angle with an arm some 35 centimeters in length makes it difficult to handle them without breakage, but they are extremely sensitive and accurate and have given great satisfaction. The construction of the bulb is such, however, that the slightest pressure on it raises the column of mercury very perceptibly, and hence it is important in practical use to note the influence of the pressure of the water upon the bulbs and make corrections therefor. The influence of such pressure upon thermometers used in an apparatus of this type was first pointed out by Armsby,[8]
and with high rates of flow, amounting to 1 liter or more per minute, there may be a correction on these thermometers amounting to several hundredths of a degree. We have found that, as installed at present, with a rate of flow of less than 400 cubic centimeters per minute, there is no correction for water pressure.
In installing a thermometer it is of the greatest importance that there be no pressure against the side of the tube through which the thermometer is inserted. The slightest pressure will cause considerable rise in the mercury column. Special precautions must also be taken to insulate the tube through which the water pa.s.ses, as the pa.s.sage of the water along the tube does not insure ordinarily a thorough mixing, and by moving the thermometer bulb from the center of the tube to a point near the edge, the water, which at the edge may be somewhat warmer than at the center, immediately affects the thermometer. By use of the vacuum jacket mentioned above, this warming of the water has been avoided, and in electric-resistance thermometers special precautions are taken not only with regard to the relative position of the bulb of the mercury thermometer and the resistance thermometer, but also with regard to the hard-rubber insulation, to avoid errors of this nature.
ELECTRIC-RESISTANCE THERMOMETERS.
Electric-resistance thermometers are used in connection with the respiration calorimeter for several purposes: first, to determine the fluctuations in the temperature of the air inside the chamber; second, to measure the fluctuations of the temperature of the copper wall of the respiration chamber; third, for determining the variations in body temperature; finally, for recording the differences in temperature of the incoming and outgoing water. While these thermometers are all built on the same principle, their installation is very different, and a word regarding the method of using each is necessary.
AIR THERMOMETERS.
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